america’s puritan roots. stereotype of the puritans is based upon 16 th century puritans
TRANSCRIPT
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
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”