Do Puritans Dream of Morality?

Morality defines humanity. What would humans be without their morals? Animals? Worse! Creatures need morals to live together in a system and evolve. Throughout human evolution, Puritanism has to be one of the most interesting understandings of human morality. It has been around 300 years since Puritanism reigned in America, and morals in modern society have improved significantly. Puritanism seemed to have a positive impact on the morals of people, but it is a whole other deal if people believed in other religions or were non religious. Puritans also let religion play a big part in social justice, which in many cases can be very corrupted. Modern society, on the other hand, does not let religion have too much of an effect on justice, resulting in a more open community where people have more freedom. Modern morality is also moving towards equality, which was left out during Puritan times. 

“Its legacy has passed down through time and will continue being a part of shaping American morale. No matter how great of an effect it has on modern morals, time has passed and people learn from history”

Religion is what Puritanism is built upon. There can not be a conversation about the Puritans without mentioning religion. Religion was like redemption for the people back then. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, main character Dimmesdale was a religious man who seeks redemption and forgiveness through religion. When Dimmesdale was standing on the platform  that his lover once stood on with their child, he was “defrauding the expectant audience of tomorrow’s prayer and sermon. No eye could see him, save that ever- wakeful one which had seen him in his closet, wiedlind the bloody scourge. Why then, had he come hither? Was it but the mockery of penitence? A mockery indeed, but in which his soul trifles with itself!” (Hawthorne 134). Hawthorne depicted a character who is in pain and can not forgive himself. Dimmesdale is filled with inner conflict, he can not find peace with himself so he chose religion to set himself free. The public loved him and worshiped him for this level of focus on his faith. The public liked to represent their religion, but if there were anyone who conflicts with their beliefs, it would be a very different outcome. In the famous play The Crucible, that is also set in the Puritan time period. The judge Danforth stated “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (Miller 94). This was said in the court of the Salem Witch Trial, one of the most controversial events that happened during Puritan times. People who were “with the court” are treated normally on the basics of that time, but he people that were “against it” were socially oppressed and would face time in jail, or even death. For example, Puritans were extremely against the Quakers. Puritan and Quakers both wanted to influence the northern colonies, but the Puritans negatively impacted the Quakers community massively while the Quakers did not really fight back. The Quakers believed in religious freedom, which is the future that Puritans will never see. 

Because of the religion’s effect on Puritans, the court at that time had a lot of religion involved. Even though religion does bring justice to some cases, for many more, religion is the factor that made innocent people go to jail or sentence to death. Having the court based on religion is extremely unfair in modern perspective. People would be decided guilty for what they did not do, and the only “proof” of their “sin” is religion related. Back to the Salem Witch Trial, instead of saying it is controversial, it is better to put it as: inmoral. Judge Danforth is a selfish judge that sentenced many women to death under the name of witchcraft. When questioned about his decision, he said:

“I tell you straight, Mister– I have seen marvel in this court. I have seen people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers. I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving me. Do you understand my meaning?” (Miller 91). 

He is talking about killing the women who were well respected in the society, the women that worked their entire life. This proves that no matter how good one’s reputation was, judges can implicate them by relying on religious beliefs. All those innocent women and men, fighting for their justice, but it did nothing because how religion affected people’s morals.  When Danforth was confronted with the fact that everyone he had hung might be innocent, his reaction was ridiculous. Danforth stated: “While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this– I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes. Now draw yourselves up like men and help me, as you are bound by Heaven to do” (Miller 129). 

Danforth is saying that he had already hung many people, if the other “witches” do not get hanged, the townspeople would question his judgment. Therefore, every suspect shall be sentenced to death under his judgment no matter what. This sounds like mad words, words that show no morality. How can Danforth get away with this? How can nobody stop him from killing innocent people? The answer is simple, it is because he “speaks God’s law.” This system of law run by religion is simply corrupted. The fact that Danforth goes back and judges the behavior of Reverend Hale is just the abuse of power given by “God”. Laws should be built on an equal platform for everyone on earth. There should be no laws favoring one specific religion, nor should religious beliefs be involved in laws. 

The laws of the Puritan times are based on the Bible, but it does not stop there. Justice in Puritan times had a very limited source of laws to reflect on, resulting in a closed community where people had very little freedom on some aspect of life. On the other hand, modern society has laws based on a mass variety of historic and modern events, rules, while constantly being fixed and changed. That makes an open community that is under more inclusive laws and provides more freedom to the people. When stating that there are very limited Puritan laws, the Puritan court only followed the Puritan Ten Commandments.The first five of the ten commandments are all about making people follow God and Christainity. This law that allows no religious freedom makes people extremely conscious of what they say about religion. If a person is a good Christian that goes to church every week they are “with the court”, anything said against the bible is “against it”. In the modern society where the laws allow complete religious freedom, people start expanding their beliefs, knowledge, and culture. It is this kind of diversity that makes the society develop and improve. The number six and seven commandments are rules regarding witchcraft. “Thou shalt not dress in bright colors or dance in a wicked manner.

Thou shalt not perform witchery nor conjure the devil”. This is the prime example of the “con” of involving religion in laws. These aspects of religion should not be in laws whatsoever. These laws did nothing but give people the ability to frame others, and unnecessarily limited the freedom of people. The number eight of the ten commandments says that “Thou shalt not have any opinions or beliefs not held by the entire community”. This law is the opposite of freedom of speech. It kills people’s thoughts because they can not be expressed. If people do express anything against the Puritan ideals, they will end up like John Proctor in The Crucible. When everyone is limited to driving on a single road, then the town would only be one street, not a city with spider web-like roads expanding left and right. 

It is clear that the Puritan laws contain many religious factors, but what is not written on the law is the inequality between the races and genders. The Puritans came from 1600s Britain. Under the influence of old ideologies about women and African Americans, the equality that the modern society is moving towards was simply non- existent. Puritans had many advanced ideals on the political part of the society, but “Not all of the legacy of Puritanism suggests moral uprightness. Studies since the ’70s have also found that Americens who score high on a Protestant Ethic Scale or similar metric show marked prejudice against racial minorities and the poor; hostility toward social welfare efforts; and, among obese women, self- denigration” (Hutson). Racism is one of the most important modern morality issues that is often talked about. It is so important to everyone in the modern world that the Black Lives Matter movement resulted in the biggest protest ever in American history. Racial equality is the moral that is written deep in most people’s minds, but nobody can say the same about the Puritans. With this type of inclusivity and diversity, modern society has a much higher moral standpoint than the Puritans. 

Puritanism is one of the most important moral movements in the history of America. Its legacy has passed down through time and will continue being a part of shaping American morale. No matter how great of an effect it has on modern morals, time has passed and people learn from history. The morality people have today is much more mature and human. Religion is the main reason why morality today is better than Puritan times. The exclusion of people of other religions and the religion involved in laws can heavily affect the morals of Puritans.  Modern society has dealt very well with religion, not involving religion in law, has religious freedom and also, has a better vision of equality of all races and genders. Humans will become soulless ghosts wandering around on earth if they do not have any morals. Have Morals!