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Religious Influences on the Puritans

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Religious Influences on the Puritans
Emily Deluzio
December 7, 2012

I. Introduction:
As the 1630’s came into the world, documented charters materialized into homes, farms, and churches that created the colonies of the New World. The thriving settlers made it their goal to speed up the process of the reformation of their church, as worship was a ritual part of their everyday life. The clergymen lead the colony both in church and in everyday life, as they were the most respected profession at that time. As the colonies grew larger in size, the settlers farmed the essential crops that the land could provide and traded both locally and through a transatlantic route to the motherland, Great Britain. The Puritan religious views helped influence the economic and political systems in New England, as well as the social development.

II. The economic system of the Puritan settlers was helped shape by the views of the Puritan faith
A. DOCUMENT I
1. Their Puritan faith gives the settlers their drive to succeed and work hard, which ends in profit for the farmers who spend their time away from the church in the fields.
2. The Puritans made it their goal to be good Christians so they can go to heaven.
If the Puritan faith says that they need to follow the rules to become one the elect people that go to heaven, then the Puritans will work as hard as they can to present themselves as good Christians.
3. This helped the Puritans become financially stable and made them believe that they were helping God in seeing that they were fit to be in the elect group.
B. DOCUMENT C
1. “Promising also unto our best ability to teach our children and servants the knowledge of God, and of His Will, that they may serve Him also”
2. John Winthrop called their settlement a “city upon a hill”, meaning that they were going to be close to God in every way. Them making their agriculture flourish and boosting their economic status is their way of following God’s will and serving him.
3. Feeling connected to God is one of

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