The article Were the Puritans Puritanical? was a well written piece of writing about puritan life during the 1600's by: Carl N. Degler. Carl N. Degler reveals his opinion on puritan life throughout the article. He says that puritans are not dull, uninteresting, bigoted, and reserved as many people in the world think they are. The puritans, were "moral athletes." They had pleasure, but not in excess. This is how all of puritan society worked. A puritan could have money, but too much money would have brought greed which was a sin. A puritan could indulge in dancing but too much would have been a sin. According to the passage, the puritans chiefly believed that too much of anything is a sin. .
In the beginning of the article, the author discussed about clothes, music and art in church. In puritan churches, there were no organs and most church goers were not allowed to wear "ostentatious" clothes. Although these were not allowed in church, puritans could wear fancy clothes and indulge in music to a certain extent outside the church. In-fact, the article stated, "Samuel Sewall, John Milton, and Cromwell, were sincere lovers of music", and they indulged in music very often. This quotes shows that puritans were religious when in church, but enjoyed life outside of church.
The article also discussed the importance of education in puritan society. Since the puritans were pious in their beliefs, they wanted every puritan to be able to read the Bible. Therefore they educated their children more than in any of the thirteen colonies. According to the article, "No other colony in the seventeenth century imposed such a high educational standard upon its simple farming people as the puritans did." This quote shows just how important education was to puritans.
Carl N. Degler states that schooling is required if a colonist is a puritan; therefore, all schools were public and were funded by tax money.
