Pure Evil

Morality is infamously hard to define. It’s a word that has many different meanings to many different people. But there are things about the world at any period of time that would be considered immoral by everyone. Racism, sexism, any form of oppression, unnecessary death, or selfish actions made by those in power are all things any sensible person would consider objectively immoral. Modern American society has all of these problems and more, but we are much closer to healing them than the people that planted our Puritan roots, making us more and more moral as we grow further and further away from them.

There are many similarities between contemporary American society and our Puritan ancestors. For example, under stress or societal pressure, us and our Puritan ancestors will make similar leaps in logic or ignore what we know is right, causing us to make unforgivable mistakes. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, touches on this issue through comparing the Salem Witch Trials and Mccarthyism. This issue is best exemplified through this quote in the text where the main character, John Proctor lashes out at those condemning him as he is taken away: “A fire, a fire is burning! I heat the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud- god damns our kind especially and we will burn, we will burn together!” (Miller 120) While this may seem like the ramblings of a fearful person before being jailed and put to death, this is part of Miller’s allegory comparing the witch trials and Mccarthyism, and is also relevant today. Miller’s point in this quote is that in the case of a public craze like the witch trials and Mccarthyism, when people know they are wrong but harm others for the sake of self preservation, in the long run it is not the accused but the accusers who will suffer, for they are knowingly betraying their morals, like all those who falsely called their enemies communists but were looked down upon once the public got smart. That’s not the only thing the witch trials can be compared to through this allegory. Today, there are many instances of people lying for their own gain on all sides of any issue. The most prominent example of this is widespread political information being used by openly public figures, most notably the allegations of election fraud from both sides of the aisle in the two most recent elections. After the 2016 election, eleven democratic representatives levied eleven separate objections against the election results. These objections were shut down by then Senate President Joe Biden, either for not being based in fact or for being incorrectly certified (not signed by a senator). These objections had zero chance of having any effect on an election outcome, and were performative in nature. The only thing the representatives accomplished through these actions was boosting their public standing and spreading a bit of disinformation. On the other side, an issue that doesn’t really have to be explained to anyone who has access to the internet or a television, in the 2020 election, former President Trump, his cabinet, almost every republican in the senate and congress, and every right wing media pundit alleged massive voter fraud through the means of mail-in ballots and illicit poll watching practices. This was simply not true, and yet somehow a large group of people got together in the American capitol to riot, causing the death of five people. No one would disagree that all of these things are immoral. There is not much difference between us and our Puritan ancestors in this instance; we both allowed lies to lead to chaos and death. But that’s not where the comparison stops.

There is no end to the hate our Puritan ancestors possessed, and we still retain some of it. It is understood that Puritans were infinitely oppressive in their treatment of women. It was a societal requirement that women were married, or they were shunned. It was out of the question that any woman do anything to prevent or avoid pregnancy. They could not possess property or conduct any form of business. The husband owned all property after marriage, including any children. Women were expected to dress very strictly and modestly, in public and in their own home. Let’s compare this to today. Though many may look down on unmarried women, there are very few instances where those women should expect to be forced out of society as a result of her marital status. While many states fight abortion and find it reprehensable, many states make it possible for a woman to make that decision herself. Birth control has also advanced so far, and the general public is not against its usage. Women can also own their own property and conduct their own business. As for the dress code, what people wear is entirely up to them, though a lot of people will still judge. A study made in 2012 found that “American students judged promiscuous women more harshly than British students did” (Hutson). But still, nothing compares to the complete apathy and hatred for women that Puritans possessed, shown in this quote from The Scarlet Letter. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!’“ (Hawthorne 46).  While people may utter something so hate filled in the safety of their homes nowadays, one must  understand the further context. This is a regular person, surrounded by a group of regular people, essentially saying  that a woman deserves to die for the crime of adultery. Today, while cheating is considered a truly bad thing to do, no one would dare walk into a crowded group of people and openly state that a woman deserves to die for it. This also ties into another modern issue- the death penalty. Today, there are many debates surrounding the morality of that issue. People being very openly and unjustly put to death, the occasional failure in a lethal injection, adding a lot of pain to a supposedly quick death, and the general idea that death is bad are all very valid points against the death penalty. But today, the only way you can be put to death is if you are convicted of murder(s), or you do something worse no one really wants to discuss. This is nothing compared to our Puritan ancestors, who would put people to death for adultery or alleged magic powers. 

Finally, it is generally considered a fact that society today is formed in part by a lot of systemic racism. But it’s also considered a fact that this is because of the reason non white people were first brought to the colonies- slavery. And you’ll never guess who was an active component and supporter of the Atlantic slave trade- the Puritans of the New England colonies. Marginalized people today are still suffering from these transgressions, but we’ve come a long way from deeming an entire group of people property based on how they look. Speaking of slavery, we do still in large part have a system similar to that in our prison system. It is truly unjust that people are forced to work often some of the most labor intensive jobs in the world for years on end, no matter their crime, and then wonder why they haven’t magically been rehabilitated. But as dark and evil as this may be, creating unpaid manual labor as a punishment for a crime is still infinitely better than marking someone for this position in society from their birth. However, this is still not the worst offence of our Puritan ancestors. 

There is nothing more foolish than the idea that Puritans were positive in their impact on America during their time. Even by the low standards, the Puritans were brutal in their actions towards the land that wasn’t even theirs. Some people, like this New York Times writer, would assert that “The colonists hungered to recreate the ethics of love and mutual obligation spelled out in the New Testament”  (Hall).  If this is true, they had a weird way of going about spreading love. The Puritans played a large part in the Pequot and King Phillips war. This resulted in an estimated minimum of 7,000 deaths. But there are excuses you could make for all of these events, saying that they were protecting their land or were coerced into war by the larger British forces. But there is an event that is completely inexcusable: The Mystic Massacre. This was an attack on the Pequot people by Captain John Marshal of the Connecticut militia. The militia set fire to a Pequot village, and patrolled the exits, killing anyone who escaped, including women and children. This event had a death toll of up to 700 people. There is no world in which these actions could be described as an attempt to create “ethics of love”. That is an objectively hate filled and unnecessary attack against a defenseless people.

The points expressed in this paper are not only opinions, they are facts. The Puritans massacred people with far less reason than us and were infinitely more racist and sexist then us to the point that they created all the norms and biases we still  have today. While these may sound like small differences, it is the fact that our society has been able to and continues to move away from our Puritan ancestors that makes us more moral than them. That is why we are more moral.