Puritan Covenant Ideology And The Political Practice Of Massachusetts Colony

Puritanism originated in the Engish Reformation in the16thcentury.Since the1620s,English puritans began to immigrant to the North America,the MassachusettsBay Colony was the most intense area of Puritanism, in this land the early Puritanswanted to build “A City upon the Hill” to implement the “Holy Experiment”.Thisarticle wants to show a very simple question: How the political practice ofMassachusetts colony be influenced by the Puritan contract ideology and how theinfluence be achieved in the17thcentury.In the introduction,the author presents the research premise, purpose and lists theliterature review. The article set up its vein as following:At the beginning of the article, we can see a portrait of puritans,and find out theirreligious thoughts. In that era,the British Religious Reform is spread like a ragingfire.In the movenment which against the Anglicanism,the Puritianismgenerated.Puritians hated hypocritical ceremonials and rules in Anglicanism,so theywanted to totally purify Anglicanism，establish really pure church. SoThe king andChurch persecuted them for their different thoughts.Because the presecution was tooharsh to tolerate, the puritans leaft England to North America for achieving their holydream. The first chapter accounts of the background of the full text.The second chapter analyzes the two preparations which was served for the Puritans’ holy experiment.One is trying best to get the Charter,the other is correctingthe traditional covenant theory to satisfy for that “holy experiment”.The Charterbecame basic law in colony,which makes it possible that puritans could start the holyexperiment in new world. The revised Covenantalism became the source whichprovide inspiration to puritian dominant group in the early colony.The third chapter characterizes the political practice of the puritans in theMassachusetts Bay Colony in1630—1644.Puritan theologians successfullytransformed the colony’s first commercial company into a sacred PuritanCommunity.This change make Covenantalism naturelly enter the colony residents’lives.However,in the new environment,the original pious Community were beenquietly spliting.The voice of autonomy was rising,resulting in the formation of arepresentative and bicameral government on the Massachusetts Bay Colony.As conclusion,by reviewing the first years history of Massachusetts politicalpractice,the author think that officials and the public were faithfully complied with theprinciple of Puritan covenantalism.Officials cling to the view of“God’s chosenvoters”,they transformed the commercial company into a devout Puritancommunity.Hower the pulic adhere to the concept of“Believers’ Autonomy”and securethe rights to vote,which lead the formation of representative and bicameralgovernment on the Massachusetts colony.From the meaning ofCovenantalism,“Covenant of grace”intended to illustrate the orthodox natureof“God’s voters view”,“covenant of church”and“the Social Covenant”emphasizedthe spirit of “Believers’ Autonomy”.So the “Holy Experiment” in Massachusettesshow the truth：officials and the public as the practitioners of the Covenantalism, bothfaithfully compled with the principles of Puritan Covenantalism, but took twodifferent roads. The struggle between them for us to show the two sides of the thePuritan Covenantalism.