The Decline of Puritanism...Reasons for

“A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things.”1 Facing religious persecution in England, the Puritans fled Europe. They constructed an intolerant government because to Puritans “Toleration meant permitting error.”2 Puritanism ultimately led to its own decline in New England because it refused to accept rival religious groups, critics and merchants. The Great Awakening, although welcomed at first, “ultimately … badly damaged what remained of the fabric of Puritanism.”3 Escaping persecution in …

…in that it promoted other religions, drawing Puritans away from their austere way of life. The Quakers, Anne Hutchinson, and Roger Williams were all banished from New England. Merchants were able to gain a stronghold in the economy of Puritanical New England, giving them a substantial amount of power. Although Puritanism is not as influential as it once was in one’s life, “The end of the influence of Puritanism has not yet been reached.”11