History Background!!!

Puritans first came to America to establish a colony in Massachusetts Bay. They came over to America as members of the England church even though their beliefs differed from those of the Kings. They wanted to come over as part of the church so that they could still receive help from their homeland if needed. Instead of following the beliefs of the England Church, they instead looked to a new leader. Their main leader that helped establish their new beliefs was John Calvin. Calvin’s idea was that everyone’s life was predestined. God had your life already planned out and there was nothing they could do to change their path. Everyone was also born with a sin that they could not get rid of. This sin that would stain their life was the sin of Adam. Although Calvin played a big role in their lives, so did the Bible. The Bible is what they built their lives around each day. By applying God to their everyday lives, they were able to maintain humanity. With all this Puritans also held five core beliefs. The first one was total depravity which was that Adam’s sin made all human kind prone to evil. The second was limited attachment. This meant Jesus’ sacrifice earned God’s forgiveness but only for a select few. The next one was irresistible grace which said that salvation could only be granted by God. A person could not earn it. The fourth belief was preservation of the saints. Only a select few will remain in state of Grace. The last was predestination. This meant that their life was already set to either go to heaven or hell.


Puritans everyday life was simple. They tried to make everything in their life as in complex as possible. Their writing, literature, food, agriculture, furniture, etc was as easy and simple as they could make it. Even the churches for example were very plain. Puritans did not put any stain glass windows, designs, art, and so on in them in them for fear people would loose focus on the real reason for being in church, which was to learn and listen to the sermons. Although they expressed simplistic life styles, they still held celebrations, feasts, games, etc to dedicate to special occasions.