Theorian bane of historian that your special feel that you love so much, when you mention it to other people day, they have never heard of it. They dont know who those people were or that this happened. I do not have that problem, because everyone is heard of the puritans. Say the. Tents to anyone in america, they know who you are talking about. The problem is what they know about who you are talking about. If you type puritans into a Search Engine as i did or if you mention the puritans to people, this is what they imagine. Fiendish punishers. We all read the scarlet letter. People who like to put people and the stocks and humiliate them publicly. We think of their religion as extreme and a little bit more like a clut,ult, a harsh, unforgiving religion. And, of course, we cannot get away from the witch trials. Anne hutchinson and the witch trials. Those are the first things people think of. Our imagination runs away with us on that one. Often wondered why this is, why the puritans have such a negative reputation. I think there are two reasons. First of all, in the early 1800s after the war of 1812, which most americans felt like we had won, and we were feeling kind of stable and strong as a nation, there was a lot of looking back to the founding. And people like in particular to look back to the puritans. In the first half of the 19th century there was a lot of writing about the puritans which was not very well informed by actual. Records. Most of the things that the puritans were praised for were the things that came down to us as their negative characteristics. Its no coincidence that when irish immigration first picked up in this country, people started writing a lot about the wonderful protestant puritans, unlike those irish catholics, who were very religious and strict and quiet living, unlike those boisterous catholic irish. Who never danced or drank or sang, unlike these people there was a clear message even though it was very uninformed by facts, it stuck. This is when people started using the adjective puritanical to describe all the terrible things the puritans were. And this has definitely stuck around for us today. You may know this movie the witch came out early this year. This is the young star of the movie. Who said that what she learned from being in the movie is that the puritans were all about andession, the operocracy tamping down your most basic human instincts. They were all withdrawn and conflicted. You can tell im going to say it is not true. Whats interesting about it is just how wrong it is. In their own time, what the puritans were ridiculed for was their passion for life. They were passionate about every aspect of life. They believe that every part of life mattered, because it was given to you by god. Then it had to be made the most of, honored and recognized as this kind of a gift. And people in england thought they were really over emotional people. So, the fact that we have come out with a different view of them is almost, makes you think it could not possibly have itpened, but did. If you want to ask a question at any time, feel free. They are recording and they want to hear your questions. Your questions are the most exciting part of the show. I will also take questions at the end. So, what i want to do tonight is just talk about five myths we cherish about the p urgent that seemed to say or do say the puritans were against passion in life. And i will focus on at the end sex,eir view of love and because law than long he is the theme of the Partnership Charter day events this year. And i will give special focus to that one. That theyve myths are came to america to establish freedom of religion. They were constantly persecuting and burning women as witc hes. For vanished and hutchinson being a feminist, they establish a theocracy and they hated sex. Came to, the puritans america to establish freedom of religion, but then they denied it to everybody else. Here it is summarized by stacey a popular if not very well read commentator on the puritans nowadays, who claims that the men who settled 17th century massachusetts, from them came the first arc words about dark powers. No matter that they sailed to the shores and search of religious freedom. Once established, they pulled up the gangplank behind them. What really happened was that the puritans came here so they could worship freely. Now, one of the things we like uniquen america, in our history, is look back to see where our unique founding principles, where they first took root in this country. We like to think that they were kind of their from close to the beginning as he could. Wed like to think that freedom of religion, religious tolerance was something that goes way back with us. But that is an 18th century concept that took many decades and a century of enlightenment writing in scotland to kind of get into the public consciousness. It was not a 17th century idea to have religious tolerance or freedom of religion as we understand it. What the peerages came to to do was be able to practice their own religion freely what the puritans came here to do. Europeand, as in all countries, the monarch was the head of the church in the 1600s. After the protestant reformation, what ever religion the monarch held, whether he or she was catholic or some variety of protestant, that is what the nation had to be. That was the state religion. So anglicanism, the church of england was the state religion in england. For the puritans, they wanted to purify theher a fine Anglican Church this was very unpopular. They could not worship the way they wanted to in england. It became illegal. So they came here to establish their own state with its own state religion. The idea that they would come to america and let anyone worship they would never have had that idea, first, because it was not in idea and the vernacular at that time and next, because it was crucially important to them that they establish a godly commonwealth where the one right way to worship god was the state religion. So, if you had gone back to them and said why didnt you offer freedom of religion to anyone else . They wouldve said, i do not know what you were talking about and it is clear we are trying to set up our own state with our own state religion. Its only when you think that 18th century beliefs that are in our constitution and our declaration of independence existed in the 17th century that you can be disappointed to find that they arent. And the group that tried to come in to puritan massachusetts and were persecuted like quakers didnt want to coexist in this congregationalism which was the form of anglican worship that developed here. They wanted to display set. Everyone that came and wanted their own view, their own religion to be the state religion. Nobody was thinking about living together. And different forms of worship at this time. I should pause for just a moment to say when i talk about puritan new england, i am talking about a very brief period of time. The puritans first came here in 1629. They went to salem. The bulk of the theaters that came with the John Winthrop came in 1630. They came with a charter that allowed them to make their own laws. No other english colony have this. Kind of freedom. They not only made their own laws, they elected their own government officials. Everybody else in virginia had their own, had a governor sent by london. And their government was controlled by london. Puritans got away with not having that and they had a lot of freedom. That chartery lost and they were given a british governor appointed by the king and a lot of british people who were not congregationalists came over and really the experiment that we call puritan massachusetts ended very quickly after that point. So, if you think of the puritan period you are really talking about 55 years. From 1630 to 1685. That is extremely brief. If you came over when you were 10 years old with john went up and you lived to be 65, you would have lived to see the beginning and the end of it. So, when i say all these things about the puritans, this is how it was for the puritans, im talking about a very short time period. So, some of the things i say anything, that is not true. If they stretch beyond the period im talking about, then they are not really talking about the same thing. Search did not sail in of religious freedom. Nobody else thought they did. Its odd that we think they did. What with a passionate about . They were passionate about having the freedom to establish a True Religion. They were not passionate about religious tolerance because for them that idea did not really exist. Myth two. The witch myth. Would persecute women as witches because they thought witchcraft was real. Use is a quote from the get for College History website that said that their protestant life and their fear of the devil made them an easy target for witch hysteria. The puritans strict way of living views fears and fantasies were the bases of Puritan Society which cap hysteria witchcraft hysteria. There are all sorts of problems with this. Athink if you look back cannot find ayou society on earth but did not believe witchcraft was real. There are plenty of places that believe witchcraft is real right now. So, this was not unique to the puritans. Inthe you look at europe same time period, there you have a witchcraft hysteria. There you have got maybe 150 years of pretty vigorous witch hunting that were the result of the religious wars there. Yet, we focus on the puritans. All because of salem. If three ships had sunk in april 1915, we would not have remembered the titanic. There was one witchcraft hysteria in puritan new england and so we remember it. What is the truth . Yes, the puritans did believe witches were real. They believe that staatan could make people sign away their souls. They did believe all that. Did they frequently believe that someone they knew, someone who lived next door to them, was a witch . No, they did not frequently believe that witchcraft was really happening among them. If you read the wonderful book entertaining satan by john demos. It is a great read. He went through every case that ever made it to court in puri tan massachusetts and new england for witchcraft. And what he shows is that there werent many of them is the maintain. Say that i file a complaint about witchcraft. What usually happens with b is that there was somebody who was kind of a misfit, someone who made demands on other people. When you read peoples stories, long stories about how they came to be accusing someone of a wtich. Itch, they tell it all. My neighbor was coming over, saying give my husband that job. I want to see the baby. Let me attend your sick mother. I want this or that. Give me food. Making demands till finally i going to dom not that for you. And this was so contrary to the puritan believe in fellowship. That is what john went to have talks about in the city on the hill section of his sermon, give all you have to all those with you. We are in this together. Always give. If im finally driven to the point where i say no, it is upsetting and so many people will say the minute i said no to felti felt pain, i something was wrong which was the guilty conscious. But they often thought after a while, no, i think this person did this to me. Hes punishing me with witchcraft. If i think that is true, you think it would have gone right from that to being in court. No. I probably would suffer five or six of these incidents before i told someone else. My friends and we decide we will go to the church elder and he comes in he talks to the person in question. If hes not satisfied we bring the minister in. Maybe we have a Committee Formed to go talk to this person and see what is going on. There was a lengthy process of vetting these cases. Nine times out of 10, they broke down. Nine times out of 10, the person who had been causing trouble with say, im sorry. And the person who is making the say, i do not aould think this is witchcraft heard i was just angry. It was hard to get a case in court. Once you did, you had to have at least two witnesses to the witchcraft. The court often sent it right back to the community. They would say, this is a problem we cannot solve. What do you want us to do . This is a problem youre having. You have to work it out in your community. Not really thinking it is witchcraft. If you could really be convicted of witchcraft, then about 1 3 of thwe time, you might be executed. So, the numbers that i get from john demos is in that 55 year period of puritan new england, there were 65 people who were actually tried for witchcraft. Out of population between 20000 and 30,000. 65 people, 39 were acquitted. 13 were executed. 13 in 55 years. You may be thinking that is not right because 19 people were executed in salem. Salem falling outside of our ise period in 1692 illustrative only when you know all the story i gave you of how unusual it was to have even one person convicted and executed for witchcraft. In salem, you had 19 . It was a clear anomaly. And that is why we remember it. Unfortunately, we think that it characterized the puritans in general. Yes, 19 people were executed in the space of almost two years. This was nothing compared to the witchcraft mania that went on in europe and in england. And one year between 1645 and witchone man who was finder assigned by the government had 230 women executed in one year. In one town. Somehow, though, whenever you read about witchcraft you are always reading about the puritans. And that is because what wholeed in salem was that system i just described to you completely broke down. , iause when two girls said think we are being bewitched, they told their father who was the minister in salem. And for many reasons, every big event has many many causes. Salem minister in village, there had been a lot of bad blood between Salem Village and salem town. He decided not to do all those things of having. Conference with elders and meeting with the person repeatedly to get their side of the story straight to the court. He was the minister can he demanded that it goes straight into the courts. That whole process of vetting wet out the window. Once people realize the process was out the window and you did not have to have witnesses any do not have to sit and tell what was going on, then the accusations began to fly. And things that never happened in puritan new england happened, like children testifying in court and children being able to being people in court of witches of respective full members of the congregation being accused of witchcraft and put in jail the same day. Salem was so unusual that it really is the exception that proves the rule. Excited were not very at all about executing people for witchcraft. You could even be convicted of it and not executed. Reasons why things went so wrong in salem has fueled many many books. And you can take a look at a lot of them. There are about six strains of explanations that come together to explain why this thing would happen. Is what we close by saying yes, they were passionate about countering satan. Yes, they believed that witches were real, but they were not passionate about executing people. They really believed that only god shouldife and take it away and they tried to be sparing with that. Anne hutchinson. The one person most people know about. Anned for beingne a feminist, woman with partner here we are at the u. S. History site. Saying her leadership position as a woman made her seem all the more dangerous to the puritan order. Inthrop cautions that women could do irreparable damage to their brands by pondering deep theological matters a view not uncommon for the day. Some people would say this about us. People in the 2000s, you would not believe the stuff they believed. Where to start, because this is a big one . First ofthrough all, i have to hit the one about John Winthrop. He actually made the statement about a woman damaging her brain about and hopkins who was the wife of a connecticut colony governor in 1641, which is five anne, three years after hutchinson was vanished. Banished. E the whole point was to study theology. That is what the people were free to do. And 99 of the people there were there because that is what they wanted to do. Men and women. There were absolutely no strictures put on women about studying theology. Everybody had to be able to read so that you could read your bible. Women were taught to read and write. I cannot think of another place in the world where there was a law like it was in massachusetts. Studying theology was what you were there for. You would never caution that women should not do it. Women were allowed to have any kind of meetings they wanted to. The four main things you did is a puritan to discover gods will, read the bible, number one, go to sermons from a godly get together in groups and talk about what you learned in those sermons and what you learned in the bible. These are the meetings they are talking about and prayer, private prayer. These are the four things. Your goal is discover whether or not you have received gods grace, what we would call salvation. You know the puritans believe in predestination, that eons before the universe was created, god decided the fate of every person who would ever live, whether they were saved or not. No one knows why. This was a popular calvinist believe. What you are trying to do is not discoveration but to whether you had already received this salvation from god. So, hopefully while you are reading the bible and studying service and listening to sermons and talking to godly friends and praying, you will eventually get some kind of clear feeling that, yes, i am saved. This was the goal. Out likees and started this, she started out like any other puritan and boston. Her minister was john cotton who came to be the minister of first church. She went through all of this and she believes that she had received gods grace. Fine, thats good. But then she was reading at her bible at some point and she came across the verse in the new testament that jesus christ is come in the flesh. The more she came to believe that it meant that if you were a recipient of gods grace, jesus christ literally dwelt within you. Therefore, your actions were christs actions. You were christ incarnate. Therefore, youre not bound by earthly law. And youre not bound by anyones theology. This was clearly pretty offtrack from what securities believes and she started talking about this over to boston. Later when people are testifying, they said i heard her talking about this on the ship, and i knew it was wrong. This is what she starts to do at these meetings. She were not hold it she was not holding them to discuss the sermon. She mustve been externally charismatic person. And when she would stand in front of people and say, look, these four things we do, the sermons, you do not need them. If you are saved, god will tell you like you told me. Other telling me if people are safe. He talks directly to me because dwellinghrist within me. Although this mightve been shocking at first, this could seem like a great thing to pur itan people who are spending the bulk of their time working and studying and praying and worrying about whether they have been saved. Maybe, she suddenly seems confident, maybe