Puritan Colonies of 17th Century New England, Essay Example

How theology underpinned the development of the ethical and legal structure of the Puritan colonies of 17^th century New England

It would be fair to say that the society created by the Puritan colonists of New England was a fair reflection of the contents of many of its members’ minds. Hierarchical, and dedicated to the control and suppression of sin wherever possible, its reputation for insular bigotry is somewhat unfair.

One area where Puritan thought influenced the shape of society was in the attitude towards alcohol. While it would be inaccurate to say that Puritans did not drink, the tolerance towards outright drunkenness was fairly low. Many residents of New England at this time drank great quantities of rum, but a drunk would often be arrested. Repeat offences of drunkenness would result in the offender being forced to wear a large letter D on their clothing, showing their sin to the world.

The idea of the original sin of humanity was another central concept to how Puritans viewed the organisation of their new society. A form of congregational covenant often shaped how their church communities were organised, and within these structures there were the seeds of democracy, with members of the congregation contributing in various ways to the shaping of overall policy. To view this as entirely and consciously democratic would be wrong though. While the Calvinist mindset did believe in contracts with God, free of priestly interference, there was no love for people governing their own lives. The point of Puritan life was to serve the will of God and not the people. The world, for a New England Puritan in the 17th century, was viewed as consisting of the governed and governors.

The nature of Puritan thought did work to strengthen village communities, at a time when they were beginning to weaken in the English ancestral homeland of the settlers. Although the church in New England exerted complete spiritual power over its members, it technically had no temporal power. Nevertheless, the citizens paid taxes for its upkeep, and even non-members of the church who were living in the community were expected to attend services. This level of consent based around spiritual beliefs shows the extent to which religious ideals had permeated this nascent society. Life took on a largely cooperative pattern in economic terms in many village communities during this era.

As the colonies grew during the late 17th century, an increasing diversity of religious belief did lead to some tensions. The suppression of heresy, as perceived by the Calvinist community leaders, saw some Quakers hanged in 1660 in Massachusetts. They had been expelled from the colony and returned as a matter of conscience. While the individual nature of Protestant faith and the personal relationship with God was paramount in Calvinist thinking, any kind of deviation from accepted theology was often disparaged and treated with great asperity. This would later also be reflected in the famous witchcraft trials which occurred in the region in the 1690s. This seeming contradiction between individual conscience and fitting into convention is still at the heart of much American cultural thinking.

The Puritans believed that they had not come to the New World to repeat the religious errors which had occurred in their homeland. Their way of thinking and shaping conventions and laws for their new society was based on an idealistic interpretation of Calvinist theology. This often caused contradictory impulses, especially in religious matters of conscience. As New England became more ethnically and religiously diverse as time passed, the Puritan grip on control would become loosened, but their ideas would still continue to shape much American cultural and political thought.