The Puritan movement which arose within the Church of England in the latter part of the 16th century, sought to follow the ideas of the Protestant reformers. The Puritans reached North America with the English settlers who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It remained the dominant religious force in New England throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Separatists in the 16th century, and the Nonconformists are also called Puritans. These are the founders of our country for whom immigration to America constituted withdrawal from the mother church.
Puritans can be identified with presbyterians even though a major segment of the movement eventually adopted congregationalism, in which there is no church hierarchy and each individual congregation is self-governing.
Puritan theology is a version of Calvinism. It asserts the basic sinfulness of humankind; but it also declares that by an eternal decree God has determined that some will be saved through the righteousness of Christ despite their sins. The experience of being born again, in which the soul is regenerated by the Holy Spirit is indication that one is of the elect. The born-again experience was therefore central to Puritan spirituality. Much of Puritan preaching was concerned with it. Puritan spiritual life stressed self-discipline and introspection. The conviction of having been chosen by God fortified the Puritans to contend with wantonness in society and unfaithfulness in the church, and to endure the hardships involved in trying to create a Christian commonwealth in America.
The Puritans became a political as well as a religious movement during the English Revolution (1640-1660, also called the Puritan Revolution), when Parliament rebelled against the despotism of Stuart king Charles I. This rebellion gave the Puritans a chance to demand the abolition of bishops in the Church of England. Both in England during the Commonwealth (government established by Parliament, from 1649-1660) and in 17th century New England, The Puritans meant freedom from direction and control by civil authority. When the Westminster Assembly (1643) sought to define doctrine and polity, the differences between Presbyterians and Independents (congregationalists) were manifest.
With the restoration of the Stuart monarchs in 1660, many Puritans accepted the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and rule by bishops; others were forced into permanent nonconformity.
When the Puritans failed in their efforts to reform the Church of England, a minority urged separatism, the establishment of separate independent congregations free of bishops. Some of these separatist groups immigrated to Holland. In 1620 one of the separatist congregations sailed for New England on the Mayflower. In New England the colonists established independent congregations, each congregation having the right to choose its own leaders and discipline its members. While church and state supported each other, neither one was allowed to interfere in the affairs of the other.
In America, Puritan devotion to democratic principles deeply affected the national character and produced America's first democratic institution, the town meeting. At the town meeting every church member had the right to speak, and decisions were made by majority rule. The Puritan emphasis on simplicity of worship, its asceticism (austerity and self-denial), remained influential into the 20th century. The Puritan devotion to democratic principles had an important effect on American life.