Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. In relation to the Puritans, this statement would read "Treat others as you yourself were treated". The vigor with which the Puritans settled their own colony, and spread their beliefs comes as no surprise. Just as the Church of England brutally persecuted the Puritans, the Puritans persecuted those that didn't agree with their beliefs once they acquired the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Puritan clergy valued their connection to God. It was a special gift which they possessed. Puritan leaders felt insulted, and their prized possession undermined, when a mere woman, Anne Hutchinson, attempted to reinterpret their sermons, and claimed to have direct connection to God.
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Beginning around the middle of sixteenth century, a growing group of people became dissatisfied with the Church of England. They felt the church was corrupt, and didn't follow the Bible closely. They believed in purity in the eyes of God. They were the Puritans. The Puritans interpreted every single part of the Bible literally. They believed in a direct covenant with God as the only means of salvation. When the Church of England saw opposition, it took direct, brutal action. For almost a century, Puritans were excommunicated, hanged, and exiled by the Church of England. With the colonization of the New World, the Puritans saw an opportunity. They seized it promptly in 1623, when they traveled to America to start the Massachusetts Bay colony. The colony became a Bible Commonwealth. This meant that every aspect of the colonist's lives was directly affected by the Bible. Due to their literal interpretation, some customs were absurdly strict. They didn't accept any compromise, they jumped on any heretic, and persecuted them to the same extent as to which the Church of England persecuted the Puritans. .
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Much like back in native England, the Massachusetts Bay was predominated by the male populace.
