Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Puritan Influence in the Development of New England

Between the 1630s and 1660s, the first Puritan settlers came to what was then the New England Colonies. They came here in order to flee the religious persecution they had been suffering in England. The Puritan religion was quite a strict religion. It was based on following the pure word of God and the pure word of God only. Anything that derived away from the pure word of God was considered to be immoral and was strictly prohibited from all Puritan societies. Due to these strict conditions, the life in the New England Colonies was highly influenced by the Puritan religion. The Puritan religion influenced the economy, politics, and social development of most, if not all, of the New England Colonies.

Economically, the New England Colonies were highly affected by the Puritan religion. In his work, “The Cause of God and His People in New England”, provided in the AP document list, John Higginson had stated, “My Fathers and Brethren, this is never to be forgotten that New England is originally a plantation of Religion, not a Plantation of Trade. Let merchants and such as are increasing Cent per Cent remember this. . . . that worldly gain was not the end and designe of the people of New England, but Religion.” This clearly states that through the eyes of a Puritan, the purpose of coming to the Americas was not to gain money, but to worship God and focus on religion. Due to this fact, merchants who were solely seeking a way to prosper in the Americas were not allowed in Puritan societies. The people worked together in order to get by and gained an amount of money that was only necessary for them to live. The way of life was never to make an excessive amount of money and if there were any extras, a Puritan was supposed to offer them to any of his/her less fortunate neighbors.

In politics, the New England Colonies were governed by a town leader, who was elected every so often in town meetings which consisted of only males over age of twenty-one. So the town leader too had to be a male and over the age of twenty-one. Even though he was the town leader, his power was rigorously limited. As stated by John Cotton in his work, “Limitation of Government” provided in the AP document list, “Let all the world learn to give mortal men no greater power than they are content they shall use…. It is therefore most wholesome for magistrates an officers in church and commonwealth never to affect more liberty and authority than will do them good.” In other words, a Puritan political leader was only to have power over things that would make the town a better place to live in. With too much power, a leader could change things for the worse. It was believed to let God be the leader of all people and he would decide all essential consequences for the people.

The families of the New England Colonies were also based on the Puritan lifestyle. In New England Colonial families, the father was to have all authority and the mother was to support the father in any way possible. Daughters in the family were to help their mother clean, cook, and maintain the household, while sons in the family were sent to work outside. They did things such as getting fresh water from the river and chopping down wood in order to heat their house and cook their meals. These families had little fun. Some children, however, were also sent to school.

The economy, government, and social development in the New England Colonies were greatly influenced by the Puritan Religion. Besides their strict ways, there lifestyle was quite simple with only one major focus, religion. They brought stability to the region and in my perspective; these were the people who first founded the United States of America.

1 comment:

  1. Good job Marcel :) I liked your essay and the approach you took.

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