¶ … consequences of New England Puritanism. Puritanism in New England was an offshoot of the religion in England, but in the New World, the religion evolved until it was central to society and to a person's place in society. The causes of New England Puritanism had their roots in England, where the Puritans (and other religious sects) were persecuted. When Puritans came to America, they hoped to worship in their own way with religious freedom. The Puritans longed for purity in their lives and their relationship with God. They were pious, strict, and quite rigid in many of their beliefs, and when they came to America, they were able to build on these foundations and create their own religion that ruled New England and the New World for decades. Puritanism grew in direct opposition to the opulent and flamboyant Catholic and Church of England rituals, and indeed, the Puritans were...

These historians continue, "The major targets of criticism were religious ceremonies thought to be without scriptural warrant and a polity based on episcopacy, another corruption of pure religion thought to lack scriptural support. At first those who attempted to 'purify' the church further (hence the name) worked from within the church structure" (Lippy, Choquette, and Poole 256). Thus, the roots of Puritanism that made its way to America were the roots of dissent and change.
The character of New England Puritanism was strict and morality based. One writer believes that analogies in their religion were based on similar analogies from ancient Israel and the Hebrews. He writes, "In a sense, they were reliving what had transpired in ancient Hebrew history, for they were in the process of creating a new nation in a new wilderness" (Emerson 3). Just as the Hebrews had been cast out of Egypt, the Puritans were cast out of Europe because of their religious beliefs, and to rectify the situation, they created a new world where they could worship as they chose in peace. The…