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Puritan Americans In The 17th Century

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Puritan Americans In The 17th Century
The Puritan Family
Number of male and female inhabitants were unequal which caused fatherly authoritative figures to only take place in Chesapeake at the end of the 17th century
Puritans wanted male authority; common law tradition that restricted women's rights
Women were only equal in relation to spirit and religion; could become official church members; divorce was legal; marriage = two-sided love; Man = God in church & governor secularly; magistrates (law enforcers) supported male superiority, but not physical abuse of women
John Winthrop stated that a woman lives up to her role when she subjects to men and does her job; women always had to have children

Government and Society in Massachusetts
Arabella: the ship Winthrop headed to Massa
…show more content…
New England leaders thought the Indians were barbaric
Puritans thought they were Catholics with fake gods and natural liberty
In 1642, the Connecticut General Court ordered a 3 year sentence of labor for any settler who disregarded their religious beliefs to live with Indians

The Pequot War
New England Indians didn't have a strong chief like Powhatan in VA; Coastal Indian tribes began to diminish because of illnesses
In 1637, a fur trader was murdered by Pequots; Connecticut and Massachusetts soldiers and Narragansett allies burned the tribe’s village; the remaining Pequots were then sold into Caribbean slavery
The outcome of this is that the Connecticut River Valley was quickly conquered by the English & their power stunned the Indians (undefeatable)

The New England Economy
Puritans arrived in America from East Anglia (a global clothing production place); this region had no cloth trade & harvests; they wanted New England for religious freedom and economic improvement
New Englanders used fishing & lumber for trade because they didn't have sugar or tobacco; focused on family farms and individual food production
Not a slaves in 17th century New England; people only wanted land; women and children worked in fields; land from

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