Like the other groups from Europe that came over to the New World, the puritans came over primarily for profit at first. Then the puritans saw their opportunity to seek refuge from the harsh theocratic government to start their own utopia for only puritans, in the early seventeenth century. The puritans had the idea of growing a closely-knit Christian society. Although the puritans lived up to somewhat of an extent on creating a utopian political system, they didn’t live up to their vision of: building colonies that were socially weak, and having a harsh religious system.…
1) Puritans did not want to separate from the Church of England. They wanted to "purify" it of practices they considered too Catholic. The Puritans believed that the holy Church did not abide by the biblical commands strong enough, and so they didn’t like that virtuous morals.…
The Puritans, in their lives, tried to glorify God in everything they did. They believed the best way to glorify God and also to get to heaven (or at least make one's neighbor believe he is going to heaven) was hard labor. The Puritans tried to see the connection to God in their own work, and their neighbors often checked on them,…
The puritans were much stricter, religiously, compared to the average modern Christian. A Massachusetts puritan farmer in 1640 would probably think of God as a wrathful angry god with absolute sovereignty. This belief would be brought upon him by the church and he would have believed this since childhood. The farmer would believe that his reason for existence is to obey the covenant that the Puritans had with God, and thus, if obeyed, God would grant him saving grace. He would need this saving grace because he was born with original sin and is naturally corrupt as a human. His relationship with the church would be great, because he is required to attend church services. Also, the government is a theocracy, so participation and relationship…
Unhappy with the Church of England, the Puritans traveled all the way to the New World to create a society based solely on their religion. Their goals in this endeavor were to establish settlements in which they were governed by Puritanical religious scriptures and in which no other religion was practiced. As opposed to having laws and a proper Constitution as the United States now has, their law was to be strictly based upon the guidance of God. In their eyes, this would provide a safe place to practice their religion exactly as they wished and it would allow them to integrate their spirituality into the very backbone of the society. Though this seemed like the perfect type of society, it was flawed in several ways. The Puritans’ plan of…
Puritans believed everyone was to become a living “saint”. These “saints” basically ran their communities. Only the “saints” were allowed to vote, hold office, or really have any say in anything. To become a “saint” you had to admit all your sins to the community, which was very difficult and embarrassing. This caused many men to disagree with the process and didn’t care if they couldn’t vote or hold office. They believed that they could still…
Puritans were passionate reformers seeking to bring the Church of England to a state of purity in comparison with Christianity at the time of Christ and decided to form their own religious colonies in America. They considered religion to be a complex and highly intellectual affair. Thus, leaders were highly trained scholars with authoritarian positions that developed a “built-in hierarchism” (http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7eCAP/PURITAN/purhist.html#pil, 3). Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson believed and preached “Individualisme”…
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…
The Reformation was the driving force behind English Catholic dissenters, many of which would eventually form the base of groups heading for new lands to find religious freedom. These people would come to be called Puritans and their goal was to purify the Church of England. They wanted to do away with the “offensive” features such as Church hierarchy and traditional rituals of Catholic worship in order to promote a relationship between the individual and his relationship with God. Through English rulers King Henry the VIII to Elisabeth I to King James, the Puritans never really found a strong foothold for their practices. When King James’ son, Charles I came into power, a ruler that was strongly anti-Puritan and enforced conformity to the Church of England, Puritans began making plans to escape the persecution in England for the new world where they hoped to build new colonies to practice their faiths. Two of these groups, one to land at Plymouth and another to arrive at Massachusetts Bay, were prime examples of Puritans seeking to find a new life outside of England (or more specifically, the Church of England.)…
The Puritans’ influence on New England was mainly political. As a Protestant group of people, they believed in a God, or a Supreme Being, and acknowledged Him as their superior. They also applied this to all other higher authorities by respecting those at a higher rank than their own. As stated in the Salem Covenant of 1636, “We do hereby promise to carry ourselves in all lawful obedience to those that are over us...” (Doc C) they promised to obey those with a higher authority. But, they made sure that one man did not have too much power or authority, because power can eventually lead to corruption. “... give mortal men no greater power than they are content they shall use -- for use it they will....give as much power as God in His word gives to men....” (Doc H) They followed God's’ word in allotting power to prevent corruption due to too much power. The Puritans also established an important principle still used today. That is, the principle of Religious Freedom, or of a Liberty of Conscience. One of their main reasons for coming to settle here was so they could have their own religious freedom, without any persecution from others. Roger Williams declared that “God requireth not a…
They Puritans goal in instituting their religion was to purify Christianity. It is unlikely that they realized just how influential they would be on New England culture in the years to come. Though many Americans might not enjoy this fact, the social and religious ideas that the Puritans held were essential in the shaping of New England colonies. The ways in which the Puritans socially, economically, and politically applied their religion into daily life greatly changed all the people of New England, for better or for worse. This is proven in how people reacted to their strict rules, the Puritan relations with the Native Americans, and in general their church centered society.…
Puritans were a group of people from Europe that came to America to live out their own religion. They were a hard working, strict when in it came to their religion , and they also believed that they were Gods chosen people. Now the Planters also came from Europe as well but they weren't leaving for religion but more for the money. They were not as hard working as the planters, you could even say that they were pampered. Puritans and planters were said to be very different groups of people but also very much alike. In my opinion they were more alike than unlike. They were both a religious group. They all loved God, almost the same amount. The Puritans were hard working, but the Planters were lazy and pampered.…
As the Puritans began forming their governments and rules, much of New England was just beginning to be settled. Although in document E the Puritans thank their God for the their passage to the new world, much can be thanked to Martin Luther and John Calvin, pioneers of the Puritan religion. Once the grievances had been posted on the door of Wittenberg's cathedral, the idea of an alternative religion had been planted. The Puritans, from the ideas of Luther, believed that the bible alone was the only voice of God and with that, all men are equal. Similar to Luther, John Calvin also had varying views from the the church, but his were the idea of predestination. Predestination is the idea that God had selected the “elect” to go to heaven from the very beginning. The Puritans used these two men to help shape their unique and devote religion.…
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.…
The Puritans that wanted to separate from the Anglican church sailed to New England, and eventually became known as the Pilgrims. They believed that people in New England lived under poverty as a punishment for a “guilty land that wallowed in sins.” They were more radical than the Puritans. When the Puritans worked, they wanted to honor their God, along with working hard, so that their God would approve. They wanted to experience the “New Birth,” which is a “transforming infusion of divine grace that liberated people from profound anxiety over their spiritual wprthlessnmess amd eternal fate.” They believed in moral living, devout prayer, reading the…