Puritans in the Wilderness

Puritans in the Wilderness
Corruption in the Church of England led to the seventeenth century puritan’s departure for the New World. Puritans strove to live in keeping with the biblical principals that they thought would please their god. The Puritan belief system lent itself to the group’s success in the wilderness setting. Their structure and discipline provided them with organization and endurance to succeed in the untamed land. Seventeenth century puritans lived a heavily structured life. They came to the New World as a church group with an already implemented hierarchy, therefore leadership roles were already in place. Leadership being in place allowed for more efficient gathering of resources, organization of shelter, and planning for potential challenges. If these had not been in place, disaster could have ensued. Puritans also considered the Bible to be their rulebook. Likewise, this saved the Puritans time, because they didn’t need to set up new rules or a code of conduct. Living by the Bible required much discipline. The lessons the Puritans learned from the Bible taught them to live in anticipation. They foresaw the need to find clean drinking water, to make clothing for staying warm in the winter months, and to build quality shelter soon after arriving in the colonies. Puritan discipline also included striving to make God proud. Criminal behaviors, when taken to extreme, were met with harsh consequences. Drinking alcohol was acceptable, but becoming a drunkard was punishable by death. Profanity was not tolerated, and even a child could be put to death for cursing their parents. Puritans also considered hard work to be a religious duty, which caused work to be done well and quickly. Some rules became too rigid to support creativity, which was sometimes necessary in the art of survival. These rules at times resulted in the expulsion of skilled members of the community to adhere to the literal interpretation of the biblical law. As an example, Roger Williams was a clergyman, banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading new opinions considered by some to be dangerous, labeled by others as “Satan’s Policy.” The seventeenth century puritan’s faith in the word of God gave them endurance to persist in challenging times. People that succeed in today’s society are those that possess many of the same traits. For instance, every American president has believed in a higher power, this demonstrates the fact that faith in a higher power can help a person maintain persistence and discipline to achieve high goals. Not only the puritan’s tenacity, but also their structure, discipline, organization, and endurance would sculpt the America we know today.