Laws are created to keep people and their property safe. Laws are created to prevent the past from happening again and to punish those who choose to purposefully endanger others. Take the Puritans for an example, the Puritans made laws in order to protect the uniformity of the community. Family and religion were everything to the Puritans, they came to America with little to no information about it. The only feeling of security they had was with their community and religion. In order to keep that feeling of community the laws had to be the way they were, strict with cruel punishments to make sure that everyone stayed in line. The Puritans came to America to practice religious freedom, only to ban any religion that was not Puritanism. Looking
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Even in Western Europe during the 1500s, going against the Church/Government would result to harsh punishments. Since the Puritans had broken off from the Church of England, the idea of petitioning against the government was something that they did not even think of. So when Roger Williams had spoken out against Church and State being integrated in his “Plea for Religious Liberty”(Doc D), it was very unorthodox. He believed in freedom of religion and spoke publicly about it. Roger Williams thought the church was doing wrong by taking the Natives land, as well as forcing them into their religion. He was eventually sent to trial and ultimately was arranged to be arrested and deported back the England. Williams did flee to Rhode Island before he was arrested where he made friends with the native tribe who inhabited there. Anne Hutchinson was another person who went to trial for going against the Church. In the beginning, John Winthrop had said in his ‘City Upon a Hill’ speech “wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together,”(Doc B). In lesser words, the community will do everything together. So when Anne Hutchinson started to read the bible on her own, it became a problem. Besides the fact that she was going off and doing her own thing, people would start to think “if she can read the bible …show more content…
Back in the Puritan times, punishments were cruel. Most of it was public humiliation such as public whippings, if you had committed adultery you’d have to wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ on all of your clothes. A thief would have the letter ‘T’ branded on his/her hand. There was even once a man who kissed his wife on his front porch, and he was sent to the stocks for public humiliation for several hours. Perhaps the most severe punishments in Puritan times were during the Salem Witch Trials. It was like a domino effect, once a couple people were accused of practicing witchcraft, more and more accusations popped up. The trials were very subjective so it wasn’t really a trial. You had to plead guilty or you would go to an actual trial with a jury. Even if the jury believed that you were innocent they would have to find you ‘guilty’ anyway or else they would be suspected of being witches. In short, if you were accused of being a witch you couldn’t win no matter what. Giles Corey was one of the people who faced a grim punishment. Both he and his wife were accused and sent to trial after publicly announcing his suspicious about the witch trials. When he refused to speak at trial he was sent to be pressed to death between two heavy stones. This type of punishment was the first and last of its kind, the only record of his execution in the Salem Witchcraft Papers. It only says “Giles Corey Pressed to Death, September 16,
Even in Western Europe during the 1500s, going against the Church/Government would result to harsh punishments. Since the Puritans had broken off from the Church of England, the idea of petitioning against the government was something that they did not even think of. So when Roger Williams had spoken out against Church and State being integrated in his “Plea for Religious Liberty”(Doc D), it was very unorthodox. He believed in freedom of religion and spoke publicly about it. Roger Williams thought the church was doing wrong by taking the Natives land, as well as forcing them into their religion. He was eventually sent to trial and ultimately was arranged to be arrested and deported back the England. Williams did flee to Rhode Island before he was arrested where he made friends with the native tribe who inhabited there. Anne Hutchinson was another person who went to trial for going against the Church. In the beginning, John Winthrop had said in his ‘City Upon a Hill’ speech “wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together,”(Doc B). In lesser words, the community will do everything together. So when Anne Hutchinson started to read the bible on her own, it became a problem. Besides the fact that she was going off and doing her own thing, people would start to think “if she can read the bible …show more content…
Back in the Puritan times, punishments were cruel. Most of it was public humiliation such as public whippings, if you had committed adultery you’d have to wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ on all of your clothes. A thief would have the letter ‘T’ branded on his/her hand. There was even once a man who kissed his wife on his front porch, and he was sent to the stocks for public humiliation for several hours. Perhaps the most severe punishments in Puritan times were during the Salem Witch Trials. It was like a domino effect, once a couple people were accused of practicing witchcraft, more and more accusations popped up. The trials were very subjective so it wasn’t really a trial. You had to plead guilty or you would go to an actual trial with a jury. Even if the jury believed that you were innocent they would have to find you ‘guilty’ anyway or else they would be suspected of being witches. In short, if you were accused of being a witch you couldn’t win no matter what. Giles Corey was one of the people who faced a grim punishment. Both he and his wife were accused and sent to trial after publicly announcing his suspicious about the witch trials. When he refused to speak at trial he was sent to be pressed to death between two heavy stones. This type of punishment was the first and last of its kind, the only record of his execution in the Salem Witchcraft Papers. It only says “Giles Corey Pressed to Death, September 16,