Answer Key
HT6 Pilgrims Going to Church (1867),
George Henry Boughton
Use this transparency to stimulate discussion about the
Puritans who settled at Plymouth Colony.
Background
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a group of English
people called the Puritans began working to reform the
Church of England. They believed strongly in the Bible and
in the importance of each individual’s relationship with
God. One of their goals was to rid the Church of rituals and
organizational structures that were too similar to those of
the Catholic Church.
When the Church of England did not make such
reforms, some Puritans—called Separatists–decided to
form their own church. To escape persecution, one group
of Separatists emigrated to Holland and eventually to
North America. There they established America’s second
permanent English colony at Plymouth in 1620. Today,
those people are known as the Pilgrims, a name given them
by Daniel Webster in 1820.
Having made a long, difficult journey and having suffered greatly in their new home, the Pilgrims clung to their
religious beliefs. This painting shows a group of Pilgrim
families on their way to worship in their New England
church. They are dressed in somber-colored garments that
were devoid of the fancy frills common to the time. In the
painting, they all wear serious expressions.
Questions and Activities
1. What does this painting suggest about where and
with whom the Pilgrims worshipped? (Possible
Response: that they worshipped in a church only
with other Pilgrims and that all the members of
several families worshipped together)
2. Why do you think that the Pilgrim men carried
guns? (Possible Response: to protect their families
from attack by Native Americans or wild animals)
3. Why might the Pilgrims have dressed in such
simple and dull-colored clothes? (Possible
Responses: to show that how they looked was less
important than how they acted or that they cared
more about God than about themselves or that
they were a serious-minded people)