A Precious Privilege, A Fragile Experiment: The Massachusetts Bay Colony

Authors

Rebecca Johnson, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Puritan Experiment, Literacy in Puritan Society, Pursuit of Salvation, Covenant Community, Fragility of the Puritan Experiment

Abstract

Empowered by a royal charter, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony seized the opportunity to organize a pure society unencumbered by the corruption of Old England. Anticipating the blessings of God on their covenant pursuit, but perhaps naive about the extreme challenges awaiting them, they embarked on their experiment full of confidence that a solution to their oppressive situation in Old England lay beyond the ocean in New England. Discounting the native population, they viewed the land as vacant, a virgin environment where the solution to the Puritan dilemma of doing what is right in a world that does wrong could be modeled- like a city on a hill for all to see. John Winthrop and other original charter members maintained a church and civil society in the Massachusetts Bay Colony "according to their own vision of the commandments and expectations of God." Surviving documents from New England's early years reveal chat there were three elements foundational to Puritan society: literacy, the pursuit of salvation, and the covenant community structure. But as the Puritans emphasized "divine-human relationship[s] of great personal intimacy," they revealed the fragile nature of their experiment.

Recommended Citation

Johnson, Rebecca (2014) "A Precious Privilege, A Fragile Experiment: The Massachusetts Bay Colony," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 43: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol43/iss1/4