Puritan Women

Puritanism was a major belief during the 1500s-1700s, Puritans believed that you are required to devote your whole life to the Lord. In order to be a Puritan you had to glorify God by attending church, report sinners, and show God’s grace through your own actions. In

Puritans live in a life with a life of rules. They live by religious beliefs and literature purposes. The puritans believed in God being all powerful, Bible is God’s true law, success is a sign of improvement, and how education was written to glorify God and for education only not for entertainment.

The Puritans were a religious group who left the Church of England because they wanted to have more freedom with their religion. They thought the Church of England was “too Catholic”. They believed the Bible and its rules were the number one thing to go by and that all humans were evil and had to overcome their sin. Women had to cover their whole bodies in clothing. They couldn’t show their ankles or wrists. They also had to wear their hair up and out of their face at all times, except if they were in a room alone with only their husband. They always were on one side of the church away from the men or in the back on the church. These women in the society that will be talked about have broken laws and have been misjudged.

In addition, the bible was there sole authority, for they believed it applied to every aspect of daily life. As for their other beliefs, Puritans thought Satan was responsible for everything bad happening in day-to-day living. The Puritans believed that the members of society, weakest at upholding Puritan values and morals, specifically women and children, would be selected to carry out his work. This means women accused as witches were those who strayed from the Puritan lifestyle and were considered to be social outcasts. For the Puritans, religious and political life were completely intertwined. Each Puritan town had town meetings to determine how the town would be run, and only male church members were allowed to vote on these issues. This is probably the reason why the women were seen as the weakest society member’s maintaining Puritan values. "The Devils have sometimes represented the Shapes of persons not only innocent, but also very virtuous" (Salem Witch Trials). “…And I cannot but tell you that my faith is strong concerning them, that they are deluded, imposed upon, and under the influence of some evil spirit, and therefore unfit to be evidences, either against themselves or anyone else” (Salem Witchcraft Trials).

The Puritans belief set is simple: If you commit a sin, you are guilty and punished by execution. The Patriarchy, which is a system, society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line, is the foundation of this religion. Women could be guilty of almost anything if a man accused her of it. The governing council is only made up of men and they keep a strict hold on everyone in the community. Their harsh laws are based off of the Old Testament. “In Hawthorne's story Governor Bellingham and his fellow magistrates used this vision not only to unite the community, but to control, by humiliation, banishment, or death, any wayward member” (Hodges 5). This way of thinking ensued fear into women. They were taught to never speak out or act in any unholy manner. So, when Hester gave birth to a child who did not belong to her husband, she was no longer treated with any respect. “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the

The Puritans raised their families to be very reliable on themselves instead of others. As Puritan children got older throughout their life they got taught to be dependable and to take care of themselves to prepare them for their future of being responsible adults. Throughout the young puritan boys’ and girls’ lives, they were expected to take on many hardworking tasks to help their parents and other family members in and outside the house. Puritan women were in charge of the household but were thought of as irrational because they were emotional, but men were thought of as sane and reasonable (Dunklee et al.). Men may have had a lot of power, but “Women exercised considerable power within their families, including the authority to divorce their husbands by setting their belongings outside the longhouse entrance” (Lapsansky). The Puritan boys were accompanied to do outside chores such as hunting, crafting, and also learning carpentry. The girls were to do inside the house chores such as cleaning, cooking, and helping their mothers in the house. The Puritan parents held their children to high standards to prepare them to be proper husbands and

A Puritan defined is “a member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.” Puritan society in America depended on the belief that all members were working for the glory of God. The Puritans did not allow deviations from the strict code of behavior which would not allow any member to have individuality. They restricted any type of entertainment, except that which was endorsed by the church. They worked and worshipped.

The Puritans were a group of fundamentalist people. This meant that they led a life that was to be followed as God put in the bible..For instance, in Exodus 22:18 (Doc A.) it is stated, “‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’”,in the eyes of the Puritans this simple phrase translates into this idea that witches exist and that they must then be eliminated because they caused the Puritan life to be stained and impure.. Although, the Bible does not state how to identify a witch, in the eye of the fundamentalist Puritan anyone could be a witch. This caused the Salem Witch

The Puritan society had very little tolerance to women who had independence and those who had come into possession of land and property on their own challenged the

The Puritans put great importance on the family. Most of the Puritans were farming families who owned a small plot of land to plant and harvest. Women helped in the fields, and men had some sort of profession such as a hunter, miller, or minister. A typical Puritan family included the husband and wife, along with three or four children. However, during the lives of the parents, eight to twelve children would usually be born into the family.

Societal roles of women were very particular and strict during the time Puritanism, putting extreme pressure on the ideas of a woman’s sole purpose was to care for her husband and children. All people in Puritan society were educated but the education that women received was more central to home keeping and general knowledge with emphasis on bible verses and child rearing. The legal rights of women were significantly limited as they were not allowed to vote in the general court and could not take legal action against, being completely dependant on the decisions of her husband. They were expected to dress modestly covering their skin and hair in stark and plain colors to reflect humbleness in the eyes of god. If a woman was unmarried then she

In the 17th century, the early settlers, called the puritans, were best known as very religious settlers as they had hardship for there religion. Based on the puritans early ages, if you were to lie, you were granted a greater punishment. Which could result to death by stone, or being put in the stock or getting hanged. The early puritans were strictly all about being very religious and being all about the man upstairs. In massachusetts bay colony, it was a man's town. The men did not appreciate anything that the woman did. But it would be really different if the men were to lie, or want a divorce or do bad.

In their society the Puritans based their lives, beliefs, and communities on what they deemed as God's law and true word, the bible (Barger). Reading the bible was expected for the members of society, this included women and children, which was often unheard of (Foner 66) at that time. With their lives being restricted to the word of the bible this left very little leeway for anything other than what was deemed acceptable, and this rigid way of life was another straw that led to the eventual troubles and fervor that took over.

The Puritans were a group of "congregationalists" that didn't support the Anglican church because the church was too "catholic".They also believed reformation was needed and an egalitarian environment was necessary.

The puritans believed in the doctrine of a “calling” to do God’s work on Earth. One could only be a part of the church clergy if they had experienced a conversion and followed the doctrine of the “calling”. However, Puritans were not tolerant to others that did not share the same religion or beliefs as them.