The puritans

THE PURITANS

The puritans were people characterized by great religious and moral earnestness, who wanted a poorer Church. They demanded: liturgical reforms, the revaluation of preaching based on the Bible, the abolition of the bishops' power.

The Puritans were followers of Calvin. They thought that a successful man was predestined for salvation and they evaluated people from appearance and behavior.

The Puritans were mainly from the emerging middle class. The division between middle class and aristocracy was to culminate in the Civil War which saw the triumph of the Puritans. They imposed a very rigid way of life: no pleasure, no amusement and the theatre were closed. The Bible was the source of all rules. Church and State became one and the same power. Puritan domination finished, but it left a mark never to be extinguished in British and American society.

When James I became king, to escape the persecution, Puritans left England. They decided to go to America. On September 16, 1620, the Pilgrims left the English port of Plymouth and headed the America. The Pilgrims' ship was the Mayflower. On November 9 it reached Cape Cod. But the Pilgrims did not have enough food and water and many were sick.

They decided to land at the best place they could find. They set up camp at a place they named Plymouth. The Pilgrims' chances of surviving were not high because of the frozen ground, the deep snow and the little food. But the Pilgrims were determined to succeed and the fifty survivors built better houses and they learned how to fish and hunt. Other English Puritans followed the Pilgrims to America. Ten years later a group of colonist settled in the Boston area. More and more Puritans left England to escape persecutions.