This is the response I wrote to the DBQ: In what ways did ideas and values held by Puritans influence the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660s?
The Puritans were a group of people that emigrated from England to the region of New England in 1629. In contrast to the settlers of the Chesapeake region, the Puritans’ prime purpose of emigrating was not economic, but rather religious. They wanted to establish a moral society where everyone was Puritan and other religions were not tolerated. As a result, the Puritans had a profound effect on the development of New England. The high level of importance placed on religion influenced the political development of New England by resulting in a loosely theocratic government, the economic development due to the Puritans’ emphasis on winning God’s favor, and the social development as a result of integrating their by-productive beliefs and values in the establishment of the Puritans’ domain.
The Puritans’ high valuation of religion resulted in a rigid, theocratic development of government. The Puritan settlers found Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and their leader, John Winthrop outlined what would the ideal Puritan society. One of his sentences was, “Wee must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities,” from A Modell of Christian Charity of 1630 (Doc A). Winthrop described it as a united, selfless society in which all would conform. As a result, colonies in New England for closely knit and houses were close together. Additionally, laws were very strict and violations of many were stated to be punishable by death. Typically, a punishment such as whipping, deprivation of food, dunking, pillory time, etc were used. Many of these laws were written with respect to the Church and God, and on the basis of, “In public or private, we will willingly do nothing to the offense of the church. . .” and, “We do hereby promise to carry our selves in all lawful obedience to those that are over us, in Church or Commonswealth, knowing how well pleasing it will be to the Lord . . .” from The Enlarged Salem Covenant of 1636 (Doc C). Anyone who questioned the Puritan ways was severely punished. An example is Roger Williams’ banishment for requesting greater religious tolerance in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Doc F), which was essentially taboo as the Puritan clergy was opposed to separation of church and state, as shown by Nathaniel Ward’s argument against governmental tolerance of religious diversity (Doc G): “He that is willing to tolerate any religion, or discrepant way of religion, besides his own, unless it be in matters merely indifferent, either doubts his own or is not sincere in it. . .” The Puritans emphasis on religious conformity and obtaining land for their model society also led them to engage in numerous battles with neighboring Indian tribes, an example being the Pequot War of 1632 (Doc D) where an alliance of English colonists and their Native American allies fought against the Pequot tribe for their land. Many tribes were shoved out of New England during the process of Puritan establishment because the Puritans believed that giving religious freedom to individuals was detrimental to the colony (Doc H). Clearly, the weight placed on religion had a profound effect on the political development of New England.
The Puritans swinked to economically develop New England because they believed they were favored by God to succeed. Many of the settlers in Massachusetts Bay were wealthy merchants and therefore, the wealthiest merchants were considered to be at the top of the barrel with respect to socioeconomic status. Since their wealth was interpreted as a sign of having won God’s favor, the Puritan merchants worked to establish Boston as the prime trade center in New England so that they could reasonably trade with other communities of the New World. However, New England was not regarded qua a domain for “worldly trade”, but rather qua a “plantation of Religion” as John Higginson stated in The Cause of God and His People in New England in 1662 (Doc J). Higginson was ordering the people to not be greedy and turn farming into a means of business. But because they believed that they were blessed by God to succeed, economic development was quite pertinent to the Puritans.
The Puritans’ emphasis on religion resulted in a communal, farm-oriented, and educational social development of New England. The town map example of a colony in New England [Doc B (additional space added here intentionally for this forum post to negate automated emoticon production)] reflects the religious, conservative, intermutual, and rural lifestyle the Puritans led. The colony consists mainly of houses, farmland, and is centered around the church. It’s evident that there was not much more to Puritan life than religion and farm life. Additionally, the close-together construction of houses with each village having common lands for animals to graze known as the “Common”, is reflective of the communistic, uniform, and selfless nature of Puritan existence. Education was also held in high regard, but as usual for religious reasons. The Puritans wanted to be enlightened informed followers of their religious beliefs. Harvard was established to train new Puritan ministers (Doc E). The social development of New England was heavily influenced by their values of religion, unity, and selflessness, the by-productive characteristics of their general lifestyle, and their high prioritization of farm life.
If you could criticize and rate this essay, that would be great. I mean my teacher gave this an 85/100…