The Puritans of New England

U.S. History to 1877

The Reformation

Martin Luther, 1517

Basic tenets of Protestantism

Faith alone

The Bible alone

Priesthood of all believers

The English Reformation

Henry VIII, 1509-1547

Catherine of Aragon

Mary

Anne Boleyn, 1533

Elizabeth

Edward VI, 1547

English Calvinists

Counterreformation

Mary, 1553

Geneva: Protestant refuge

John Calvin & Calvinism

Predestination

Activism

Goal of the godly society

God intended the Bible as a model for life, society, culture, and government

Puritanism

Queen Elizabeth I, 1558

The “middle way”

Puritanism

“Purify” the Church of England?

The search for signs of grace

Conviction

Conversion or justification

Separatism for the impatient

Refuge in America

James I, 1603

Clamps down

Separatists leave, 1620

Charles I, 1625

Puritans resist

The “Great Migration,” 1630-42

English Civil War, 1642-1649

  “Bible Commonwealth”

Steady hand of Governor John Winthop

Towns & town meetings

Balanced sex ratio; long lives; healthier population

Large families, patriarchal authority

Community before individual

Restraint of individual actions for the common good

Church membership & citizenship

Ministerial authority & congregationalism

“Plain style” clothes, buildings, speech

Moderate enjoyment of God’s gifts

Useful, sober, productive, industrious

  Indian Relations

Rev. John Eliot’s “praying towns”

Conflicts

Land pressure but violence was rare

King Philip’s War, 1675

  End of the Bible Commonwealth

Charles II, 1660, & James II, 1684

Dominion of New England

The Glorious Revolution, 1689

William & Mary: secular charter, 1691

  Legacy

Local, democratic control

Tradition of holding society to high ideals

Individual & community rights

Community values balancing individualism

Government regulation of private action, for the common good

Deeply moralistic worldview

Self-control and social order

Education and community institutions

Harvard, 1636; Yale, 1705