Puritans

PURITANS

The word 'Puritan' appeared for the first time in 1564, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, though the roots can be traced back to October 1517 when Luther nailed his theologicalchallenge to the castle door in Wittenberg,Germany.
The movement had been steadily growing since the time of Henry VIII and had strengthened under the persecution of the Catholic Queen, Mary, whenProtestant exiles flooded Europe hoping to escape persecution.
The general opinion today seems to be that the Puritans were legalists, and name-callers, very serious (ascetic even), opposing most thingsthat gave pleasure to the majority of those living around them.
Music and art also had their place though dancing was frivolity.
Family
Puritans usually migrated to New England as a family unit, apattern different from other colonies where young, single men often came on their own. Puritan men of the generation of the Great Migration (1630–1640) believed that a good Puritan wife did not lingerin Britain.. Although without property in New England, a wife had some real authority in the family, although hers derived from different sources from her husband's. Because the laws of Godexplicitly informed the earliest laws of the Massachusetts civil code, a husband could not legally command his wife anything contrary to God's word.
Puritan marriage choices were influenced by young people’sinclination, by parents, and by the social rank of the persons involved. Upon finding a suitable match, husband and wife in America followed the steps needed to legitimize their marriage, including:1) a contract, comparable to today’s practice of engagement; 2) the announcement of this contract; 3) execution of the contract at a church; 4) a celebration of the event at the home of the groom and5) sexual intercourse. Problems with consummation could terminate marriage: if a groom proved impotent, the contract between him and his bride dissolved, an act enforced by the courts.
Education
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