Aim: What role did the strict nature of Puritanism play in its decline?

SOME PEOPLE’S PURITAN VALUES DIFFERED FROM WINTHROP’S…AND THE COLONY WOULD SPREAD… (These people are the rebels…)

Religious Rebels… Thomas Hooker and his followers left Massachusetts to help found Connecticut > He wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut which made the colony more DEMOCRATIC > Allowed men who were not church members to vote

“Forced religion stinks in the nostrils of God!” What did Roger Williams “do wrong”? “Are you kidding me, Roger?! You’re a PURITAN!” Roger Williams John Winthrop

2. Roger Williams was a Puritan who did not agree with the leadership in Massachusetts He believed that: the English settlers had no right to take away Native American land unless they purchased it from them; there shoud be religious tolerance for all people; Government officials had NO RIGHT to punish settlers for their religious beliefs!

Roger Williams on the loose! The General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony issued an arrest for Roger Williams to send him back to England. Williams fled Massachusetts Bay Colony and headed south to Narragansett Bay where he negotiated with the Narragansett tribe for land to set up a new colony: Providence, Rhode Island.

Williams guaranteed separation of church and state and religious freedom Rhode Island became a haven for people of different religious backgrounds. Roger Williams

3. Anne Hutchinson publicly discussed religious ideas that angered Puritan church leaders Believed that people’s relationship with God did NOT need guidance from ministers The Puritans didn’t like that a woman was speaking out against their ideas and leading Bible sessions The church put her on trial and kicked her out of Boston

The Trial of Anne Hutchinson “You have stepped out of your place, you have rather been a husband than a wife, and a preacher than a hearer. You have been a naughty woman.” Wikipedia Commons

She and her family joined Roger Williams in Rhode Island.

4. William Penn creates Pennsylvania A Puritan named William Penn disagreed with the Massachusetts way of worship! Quakers: religious group that believed Bibles and ministers were not necessary. They would quake and tremble in church when they received revelations from God. He creates the colony called Pennsylvania Promises religious freedom to ANYONE! Created a representative self-government that supported THE PEOPLE

How did the Salem Witch Trials begin? Betty Parris became strangely ill. She dashed about, dove under furniture, contorted in pain, and complained of fever. The cause of her symptoms may have been some combination of stress, asthma, guilt, boredom, child abuse, epilepsy, and delusional psychosis. Talk of witchcraft increased when other playmates of Betty, including eleven-year-old Ann Putnam, seventeen-year-old Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott, began to exhibit similar unusual behavior. A doctor called to examine the girls, suggested that the girls' problems might have a supernatural origin. The widespread belief that witches targeted children made the doctor's diagnosis seem increasingly likely. -Douglas Linder

SALEM WITCH TRIALS The Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts from March to September 1693, was one of the most notorious episodes in early American history. Based on the accusations of two young girls, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams. Under British law and Puritan society those who were accused of consorting with the devil were considered felons, having committed a crime against their government. The punishment was hanging.

SALEM WITCH TRIALS Causes disapproval of Reverend Parris land disputes between families, Indian taught witchcraft to girls. Girls caught dancing, began to throw fits and accuse people of bewitching (To put under one's power by magic or cast a spell over) them to not get in trouble. 19 hung, 1 pressed, 55 confessed as witches and 150 awaited trial. Shows the strictness of Puritan society Shows how a rumor can cause hysteria even to illogical thinking. Later, many people involved admitted the trials & executions had been mistake.

The DECLINE of the Puritans First-generation Puritans began losing their religious energy as time went on. After the wave of dissention in the 1630s and 1640s (e.g. Hutchinson and Williams) conversions decreased dramatically. Children of non-converted members could not be baptized. Image is in the public domain