Early American Literature
(1620-1820)
In the first half of the 17th century the New World found two groups of people
colonizing. The first group, the Puritans, had left England after years of exile due to
their lack of faith in the Church of England. With the reading and understanding of the
Bible almost completely laid in the hands of the preacher, the congregation was forced
to believe all the words that the preacher said. This all came to an end with John
Calvin.
His ideas were that God likes certain people better than others and those "chosen"
ones would get more land and more money. This idea took off with the Puritans as they
seeked religious freedom, a chance to start new churches and purification of the Church
of England. As life moved on in the New World for the Puritans they seemed
overwhelmed with the fact that they were the chosen ones and proceeded to act out life
and every aspect of it for God and God only. The other group was far more open minded.
The Enlightenment that swept the world impacted these people greatly and caused them
to question the acts of the Puritans.
Puritan life in the New World seemed only to consist of Church and all daily
life outside the Church was to be done in the name of the Lord. There are countless
quotes throughout the text of "God's will" in reaction to everything from the death of a
child to the lack of food or water. "If excellence abide below, How excellent is He that
dwells on high,". With this quote one can see the presence that God has in the life of a
Puritan. They believed that everything that we on the Earth was God's will. If
a tree fell on their house killing all insid...
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...and through eduction
answered those questions forming a foundation for their beliefs. Upon that we see many
different branches of the many different religions that make up the country today. With
this reasoning present people seemed to build off the Puritan ideas and make these
churches. In the event that the Puritans were the only religious colony to settle in
America then what happened in England would most definitly happen here. The Puritan
Church would be roughly the same as the Church of England and those that didn't believe
in it would have to move elsewhere seeking religious freedom, the cycle would repeat
itself. Thus, both groups of settlers complimented each other and made the foundation
of modern American religion. Although those that did this may not be able to see it
today, they found their religious freedom.
The Puritans came to the New World in hopes of establishing their religion as the only accepted faith. In my opinion, they became exactly like those that they fled from in England. Their closed minded views kept them from spreading the word of God and closed themselves off from saving others. Their persecution and intolerance of other religions bound their hands and communities.
The Puritan religion had a surprisingly strong claim for the men and women who are hypersensitive to the disturbing forces that transform England in the middle of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Marriages remain far longer in their lives also the Puritan’s family in the beginning of the seventeenth century New England was more stabilized, adapted, and connected unit also the young Puritans was taught in mixture of constructive parts and the girls was taught as a housewife just like their mothers their lives were complicated.
During the seventeenth century a group of Christians split off from the Anglican Church of England and formed their own theology know as Puritanism. The Puritans were made up of the middle-class teachers, lawyers, merchants, clergy, and parliament members. Joshua Miller explains how the Puritans, "equated the church with the body of Christ;" and further states that, "to admit everyone, even open and unrepentant sinners, to the church was to pollute Christ's body" (Miller 59). The Church of England corruption of this body was the main reason for the great "Puritan Migration" during the seventeenth centry, along with the fact that the King refused to convene parliament at the time causing an uprising against the Throne of England. [1] The Puritans were cast out by King Charles of England and sent to the Americas to start a new colony of their own. The Puritans came to the Americas with a set idea of union between church and state. In the patent given to the Puritans by the King a selct few men were given the power to make laws without consent of the commonwealth and allowed to confiscate lands from the natives. Roger Williams a man who openly opposed these kinds of injustices committed by Puritan leaders like John Cotton and John Winthrop. A Puritan that had turned Separatist, Roger Williams wanted no part of the tainted Church of England. Separatists completely severed ties with the Anglican Church and formed their own denomination with their own theology and system of beliefs. Williams' separatist views did not sit well with the Puritans and as a result he paid the price for his open rebellion against the Puritan acts in New England. The Puritan church and government banis...
The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts left England because they thought the Church was obscuring God’s glory with its obsession of earthly things.
Unlike the well-defined social classes of England, the colonies had a streamline class structure, which gave individuals the chance to rise on the social latter. New settlers living on the coast could become rich by fishing and selling what they caught. If fishing was not a settler's strong point, then they could try their hand at farming. Getting the land to farm on was the easy part. The 'head right' system gave each male 50 acres, and 50 acres to each indentured servant he might bring over. England could not do this because England so defined the social classes and they did not have enough land that they could give to every male and his indentured servant.
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of England. While crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the great migration, delivered perhaps the most famous sermon aboard the Arbella, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop’s sermon gave hope to puritan immigrants to reform the Church of England and set an example for future immigrants. The Puritan’s was a goal to get rid of the offensive features that Catholicism left behind when the Protestant Reformation took place. Under Puritanism, there was a constant strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. Unlike the old England, they wanted to prove that New England was a community of love and individual worship to God. Therefore, they created a covenant with God and would live their lives according to the covenant. Because of the covenant, Puritans tried to abide by God’s law and got rid of anything that opposed their way of life. Between 1630 and the 18th century, the Puritans tried to create a new society in New England by creating a covenant with God and living your life according to God’s rule, but in the end failed to reform the Church of England. By the mid 1630’s, threats to the Puritans such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker were being banned from the Puritan community for their divergent beliefs. 20 years later, another problem arose with the children of church members and if they were to be granted full membership to the church. Because of these children, a Halfway Covenant was developed to make them “halfway” church members. And even more of a threat to the Puritan society was their notion that they were failing God, because of the belief that witches existed in 1692.
The Puritans were Englishmen who chose to separate from the Church of England. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church or Church of England resembled the Roman Catholic Church too closely and was in dire need of reform. Furthermore, they were not free to follow their own religious beliefs without punishment. In the sixteenth century the Puritans settled in the New England area with the idea of regaining their principles of the Christi...
Church was a major aspect for residents of New England. Most people in Massachusetts were puritans, people who left England seeking religious tolerance. Puritans were very strict and almost everything was dictated by the church. Puritans believed that all sins should be punished. This included anything from sleeping in church to stealing food. They also believed that everything was divine intervention from god, so if a neighbor got sick or had unhealthy crops no helping hand was extended. According to Puritans Satan picked the weakest people to do his biddings. People who followed Satan were considered witches, witchcraft was considered one of the worse crimes. People convicted of witchcraft were put to death.
While residing in England, the Puritans and faithful Catholics faced prosecution, which led to their immigration to the New World. Most left England to avoid further harassment. Many groups and parishes applied for charters to America and, led by faithful ministers, the Pilgrims and Puritans made the long voyage to North America. Their religion became a unique element in the New England colonies by 1700. Before landing, the groups settled on agreements, signing laws and compacts to ensure a community effort towards survival when they came to shore, settling in New England. Their strong sense of community and faith in God led them to develop a hardworking society by year 1700, which Documents A and D express through the explanation of how the Pilgrims and Puritans plan to develop...
The Puritans who were seeking religious freedom were the first to affect New England religiously. Therefore, religion was heavily influential in the New England colonies. This area was strictly Calvinist, and there was little to no tolerance for any other religion. This homogeneity allowed for a rigorous sense of local order. The church was an equally-important partner with town governance in preserving social order (Church and State were not separate!) In every colony except for Rhode Island, law required everyone to attend worship services on the Sabbath and every taxpayer to contribute to the support of the
To begin, typical Puritan society during the 17th century was “painfully stern and somber; it was founded on the strictest, unmollified Calvinism,” (Puritan…). In other words, their society was very restricted and confined to religion. Civil law also played a role in the citizens’ business and social relations. Law impacted how they dressed, their religious affairs, and even their family relations. In terms of education, Puritans prospered. In fact, in Massachusetts, they required every township of fifty families to employ a teacher to educate the children. Their government was also structured upon religion because religion served as their only method of life. In terms of gender roles, the men were responsible for earning bread for...
Among the first English settlers were the pilgrims, a group of around 100 people who fled England in 1608 for Holland due to religious persecution (Henkin and McLennan, 54), but found it to be too tolerable (Lecture), and were concerned about the influence of the Dutch on their children (Henkin and McLennan, 54). With hopes of a “purer” society (Lecture, 9/21/16), they decided to emigrate to the New World, eventually landing at Plymouth Harbor. The Puritans emigrated because of concerns that “the English reformation had not fully purged itself of Catholic heresy,” (Henkin and McLennan,
Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England settled New England. They were a highly religious people. Document A, John Winthrop’s “ City on a hill” speech, shows how they lived according to God’s will and were very community oriented. Their towns were very planned out with a town/ church meetinghouse in the centre, and land plots for everyone in the community. This is shown in Document D, Articles of Agreement in Springfield Massachusetts 1636. Family was also very important. Since they were very religious and family is highly regarded in the Bible, marriage was advocated and adultery was a huge crime. Adulterers were made to wear the letter A on their clothing. Since they were a very close-knit people, they travelled as big families and sometimes as communities. This mass travel is depicted in document B that is a ship’s list of emigrants bound for New Engla...
The Puritans first became a sect in England, where they became dissatisfied with the Church of England and sought reform. They led a civil war but their victory was short-lived and they came to North America to escape persecution. “The Puritans believed that the Bible was God’s true law and that it provided a plan for living.” They wanted to live according to this belief and that is what brought the separation between them and the Church of England. For the Puritans, God was to be the motivation of all their actions (Kizer, Kay). They believed in piousness, righteousness, and hard work. (Campbell, Douglas).
The Puritans believed in punishing sin. When someone was caught in sin they were publicly punished. Puritans believed strongly in humiliation. They locked the guilty people in the stocks or the pillory (a frame with holes for head and hands) with a sign on them describing the sin--where everyone could see it. This was a big event. Schools were let out and people came from all around to see such sights. They would also dunk a person who was a gossip (or guilty of other such sins) from the end of a long log into a pond or lake.