Puritans Role Model

Improved Essays
Puritanism was first developed in the late 16th century when a reform was put on the Church of England. Those who practiced Puritanism were known as Puritans and sought to purify the Church of England. The Puritans felt that the reformation had not gone far enough and that the church still had Catholic influence and was corrupt. They felt as if the church’s doctrine was incorrect and not what God wanted. As the Puritans tried to ask for more reforms to be made, King James I was becoming increasingly repressive. Because of this, the Puritans traveled to the New World where they would escape the impurities of the Church of England and live by their religion of Puritanism. As the Puritans created their first model community in the New World, they …show more content…
One of the main goals the Puritans set when coming to the New World was that they would develop a community where the laws and government would rule as close to the law of God as possible. Puritans developed their government into a representative political system with a governor, council, and assembly. Because the Puritans believed in the Bible being their one true authority, they only allowed church members (white, male landowners who have been selected by God) to vote and hold office. Since there were so many towns of Puritans, each community was self-governed and they answered to no higher authority because nothing had more authority than the Bible. Because these societies were small and self-governed, ordinary farmers could hold a lot more political power in the New England colonies than they could in Old England. Puritans also held town meetings where women and men could both voice their opinion; this became the purest form of democracy. This type of government was attractive to other colonists as an autonomous alternative to their traditional government. Because the Puritans had the purest form of democracy known in America and ruled by God’s law, other New England colonies followed in their footsteps. Although each New England colony was slightly different, they all liked the idea of not being ruled by a …show more content…
Roger Williams was once a part of the model community until he had a different opinion. Williams believed that they should buy the land they took from the Indians instead of stealing, and that there should be a complete separation between church and state (meaning religious ideas should not interfere with the making of government laws). Most Puritan communities considered him a radical separatist, someone looking to separate completely from the Church of England instead of just improving it. He was kicked out of two Puritan towns until he eventually established his own colony, Rhode Island, where religious freedom and separation between church and state existed. As new communities were established, they strayed from the strict beliefs of the first Puritan

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Strong political beliefs held by the Puritans leaving England helped shape the New England colonies.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In terms of religion, government, social structure, and economy, the Southern, New England, and Middle colonies shared both similarities and differences. From New Hampshire all the way down to Georgia, the settlers that settled in the colonies really defined what each colony had to offer. Between the types of religions to the governments they had, there were many clear reasons why they were similar and different. In the Southern colonies, which consisted of Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, religion, government, and their economy were a couple of their main features.…

    • 1391 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Not all colonists in New England were Puritans but the Puritan religion was a major influence on the establishment of the colonies. Puritans were not satisfied with the Protestant Reformation and believed that the Church of England had to many Catholic rituals. They believed neither the church nor the nation were living up to their ideals. In order to seek the truth they urged the people to read the Bible and listen to their sermons. Puritans followed the teachings of John Calvin in which he taught that the world was divided between the elect and the damned.…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ronald Regan once said, “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” Religious tolerance has been an important aspect since the beginning of U.S History. Religious tolerance is what makes the United States successful concerning human rights. The importance of Rhode Island will be shown through three different resources: Colonial America, Give me Liberty, and The American Colonies. The colony of Rhode Island is important to U.S History since it was the first colony to introduce the concept of religious tolerance, which will be shown by the way they implemented religious toleration in its political, religious, and economic activity.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Puritans lived being very selfless and insisted on their own interdependence. Together they would agree as one. People know the dark side of the Puritans and anyone who disagrees, anyone who does stand up, anyone who does criticize the magistrates or ministers of their congregation, they would be banished. In the end they all want to just protect their fundamental ways of life. In the 1630s, the Puritans were most likely viewed as an aggressive group of people who would attack and banish people if they didn’t agree with their frame of mind.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beginning in the 1630’s Puritans came to the colonies after facing persecution in England for their want to purify and reform the Church of England. The Puritans believed that the New World was similar to the Garden of Eden and that the New World was going to be the “city upon the hill”. The Puritans settled in the now known area of Boston, and held services in bare churches throughout the town. Three people who were principal to Puritan religion in the colonies were Richard Mather, a minister in Dorchester Massachusetts who drafted the Cambridge Platform, a description of the Congregational system.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Once Elizabeth took the throne, Puritans were somewhere at a standstill. While her government did not satisfy them, did not purify the church of its ceremonies and vestments, did not get rid of the bishops and archbishops, but she did defy the pope and made England the mainstay for Protestantism against the catholic church of Spain. With her also accepting Puritans among her advisors, Puritans believed things were moving the way they were supposed to (p. 16). Although they thought things were coming along James I kind of crushed those spirits. James I disliked Puritans and allowed no further reformation of the church (p. 17).…

    • 1461 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Early New England colonies built their foundation on puritan views and ideas. The puritans helped develop most of what we know today of the New England colonies. They influenced politics, economics, and the social lives of colonies In the New England territory, especially during 1630 through the 1660s. Puritans, mainly separatist Puritans, helped build up the New England colonies, especially politically. Puritans believed that people need to be united to efficiently work as a governing body.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    New England colonies organized their society based on theocracy, which ensured their values and ideas had a significant impact on the economic, political and social development during the 1630s through the 1660s. The Puritans worked hard to prioritize the economic development of New England since their belief was that they were a model for humankind favored by God to succeed. Economic activity of the region, was secondary under the focus of religious concerns. Wealthy merchants made up the portion of Puritan settlers which created a merchant upper class at the top of the economic pyramid.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The puritans came to the colonies largely in family groups. They could read and write. And diaries and letters reflected an intense emphasis on their devotional life.it is said that puritanism as an attitude was remarkably durable. A durability that helped organize the religious experience and it's practices that became known as the new England way. Its foundation certainly derived from the Geneva bible they brought with them.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The British Colonies in North America were established for the most part in the mid 1600s, with two of the major groups being the New England area colonies and the Middle Atlantic area colonies. Religion must be considered when looking at the formation of these colonies. The New England colonies were shaped in major ways by the heavy impact of Puritan culture, and the establishment of the church as the centre of society. The Middle Atlantic colonies were also shaped by religion, specifically the belief in religious freedom held by the Quakers. The Quaker colonies were also shaped by the strongly held values of equality.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Starting in the 17th century, The Puritans were the dominant people in New England. They desired to purify the English Church, hence their name. They decided that the best way to do that was to come to America, and try to be a model society, for the rest of the world to see. They tried to not to give in to temptation, but to live a godly life. They made many rules to try to prevent sinning, and to keep their lives extremely pure.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Puritan Beliefs

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Puritans The Puritans were a group of English Reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed. Puritans also thought them going to the new land was a gift and they wanted to do things their way. the puritans were ready to take control of the colonies and take their ideologies with them , convince the puritans to establish a place through consistent laws where they can establish in the name of their god. A pep talk about how to start a new colony stressing the importance of alignment with religion and the their god. Many of the early citizens of this country considered education's primary job was to make moral citizens for a better…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In America, we have freedom of religion and every religion is accepted, but that was not always the case when the Puritans tried to force their religion on the Indians. Religion is a touchy topic in our society today, but not as much as it was when the Puritans first came to the New World and tried to force the natives to their religion. This created a conflict that got so heated it was a cause of war. This conflict makes us wonder, who started the fighting? Did the natives do something to the puritans or did the puritans do something to the natives?…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The role of Christianity in a Puritan’s everyday life was very important throughout their daily routine. Unlike Christians in today’s society they ate, slept, and breathed the Bible and thought that everything they encountered throughout their day was because God was punishing them or because God was praising them. Even though these Puritans lived this way at times they would lose track of what the true meaning of the Bible was and do ungodly things causing corruption in a puritan town. So, these Puritan’s believed very highly of themselves and thought that they had it all figured out and that everyone else needed to follow their lead. They believed that the Catholic Churches had lost their way and the only way for the corruption in England to subside was to move to the New World and start their own village and church as an example to be followed by.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays