Description
Discussion 1 Historians refer to the encounters and cultural mixing of Europeans and the indigenous people of the Americas as the “Columbian Exchange” (textbook section: “When Worlds Collide”). Discuss the nature, impact, benefits, and drawbacks of this phenomenon.
reading https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/aztecs1.asp
Hernan Cortes’s: From Second Letter to Charles V, 1520 – https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1520cortes.asp
Discussion 2 Compare and contrast early English efforts at colonization of the New World with that of the Spanish. Consider these questions and provide additional insights of your own: What factors influenced these colonization efforts? Which country was initially more successful? Why?
Evidence: You should use your textbook readings (ch. 1 & 2). Make sure you cite sources and use quotation marks for word-for-word quotations.
You will need to write an original essay to answer the questions and then post at least two quality contributions to the discussion in response to other students’ comments. Try to post your original essay as early in the week as possible to give the class time to have the discussion.
Remember to post at least two more responses to other students’ posts.
Read chapter 2 in your textbook
Read a brief overview of the Colonization of the New World
Also look at Extreme Droughts Played Major Role in Tragedies at Jamestown, “Lost Colony” http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/04/980428075409.htm
Case study: Problem:
In the spring of 1638, Anne Hutchinson and her children left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, forced onto an island in Narragansett Bay near what is now Rhode Island. The year before, Hutchinson had been a highly respected church member in a Puritan church in Boston. But then she was put on trial and sentenced to banishment from the Massachusetts Bay colony and excommunicated from her church. What had Hutchinson done? Why was she such a threat to the Massachusetts Bay Colony?
Method/Documents:
Background information about Hutchinson and John Winthrop (Readings section)
Trial transcript
Evidence:
Read Hutchinson’s transcript from her trial (Readings section)
Background:
Puritanism and Anne Hutchinson
Puritanism: a sect formed because they wished to purify English Protestantism by removing all traces of Catholic forms and ceremonies. Puritanism emphasized the Bible instead of tradition or reason as the chief source of authority, and their moral code was strict.
Interested in the application of theology to every day life, especially to societies as groups. Doctrines of the Fall of Man, of Sin, of Salvation, Predestination, Election, Conversion.
Not interested in establishing some theoretical Truth of Theology, but rather applying the principles of truth as they already knew them within a perfect setting.
Massachusetts Bay Colony then to be a noble experiment in applied theology (the city upon a hill.)
Puritanism is then at its most fundamental an expression of Calvinist impulses:
(set forth in 1536 by John Calvin, Frenchman, in The Institutes of the Christian Religion)
equality of all men in a fallen state. All men were damned by the original sin of Adam.
salvation by God’s grace alone. The sacrifice of Christ made possible their redemption by faith.
predestination (election) The experience of faith was open only to those who had been elected by God and thus predestined to salvation from the beginning of time.
This was a hard doctrine to accept but the infinite wisdom of God was beyond human understanding.
Required a strong moral code.
The outward sign of true faith was correct behavior. Works a sign of virtue, mark of salvation evident. If it didn’t prove that you were of the elect, an immoral life clearly proved the opposite.
God called all men to fruitful labor. Wealth proof of election.
Five central characteristics of American Puritans
idea that the Bay Colony was a city upon a hill. Implied that their experiment in the New World was a kind of holy mission. Its success would be a stimulous for religious reformation the world over. Its failure, a disaster.
belief in a covenant of grace. Didn’t believe in the idea that human salvation could be earned by individual effort or good works, covenant of works. Notion that a person could earn salvation. Salvation came freely from God as a gift and those few who received it were the true saints, and were full members of the church. Paradoxical, though. Those who were not yet saved must lead a good life in preparation of God’s grace while those who were already saints would naturally live according to God’s laws.
belief that the community, as well as the individual entered into a contract or covenant with God. Entire community must follow God’s laws as interpreted by Puritan leaders. If they did, God would reward them. If not, the community would be punished. Community solidarity essential Individual desires and thoughts had to be subjugated to those of the community.
Although they sought religious freedom for themselves, not prepared to grant it to others. Dissent and discord would lead to the breakdown of community cohesion leading to a breaking of the covenant. Anyone who migrated to their colony were required to attend the Puritan church, although they could not become members and therefore couldn’t vote in civil or church elections. Thus a hierarchy of control was formed.
importance of having a conversion experience, a moment in which you knew you had been saved. Only with a conversion could you be admitted fully in to the church. To become a saint, you had to be examined by a church committee and demonstrate that you had experienced the presence of God and the Holy Spirit. No actual agreement as to what actually constituted this experience.
Anne Hutchinson
Her beliefs:
one can feel one’s salvation and be filled with the spirit of God after conversion
one needn’t be learned in the Bible or in the Puritan writers in order to be saved
the ministers were all under the covenant of works, except John Cotton
inner light is the guarantee of salvation (inner light idea that every person could have direct access to God)
all responsibility for salvation is placed on Christ
every person has the ear of God if only he or she would ask for it and listen
Indian slavery is wrong, and people of all skin colors are of one blood
Sunday shouldn’t be set aside as the Lord’s Day. Everyday is the Lord’s Day
Christians will have new bodies when they get to heaven
predestination is unfounded
prayers should not be memorized, but inspired by love for God, waiting on Him
Holy spirit dwells within each Christian life a personal union
the law should be interpreted by each person as their own conscience dictates
child baptism is wrong because the child doesn’t know what is being done to him or her
Charged that many ministers were preaching the covenant of workAnne Hutchinson stirred up the Antinomian controversy. This movement consists of those perceived as extremists who espoused a different version of the covenant of grace. Believed that having been assured of salvation, an individual was freed from the man-made laws of church and state. Taking commands only from God, who communicated his wishes directly to them.The following are some additional thoughts:Hutchinson took Cotton’s doctrines concerning the Holy Ghost far beyond his teachings, and she “saw herself as a mystic participant in the transcendent power of the Almighty.” Her theology of direct personal revelation opposed the belief that the Bible was the final authority concerning divine revelation, which was basic to the Reformed doctrines held by the majority of English settlers at that time. She also adopted Cotton’s minority view that works, behavior, and personal growth are not valid demonstrations of a person’s salvation. She went beyond this, however, and espoused some views that were more radical, devaluing the material world and suggesting that a person can become one with the Holy Spirit. She also embraced the heterodox teaching of mortalism, the belief that the soul dies when the body dies, and she saw herself as a prophetess. She had prophesied that God was going to destroy England, and she prophesied during her trial that God would destroy Boston. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomian_Controversy)Antinomian threatened to overthrow the authority of the ministers and the power of the colonial government.Hutchinson not the first and not the last to be banished. One of the other famous banishees was Roger Williams. Known as the father of Rhode Island. He was a reform minded preacher who got on Winthrop’s bad side by preaching against maltreatment of Native Americans and state-religion. He believed the individual should choose. Exiled in 1636 (just a year before Hutchinson). He lived with the Narrangansetts Indians before agreeing to relocate to Providence. Opened new colony to all outcasts, accepted Quakers, Jews, and Catholics.Solution:Had Hutchinson broken any laws? Were the political and religious authorities of Massachusetts Bay determined to get rid of Hutchinson, even if she had not broken any laws? Why?Was Hutchinson a threat to the colony? Why? Remember to post your case study solutions on the discussion board. Use the textbook, the above background material, and the linked “Readings” above to formulate your response. (Remember, a Case Study is to be at least 300 words in length.)
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Plymouth and the settling of New
England
Pilgrims
• Extreme and uncompromising sect of
Puritans
• Also called Separatists
Formed a congregation in 1602 in
Scrooby, England
Massachusetts Bay Colony
1629
Mass immigration of Puritans
Reformist Puritans
John Winthrop
Reformist Puritans
• “We must consider that we shall be as a city
upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon
us.”
• John Winthrop
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