Puritanism in New England – Comprehensive Study Notes

Colonization Motives: Chesapeake vs. New England

Virginia (§ last lecture)
- Primary impulse = profit (first hope for gold → tobacco).
New England
- Primary impulse = religion; specifically an “experiment in applied theology.”
- Led by the Puritans.

Popular Images of the Puritans

Positive connotations: “pure,” moral strength, discipline, work ethic.
Negative connotations: “puritanical,” narrow-minded, intolerant, hypocritical.
Historian’s task: understand their theology before judging behavior.

Theological Foundations

John Winthrop on the crossing (sermon): colony to be “a city upon a hill” → public model of Biblical living (allusion to Jesus’ parable).
Calvinist core doctrines:
- Omnipotent God created humanity innocent; the Fall corrupted all.
- Predestination / “double predestination.”
- God eternally decrees every soul’s fate (elect vs. damned).
- No human “free will” in salvation.
- “Elect” expected to show outward moral signs; good conduct is evidentiary, not meritorious.
- Intensely individualistic: no priestly mediator needed; believer ↔ God directly.

Reformation Background in England

For ~ $1500$ yrs Western Europe ≈ Roman-Catholic; dissent small & persecuted.
Martin Luther $1517$ – $95$ Theses → Protestant Reformation spreads through Germany, Switzerland, France, etc.
English Reformation political, not theological:
- King Henry VIII (reigns $1509–1547$ ) sought annulment from Catherine of Aragon; Pope (captive to Catherine’s nephew Charles V of Spain) refused.
- Henry’s solution (Act of Supremacy $1534$ ): break from Rome; found Church of England (Anglican), monarch = Supreme Head.
- Mnemonic for Henry’s six wives: “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.”
- Anglican worship keeps much Catholic ritual; episcopal (bishop-run) hierarchy remains, though clergy may marry.

English Calvinists vs. Church of England

Objections
1. Anglican doctrine teaches human free will.
2. Anglican government = episcopal (top-down bishops) → too many mediators.
Calvinists sort into three streams:
1. Presbyterians (majority) – elder-run, graded synods; want national church re-structured.
2. Congregationalists – each congregation autonomous; subdivide into:
- Separatists – Church of England hopelessly corrupt; must leave.
- Non-Separatists (“Puritans proper”) – stay & “purify” the national church.

The Separatists → Pilgrims & Plymouth

Persecuted in England; $1608$ group (~ $150$ ) migrate to tolerant Netherlands (Leiden).
Fear children becoming culturally Dutch → return to England; arrange passage with Plymouth Company.
First vessel Speedwell leaks; second vessel Mayflower transports ~ $100$ settlers $1620$ .
Land at Cape Cod; found Plymouth; draft Mayflower Compact (self-government covenant).
Struggle first winter; Wampanoag aid → first Thanksgiving.

The Non-Separatist Puritans → Massachusetts Bay (“Great Migration”)

Under Charles I (reigned $1625–1649$ ), anti-Calvinist policies & persecution intensify.
Massachusetts Bay Company (joint-stock) chartered; Puritans plan trans-Atlantic “model church.”
$1630$ convoy: $11$ ships, > $1{,}000$ settlers; chief town: Boston (named for departure port).
Climate healthier than Chesapeake but settlement still harsh.

Church Life

Every town must maintain a church.
Membership restricted to elect; selection method:
- Founders appoint $12$ “obviously elect” elders; must unanimously approve new applicants.
Compulsory church attendance for all residents (member or not).

Civil Government

Church & state fused; only male church members vote/hold office.
Annual “freemen” meeting elects $18$ -man Assistants’ Council → chooses Governor (John Winthrop repeatedly from $1630$ forward).
$1634$ creation of General Court of Massachusetts (representative legislature akin to Virginia House of Burgesses).
- Women (if elect) may vote on internal church matters, not civil offices.

Maintaining Orthodoxy

Periodic conferences of elders (no higher synod) to harmonize doctrine.
Magistrates enforce religion: fines, stocks, public whipping; church taxes levied by towns.

Dissent: Roger Williams & Rhode Island

Cambridge-educated minister, friend of Winthrop; arrives $1631$ .
Evolves into a separatist; denounces
- Compulsory worship (“forces elect to mingle with the damned”).
- Unpaid land seizure; advocates fair purchase from Native nations.
- Continued ties to Church of England.
Salem pulpit $1634–1635$ used to attack system; newborn son named Freeborn (jab at anti-free-will theology).
General Court condemns, banishes (winter $1635–1636$ ).
Sheltered by Narragansett tribe; purchases land → founds Providence.
Royal patent later recognizes “Rhode Island & Providence Plantations.”
- Principles: full religious liberty, no compulsory support of any church, separation of church & state.
- Result: oldest American synagogue (Newport, $c.$ $1658$ ).

Decline of the Puritan Experiment (1660s–1690s)

Demographic change: second/third generations lack persecution narrative; focus on trade & maritime commerce (> $20{,}000$ migrants overall but later arrivals more materialistic).
English Civil War $1642–1651$ → Puritan Parliament wins; Charles I executed ( $1649$ ).
- Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector $1653–1658$ ) enforces moral legislation (bans dancing, Christmas).
Restoration $1660$ : Charles II (son of executed king) returns; detests Puritans; re-establishes Anglican monopoly.
Imperial responses:
- $1684$ Crown revokes Massachusetts charter (Navigation Acts violations).
- $1686–1689$ Dominion of New England lumps colonies under royal governor.
- $1691$ new royal charter; church membership no longer controls civil franchise.
Puritan clergy interpret losses as divine judgement; heightened fear of Satan.

1692 Salem Witch Trials

Village minister: Samuel Parris; West Indian slave Tituba entertains girls with voodoo folklore (egg-in-glass tricks, etc.).
Girls (Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, etc.) exhibit fits; claim diabolical torment.
Tituba confesses to folklore; repents and spared.
Accusations spread—eventually $19$ executed (mostly women) + Giles Corey pressed to death.
Governor ends proceedings after his own wife accused.

Long-Term Significance & Puritan Legacy

Political geography:
- Colonies spawned: Massachusetts (absorbing Plymouth $1650$ ), Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire. (Maine part of Massachusetts until $1820$ .)
Cultural / ideological influences on later United States:
1. Individualism & Democracy – “one soul before God” → “one man, one vote.”
2. Social Equality & Mobility – all believers equal; success seen as possible through effort.
3. Religious Freedom (indirectly). Puritans opposed it, but dissent (Williams, later colonies) crystallized principle of church–state separation codified in U.S. Bill of Rights.
4. Education emphasis. Reading Scripture obligatory → early & compulsory schooling.
- Harvard $1636$ , Yale $1701$ founded primarily to train Puritan clergy; New England towns mandate elementary schools.
1. Protestant (Puritan) Work Ethic. Calling + hard work + thrift = material success, originally to glorify God, later a secular American value.

Mnemonics, Numbers, & Factoids (Quick Reference)

$95$ Theses – Luther $1517$ .
Henry VIII wives: “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.”
Great Migration: > $20{,}000$ Puritans $1630–1640$ .
Massachusetts early polity: $12$ founding elders → admit members; $18$ Assistants; General Court created $1634$ .
Plymouth Compact ship chronology: Speedwell (leaks) → Mayflower (lands $1620$ ).
Roger Williams expelled $1636$ ; Rhode Island = first colony with explicit religious liberty.
Charter revoked $1684$ ; Dominion $1686$ ; new charter $1691$ .
Salem executions: $19$ hanged, $1$ pressed.

Conceptual Connections

“City upon a hill” rhetoric endures (Kennedy, Reagan speeches).
Puritan work ethic undergirds later capitalist ethos (Weber’s thesis).
New England town meetings & General Court pre-figure U.S. republican structures.
Witch-hunt episode serves as enduring cautionary tale (e.g., Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”).