Puritans
Puritan ideals
- Puritans founded colonies like Massachusetts Bay (1629) to create a model of moral and religious purity.
Definition
Covenant theology
The belief that society had a collective contract with God to uphold righteousness or risk divine punishment.
Intolerance
- Despite fleeing persecution in England, Puritans were strict and intolerant of dissenters (e.g., Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were banished).
- The Salem Witch Trials (1692) later revealed how fear and rigid moral codes could lead to hysteria and persecution within Puritan society.
Social impact
- Religion shaped laws, education, and community life. Church attendance was mandatory, and moral discipline was enforced.
- Puritans founded Harvard College (1636) to train ministers, demonstrating the link between faith, governance, and intellectual life in early New England.
Quakers
Beliefs
- Quakers (Society of Friends) promoted equality, pacifism, and religious tolerance.
- Their belief in the “Inner Light” (God’s presence existed within every person ) challenged traditional hierarchies and justified their early opposition to slavery and social inequality.
Pennsylvania model
- Founded by William Penn in 1681 as a “Holy Experiment,” Pennsylvania offered freedom of worship to all Christians and fair treatment of indigenous peoples.
- Penn’s Frame of Government (1682) established elected assemblies and guaranteed religious liberty, making Pennsylvania one of the most democratic and prosperous colonies in early America.
Impact
- Quaker tolerance attracted diverse settlers (Germans, Dutch, Scots-Irish) and influenced early American ideas about liberty and conscience.
- The colony’s emphasis on conscience and equality influenced later Enlightenment and revolutionary ideals, shaping American values of civil rights and freedom of religion.
