Assignment VI: Puritan Culture
I can identify and communicate the main
Components and aspects of Puritan Culture.
A. Vocabulary
1. Persecution: Punishment
2. Puritans: Protestants who wanted to change and “purify” the Church of England.
3. Compromise: a settlement in which both sides give up something important
4. Tolerant: respectful of other beliefs
5. Misogyny: The hatred or dislike of women
B. Guided Notes
Directions: Read the attached article. Copy out the stems below and fill in the blanks with
information from the article.
1. Many Puritans left England for America because ___. (¶1)
2. Gender roles were strictly divided. ___ made town and church decisions. ___ focused on the
home. (¶2)
3. Church was taken very seriously. Children who misbehaved were ___. Adults who didn’t
show up were ___. (¶3)
4. Puritans were expected to obey the rules. Consequences for people who didn’t: ___, ___, ___,
___, ___. (¶4)
5. Healthy babies were considered a sign of God’s grace. Sickly babies were considered ___.
(¶5)
6. As shown by the names given to girls, Puritans valued these qualities in their daughters: ___,
___, ___, ___, ___, ___, and ___.(¶6)
7. Parents believed their children should be ___. (¶7)
8. (Copy and complete the chart below. See ¶8)
GIRLS’ WORK
BOYS’ WORK
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
9. Puritans believed education was important because ___. (¶9) School could be described as
___.(¶10)
10. Once able to read, write, and do basic math, children left school and became ___ in order to
learn skills. (¶11)
Puritan Culture
Sources: American Journey (Glencoe, 2007); “The New England Colonies: Puritan Life” (U.S.
History Online Textbook, www.UShistory.org, 2010); “Child Life in the New England
Colonies,” by J. Sayles (Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, www.yale.edu.)
Through the early 1600s, life for Puritans in England was getting worse. They were facing
greater and greater persecution for their religious ideas. In 1629, a group of Puritans formed the
Massachusetts Bay Company and received permission to establish a colony north of Plymouth.
They hoped to create a new society in America based on the Bible. The company of 900 men,
women, and children settled in a region they named Massachusetts Bay. They named the center
of their colony Boston.
Men and women were treated quite differently in Puritan society. According to Puritan teaching,
the human soul had two parts, masculine and feminine. The masculine half was considered to be
the immortal part. The feminine half was considered mortal. Puritans believed that women who
were pregnant with a male child had a healthy, rosy complexion and that women carrying a
female child were sickly and pale. Roles of men and women were also sharply divided in Puritan
society. Only the men were allowed to participate in town meetings and church decision-making.
Women’s focus was on the home.
Puritans believed they were doing God’s work. Therefore, there was little room for compromise.
Regular church attendance was required. Folks who missed church were fined. Church services
were typically patrolled by an officer who held a long pole. On one end was a collection of
feathers to tickle the chins of adults who fell asleep. On the other end was a hard wooden knob
used to whack children who were inattentive.
Anyone in Puritan society who was seen as straying from God’s work was harshly punished.
Public whippings were commonplace. Stocks were also used to humiliate a criminal in the
middle of the public square. Onlookers were encouraged to spit or laugh at the person in stocks.
A person who did not closely practice the Puritan faith could be hanged. A child who cursed his
parents in public could also be put to death. Puritans did not feel regret about inflicting such
strict punishments. They believed that God’s punishment of these criminals after life would be
far worse than any earthly punishment. As long as citizens followed God’s law, they could live
in peace.
Puritan children’s lives were very different from children’s lives today. Easy, healthy babies
born of healthy mothers were considered to be reminders of God’s grace. Fussy, sickly babies
whose mothers died in childbirth were thought of as tools of the devil. Because of poor
sanitation and untreatable diseases like smallpox and influenza, many infants did not survive into
childhood.
Whether born in summer or winter, babies were named and baptized when just a few days old.
This ceremony took place in the church. The ceremony proved quite an ordeal for winter babies
when ice had formed in the christening bowl. Children’s names often came from the Bible and
from Puritan ideals. Parents hoped that their child would live up to the meaning or history of the
name given. Census records show that baby girls were given such names as Patience, Silence,
Fear, Prudence, Comfort, Hopestill, and Be Fruitful. Baby boys were generally given names still
common today, such as William and Thomas. (However, names like Cotton and Increase were
also given to boys.)
Puritans raised their children to be humble and submissive. They believed that babies were born
with a sinful nature that must be defeated. Parents began to break their child’s will after the first
birthday. They thought that infants crawling on hands and knees were too similar to animals, so
they were quite forceful in encouraging their children to walk as early as possible. A
Massachusetts minister, John Robinson, expressed the common attitude about raising children:
“Surely there is in all children… a stubbornness… of mind arising from natural pride which must
be in the first place broken and beaten down so that the foundation of their education being laid
in humility… and other virtues may in their time be built thereon.” Adults strictly enforced mild
behavior and quiet courtesy with their Puritan children. Court records show several accounts of
criminal charges being brought against children for lying and jeering.
Puritan children began working as young as four or five. Smaller children helped by weeding the
flax fields. The work of girls was generally linked to the home and the mother’s duties. Girls
learned to sew, bake bread, and babysit. Boys more commonly worked outdoors taking care of
animals and crops. Boys also learned to carve wooden spoons, bowls, and breadboards.
Puritans believed that learning was very important. They thought that the devil tricked people by
keeping them in ignorance. They felt that an education was a tool to fight the temptations of evil.
A school education, however, was not commonly available during the early colonial years. Most
children were taught at home or at the home of a neighborhood widow. The widow would gather
a few children in her house after their morning work was done. While she did her daily
household chores, she would teach reading and writing. Paper was scarce, and so were books.
Usually, the only book available was the Bible. Children wrote with quills and walnut oil ink. To
pay their teacher for her service and to keep the school room warm, children brought in a log to
keep the fire burning.
When a more formal school setting was available, older children were taught by schoolmasters.
Schoolmasters were usually men and always strict. Children were forced to stand whenever the
teacher entered the room. They were never allowed to question his authority. Children were
commonly punished by whipping and other forms of humiliation. Children were also forced to
wear signs advertising their misdeeds. A student who did not complete his assignment, for
example, would have to wear a sign labeling him as an “idler.”
In the Puritan family, there was really no such thing as being a teenager. Once able to read, write,
and do basic math, children usually left school. At that time, they often left home to become
apprentices and learn a skill. In return for teaching the child a trade, the master had use of the
child for four or five years, sometimes longer. Boys learned to be blacksmiths, printers,
shoemakers, or cabinetmakers. Girls learned trades like weaving and dressmaking.
C. Synthesis (copy and complete the chart below.)
INFORMATION
WHY did they leave
England? What were
their plans?
WHAT WAS IT
LIKE? (Use at least 5
descriptors. Include
interactions with
Natives and each
other, challenges,
successes, failures,
etc.)
JAMESTOWN
(video)
PLYMOUTH
(1st Thanks-giving;
see text, p. 77,
“Pilgrims’ Journey”)
*
*
MASSACHUSETTS
BAY
(Puritans Reading; see
text, p. 78, “New
Settlements”)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
D. Mayflower Compact (copy and complete the framework below.)
* WHY it was needed: ____ (see p. 77, ‘Mayflower Compact,’ ¶2, sentence 1)
* WHAT its purpose was: ___ (see p. 77, ‘Mayflower Compact,’ ¶2, sentences 3-4)
* WHAT it led to: (see p. 77, ‘Mayflower Compact,’ ¶2, sentence 5)