Puritan History and Essential Colonial Vocabulary

Key Vocabulary and Definitions

• Adultery: Sex between a married person and someone who is not their husband or wife.
• Bosom: A woman's chest, or the part of her clothing that covers it.
• Indians: The original people in America before the white man came.
• Needle: A small thin piece of metal that you use for sewing.
• Pray: To send a message, silent or spoken, to God.
• Priest: Official at a church.
• Religion: A belief in a god or gods.
• Scaffold: A high platform where criminals are killed in public.
• Sin: A very bad thing that your religion says you should not do.
• Thread: A long, thin piece of cotton, used with a needle for sewing.
• Wise: Sensible and experienced, showing good judgment.
• Puritans: A group of Christians in the 16th and 17th centuries who believed in living a simple life with hard work and little fun.
• Magistrate: A person who works as a judge in a court of law.
• Mercy: Being kind and forgiving to somebody who has done wrong.
• Balcony: A platform built on the upstairs outside wall of a building.
• Cheek: Either side of the face below the eyes.
• Election: A time when people vote to choose a new government.
• Forehead: The part of the face above the eyes.
• Forgive: To stop feeling angry with someone who had done something to harm you.
• Godly: Living a good life that follows the laws of your religion.
• Grave: A hole in the ground where a dead person is buried.
• Guilty: Having done something that is against the law.
• Mistress: A polite word for a married person.
• Mood: The way you are feeling at a particular time.
• Respect: To have a very good opinion of someone.
• Sermon: A talk on a religious subject, given by a priest.
• Shame: Feelings of guilt when you have done something wrong or sinful.
• Soul: The part of us that some believe does not die.
• Partner: Somebody you work with or have a relationship with.
• Wrong: To behave badly.

The History of the Puritans

Puritans: They left England to extend their ideology. The tradition is Thanksgiving. They were helped by the natives. In 1620-1640, the Great Migration occurred because English Puritans moved to Massachusetts and the West Indies. They came in groups and were motivated by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion. Puritans were a larger religious movement within the Church of England. Pilgrims were Puritans who were so extreme they felt they needed to separate themselves from the larger society in the UK by moving as far as they could.

• 1. Pilgrims and Puritans have a similar ancestry, shared history, and goals.