In colonial Massachusetts, the Puritan religion touched every aspect of line in the community. The lifestyle was strict and anything that went outside the moral code was considered a sin and the sinner would be punished. Residents were also expected to attend lengthy sermons twice a week and to avoid any activities viewed as sinful. This included…
Puritanism was found by English Protestant leaders with the purpose of providing original unification of spiritual life, church and social life. Due to the fact that puritans in Britain were prohibited to attend the church, they had to move to New England and maintain their power over the continent. After establishment of their colony, the local authorities began to implement laws regulating human behavior in terms of drunkenness, swearing and gambling. This way, they hoped that the colony would build a new and reliable role model. In view of many scholars, although Puritan ambition to create the ideal model of society, based upon the establishment of a covenant with God, was initially rather promising, they did not firmly follow what they…
"Puritanism required that man refrain from sin, but told him he would sin anyhow. Puritanism required that he reform the world in the image of God's holy kingdom but taught him that the evil of the world was incurable and inevitable. Puritanism required that he work to the best of his ability at whatever task was set before him and partake of the good things that god had filled the world with but told him he must enjoy his work and his pleasures only, as it were, absent-mindedly, with attention fixed on God."(Edmund S. Morgan, page 8)…
Puritans who thrived in the New England area had to find other ways of income to stabilize the economy. The geographical conditions of the area shaped the Puritans character. Prior to the arrival of the Puritans, were the Indians who had used the resources of the area “wastefully.” Puritans argued that they were neglecting what God’s earth had abundantly supplied them with and were not using it properly. In result, Puritans cleared out woodlands and built roads, fences, and settlements. The rocky unfertile soil of the New England area left the Puritans with a few other options to preserve their financial state, such as fishing and shipbuilding which boomed their economy. In the work to keep their economy running the Puritans had to bond and effectively work together. According to “Document A,” working together was the only way anything could be accomplished and doing that would become a model for all to follow with the help of God. The work ethic of the Puritans, such as long laborious hours on the farms and negotiations with Indians, displays the dedication and devotion they had to building their own colony and sustaining their place in the New World. Whether man or woman, they all did something to contribute to their growth. Woman cooked, cleaned, and cared for children that would one day carry one the family businesses. Men cleared land for livestock, cut firewood, built appliances, and butchered livestock. By working together, more had been…
Based on the information written, it briefly explained how some case studies such as one of the victims who broke the rules and laws. It states, “Will Palmer, whipped for attempting uncleanness” (July 23, 1633). This means that poor hygiene is against the law because he was inferencing the term “dirty” associated with poverty. This could to him being removed from the community. It also states, from the text, “John Thorp and his wife… fined 40 shillings for conceiving a child before marriage” (April 1, 1633). This briefly explains how they might have to pay to the fine for breaking the laws of Plymouth colony. These laws also demonstrate how members from the community cannot have a child until they are married. The marital status stands for higher status as opposed to the term “present poverty.” It used the term “present poverty” meaning that the unmarried singles had limited income. Once she had a child, the income she earn was only used for food, water, and basic needs. While the main purpose for the writing not was based on law itself, but the law on all god’s point of view, and how puritans live without leaving the…
Modern society is protected by governing bodies that have created rules and regulations such as labor laws, and human rights acts to protect its citizens. Life in Puritan New England more specifically the lives of children in Puritan New England differ greatly when compared to lives of children in today’s society. The lives and experiences of children in Puritan New England were heavily influenced by religion, focused on community, and a part of a very stringent society. First lives of children in Puritan New England were greatly influenced by religion.…
Moreover a Puritan man could vote on issues was a representative of his household, that made it seem that everyone of age voted on the manner at hand the same way, but really the head, the father, voted for everyone. Another aspect of the Puritan government as to their judicial system, they did not object from punishing children, especially when they misbehaved or acted up toward their parents. For example, if a boy was “... a stubborn or rebellious son of sufficient years…” the parents of the child would send him to court and the decided punishment of a misbehaved child would be death. Such a reason was because the child Puritans were to respect their parents and do what they wanted; they also were taught if they disrespected their parents they would go to…
One of the most common crimes during the puritan era was adultery (source 1). Adultery is defined as any sexual intercourse between individuals who are not married. In modern terms, this crime is most commonly blamed on the married individual (source 2). However, puritans…
Puritans settling in New England lead to the social, economic, and political shaping of Massachusetts. Puritans originally came to New England in order to create a more godly world away from corrupt England. Many Puritans originally didn’t want to settle in America, but after being attacked in England, and seeing how corrupt the Angelicin church was they sought refuge in the new colony. There were many economic opportunities in establishing the colony as well as political and social opportunities. The Puritans started a holy experiment where they could raise their families in a place more holy and pure than England.…
Sex outside of marriage was met with punishments such as whippings or in a few rare cases, death. Precautions were taken to help lessen the chances of these offenses occurring, “One precaution was to see that children got married as soon as possible”(p 26) and once married puritan did everything they could to assure the marriage was going well.…
Imagine having to leave your home because you cannot practice your religion freely. This was reality for the Puritans in England before they took a long journey to an unknown land in Salem, Massachusetts. There, they struggled to settle into a strict, religious lifestyle. They followed their Bible and went to Church. They also had harsh punishments for treason as well as other forms of crime. The Puritans were people with a strong belief system that led to irrational fears and a confined lifestyle.…
The Puritan life was a very plain, straightforward life; their religion was a very harsh and strict religion. The Puritans’ life was mostly based on discipline and religion. Back in the 1690s, “A thousand Puritan settlers arrived in New England in 1630 after leaving England. In the next fifteen years the Puritan community in the New World would have almost 20,00 members” (“Overview: The Crucible” 1).…
Did you know that the Puritans believed that human nature was completely ludicrous and that following the ways of God could save their people from the devil? Well the Puritans lived a strict way of life, in which they followed the ways the bible teaches. However, The Puritans should not have the ability to humiliate and harshly punish those who have sinned. Puritans felt that when one had strayed away from doing God`s work, that they had to take action in harshly punishing and often humiliating the sinner in front of townspeople.…
In the 1630s, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the North to detach themselves from the Church of England, and to pursue religious tolerance. Puritans lead lives that emphasized hard work and discipline, which caused them to be perceived as narrow-minded, and very strict in religion and morals. Despite what early colonists then and citizens of America today believe, some Puritans did not comply with their stereotypical lives of high morals and no sex. “The popular assumption might be that the Puritans frowned on marriage and tried to hush up the physical aspect of it as much as possible…” but the Puritan society endured the troubles of fornication, adultery, and additional sins. (1-7) “Though the Puritans established a code of laws which demanded perfection- which demanded in other words strict obedience to the will of God, they nevertheless knew that frail human beings could never live up to the code.” (4-5) The appearance of fornication, adultery, rape, and illegitimate children were no surprise to the Puritans, yet they still enforced forms of punishment to create some…
Puritans are often portrayed as stiff and rigorous in their religious pursuits and are often described as fanatics, punishing those showing any bit of jubilation that would detract from their worship of the Almighty. Observing Puritanical behavior and ethics more closely, however, would suggest that they were not in fact always overbearing and grim zealots living in constant fear of an omnipresent monolithic God-figure, but instead had a complex and sometimes inconsistent relationship with sin and religion. Puritans thought of themselves as a chosen people, akin to the ancient Israelites of the Old Testament, and as such strove to make themselves a “city on a hill,” as John Winthrop put it. However, this did not mean that they were without…