CLEP U.S. History I 011: Puritans, Covenant Communities, and Massachusetts

Puritan theology stressed human sinfulness, God’s sovereignty, and the hope of saving grace. A “visible saint” could describe a person whose conversion account persuaded church members, although no human could know salvation with certainty. Full church membership carried social importance. Massachusetts linked civil participation to male church membership for much of the seventeenth century, and magistrates enforced moral regulations. Congregations selected ministers and managed many church affairs rather than submitting to bishops.

The Great Migration brought families, not chiefly solitary young laborers. Towns commonly clustered houses near a meetinghouse and allocated fields around them. Church covenants, town agreements, and the colony’s charter created overlapping layers of authority. Town meetings permitted eligible men to decide local taxes, roads, and land use. This was meaningful self-government within a narrow electorate, not political equality.

Puritan order faced strain from the beginning. Economic differences grew, younger generations sometimes could not describe the conversion experience required for full membership, and territorial expansion brought war with Native peoples. The Half-Way Covenant of 1662 allowed the baptized children of members a partial relationship to the church, helping congregations retain families without abandoning the conversion ideal entirely. Adaptation preserved the community precisely because the original design could not remain unchanged.

Watch, then test the claim

Use this lesson from Study Hall to review the period and its central historical problem. Pause when the video reaches the turning point named above.

Video: Puritans & Pilgrims in New England | US History to 1865 | Study Hall, Study Hall.