City Upon A Hill

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Recommended: Religion in colonial america

For the Puritans in the early New England colonies life was by no means easy, but there was the possibility to expand their beliefs free from the persecution from Church of England. They had the opportunity to create their ideal society under God with the bible as their law from which they would define how to live. The Puritans set out to create their model society which could spread and cull the impurities from the church. But how did these beliefs and goals ultimately effect their society?

In the book Give Me Liberty: An American History by Eric Foner he notes that: “Puritanism, however, was not simply a set of ideas but a state of mind, a zealousness in pursuing the true faith that alienated many who held differing religious views” (Foner 63). The Puritans saw religion not as just a belief but as life, they had an obligation to God to be the ideal Christians. This idea that their religion was their life lead to the idea of a covenant with God. Including this is Digital History The Puritan Idea of the Covenant: “All social relationships...were envisioned in terms of a covenant or contract which rested on consent and mutual responsibilities.” This idea of a covenant emphasized the Puritans' belief that they were responsible of their religion and to live up to their end of the contract they had to follow God's law or the bible to a “T”.

The Puritans' beliefs were incredibly strong, but this overzealous attitude towards their religious beliefs contributed to troubles down the road. There beliefs and goals for the perfect society influenced their individual communities laws, religious and common place customs. Professor Robert N. Barger notes in Puritans that “God was at the forefront of their minds, He was to motivate all of th...

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...t in their society even if it wasn't seen early on. Their rigid way of life and push to keep the humanism out of their society played another part in the cracking of their societal structure. The aimed high, perfection, the City Upon a Hill that the rest of the world could emulate, they ultimately failed in their quest but they did help with the colonization and resulting religious freedoms in America.

Works Cited

Barger, Professor Robert N. "Puritans.” University of Notre Dame. .

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2008.zs

Matthew, Dr. Terry. "Puritanism in America." Wake Forest University. .

"The Puritan Idea of Covenant." Digital History. .

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