Forced to Choose Between Morals and Society in The Puritan Dilemma by Edmund S. Morgan

In the 1630's and the 1640's, the Puritans traveled to the colonies to detach from their opinion of a convoluted Church of England. They set up towns and started new lives that were all based on their idea of a pure religion. The Puritan's definition of a pure religion did not include many of the ideas of the Church of England. They built the colonies and made a system based upon the idea that God was the most important aspect of life. Puritan ideas and values influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660’s by spreading their beliefs into every facet of daily life. Politically their ideas regarding what was considered sinful behavior and how power was separated among the

Both Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were banished as a result of their opposing views of the Church. Williams praised freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. Hutchinson was a female who disagreed with some of the Puritans viewpoints. The Puritans wanted to set an example and make their society free of opposition, adding the the idea of a “city upon a hill.” This probably discouraged others from speaking out against the Church.

In of Plymouth Plantation William Bradford talks about how the Puritans left England to relish in their own religion beliefs and how things should be handled. While doing so they went through tough

When the Puritan came to the New World after being rejected in England for their beliefs, they knew the demand of perfection in God’s eyes could never be fully accomplish. Humans could never live up to the standards that God set out. After settling in New England, the Puritan became well aware they needed to have law enforcement with religious obligations, and most importantly the sexual temptations. Knowing that human could never fully obey God’s word and always be tempted, the puritans enforced certain punishments for certain sexual crimes, including fornication, adultery, rape and buggery or sodomy.

There is no doubt that writings of Jonathan Edward’s and John Winthrop had a tremendous influence in the Puritan movement in the new world. They helped set values and establish order in the new communities. Both writings deliver on puritan principles and had a critical role in shaping much of the puritan religious beliefs, but granting all this they are tremendously different. The reason why these writings have so little in common, despite both being puritan doctrines, is because of the different situations each was written in. “A Model of Christian Charity” and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” were written about one hundred years apart, in two different centuries, and most importantly at two different stages of the puritan movement.

Throughout the story, “The Puritan Dilemma,” The author, Edmund Morgan focuses directly towards his view on the Puritan Dilemma and how it affected John Winthrop in both his personal life along with his professional life. Morgan also talks about how the government is treated by the puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to Morgan, the Puritan Dilemma meant finding balance between personal life along with spiritual. Morgan explains how John copes with this and how his views on Puritanism affected his life entirely. Morgan believes that the Puritan Dilemma should be praised. He shows this praise through the main figurine of the story, John Winthrop. Puritanism is viewed with strict religious laws where life should only be lived through the bible.

John Winthrop speaks of how people should devote themselves to God and disregard all that interferes with that endeavor in A Model of Christian Charity. This was most likely written for the people in the Massachusetts Bay Colony because that area was settled primarily by Puritans. He suggests that the only way in which this is possible is to join into a brotherhood of sorts. This shows his Puritanism and that of others because Puritans were very determined people in becoming closer to God. Puritans did not even allow art, dancing, or music to be in churches. This is so that no distractions can be in place between the worshipper and God.

Every colonist had their respective reasons to emigrate to the new American colonies across the Atlantic. The Puritan demographic of colonists left England in order to pursue their own moral and religious goals in the Massachusetts Bay colony as seen in the first document. These colonists were not here in the Americas to escape religious persecution, they came to America for the purpose of being able to become a grand shining “city upon a hill” to show the world how righteous their church really was. Both these Puritans as well as the Puritan separatists saw God and religion as paramount to everyday life and maintained radically extreme rules and regulations to uphold the colony's sanctity. The Puritans saw themselves as zealots of Christianity

In Edmund S. Morgan’s, The Puritan Dilemma, it was evident that John Winthrop focused his entire life around glorifying God, in turn creating a government that did the same. This ideology translated into the way he shaped and structured Puritan society. Winthrop first focused on the formation of a community of unity and harmony, then built a government that fostered it. All of the governmental structures in place were supporting one main focus of the Puritan society being “a city on a hill.” Citation Further, Puritan society was to act as an example for the surrounding colonies of godly living. Harmony was backed by their ideals of

In the trial of Anne Hutchinson, we meet a well intentioned yet lost people described and labelled as the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company. These self governing Puritans, once a people who sought God to set them on their way, settled only to be found as a people who simply lost their way. This journey to lost began when first motivated by a desire for religious reform and separation from the liturgy, ceremonies and practices of the Church of England. Once they banned together, they set on their way and traveled in groups to the New World. With the Word of God as their ultimate authority and the desire for a personal relationship with God, these people landed in Boston in 1630 united to self govern the newly founded Massachussets Bay Colony. Unfortunatly, this self rule resulted in a government of intolerance, fear and a liturgy not much different from what was once found in the Church of England. A system designed to set apart outward morality, or sanctification, to strengthen the authority of the Church only worked to neglect the place of true piety purposed to strengthen the spiritual lives of the people it served.

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

With religious reforms causing controversy in England came the Puritans, known for their simplicity in their way of life. They wore basic clothing and were against consumption of alcohol and sex (unless married). With the disagreements of the religious conflicts happening in England, the puritans “wanted to purify the Church of England from within.” The sole reason the idea sparked to settle a colony in America was in search of a Puritan lifestyle and the freedom to do so. On March 4, 1629 King Charles gave the Massachusetts Bay Company a charter while not knowing the true nature of what this colony was to become and for the reasons behind it. Still, the Puritans left for America in March 1630. In contrast to the type of people who immigrated to Virginia, the Massachusetts population was mostly nuclear families, meaning husband, wife, and kids. Also differing from the colonists in Virginia, the settlers in Massachusetts Bay worked together for the common good of the colony. Along with their lives and beliefs, their government and politics were religiously based as well and soon they decided upon a Congregationalism form of church government. Their churches were a matter of choice but in order to become a member they had a strict regulation “In order to join one (a church) a man or woman had to provide testimony–a confession of faith–before neighbors who already had been admitted as full members.” Because religion was the bases behind Massachusetts being colonization crimes and religious disagreements called for serious

During the early 1600s the religious climate in England played a main role on Puritans moving out. During this time the church and government weren’t separate, meaning citizens had no choice but to follow the Church of England. The Church of England at this time began to break away from the Catholic Church and introduce changes to the protestant religion (Bruno 2). Despite the new reforms, Puritans still felt that the church still had too many ties held on the Catholic Church. Consequently Puritans, as well as other religious groups, began to form their own protestant faith.

Seventeenth century Puritans had several aspirations, successes, and failures when it came to creating a model society. They had many successes in their society, some examples are their education system, their advancements in equality for women, and the way they created a tight knit close society. Although they had many achievements, the Puritans also did fall short in many aspects of their society. They ultimately did fail at their perfect society, and that is a very important aspect since that was their main goal. They also were very strict about their policies regarding the church. Once the generations progressed, they had to create new rules to allow people basic religious rights such as baptism. They also fused church and state, which was necessary in a society such as this, but it ultimately hindered progression such as allowing non church members to vote. As the years progressed more and more non Puritans entered the Puritan society, this hindered society because eventually the small majority was making the most riveting decisions. Ultimately the Puritans had both failures and successes when attempting a model society, but the weight of the failures simply outweighed the successes.

There, in Winthrop's own words, is the Puritan dilemma of which Mr. Morgan speaks here, "the paradox that required a man to live in the world without being of it." Superficially Puritanism was only a belief that the Church of England should be purged of its hierarchy and of the traditions and ceremonies inherited from Rome. But those