Did Puritan come to America for religious persecution or improving living material ??
Religion may be the alibis. The immigrants those who came to America in 1630's
were motivated by economic than by religious considerations.
In a recent study, David Cressy examines two central questions concerning English
immigration to New England in the 1630's : what kinds of people immigrated and why ?
Using contemporary literary evidence, shipping lists, and customs records, Cressey finds that
most adult immigrants, were skilled in farming or crafts, were literate and were organized in
families. Each of these characteristics sharply distinguishes the 21,000 people who left for
New England in the 1630's from most of the approximately 377,000 English people who had
immigrated to America by 1700.
With respect to their reasons for immigrating, Cressy does not deny the frequently noted fact
that some of the immigrants of the 1630,s, most notably the organizers and clergy, advanced
religious explanations for departure, but he finds that such explanations usually assumed
primacy only in retrospect. When he moves beyond the principal actors, he finds that religious
explanations were less frequently offered, and he concludes that most people immigrated
because they were recruited by promises of material improvement.
This article excerpted from GRE Reading Comprehension.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The historic material should give us the room and opportunity to ruminate the history. We can
not believe completely what we read in the textbook. What kinds of people immigrated and
why that would create immense space to explore the past.
The other evidence to support the author's argument is the most prestigious univiersities
found in New England, such as Ivy League... Why did the Puritan know to establish the
universities to educate the public ?
No comments:
Post a Comment