John Winthrop 's "City Upon A Hill", described the mission and vision to start a "New England", which became known as the United States of America. John Winthrop believed a perfect society could exist in a perfect city where everyone worshiped and worked together in harmony. He envisioned a community so closely woven together that everyone was equally important to the future of the city. A city where a purer form of Christianity would exist, which would provide a moral and religious show for the rest of the world to see. Quoting the New Testament, (Matthew 5:14) John Winthrop warned the people they would be totally exposed for the entire world to see, as a "city upon a hill."…
While the Protestant Revolution raged in Europe, Catholics and other radicals were fleeing to the New World to find religious freedom and to escape prosecution. Because of this, the northern colonies became more family and religiously orientated as the families of the pilgrims settled there. From the Ship’s List of Emigrants Bound for New England we see that six families on board made up sixty nine of the ships passengers (B). Not only did families tend to move to New England, but whole congregations made the journey to find a place where they could set up “a city upon a hill”, and become an example to all who follow to live by as John Winthrop put it to his Puritan followers (A). Contrastingly, the Chesapeake colonies only had profit in their mind, which pushed them to become…
Constantly, the New England region demonstrated a different motive for colonization, as their main intentions revolved around religious freedom. The New England settlements became a religious refuge for Puritans and Separatists which together formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 led by John Winthrop. As described in document A, John Winthrop founded the Massachusetts colony in order to obtain religious purity and reform. This idea was called “the city on a hill” which was Winthrop’s idea of a moral society based on godliness, which each region practiced daily.…
John Winthrop was a Puritan who believed in covenant theology, which means he believed that church and state should work together to govern. He was a leader of the MBC and governor of the colony for 12 terms. He was mainly an authoritarian leader who let his religious beliefs influence much of his governing duties. Roger Williams, on the other hand, believed the polar opposite of Winthrop. He Said, “God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state…” (Doc. F). Williams had believed in separation of church and state and was an important dissenter who found the MBC to be oppressive. He left eventually to create his own settlement of Providence where he allowed more religious freedom and separation of church and state. Both of these men show how Puritan beliefs affected politics in the New England Colonies at the time, and how religion was related to those…
Culture, along with the religions that shape and nurture them, are value systems, set of traditions and habits clustered around one or several languages, producing meaning for the self, for the here and now, for the community, for life (tariq ramadan).In the story city upon a hill written by john winthrop’s in 1630, telling a story of a group named the puritans who were on a life goal to spread out a believe. They…
However, in the New England area the settlers primary motive was religion. Mostly Puritans came to the New World seeking a haven after being discriminated in the Old World and because of their shared religious beliefs this allowed them to develop communities harmoniously, while having the same end goal, being a model for the world. The first governor of Massachusetts Bay colony, John Winthrop, wrote A Model of Christian Charity and said, “knit together in this work as one man… community as members of the same body… a city upon a hill… the eyes of all people are upon us” (Doc.…
During the early colonization of the East coast of North America, many groups of people of Europe came to the New World such as the Puritans and Quakers. Both the Puritans, led by John Winthrop, and the Quakers, led by William Penn, were escaping persecution from England but each they had their own views and goals in religion, politics, and ethnic relations. Being on the native land of the local Indians, both Penn and Winthrop had to face issues and negotiations with the Indians. Penn and Winthrop had their own separate approaches to politics but they both sought a more just system than the one in England. After being persecuted, both Penn and Winthrop wanted their people to be free worship, but Penn and Winthrop each had their own approach to the institution and toleration of religion.…
Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England settled New England. They were a highly religious people. Document A, John Winthrop's " City on a hill" speech, shows how they lived according to God's will and were very community oriented. Their towns were very planned out with a town/ church meetinghouse in the centre, and land plots for everyone in the community. This is shown in Document D, Articles of Agreement in Springfield Massachusetts 1636. Family was also very important. Since they were very religious and family is highly regarded in the Bible, marriage was advocated and adultery was a huge crime. Adulterers were made to wear the letter A on their clothing. Since they were a very close-knit people, they travelled as big families and sometimes as communities. This mass travel is depicted in document B that is a ship's list of emigrants bound for New England. Puritans also placed a high value on education. Education was thought to oppose Satan. The government in Puritan towns in New England was more a theocracy than a democracy. Religious uniformity was very important as they were intolerant of any other religion, and only church members were part of the government at first. Citizens were required to attend Church services as part of the law. Most of the people in New England had been merchants or small farmers in England. In New England however, the rocky soil made it hard for a lot of farming, so the…
A large number of Puritan merchants obtained a grant of land for Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and acquired a charter form the king to create the Massachusetts Bay Company. This meant that Massachusetts and New Hampshire were part of a Charter Colony—supported by a Company instead of the crown. A large migration of 17 ships and 1,000 people set sail for New England for one reason: to build a Puritan refuge. Their main goal was religious freedom instead of economic gain; the Puritans only wanted freedom from the crown. They elected John Winthrop as governor, and soon established several towns within New England. The Puritans were hard working people. They believed that their work ethic led to material success, which was evidence of God’s favor. Because of this, the Puritan settlers were quick to establish farms and set up communities based on family and hard work. They had a rough beginning, as well, but nowhere near as bad as Jamestown. Their belief in building a “city upon a hill” inspired the community to stay close to God and family. This dominance of families caused a feeling of commitment to the community and a sense of order among settlers. However, Massachusetts Bay was a theocracy- meaning there was no separation between church and state. The Puritans had no more religious freedom than they had in England. This just encouraged them to work even harder for the betterment of the…
John Winthrop- He was one of the first founders and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He believed that the colony should be a community of people who all believe in God and worship Him. Anyone who was there to practice a different religion or have other beliefs about God/Heaven would be persecuted or banished. He stated that you could do anything, as long as what you did was for God. John Winthrop helped shape the government system and was a great political and religious leader.…
Even those who are only passingly familiar with the horrific events that occurred during the colonization of the Americas know that the perpetrators betrayed the basic sense of compassion inherent in Christianity. However, many settlers claimed the “new” land in the name of God and asserted that they acted in perfect harmony with biblical ideals. With similar intentions, John Winthrop and his fellow settlers travelled to Massachusetts Bay to establish a colony based on Puritan ideals. While on the way to the new colony, Winthrop delivers a sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity" to dictate the ideals his Puritan colony would have to follow to please God. Indeed, Winthrop’s sermon suggests that his guidelines should be considered appropriate…
Although New England and the Chesapeake region were both settled largely by the people of English origin, by 1700 the regions had evolved into two distinct societies. The reasons for this distinct development were mostly based on the type on people from England who chose to settle in the two areas, and on the manner in which the areas were settled. <br><br>New England was a refuge for religious separatists leaving England, while people who immigrated to the Chesapeake region had no religious motives. As a result, New England formed a much more religious society then the Chesapeake region. John Winthrop states that their goal was to form "a city upon a hill", which represented a "pure" community, where Christianity would be pursued in the most correct manner. Both the Pilgrims and the Puritans were very religious people. In both cases, the local government was controlled by the same people who controlled the church, and the bible was the basis for all laws and regulations. From the Article of Agreement, Springfield, Massachusetts it is clear that religion was the basis for general laws. It uses the phrase "being by God's providence engaged together to make a plantation", showing that everything was done in God's name. The Wage and Price Regulations in Connecticut is an example of common laws being justified by the bible. Also in this document the word "community " is emphasized, just as Winthrop emphasizes it saying: "we must be knit together in this work as one man". The immigrants to New England formed very family and religiously oriented communities. Looking at the emigrant lists of people bound for New England it is easy to observe that most people came in large families, and large families support the community atmosphere. There were many children among the emigrants, and those children were taught religion from their early childhood, and therefore grew up loyal to the church, and easily controllable by the same. Any deviants from the regime were silenced or…
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement in North America in the early 1600’s. It was formed by Puritan settlers fleeing religious persecution in England. The lands which became the Massachusetts Bay Colony had previously been inhabited by Native Indians. The Company of Massachusetts Bay received a charter to start a settlement in the New World in 1629. The charter granted the company the right to establish a settlement. The passengers of the “Arbella” who left England in 1630 with their new charter had great expectations. They could not practice their religion beliefs in England, and thus, came to Massachusetts for religious freedom and purification. The Massachusetts Bay Colony became the only English chartered colony whose board of governors did not reside in England. This independence helped the settlers to maintain their Puritan religious practices with very little oversight by the King, and Anglican Church.…
John Winthrop was the power holding leader for the English colonists while traveling and arriving in The New World. When the colonists arrived, his ideals for the society were to have a community based on unity and religion and create "A city upon a hill." He believed that leaving the ideals of England's society, would ultimately help him to achieve the city that the colonists strived for. However, with his demanding notions for a unified community and high demand for everyone to have personal relationship with God, he created a similar society to what the colonists had known in The Old World.…
It set forth the righteous practice of common good. The “city upon a hill” mindset would essentially arouse a feeling of superiority in the region, as intolerance thrived and repelled other religions from inhabiting the area. In fact, when people such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchison did not conform to Massachusetts’ religious and political beliefs, they basically had no choice but to flee. Roger Williams would soon take his religious zeal and establish the colony of Rhode Island, one of the New England colonies. Also, amid this Puritan surge to the New World came many age-diverse and gender-diverse families. According to “A Ship’s list of Emigrants Bound for New England”, A 40-year-old minister from Somerset came on a ship with his relatively large family as well as eight other families of many different ages and sexes. A vision of New England society can be extracted from this list, as it chiefly occupied a small group of close families and a minister whose only motivation for coming to the New World could be religious-based. Only a year later in 1636 came Massachusetts’ Articles of Agreement, which essentially took a step toward imposing ideal society in the already expanding New England…