American Society Vs Puritan Society

Societies have a responsibility to protect their people. Because of this responsibility, it is necessary for them to have a certain amount of control over their people. The ways in which societies protect people has changed throughout time. Societies create laws and punishments for breaking laws that are put in place. Both the Puritan society and contemporary American society had strict control over their people, as well as used similar methods in obtaining the order. However, the Puritan society was more strict in their ways of control than contemporary American society. Puritan society had a tight control over their people. For one, Puritans ruled by Theocracy meaning they were extremely religious in their government rule and in their personal life. By holding tight religious …show more content…
There were many laws that pertained to religious life because the church was where everybody got their ideals from. For example, there were laws forcing people to attend church twice on the Sabbath, if they neglected to do so, they would be fined or suffer bodily punishment (Laws and Documents Relating to Religion in Early VA). These rules exemplified the importance of religion in Puritan society. Religion was used in society as a way to control the people. If people ceased churchgoing they wouldn’t susceptible to the control of the church. Thus, these laws were imperative to keep these people under control. Another way Puritan society controlled their people was by setting their moral standards very high. The Puritans were expected to live their lives according to biblical standard and “prove proper faith with proper actions” (Gabriel). The reason for living their lives in moderation was because the only way to reach salvation was to listen to the bible word. Members of society were now allowed to gamble, or drink, or do anything deemed immoral in society, they were instead expected to spend any free times listening to sermons or reading the bible