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Massachusetts bay colony short note
Puritanism influence on american culture
The influence of the puritans on America
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In the 1600’s, many Puritans made the journey from Europe to America. As these people arrived on the east coast, they first settled along rivers and constructed towns. Most fled Europe because of religious persecution so they wished to have a permanent settlement where they could be free. Therefore, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Throughout this colony and others, the Puritans influenced the social, economic, and political development of the New England colonies.
The Puritans influenced social development. The puritan society was centered around God. Document C says ‘In public or private, we will willingly do nothing to the offence of the church…” They also were not tolerant of other religions. Document G says, “He that
is willing to tolerate any religion, or discrepant way of religion, besides his own, unless it be in matters merely indifferent, either doubts of his own or is not sincere in it…” Because religion was such an important part in their lives, strict social rules on religion were put into place. These strict guidelines with harsh punishments eventually developed into events like the witch hunts. Events such as these were known throughout New England and created fear within the residents of Massachusetts. The Puritans also influenced economic development. To boost the economy in Massachusetts, many brought in slaves to work and make money; making the colony the first in New England to own slaves. Puritans justified their belief with Bible verses like Leviticus 25:44. The slaves helped boost the lumber, shipbuilding, and fishing economy the Massachusetts Bay Colony relied on. The Puritans’ idea of slaves being acceptable to own would spread and cause agriculture to boom in the New World for hundreds of years to come. The Puritans also influenced political development. The sole purpose of the Puritans journey to the New World was to escape persecution; therefore, many Puritans valued freedom. This core idea was shared by most Puritans and is evident in the Declaration of Independence. This document was partially inspired by a Puritan named John Locke. In 1689, Locke wrote the Two Treatises of Government, in which he argues civil society was created for the protection of property, which he defines by life liberty and estate. This is very similar to the Declaration's “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Puritan ideals influenced the political structure of America enormously. Many aspects of modern American culture and history today have been influenced by the Puritans. From slavery, to religion, to the Declaration of Independence, Puritans altered the course of history through their ideas on social life, economy, and politics.
The puritans traveled from England on the Arabella in January of 1630 to escape to a place where they could instill their own religious and political values into their society; Stephen Foster writes about the puritans in the narrative entitled Puritanism and Democracy: A mixed Legacy. Stephen grants the puritans with creating a society based off of religious freedom and reformation of the English church. Their social constructs consisted of hierarchies and accepted inequality. The puritans are credited with laying the foundation to the democratic system of America along with early aspects of political and social constructs found in current day America.
The Crusades of the middle ages introduced much innovative and formerly unheard of merchandise into Western Europe; however the scarcity of these luxury goods instilled Europeans with drive to find easier access to the Far East. Although desired "Northwest Passage" never was found, joint-stock companies, like the Virginia Company of London, settled colonies in the New World for untapped resources such as silver and other tradable goods. Many more corporations followed suit, settling mainly in the Chesapeake Bay area, their small settlements eventually developing into the Chesapeake colonies. The Chesapeake colonies were focused primarily on profitable enterprises. At the same time, the New England colonies were being settled with a whole different set of initiatives, principally religious freedoms and family. Governing bodies were established, with their success dependent on the quality of the settlers the colony attracted. The different motives for settlement affected the routine events in such a way that the New England and Chesapeake colonies differed very greatly from one another even though they were both mainly settled by the English.
In the 17th century, the British colonies still identified themselves as European, but as the colonies expanded and grew more populous, they developed differing geographic, social, and economic systems. This difference between New England, and Chesapeake, is caused by the motivations for settlement between the two regions. While the New England colonies were mainly settled for religious motivations, most notably by the Puritans, the Chesapeake colonies were settled for economic prosperity. Also, while the Chesapeake colonies were mainly settled by individual young men seeking a profit, the New England colonies were settled by families hoping to settle and expand.
The New England colonies developed a close-knit homogeneous society and a thriving mixed economy of agriculture and commerce. They developed this by creating a group called the New England Confederation. This focused on the protection of the people in the colony in the event of enemies trying to attack them. On page 49, it says “The primary purpose of the confederation was defense against foes or potential foes, notably the Indians, the French, and the Dutch.” They created this as a safety net for the New England colonies. Every part of the New England colonies had two votes, it didn’t matter on the size of the colonies. The ran it as their own because the king of the time didn’t care much for the colonies.
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 colony, Massachusetts Bay was settled under God’s law in the Americas by puritans that decided to leave the church of England as a result of King Charles I’s persecution. The Puritans believed that they need to purify from the mixed doctrines between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic. Inspired by the opportunity that the Americas can offer to them, they decided to establish a community called “Massachusetts Bay” after a name of their puritan corporation “the Massachusetts Bay Company, which settled their first colony in Salem in 1629. They created a Puritan self-governing by developing a government which includes a governor and a representative assembly called the General
The Puritans were mainly artisans and middling farmers by trade and in the wake of the reformation of the Church of England, left for the colonies to better devout themselves to God because they saw the Church of England as a corrupt institution where salvation was able to be bought and sold, and with absolutely no success in further reforming the Church, set off for the colonies. English Puritans believed in an all-powerful God who, at the moment of Creation, determined which humans would be saved and which would be damned (Goldfield 45).
The puritans were very religious. They wanted to show everyone what happens if you are good and believe in god and the heavens. If you do bad things you would be punished or be killed. If you do good things you can be hand chosen to go to heaven.
The pilgrims who settled in New England were in search of religious freedoms which was a major reason for them to leave England. These people believed that no one should be persecuted because of their religious beliefs. Some Protestants wanted to break away from the Anglican church while others wanted to be completely separate. Since there were many reasons for leaving England, there were many reason to go to America and set up the New England colonies. Another main reason for people such as farmers, craftsmen and traders to travel to America was to establish an all around better life. The colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were settled by people in search of religious freedoms or a better overall way of life. They wanted a better
The original colonists of New England were the Puritans. Initially, the Puritans departed for Denmark after being offered protection. However, Denmark was a Protestant nation: religious maltreatment was raging in England between the Puritans, the Church of England, the Catholic Church, and other Protestant churches. The Puritans wanted religious freedom, so they left for the New World in the Mayflower in September 1620. After the colonists arrived at Plymouth in the New World, they immediately set up governments and villages that revolved around the General Council. The Puritans sought to re-form society in the style they thought God rightly envisioned it to be plan...
The church and Christian beliefs had a very large impact on the Puritan religion and lifestyle. According to discovery education, “Church was the cornerstone of the mainly Puritan society of the 17th century.”( Douglas 4). Puritan laws were intensively rigid and people in society were expected to follow a moral strict code. And because of Puritans and their strict moral codes, any act that was considered to go against this code was considered a sin and deserved to be punished. In Puritan theology, God h...
In the 1600s, the New England colonies were quickly developing because of the Puritans. Many great ideas and ethics were brought to the New World from England in a short amount of time. There was always a sense of order in their society, which was spread throughout the colonies. The importance of unity, education, and money greatly shaped the systematic life of Puritans.
When settlers from England came to America, they envisioned a Utopia, where they would have a say in what the government can and cannot do. Before they could live in such a society they would have to take many small steps to break the hold England had on them. The settlers of America had to end a monarchy and start their own, unique, form of government. They also had to find a way that they would have some kind of decision making power. The most important change that the colonies in America had to make was to become a society quite different from that in England.
From their point of arrival in 1630, to their diminishment in 1700 the Puritans that settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony had a unique impact on the surrounding colonies. The Puritan came to the New World searching for religious freedom and their belief system ultimately influenced the characteristics associated with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These characteristics from their government, economy, and social structure ultimately spread and were assimilated into the surrounding New England Colonies. The Puritans that came to the New World in 1630, had a large impact on the New England Colonies through the influence of their ideas and values on the political, economic, and social development found therein.
In the New World, colonies of Europeans were forming rapidly across the east coast. These colonies were seemingly founded on the ideas of oppression as well as dreams of wealth and glory, except for one particular group of religious colonists who dreamed of creating“the city upon the hill”. But who were these people and how did their ideas and beliefs affect Early America? In England a religious group of people known as the Puritans were finding themselves unhappy with the Anglican Church. The Puritans, numbered 102 men women and children, found themselves relocating to America and settling near Cape Cod in southeastern Massachusetts to escape the church and practice their own religion. Their mission was to build a society of independent farm