Puritan Authority
"We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us..." the Puritan John Winthrop wrote. The Puritans left for the New World because of their belief that the Church of England was hopelessly corrupt and no longer stood for their way of life. They believed that they could create an ideal Christian society across the ocean, which would be a model for others to follow. Some even compared themselves to the Hebrews and thought they were founding the New Israel. (Graebner) They would soon realize this goal would be more difficult to achieve then they originally expected. The Puritans had difficulty establishing the authority of the Church in the New World due to their own corruption and the deterioration of their society. Religion has long been the cause for conflict and turmoil throughout the history of the world and continues to be today. Freedom of religion and the separation of church and state have been essential principals in the United States, but in the colonial period these were radically new ideas. As religious laws had governed the people of Israel, so the church would regulate New England society. There was no place for toleration in Puritan America. Those not in agreement
The social breakdown and the corruption in the church and the legal system caused the Puritan society to crumble. With Abigail controlling the community, the church no longer getting the whole town to prayer, and an unjust legal system, it is natural that the people were in a state of total chaos, the exact opposite of what the Puritans believed these laws would do for their society. They no longer had the stability of the church or their families after many of them were executed. It took a very tragic event for the Puritans to realize that a model community is not one that kills its own members and tears down the very fabric that held them together, but should be one that respects its parish and changes with their views. with the colony's purposes and government would be forced to move elsewhere. Many people learned this very quickly as they were banished from Massachusetts for various reasons. Roger Williams was one of these people. He challenged the charter of the colony and preached that the church and state should be separate so the government could not force religion on individuals. This threatened the very reason for the colony's existence so the leaders of Massachusetts tried him and threw him out to keep others from following his ideas. Roger Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans treated the Indians and their land. Land rights of Native Americans were never taken seriously. Rather, they were seen as obstacles to the colonists' need for land. The Puritans did not respect the farms of Native Americans. They sought "legal" ways to get their land just as they did among themselves. They even went as far as charging each other with witchcraft in order to obtain land just as Giles Corey accused Thomas Putnam of making his daughter do to him in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. These things all led to the ruin of a society b
Some common words found in the essay are:
Miller's Crucible, John Proctor, Hale Paris, Church World, Roger Williams, Native Americans, Church England, Puritan America, Israel Graebner, John Winthrop, legal system, authority church, john proctor, puritan society, church legal system, roger williams, standing devil, native americans, dancing woods, protect themselves, church legal,
Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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