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Extensive lecture notes 'From the Pilgrims to the Present'
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Lecture notes of the course 'From the Pilgrims to the Present', week 1 to week 13.
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Week 1: ‘A City Upon a Hill’ New England PuritanismRequired reading:
William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (chapter ii)
Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, settlers arrived in territory we nowadays call
‘New England’.
Today the problems of origins will be discussed.
American History cannot be understood if puritanism is not understood.
Origins in ‘The Protestant Reformation’ in Europe -> Marten Luther and John Calvin.
The Reformation situation in England will be the central theme. It begins with king Henry
VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. He could not divorce from his first wife, he was
refused by the pope. That led Henry VIII to go along with the reform groups in his country
that were clamoring for a redefinition of Christianity. ‘The pope had too much power
anyway.’ Henry decided to support these reformers. His support helped establish a new
situation in England -> the reformers took over and created a new church called the ‘Anglican
Church’. The head of the church was the king, instead of the pope. This led to trouble.
Many protestant reformers, who had supported Henry VIII, quickly discovered that the reform
remained limited. Hierarchical system remained in place. Many people wanted a more
decentralized church, that gave much more power to local churches.
All kinds of groups came up that would demand more radical changes. The problem with
these groups was that, in their criticism of the situation, they were not just attacking the
bishops but also undermining the position of the head of the Anglican Church. At some point,
these reformers became too radical that the authorities decided to persecute these people.
The persecution led to radical reformers seeking refuge abroad, from 1608. This is the group
that decided to move out of England and settle in the Dutch Republic. The collective name for
the group of radical reformers in the English Anglican Church is Puritans. These people
wanted to purify the Anglican Church and who had to decide at one point whether or not to
stay within the Anglican Church or leave it (and establish their own Church).
The group that moved to the Dutch Republic in 1608 went to Amsterdam and consisted of
radical Pilgrims. In 1609 they settled in Leiden. England was an ally of the Dutch Republic,
there were plenty of English merchants and other religious refugees were safe there (the
authorities were relatively tolerant at the time). These motives can be seen as explanation for
the reformers to move to the Dutch Republic.
The puritans no longer believed in reforms within the Anglican Church so they separated, for
which they are called separatists. They left Leiden in 1620 because the truce between the
Dutch Republic and Spain was ending and people were afraid Leiden would become territory
of the Spaniards again. Via Plymouth in England they traveled to North America. The
Plymouth Colony was established in the area nowadays called New England (state of
Massachusetts). One of the leaders of the separatists was William Bradford (article).
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