Puritanism and Origin of the American Dream

1872 Words8 Pages
Puritanism and the origin of the American Dream 28/02/2013 MARTA DURO MARTI DNI: 71161084-G To begin this essay, I want to comment briefly a few things about several characteristics of the Puritanism in America during the 17th century. Puritanism was born because of the break between the Pope and the Catholic Church and the English Church. It is a radical part of Protestantism that pretends to purify the English Church. At that time, the Church of England was in a transition progress, and for that, it had Calvinist principles and catholic manners; that was the reason because the puritans thought that this religion was impure, it had not been completely purified. It was not enough to break the relationship with the Catholic Church. The Puritanism was based in 7 principles that were shared with the Calvinism: 1. The absolute sovereign of God 2. Predestination: God knows since the beginning who is going to be saved 3. Providence: God is present in every event that takes place in human life. 4. Election: God has to choose you to be saved, is the only way to be saved. 5. Natural evilness: Since Adam, all the men were sinners that has to be purified. 6. Internal evilness: Men thought that they have to change the institutions to improve their lives, but the change has to be inside them, not in the institutions. 7. God is revealed in the Bible. In 1620, the Mayflower arrived to America form England with people who were, in the majority of the cases, puritans that wanted to live in a better way travelling to America. When the ship arrived in Plymouth, the people who were travelling in the ship (not all the people, because people of the crew and several male servants were not allowed to do it) signed a compact which is considered the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. This compact, called “The Mayflower Compact” was

More about Puritanism and Origin of the American Dream

Open Document