PURITANISM IN AMERICA

(http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/1intro.html)
California State University

Two Important New England Settlements

The Plymouth Colony

Flagship Mayflower arrives -
1620
Leader - William Bradford
Settlers known as Pilgrims and
Separatists
"The Mayflower Compact"
provides for
social, religious, and economic
freedom,
while still maintaining ties to
Great Britain.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
Flagship Arbella arrives - 1630
Leader - John Winthrop
Settlers are mostly Puritans or
Congregational Puritans
"The Arbella Covenant" clearly establishes
a religious and theocratic settlement,
free of ties to Great Britain.

I. Basic Puritan Beliefs - Tulip

1. Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born
sinful - concept of Original Sin.

2. Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few

are selected for salvation - concept of predestination.

3. Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for
everyone.

4. Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned

or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of
God.

5. Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power

to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects
grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the
will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.

Additional Beliefs

Typology: The belief that God's intentions are present in

human action and in natural phenomenon. Failure to
understand these intentions are human limitations. Puritans
believed in cyclical or repetitive history; they use "types" -
Moses prefigures Jesus, Jonah's patience is reflected in
Jesus' ordeal on the cross, and Moses' journey out of Egypt
is played out in the Pilgrims' crossing of the Atlantic. God's
 wrath and reward are also present in natural phenomena
like flooding, bountiful harvest, the invasion of locusts, and
the lightening striking a home.

Manifest Destiny: The concept of manifest destiny is as

old as the first New England settlements. Without using the
words, John Winthrop articulated the concept in his famous
sermon, the Arbella Covenant (1630), when he said: " ... for
we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the
eyes of all people are upon us; ..." Winthrop exhorts his
listeners to carry on God's mission and to set a shining
example for the rest of the world. From this beginning, the
concept has had religious, social, economic, and political
consequences. The words manifest destiny were first used
by editor John L. O'Sullivan in 1845.

Backsliding: The belief that "saved" believers, those with

visible signs of grace, can fall into temptation and become
sinners. To prevent this, believers were expected not to
become smug, do constant soul-searching, be introspective,
and pray constantly. Satan was particularly interested in
snaring such believers.

II. The Function of Puritan Writers

1. To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because he is
separate from the world.

2. To make him more relevant to the universe.

3. To glorify God.

III. The Style of Puritan Writing

1. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible.

2. Purposiveness - there was a purpose to Puritan writing - described

in Part II above.

3. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading

public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.

| Top | IV. Reasons for Puritan Literary Dominance over the Virginians
1. Puritans were basically middle class and fairly well-educated.

2. Virginians were tradesmen and separated from English writing.

3. Puritans were children of the covenant; gave them a drive and a

purpose to write.

V. Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing

 1. Idealism - both religious and political.

2. Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness.

VI. Forces Undermining Puritanism

1. A person's natural desire to do good - this works against
predestination.

2. Dislike of a "closed" life.

3. Resentment of the power of the few over many.

4. Change in economic conditions - growth of fishery, farms, etc.

5. Presence of the leaders of dissent - Anne Hutchinson, Roger

Williams.

6. The presence of the frontier - concept of self-reliance,

individualism, and optimism.

7. Change in political conditions - Massachusetts became a Crown

colony.

8. Theocracy suffered from a lack of flexibility.

9. Growth of rationality - use of the mind to know God - less

dependence on the Bible.

10. Cosmopolitanism of the new immigrants.

| Top | VII. Visible Signs of Puritan Decay

1. Visible decay of godliness.

2. Manifestations of pride - especially among the new rich.

3. Presence of "heretics" - Quakers and Anabaptists.

4. Violations of the Sabbath and swearing and sleeping during

sermons.

5. Decay in family government.

6. People full of contention - rise in lawsuits and lawyers.

7. Sins of sex and alcohol on the increase.

8. Decay in business morality - lying, laborers underpaid, etc.

9. No disposition to reform.
 10. Lacking in social behavior.

(Ideas in Sections VII & VIII are discussed in detail in Perry Miller's Errand Into
the Wilderness 1956.)
VIII. Some Aspects of the Puritan Legacy: each has positive and
negative implications
a. The need for moral justification for private, public, and
governmental acts.

b. The Questing for Freedom - personal, political, economic, and

social.

c. The Puritan work ethic.

d. Elegiac verse - morbid fascination with death.

e. The city upon the hill - concept of manifest destiny.

(from Shucard, Alan. American Poetry: The Puritans through Walt Whitman.
Amherst: U. of Massachusetts P., 1988.)
Study Questions
1. Define some of the basic concepts of Puritan ideology and illustrate their
significance in specific works. Choose from among the following: (a) "new
world" consciousness, (b) covenant theology, (c) typology, (d) innate depravity,
and (e) irresistible grace. A few of the writers who address each of these
concepts, and whom you will need to discuss, include (a) Bradford and
Bradstreet; (b) Bradford, Wigglesworth, and Edwards; (c) Bradstreet (in Here
Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House), Taylor, Winthrop, and
Wigglesworth; (d) Taylor, Wigglesworth, and Edwards; and (e) Winthrop and
Edwards.
2. Trace the connection between the Puritans' reliance on written covenant in
Bradford's [The Mayflower Compact] and their emphasis on didactic to the
exclusion of dramatic or personal vision in their literature.
3. Octavio Paz, among others, has called Puritan society a culture based on the
principle of exclusion. Discuss, with particular references to literary works, the
evidence of this principle in Puritan life and culture.
4. Consider secular consequences of Puritan theology: the Puritans' attitudes
toward Native Americans, ordinary life, witches, house servants, slavery, and
infant damnation. Choose two of these topics and explore their treatment in
literary works from the period.
5. Identify and discuss literary texts that reveal stresses on Puritanism or that
illustrate schisms within Puritan and colonial consciousness.
6. Explore the contrast between personal and didactic voice in Puritan and
early colonial literature.
7. Identify the literary forms available to colonial American writers. What
limited their choice? How did they invent within these forms? What forms
would survive for later writers to work within?
8. Cite several fundamental differences between Puritan thinking and deist
thinking. Analyze specific literary works that illustrate these differences.
9. Describe the way the concepts of the self and of self-reliance develop and
find expression in colonial and early American literature. Identify those specific
figures or works that you see as significant and explain their contributions.
| Top | 10. Trace the power of the written convenant in colonial and early
American literature, beginning with [The Mayflower Compact].
11. Discuss the ways in which Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson alter
the content of Puritan thinking without changing its form. How do their writings
reflect earlier forms?
12. Slavery is an issue of conscience for some colonial and early American
writers; for others it is fraught with ambivalence. Discuss the issue with
references to several specific texts.
13. Discuss the major similarities and differences between The Mayflower
Compact and The Arbella Covenant.
14. Describe the way concepts of the self and of self-reliance develop and find
expression in colonial and early American literature. Identify those specific
figures or works that you see as significant and explain their contributions.
15. The United States has been criticized in recent years for assuming an air of
moral superiority and for trying to impose its opinion on the rest of the world.
Can you find the seeds of these American attitudes in the literature of the first
two centuries? Explain your answer by referring to specific works you have
read.
16. (a) What motivated the Puritans to flee England? (b) Did the Puritans have
a "blueprint" for organizing their new communities, or did the social structure
evolve slowly? (c) From what type of social, cultural, religious, and economic
background did Winthrop emerge?
17. (a) Examine Winthrop's 1645 speech in which he responds to charges that
he exceeded his authority as governor. Is this a fruition (or expression) of the
Puritan ambiguity between the value of religion and the value of individual
liberty? (b) How did the Hutchinson controversy potentially threaten Puritan
oligarchy? (c) Explore the "spiritual autobiography" and its characteristics.
What philosophical purposes did it serve? What pragmatic purposes? (d) In
Modell, trace image patterns Winthrop uses, i.e. allusions to Biblical passages,
discursive form of sermon, etc.
18. Define some of the basic concepts of Puritan ideology and illustrate their
significance in specific works. Choose from among the following: (a) "new
world" consciousness, (b) covenant theology, (c) typology, (d) innate depravity,
and (e) irresistible grace. A few of the writers who address each of these
concepts, and whom you will need to discuss, include (a) Bradford and
Bradstreet; (b) Bradford, Wigglesworth, and Edwards; (c) Bradstreet (in Here
Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House), Taylor, Winthrop, and
Wigglesworth; (d) Taylor, Wigglesworth, and Edwards; and (e) Winthrop and
Edwards.
19. Consider secular consequences of Puritan theology: the Puritans' attitudes
toward Native Americans, ordinary life, witches, house servants, slavery, and
infant damnation. Choose two of these topics and explore their treatment in
literary works from the period.
MLA Style Citation of this Web Page
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 1: Early American Literature to1700 - A
Brief Introduction." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A
Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL:
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/1intro.html
(provide page date or date of your login).
The Pilgrims and Puritans Come to America1
As you read previously, colonists came to America for many reasons. They came to
explore, to make money, to spread and practice their religion freely, and to live on
land of their own. The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to practice religious
freedom.
In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a
new church called the Church of England. Everyone in England had to belong to the
church. There was a group of people called Separatists that wanted to separate
from the Church of England. The Separatists, under the leadership of William
Bradford, decided to leave England and start a settlement of their own so that
they could practice their religion freely. Bradford went to the Virginia Company
and asked them for permission to establish a new colony in Virginia. The Virginia
Company agreed, so the Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower in September 1620
towards Virginia.
The Pilgrims had a long and difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean. A storm
blew them off course so instead of landing in Virginia, they landed further north in
Cape Cod. The Pilgrims decided to settle in this area and called it Plymouth. There
was a problem with them staying; there was no form of government to follow. The
Virginia Company had given the Pilgrims a charter to settle in Virginia. The charter
was not valid for Plymouth. The men aboard the Mayflower decided that they
would write a plan of government for their colony. The plan of government became
known as the Mayflower Compact. The men agreed to consult each other about the
laws for the colony, and they promised to work together to make the colony
succeed. All the men signed the document. Women were not allowed to
participate.
The Pilgrims finally stepped foot on land in November of 1620. This was not the
best time to establish a colony. It was very difficult for the Pilgrims to find food
and shelter in the middle of winter. By the time spring arrived, half of the
colonists had died. When spring arrived the Pilgrims set out to plant crops and
build their colony. They Pilgrims were told how to plant corn and other crops and
how to trap animals for food and clothing by Samoset and Squanto. By fall the
colony was saved and to celebrate their success they celebrated the first
Thanksgiving.
In 1630 another group left England in search of religious freedom. This group was
called the Puritans. The Puritans wanted to leave the Church of England to become
pure by getting rid of Catholic practices. The Puritans did not want to separate
entirely from the Church of England; they wanted to make reforms or changes.
King Charles I would threaten the Puritans with harsh punishments if they did not
obey the Church of England; therefore, they sought freedom in America.
The Puritans received a charter from the Massachusetts Bay Company to settle
land in New England. John Winthrop led approximately 1,000 Puritans to America
and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colonists wanted to base the
colony on the laws of God. They believed that God would protect them if they
obeyed his laws. Winthrop wanted to make this colony a model for all other
colonies to follow. Like the other colonies, the Massachusetts Bay Colony
established a government. All men who were church members were able to vote
for governor and for representatives to the General Court. The General Court
would then make laws for the good of the colony.
1
From http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us (US Public School)