The Puritans

An American Dream or Disaster?

The Protestant Separatists

• Tired of the corrupt church of England

• Moved to Holland• Holland proves to be much too risqué– Bradford wrote of Holland’s

cosmopolitan lifestyle, “Our young are being drawn away by evill [sic] examples into extravagance and dangerous courses…”

The Puritans Seek a “Brave New World”• Receive permission from the

Virginia Company and the Church of England

• The “Strangers” (another secular religious group) joined the Protestant’s and two ships left port in England- the Mayflower and the Speedwell.

• The Speedwell quickly sped underwater and all inhabitants had to jump ship and join the Protestant’s on the Mayflower

• Not much room and high seas make for a trip into hell.

Luck or the Will of God?

• The Puritans make it to the “New World”

• Wrong location• What? No Plantation

already set up and ready to go?

• 102 make the journey- 53 survive the first winter

William Bradford Records His Thoughts

Hey- What is that native doing, welcoming these germ-infested white people?

Bill Bradford

Side Note

• Bradford’s wife, Dorothy made it all the way across the Atlantic, only to drown while the Mayflower was moored in the bay outside of Plymouth, Mass.

There she floats.

Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation

• A chronicle of the early Puritan settlement between 1620 and 1647.

• A mix of interpretation and factual observation

• Many comparisons between the events in the Bible and the Pilgrim’s experiences in coming to the New World.

• Importance of God’s role in Puritan life

Key Themes to Look For• influences of Satan • power of God• the reality of building a new community and the

pressures that may draw one away from God• practical religion

So What Should I Get Out of Reading This?

1. Being a Puritan was tough. 2. Religion was very important and

taken much more literally than is commonly practiced today.

3. An understanding of style and how style is often indicative of a time period- diction, syntax, word choice ect…

A Bit on Bradford’s Style

• No written rules on spelling• F was S• Abbreviations: wt-with, yt- that, ye-

the• Diction- high or formal• Passive voice• parallelism