Dbq Puritans Essay

751 Words4 Pages
Puritan immigrants arrived in New England, during the 1600s, settling and establishing in areas like Massachusetts Bay. In contrast to the Chesapeake region’s settlers, the Puritan settlers did not only come for economic interests, but rather out of aspiration to create a more pure, Christian society based on moral living and emphasis on the family and community. The Puritans had a strong impact on the development of the New England region, based on their religious emphasis and support for a theocratic political structure. By organizing their society based on their want to create a theocracy, the Puritans ensured that their values and ideas had a great impact on the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. In the political development of New England, the Puritans influenced the region by basing the political structure on a theocratic model that enforced firm moral obedience. When the Puritan settlers founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, their leader, John Winthrop, made it his mission to create a colony that would serve as an example of the ideal society that the Puritans hoped to create (Doc A). As a result, New England produced laws that enforced the Puritans’ strict moral code. This mixture of morality into Puritan politics led to a bold response; For example, when Roger Williams called for more religious tolerance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, challenging authority of the Puritan hierarchy (Doc F), the Puritan colonial leaders banished him in 1636. This action led to the founding the colony of Rhode Island as a safe place for religious dissidents. The Puritan clergy, which dominated the political structure, tried to enforce obedience and opposed any separation of church and state, as shown with Nathaniel Ward’s argument against government tolerance of religions diversity (Doc G). The
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