The Puritans 1620-

In many respects, the American character from the beginning until

today has been shaped by the moral, ethical, and religious convictions of the

Puritans.

History❧ The first group of English Puritans landed in 1620,

on the tip of Cape Cod, just before Christmas. ❧ This is known as the Plymouth Colony❧ The Flagship Mayflower arrives in 1620 led by

William Bradford.❧ The settlers were known as Pilgrims and

Separatists❧ "The Mayflower Compact" was written by these

settlers. This document provides social, religious, and economic freedom,while still maintaining ties to Great Britain

History continued

❧ The second group of New England settlers were known as The Massachusetts Bay Colony

❧ The Flagship Arbella arrives in 1630 lead by John Winthrop

❧ The settlers are mostly Puritans.❧ "The Arbella Covenant" clearly establishes a

religious and theocratic settlement, free of ties to Great Britain.

Who were the Puritans?

❧ Puritans is a broad term referring to a number of Protestant groups that, beginning in about 1560, sought to “purify” the Church of England, which was almost inseparable from England’s government.

Puritan Reasons for leaving England

❧ For the Puritans, religion was first of all a personal inner experience.❧ They did not believe that the clergy and

the government should or could act as an intermediary between the individual and God.

❧ Puritans also suffered persecution in England

Basic Puritan Beliefs of Humanity and World view OR T.

U.L.I.P.❧ Total Depravity - through Adam and

Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin. Adam and Eve’s sin had damned most people for all eternity. Humans were inherently evil and had to struggle to overcome sin.

Basic Puritan Beliefs of Humanity and World view OR T.

U.L.I.P.❧ Unconditional Election - God "saves"

those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination. Only a select few known as the “elect” would be saved. Personal salvation depends soley on the grace of God not on individual efforts.

Basic Puritan Beliefs of Humanity and World view OR T.

U.L.I.P.❧ Limited Atonement - Jesus died for

the chosen only, not for everyone. Jesus Christ had only been sent to earth to save particular people.

Basic Puritan Beliefs of Humanity and World view OR T.

U.L.I.P.❧ Irresistible Grace - God's grace is

freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God. It was difficult to know for certain if one is saved or damned, so the Puritans tried to behave in as exemplary a manner as possible.

Basic Puritan Beliefs of Humanity and World view OR T.

U.L.I.P.❧ Perseverance of the "saints”or the

“elect” - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.

Puritan Additional Ideas: Typology

❧ This is the belief that God's intentions are present in human action and in natural phenomenon God's wrath and reward are also present in natural phenomena like flooding, bountiful harvest, the invasion of locusts, and the lightening striking a home. Failure to understand these intentions are human limitations.

Puritan Additional Ideas: Typology continued

❧ Puritans believed in cyclical or repetitive history; they use "types" - Moses prefigures Jesus, Jonah's patience is reflected in Jesus' ordeal on the cross, and Moses' journey out of Egypt is played out in the Pilgrims' crossing of the Atlantic.

Puritan Additional Ideas: Manifest Destiny

❧ This is the historical belief that the United States was ordained and destined by the god of Christianity to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. It has also been used to advocate and justify other territorial acquisitions.

Puritan Additional Ideas:Backsliding

❧ This is the belief that "saved" believers, those with visible signs of grace, can fall into temptation and become sinners (or the “unregenerated”).

❧ To prevent this, believers were expected not to become smug, do constant soul-searching, be introspective, and pray constantly.

❧ Satan was particularly interested in snaring such believers.

How to “know” if you were saved❧ You could never be certain but there were

two principal indicators of the state of your soul❧ Inner Grace: You were saved by the grace of

God, and you could feel this grace arriving in an intensely emotional fashion.

❧ Outer Grace: The inner arrival of God’s grace was demonstrated by your outward behavior. After receiving grace, you were “reborn” as a member of the community of saints, and you behaved like a saint.

How to know if you are saved continued

❧ People hoping to be among the saved (elect) examined their inner lives closely for signs of grace, and they tried to live exemplary lives.

❧ Because of this Puritans valued self-reliance, industriousness, temperance, and simplicity.

Puritan Politics: the Contracts

❧ The Puritans believed that a contract, or covenant, existed between God and humanity. This was used as a model in other areas.

❧ Puritans believed that people should enter freely into agreements concerning their governments.

❧ On the other hand, because the Puritans believed the “elect” should exert great influence on government, their political views tended to be undemocratic. There was little room for compromise.

The Purpose of Puritan Writers OR Why they wrote it

1. To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because he is separate from the world.

2. To make him more relevant to the universe.

3. To glorify God.

Characteristics of Puritan Writing OR How to Recognize It

❧ The Bible was the supreme authority on earth and provided a model for Puritan writing

❧ Puritan used writing to explore their inner and outer lives for signs of the workings of God

Characteristics of Puritan Writing OR How to Recognize It❧ Diaries and histories were the most common

forms of expression in Puritan society, because they expressed the workings of God.

❧ Puritans favored a plain style, similar to that of the Geneva Bible. They stressed clarity of expression and avoided complicated figures of speech for the time.

What we’re looking into…

❧ Poetry:“Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666” by Anne Bradstreet

❧ Historical Document: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by John Edward

❧ Drama: “The Crucible”

Things to know by Test Day

❧ How do the pilgrims integrate signs of he supernatural with their everyday lives?

❧ Identify characteristics of Puritan writing in a work and analyze their effect on the message of the work.

Structure Issue

Don’t hide the point that’s what the thesis and topic sentences are for!

Don’t skimp on the evidence and explaining they are what make you right