Puritans Influence On American Culture

When the United States was first established as the Thirteen Colonies, it was a long way back from where we are today in the matter of culture. The New England Colonies were mostly Christians, but some of them were Puritans. Puritans wished to purify, hence the name, and reform the Church of England. The Puritans did not last very long, but their original religion, Christianity, remained because of the Great Awakening. The Puritans were the most dynamic Christian force in the American colonies. In England, the Puritans had been people of means and political influence, but King Charles would not tolerate their attempts to reform the Church of England. They thought that perhaps in America they could establish a colony whose government, society, and church were all based upon the Bible, so they left England (PP Cultures, Slide 6). In 1690, The Puritans said that they would establish “a city on a hill” that would show the world what could happen in a community that lived in accordance with God’s laws (Faragher et al. pg. 47). The Puritans were not very nice people with strangers. The Indians were
In the year 1692, the infamous case of Salem, Massachusetts, had everyone in panic. A group of girls had said that some old women had bewitched them. The theories of this case is that it reflected the social tensions that were going on at the time with people seen as outsiders. The majority of victims were old women that live by themselves, without the guidance of a man. Since that was not really seen that much around those times, those women were considered outsiders. It was unheard of a women not having a man leading or guiding her. When they went through the trials for the case, there was a women who did not deny or accept anything but just said the truth. Truthfully, the Puritans were just scared of an independent, strong women which were the women accused in the