PILGRIM OR PURITAN

Pilgrim Or Puritan (There Is A Difference) ^

[PJ-Comix]

The terms "Pilgrim and Puritan" may be used sometimes interchangeably in
some printed sources, but this is incorrect.  English Separatists,
including Pilgrims and Puritans, were those people in England, who, during the reign
of Queen Mary, refused to conform to the public services of the Roman
Catholic Church.

Separatists worshipped in defiance of the established Anglican Church of
England.  By the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, there were three
kinds of Separatists:

1. Those who believed in the established church having connection with the
state were wrong and unscriptural.  The local church should manage its own
affairs.  These were the Pilgrims.
2. Those who would have a state church under Presbyterian form of
government.
3. Those who desired a purified worship but still remained in the Church of
England.  These were the Puritans.

Thirty-five of the Mayflower voyagers who landed in Plymouth in 1620 were
Pilgrims, the other 65 were not separatists, but were sent by the Virginia
Company to work.  New Pilgrims arrived in 1621, Salem became a successful
second town, and by 1640 there were eight towns in the Pilgrim colony in
the New World.

The Puritans were part of a group called the Massachusetts Bay Company who
originally were destined for Salem, Massachusetts, but who settled in
Boston in 1630.  Although religious freedom was an influential cause of Puritan
settlement, economic betterment and land acquisition was on the minds of many new arrivals.

Eventually, the Pilgrims were outnumbered in Salem. In 1691 the King
appointed a new governor who joined Maine and the Plymouth Colony to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony and Salem became a Puritan Town.

[PJ-Comix]

Being Thanksgiving, I thought I might post this article to clear up a common confusion of Pilgrim with Puritan. As you can see, there is a difference.

[JZoback]

Thank you for posting this.

I am a 1600's American history buff.

One of my pet peeves being cleared up.

[janus]

As you can see, there is a difference.

Not to John Wayne.:^))

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, PILGRIM

[IronJack]

It also emphasizes the fallacy of the "religious tolerance" argument. While the Separatists may have left England for religious reasons, economic development was at the root of colonial expansion. This has always been a capitalist enterprise, and one in which a certain degree of religious freedom was accepted, but certainly not universal religious sufferage.

[snopercod]

Thanks. I din't know that stuff...

[TightSqueeze]

3. Those who desired a purified worship but still remained in the Church of England. These were the Puritans.

Do you have more information on exactly what the Puritans were seeking to purify in the worship? Thanks.

[PJ-Comix]

Also of interest are the differences between the Cavaliers who settled in Virginia and the Puritans of New England. Louis L'Amour wrote a book once based on this theme where a Virginia colonist wanders up to New England early in the 17th century.

[nonliberal]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the post. What group did Stephen Hopkins fall into?

[PJ-Comix]

What group did Stephen Hopkins fall into?

Well, he definitely wasn't a Puritan since he was once charged with selling illegal intoxicants.

[FITZ]

A Thanksgiving bump!

[Grampa Dave]

Big Laugh! We know that he worked for the Virginia Company and had been to America before the Mayflower trip!

What book are you getting this data from? Thanks!

[snopercod]

I love Louis L'Amour's books, but I've not read that one. I'll have to find it.

I stumbled across his grave a few years ago. He's buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale, up near the chapel where the Last Supper window is. His grave is on the edge of a little hill, facing West, of course.