History Standard 3 Resource
Puritan Values in American Society

   
Benchmark Addressed: History 3 (Interpretation)
Suggested Task 1: Read each paragraph and summarize (paraphrase) each thesis.

Thesis 1

The Puritan values that affected American society in both positive and negative ways continue to influence our nation today. The American concept of limited government stems from the Puritan community. Puritans believed that no single person or group of people should be trusted to run the government. The Puritan emphasis on education led to an American school system whereby everyone is taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Finally, many Americans have adopted the Puritan ethics of honesty, responsibility, hard work, and self-control.

From Puritanism in Old and New England (1955)
By Alan Simpson


 
Thesis 2

Puritans played an important role in American history, but they no longer influenced American society after the seventeenth century. Although the Puritans came to the New World in search of religious toleration, a basic human right for which the United States is well-known, they refused to accept people who did not share their beliefs. Nor did the Puritans create the form of democracy used by the American government today. Our system of government find its roots in British institutions. Finally, the code of ethics followed by many Americans today originated from the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian faiths rather than the Puritan religion.

From The Puritan oligarchy: The Founding of American Civilization (1947)
By Thomas J. Wertenbaker

    Suggested Task 2: List and explain possible reasons for the differences in the interpretations that appear above.

Grades 4-5: relate answers to "the evidence presented or the point of view of the author."

Grade 6-8: relate answers to the historians "choice of questions and use of sources."

Grades 9-12: relate answers to the historians' "choice of questions, use and choice of sources, perspectives, beliefs, and points of view."



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