What Is Patrick Henry's Belief In The Crucible Individualism

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Over time, humans have changed from generation to generation. The puritan believed that God controlled everything. They believed heavily in conformity. The deists believed that God was no longer watching over them. They favored individualism over tradition. Like The deists, the transcendentalists believed in non-conforming and individualism.Throughout the major literary philosophies in the United States, one can see how people's beliefs shifted from traditionalism to individualism. First, the puritans viewed everything they did as a reflection of god and the people conformed to having all the same beliefs. In his play The Crucible, Miller aims to depict an accurate puritan lifestyle by showing that puritan society revolves around god and people must never “plow on sunday”(1140.3). In puritan society, people who plowed on sundays were sinners. By not plowing on sundays, the people are conforming to the beliefs of others. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem, Upon the Burning of our House, she tries to show other puritans that “Yet by His gift is made thine own; /There‘s wealth enough, I need no …show more content…
In Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Convention, he explains to the people that “different men often see the same subject in different lights”(122). Henry is saying that people can have their own opinions and beliefs. Unlike the puritans, the deists thought that individualism was better than traditionalism. In Abigail Adams’ letter to John Adams, Adams tells her husband that she “desire[s] [he] would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than [his] ancestors”(157). Adams is saying that individualism has more value in life than tradition. Adams shows that by believing diving in women's rights, her husband would also be believing in individualism. By rejecting puritan views, the deists believed more in individualism over

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