The Puritans

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The Puritans

• Then Now

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Contents

• Puritan Background
• Puritans in America
• The Great Awakening
• Today Puritan Influences
• McCarthy Witch Hunts
• The Crucible
• Salem and the witch hunts
• Today Witch Hunts

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Back in England

• Parliament quarles with Charles I (king) over
  taxes
• Charles dissolves Parliament
• Puritan Oliver Cromwell leads and wins the
  revolution (1648)

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Puritans in charge

• Charles is executed
• Cromwell and the Puritans outlaw most everything
  for religious reasons
• Cromwell dies and the revolution dies, too
• His head, however travels to parties until 1962

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Puritans in America

• They arrived on the Mayflower (1620).
• They spread across New England as Pilgrims,
  Presbyterians, etc.
• Their goal was to create a city on the hill to
  serve as an example to all the world.

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The Great Awakening I

• The Puritans did not like the behaviors of the
  younger generation in the new world.
• Exposure to Indian ways, riding in wagons,
  births out of wedlock, playing cards, drinking,
  and impure thoughts were the new taboos.

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Today

• Read the following articles. How are we still
  influenced by Puritan thought?
• Smoking bans
• Hooters protests

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The Great Awakening II

• Johnathan Edwards was one leader of this
  movement.
• Its goal was to awaken the sinners to the evils
  and perils of sin.
• Sinners in the hands of an angry God is the
  hallmark of this periods literature.
• Hear this sermon...
• What is the tone of this sermon? Give examples to
  illustrate this tone.

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Shame on Salem

• Much of the trials centered around paranoia and
  suspicion.
• Visit the Salem Witch Museum
• How would you have done in Salem? Try this
  adventure to find out.
• What is your reaction to the scope of the trials?
  Did they seem fair?

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Fittingly, it was a cold and windy day.
Nothing says fun like two English teachers in
Salem, Mass. Here is my lovely bride in the
witch trial victims graveyard.
Of grave interest On the left is the grave of
one of the judges, John Hathorne. He is an
ancestor of author Nathaniel Hawthorn, who had
changed the spelling of his name to hide his
familys past. The grave I am laying on (I know)
is that of our hero, John Proctor.
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McCarthy 1950s

• Beginning in the late 1930s, people became
  afraid of Communist influences in our government
  and society.
• Sen. Joseph McCarthy became the man responsible
  for the large-scale trials and public hearings.
• Read about the HUAC and describe its purpose.
• Was it in violation of the U.S. Constitution?

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The Crucible

• Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in response to
  the Communist trials that also counted him as a
  victim.
• The play is set during the Salem Witch Trials,
  centered around the main character of John
  Proctor and the hysteria of the trials.

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Today

• Are there still modern-day witch hunts? Read the
  following articles to form your own opinion
• Media Influence
• Terrorism Profiling