America’s Puritan Roots

Stereotype of the Puritans is based upon 16th Century Puritans

Our Puritan Roots

Values

• Hard Work• Thriftiness• God• Family Life• Community Service• Art • Literature• Material Wealth is a

reward of a virtuous life

Negative Characteristics

• Intolerant of different viewpoints

• Arrogant about religious faith

“A Puritan is one who suspects that ‘someone somewhere is having a good time.’” H.L. Menckan

Accomplishments

• 1st printing press in the colonies

• Free, public grammar schools

• College—Harvard

Puritan Beliefs = Religious Beliefs

Human beings are inherently evil and so must struggle to overcome their sinful nature.

• Belief in Original Sin• Guilt and remorse = Good

Things because they were a sign of God’s Grace

• Constantly examining themselves

New England Primer

Puritan Beliefs = Religious Beliefs

Personal salvation depends solely on the grace of God, not on individual effort.

• Predestination—People “elected” by God go to Heaven

• Only knew if saved if directly experienced God’s grace in a religious conversion

The Bible is the supreme authority on Earth:•Moral•Spiritual•Church•Society

Resulted in:

• Democratic churches• Repressive political

systems• Intolerant of others• Justified force and

oppression of Native Americans

Puritan Beliefs = Religious Beliefs

Puritan Plain Style

• Puritan writing generally followed as style now call Puritan Plain Style:

– Simple, direct statements

– References to everyday objects• Anne Bradstreet wrote about her home, children,

and husband

Inverted Syntax

Inverted Syntax: words of a sentence in reverse order.

I ate burgers for lunch.

Ex: Burgers for lunch I ate.

Invert this sentence:

I walked by her house.

By her house I walked.

Archaic Language

Archaic Language: words and phrases no longer in common use.

Examples

Thee

Thou

Thy

Shalt

Didst

Abide

= You

= You

= Your

= Shall

= Did

= Live

Apostrophe

Apostrophe: ‘ - use to show missing letter(s) in words.

Cannot = Can’t

E’er = “ever”

‘gin = “begin”

Focus for Anne Bradstreet’s Poetry:

• In Anne Bradstreet’s poetry, what Puritan values does she convey? How?