Answer the following 3 prompts: 1. Make an argument about whether you think New England failed, succeeded, or partially met its original goals — the goals initially laid out by John Winthrop.
2. Take John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon as an original statement of goals (a foundational text for a budding Puritan colony). You will probably notice that the Puritan world was quite different than the New England which emerged during the Revolutionary era — and extremely different than the United State’s tradition of secular government. How do you think we got from this theocratic colony with a government based strictly on religion to a secular republic with religion kept separate from the affairs of government)?
3.) As Winthrop’s founding generation faded and new generations replaced it, how did the religious intolerance and zeal of the founders evolve into into a more tolerant and practical society? How did the Salem Witch Trials play a role in that transformation?
INSTRUCTIONS:
Using both the primary and secondary sources below, craft a short essay addressing the prompt questions above. Your essay should make an argument (and thus contain a thesis) about whether you think the New England colony failed, succeeded, or partially met its original goals. You should back this argument up with citations from both the primary and secondary sources (linked below).
PRIMARY SOURCES:
1.) “A Modell of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop, 1630
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/colliding-cultures/john-winthrop-dreams-of-a-city-on-a-hill-1630/
2.) Salem Witch Trials
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/colliding-cultures/accusations-of-witchcraft-1692-and-1706/
(OR)
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html
SECONDARY SOURCES
1.) Stacey Schiff, “The Witches of Salem: Diabolical Doings in a Puritan Village” (2015)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/the-witches-of-salem
2.) The American Yawp: Vol. I: Before 1877 (Chapter 2, section V & VI)
http://www.americanyawp.com/text/02-colliding-cultures/
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FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS
1.) Your Essay should be a full 3 pages long.
2.) Double spaced (with no extra space between paragraphs).
3.) 12 inch Times New Roman typeface.
4.) 1 inch margins
5.) Your Essay needs to use “internal citations.”
