Puritanism In Colonial America

Puritanism was a philosophy derived from the religious reform movement which arose amongst the Church of England in the late 16th century. This neglected, yet critical aspect of world history, was provoked by the siege of the British Crown, and the religious persecution the Puritans were often subjected to. When they arrived in Massachusetts, which was previously untrodden land, they began to develop Colonial America. Albeit, the Puritans are often controversial because despite aiming to purify the Church, they discriminated people based on race, gender, religion, and class. It seems paradoxical that those who devoted their lives to running from persecution could oppress others politically, economically, and socially because of who they are, however, discrimination spread across America overnight.
For example, a law unanimously passed by the House of Burgesses in 1692 stated that slaves have not rights to a jury trial for capital offenses and instead, 4 justices of peace would determine the fate of the accused. In addition, in 1669 the bill stating that the killing of a slave when resisting their master could not go taken to court as prepensed malice. In fact, in 1672 the creation of another law provided the slaveholder financial compensation at the death of a slave. This information came from Virginia's laws and corroborates with various other accounts which abuse slaves. Lastly, all slaves were legal property and were purchased at slave auctions when children under 9 were even chained on the stage because any child born of an enslaved mother has a life of servitude awaiting