The Puritans In Early America

The Puritans first set sailed and started their journey to America in 1630. Not like other groups who were around at the time, the Puritans did not break from the church but decided to change it to there liking instead. They seek to comfort in the bible by re-enacting stories in the Bible. They feel as if they were chosen by God to make new history and establish a new Christian way. John Winthrop was the man in charge and the man who started this whole movement. If as a Puritan you honoured your obligation to God, they would be one with God and if they failed, would be punished. As they arrived in New England they set up in Massachusetts in a place they named Boston. There was a lot of tough work and chores to be done in Boston. But there were

Women were not involved in any participation with town hall meetings or design making and changes in the church system. The ministers of the Puritan churches in there sermons and speeches preached male supremacy even further. They said the soul had two different parts, the immortal male part and the mortal female part which only lasts till you die on earth. Women were also vied as instruments of Satan , saying this married women were not allowed to sign contracts, be in possession of property or have or start a business of any kind. The husbands owned everything, from the children they had, to the houses. Only widows who did not find another husband to marry, could run their own business and own their own property. Women clothing had to cover all hair and arms, women found guilty if not doing this would be stripped to the waist and whipped until there backs were completely bloody. Women were only allowed to leave their husband in severe occurrences - adultery or physical cruelty. Sex is confined to marriage only if they found guilty of having an affair they would be trailed and hung. (Womenhistoryblogcom, 2016). Children were also treated badly just like women were, they were regarded as property of there parents and also had no say or do on anything that goes on in the town. If any child was disobedient to his parents, any magistrate could punish him with a maximum of ten lashes for each offence (Pbsorg,

In this era they did not know a lot the body and problems that could effect it. So disease had a huge effect on the puritan people and physical education really wasn 't a thing for these three reasons.(La84org, 2016) “First the Puritanical religious sanction of labor and ‘detestation of idleness’ placed play outside the pale of approved social behaviour. The ideal of serving God through steady application to work came to imply that any innocent or frivolous amusement was a waste of time and talents. Thus physical education could not survive unless it was devoted to economic goals. Secondly, the Puritans’ desire to eliminate any activity that was tinctured with Catholicism also tended to purge traditional means of achieving aims of physical education. Thirdly, the determination . . . to improve morals through continued spiritual espionage and external discipline was eventually accelerated into an ascetic orgy of condemning nearly every natural desire of 18 man.” (La84org, 2016) Disease was another issue, diseases like yellow fever and smallpox were just some of the couple to name in this era. They effected a lot of people and anyone who got this sickness’s ether died because they were not ‘chosen’ by God. Or they lived because it was not a big illness and they would just natural heal. Citizens would not be aloud to leave there house if they were sick until they died or were fully healed. (Laundry ,