Besides English settlers there were numerous other representatives of the European countries settling in the new land. And as the Puritans came to practice their own believes so did other nationalities, as explained in the study material. In my own interpretation America represents change and the believe system as well as the way religion was previously practiced was now changing. This change was greatly influenced by the intellectual movement called Enlightenment, which started in Europe and this influence had bearing on the Great Awakening. Besides Puritans now there were Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Episcopal Church in the southern states. Just as new economic opportunities started to develop there was no longer a need for the strict rules of Theocracy and many of the new religious branches embraced the idea that not only the select few predestined by God are worthy of saving. …show more content…
Both Sarah Kembel Knight’s and John Woolman’s journal entries are soaked in asserting their devotion to the bible and leading their lives in accordance to the Good Book to please God, more so in the case of John Woolman. Since I was raised in the Catholic faith I knew exactly what he was experiencing growing up, the challenges he faced to be a devout follower of God and fit in with his fellow students in school. He writes in his journal that many times the other kids used foul language which was repulsive to him and he knew that was wrong. One of his childhood encounters was quite off putting to me, sine he describes killing a robin then bequeathing the same faith on to its chicks. His deed was wrong, but with help from the bible he interpreted his actions as merciful. John Woolman’s journey entries describe a constant struggle to be a faithful man, but life’s circumstances do pose a lot of obstacles on the
The Puritans were one branch of people who chose that the Church of England was beyond them. Most of the Puritans settled in New England. They also moved and created separated colonies, the numbers had risen from 17,800 in 1640 to 106,000 in 1700. The spiritual beliefs that they had were very strong.
Also, the Puritans coming to the Americans land created a society of unique culture and distinct ___in the New England colonies. They were strictly a theocracy for the majority of the time they settled there. They believed the church controlled all civil matters including punishment for violations of a spiritual nature” (Scott 1) The combination of a theocracy and the puritans belief in the “existence of an invisible inhabited by God and the angels, including the Devil” did not mix well together(Scott 1).
In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through England and caused people like John Calvin to make up their own religions. Henry VIII made the Anglicanism the official religion of England, and any dissenters, even dissenters who belonged to the Church of England, were persecuted. Puritans were some of these dissenters, and they migrated to the New World seeking religious freedom, a place to live the way they believed was pleasing to God. As the Puritans' lives were shaped by their religion, so too did their religious values and ideas influence the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies. That their belief that people should obey religious authority and their value of unity shaped the northern colonies'
The majority of settlers in Jamestown were Protestants. Protestants were in America to become wealthy. Close by were the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts. Puritans were similar to Protestants but Protestants were not always Puritans, this falls under the category of social and cultural advancements in the United States.
The pursuit of religious freedom is not a contemporary idea. For centuries many have valiantly fought against oppression and persecution in order to worship freely without restraint and judgement. Some of the earliest immigrants who migrated to this country did so with the hopes of being able to worship in a manner than aligned most closely with their religious beliefs. Many of the principles that founded this nation are based on the premise of religious freedom and toleration. Undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent religious factions to land on these shores in pursuit of this right, were the Puritans.
Although all the colonists all came from England, the community development, purpose, and societal make-up caused a distinct difference between two distinct societies in New England and the Chesapeake region. The distinctions were obvious, whether it be the volume of religious drive, the need or lack of community, families versus single settlers, the decision on minimal wage, whether or not articles of agreements were drawn for and titles as well as other social matters were drawn, as well as where loyalties lay in leaders. New England was, overall, more religious than the Chesapeake region. Settlers in New England were searching relief for religious persecution in Europe. Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics were coming in droves to America searching for an opportunity to have religious freedom.
In the late sixteenth century, Puritanism, which was a religious reform movement, arose within the Church of England (“Puritanism”). It all began when William Bradford and the Puritans were displeased with the Church of England. As a result of them being unsatisfied, they fled England and traveled to Holland and later America in hopes of creating a purified religious community. “Persecuted by the established Anglican Church in England, the Puritans immigrated to the New World seeking the freedom to practice their faith” (Stine 487). The Puritans felt as if the Church of England was filled with hierarchies and worldly rituals.
They came to America seeking religious refuge in 1629. The kind of utopia they were seeking was one that held religious freedom because they had one sole purpose; to worship God. The kind of influence the Puritans had on America was building strong morals, religion, tradition, and love for one another. A sermon
The New England colonies were best known for being the place where Puritan religious reformers and their followers settled. The Puritans were a Protestant Christian group that believed in strict moral and religious codes and the reform of the Church of England. Due to the strict laws put into place in England, the Puritans were unable to follow through their efforts to reform the Church and many faced oppression and discrimination during that time. The Puritans saw an irredeemably corrupt Church of England so many followed John Winthrop to Massachusetts to establish their own community. On the other hand, New France was known for its fur trading and missionary work.
When people think about who shaped early America, they often imagine George Washington, Ben Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson. While these founding fathers did shape America, an earlier group of settlers who impacted how American was formed were the puritans. After settling in New England, the puritan’s ideas and beliefs shaped how their were societies formed and their interactions with others. Puritan ideas and values influenced political, economic and social development by creating a closed and strict society based on religious beliefs, which ultimately lead to the formation of successful colonies.
The Puritans were a religious group of people who helped in the colonization of America in the early 17th century. The Puritan’s beliefs consisted of things that made them fear their God. They believed in total depravity, the idea that everyone is born a sinner, and should be cast from God. They also believed that God chooses who He want’s to save, that Jesus Christ died only for God’s elect, and in the idea of predestination. By the 1700s, many of the church leaders and preachers believed that their society had fallen away from their original beliefs and had become self-satisfied and materialistic.
They were the extreme Protestants in the Church of England who wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic regime. If we consider North America’s earliest settlement, we will find that pilgrims from England first settled in New England in 1620, to form Plymouth colony. However, after ten years, Puritans settled to the north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In 1588, the English defeated the Spanish Armada which allowed them to colonize in the North America. While they were in North America the English tried to establish two joint-stock companies, Virginia and Massachusetts. Three colonial regions were established in doing so; New England, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies. Due to their geography, economy, and religion led the two colonies, New England and Southern Colony, to become very diverse from one another. New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies developed into two diverse regions because of their differences in geography.
Puritans believed humans to be inherently evil, needing to work to earn God’s grace. The only way to do this was to make a person’s life completely centered around God, devoid of any corruption or worldliness. This was the reason for their move to America. Unsurprisingly, this train of thought also made its way into their writing, which has a style known as Puritan Plain Style. However, this way of thinking was not welcomed by the Church of England, leading them to move to the American colonies.
John Bunyan is known for writing books about religion and God’s saving grace, but in his earlier life, he was not always a great man of God. In his autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, he says many things about his time of ungodliness such as, “I had but few equals for cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God… They became a sort of second nature to me… This offended the Lord so much that even in my childhood he scared me with fearful dreams and visions” (Bunyan 8). John describes himself as being “filled with all unrighteousness.