Puritan Ideas and Values

In the 1630's the puritans fled to the new colonies to escape all the controversy and the religious persecution. They left in order to become "Better true Christians," however that was not the case. The puritans are known for having their very strong ideas and values which all helped shape the people they were and their views on politics, economical issues and social development.

Unlike today the puritans had a very strict household. The men were in charge of the household, while the woman just followed orders and did the daily work which consisted of cleaning, cooking and knitting. The roles of the children were to learn how to read in order to be able to read the word of God, they even had little schools in the community near the church. Everyone was very religious and people who missed church were occasionally accused of witchcraft. At the time there was much persecution going on, where many people were accused of working with the devil and many people were being hung and tortured.

Money was not a very big deal back then. Everyone was supposed to be equal and the people focused more on other more important things like God, family and obtaining a good religious reputation.

The puritans were the first to practice democracy. They had town meetings where they would all vote and decide on a town leader. They would do this in order to be fair and give several people a chance to be the town leader. They didn't want one person to be the leader because they didn't want them to believe themselves as better. However, not just anyone could be a town leader, it had to be a christian man older than 21 who owned land.

The puritans beliefs were probably some of the strongest in history. Their belief in religion was extreme and completly effected their whole lifestyle. Their values and ideas all helped enable them to be the humble group of people they were, it helped them shape their every aspect of daily life.