Tag: puritans

1620: Mayflower Compact

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

Analyze the Mayflower Compact as a cornerstone of American democracy.

CONTEXT:

In the late 1500s, a number of religious groups arose in England trying to establish different practices from the Anglican Church, the official church of England. One of these groups was called the Puritans, because they wanted to make the Anglican Church more pure and simple. Another group was called the Separatists, because they wanted to separate from the Anglican Church altogether. The Pilgrims were separatists, and they were severely persecuted for their religious beliefs. They eventually moved to Holland where religious ideas were more tolerant.

But the Pilgrims remained Englishmen at heart, and eventually they were able to convince King James I of England to allow them to emigrate to the new colonies in America. In September 1620 they set sail for America with royal permission, called a patent, to settle in the colony of Virginia (which had been settled by Englishmen years before). The colony at that time was much larger than the state of Virginia today–in those days it reached present New York.

Rough seas led the Mayflower, the Pilgrim’s ship, to land in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, well north of where they were supposed to be. Since they were outside the control of the King’s patent, they needed to decide how they would be governed. They agreed to write a document for their own self-government, called The Mayflower Compact. This text is from that agreement. The Pilgrims later obtained a patent from the Council of New England in 1621 and settled Plymouth Colony.

TEXT:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.or [signatures follow]

INQUIRY:

  1. Why did the signers begin by stating that they were loyal subjects of the King?
  2. What is a “civil body politic”?
  3. Why did the signers organize the “civil body politic”? What was its purpose?
  4. Plymouth Colony was an ocean away from the English King in London. How might this have affected the power and position of the local Puritans, ordinary men not accustomed to rank and privilege?
  5. The Pilgrims obtained a patent for the colony of Plymouth in 1621, but the Mayflower Compact was read at government meetings for many years. How might this reflect how the settlers saw their colony?
  6. Only men signed the Mayflower Compact. What does this suggest about the role of women at the time?
  7. If you elect the captain of a sports team or a group, how does this reflect the principle of the Mayflower Compact?
  8. What basic principle of US government was established by the Mayflower Compact?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

https://www.mass.gov/news/the-mayflower-compact

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/novemberdecember/feature/who-were-the-pilgrims-who-celebrated-the-first-thanksgiving

1630: Winthrop on “The Hill”

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did John Winthrop prepare colonists to emigrate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

CONTEXT

John Winthrop (1588-1649) was born into a wealthy merchant family in England and studied to become a lawyer. A deeply religious Puritan, he believed that the English Reformation was in danger from governmental policies, and with other Puritans he emigrated to the New World to escape persecution. In 1630 he arrived as the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (the second English colony in the New World, as Plymouth Colony, settled in 1620, was the first). He served as governor of the Colony for most of the period 1630-1649 and upheld a rigid form of Puritan orthodoxy. He kept a journal most of his life, wrote many letters and documents, and is well-known for the lecture, “A Model of Christian Charity,” delivered before his group of emigrants left to face an unknown future in the New World. This text is taken from that lecture.

For 200 years the lecture was forgotten, but in 1839 the Massachusetts Historical Society published it. The work was again forgotten until the 1950s when Cold War historians reinterpreted it as a founding document of American exceptionalism (the idea that America holds a unique place in the world due to its values and systems). Most historians do not believe the original work indicated American exceptionalism, although the lecture has been used for that purpose several times in recent history. Presidents Kennedy, Reagan, and Obama used the “city on a hill” reference in speeches to indicate American exceptionalism and position in the world.

TEXT (original spellings have been modernized for clarity)

…Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We most entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of other’s necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience, and liberality. We must delight in each other, make other’s conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace…For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us...

INQUIRY

  1. Why would Winthrop tell the settlers to be “knit together…as one man”? What circumstances might the new settlers face that would require this type of working together?
  2. What would be the result of being “knit together”?
  3. In this speech Winthrop described a covenant between God and the Puritans. How did he describe the covenant?
  4. Winthrop described both group discipline and individual responsibilities. How did he believe these two concepts supported each other?
  5. The city on a hill image is from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5:14; “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” By using the words of Jesus, Winthrop is using what type(s) of appeal– logos, ethos, pathos, and/or appeal to authority? Justify your response.
  6. How did Winthrop’s use of the image of a city on a hill reflect the Puritan flight from religious persecution?
  7. The Massachusetts Bay Colony centered around what would become the city of Boston. Did the Puritans live up to the image of a city on a hill? Justify your response.
  8. Some modern scholars dispute Winthrop’s authorship of this lecture, even if Winthrop delivered it orally, as two other ministers were also on his voyage. Would this change the message of the text? Why or why not? What is the role of modern speechwriters who compose a speech but do not deliver it?
  9. As governor Winthrop imposed his beliefs that there was no separation between church and state. In later years, two members of the Colony, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, were forced to leave the Colony for their religious beliefs. Explain the irony.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

John Winthrop