The Puritan Lifestyle In The 1600's

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The Puritan lifestyle in the 1600’s reflected their emphasis on religion. Beliefs and values defined their culture. In addition, religion instrumentally determined many aspects of their society. The Puritan’s beliefs in personal righteousness, social hierarchy, and the strong association between church and state influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660’s. The Puritan’s deep-rooted principle of personal righteousness greatly influenced the social, economic and political development of the New England colonies. They put a great deal of importance on a productive and prudent lifestyle. Robert Keayne, in his last will and testament wrote, “…I have not lived an idle, lazie…show more content…
The developing society placed great importance on the establishment of the community. The believed they must work together, including aiding those in need, fearing God would not help them if they did not help each other. In John Winthrop’s 1630 work, A Modell of Christian Charity, he writes “…Wee must delight in eache other; make other’s conditions our own; rejoice together, mourne together, labour and suffer together, always hauveing before our eyes our commission and community in the worke, as members of the same body… “ (Doc. A). He writes that by not embracing the community, God would abandon them and they would be a failure and the rest of the world would talk about it. Social hierarchy was further demonstrated by the development of the towns themselves. The town hall building, churches and schools were located in the middle of the town, where the more affluent citizens lived (Doc. B). They considered establishing their place of worship and government building priorities, followed by establishing a school (Doc. E).The Puritans highly regarded education and believed it to be their responsibility to encourage the creation of knowledgeable future ministers for the…show more content…
The Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636 discussed that good servants to God study and promote the gospel. The relationship of the strong connection of church and state is demonstrated in the writings “We do hereby promise to carry ourselves in all lawful obedience to those that are over us, in Church or Commonwealth, knowing how well pleasing it will be to the Lord…”. The political influences are particularly demonstrated by the words of William Bradford, an English separatist who was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and served as Plymouth Colony leader and then Governor five times, after the colonist’s attack on the Pequot’s Mystic River village “…but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the praise to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them...” when he gave credit to God for the victory of war (Doc. D). Political influence is further revealed by John Cotton in the Limitation of Government of 1655 where he described an abundance of power given to leadership could be detrimental to society. “Let all the world learn to give mortal men no greater power than they are content they shall use-for use it they will. And unless they be better taught of God, they will use it ever and anon…No man would think what desperate deceit and wickedness there is in the hearts of men.”

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