How Did Puritans Influence Native American Culture

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
stated.
The promotion of Puritanism in New England took the form of active involvement of citizens. Children were obliged to learn alphabet with corresponding religion-related rhymes to each letter. They were brought up in the best tradition of using knowledge to obtain upper knowledge, which was God. The principles of laziness in Bible stimulated all people to quality work. Men worked very hard and at their best in everything, whereas women were actively engaged in household. On this level, the social role model was also very clear: fathers had to serve as the epitome of ideal men who can handle all work and earn enough money for the family, whereas mothers taught their daughters the handicrafts like sewing, knitting as well as keeping the house clean. The overall family model was linked to Bible treatment of the family, where father was the keeper of the family and where he could be dominant over his wife. Although wives had more workload, they knew that God would be pleased with them and men realized their role of family keepers.
According to the Puritans, Native Americans could only be saved through moral and religious conversion that could transform their lives for the better.
But if to observe this issue from the Native American perspective, we would definitely notice that the practices of Puritans were extremely intimidating and they significantly damaged the authentic American culture. Therefore, such change would only mean the total revision of moral and family values among Indians who could sacrifice their traditions, culture, religion and language, beginning to live in European style. Some scientists even speculate that Puritans were intended to use their practices in order to strengthen their control over the densely inhabited area. Through the establishment of a colony and through the implementation of their Puritanism, they wanted the native population to accept all their obligations and to feel positive about their colonization. The Puritans did not have the moral right to mix religion with politics. The creation of colony implied the use of power and control for social order. Nowhere in the Bible has one seen such things. And this is one more evidence to state that Puritans failed to build their “City upon a Hill” or their ideal society. They failed to realize the Bible itself and the words of Jesus. None of the Puritans denied himself, none of them was peaceful and none was intended to help, caring exclusively about personal
desires.
John Winthrop defines Puritans as individuals who are united by the Christ’s love, creating the fellow membership of Jesus Christ. This way, Puritans were thought to live their lives to become the role models for the entire society, so that each individual had the opportunity to resemble their moral principles and behavioral patterns. In order to strengthen their influence, they were called to create the idea society that could be managed by civil and ecclesiastical government. Additionally, Winthrop stated that Puritans were intended to improve the lives and welfare of people so that they could do service for the Lord. Under the power of holy ordinances, they were aimed at finding the salvation, promoting work and social benefits. However, a confusing thing about the activity of Puritans was that all of them wanted to put into practice the duty of love, neglecting the freedom of many citizens in New England, which was jeopardized because of severe colonization policies. But after the adoption of the Blue Laws of Connecticut, people were mostly concerned with obeying the law, rather than Puritan ideology. Although this law contained the direct reference to the Bible verse, the rules were regarded to be extremely rude. Basically, everyone who was found to be engaged in gambling, worshiping and swearing, was destined to die, because he did not follow the God’s will. But if to pay attention to this point from the same perspective, the colonization, supported by Puritans, was also a sin as any control over people requires unequal treatment and imposing of different laws. This way, Puritan laws were not offered to consideration, but were obligatory to be considered.