Do Now Why did the Puritans found the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

Life in New England

A Religious Life The Puritans lived their lives based on their religious beliefs. Thought about the Bible’s laws, How God and community might judge them. On Sundays, everyone in town had to attend church. A person could not fall asleep during service, speak out against the church, or miss church. The Puritans lived by strict rules and wasted little time playing games.

Stop and Think How did the religious beliefs of the Puritans affect their daily lives?

Everyday Life in New England At the center of each small town was the common. Common: a grassy area shared by the town's people, and used for grazing sheep, cattle, and other livestock. To meet their economic needs, people used a barter system. The meetinghouse, or town church, was a town’s most important building. Once a year the townspeople would gather there for a town meeting. Town meeting: an assembly of people in a New England town that made laws and elected leaders. Anyone could attend but only white men who owned property could vote. Each year colonists in Massachusetts voted for who would represent them at the General Court, the colony’s legislature.

Everyday life in New England Continued… The main room of a Puritan home had a large fireplace, where a fire was always burning. Women and girls spent hours preparing food, spun thread to make clothing. Men and boys spent their days working in the fields, hunting, cut firewood, made tools, raised cattle, raised sheep, and guarded the town.

Stop and Think How did New England colonists participate in their government?

Childhood in New England Most families had more than five children. Schools were important to the Puritans because they believed everyone should be able to read the Bible. In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law saying that towns with at least 50 families must have a school. A typical New England school had one room and one teacher. The main subject taught in New England schools was reading. Children did not go to school for long, they were needed to work at home. In 1636, the Puritans founded Harvard College, to train ministers.

Stop and Think Why was education important to the Puritans?