Name: Shafea Abedin Rishat .

Id:17203109

Course tittle: American literature (Bradford to Dickenson)

Course code:Eng 314

Submitted to:kazi Md. Siful Aspea.

Submission date:2nd April.

Topic: why did the puritans and pilgrims leave Europe for
America?

Definition of puritans:  a member of a 16th and 17th century Protestant

group in England and New England opposing as unscriptural the ceremonial
worship and the prelacy of the Church of England.

one who practices or preaches a more rigorous or professedly purer moral

code than that which prevails

Definition of pilgrims:
1: one who journeys in foreign lands: WAYFARER

2: one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee

3: capitalized : one of the English colonists settling at Plymouth in 1620

Who were the pilgrims?

Every British citizen was expected to attend the Church of England, and those who
didn’t were punished by the state. One group of farmers in Northern England, known
disparagingly as the Separatists, began to worship in secret, knowing full well that it
was treasonous.

Once they decided that the only way they could be true to their conscience was to
leave the established church and secretly worship, they were hunted and persecuted,
and many of them faced the loss of their homes and the loss of their livelihood,” says
Donna Curtin, executive director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth,
Massachusetts. “When it became impossible for them to continue in this way, they
began to seek another place to live.”

Who were the puritans?

While the Separatists believed that the only way to live according to Biblical precepts
was to leave the Church of England entirely, the Puritans thought they could reform
the church from within. Sometimes called non-separating Puritans, this less radical
group shared a lot in common with the Separatists, particularly a form of worship and
self-organization called “the congregational way.”

What is the difference between puritan and pilgrims?

 Both the Puritans and the Pilgrims were from the Reformed tradition of John
Calvin, also known as Calvinism (a misnomer since they didn’t follow Calvin
himself).
 Both were originally part of the Church of England. The Puritans and Pilgrims
represented the Reformed phase of the Church of England that flourished
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and her immediate successors.
 Now for the differences: The Pilgrims were Brownists, in that they were
followers of Robert Browne, an Anglican (Church of England) priest who
formed an independent congregational-style church.
 They originally were members of the Scooby congregation in
Nottinghamshire.
 Because England mandated attendance at the Church of England services,
the Scrooby congregation and other Separatists congregations suffered
persecution. The Scrooby group moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, later
to Leiden.
Why did the puritans and pilgrims leave Europe for America?
During the latter half of the 16th Century and the beginning of the 17th there
were several movements in England to reform the Church of England. But
Queen Elizabeth I, King James I and King Charles I, as head of the church,
would have none of it. And as time wore on, the Kings moved to prosecute
and jail those who disagreed with the dictates of the Church of England.

Both the Puritan group and what we know as the "Pilgrims" believed the
Church of England to be too "Papist." They felt the Church of Rome was still
extending its influence. And this is where the Puritans take their name, the
desired to "purify" the church from any and all of its Papist tendencies. They
desired to do this from within the Church, meaning, they would do their best
to remain in good standing while trying to effect changes.

The "Pilgrims" are more correctly called "separatists." It was their belief that
the Church was incapable of change and it was their desire to separate into
an entirely new religion. But such a move, in those days, was not legal
according to the reigning monarch. Their leader, the outspoken John
Brewster, had a price on his head and all his followers were subject to being
jailed.

The separatists quickly moved out of England to Holland where they were,
for a short while, taken in as guests of the state. But they did not desire to
stay in Holland, where Lutheranism was practiced. They could not go back to
England but by 1619 the Virginia Colony was well-known in England and
Europe.

The Pilgrims paid off a few government officials and hired two ships, the
Mayflower and Speedwell to take them to Virginia. It is suspected that the
King knew full well of the Pilgrim's plans but because they were leaving his
country forever, he declined to interfere. There were roughly 200 of them
about the ships when the Speedwell's main beam fractured at sea and could
not make the voyage.

The exact reason the Pilgrims did not make it to Virginia is unknown but it is
suspected the Mayflower's captain was paid to deliver them to the Plymouth
colony.

In each case, the Pilgrims first, 1620, and the Puritans later, 1630, the small
group set up their own church to their own liking. The Puritans morphed into
the Congregationalists and the Unitarians while the Pilgrims became the
American Friends (Quakers).