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.

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.