Puritans College Essays Samples For Students

The arrival of colonial masters in America marked a tremendous change in the cultural, social economic and political orientation in the country. One of the social cultural practices that the colonial masters came with was the introduction of Christianity to the American land. As the European settlers continued to stream into America in the early 15th and 16th century, locals were gradually converted into Christians. During her reign, Queen Elizabeth I instituted radical reforms and doctrines in the Church of England, a move that placed many Puritans on a collision course and made them to migrate to the new America for asylum ...

The Puritans, who are known to extreme separatists, made a great shift in the Christianity’s history. Being not fully satisfied with the results of the reformation in the Church of England, this group of devout Christian men and women endeavored to completely do away with the heresies of Roman Catholicism. These Puritans are also deemed great writers of various forms of literature, whereby their culture and belief are also presented. In her work, Verses upon the Burning of our House, Puritan Anne Bradstreet contemplates on the sovereignty of God in all things, the view on and response of man ...

The Puritan movement consisted of a group of English Protestants in the 16th and the 17th centuries. The movement was founded on the ideology of purity of worship and doctrine as well as individual and group piety. It was viewed as a social danger as it seemed to generate an excess of evangelical fervor disturbing the public tranquility and promoting a mysticism obscuring the imperatives of morality. The movement was firmly based on purity of religion as their main agenda and did not base its agenda on economic reforms and the then upcoming innovations. They felt that advancing their own profit and ...

Salem witch trials refer to a series of trials and executions of people who were allegedly involved in witch practice. All these incidents of witch practice took place during seventeenth century in newly established colonies of New England, Massachusetts. Puritans used to inhabit in these colonies and their theocracy is blamed for such trials that took place in an organized manner. This paper intends to discuss Salem witch trials, role of puritans in these trials and several other related aspects.
Puritanism is a part of Christian belief that emerged in the England at some point in seventeenth century. Puritans were ...

Introduction

Various people among them scholars and historians correlate holidays with the Pilgrims and Indians meeting down for a big feast. The term thanksgiving first used in the 19th century, was not popular with the Pilgrims themselves. To the Pilgrims thanksgiving was something out of religious devotion. Everything that was undertaken by the Pilgrims including the so called thanksgiving celebration during the fall of 1621 was attached to their religious practices. At the fall of 1621 the Puitan thanksgiving gathering was made to celebrate the historic superb harvest of its time (Philbrick, 2006 p 118). Winslow brings to light that the happening ...

Introduction

The Puritans refers to a group of religious people who aimed at reforming the church in England. This group was different from that of the Pilgrims that wanted to isolate themselves fully from the English church. The Puritans wanted the way of worship that was very simple. This group was very powerful in England and the majority of them were so much educated merchants and businessmen. The Puritans were more aware that the English church was not operating in accordance with the modern times and thus the group requested for a charter in order to establish Massachusetts Bay Company in the ...

The earliest Puritans who settled in the New World were well-organized and had specific beliefs about problems that existed in the Christian church. They did not immigrate to the New World in flight, but rather to be able to reform their faith in a style that was not yet available to them in Europe. Originally, the intent was to return to England after their political and religious views were well-established and they were firm in their faith of both realms. First, because of their dissent and disdain for the Church of England, there needed to be distance in order to ...

The Puritans, who were the dominant political force in England from the mid-1640s until 1660, were devoutly Christian, but they also were extremely critical of traditional celebrations of Christmas. Why did Puritans (who were Calvinists) object to traditional practices relating to how the English celebrated Christmas? How did Puritans believe Christmas should be observed, and why did they believe this? And how successful were the Puritans at persuading the English people to reform their practices relating to Christmas? In the final analysis, did Puritan attitudes towards Christmas increase public support for the Puritan cause or decrease it?

Introduction – the Puritans and Christmas

The Puritans ...

The American culture has been greatly affected by the Puritans in very many aspects. It is important to understand who they were and why they are a force to reckon with especially when looking at the formative years of the United States. Puritans were English Protestants that wanted only to reform the Church of England but then carried their cultures to the United States when they immigrated. Long after their very existence, the mythology they created has continued to influence the ways of thinking of the current generation Americans. It is highly likely that even future generations will be ...

It has to be reckoned that the Puritan Dilemma was one of the major religious issues that overshadowed the 17th century English society. The Puritans living in the country went on to face the dilemma that made them think of a viable way in which the Church of England could be saved. They were undecided about sticking by the system and endeavoring to reform the things needs from within. The people also pondered about the viability of separating themselves from the Church of England so as to be able to escape from the various acts of corruption and sins ...

Puritanism is a reformist religious movement of the seventeenth century, followers of this movement are known as puritans. Puritans advocated reforms in Church of England and opposed any kind of interference of royal family in the church. Considering the contradictions in opinion with the royal family and other sections of the society they though to establish their own colony. They started migrating in North America in the early seventeenth century and founded their own colonies.
Puritans strongly accentuated on education, according to them a literate person can easily understand the god’s massage and work accordingly. Puritans treated the religion ...

An exploration of the interests that the English had when settling the North America Continent reveals that the establishment and development of Virginia and Massachusetts in 1607 and 1620 respectively stemmed from different causes. The Virginia Company of London and the Massachusetts Bay Company granted passages for English immigrants while hoping that each group would establish a settlement that would benefit the Monarch in one way or another. As one would expect with the acquisition of territories outside the mother country, the new areas held potential for the people of Britain from the personal to national levels. In other ...

(Teacher)

“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” Anne Bradstreet. ("Anne Bradstreet") Anne Bradstreet was a puritan and a poet whose father and husband were part of the local government in the early year of the Massachusetts Colony. Her quote is a direct result of her experiences with politics during that time period of early American Colonial Puritan life. Her perspective on the most important factors involved in how politics worked is also reflected in a few of her poems. However, the statement above shows her perspective and understanding of ...

Religion, or belief in a god or multiple gods as well as belief-related activities, such as praying or worshipping, has various and history-motivated established manifestations in different countries. Religion has existed for centuries, starting with the holy antiquity, and reversed its direction due to a number of reasons ever since then. Religion in Europe changed its course from being politics-oriented to being apolitical, maintaining neutrality, granting political power its much needed laicized status after centuries of the Holy Inquisition and de facto governance of secular affairs. The USA, the country founded by puritan pilgrims seeking opportunities to freely exercise their religious ...

The motivation to settle in the Americas included both economic interest and escape from religious persecution. After Gilbert and Raleigh returned from their expeditions, they urged the queen to challenge Spain's threat of domination in the West. After Spain attacked Antwerp in 1570, thus endangering England's hold on European cloth, England looked at the new world to find a new market for the stuff. As a result, people started to make sojourns to the Americas to try and forge new economic prospects there. People like Frobisher and Gilbert, though they failed, attempted to traverse to America in order to either find ...

1. Who made up the colonial elite? To what extent did they dominate the socio-economic and political policies in the colonies?

The class system of colonial America followed the British model very closely - those who had more money tended to hold the power in the colonies. The colonial elite consisted of larger landowners, as well as successful planters and growers - they were typically found in the South. In the North, wealthy merchants made up the colonial elite. This class system was typically confined to seaports like Philadelphia and New York - due to the prosperity that came ...

Literature

In this essay, we will analyze the life and views of two prominent American figures Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin. Despite the fact that they live in the same time period they have completely different lifestyles and views. They both tried to come up to perfection and did it in their own particular way. This is the main question of the essay. The comparison of two views will be presented with the help of the analysis of Jonathan Edwards’ works ‘Resolutions’, ‘Personal Narrative’ and Benjamin Franklin’s ‘Poor Richard’s Almanacks’. In the analysis, the comparison of their views ...

1. Christopher Columbus was a villain to the new world as his discovery brought colonization and the natives were forced to move from their lands within a decade. When Columbus reached America, he killed, enslaved and raped several innocent natives. Over a period of time, Columbus’s discovery of America became the doom of Native Americans and brought death and despair. Columbus was even arrested when the Spanish monarchs learned about his mistreatment of natives. Overall, without Columbus and his discovery of the new world, the natives would have been in a better position.
2. When colonists started to ...

An Explanation of How Hester Prynne Portrays the Author’s View

of America’s Transition from Puritanism to Romanticism
3 pages, double-spaced

Times New Roman, 12 pt

869 words
Page set up: U.S. Letter
5 citations

MLA format

The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was published in 1850 (1). It is a story about the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, set around 1650 (2). The story is written in the third person with the narrator being the author.
The common thread that runs through this novel is Hawthorne’s apparent understanding of the beliefs and culture of the Puritans in America at that time. But ...

The emergence of early colonial America onto the stage of Western civilization, dramatized many political, social, and religious events. Perhaps the greatest and most surprising story, surrounds the United States’ first official education system. It grew from turbulent beginnings. This paper explains how the United States government stepped into the pages of history, to create the first federally mandated public school system. One source states that the U.S. public education system can trace “its development from its roots in Puritan and Congregationalist religious schools in the 1600s” (“A History of Public Education in the United States”). As the newly ...

The Puritans of the 17th century remained an extremely patriarchal people; their primary goals were to glorify God and place their earthly passions behind them, all the while placing men in positions of authority, leaving women little choices for activities and positions (Bremer, 1976). The works of Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan author and poet of the 17th century, are extremely indicative of these themes, particularly the poem "The Prologue." In this essay, the poem will be analyzed in depth in relation to its historical setting, themes, concepts and ideas/images. In "The Prologue," Anne Bradstreet attempts to exemplify feminist concepts of ...

Where did the idea of the American Dream first originate? Immigrants to the New World were bent on creating a new society, one that thrived on democratic principles, where they could worship freely and having equal standing in the eyes of the law regardless of their financial situation or social status. We believe these ideas to be our own, but they are not; these ideas are not uniquely American ideas. They are drawn from the beliefs of the early Protestants, specifically the ideas of separation of church and state, equality for all and hard work and integrity.
The first ...

When considering the genre of Romantic Fiction, it is important to distinguish two main criteria. The first one is that the story should tell about the relationship and romantic love between two people. Secondly, the positive end of the story leaves the reader believing that love and relationship are very real and endure right next to them, and that love wins at all.
In literature, realism expresses real situations, real people and real events, whereas romanticism shows messages by using fiction. Romanticism focuses on plot, hyperbole, metaphor and feeling. In contrast, realism focuses on characters, details, objectivity and separation ...

The Age of Enlightenment was an era of American history in which the rise of scientific inquiry and the rise of empirical knowledge was leading many Christians, including Puritans, to leave the faith (Smith 446). In response, Jonathan Edwards delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in 1741, in which the author attempted to convince Puritans not to stray from their belief in Christ despite the Enlightenment-era secularism that was present during that time. However, in many more important ways, Edwards’ own perspective on God in this sermon solidified the Age of Enlightenment’s assertion ...

During the 17th century, around 1630, the puritans settled in New England. However, their main purpose was not to promote religion or religious freedom; rather they wanted to achieve freedom from the church and public officials in England. They believed the church and public officials prevented them from pursuing their religious beliefs as God intended them to. This essay focuses on the life of Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams who were deeply religious individuals during the 17th century. Although they led separate lives, the two are linked together because of their religious beliefs that led to them being banished ...

Introduction

This paper discusses the differences that have shaped the economies of northern, middle and southern English colonies. The major factors that account for the differences between northern, middle and southern English colonies are those things that have helped shape the economies of the colonies. They are those factors that have helped shape their lifestyles. The financial position of each colony was determined by what these colonies produced. Their differences in politics, religion, economics and social values make them distinct from each other .

Northern Colony

Religious aspect:
The history of northern colony shapes when the Puritans founded the northern colony. Northern ...

William Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation," his personal journal of the Puritans as they moved from place to place looking for somewhere that they could settle and practice their religion. In this, it parallels the Zuni origin story in that they also had to travel to find their middle place where they were destined to settle. Bradford’s work is a journal that gives a detailed account of day-to-day events that when read in its entirety provides a broad sweeping view of the Plymouth settlement.
The Zunis did not come from here. They were created in a world that must have been deep ...

[Author][Professor][Subject][Date of Submission]

Today, it seems the world is known as the global village because of the advancement of technology that keeps people in different nationalities to mingle. The internet made a drastic change not only to peoples’ relationships but even to the world of trade and business. People can already wire money from the other side of the world to another. Despite this, there are things that are not changing and this includes the persisting intolerance in the United States of America in terms of race, ethnic, and religion.
Ishmael Reed in his article entitled, “ ...

Religion has been on the forefront of developing the American history. The religious practices of America have grown from animistic to Catholicism and protestant among others. Religion influenced the westward migration, American Revolution, slavery, defined gender roles, racism, ethnicity and civil war. Due to its relationship with the political world, religion played a negative role in the creation, establishment and disintegration of various social practices in the lives of American people.
- Religion formed the basis of settlement in the new world. Due to widespread persecution in Europe, many settlers moved to America where there was religious freedom. For ...

However, some of the colonies, like Maryland and Massachusetts, were founded because of persecution due to their beliefs. English Catholics led by Lord Baltimore were forced to leave the mainland because of persecution from the Anglicans and Protestants, subsequently founding Maryland in 1632. Maryland was classified as the first proprietary colony as Lord Baltimore governed his colony and enabled Catholics to practice their belief. Puritans or the Separatists were also forced to escape persecution from the mainland, traversing to the New World aboard the Mayflower. The group managed to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 with the aid of ...

However, some of the colonies, like Maryland and Massachusetts, were founded because of persecution due to their beliefs. English Catholics led by Lord Baltimore were forced to leave the mainland because of persecution from the Anglicans and Protestants, subsequently founding Maryland in 1632. Maryland was classified as the first proprietary colony as Lord Baltimore governed his colony and enabled Catholics to practice their belief. Puritans or the Separatists were also forced to escape persecution from the mainland, traversing to the New World aboard the Mayflower. The group managed to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 with the aid of ...

Survival and Sanctity: The Saga of America’s Earliest Colonies

America’s earliest colonies quickly took on the personalities and preferences of their founders. Together they are instructive historical records in themselves because they reflect the social climate of the early 17th century English diaspora. Their motivations for wanting to establish settlements in the New World roughly follow a widening political divide that would burst asunder in the mid-1600s when the Puritan-led forces of Parliament rose against the monarchy, eventually defeating and overthrowing the power of the King in the person of Charles I. The self-styled “elect” of God sought to create a new holy land where the penitent could live ...

Hester is the hero of the novel. She is portrayed as an energetic, lovely, lively, and glad lady. When she is initially introduced in the story, there is as of now an embarrassment joined to her name that is symbolized by the red letter "A". She holds her head high and stays in full general visibility without shedding a tear when she goes to jail. Her soul is likewise reflected in her brightening the red letter with gold string.
Hester's quality of character out in the open, is truth be told, her method for steeling herself against her inward ...

Define the differences in the “push”, “passage”, and “pull” factors of three different immigrant groups which come to America between 1607 and 1830? Use testimonies from the various websites provided in the first three weeks of readings which illustrate individuals from these groups. Also, are there any testimonies which present how the resident Anglo-Americans feel about subsequent groups which came to America, especially after the Revolution? (For example, what does Benjamin Franklin think about German immigrants and their presence in Pennsylvania?)
There were four waves of immigration into America. The first one took place between 1790 and 1820. The ...

When the young woman – the mother of this child – stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress. In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be ...

History

Paper Due Date

Introduction

This paper discusses the historical topics of Bacon’s rebellion in Chesapeake and the practice of witchcraft in New England. Both these events were caused by social, economic or religious factors that affected the colonial America. In the middle of 17th century, around 80 New England colonies were indicted with the practice of witchcraft. New England colonists were known to have strong conservative convictions, witches and demons and other supernatural instances were common in daily life. Whereas, Bacon’s Rebellion was led by Nathaniel Bacon in 1676 was a popular revolt in the colonial state of Virginia. This ...

Essay Questions

1). The English had a desire of colony in the North America as they wanted to search silver and gold there. However, in 1585, approximately hundred English men arrived in the Roanoke Island, which is near North Carolina (Ayres, Gould, Oshinsky, and Sodarlund). Further, in 1587, majority settlers arrived in Roanoke. However, leader of the English people named John White went back to England in order to buy the supplies. However, in this settlement the Native American did not provide any support. They did not maintained friendly relations with The English coming over to these places, did not provided them ...

English: Essay

Twelfth Night is one of the comedy plays of Shakespeare that he wrote in 1601. Critics consider the Twelfth Night as the one of his greatest comedies. The Twelfth Night also named as “What You Will” by the writers community. Twelfth Night is considered to be the twelfth night of Christmas that people celebrated as a festival in which everything would change its role. The play includes a woman who has to disguise herself as a young man. In all the other plays, the major roles have been played by male characters. The character of Malvolio initially seems to be a minor character, ...

There is a vast sea of inequality stretching infinitely across borders, flowing freely throughout our so-called society. Inequality comes in different shades and hues: masters and slaves, feudal lords and peasants, males and females, bourgeoisie and proletarians, Christians and Jews, Westerns and non-Westerns, and whites and blacks – just name it, our society has it. In the context of a highly polarized society, deep-rooted culture of discrimination becomes air that we breathe; coupled with a varying degree of violence, it has been a part of life in a protracted way, as if of an essence. Wars such as the Civil War, Thirty Years’ War, World ...

Summary

In this chapter, the author gives a candid history of America. He precisely traces the historical developments which took place a lot of years ago. This started during the pre-colonial era when America was inhabited by the indigenous ethnic groups such as the (red) Indians. Just like any other society, the pre-colonial America as a free society in which people mingled with less barriers. Life was much better because the few available people would live in harmony. The kind of communal life adopted was quite necessary for promoting cohesion and understanding. It was such a beautiful environment endowed with natural resources such as ...

The study of early settlers in the colonies is captivating. It explores how various groups of people, working together could not live in harmony due to conflicts and tensions among them after coming to settle in a new land. Tensions and conflicts arose among the earliest settlers in the colonies as they were people from different places who had come to settle down in colonies. These conflicts were brought about by two main factors; the first one was the interaction between the natives and the new settlers and secondly, these tensions are created by the attempts of trade especially issue ...

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a variety of literary devices in creating a story with a strong theme and characters which are fully rounded and believable. Of these devices, his use of symbolism and imagery are rife. This is of the more well-known stories exploring 17th Century Puritanism and, even on a first read, it is clear why. Hawthorne depicts the chosen situation carefully and convincingly to the reader, not only entertaining them but also informing them as well. As with many of Hawthorne’s works, this story has been discussed by many academics in the field over the years since it ...

American History from the Columbus's voyages through the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

• 1492
• 1600s-1700s
• 1600s-1700s
• 1754-1763
• 1176-1778
• 1803-
• 1800s
• 1800s
• 1820s
• 1846-1848

I. Descriptive Analysis

The explorer Christopher Columbus was looking for a western route to Asia when he came across the Caribbean islands in 1492 (U.S. Department of State, 2005). He never entered mainland America, but, he took the reports of a new land to the Spanish government, which sent more explorers.

In 1497, a Vietnamese man John Cabot visited mainland America around Newfoundland. This was five years after Christopher Columbus had arrived at the Caribbean. In years to come, this visit by Cabot became one of the major factors in the fight over America, since ...

A jeremiad is a literary device whereby the writer or orator condemns the actions of a reprobate society. The jeremiad contains a prophecy announcing impending doom if the society does not repent and change its evil actions. The word “jeremiad” is from the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament (Baym). Jeremiah was a prophet in the seventh century B.C.E. who predicted calamities that would befall Israel for breaking God’s covenant. Jonathan Edwards fashioned himself as a modern- day prophet in the Puritan tradition preaching the termination of his nation for breaking the national covenant. This paper will attempt to show how Jonathan ...