Puritan Help???

Question

I need help finding information on Roger Williams, John Field, and a Native American named Massasoit. I am doing a powerpoint on them for my history class. If there is any extra information you know about the Puritans that would really help! Thank you

Answer 1

Puritanism, movement arising within the Church of England in the latter part of the 16th century that sought to purify, or reform, that church and establish a middle course between Roman Catholicism and the ideas of the Protestant reformers (see Church of England). It had a continuous life within the church until the Stuart Restoration (1660). Puritanism reached North America with the English settlers who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It remained the dominant religious force in New England throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

The term Puritanism is also used in a broader sense to refer to attitudes and values considered characteristic of the Puritans. Thus, the Separatists in the 16th century, the Quakers (see Friends, Society of) in the 17th century, and Nonconformists after the Restoration may be called Puritans, although they were no longer part of the established church. The founders of New England, for whom immigration to America constituted withdrawal from the mother church, are also commonly called Puritans.

Finally, the word puritanism has often been used as a term of abuse in a way that does scant justice to historical Puritanism—for instance, when a rigid moralism, the condemnation of innocent pleasure, or religious narrowness is stigmatized as puritanical.

Even within the Church of England, a precise definition of Puritanism is elusive. The leading Puritan clergyman during the reign of Elizabeth I was Thomas Cartwright, who denied he was one. Cartwright advocated a presbyterian form of church government that gave control to committees of ministers and lay members. His purpose was to free the church from the control of bishops appointed by the monarchy, which was hostile to Puritanism. Puritanism, however, cannot be identified with presbyterianism because a major segment of the movement eventually adopted congregationalism, in which there is no church hierarchy and each individual congregation is self-governing. The essence of Puritanism is an intense commitment to a morality, a form of worship, and a civil society strictly conforming to God's commandments.

Puritan theology is a version of Calvinism. It asserts the basic sinfulness of humankind; but it also declares that by an eternal decree God has determined that some will be saved through the righteousness of Christ despite their sins. No one can be certain in this life what his or her eternal destiny will be. Nevertheless, the experience of conversion, in which the soul is touched by the Holy Spirit, so that the inward bias of the heart is turned from sinfulness to holiness, is at least some indication that one is of the elect.

The experience of conversion was therefore central to Puritan spirituality. Much of Puritan preaching was concerned with it. This concern was evident in questions such as how conversion comes about—whether in a blinding flash as with Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, or following well-defined stages of preparation; how one can distinguish actual conversion from the counterfeit; and why not everyone will be converted. Puritan spiritual life stressed self-discipline and introspection, through which one sought to determine whether particular spiritual strivings were genuine marks of sainthood. Although full assurance might never be attained, the conviction of having been chosen by God fortified the Puritans to contend with what they regarded as wantonness in society and faithfulness in the church, and to endure the hardships involved in trying to create a Christian commonwealth in America.

Puritanism was not static and unchanging. At first it simply stood for further reform of worship, but soon it began to attack episcopacy—church government by bishops, as in the Church of England—as unscriptural. At times the difference between the Puritans and the Anglicans (members of the Church of England) seems to have been as much a matter of differing cultural values as one of differing theological opinions. For example, their Sabbatarianism (insistence on strict observance of the Sabbath) came into conflict with a defense of sports and games on Sunday by King James I. Puritanism became a political as well as a religious movement during the English Revolution (1640-1660, also called the Puritan Revolution), when Parliament rebelled against the despotism of Stuart king Charles I. This rebellion gave the Puritans a chance to demand the abolition of bishops in the Church of England. Both in England during the Commonwealth (government established by Parliament, from 1649-1660) and in 17th-century New England, Puritanism meant the direction and control of civil authority.

Nor was Puritanism a wholly cohesive movement. In the 1580s the Separatists were bitterly condemned by other Puritans. When the Westminster Assembly (1643) sought to define doctrine and polity, the differences between Presbyterians and Independents (congregationalists) were manifest. In the turbulence of the 1640s, a number of small sects appeared, emphasizing that part of Puritan doctrine that acknowledges the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the believer to the neglect of that part that stands for social order and authority.

With the restoration of the Stuart monarchs in 1660, many Puritans accepted the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and rule by bishops; others were forced into permanent nonconformity. In one sense, therefore, Puritanism failed. Its influence has persisted, however.

When the Puritans failed in their efforts to reform the Church of England, a minority urged separatism—the establishment of separate independent congregations free of bishops. Some of these separatist groups immigrated to Holland. In 1620 one of the separatist congregations sailed for New England on the Mayflower. In New England the colonists established independent congregations, each congregation having the right to choose its own leaders and discipline its members. While church and state supported each other, neither one was allowed to interfere in the affairs of the other.

In America, Puritan moralism and its sense of an elect people in covenant with God deeply affected the national character. The Puritan belief that communities were formed by covenants produced America’s first democratic institution, the town meeting. At the town meeting every church member had the right to speak, and decisions were made by majority rule. The Puritan emphasis on simplicity of worship, its asceticism (austerity and self-denial), and its Sabbatarianism remained influential into the 20th century. The Puritan devotion to popular education, high standards of morality, and many, if not all, democratic principles had an important effect on American life.



Williams, Roger (1603?-1683), English Puritan clergyman and founder of the American colony of Rhode Island. He was born in London and educated at the University of Cambridge, which had become a center of religious controversy. An advocate of the Calvinist theology, he was a member of the party that opposed the ecclesiastical organization of the established church. Upon taking holy orders, he served as chaplain to a Puritan household in Essex, and his association there with the Puritan leaders Oliver Cromwell, John Winthrop, and Thomas Hooker led to his complete separation from the Anglican church (Puritanism).

Shortly after the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the New World by Winthrop and others, as a refuge for the persecuted Puritans of England, Williams immigrated to New England, arriving in Boston in February 1631. He rejected an invitation to serve as temporary pastor of the Boston congregation because that church had not officially severed ties with the Church of England. He then obtained an appointment as teacher of the church in Salem, Massachusetts, but following a disagreement with the Boston authorities concerning the regulation of religious matters, he went to Plymouth Colony as assistant pastor. In 1633 he was permitted to return to Salem as an assistant teacher, and in 1634 he was appointed teacher. Williams again found himself in conflict with the colonial government when he challenged the validity of the Massachusetts Bay charter, which gave the authorities power to appropriate Native American lands without compensation and to establish a uniform faith and worship among the colonists. He asserted that only direct purchase from the Native Americans constituted a valid title to land, and he denied the right of the government to punish what were considered religious infractions. In October 1635, the Massachusetts general court issued an order banishing Williams from the colony; in January 1636, he escaped deportation by the authorities and began a journey to Narragansett Bay.

Williams became friendly with the Narragansett, making a study of their language. In 1636 he purchased lands from the tribe. Together with a few companions he established the settlement of Providence and the colony of Rhode Island, naming the settlement in gratitude “for God's merciful providence unto me in my distress.” The government of the colony was based upon complete religious toleration and upon separation of church and state. Each household exercised a voice in the conduct of government and received an equal share in the distribution of land. Accepting the practice of adult baptism by immersion, Williams was baptized by a layman in 1639; he subsequently baptized a small group and thus founded the first Baptist church in America (see Baptists). Later in the same year he withdrew from the church he had founded and declared himself to be a “seeker,” that is, one who accepts the fundamental beliefs of Christianity but does not profess a particular creed.

THE PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS

Williams went to England in 1643 and obtained (1644) a colonial charter incorporating the settlements of Providence, Newport, Plymouth, and Warwick as “The Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay.” During his sojourn abroad he wrote A Key into the Language of America (1643) and The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644), the latter treatise being a notable work on the nature and jurisdiction of civil government. He also wrote the tract Christenings Make Not Christians (1645).

Upon returning to Rhode Island, Williams found that leadership of the colony had been assumed by the opponents of his democratic system, and in 1651 he returned to England in order to confirm the rights granted by the charter. During this visit he became a friend of the English poet John Milton. Williams returned to Rhode Island in 1654 and was elected president of the colony, serving until 1657. Because of his policy of complete religious toleration, the colony was a haven for refugees from bigotry. Notable among these were Quakers (see Friends, Society of) forced by persecution to leave the Boston area. Williams became involved, however, in a controversy with the Quakers, the substance of which is contained in his work George Fox Digg'd Out of His Burrowes (1676). When the Narragansett tribe joined the Native American revolt of 1675, known as King Philip's War, Williams served as a captain of forces defending Providence. Thereafter, he participated in the political life of the colony until the time of his death in early 1683. He is chiefly remembered as one of the notable champions of democracy and religious freedom in the American colonies.



Field, John (1782-1837), Irish pianist and composer, best known as the creator of the nocturne and, in his piano style and technique, as a precursor of Frédéric Chopin. Born in Dublin, Field moved to London to study with the Italian pianist-composer Muzio Clementi. After following his teacher to Paris and Russia, he achieved success as a favorite of Saint Petersburg and Moscow society. His works, mainly for the piano, include 7 concertos, 18 nocturnes, 4 sonatas, several polonaises, and other pieces.



Massasoit (1580?-1661), Native American chief of the Wampanoag who governed the greater part of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Shortly after the arrival of the Pilgrims in America, Massasoit and Governor John Carver of Plymouth Colony signed the earliest recorded treaty in New England. The treaty established a mutual peace between Massasoit's people and the Pilgrims. In 1621 the Pilgrims invited Massasoit and some of his people to the first celebration of Thanksgiving Day.

Massasoit's eldest son, Wamsutta, became sachem, or chief, upon his father's death in 1661. Peace with the Pilgrims lasted until Wamsutta was succeeded by his brother Philip, also called Metacomet. Philip formally renewed the treaties established by his father, but in 1675, after the Pilgrims had made increasing demands for Native American land, Philip led an uprising against the settlers in a conflict now referred to as King Philip's War.

Answer 2

I know the key to answering just about any question you can come with about Puritans and the few people you just mentioned:

Wikipedia.org! It's an amazingly useful online encyclopedia that has all sorts of facts about whatever you're researching. The cool thing about wikipedia is that anyone can add to the information there -- but in order to make sure that the new data is true, a bunch of people discuss what the new person wants to add, and if they agree that it's a fact, presto! You've got a lot of people with a lot of information on a subject.

Go to wikipedia.org and look up the people you're researching! I can guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for. =)

Answer 3

The Puritans were a religious group that settled in the New England states, especially in Massachusetts, in the early time of this country. They had strict beliefs. I'm sure if you do a goggle search, you will find a lot of information on them and their early leaders, such as those you mentioned. If I remember right, they were helped by Massasoit.

Good Luck!
Sue

Answer 4

Around the time of Cromwell, the Puritans and Roundheads fought with each other for control of England. Puritans wore simple clothes and had a simple lifestyle as they had interpreted the Bible's guidance. I like the idea of using yea and nay instead of lots of verbosity. You can decide to wear simple unadorned clothes today if you wish.

Answer 5

www.puritanboard.com. its a great messageboard that discusses puritian theology. if you want some of their religious understandings this might be a good place to look around