Secularization
In 1620 the first settlers came to North America to gain religious freedom. This group is known as the Puritans. Following the teachings of John Calvin, the Puritans wanted to purify the official Protestant church of England, or the Anglican church. Included in the beliefs of the Puritans are the ideas of original sin and predestination. Settled in the area later known as New England, the Puritans led their lives with strong faith in their religion and a society based around their beliefs. However, over time these values faded to reveal a more secular and materialistic society. This change was most likely due to two things. Firstly, the immigration of non-Puritans brought people with very different and less religion based ideals than the Puritans. Also, with those born into the Puritan society in New England, these new generations were never forced to fight for their religion and therefore probably didn't see it so much as a freedom and privilege as their elders had. As with many cultural changes, the shift from a religious to a secular society can be seen in the writings of that time period. Some authors whose works reflect this change in the colonial times are William Bradford, Samuel Sewall, and St. Jean de Crevecoeur.
In the midst of the transitional period of change from a religious to a secular society, events were reflected in the work of the colonial writer, Samuel Sewall. While keeping a foot-hold in religious ideals and concepts, Sewall's writings began to show a leaning towards women, material possessions, and money. His talk of religion mainly centers around the idea of the providence of God. This is seen in "The Diary of Samuel Sewall" when he speaks of the storm. He says (of Cotton Mather), "He had just been mentioning that more Ministers Houses than others proportionably had been smitten with Lightening." Later Sewall adds, "I got Mr. Mather to pray with us after this awful Providence" (Sewall 55). What can be gathered from Sewall's writing about God's Providence is that, due to the ministers becoming more worldly themselves, God is punishing them with this storm. As a member of this increasingly secular society, Sewall himself begins to show his love of women and money. In courting women, he makes many references to money to tell how much he has spent on each woman as if to say how much he has "paid" for her. The reader can see signs throughout Sewall's works that society is moving very much away from religion and deeper into becoming a materialistic community. After transforming almost completely to a nonecclesiastical society, the change is shown in the
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Approximate Word count = 920
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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