A Puritan Community

1. A Puritan Community To put you in the right frame of mind for The Crucible, you are going to put yourself into some Puritan shoes. The task: You and your group have recently established a new Puritan society. To ensure the spiritual security of your community, you must create a code of conduct for the community to follow including • A list of 10 core values and beliefs • A list of 10 laws to protect those values (including punishment if the law is broken) • A list of 5 goals for your community to work toward. Each value, law, or goal must be informed by your actual study of Puritans. Therefore, find a way to cite the source of information for each. Your citation must provide enough information for others to find the information you used and check your work. *Remember, what you are writing does NOT reflect your own modern day beliefs and values. Remember, Puritan shoes! Resources you may use: This Puritan packet, Notes from the videoSalem Witch Trials video Reading of The Scarlet Letter, and Reading of “An Overture,”   • Please do not write on this packet. Return it to Ms. Handy at the end of today’s activity.

2. Who Were the Puritans?

3. Where does the term “Puritan” come from? • It was first used in the 1500-1600s to mock and taunt a group of people who wanted to “purify” the Church of England.

4. 1641 English pamphlet mocking Puritan beliefs

5. Important Background Information • This is a time period where a country’s government often adopted one specific religion or faith for all its citizens. • Unlike the present US Constitution, in England there was no freedom to choose your own faith, religion, or beliefs.

6. Why did the Puritans want to break away from the Church of England? • They felt the Anglican Church of England was too similar to the Roman Catholic Church. • …which the Puritans thought had too much BLING!

7. Why did the Puritans want to break away from the Church of England? 1. Issue of Disagreement: They felt the Anglican/Catholic form of worship strayed too far from the simplicity of worship dictated by the New Testament of the Bible. Puritan style church

8. Why did the Puritans want to break away from the Church of England? 2. Issue of Disagreement: They didn’t believe there needed to be a Pope or hierarchy that controlled churches. Instead…“Every congregation or assembly of men, ordinarily joining together in the worship of God, is a true, visible worship of Christ” ~Daniel Neale, The History of the Puritans

9. Why did the Puritans want to break away from the Church of England? 3. Issue of Disagreement: Bishops appointed ministers. They felt ministers should be elected by members of the congregation.

10. Why Did the Puritans Come to America? • 4. Issue of Disagreement: They believed religion to be a personal innerexperience--that one did not need a priest or bishop or the government to be a “middle man” to God.

11. Consequences of their disagreement with the Church of England • They suffered persecution in England because of their Protestant beliefs. • Some were put in jail and whipped, their noses slit and their ears lopped off.

12. As a result…they came to America in 1620

13. Saved or Damned?

14. Certainties: Adam and Eve sinned; therefore, most of humanity would be damned for eternity. (The Fall) God decides whether a person is one of the “elect”—going to heaven—before he or she is even born. Doubts: Am I one of the “elect” (saved) or one of the damned? How do you know if you’re saved or damned? Puritan Beliefs

15. “…their Hearts naturally, are a meer nest, root, fountain of Sin, and wickedness.” ~Puritan Leader, Benjamin Wadsworth on the nature of young children Even the youngest child was thought to be touched by sin.

16. The State of the Soul There were two ways to uncover the state of your soul: • 1. You were saved by the grace of God, and you could feel this grace arriving in an intensely emotional fashion. • 2. After receiving grace, you were “reborn,” and you behaved like a saint.

17. Because of their uncertainty, American Puritans attempted to live exemplary lives.

18. If a person seems saved, perhaps he or she really is, so Puritans attempted to create a reputation as a “visible saint” in the community.

19. In his journal, Governor John Winthrop wrote about a woman driven mad by spiritual doubt. She was so desperate that she “took her little infant and threw it into a well, and then came into the house and said, now she was sure she should be damned, for she had drowned her child.”

20. Puritans valued… • Self-reliance--pulling yourself up by your bootstraps • Industriousness--hard work

21. Puritans valued… • Self-restraint from all desire and temptation. Many sermons were devoted to resisting “sins of the flesh.”

22. Puritans valued… • Simplicity--in dress, worship, architecture

23. Puritans valued… • EDUCATION and READING • They founded and built Harvard College. • Rev. Thomas Shepard Jr. wrote a letter to his son upon his admission to Harvard’s class of 1653. He told his son, “So I say to you read! Read! Something will stick in the mind, be diligent and good will come of it.” Signed “Pater tuus”, which means “your father” in Latin

24. Puritan Politics • Signed and wrote the Mayflower Compact--one of America’s first democratic documents….

25. Puritan Politics • Yet, they also lived under a theocracy--government ruled by God and religious leaders • Believed the saintly “elect” should be in charge

26. Puritan Politics • Women were not permitted to participate in town meetings or decision making. Darn, I’d rather be at the town meeting than darning these socks!

27. Puritan Politics • Believed that the community had the right to control its members for the sake of a common interest

28. Puritan Writing • Mainly diaries, histories, letters, and court transcripts--describing their lives and the workings of God in their villages. • Style of writing emphasized simplicity and clarity • No novels or plays or writing devoted to “vain enjoyment”

29. Puritan Life I want to check the barn-raising status on Mercy’s Facebook wall!

30. The Difficult Side of Puritan Life • Many activities such as gambling or games were considered sinful, not because they were evil, but because they wasted time that should be devoted to hard work. • Holidays such as Christmas were considered too excessive.

31. The Difficult Side of Puritan Life • Two-man patrols monitored church attendance and town meetings • Minding other people’s business was common and encouraged. Is your neighbor not going to church? If so, just call 1-800-SIN-NERS to report this crime!

32. The Difficult Side of Puritan Life • Cursing at your parents was considered a crime! • The average family had seven or more children--but less than half would survive or live to see adulthood. #$*&^*!

33. HOWEVER… • The Puritans were a community that supported one another--gathering to “raise the roof” when building new farms and homes • There were taverns with “potent cider”--mostly “ne’er-do-wells” hung out there. And the Puritans did drink wine.

34. HOWEVER… • They were passionate people who did enjoy celebrations.

35. HOWEVER… • …They survived, while other new communities in America did not.

36. HOWEVER… “We must delight in each other, make other’s conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body.” ~Gov. John Winthrop

37. Puritans and Native Americans • Once their land was invaded and taken by Puritans, Native Americans did attack. • Snobbery and the desire for land meant the Puritans converted very few Indians.

38. Puritans and the Wilderness • The wilderness was feared and thought to be the “Devil’s last preserve.”

39. The Salem Witch Trials • Salem’s name comes from Jerusalem.

40. The Salem Witch Trials • In 1692 two girls began having “fits” and were diagnosed as victims of witchcraft.

41. The Salem Witch Trials • One could survive by confessing to being a witch…and…by naming more witches. • Zealous ministers and leaders made it their mission to rid Salem and all of Massachusetts of witchcraft.

42. The Salem Witch Trials • Within ten months, 150 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem. • Nineteen people were hanged and one was pressed to death.