Transcript Pilgrims and Puritans

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Who were the early Americans and what
motivated them to come to the New World?
What defined the American Dream for early
Americans?
What aspects of their time and culture influence
America today?
Literature focuses primarily on the nonfiction prose—
including sermons and diaries—and some poetry in
the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Students examine the works of some of the earliest
settlers in various parts of the “new world.” Students
will consider the significance of the intersection of
Native American, European, and African cultures.
They explore whether conflicts were inevitable and
how language and religion served as barriers and as
bridges. Students look for emerging themes in
American literature, such as the “new Eden” and the
“American dream.” Finally, art works from the period
are examined for their treatment of similar themes.
Also examine how the above influences us today.
Bradford was born in 1590 in a small farming town in England.
Orphaned by parents and grandparents, he was raised by his uncle.
At age 18, he joined a group of Separatists and fled to Amsterdam. He
then moved to Holland but did return to Amsterdam to marry Dorothy.
They had a son, John, born approximately in 1615.
By 1620, when a segment of the church had decided to set off for
America on the Mayflower, Bradford (now 30 years old) sold off his
house in Leiden, and he and his wife Dorothy joined; however, they left
young son John behind, presumably so he would not have to endure the
hardships of colony-building. While the Mayflower was anchored off
Provincetown Harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, and while many of the
Pilgrim men were out exploring and looking for a place to settle,
Dorothy Bradford accidentally fell overboard, and drowned.
Bradford was elected governor in 1621, and was re-elected nearly every year
thereafter.
In 1623, he married to the widowed Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, and had a
marriage feast very reminiscent of the "First" Thanksgiving, with Massasoit and a large
number of Indians joining, and bringing turkeys and deer.
Bradford was the head of the government of Plymouth, oversaw the courts, the
colony's finances, corresponded with investors and neighbors, formulated policy with
regards to foreigners, Indians, and law, and so had a very active role in the running of
the entire Colony.
With his second wife, he had three more children, all of which survived to adulthood
and married.
Beginning in 1630, he started writing a history of the Plymouth Colony, which is now
published under the title Of Plymouth Plantation. A number of his letters, poems,
conferences, and other writings have survived.
William Bradford was generally sick all winter of 1656-1657; on May 8, Bradford
predicted to his friends and family that he would die, and he did the next day, 9 May
1657, at the age of 68.
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Bradford’s Puritans were a bit different than
the later Puritans. Bradford and the other
colonists were considered Separatists: they
believed that the reforms of the Anglican
church had not gone far enough, that, although
the break with Catholicism in 1535 had moved
some way toward the Puritan belief in and idea
of religious authority grounded solely in
Scripture and were a bit different than those we
will discuss later.
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The concept of community pervades the entire text of
Bradford. The colonists had to work together to
survive.
The relationship between sacred and secular history,
poses another thematic tension in the text. Bradford's
insistence upon the "special providences" of God (those
reserved for the elect in times of crisis) exists to justify
all events that take place.
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Puritan men of the generation of the Great Migration (1630–1640)
believed that a good Puritan wife did not linger in Britain
the Puritan model of education in New England was unique. John
Winthrop in 1630 had claimed that the society they would form in New
England would be "as a city upon a hill"; and the colony leaders would
educate all. In 1636 they founded the school that shortly became
Harvard College.
Alexis de Tocqueville suggested in Democracy in America that Puritanism
provided a firm foundation for American democracy. "Tocqueville was aware
of the harshness and bigotry of the early colonists"; but on the other hand he
saw them as "archaic survivals, not only in their piety and discipline but in
their democratic practices.” Puritans are often credited as the first American
individualists, and at the same time the Puritan predilection to control others
and how they live has been identified with an American social cultural
tendency to believe they hold moral high ground. In Hellfire Nation, James
Morone suggests that some opposing tendencies within Puritanism its desire
to create a just society and its moral fervor in bringing about that just society,
which sometimes created paranoia and intolerance for other views—are at the
root of America's current political landscape.
Puritans considered their society a model society “candle to light the world.”
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Predestination:
The Pilgrims believed that before the foundation of
the world, God predestined to make the world,
man, and all things. He also predestined, at that
time, who would be saved, and who would be
damned. Only those God elected would receive
God's grace, and would have faith. There was
nothing an individual could do during their life
that would cause them to be saved (or damned),
since God had already decided who was going to
be saved before the creation of the world.
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To the Pilgrims, there were only two sacraments: baptism and the Lord's
Supper. The other sacraments (Confession, Penance, Confirmation, Ordination,
Marriage, Confession, Last Rites) of the Church of England and Roman Catholic
church were inventions of man, had no scriptural basis, and were therefore
superstitions, to the point of being heretical.
Icons and religious symbols such as crosses, statues, stain-glass windows, fancy
architecture, and other worldly manifestations of religion were rejected as a form
of idolatry.
It was the rejection of the authority of the church hierarchy, and of the sacraments,
that was the primary cause of conflict between the Pilgrims and the Church of
England.
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The Pilgrims faithfully observed the Sabbath, and did not work on Sunday. Even
when the Pilgrims were exploring Cape Cod, to the Mayflower crew's dismay, they
stopped everything and stayed in camp on Sunday to keep the Sabbaths.
The Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas and Easter. These holidays were
invented by man to memorialize Jesus, and are not prescribed by the Bible or
celebrated by the early Christian churches, and therefore cannot be considered
Holy days.
They also did not have forms of entertainment such as plays or works of fiction.
Those would have been considered vain and not permitted. Social events included
barn raising and other community events.
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Conversion Event:
Since Puritans believed in Predestination, they
analyzed their lives to find a sign of God’s
Grace.
Traumatic Events or overcoming hardships
were often used to prove a conversion event
had taken place.
A conversion event was needed to validate
church membership and status in the village.
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While both sexes carried the stain of original sin, for a girl,
original sin suggested more. Eve’s corruption, in Puritan
eyes, extended to all women.
An example is the different ways that men and women were
made to express their conversion experiences. For full
membership, the Puritan church insisted not only that its
congregants lead godly lives and exhibit a clear
understanding of the main tenets of their Christian faith, but
they also must demonstrate that they had experienced true
evidence of the workings of God’s grace in their souls.
Only those who gave a convincing account of such a
conversion could be admitted to full church membership.
Women were not permitted to speak in church after 1636
(although they were allowed to engage in religious
discussions outside of it, in various women-only meetings),
thus could not narrate their conversions.
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Map of Cape Cod area where the Pilgrims ended there grueling journey
across the ocean.
Early Homes were limited by lack of tools and
labor.
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Puritan “Plain” Style: This type of writing does
not include any narrative style, figurative
language or other literary elements.
It does not seem “plain” to modern readers
because of the complicated vocabulary and
inverted word order.
Idealism: Pursuit of noble principles or goals
Pragmatism: character or conduct that is
practical.
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Allusion: a reference to something generally
known. Alluded items may include biblical,
literary, historical, popular culture, current
events
Bias: a prejudice
Summary: briefly restate the main points
Paraphrase: reword the text in your own words
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Primary Source: A first-hand account.
Secondary Source: A second-hand account
Ex: Bradford was a pilgrim and wrote about the
events, making Plymouth Plantation a primary
source.
Ex: I was not a Plymouth Rock therefore, my
notes are researched and considered a
secondary source.
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Archaic language: language no longer used; obsolete.
Point-of-view: such as first person, third-person, thirdperson limited, and third-person omniscient.
Conceit: arrogance
Aspect: A part of
Cite: textual evidence to support an idea or inference.
Contemporary: existing during same time or modern
time
Interpret: provide meaning; explain; explicate
Perspective: point of view
Why would Bradford choose to write this historical
account in third person?