Puritanism played a pivotal role in shaping the economic, political, and intellectual climate of Massachusetts; especially considering that the Puritans were some of the first people to settle the British North American colonies. For instance, politically speaking, the Puritans would hold yearly town meetings; only adult males were allowed to participate in these meetings, however. These town meetings were held within their villages in order to have minimal interference from the colonial government, address any issues they may have, as well as to select a group of people known as “selectmen” to govern the village until the next meeting. Intellectually, the Puritans took education seriously and as a result by 1647 Massachusetts became the first
The New England colonies that settled in North America were predominantly composed of the Puritans, which originated in the rectification of protestant in England. Furthermore, they were the first of the English colony to bestow legal authorization to slavery, recognizing human captivity was acceptable in 1641. Hence, the 1641 bylaw is not purposely aimed for a certain tribe or ethnic group. During that period, there were also white men that were prisoner of war that were sold in some parts in the Caribbean. On the other hand, the Chesapeake colonies (including Virginia and Maryland), who made its mark during the 17th century composed of 70 to 85 percent white settlers were actually “Indentures”, meaning, that they are indebted to whomever
Fear is the most terrifying thing in this world and the Puritan society had used this fear for so long against their people, government, and everyday life. There are many things that they can use fear in everyday life no matter who you are. The most common fear they used is one of many things that many people know today and that is hell. So come and learn a little bit about how fear was used in Puritan society. There are many stories that tell you about Puritan society having fear in it and the fear in Puritan society can also be found in history.
Religion was very important to the Puritans in the 1600s. John Winthrop a member of the Puritans gentry, wrote to his wife the ‘I am verily persuaded God will bring some heavy affliction upon this land.” A year later he went and lead a group of a group of puritans to New England. By the 1630s another twenty thousand Puritans would come to America. When John became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he told immigrants that will have to guide people toward this holy ideal or they were not welcomed.
The Puritans were one branch of people who chose that the Church of England was beyond them. Most of the Puritans settled in New England. They also moved and created separated colonies, the numbers had risen from 17,800 in 1640 to 106,000 in 1700. The spiritual beliefs that they had were very strong.
In the year of 1630, a group of people known as the Puritans arrived to America and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston. The Puritans were similar to the Pilgrims in which they were Protestants from England who thought that their reforms of their church were “too Catholic” and needed to be changed further. The Puritans being unhappy with their reforms was the primary reason for leaving England and settling in America, while the Pilgrims stayed behind and were determined to change their reforms. When they came to America, they decided to keep some of their strict rules. For example, church was mandatory and if someone missed a day,
Almost every Sunday morning you could find most of the population of Salem village in church. By 1692 denominations such as Presbyterians, Baptist, Quakers, Huguenots, and Anglicans had come to Massachusetts, but most of the people in Salem attended a Congregational service and called themselves Puritans. The Puritans, also known as Nonconformists, held a service each Sunday and were very traditional and set in their ways. The meeting house was set up with a pulpit at the front where the minister gave a sermon to the congregation each Sunday. The ministers of these churches were expected to be well educated and were paid with tax money in most of the cities in Massachusetts.
Salem Witch Trials: Puritans Impact New charter government, lethal frontier war, and political and religious conflicts set the perfect stage for Salem, Massachusetts (Paranoia, the Devil, and Witchcraft). That disaster was known as the Salem Witch trials. The trials was a span of time when people believed in the devil's practice of giving certain humans (witches) the power to harm others (Salem Witch Trials). When the people's superstitions became fear a great deal of innocent people were accused, put on trial, and even murdered (Salem Witch Trials). The first trial began when three girls flew into hysterics on January 20, 1692; their symptoms were so extreme, fear spread quickly (Saari 38,39).
However, they were never successful in doing so. In nearly all of colonial America, there was some religious intolerance, with the exception of few colonial areas. In a quite ironic manner, the Puritans displayed and acted out much religious intolerance, even after facing much scrutiny concerning their religion, in England. This statement is proven, when “Puritan New England: Kahn Academy”, mentions “Although many people assume Puritans escaped England to establish religious freedom, they proved to be just as intolerant as the English state church.” The main and pretty much only, exception, would in this case be Rhode Island, seeing as though it was founded by former Puritan Roger Williams, who had been banned from the colony (in opposition to being executed), as a result of the questioning of their actions towards local Native American tribes, he decided to create Rhode Island, as a place of refuge for those seeking religious tolerance, or who had simply been banned from the previous colony they had resided
Charles’s executing 1649-60 .At first Parliament ruled the country, but in 1653 Oliver Cromwell dismissed Parliament and ruled as ‘Protector’. 2. The Army became important, and under the Protectorate 1653-1660 England was governed by eleven Major-Generals Cromwell’s government was a military dictatorship. 3.
Puritans always seemed to have a reason to justify and action no matter how radical. They didn’t just justify killing people they also justified taking things like land that was not theirs by use of bible passages. The Pequot Indians shared their land with the Puritans. Sharing however, was not something the Puritans seemed to be good at. They wanted the Indians out of the picture and wanted the land for themselves.
While the Puritans acted in inhumane ways, the Puritans ' actions towards others reflected their beliefs because of the Puritans ' reasoning to the idea of slavery, the Puritans ' engagement of war, and the Puritans ' brutal acts towards the Indians. The Puritans believed that as long as their actions were supported by the English understanding of religion and morality and were within the bounds of law, these actions were justified. The treatment of people in the 1600s may not have been seen as something peaceful, but during the time it supported the Puritan belief. First, the Puritans ' actions towards others reflected their beliefs because of the Puritans ' reasoning to the idea of slavery. As it has been noted by historians, specifically
John Winthrop acknowledged the land of the Native Americans to be possessed by the English Puritans. Through his beliefs, he justifies that the land was meant to be used by the puritans because of his interpretation of “God’s word”, which proceeded them to capture the land from the Native Americans. Winthrop’s consideration of God’s word was to use the land for natural and civil rights to benefit their neighbors with the good of their Christian intent. He believed that the natives had no existing system or bringing forth anything good for the land, which gave him a clear thought that he can make the land better. Furthermore, he also uses an example of biblical references to justify his reasoning for taking the land of the Natives because there
More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).
The idea of predestination was another important aspect the Puritan religion. This notion embodies the belief that God has predetermined who will be saved regardless of a person's actions. Naturally, due to the puritans desire to excommunicate the damned a system to determine a person's inviolability was instituted. In order to become a member of the church and therefore a citizen, one had to be recognized as a visible saint. This system functioned off the basis that most Puritans assumed by examining a person’s lifestyle and how accurately they modeled the Bible.
Church attendance was mandatory, and people were forced to be Puritan. There was zero religious tolerance in the community. Political System: Massachusetts originally had a governing body called the General Court which was assembled by the original joint-stock company. This was eventually altered into a legislature for the established colony and gradually became a 2 house legislature. Voters were adult male church going property owners within the