Lecture 1

Puritan / Colonial Period (1600's-

1740's)
History  In 1608 when King James Stuart
succeeded Queen Elizabeth, the
Puritans fled to the Netherlands
and then asked for the right to
settle in the vast holdings the
British held in America.
 The Pilgrims (1620) and the
Puritans (1630) came and settled in
Massachusetts. The Puritans
wanted to build the “New
Jerusalem” or Boston as it came to
be known.
 The Quakers (bad name for
pacifists) came and settled in the
Pennsylvania area.
 The Catholics came and settled in
Mary’s Land to escape persecution
(later became Maryland)

**Map of the first colonies settled

during the time of the puritans and
pilgrims.
 History
 Important Events:
 The most famous, or infamous, event of this time was the Salem witch
hunt and trials. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before
local magistrates followed by county court trials to prosecute people
accused of witchcraft in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties of
colony Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693.
 Back to the book…
 As the Norton Anthology mentions, the Pilgrims who came to
Plymouth Plantation wished to purify their Christian beliefs and
practices. However, the Puritans initially were willing to work within
the confines of the established Church of England, the Pilgrims
thought it so corrupt that they wished to separate themselves from it
completely.
 Pilgrims vs. Puritans…
 The "Pilgrim Fathers" who fled to the Netherlands, and then to New
England on the Mayflower, were Puritans. "Pilgrims" is the name that
has stuck for this particular group of English Separatists. Their beliefs,
however, were not materially different from those of the Puritans
settlers who followed them to New England in the 1630s.
 Exploration and
Colonization
 Columbus landed on Hispaniola (now island of
Haiti and Dominican Republic), 1492
 Sir Walter Raleigh landed on Roanoke Island,
NC,1580s
 First British permanent colony =Jamestown,
VA,
 1607 led by Captain John Smith
 Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Mass, 1620
 Puritans formed Mass Bay Colony, 1630-43
 Colonization
 Reformation in Europe set the stage for
colonization to North America
 Henry VIII established Anglican Church, separated
from the Roman Catholic Church control
 Martin Luther denounced the Pope as infallible —
Protestant religions flourished — Calvinism,
Lutheranism, Anabaptists,
Presbyterians/Episcopalians, Quakers
 As religious control diminished, capitalism grew
radically in England, France, Spain
 Columbus, Ponce de Leon, Cabeza de Vaca,
Coronado, and Pizarro sailed under Spanish flag
 Colonization
 British colonies fell into 3 cultural and economic
groups
 Southern from West Indies to Virginia
 Most difficult to settle due to malaria, but
ultimately the most prosperous with the
introduction of African slaves
 During 17, 18 &19 Centuries, 300,000 slaves were
sold in North America
 Middle between Chesapeake and Massachusetts
Bay
 Most ethnically and religiously diverse
 Dutch (New York) and Quakers (Penn) promoted
freedom and tolerance
 Quakers first to denouce slavery (1688)
 New England
 Settlement lagged behind other colonies due to
bitter cold
 Separatists and Puritans
 Doctrines of both groups were shaped by
teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin
 Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German monk,
professor of theology at U of Wittenberg
 Claimed the Bible should be the final word of
God, not the Pope John Calvin (1509-1564), a
French theologian, lived and taught in Geneva,
Switzerland
 Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion,
detailed Puritans’ beliefs of original sin, limited
atonement, grace only from God, perseverance
of saints, predestination
 Central idea was covenant theology = Adam
and Eve made covenant with God, then broke it
Religious views of the Pilgrims
 The pilgrims shared the views of the Separatist: they
believed that the reforms of the Anglican Church had
gone far enough.
 To establish themselves as rightful interpreters of the
Bible, they removed from the Anglican Church in order
to re-establish it as they believed it should be.
 The first of their reasons for sailing to America is fairly
passive – they wanted to “draw” others by the example
of their prosperity, not necessarily go and conquer and
actively convert.
Such an idea reflects the one that would be expressed
by the Puritan John Winthrop, where the New World
would become a beacon of religious light, a model of
spiritual promise, and a “citty upon a hill”
Religious views of the
Puritans
 The most obvious difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans
is that the Puritans had no intention of breaking with the Anglican
Church.
 The Puritans had suffered repeatedly under a society which had
seemed to demonstrate the potentially ominous side of the relation
of church and state.
 The king was the leader of the church, and the state decided how
the church was to function
 In 1629 when Charles I dissolved parliament, the people found
that they no longer had any political representation
 Their secular agency had then become a measure of their religious
agency
 The removal to Massachusetts was a way to gain a political voice,
to create a state that would develop according to their own beliefs
and fashion itself harmoniously with the church
Religious views (continued)
 Puritans and Pilgrims were nonconformists; both of which refused to
accept an authority beyond that of the revealed word (the Bible).
 The Puritans were ardent reformers, seeking to bring the Church to a
state of “purity” (as NAAL states)
 This reform involved varying degrees of stripping away practices
seen as residual “popery” – vestments, ceremony, etc.
 However, where the Pilgrims had translated this in something of an
egalitarian mode, the Puritans considered religion a very complex and
highly intellectual affair.
 Its leaders were highly trained scholars whose education tended to
lead to authoritarian positions.
 While these views fostered such class distinction, it nevertheless
encouraged education among the whole of its group, and in fact
demanded a level of learning and understanding in terms of salvation.
 Knowledge of Scripture and divinity, for the Puritans, was essential.
 Philosophy

Religious beliefs were the basis of their outlook

on life
Legal documents influenced by the Bible and
English common law
Puritans held education in high esteem
Misconceptions
Women were treated as
property
Religious perspectives
Social and legal
perspectives
(“The Prologue”)
Roles of women in the
home
Plymouth Colony
advantages
 Misconceptions (continued)
Salem witch trials
Public humiliation
The First Thanksgiving
 ORIGINS OF PURITANISM
Began in late 1500s, early 1600s England in response to a
growing sense that the Church of England had corrupted
religious creeds and rituals and had given bishops too
much authority.
Puritans wanted to work within the church on English soil
to “purify” the church.
A group of “separatists”—people who believed the church
was too corrupted to be purified—sought to break away or
“separate” entirely from the Church of England in order to
restore the church, make it a new, politically and
religiously neutral place. These people, who we usually
call “pilgrims,” eventually came to America.
Over time, these separatists and the emigrating puritans
melded together - we now refer to as the Puritans.
Puritans believed themselves to be on a holy charge, as
God’s chosen people, to reestablish the true church.
 The Literature of Early America

 Colonists did not call themselves “Americans”

before mid-18th Century
 Enormous displacement of Native American
civilizations across the continent
 French settled along the St. Lawrence River
 Swedes settled along the Delaware River
 Dutch settled along the Hudson River
 Germans and Scots-Irish settled in New York
and Penn
 Spanish settled in Florida
 Native American Civilizations and
Cultures

•Except for Central American natives’ documents, no

•writings from North America before colonization
•With Europeans came slaughter, slavery, diseases
•lethal to Natives
•Between 1492 and 1617, Native American
population was reduced to 10% of original numbers
•By the end of the 17 Century, Native population in
Southern colonies went from 200,000 to less than
60,000
•Iroquois formed an alliance to try to counter colonial
takeover of lands
•Cherokees became agricultural in an attempt to
assimilate
•Tribes aligned with French during French and Indian
War
 Puritans
 Puritans were dedicated to self-determination
independence and freedom, strong tradition of
preaching, and thus education
 Sermons were most popular literary form
 Mass Bay Colony became cultural centre of
colonies
 Harvard founded at Cambridge in 1636
 First colonial press established in 1638 at
Cambridge
 First book printed in colonies in 1640
 First colonial newspaper published in Boston in
1690
 Puritanism declined before end of colonial
period
 Religious and social unity gave way to
diversity
 Early American literature, following the
Puritan era, included
 Biographies
 Secular poetry
 Political documents/speeches
Puritan Views into Literature
World View: Trust in God regardless of circumstances.  Brotherly love, belief
in the power of the Gospel, did not separate religious life from secular life. 
Knowledge: Comes from grace, Scripture (studied original languages,
almost all were educated at Oxford or Cambridge). Preached expository
sermons to cover all of Bible.  Established Harvard in 1636,
education extremely important, first Primer was biblical  
Social View:They are the new Israelites in the Promised Land, after exile
from Europe  
Self Concept: Very conscientious, people of prayer, responsibility, and
accountability.   
Literary Works: William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation; Jonathan
Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God; Mary Rowlandson, Captivity
Narrative; John Smith, romanticized account of Pocahontas;
Anne Bradstreet, various poems; Phillis Wheatley, poetry of a grateful
Christian slave.  
Other Topics and Works: Mayflower Compact, Native American tribal
histories, Salem witch trials. 
 Puritan Writers Continued…
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.
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.
Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing
1. Idealism - both religious and political.
2. Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness.
 Authors

William Bradford (1590-1657)

 Was born in Austerfield, Yorkshire, into a family of substantial yeomen,
March 19, 1589.
 Read the bible when he was 12 and joined a separatist group that would later
become the Pilgrims in 1606.
 After the Mayflower anchored, his wife fell/jumped overboard and drowned
 Was elected Governor of Plymouth in April of 1621 and started to write the
history of Plymouth Plantation.
 Was re-elected 30 times.
 Died May 9, 1657
 William Bradford (continued)
 Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1637)
Portrays suffering of early settlers and their trip across the sea to the New World.
Upon landing, they had neither shelter nor knowledge of how to survive.
Settlers set out to look for supplies
Found corn buried by Indians
Some went off to sail around Cape Cod and were attacked by Native Americans during
their exploration.
 The explorers later found cornfields and fresh water during their searches through the
wilderness.
 Half the people died in the first few months of landing.
 As life settled down, the Pilgrims began to form relations with the surrounding Native
American tribes through men such as Samoset and Squanto who served as intermediaries.
 Indians helped teach them to grow and hunt for food.
 Spoke of Morton of Merrymount’s lavish lifestyle and eventual fall.
 Described his fear of the community’s increasing neglect of the Church.
 Apprehensive concerning the large amount of people who broke away from the
Church community to life on their own.
 Saw it as the ruin of society
 Documented the first years of the Pilgrim settlements in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
 Portrayed the suffering of the Pilgrims as they attempted to survive the new landscape.
 Described the small details behind the glorious image of the first settlers in the New
World.
 Recordings serve as a historical log of the everyday struggles the men and women faced
as they built the foundations of a new society.
John Winthrop (1588-1649)
 Born in Groton, England in 1588
 Went to Cambridge University for
2 Years, was exposed to Puritan
beliefs here.
 Was married when he was 17
 Was not a Separatist
 Wanted to reform the National
Church from within getting rid of
hierarchal clergy and traditional
rituals.
 Became a lawyer
 Emigrated to America in order to
avoid persecution under King
Charles I
 In October 1629 he was chosen as
Governor of the colony in
Massachusetts, and remained in
the position for 20 years
 Died in 1649
  A Model of Christian Charity (1630)
 God made men different to provide a variance

John Winthrop (continued)

to life and show his power through his proper
maintenance of all the diversity.
 Men should bond together and support
each other.
 Treat each other with justice and mercy.
 Take care of the lives and belongings of
others as though they were your own.
 People must help each other even beyond
their abilities.
 Sacrifice one’s needs for the good of others.
 Love is the perfect bond between people.
 Reveals another aspect of Puritanism
 Expresses a gentler and more
compassionate view of religion.
 God is seen as a merciful and kind fatherly
figure who desires to see His children
unite.
 Religion is still seen as the center of life, but
is less constraining.
 Everything is done out of personal
kindness rather than mere fear of
condemnation and punishment.
 Portrays the softer and more emotional
aspect of the Puritan culture.
John Winthrop
 Winthrop obtained a royal
charter along with other
wealthy Puritans for the
Massachusetts Bay
Company (another name
for the colony in present
day Salem and Boston). He
escorted a group of
Puritans to the New World
in 1630.
 Winthrop was elected
Governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Aboard the Arabella
 Winthrop, with
hundreds of other
Puritans, travelled
aboard the Arabella to
the New World.
 While aboard,
Winthrop wrote and
delivered the sermon A
Modell of Christian
Charity to fellow
passengers.
A Modell of Christian Charity
“...For wee must consider that we shall be
as a citty upon a hill. The eies of all
people are uppon us. Soe that if wee shall
deale falsely with out God in this worke wee
haue undertaken, and soe cause him to
withdrawe his present help from us, wee
shall be made a story and a by-word
through the world...”
A Modell of Christian Charity
 The previous words are a
vocational charge upon the
community.
 This parallels the tasks laid
on the people of Israel who
believed they had a specific
duty to serve God.
 Winthrop’s sermon gave
rise to the widespread
belief that America is God’s
Country because
metaphorically it is a city
upon a hill.
Modern Uses
 On January 9, 1961
President-Elect John F.
Kennedy quoted
Winthrop in his
address to the General
Court of
Massachusetts.
 Ronald Regan used the
image of a city upon a
hill in his 1989 farewell
speech to the nation.