Puritans

Puritanism is the name of a religious movement that originated in England in the 1560s. Influenced by the teachings of religious reformer John Calvin (1509–1564), the members of the new congregation, the Puritans, sought to reform the Anglican Church, or Church of England. Their intense desire for religious freedom to create a purely Christian community prompted a migration to the New World in the first half of the seventeenth century. Many characteristics of New England culture still retain roots in Puritanical simplicity.

Purity

The Catholic Church in Rome had split from the Anglican Church in 1538. Puritans believed that the Anglican Church retained too many characteristics of the Catholic Church. In particular, they thought the church hierarchy of archbishops, bishops, and ministers held too much power, and that church members should have more say in its matters.

Puritans wished to change the focus of church worship, too. They believed the world should be modeled on the Bible, and therefore wanted to establish a church government based on the example of the apostles in the New Testament. Ceremonies would be simple, stressing Bible reading and individual prayer. Puritans rejected the Anglican Church as anti-Christian with its ceremonial style of worship.

Seeking community

The Puritans were not well received in England. The English generally viewed the movement as extremist, and the royal family viewed Puritans as agitators trying to threaten royal authority. This led to harassment of Puritans by English authorities.

Seeking religious freedom and the chance to establish a “pure” community supportive of their Christian ideals, the Puritans began to migrate to the New World in 1620. The original settlements, Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony , grew quickly in just a couple of decades. By 1643 more than twenty thousand Puritans had arrived in Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Connecticut , and Virginia .

Churches were at the center of Puritan societies, so towns were established tightly around them. This structure enabled easy access to church services and also allowed church members to support each other daily in living the moral lives that would please God. Privacy was not as important as moral purity.

Government was tied closely to the church. Holding political office in local government and voting at town meetings both required church membership. Colonial governments passed laws based on biblical teachings, requiring colonists to live pious, or devoted, lives, and punishing those who strayed. For Puritans, if government failed to maintain proper standards, the entire community would suffer God's punishment.

The church and family

Puritans quickly set up congregations when they arrived. A few men, called pillars, were chosen to lead their congregations based on their pious examples. Congregations established a church covenant, or binding agreement, and admitted members to the congregation based on that covenant. Only those who had been “saved” were admitted to the church.

Puritan churches created a form of administration in which the whole congregation had the power to admit members, select leaders, chose a minister, and otherwise govern itself. The minister's ordination was only valid within that congregation, and his responsibilities were extensive. Because all aspects of political, social, and religious life were guided by the understanding of the word of God, the minister was called to counsel the congregation on all aspects of community life.

For Puritans, there was continuous religious instruction in the family home. Responsibilities within a household were carefully defined to minimize competition and arguments between members. When trouble arose, elders intervened and sometimes even removed children, apprentices, and servants who were problems. Divorces might be granted if necessary, though it rarely happened.

Decline

The decline of Puritan societies in the latter half of the 1600s happened for a variety of reasons. Strong challenges to their strict belief systems arose. Theological disagreements led to the establishment of new Christian sects, such as the Baptists and the Quakers . Migration of members away from town centers to farms weakened the control of church administration. Fewer and fewer people believed that they had been saved, and church membership declined.

Religious decline quickened as economic opportunities increased. Merchants and workers began placing individual needs above those of the community. Puritan influence on community life symbolically ended around 1686, when King James II (1633–1701) revoked the English charters of individual colonies and created the Dominion of New England. Ruled by an Anglican governor under royal control, the Puritans became New Englanders, and their churches became known as Congregational.