HY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: John Calvin, Puritans
29 May 2018
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Chapter 03 - Settling the Northern
Colonies
I. The Protestant Reformation Produces
Puritanism
1. Martin Luther nailed his protests against Catholicism on the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517.
• Said that the bible only was God’s word and started Protestant Reformation.
2. John Calvin of Geneva believed in the Reformation so much he had ideas that affected
America’s future generations.
3. Calvinism was the main religion for New England.
• Calvin wrote institutes of the Christian Religion (1536). It said God was good, powerful and
already predestines who was going to heaven (the elect) and hell before they were born
and said that humans were weak and evil.
4. Those who were sure to go had signs of conversion where god told them they were of the
elect and were then expected to live the life of a visible saint.
• Calvinism swept through England in the ’s where King Henry the 8th broke the Roman
Catholic Church.
1. The Puritans wanted to completely de-catholicize the church.
• Devout Puritans thought that only visible saints belonged in the church but the king let
everyone in.
• This mix angered a group called the separatists who broke away from the church of
England.
II. The Pilgrims end their Pilgrimage at Plymouth
1. They were unhappy and they wanted to move to a place where they could still keep their
English values.
• They negotiated with the Virginia Company to get the Mayflower ship charter.
2. When reaching America the ship missed its mark and landed at Plymouth.
• Fewer than half the people on the ship were separatists; before disembarking 41 adult
males not including servants or seamen signed the Mayflower compact – a simple
agreement to form a crude government and submit to the will of the majority.
• After the first winter (1620-) only / pilgrims survived. They weren’t ready at all
for it. The men who went considered themselves gentlemen and didn’t want to farm and
make settlements. They were looking for gold.
• In the autumn of 1621 they started to see improvements in harvest and celebrated the first
Thanksgiving.
• Pilgrims were blessed with William Bradford who was elected governor 30 times he was a
great leader.
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