Puritan Culture
Ms. Ellison
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.
Puritan Culture Guided Notes
Directions: Copy 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 as important because ___. (¶9) School could be described as ___. (¶10)
10. Once able to read, write and do basic math, children left school and become ___ in order to learn skills. (¶11)