John Winthrop's Influence On Puritan Society

John Winthrop’s Influence and Shaping of Puritan Society In the early 17th century, a group of Puritans came to the Americas from England to charter the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of Governor John Winthrop. Puritans brought--to what some in today’s modern standards may consider--intense ideology that dictated everyday life. John Winthrop praised those principles that rooted from English Calvinist beliefs in order to form a better community and inspired the idea of a “city on a hill.” John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” sought to create a ‘perfect’ community “for others to emulate" (17). Overtime, John Winthrop’s stern preaching shaped the growing Puritan community, society, and their deterring relationship with surrounding …show more content…
The model of the “city on a hill” looked down upon others, therefore the Puritan’s viewed Native Americans as inferior to them. Relationship between the Puritans and Native Americans were obviously difficult because of their different beliefs, which led to extremely hostile confrontations and tensions building up to King Philip’s War. The consequence of King Philip’s War was horrific. It resulted in the slaughter of thousands of Native Americans and “enslaving of another thousand” (Casper and Davies 28). A few months after the conclusion of King Philip’s War, the Massachusetts General Court began to pass legislation and brought into law “Provoking Evil’s”, which sought to restore order and faith (Casper and Davies 28). However, this law contained clauses that continued to deterred the relationship between the Native Americans and now reorganized Massachusetts colony. The Massachusetts General Court brought into law that “Indians shall presume to go off the said islands… and it shall be lawful for the English to destroy those … straggling off” (33). This law, in clear terms, gave any English person the authority to kill any Native American that may pose as a threat to the English and it’s