Posted on 10/29/2001 6:17:43 PM PST by futurepotus
The Puritans, who made the trip to Massachusetts in the 1630's, in order to freely attempt to purify the Anglican Church, did not represent the American way. Social well being of the Puritans in Salem was virtually non-existent. The Puritan government functioned in accordance with Puritan religious beliefs. Puritan religion held the same exclusivity as a present-day country club. The arrogance of Puritan leaders like John Winthrop was disgusting in itself. Winthrop said, "we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us." None of the Founding Fathers of the United States shared these sentiments. The Puritans did not represent the true American way.
The Puritans had a lot on their plate in 1692. Disease, poverty, and paranoia about the Indians did a number on the social way of life in Salem. Teenage girls were unhappy with their mothers. The girls decided the best solution was to make others pay for their "suffering"- the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Those who wrongly accused citizens of witchcraft and those who had to defend themselves were often rivals. Farmers from Salem Town and merchants from Salem Village always tried to one-up the other. The Puritans never gave what is now known in America as a fair trial. Nineteen people were hanged as a result of predominantly hostile testimony. These malicious killings show how the Puritans lacked the sense to realize that one foot was already in the grave, and the other wasn't far behind. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal; a belief that the Puritans did not exhibit. The Puritans had the false notion that only "Saints" could receive God's grace. Reverend John Cotton said, "We teach that only Doers will be saved." If a person living in Salem was not a Doer, he or she was outcast from society, which is not the American way. The American way teaches that different is good. The Puritans were saved, somewhat, when Governor Phips stopped the witch trials. No outside factor was to blame for the failure of the Puritan society. The culprit was their own weak psychological state-of-mind.
The Puritans were religious zealots who alienated their fellow man and thought it was right. Any Puritan who wanted the gift of grace was required to go through the conversion experience. The conversion experience was often extremely humiliating, because the experience consisted of the potential member having to confess all of their sins in front of the congregation. The Puritans, in their disillusionment, were unable to see the complete and utter correctness of the beliefs belonging to Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. Hutchinson, who was eventually banished to Rhode Island, believed in immediate conversion by God. Williams, who was banished along with Hutchinson, believed in the separation of church and state. Religion was not meant to be controlled, as it was by the Puritans. The American way is that all people should have the right to practice religion if they should choose to do so, and to choose what religion to practice. Once again, the Puritans failed to show any similarity to the American way.
Separation of church and state was unheard of in the Puritan way of life. The Puritans were governed by John Winthrop's Bible Commonwealth, which met where the town church did, at the town meetinghouse. A moral decision is not always correct. The Puritans, however, did not figure that out. Puritan government, especially in Salem, was certainly not competent. The government lacked all of the principles a government should possess. Citizens under the control of a governing body should not be alienated by that very governing body, and yet the Bible Commonwealth alienated many a righteous Puritan. The Bible Commonwealth or General Court blew any minor flaw that a person had out of proportion, and that person was shunned. Government should be fair to all people. Puritan government was, by no means, fair.
The only thing that Americans in the 21st century can learn from the Puritans of the 17th century is that Puritanism is exactly what should not be happening today. If the United States government were solely concerned with religious matters, nothing would get accomplished. Americans today practice many different religions freely, from Christianity to Buddhism, from Judaism to Islam. The United States has been deemed a "melting pot," because of its acceptance of all people, no matter what race, culture, or creed they are. The Puritans did not represent the American way. They helped the formation of the American way, by allowing the Founding Fathers to see what should be avoided.
You seem to have absorbed some pithy phrases from your PC teachers and to have taken them for gospel.
Things werent quite as bad as you make out - they couldn't have been or New England would not have seen the flowering of intellect and learning that provably did occur.
You get an overly generous 'C' from me on this effort.
Come back after you've learned and seen a little more.
Are you certain:
Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.The Puritans had the false notion that only "Saints" could receive God's grace.
Gosh, your paper is full of error. You would be hard pressed to show from the Bible that Saving Grace is poured out upon every single person.
They moved to America to be free of religious persecution.
They tried socialism, almost killed themselves with it, then stayed away from it thereafter.
Don't you see...they DID represent the American way AT THAT TIME IN HISTORY.
They broke from a State Church, which was the first step to a separation between church and state.
Their example allowed this concept to be written into the Constitution almost 200 years later.
They did exceptionally noble deeds for their time and can be considered heroes; we should not expect them to have had the hindsight of the 20th century.
Dan
You are catching a fair amount of deserved grief, so I will attempt not to add to it. :_)
The Puritans were an extremely crucial part of our nation's history. One thing I will say is that you are attempting to some up several centuries in a couple hundred words, which gives you about one word per year. Imagine what you could tell someone of your own life to date if you could only do it in one word for every year you have lived. I bet you would have more to say than that.
If you are interested in going further into this, I recommend finding a couple good volumes in the library. I like John Fiske's "Beginnings of New England," but it is out of print. He was a professor of history at Harvard for decades in the late 19th century, and his work is simply top notch. He predates the swath of late 19th and early 20th century revisonism. Probably no state has had such a profound impact on the shape of our country in a positive way as Massachusetts, and that is owed to the Puritan heritage. Do not be fooled by the modern verrsion of that state, as it is but a pale and shallow imitation of it's utterly magnificent heritage, a heritage left untouched apparently by the materials from which you formed your writing.
I appreciate your nerve in exposing yourself across the net like this. It augurs well for your success later on if you spend the years acquiring knowledge.
In America, anyone can become president. Don't be afraid to aspire to higher callings if you have it in you. The Puritans would respect you for that.
I don't believe anyone had defined "The American Way" back then. To my understanding, "The Way" was anything goes, each to his own. That was "The Way". Everyone having the freedom to do his/her thing without some damn bureaucrat sticking his/her nose into your business.
You look at the Puritans entirely from a 21st century point of view. To understand them better, you'd have to look at them more in their 17th century context. Certainly many of their contemporaries hated them for some of the reasons you lay down here. But some things you rebuke them for were common to many different groups in 17th century Britain, and in some things, the Puritans may have been "ahead of their times" (i.e. more like us).
Puritanism was largely a regional influence, and to understand early America you'd have to look at the other regions and the denominations that predominated in other colonies. I recommend Daniel Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed for its comparative study of New England, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the frontier. Also, Puritan New England changed a lot over its history. By the 18th century much of the old repressiveness had been lost, but there was some value to what remained -- rigorous examination of conscience, etc.
It might help to look at Puritanism in two contrasting lights. The first is as an example of the coercive utopianism that periodically plagues mankind. But the other is as an attempt to take seriously and apply many of the religous doctrines that have come down to us and that we still honor. It was a mistake to try to create a kingdom of the saints, since people aren't apt to live saintly lives for very long. But many of Puritanism's roots are our own, and in some things they may have been truer to that heritage than we have been. Still, I suspect that with all the talk about militant Islam, the repute of these militant Protestant Christians, is bound to decline for the forseeable future.
Finally, "futurepotus" sounds way too Clintonesque.
I'm tempted to vivisect, flay, and barbecue it piece by piece (this was an AP History essay? Good grief)...
...but between taking on a new job (slight increase in pay-scale, yay me) and purchasing a new property, I've had little time for FReeping of late.
Thanks for the ping, Dan. Best wishes to all who have inquired as to my whereabouts.... just very busy at the moment, nothing too troublesome (God Willing).
Bump for future reference.
Son, it is your arrogance that is disgusting. You really believe that you are going to be a "Future POTUS"?
Winthrop's Massachussetts was a "city on a hill", the "eyes of all people" were upon it.
Note also that you don't seem to understand that the term "Puritan" has a much broader use. Of course, one who is arrogant enough to think that his writing is soooo good won't listen to the sound instruction required to correct his errors.
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