Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Puritans in the Wilderness

Good Essays
434 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Puritans in the Wilderness
Puritans in the Wilderness
Corruption in the Church of England led to the seventeenth century puritan’s departure for the New World. Puritans strove to live in keeping with the biblical principals that they thought would please their god. The Puritan belief system lent itself to the group’s success in the wilderness setting. Their structure and discipline provided them with organization and endurance to succeed in the untamed land. Seventeenth century puritans lived a heavily structured life. They came to the New World as a church group with an already implemented hierarchy, therefore leadership roles were already in place. Leadership being in place allowed for more efficient gathering of resources, organization of shelter, and planning for potential challenges. If these had not been in place, disaster could have ensued. Puritans also considered the Bible to be their rulebook. Likewise, this saved the Puritans time, because they didn’t need to set up new rules or a code of conduct. Living by the Bible required much discipline. The lessons the Puritans learned from the Bible taught them to live in anticipation. They foresaw the need to find clean drinking water, to make clothing for staying warm in the winter months, and to build quality shelter soon after arriving in the colonies. Puritan discipline also included striving to make God proud. Criminal behaviors, when taken to extreme, were met with harsh consequences. Drinking alcohol was acceptable, but becoming a drunkard was punishable by death. Profanity was not tolerated, and even a child could be put to death for cursing their parents. Puritans also considered hard work to be a religious duty, which caused work to be done well and quickly. Some rules became too rigid to support creativity, which was sometimes necessary in the art of survival. These rules at times resulted in the expulsion of skilled members of the community to adhere to the literal interpretation of the biblical law. As an example, Roger Williams was a clergyman, banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading new opinions considered by some to be dangerous, labeled by others as “Satan’s Policy.” The seventeenth century puritan’s faith in the word of God gave them endurance to persist in challenging times. People that succeed in today’s society are those that possess many of the same traits. For instance, every American president has believed in a higher power, this demonstrates the fact that faith in a higher power can help a person maintain persistence and discipline to achieve high goals. Not only the puritan’s tenacity, but also their structure, discipline, organization, and endurance would sculpt the America we know today.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    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.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 1630`s to the 1660`s the Puritans had a frat influence on the New England colonies. Puritans were protestants that arose within the Church of England. They demanded to have a greater and more rigorous discipline and were not satisfied with what the Church of England offered.They separated themselves from the Church of England but still considered themselves from the Church of England. when their desires were not fulfilled they left to settle in the Americas.Many spread throughout the colonies and settled in places like New Hampshire and Rhode Island. The Puritans made an impact on the political, economical, and the social development of New England colonies through the 1630`s and the 1660`s.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Puritans were one of the most radical groups that left England; they were extremely pious and wanted to create a safe haven for themselves to be able to practice their religion, beliefs, and ideals freely. Puritans main reason for immigrating to America was to create their "City Upon a Hill" , since they were persecuted in England for their beliefs, and because they wanted to reform the Anglican church. They didn´t immigrate for economical reasons, like many of their brethren did in the Chesapeake Bay colonies. Puritans instead wanted to create their model Christian society based on the principals of high morality, and strong family and community lives. Puritan society was based on certain morals and principals which enabled the Puritans to successfully establish a colony; these same morals and principals had a profound impact on the New England colonies in a similar way as well.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1600s, when America was a mysterious land inhabited by even more mysterious people, a handful of brave souls ventured to this strange new world. These brave souls were known as the Puritans. This special group of people sought refuge in America to practice their religion freely, without the ‘corruption of the church’ back in their homeland. Puritans believed that the law, economy and social lives of the people should be completely controlled by their one God. These Puritans had a strong developmental impact on New England and lead their society on a religious foundation. The strict foundation had a distinct impact on the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from the 1630s through the 1660s.…

    • 953 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the 1600’s, the New England colony devolved very rapidly. The political, economic, and social development of the colonies was highly influenced by the Puritans, who helped find most of the colonies in the region after emigrating there from England. The Puritans strict values and ideas helped shape the colonies greatly in several ways. They believed in a representative government which later on became an essential part of the United States’ government. Economically, the idea of fair priced goods also came from the Puritans. Strict values in church, religion, and community were all Puritan customs that helped social development in the 1600’s.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    AP History DBQ

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During the 1600’s, waves of Puritans immigrated to the New World, colonizing in the area of Boston. In contrast to Chesapeake region’s inhabitants, the Puritan settlers did not come for economic interests, but rather for a desire to create a more “pure” society of Christianity. The Puritans had a huge impact on the way the New England region developed. By organizing their society based on their desire to have a government of theocracy, the Puritans made sure their values and ideas had a major influence on the economic, social, and political development of the New England colonies.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In America today, many of us are motivated by vague ideas like the “American Dream”, but the 1600’s equivalent to that were the Puritan values. The Puritan way of life is one was influential, and essential in the development of the New England colonies. Puritans in the New England colonies were hard working and held themselves to a high moral obligation to be a good influence on those around them, this influenced all aspects of colonial life from politics to economy to society as a whole because it made the Puritans try to be the best at everything they did. Politically, Puritan beliefs defined a social hierarchy and limited church and government authority. Economically, Puritan beliefs led people to be less lazy in an attempt to better themselves,…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early settlements of the New World known as America today, the Puritan Community settled in what they used to call New England. Frustrated by the Church of England, they fled to the New World because they were being prosecuted and they wanted to establish a new sect in which God’s law was held supreme. They believed that the Bible and it’s message was the law of the land and no man could oppose it. Following what the Bible said, they believed it was their salvation into having a place in heaven. Their community consisted of religious faith and strict discipline. Another belief they had was that people were either born sinful and bound to live in Hell, and that only living in purity and praying to God would save them. They believed that natural disasters would be the work of the devil and its followers. This strict lifestyle cause them to become paranoid and suspicious of each other. Their hysteria led to the Salem Witch trials in 1692, where each person would blame each other for witchcraft and be executed for working with the devil.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    village met to make the laws and settle the problems of the community. The Puritans wanted every child to read the bible. They passed a law requiring parents to teach their children to read. Another Puritan law required every village with 50 or more families to have a school. Puritan children were taught how to read, write and do arithmetic. In villages with less than 50 families, children went to schools run by women at home.…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is no secret that almost all Puritans came to the New World for religious freedom. That all they wanted to do is purify the Church of England from catholic practices that still intertwined within the church. So they sailed to the New World and tried to show the rest of England of what a good and pure religion looked like without catholic influence. Their morals and religion heavily influence the economy, they would have, how they would govern and how they were to live.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Puritans believed that God had created a special, rare bond with them. God wanted them to live their life according to the Bible, and to try to be good people, The attempted to reform the Anglican church, to no success. In order to be a part of the church, there had to be some sort of proof…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the community, Puritans didn't have much of wealth differences. Therefore, they had no social hierarchy. All of the Puritans also had good work ethic. They all were strong and hardworking people. They were people that believed they were the chosen ones of God. They believed that man had no control over his destiny, that they as one individual, decided that for themselves, meaning that they didn’t believe in predestination. Predestination, being one of the factors they disagreed with with England. Puritans were all close in what their values were. You were shunned for almost anything that went against God’s word. A major thing that happened was when supernatural things started happening. This caused a big uproar in Puritan society. People claimed to be witches, and they started believing that the Devil himself was among them. Once again, the New England Puritans were primarily based on the word of God. In conclusion, if you did anything against God’s word, you would be looked down upon by the…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays