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How Did The Puritans Influence Religion In The 17th Century

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How Did The Puritans Influence Religion In The 17th Century
Puritanism had a huge impact on the history of America and on religion in the 17th century. Puritanism had originally started as a movement against the church of England during the 16th century. The Puritans escaped religious confines and went to the New World. There they settled mostly in New England. Their beliefs had a big influence on how religion was handled in the colonies. According to history.com it explained how the Puritans came to be colonists in the New World, “Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades of the seventeenth century to the northern English colonies in the New World–a migration that laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England. Puritanism, …show more content…
It was a combination of life styles with living values. Study.com explained, “The Puritans believed that God had formed a unique covenant, or agreement, with them. They believed that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures, to reform the Anglican Church, and to set a good example that would cause those who had remained in England to change their sinful ways. Most early migrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony were full-fledged members of the Puritan faith.” (3) Puritanism of colonial periods is the source of many of the mainstream values in the U.S. such as optimism, egalitarianism, and individualism . It was the Puritans that first pushed to have laws that said that everyone must go to church every week and that taxes should be used in part to pay the wages of ministers. These laws stayed in place until the Great Awakening and it's impact on religion in the New World. Www.socialstudieshelp.com explains the impact of Puritanism as, “The long term results of Puritanism are felt throughout our country because they were amongst our first settlers and spread their ideas and values throughout the land. The Puritan work ethic became a staple of American idealism. Likewise this nation remains a Protestant country with a legacy of conservatism. The Puritans may have lasted only a little over a century but their ideals remain.”

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