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Puritans
- A group of radical English Protestants that arose in the late sixteenth century and became a major force in England during the seventeenth century. Puritans wanted to “purify” the Church of England by eliminating traces of its origins in the Roman Catholic Church . In addition, they urged a strict moral code and placed a high value on hard work ( see work ethic ). After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, they controlled the new government, the Commonwealth . Oliver Cromwell , who became leader of the Commonwealth, is the best-known Puritan.
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Notes
The words puritan and puritanical have come to suggest a zeal for keeping people from enjoying themselves.
Many Puritans, persecuted in their homeland, came to America in the 1620s and 1630s, settling colonies that eventually became Massachusetts . ( See Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony .)
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Example Sentences
Examples have not been reviewed.
The philosophical descendants of the Puritans believed the call to freedom that was embedded in the founding was meant for white Christians.
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Puritans were religious fanatics — the Christian nationalists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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Their detractors often used their opposition to excess as evidence of their hatred for all things merry, even though Puritans drank alcohol in moderation and hardly abstained from marital sex.
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That complicates the “settler-colonial” paradigm, which applies readily to English Puritans but more ambiguously to Jews.
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Sometimes stereotyped as roots music Puritans, the Band often incorporated modern flair into their rock ‘n’ roll.
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