University:
Arizona State University
Course:
HST 200 | Historical Themes
Academic year:

2024
Views:

334

Pages:

2
Author:

Thuyoul US

PURITAN NEW ENGLAND New England, the second major English colony in the first half of the seventeenth century, was founded on quite different foundations than the economically focused Chesapeake tobacco colonies. New England was religiously oriented from the outset, having been settled mostly by waves of Puritan families in the 1630s. Since the 1580s, reform-minded men and women in England have been advocating for more significant reforms to the English national church. These reformers were known as Puritans because they insisted on "purifying" the Church of England of what they considered to be un-scriptural, particularly Catholic aspects that persisted in its structures and practices. These reformers adhered to the teachings of John Calvin and other Protestant reformers. Many of the leaders of early New England were educated pastors who had attended Cambridge or Oxford, but the monarch and his administrators had denied them employment because they had questioned the Church of England's methods, hoping to quiet any dissident voices. Other prominent Puritans were John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who belonged to the affluent English aristocratic class. These prosperous Puritans, along with many more, departed from their homes in England not to establish a state free from religious oppression, but rather to follow their own faith in peace. They had the chance to live how they felt the Bible required in Puritan New England. Their goal in their "New" England was to establish a new English Israel, a model of reformed Protestantism. Because the Puritans sought changes that threatened the customs of celebration, their demands created a rift in English society. For instance, they condemned common activities like bearbaiting, which included letting dogs fight a bear that was tied and was often carried out on Sundays when people had some free time. Puritans demanded an end to theater in the society where William Shakespeare had created his masterpieces, denouncing playhouses as hubs of depravity. In fact, the conflict between Puritans and James I, the leader of the Church of England, included the Bible itself. James ordered a new translation of the Bible shortly after taking the throne, hoping to discourage Puritans from depending too much on the Geneva Bible, which upheld John Calvin's doctrine and gave God primacy over the monarch. Instead, the grandeur of monarchs was highlighted in the 1611 publication of the King James Version. The dispute worsened in the 1620s and 1630s, to the point that the state church forbade Puritan clergy from giving sermons. Because the Puritans demanded cultural, social, and theological changes that challenged the king's power, the Church saw them as a danger to national security. Many Puritans fled to the New World because they were unwilling to follow the rules of the Church of England. However, the immigrants to the Americas were not a cohesive group. While some demanded an end to all ties with the Church of England, others persisted in their efforts to reform the national church.