Puritan Legacy

The legacy of the Pilgrims can be seen in the education, Plymouth Rock, in Salem, the Mayflower replica, the US's political system, work ethic, and immigrant dreams. For example, both Puritans and immigrants hoped that life would be better for those who came to America. In addition, the Puritan work ethic is still used today, teaching that hard work will bring good rewards. Also, many old colleges such as Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth were founded by the Puritans. Although there are no Ivy League schools associated with only one religion, they started out as a place to train Christian missionaries. The Puritans were also the ones to accuse people during the Salem Witch Trials. Lastly, you can still see Plymouth Rock if you visit Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is where the first Pilgrims (English Separatists Puritans) landed in America.


Above is a picture of the Mayflower replica


Picture of Plymouth Rock


Picture of Old Harvard College founded by the Puritans


Yale College, also founded by the Puritans


Salem witch museum in Massachusetts


It is also because of the Puritans that some celebrate Thanksgiving today

The Puritans affected America a lot and left a great big legacy behind them. One of these things they left behind were religion. There were Puritan missionaries trying to convert natives to the religion of Christianity. They also brought over things from Europe. Like tools and weapons for example. The Puritans believed in working hard and getting rewarded for it. They certainly changed America in a huge way. That is how I think the Puritans left a legacy behind in America.

By the final years of the seventeenth century, the influence of Puritanism in New England was fading. The religion would never completely lost its distinctively Puritan character, but by 1700, Puritanism's hold over the social, religious, and political life of New England as increasingly challenged by other ideas and values.

Puritans in Plymouth

This is a picture of the Pilgrims in Plymouth colony

-in December 1620 a group of English settlers founded Plymouth colony in Massachusetts

-The people who settled here were called Pilgrims. This was because they came to the New World.

-Plymouth colony was the second permanent colony that was settled by the English

-Approximately one third of the original settlers who settled in Plymouth came to look for religious freedom and were Puritans

-Pilgrims were English Separatist Puritans

-Despite the fact that their colony did not have a royal charter, it kept it's separate status until 1691

-The Pilgrims could settle in America because of the right from the London Company

-They came to America on the Mayflower


Above is a picture of the ship the Mayflower which the Pilgrims traveled in to reach America

-the Mayflower was supposed to bring the Pilgrims to Virginia Colony, but it failed to reach there because of storms

- Instead, the ship traveled north and the Pilgrims were not in the region that was governed by British rule

-Before landing, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower contract, which helped form the idea of the people having a voice in how they were ruled

Controversy and Dissent

-from the time PUritans arrived in the New World, they experienced many challenges and diffuculties

-several notable PUritan dissenters (one who disagrees in matter os opinions, belief, etc.) were ordered to leave the Massachusetts Bay conlony
-ex. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson would not follow the strict rules of Puritan leaders and were exiled

-other people were put on trial for being witches because they would not follow teh rules of religion and society

-some were even exiled

-the most famous examples of this were the Salem Witch Trails of 1682

-it is a great curiousity: the Puritans who left England to escape persecution but would then establish themselves a society with strict rules that did not tolerate certain people

-they also warred constantly with the Indians

Religious Beliefs

Above is a Picture of John Calvin

-Puritans in 1500s got many beliefs from a man & writer John Calvin
-Protestant Reformer

-also effected another religious group of people similar to the Puritans called the Huguenots who were French Protestants

-John Calvin's idea was that God had already decided who would go to heaven and who would not (called Predestination)

-Puritans had to firmly believe they would be saved and were taught to look for signs of God's disfavor in daily events of their lives

-For example, a poet, Anne Bradstreet thought God was sending her a message to be stronger in her beliefs when her house burned down

-Puritans depended on three books called The New England Primer, The Bay Psalm Book, and the Bible

-these books guided them in their religion

-The New England Primer: taught lessons and alphabet

-The Bay Psalm Book- gave English English translations of the Psalms so that they could be sung in church

-Puritans listened to sermons two times a week in order for them to understand and decode the bible

-ministers spent undreds of hours explaining how writings could be used
-Ex. as a guide to daily living or a way to predict the future

-Puritans thought the simple way was a better path to God

-ministers wrote sermons in plain stye
-wrote with no complicated words, did not refer to unknown books, and did not use quotations
in different languages

-Puritans also preferred plain and black clothing not fancy and colorful robes the Catholic Church wore

-services were held in small, white chapels not elaborate and decorative churches

Coming to the "New World"

-John Winthrop (1588-1649) was the leader of the first Puritans to Massachusetts Bay, New England in 1630

-They arrived on a ship named the Arabella

-Some of the first to come to America for a better life
-immigrants (a person who comes to a country where they were not born to settle there)

-They were not poor; majority were farmers, lawyers, merchants, or well-educated ministers

-They liked being connected to religious and political leaders of England

-Thought of New England as a place where they could practice/make their own religion and governments

-They could experiment with different church structures/state government

-Wanted to be models of reform to other places in the world including England

-Winthrop:Founder of Massachusetts Bay colony and elected for four terms as governer

-Believed in theocracy
-form of government that combines the church and state rules together
-a significant part is the importance of community over self benefit

-Some other Puritan leaders agreed with these ides

-Example:John Cotton and John Harvard who, in 1638 founded Harvard College, Richard Matther and his son Cotton

-Created churches all over New England
-example:in Boston, Newton/now Cambridge in Massachusetts or Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut

The Puritans in England

-In the 1500s the Reformation or change began in Europe

-the Reformation was a revolt against the Catholic Church who claimed they could interpret what the Bible said

-Some people such as the Puritans did not agree with this

-English Protestants who believed that the change had not completely gotten rid of the church of Catholic influences were called first by their enemies and later by themselves Puritans.

-The change (reformation) in England began in the reign of Henry VIII.

-The Puritans wanted the English church to be further purified.

-The Pilgrims were unhappy with the Church of England

-In England everyone had to be a member of the Church of England and those who disagreed were punished

-Some people such as the Puritans wanted to be separate from the Church of England so they could worship in their way/ have religious freedom

Here's Some More Information on the Puritans:
-John Calvin=a leader in the Reformation

-Puritans believed the Bible was the true word of God and told how to run the church

-thought churches should have special counsels instead of the bishops

-a few wanted each individual churches to control themselves

-thought every person should attend church, read the Bible, and pray

-wanted people to way their own prayers, not use the ones that other had created and written down already

-Puritans made church more relaxed

-in the 1500s, Puritans constantly were against the Church of England and finally, left to North America in the 1600s

-left so they could have religious freedom and more people would accept their ideas

-one of the most famous group of PUritans were the Pilgrims

-in 1620, they founded Plymouth colony in Massachusetts

More Information about the Puritans:

-Puritans: Protestant reformers originally from England

-later traveled to American colonies in New England

-mission to "purify religion"

-called Puritans at first by enemies but later used this name themselves

Puritans in England:

-Puritan movements started as part of the PRotestant Reformation in England


-early 1500s, King Henry

-The Pilgrims wanted the church to be run differently but did not want to separate from it



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