The Similarities Between New England And Puritan Society

The early North American colonies were a meeting place of many cultures. The 13 colonies were split up into three sections: New England, Middle, and Southern. The New England colonies included Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware made up the Middle Colonies. Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia are part of the Southern colonies.

In search of religious freedom a group of devout Christians sailed across the ocean only to come across a new land, radically different from the one they left behind. From the initial journey, to the formation of the colonies, and finally their complicated relationship with “non-believers” Puritans strongly held religious convictions has played a key role in all of this. The Puritans were a group of reformed Protestants seeking to reform the English Church. After the fall of the Roman Catholic Church, a new church was established “The English Anglican Church”. While most Puritans sought to reform the church others wanted nothing to do with it these Puritans would eventually be known as Separatists.

More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).

The ideas constructed by the Puritans were not simply a principal starting point for American culture because they were the first in the country, but because they offered distinct ways of thinking that are still deep-seated in our culture today. Although many of the ideas of Puritans have evolved or vanished over time, it is important to give credit to the Puritan writers and thinkers such as John Winthrop and John Cotton who offered ideas that were new at the time and that stayed with the American consciousness—culturally, socially, and politically. “John Winthrop's legacy can be seen primarily in the fields of government, commerce, and religion. It was religion that would most impact John's life; his religion would ultimately impact the

Early American colonies were the base of what it is now known the United States of America. Although almost all of the colonies were from the same time period each colony differed from each other. Some of the colonies differed by their economic system and also by their way of running their colony, their government. Also, the colonies differed from their culture and their way they lived. In addition, the New England and the Chesapeake colonies were not the exception they also differed from each other.

The New England colonies include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The first settlers that came into the New England colonies were the Puritans who wanted to practice religious freedom. Unfortunately, most of these colonies are not tolerant of other religions. The self-government economy is based on religious beliefs. Finally, the colonies rely on fishing and shipbuilding since the soil and long winters are unsuitable for farming.

The New England colonies were first founded in the last 16th to 17th century as a sanctuary for differing religious groups. New England was made up of the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. New Hampshire, however, was formed for economic reasons instead of religious ones. The Chesapeake region, which is made up of the colonies of Maryland and Virginia, was founded by the British colonies for the purpose of farming. However, by the 1700’s, despite both being settled by Englishmen, New England and the Chesapeake region had developed differently.

The New England families tend to travel together, they had a strong sense of community and really would watch out for one another like family. Education was important to the New England colony as so was religion and they were required to study the bible. The Southern Colonies were founded as an economic venture to create wealth where as for the New England colony were mainly about religious reformers and separatists. They were looking for a new way to praise God, that’s not to say that religion wasn’t important to the southern colonies because it was they just had a different way of going about it than the New England colonies. The religion in the southern colonies was more diverse.

Starting in the early 1600’s settlers from England came to “The New World.” England and Spain were competing to claim this new undiscovered land. The English were the first to claim the land by sending the first group of settlers, the Chesapeake settlers. They settled in present day Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake settlers came for commercial and profit.

The colonies of Massachusetts and Virginia were a start of the new world for England. These were founded by similar people but, with their strikingly differences, grew into separate political, economic and social structures. Both settlements arose from over-crowdedness in England: people wanted a better life. Virginia was settled by men who were single and looking for opportunities and wealth. They were part of the Anglican religion.

The Middle colonies believed in more of a diverse culture with multiple religions, cultures, languages, etc. Now there’s the economy. The New England colonies were more of an industrial type of economy because most of their land was infertile. The Middle colonies mostly just relied on farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. The

New England and the Middle Colonies are 2 Colonies that are total opposites from each other, but do have some similarities. New England had no religious freedom because if you were not puritan then you could not live there. On the other hand, the Middle Colonies did have religious freedom, you could be a Quaker, Lutheran, Jewish, Catholic or French and a lot more as well. New England and the Middle Colonies share some similarities based on religion and other things as well. Some similarities were that the church was an important part of both New England and Middle Colonies towns.

Colonists who came to America differed greatly in backgrounds and settled for various reasons: Colonist in the New England Colony came to America primarily because they were religious reformers and separatist seeking a new way of life; the Middle Colony was inhabited by a tolerant and diverse group of people with different backgrounds; And the Southern Colony was mainly inhabited by English aristocrats, small farmers, and slaves. Because each colonial region inhabited different groups of colonists the social development differed greatly in each region. New England was founded on the Puritan faith and maintained a strong sense of faith, family, and community. New Englan was very strict on enforcing a strong sense Puritan religion, the lifestyle of colonist revolved around the puritan faith, so much so, it was referred to the "city upon a hill". Contrasting greatly with the New England Colony, the Middle Colony was greatly social and religiously diverse.

The Differences and Similarities between Native American and Puritan Literature Native American and Puritan Literature have their own distinct culture and traditions. They also incorporate it into their literature. Puritan literature was mostly passed down through sermons, diaries, journals, and poems. Native Americans were indigenous people of the Americas and their literature was traditional oral and written. Both Native Americans and Puritan Literature have similar elements of culture, such as religion, beliefs, and morals.

The two colonies differed politically. “God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, [that]in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, other mean and in subjection” (Doc. A).The New England colony was a representative democracy; they held town meetings. It placed emphasize on having poor and rich families because of the importance of an equal society with representation from all sectors of life. “We intend by God's grace, as soon as we can, with all convenient speed, to procure some Godly and faithful minister with whom we purpose to join in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ” (Doc. D).