Puritans Quick Reference

Puritans: Who They Were

  • Protestant group; left England in the 16th–17th centuries
  • Christian non-conformists
  • Arrived in America in 1620 to flee religious persecution; aimed to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony
  • Sought to eliminate Catholic influence
  • Purified the teaching proposed by John Calvin

Core Beliefs

  • Humans are born sinful
  • Predestination
  • Salvation belongs to a select few
  • Limited atonement
  • You can feel God's grace
  • Theocracy: church and state
  • City upon a Hill theory: a new colony as a place of complete reform
  • Strong belief in Biblical education
  • The Bible as the ultimate authority
  • Judgmental God: punishes evil, rewards good
  • Providence
  • Simple worship and church organization
  • Women should have little to no power
  • People should freely enter governmental contracts

Values

  • Personal piety; strict morality
  • Emphasizing God's sovereignty
  • Predestination
  • Disliked gambling, holidays, and dancing

Important Events

  • 1632: Maryland colony established as a refuge for persecuted Roman Catholics
  • Harvard College founded
  • The first printing press in the colony, 1638
  • Pennsylvania established as a place for religious tolerance

Important People

  • Anne Hutchinson — reformer; isolated within society and the church
  • Roger Williams — challenged religious laws; founded Providence; banished for actions

Puritan Literature: Style, Themes, & Characteristics

  • Styles: sermons, diaries, personal narratives, histories, religious poems, hymns
  • Themes: guilt, remorse, self-discipline, independence, patriotism, industry, practicality, tolerance
  • Characteristics: religious themes, Bible references, fear instillation, redemption, sin

Task Three: Annotations & Notes on Sources

  • Dorcas Good: note about her in Salem Witch Trials context; context of sources
  • Salem Witch Trials: Causes
    • Several girls grew sick and were diagnosed as victims of witchcraft
    • Tituba's confession led to a domino effect of accusations
  • Salem Witch Trials: Events
    • 1692: Girls fall ill with mysterious symptoms
    • March 1, 1692: Sarah Good, Sarah Osburne, and Tituba examined
    • Good pleads not guilty; Tituba names a co-conspirator
    • March 24, 1692: Ann Putnam accuses Dorcas Good
    • June 10, 1692: Bridget Bishop hanged (first victim)
    • June 30, 1692: Good found guilty
    • July 19, 1692: Sarah Good and four others hanged
    • August–September 1692: additional hangings
    • May 1693: Governor Phips ends the trials
  • Salem Witch Trials: People Involved
    • Sarah Good
    • Ann Putnam
    • Sarah Osbourne
    • Tituba
    • Reverend Noyes

Anne Bradstreet

  • Information: first female poet published in the New World and England; family tied to Harvard; challenged Puritan gender bias through irony, sarcasm, and Romantic elements
  • Writings mostly personal; themes: religious devotion, women’s worth, mortality, God, love
  • Married to Simon Bradstreet; connected to Massachusetts Bay Colony leadership

Happenings in New England (Context)

  • Church and state were closely linked
  • Voting limited to church members
  • Proof of conversion required
  • Valued hard work, education, conformity
  • Protests led to Rhode Island’s founding
  • Predestination belief
  • Education, self-government, community, moral discipline shaping Puritan society

Puritans in Textbook: Quick Summary

  • Beliefs: Purify the church; chosen by God to reform; Bible as guide for faith, daily life, and government
  • Salvation determined by God before birth
  • Values: hard work, discipline, thrift, strict morality
  • Nonconformity leads to banishment
  • Education valued
  • Literature: The New England Primer taught religious and literacy values
  • Anne Bradstreet reflected Puritan views; Witch trials as warnings about hysteria and injustice
  • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne explores guilt, sin, and moral judgment