Puritan views of society and social obligations

This chapter examines the complex influences that shaped puritan ideas about society and social obligations between Elizabeth’s reign and the Restoration. Puritans adhered to the commonly held view that social relationships were based on a combination of Christian and Humanist principles, but they regarded their own religious faith as paramount. This placed immense importance on the conscience of the individual and also molded the puritans’ conviction that they were part of an exclusive community within English and later within North American society. Puritans imposed their views on society more widely during both the “Great Migration” to North America from the 1620s and during the Puritan Revolution in England in the 1640s. The Restoration marked a turning point, as royal control was reasserted in both regions, and by the end of the seventeenth century, many of the theories underpinning puritan social views were being replaced by new values based on the growth of commerce and concepts of polite etiquette, rather than religious beliefs.