Comparing Puritan And The Pilgrim Settlers Of North America
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Arguably one of the most knotted pieces of English history are the colonial advancements into North America around the 17th century. Dialogue and education on the founding of the United States of America is plagued by sweeping misconceptions; particularly, in regards to the first settlers. A classic mistake is the homogenization of the terms “Puritan” and “Pilgrim” to be used interchangeably. In this paper, four particular distinctions are made between the Puritan and the Pilgrim settlers of North America to provide a more precise understanding on English colonial history, as follows: the scholarly definitions of each, the religious contrasts, the different settling locations in North America, and the general behaviors of each. Three distinct vocabulary definitions must be articulated to fully understand the scope of this paper. Firstly, a 16th –…show more content… More specifically, Puritans strove to transform Anglicanism by rejecting Catholic residuum in the church while forwarding the Calvinist model (Philbrick, 2006). Unsurprisingly this endeavor was as complicated as it sounds; eventually, Puritans that concluded purification was unrealistic found themselves abandoning the Anglican church altogether. This group became known as the Separatists, and, due to persecution by England, were expulsed to North America as Pilgrims (Philbrick, 2006). As the New York Times explains, Pilgrims are defined by this small band of rejected English Separatists (sometimes considered a