The Puritans

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The Puritans

• English IIPre AP
• Davenport

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Who were the Puritans?

• They were a group of people who grew discontent
  in the Church of England and worked towards
  religious, moral and societal reforms.
• The Puritans believed that the Bible was God's
  true law, and that it provided a plan for living.
  
• Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings
  and formalities of Christianity which had been
  slowly building throughout the previous 1500
  years. Theirs was an attempt to "purify" the
  church and their own lives.

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Facts about Puritans cont.

• Most of the Puritans settled in the New England
  area. As they immigrated and formed individual
  colonies, their numbers rose from 17,800 in 1640
  to 106,000 in 1700. Religious exclusiveness was
  the foremost principle of their society. The
  spiritual beliefs that they held were strong.
  This strength held over to include community laws
  and customs. Since God was at the forefront of
  their minds, He was to motivate all of their
  actions. This premise worked both for them and
  against them

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CRUISE THE ATLANTICCRUISE SHIP REVIEWS
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Travel Guide for the PURE
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Puritan beliefs

• Their interpretation of scriptures was a harsh
  one. They emphasized a redemptive piety. In
  principle, they emphasized conversion and not
  repression. Conversion was a rejection of the
  "worldliness" of society and a strict adherence
  to Biblical principles. While repression was not
  encouraged in principle, it was evident in their
  actions. God could forgive anything, but man
  could forgive only by seeing a change in
  behavior. Actions spoke louder than words, so
  actions had to be constantly controlled.

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The doctrine of predestination kept all Puritans
constantly working to do good in this life to be
chosen for the next eternal one.

• God had already chosen who would be in heaven or
  hell, and each believer had no way of knowing
  which group they were in. Those who were wealthy
  were obviously blessed by God and were in good
  standing with Him. The Protestant work ethic was
  the belief that hard work was an honor to God
  which would lead to a prosperous reward. Any
  deviations from the normal way of Puritan life
  met with strict disapproval and discipline. Since
  the church elders were also political leaders,
  any church infraction was also a social one.
  There was no margin for error.

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The great tempter

• The devil was behind every evil deed. Constant
  watch needed to be kept in order to stay away
  from his clutches. Words of hell fire and
  brimstone flowed from the mouths of eloquent
  ministers as they warned of the persuasiveness of
  the devil's power.

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We have school, thanks to the Puritans.

• With the Puritans, free schooling was offered for
  all children. Puritans formed the first formal
  school in 1635, called the Roxbury Latin School.
  Four years later, the first American College was
  established Harvard in Cambridge.

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Every good puritan must read!

• The motive to educate was largely religious. In
  order for Puritans to become holy, they needed to
  read the Scriptures. As the articles of faith of
  1549 had proclaimed, Holy Scripture containeth
  all things necessary to salvation.

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Types of Puritan Literature

• Journals
• Sermons
• Narratives
• Poetry
• All religious and didactic in nature.

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The VIPs of Puritan Literature

• William Bradford
• Anne Bradstreet
• Jonathan Edwards
• Mary Rowlandson
• Cotton Mather

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William bradford

• William Bradford (March 19, 1590 May 9, 1657)
  was a leader of the separatist settlers of the
  Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and was elected
  Governor of the Colony for 15 two-year terms. He
  was the second signer and primary architect of
  the Mayflower Compact. He also wrote another one
  after the first one had been destroyed. His
  journal was published as Of Plymouth Plantation.
  Bradford is credited as the first to proclaim
  what popular American culture now views as the
  first Thanksgiving.

William Bradford (March 19, 1590 M
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Puritan or Pilgrim? Or both?
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Do you know the difference?

• Puritan A Puritan of 16th and 17th century
  England was any person seeking "purity" of
  worship and doctrine, especially the parties that
  rejected the Protestant Reformation of the Church
  of England.
• Pilgrim A pilgrim is one who undertakes a
  religious pilgrimage, literally 'far afield'.
  This is traditionally a visit to a place of some
  religious significance often a considerable
  distance is traveled. In the United States the
  word "Pilgrims" usually refers to the first
  European settlers of New England, who celebrated
  the "First Thanksgiving" with the Native
  Americans in 1621.

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HOW TO LOOK GOOD IN BLACK WHITE A PURITAN
DIVAS GUIDE
Puritans wore a simply cut, plain costume in black with white collar and cuffs. No lace edged. The ladies' tucked their hair away under plain caps and the gentlemen wore plain, high crowned hats. Personal adornment was against their religion.  
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Puritan Essential Beliefs

• The Puritans had two major beliefs, The Doctrine
  of the Elect and Theocracy. The Doctrine of the
  Elect better known as predestination or
  foreordination is the belief that when a person
  is born or at any time later in their life, they
  might be chosen by God to become one of the
  Elect, which is one of the people who would
  receive divine salvation. Those who were not
  among the select would not receive divine
  salvation. There is nothing that a person could
  do to be chosen, it was entirely predestined by
  God. No amount of good works, righteous living or
  moral behavior could help a person achieve this
  status. Since no one knew if they were one of the
  Elect, everyone lived a good life in order to be
  prepared for being elected when the day came.

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Beliefs and Ideologies cont.

• The Puritans also believed that if God could
  elect certain people to be saved, then the Devil
  could select certain people to be bewitched. The
  Devil, to the Puritans, was an active enemy to
  mankind because they accepted the story that the
  Devil was once one of Gods angels who had fallen
  from grace, and that now the Devils job is to
  continually try to destroy what God has made. The
  Puritans had a strict view of sin and they
  thought that everyone was constantly tempted by
  the Devil to sin. They also believed that once
  someone did sin they must openly confess, then
  repent and finally do some sort of penance.
  Without this open confession, there would be way
  for that person to be saved.

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More Puritanical thoughts

• The Puritans second belief is that of Theocracy.
  Theocracy is the belief in a government that is
  totally controlled by the church. If a person was
  not a member of the church, they could not vote
  in elections or hold offices. The ministers were
  the main officers and administrators of the civil
  government. If a person does not know the beliefs
  or rules of the church they become a suspect of
  many things. The church was very powerful and
  held most of its authority.

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SALVATION IT CAN BE YOURS
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THANKSGIVING IMPRESS YOUR FAMILY WITH A TOAST

• Here's to the great American bird,Who has
  fettered our heart with his cable,'Till no
  Thanksgiving can seem completeWithout the turkey
  on the table

• Here's to the venturesome Puritans,Of valiant
  Mayflower stockAnd here's to the good old boat
  that anchoredSomewhere off Plymouth Rock.
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• Then here's a health to all of youWho're glad
  that you're a-living,And may you see much cause
  for whichTo celebrate Thanksgiving.