Puritans Society: The Purpose Of Plymouth Plantation

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

The Puritans arrived in the New World in the hopes of “purifying” the Church of England. They practiced certain principles that they believed in and that centered around the idea of God. The main purpose of their journey to New England was to set an example to others how the Church should be, and so their motive for settlement was solely related to religion. The Puritans positively influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660s because they were a “city upon a hill” that served as an example to other parts of the world as a result of their strong belief in God.

Some of the Puritans’ main focuses were spreading their culture and faith. They thrived on the belief that they were sent from God, who expected them to study and live by his scriptures in the Bible. They believed stories in the Bible could be applied to every aspect of their lives. A big part of the reason they left England to have a new start in America is so that they would have an opportunity to purify the Church of England that they were accustomed to.

The Pilgrims arrived on the shores in 1620 in hopes to find a better life for their kids and themselves. Because of the restrictions and the lack of religious liberty, the puritans believed they could worship god the way they wanted and felt the right way. The Puritanism from Plymouth and the people that migrated there were eventually held together.

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 Pilgrims brushed their lips against the land of Cape Cod and thanked their Lord when the furious storm released them from its’ fury. The sea troubles left them far from home with no warm welcomes. After scrutinizing the bare land they had located barbarian-like aliens. They formed their judgments and ideas about their companions on Cape Cod. Seeking gold and silver the Spaniards explored unfamiliar territory. Although, they did not discover their hidden treasures they did stumble upon unfamiliar Native American cultures they did not understand. Their misunderstandings led to the formation of judgements towards the Native Americans.   Although both “Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford and “La Relacion” by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca discuss early settlers and attitudes toward native peoples.  Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s attitude toward Native Americans reveals a sense of relief to discover friendship among an island. While, William Bradford displays a fearful and belittling tone.

The puritans go create the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They didn’t have strict rules like England, people were not forced to go to church, it all seems great. However, there were many issues. Puritans believed in Calvinism, or predestination. This was the idea that everything is preset by God and nothing you do can change your fate. “Nothing a person did in his or her lifetime could alter God’s choice or provide assurance that the person was predestined for salvation with the elect or damned to hell with the doomed multitude.” (The American

Puritans are colonists who had left England seeking religious tolerance. The life of the Puritans was mainly influenced by Christian beliefs and the church. Their laws were harsh and every Puritan needed to follow a moral code. Anyone or anything that went against the code was punished because going against the code was considered as a sin. According to Religious Aspects, “The Puritans also believed strongly in the wrath of God and did everything they could to prevent themselves from receiving it. This is why the witch scare was taken so seriously and the accused were punished harshly. The first

In the early seventeenth century, the Puritans settled in New England, establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They had religious reasons for settling, hoping to separate themselves from the English Anglican Church. The Puritans created colonies to serve as their ideal models for other American settlements. As stated by John Winthrop in Document A, their goal was to create a “city upon a hill”, which shows their motivations to build a permanent religious settlement. Although the Puritans did not completely push aside trade, they advised traders and workmen to follow a moral ethical code that would allow them to serve God and their neighbors (Doc E). The Puritans assembled their society based on their religious beliefs of great worship and predestination of the good because of their Covenant of Grace. In addition, they believed that they were all brought together by God to harvest crops and build a quintessential society (Doc D). Because the settlers did not believe in personal profit at the expense of others, they employed a General Court which regulated trade and commerce (Doc E). On the other hand, the settlers of

The Puritan people who came to the Americas were separatists who sought to establish a new religiously based community that could be immune from outside influences. While the Chesapeake settlers came to the America's solely to grow tobacco and turn a profit for the joint stock companies that sent them. These differences in purpose are evidenced by the lists of people who first established the colonies. In 1635, the emigrants sent to Virginia by these joint stock companies were composed primarily of young single men in their twenties who could work on the tobacco farms (Doc C). They were not sent with their families and out of the long list of emigrants, only 11 were women. This shows that the stock companies really didn't care if their colonists established a community and were only concerned with making money. The New England list of emigrants however shows entire families, most containing more then four people of relation, who made the trip to the Americas (Doc B). This is due to the fact that the Puritans goal was start a community of religious families who would work together to be successful puritans in the eyes of god. This is shown through puritan leader, John Winthrop's writings known as his ‘City upon a Hill' speech (Doc A). Puritans were more focused on the community aspect and planned to use their children to work their land

“The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South” by John W. Blassingame is the first book about slavery written by a historian in the viewpoint of slaves rather than slave owners. This book analyzes the experience of slaves in the South during misjudgement and confusion. Blassingame targets the different aspects that have influenced the slaves life and the way they lived it. Blassingame writes this book to encounter you in feeling the pain of the slaves but also how they had their own traditions and culture while enslaved.

Both New England and Chesapeake regions took the initiative to strive for a successful social, economic, and political system. Socially, colonists that occupied the New England region and those that settled in the Chesapeake area were opposites. The New England community was in control by Puritans, which created a strict social code but help develop a prosperous economy. The Puritan valued social equality, and as John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony wrote, ““…[Yet] we must be knit together in this work as one man...willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities…labor and suffer together... The eyes of all people are upon us…” (Document A) This belief created social unity and closeness in the New England area, an aspect that was not available in the Chesapeake and Southern colonies. Many that travelled to the North often arrived in the New World with family. Arriving with such family helped with the increased height of the Great Migration. With many people it would be easy to organize towns and villages. The families in these areas would seek order and stability to help one another. We can see the primary purpose of Puritan society, is built on large, unified families that will

The Puritans' ultimate goal was for their ideal society, their City Upon A Hill, a model Christian society. According to Dr. Terry Matthew in Puritanism in America “They did not come to this country to find a place to practice freedom of worship. Instead, they came to find a place where their true religion could flourish.” They wanted to influence more than just their communities and those surrounding, they wanted to influence the Church of England and further in the hopes of purifying those that had strayed from what they deemed as the true and righteous path all by showing the way by their hard-fast examples.

Over the years, people broadcast the Puritans as a group of people who were extremely legalistic and against anything that would be considered fun in the modern world. This incorrect broadcast of the Puritans has led to many misconceptions about how they lived when they came to the New World and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans were not legalistic, but rather sought to please God by creating a society that focused on fulfilling their calling through the institutions of family, work, education, and government in a positive environment. This led to a fruitful society when it followed in its original intentions.

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.