Puritan

English Puritan family c. 1563. The term puritan is usually applied to those Protestants who wished to remain in the Church of England, but wanted it to be further reformed after the break with Rome. It is often applied perjoratively to describe someone as sanctimonious and mean-spirited.

From 1564, a member of the Church of England who wished to eliminate Roman Catholic survivals in church ritual, or substitute a presbyterian for an episcopal form of church government. Activities included the Marprelate controversy, a pamphleteering attack carried out under the pseudonym ‘Martin Marprelate’. The term also covers the separatists who withdrew from the church altogether. The Puritans were characterized by a strong conviction of human sinfulness and the wrath of God and by a devotion to plain living and hard work.

The Puritans were characterized by a strong conviction of human sinfulness and the wrath of God and by a devotion to plain living and hard work. The Puritan immigrants who settled in New England in the 17th century, most of them Congregationalists and Presbyterians, had a profound, formative influence on American culture, political institutions, and education. See also Congregationalism.