Puritan Dbq Outline
Emily Deluzio December 7, 2012 I. Introduction: As the 1630’s came into the world, documented charters materialized into homes, farms, and churches that created the colonies of the New World. The thriving settlers made it their goal to speed up the process of the reformation of their church, as worship was a ritual part of their everyday life. The clergymen lead the colony both in church and in everyday life, as they were the most respected profession at that time.
As the colonies grew larger in size, the settlers farmed the essential crops that the land could provide and traded both locally and through a transatlantic route to the motherland, Great Britain. The Puritan religious views helped influence the economic and political systems in New England, as well as the social development. II. The economic system of the Puritan settlers was helped shape by the views of the Puritan faith A. DOCUMENT I 1. Their Puritan faith gives the settlers their drive to succeed and work hard, which ends in profit for the farmers who spend their time away from the church in the fields. . The Puritans made it their goal to be good Christians so they can go to heaven. If the Puritan faith says that they need to follow the rules to become one the elect people that go to heaven, then the Puritans will work as hard as they can to present themselves as good Christians. 3. This helped the Puritans become financially stable and made them believe that they were helping God in seeing that they were fit to be in the elect group. B. DOCUMENT C 1. Promising also unto our best ability to teach our children and servants the knowledge of God, and of His Will, that they may serve Him also” 2. John Winthrop called their settlement a “city upon a hill”, meaning that they were going to be close to God in every way. Them making their agriculture flourish and boosting their economic status is their way of following God’s will and serving him. 3. Feeling connected to God is one of the Puritans’ religious goals. III. In the settlement’s political system, religion was dominant at all times. A. DOCUMENT G 1. That state that will give liberty of conscience in matters of religion, must give liberty of conscience and conversation in their moral laws, or else the fiddle will be out of tune, and some of the strings crack” 2. At this time, there was religious persecution. There were settlers that did not believe that the Puritans were absolutely correct in how they ran the colony based off of religion. 3. If the government made tolerant effort for the freethinkers to think what is on their minds, then they needed to have an open mind for others’ freedom requests.
B. DOCUMENT H 1. “for whatever transcendent power is given will certainly overrun those that give it and those that receive it… It is therefore fit for every man to be studious of the bounds which the Lord hath set” 2. In the settlers’ eyes, the almighty powerful is God. If one man had too much power, it could look like he is undermining how the almighty powerful God is not as mighty if a commoner as almost as much power as him. 3. People with too much power will abuse it and make laws that will not help the colony IV. A.
DOCUMENT A 1. ”if wee shall deale falsely with our God in this worke wee have undertaken, and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a by-word through the world” 2. During this period of time, the Indians were the owners of the land in what would be known today as New England. The Puritans needed a plot of land to live on once they moved to the New World. When they found the Indians, God’s approval and presence was what fueled the actions that lead to the colonization and settlement. 3.
The colonists felt that God was on their side and was assisting them in the defeat of the Indians that were previously living on the land that the colonists were moving to. This mindset is what fueled many attacks the British enacted towards the Indians. B. DOCUMENT B 1. The Church was in the center of their settlement. 2. The colonists took at least two trips to the Church a day. It was in an easy-to-get location for all colonists. 3. The colonists all lived in tightly knit neighborhoods and each family their own allotted space to farm on the outskirts of the colony. C. DOCUMENT E 1. One of the next things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning, and perpetuate it to Posterity” 2. The colonists are adjusted to their new life and are looking to advance in different aspects of everyday life. Education was not a huge priority for the colonists because the two largest concerns were the Church and farming to help the economy. 3. The colonists wanted to increase the opportunities of learning how to read and write for the boys in the colony. There cannot be an illiterate priest, because they would not be able to read and lead the morning and evening masses.
V. Conclusion: Religion influenced the Puritans’ way of life and the economic and political systems in the New England colony in the 1630s through the 1660s. God was always priority in every action in the colony. The economy system was built of the thought of God’s approval. Religion was brought into politics, affecting how it was ultimately functioned. God was dominant over everyday activities like education and farming. As more colonies came to be in the New World, the Puritan colony grew over time to be one of the most successful models of how a colony should function.
