Chapter 3- America Pageant
M. Carter
“Choose not that in which you may be most
Rich or honorable in the world, but that in
Which you may do most good…”
(Richard Baxter)
 John
Calvin
 Predestination



Stemmed from the idea of God as all-knowing
Lives were pre- destined or pre- determined for
heaven or hell
Your life on earth could not alter the outcome
 Conversion

The experience that was God’s way of telling you
that you were saved or a “visible saint”
 Expectations

“visible saints” must exemplify holy living
 Church


of England (Anglican)
All Englishmen must attend church
Not all Englishmen believed in the doctrine of
the Church
 Puritans



Wanted to “purify” the Church
Believed in the doctrine
Disliked attending church with those hellbound
 James

I
If Puritans will argue over church matters, it was
only a matter of time before it became political
 Separatists




The Church of England was beyond repair
Believed they needed to SEPARATE from the
Church and start again
Generally, had the same doctrine but was
“purified”
PILGRIMS were the “purest Puritans”
 Non-Separatists



Church needed to be “purified” but this could be
done from within the Church = Reform
Remained members
Puritans
 Holland
 Separatists
 William
Bradford
 Mayflower Compact
 Squanto
 Plymouth Rock
 Work ethic
 102
 How did their colony compare to Jamestown?
 Non-Separatists
 Massachusetts
Bay Colony
 1630s
 Population

How did MBC compare to previous colonies?
 Governance



Direct democracy
General Court
“freemen”
 John
Winthrop- “ A Model on Christian
Charity” (1630)

“City Upon a Hill”
"We may not aim only at our own, but at
the public good. Therefore, faith will
not think it hath a comfortable calling
unless it will serve, not only its own turn,
but the turn of other men.”
Does this sound familiar, in
concept?
Cotton Mather—
(1663-1728)
 What


1. A binding agreement; a compact.
2. Law



is a “covenant”?
a. A formal sealed agreement or contract.
b. A suit to recover damages for violation of such a
contract.
3. In the Bible, God's promise to the human race.
(taken from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/covenant )
 So….
What is a covenant community?
 What covenant communities have we
encountered thus far?
 Puritans
sought religious freedom for
themselves- NOT for all.
 They
did NOT believe in religious tolerance.
 Those
with different beliefs were jailed,
exiled or executed.
 Anne
 Roger
Hutchinson
Williams
 Thomas
Hookers
….these are only the most well-known.
Let’s check your chart now!
Dissenter/
Where
From
Reason for
Exile
Beliefs
Colony
Established
Roger
Williams/
Massachuse
tts Bay
Colony
Believed
individual’s
conscience was
beyond the
control of any
civil or church
authority
1. Recognized the
rights of Native
Americans and
paid them for the
use of the land.
2. Provided for
complete religious
toleration by
allowing Catholics,
Quakers, Jews to
worship freely
3. Separation of
church and state
Providence
Puritan
Later Rhode
Island
Dissenter/
Where
From
Reason for Exile
Beliefs
MBColony
Led discussion
groups that
criticized religious
leaders
Believed in
Portsmouth
antinomianism
- faith alone is (Rhode
necessary for
Island)
salvation
Puritan
Disagreed with their
focus on good
works- people can’t
earn their way into
heaven
Female criticizing
male elect
Claimed direct
“revelation”
Colony
Established
Dissenter/
Where
From
Reason for
Exile
Beliefs
Colony
Established
MBC
Disagreed with
church leaders
Established a
representative
gov’t
Hartford
Puritan
Authority
extended too
far
Popular vote
Governor chosen by
legislature
Limited
suffrage to men
church
1st Constitution:
members
Fundamental
Orders of Conn.
** chose to
leave
Conn. River
Valley
Picture:
Jean Louis Gerome Ferris
“The First Thanksgiving”
(1915)
 deep-seeded
fears
of witchcraft
 Puritans believed
that since America
was first
introduced to
Christianity by
colonists, it was
the Devil’s
homeland
“It was a rousing alarm to the Devil, when a
great company of English Protestants and
Puritans came to erect evangelical churches
in a corner of the world where he had
reigned without any control for many ages.”
-- Cotton Mather
Ultimately, Puritans believed the surrounding
natives were an “army of devils.” They feared
the strange rituals and languages, believing it
was devil worship.
 “nature
and the wilderness, which
represented the dark evil in human life,
became the transplanted Puritans enemy.”
 The wilderness = side of human character
that Puritans feared and rejected
 “The harshness of the surrounding area
outside the town itself meant that the
punishment of banishment was often a death
sentence– survival was psychologically and
physically impossible.”
http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/page/11467/
An attempt to fight against the
devil by educating the children.
If they could read the Bible,
they could defend themselves.
 Puritan
fears
 Encroachment of
land
 Interference in
trade

Wampum
 September
1638
 No Pequot may inhabit former Pequot
territory
 Name Pequot was expunged from New
England.
 Pequot slaves took on the name of the tribe
they were enslaved within
 Surviving
Pequots were divided up amongst
Indian allies as slaves.
"The effect of the Pequot War was profound.
Overnight the balance of power had shifted
from the populous but unorganized natives to
the English colonies. Henceforth [until King
Philip's War] there was no combination of
Indian tribes that could seriously threaten
the English. The destruction of the Pequots
cleared away the only major obstacle to
Puritan expansion. And the thoroughness of
that destruction made a deep impression on
the other tribes."
(taken from: http://www.colonialwarsct.org/1637.htm)
 Metacomet
 Wampanoag
chief
 Recognized
importance of
unity among tribes
 Unified attacks on
colonists in New
England
 1675-76
The first time an English paper
devotes such attention to the
reporting of colonial events- ¾
of the front page.
DATED: From Monday, August 16 to Thursday, August 19, 1675
 “In
their journey they had seen lying the
bodies of several English without heads, who
had been murthered by the Indians…”
 “We had advice, that 16 English were killed in
skirmishing and 7 Indians…”
 “And that 14 houses belonging to the English
near Swansey, had been burnt…”
 “An Indian Spy had been executed at
Plymouth…”
 “Having only seen ten Indians together, of
whom they killed four; they found 6 English
heads, and twice as many hands, being of
those the Indians had murthered…”
 Early
success
 Ended in disaster



Wife and son killed
Metacomet- beheaded
Tribes were disbanded and decimated

Lacked leadership, numbers and unity for decades
 Few
threats remained toward New England
colonists