Luther wrote the “95 Theses” because he saw that the church was doing wrong and he decided that it should be changed. But King Henry VIII only formed the Church of England only to divorce his wife so he could have a son. One man fought for he thought was right and the other did out of selfishness. Even though many man and women do things like they mean well their motives may say otherwise. They could it out of love the need to be free or they could do it out of hate selfishness witch doesn’t make it
The Puritans wanted to alter practices promoted by the Anglican Church as well as decrease the power of the discriminatory and corrupt bishops. After the death of the last Tudor, Elizabeth, King James I began to overtax the Puritans. The Puritans, persecuted by the King and angered by his favor towards the Catholics, had a falling out with England and therefore were voluntary candidates for colonists in the New World. Upon arrival in the New World; however, they preceded to practice intolerance towards others outside of their group. Puritan Massachusetts or the “city upon a hill” for example, instilled a theocratic government in which it was treason to oppose any Puritan practice.
The Puritans wanted to remove all practice and rituals of Catholicism from Europe. John Winthrop and fellow Puritans were frustrated with religious activities in England, “All other Churches of Europe are brought to desolation and or sinnes”. He believed that the Church was corrupted and that the lord “Frowned upon us, doe threatens us fearfully”. Winthrop believed that England was invaded by evil and ran by a corrupted Government, and that the roots for religious learning were being disturbed. They feared to live in such sinful society, because they believed that God predestined people to salvation and others were damned for the rest of time.
Roger Williams Roger Williams was basically the first rebel against the divine church order. During his life he was labeled as a spreader of intellectual infections. Afterwards he has been hailed as the first “flower” of Enlightenment’s spring. Most of his ideas were mainly in a religious context, but some were also engaged in debates on political liberty that would eventually fire the American Revolution. When Puritans saw good and evil, Williams saw people, usually friends with intelligence, moral sense, and a workable political system based on consensus.
John Hughes and Benjamin Franklin came up with the Stamp Act which many people did not like. (DOC G) John Hughes was beggining to run the government down into nothing. Which would cause more taxes for the Americans and whatnot. The Americans would really begin to not like John Hughes and want to separate from Britian even more. So these were some of the reasons tt the American colones separated from the British.
They made an agreement to set up a government based on majority rule, similar to a democracy, called the Mayflower Compact. In 1691 Plymouth merges with Massachusetts Bay Colony. Within the Pilgrims are Separatists; these people are a more radical form of Puritans. Both Puritans and Pilgrims were influenced by Martin Luther and John Calvin. The main focus in life is God, and their goal is to break completely away from the Church of England because it is believed to be corrupt.
Separatist did not want a national church like in England and leaving the Church of England was considered an act of treason. Just 2 years after Bradford joined the separatist movement they moved to Leyden, Holland in order to get away from what they believed to be a corrupt Church of England. They believed that if they were to move out of England then they would be able to worship freely and not be persecuted from the church. Moving into Holland turned out to be not as great as they had anticipated. The easy going lifestyle of the Dutch proved to be to seductive to many of the children and they began to stray.
The failure to convert the Native Americans to Christianity perhaps is another reason that changed the puritans’ attitude toward the Indians. The puritans saw Indians less as people that needed to be converted but irredeemable heathens that needed to be exterminated in order to fulfillment God’s divine plan, like Canaanites or Amalekites in the Bible. “Now He hath many ways to destroy them”, said Mary at the end of her
Sir Edmond Andros was an English military man who openly affiliated himself with the Church of England. The people of New England despised him because along with being a part of the Church of England, he had his men teach the people ti drink, blaspheme, curse, and damn. He changed everything cherished by New England by intentionally interrupting cherished town meetings, restricting the court, the press, schools, and revoking all land titles. 28. The Glorious Revolution was the dethroning of the unpopular Catholic James II and enthroning Protestant rulers William III and Mary.
However, Native American bloodshed, their harsh persecution of religious dissenters, and the Salem Witch trials are a blatant display of their hypocritical ways. The Puritans were contradictory in nature, and ultimately they fell short in meeting their goal of constructing the perfect Christian society.