AP US History
Puritans, Pilgrims, Separatists, and Dissenters
S
Church of England
S Aka the Anglican Church
S Founded in 1534 by King Henry VIII
S King tried to divorce his first wife (Catherine of Aragaon) but the
Pope refused to dissolve the marriage
S The King, angry, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church
and created the Church of England
S The Anglican Church remained similar to the Catholic Church
and Puritans protested
Puritans
S Encouraged by the teachings of John Calvin, the Puritans
sought to “purify” the Anglican Church by ridding it of
ceremony (like the Catholic Church)
S Believed that they needed to remain in the Church to stand
as examples and purify it from within
S Once the Puritans left England for N. America, they no
longer remained active in the Church of England
S Known for work ethic and moral “compass”
Pilgrims
S Known as separatists
S Believed they had to leave the Church of England to escape
a life they did not believe in
S First group set out in 1620 aboard the Mayflower for Virginia
S Pilgrims set sail having agreed to work for 7 years for the
Virginia Company in exchange for a share of the profits
S Ship landed at Plymouth Bay and 1st govt. document drafted
was Mayflower Compact (separation of church and state,
rule of the majority  current democratic principles)
Nonseparatists
S Next wave of Puritans arriving in New England in 1629
S Came due to oppression and persecution by English crown
S While in England believed they had to remain within the Church of
England to reform it
S This wave called “Great Migration” of 1630s (MA Bay Colony)
S Most famous governor was John Winthrop (City on a Hill)
S Only males allowed to vote, only members of Congregational Church
allowed to participate in religious ceremony
Dissenters
S Anne Hutchinson: believed in antinomianism, that God’s
chosen people did not have to obey God’s or man’s laws
because they were already in God’s record as predestined to
enter Heaven
S She was banished from MA Bay Colony after claiming to
receive direct revelation from God
S Roger Williams: believed the colonists had no right to live
on Native American land, advocated a complete separation
of church and state, also banished from MA Bay Colony
(later founded Providence)
Salem Witch Trials
S 1692 a group of young girls in Salem, MA began acting
strangely after hearing tales of voodoo from their West
Indian servant
S Girls then began to accuse older, wealthy members of the
community of witchcraft, leading to mass hysteria in Salem
and other areas
S 20 people were executed and the prestige of traditional
Puritan clergy was damaged beyond repair