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England’s second attempts at establishing colonies in North America should not have been successful. The people found no gold, no cash crops, or anything of immediate value to their investors but the colonists were committed to success. They could not have been more different from their countrymen and women to the south than if they had originated in different nations at different times. Both Plymouth (1620) and Massachusetts Bay (1629) were founded by middle class Christians who emigrated as families and communities in order to escape persecution at home. Their ventures were well planned and well financed and they established positive relations with the local Indians. These Christians were called Puritans and they were committed to establishing new communities based upon God’s laws as they understood them. The English Origins of the Puritan Movement: The Protestant Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England resulted in 130 years of political and social chaos in England. When Roman Catholic kings ruled, Protestants were persecuted and vice versa. For some Protestant members of the Church of England, the split from the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions was an acceptable move -- for others the reforms were incomplete and therefore unacceptable. One group, the Puritans, wanted to purify the Church of England of all of its Roman Catholic traditions. What Did the Puritans Believe? Like all Christians, Puritans believed that Jesus Christ had atoned for humanity’s sins with his own life. Unlike some Christians, Puritans did not believe that salvation came through grace but that it was almost always uncertain and unknowable. They had come to believe that the only thing anyone could do to understand God’s plan was study the Bible (This belief led to high rates of literacy among the Puritans.) Puritans were persecuted by Roman Catholics and because they were also dissenters within the Church of England they came to identify themselves with the Israelites and believed they, too, had a covenant with God. If they did His will, like purified the Church of England of its Roman Catholic traditions, he would make them prosper. The Puritans came to see themselves not only as God’s chosen people but also as the only chosen people. They also came to see the leadership of the Church of England mired in sin and corruption. Logically the Puritans came to believe that their only option was to abandon England and the Church of England and create God’s true church someplace else. The Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth: Another group of Puritans, also known as Pilgrims, abandoned England and the Church of England for North America. Because they did not believe there was any hope of reforming the Church of England they abandoned it. Consequently they are called "separatists" because they chose to separate from the church. Arriving on the Mayflower, these Pilgrims established Plymouth colony in 1620. Because they landed on land not technically within their joint stock company’s charter, they entered into a compact with one another known as the Mayflower Compact. It was a mutual agreement between the colonists to create a government for themselves. The Pilgrims fared poorly at Plymouth and had they not been aided by local Indians they might have failed in their enterprise. The Plymouth colony was a failure for its investors and in 1691 it was incorporated into the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritan Colony at Massachusetts Bay: A second colony of Puritans was established in 1629 by the Massachusetts Bay Company. After ten years the population was about 20,000 and the colonists had dispersed into several towns. There are several reasons the Puritans were successful; primarily they emigrated as communities of men and women united in a common religious belief. The New England Way: The Puritans believed they had a covenant with God to establish a new society and church based on the word of God. They also entered into a covenant with one another and each community was seen as a microcosm of the world, complete with its social and political hierarchies and those with power deciding issues for those without power or status. Changing the Land to Fit the Political Economy: The Puritans may have separated themselves from the Church of England but they did not separate themselves from their social and political culture. For example, they followed English law where land ownership was concerned. As members of a capitalist economy, private ownership of land and the commodities on that land were sacred concepts. Unlike the Indians who could transfer the use of land, the English held to the notion that an owner was free to sell those properties to anyone with money to buy them. The English transplanted their attitudes and laws about property to the New World. The Puritan Family: The foundation of Puritan society was the family; every member of the family had his or her responsibilities. Puritan families were structured like Puritan society: the father and husband was at the head of the family, the wife his deputy. The family was an instrument of order and much of the success of the Puritan colonies is due to the cohesion of the family. Think About This
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