PURITAN HISTORY
FIRST ATTEMPTS
 Roanoke Island, 1585
 115 settlers disappeared without a trace
 Jamestown, 1607
 Looking for: treasure, The Fountain of Youth, new resources to trade, escape from debtors prison
 Plymouth Colony, 1620
 Pilgrim separatists from the Church of England, adventurers, and tradesmen
 Jamestown and Plymouth survived, but they faced hardships
 Disease, drought, starvation, and fights with Native Peoples
WHY ON EARTH WOULD THE PURITANS COME HERE?!
They were desperate for a home.
 Trouble in England:
 Church of England was set up in the 1530s with the monarch as the head.
 Puritan’s aim was to Purify the Church, believing it was corrupt and too ceremonial.
 Fled to Holland/The Netherlands/the Dutch
 Birthplace of Calvinism (which influenced the Puritans) and was religiously tolerant.
 Puritans didn’t like that the Dutch were tolerant of everyone, even groups they disapproved of.
 So…they got kicked out again
HEADING TO THE NEW WORLD
 Headed to America in 1630 on a ship called the Arabella
 Lead by John Winthrop
 Established Massachusetts Bay Colony
 Additional Puritan groups arrived between 1630 and 1640
 Called the Great Migration
 They still faced the same hardships as earlier colonies…so how did
they survive?
FIVE MAJOR BELIEFS
1. Pre-destination: God already knows whether someone will go to heaven or hell, but they don’t.
 Looked for signs from God to let them know if they were or weren’t destined for salvation.
2. Original Sin/Total Depravity: All humans are born sinners, and only by the Grace of God are we not at
any second thrown into a pit of hell to burn forever more.
 Believed the worst of people because wicked humans were capable of any kind of evil.
3. Limited Atonement: Jesus died to make up for human sins, but not everyone’s worthy of receiving this.
 Wanted everyone to believe that they were worthy, so they tried always to appear holy to their neighbors.
4.
Irresistible Grace: The grace of God is always in their hearts, so their job was to spread His word.
 Need to talk about faith, tell community members to be faithful, and prove that you’re “righteous”
5. Saints: Once a person was on the path of salvation, they would never leave it and could avoid evil.
 Community leaders, especially preachers, were incredibly respected. Basically, they could do no wrong.
CONFORMITY = SURVIVAL
 Always had to appear good to their neighbors, so…
 They were aware of every action and never did their own thing, so everybody stuck together.
 Always had to work for God, so…
 Laziness wasn’t an option. Instead, they were always working and built a strong town.
 Always looking for signs that they were saved, so…
 Gave a lot of time to Church, and it became the community center that everyone listened to.
 Always had to show righteousness to get respect, so…
 Power and position came from being involved in the Church.
GROWING COMMUNITY
We’ll keep talking about how Puritan communities grew in the New World. For now you should know:
 Generations 1 & 2 = SURVIVAL & CONFORMITY
 Their beliefs determined their community, making it a theocracy (government based on religion)
 The Bible is law, and men of God were community leaders selected by God and given knowledge.
 Women could be educated so they could read the Bible and teach religion to their children.
 A note: We’re going to talk about religion with the Puritans because it’s the basis of their community
 Aspects of Christianity may be familiar to you but not to others, be patient
 One set of beliefs isn’t better or worse than the other, but these are important for understanding the Puritans
DISCUSSION
1. If you were setting up laws for a community where you believed that people were capable of any form
of evil, what kind of laws would you have?
2. With so much pressure to appear holy and look like they’re worthy of being saved, how do you think
Puritans might act around their neighbors?
3. How might it become a problem (and what kind of problems) if they believe religious leaders can do
no wrong?
4. What do you see as other potential problems in Puritan communities? What would make life hard?