 Who
are the Puritans?
 Where do they come
from and why did
they come to
America?
 What impact do their
teachings/beliefs
have on their
literature?
Puritanism
began in sixteenth-century
England as a religious and political
movement.
Puritans were Protestants* who sought
to “purify” English Protestantism. They
felt the Protestant Reformation had not
gone far enough in breaking away from
Catholicism.

*an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from the Church of
Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them.
 Protestantism
itself = branch of
Christianity that had broken off from
Roman Catholicism due to different
interpretations of the Bible.
Puritans
were more conservative
than most Protestants in England
at the time, which is why they
chose to relocate.
The
Puritans came
from England.
Massachusetts
Bay
Colony, 1630 = first
Puritan settlement
in America.

When the 16th-century Reformation took place three
distinct sectors of reformation developed: the
German, the Swiss and the English. Of these three,
the weakest and least hopeful was the English.

277 Christian leaders were burned to death at the
stake during the reign of Queen Mary. She earned the
title 'Bloody Mary' during her reign from 1553 to 1558.

It was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (15581603) that the Puritan movement was born. Once
Elizabeth became Queen, her first priority was to reestablish religion.
At first the Puritans received the name Puritan
because they sought to purify the National Church of
England. In later times they were called Puritans
because of the purity of life that they sought. They
set out to reform the Church of England. Their desire
was to conform the national Church to the Word of
God in government, worship, and practice.
 The
Puritans were a people who caused
others sit up and listen. The Puritans were
inclined to express their opinion quite forcefully, even to
the point of straining the social constraints of a rigid
English society. They made their voices heard
and eventually suffered for it.

Puritans viewed all pleasure as the wiles(tricks) of Satan
Therefore, they banned music, dancing, and the theatre.

Puritan virtues: hard work, courage, and self-reliance

Poverty, not wealth, was considered a sin, on the grounds that it revealed
a lack of enterprise.

Had an acute sense of sin and fear of divine vengeance

Believed that one’s earthly behavior had no bearing on
one’s ultimate destiny

1. God’s Authority

1. God is the absolute ruler

2. Predestination

2. God decides life in advance
for each person

3. Providence (the foreseeing care

3. God intervenes in everyday
life

4. God decides who is saved

5. Not caused by environment or
associates

6. God is ONLY revealed in the
Bible
and guidance of God or nature over
the creatures of the earth

4. Election

5. Evil is within each person

6. Biblical Revelation

Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others.

Witchcraft was considered a sin because it denied God’s
superiority, and a crime because the witch could supposedly
make the Devil appear in different shapes.
Therefore, under the Puritan beliefs, in any case of witchcraft, it
was important that the accused individual was investigated . If
they were found to be guilty, they needed to be punished. Their
punishment was death.

The Puritan families consisted of husband, wife and
children. The husband was in charge of his wife and he had
all of the authority within the house.

The Puritans family life consisted largely of farming. The
females in the family were weavers, candle makers. The
women also tended to the garden, helped in the fields,
and cut wood.

Since God was the most important part in the Puritans life,
prayer was a major part of their daily lives. The Puritan
families meditated and prayed before sleep at night, upon
rising in the morning, on Saturdays, and at services. They
also found it necessary to record their spiritual experience
in diaries. Through their diaries, the Puritans lived their
daily lives; around God and his plan.
The Puritans were truly devout Christians who set out
to establish a colony that would represent the true and
proper manner in which Christianity should be carried
out

The church believed it was illegal to enjoy any form of entertainment that
might distract ones thoughts from God, so most forms of entertainment were
prohibited.

Also, was any form of idleness or laziness was prohibited.
Long hair was considered inappropriate by Biblical interpretation
Swearing, sleeping during sermons, and skipping church were also
punishable.
People who were considered to be born evil, could only be forgiven
through a lifetime of proper Christianity.



No sleeping
during sermons
No Long Hair
The criminal would have to wear a large letter on their clothing. The letters would stand for
the crime committed. A person with a T was a thief, with a D was charged with public
drunkenness

Another form of punishment was the dunking stool. It was reserved for women who
gossiped or scolded their husbands. The woman would then be dunked in a lake or river,
with the number of dunks depending on the judges ruling.

More brutal forms of punishment included whipping. Usually twenty to
forty lashes were common
A hot awl was pierced through the tongue for a person who spoke against the religion.
Sometimes ears were cut off. Occasionally, instead of just wearing a letter, the letter was
branded onto their forehead or other body parts.
 Execution
was also a form of punishment in
the colonies. Hanging was the most common
form of execution, although burning at the
stake was also used. One case in New York
caused for the men to be "drawn and
quartered," meaning they were dismembered
and brutally mutilated as they were
executed.
1. How would present day Americans feel about the Puritan laws and
punishments?
2. How would you specifically feel?
3. What are 6 of our laws and the punishments that go along with them?
4. How are they different? The same?
5. What other cultures that you know of still practice torturous forms of
punishment?
6. Why do you think Puritans believed in witchcraft? What do you think their
“proof” was?
7. In today’s society, no one is necessarily called a “witch”, but yet there are
t.v. shows that are based around the paranormal. Why is this?