The Puritan Influence

Alexander M. Goldfinger

[Reprinted from The Gargoyle, January, 1961]

As children, we read in our history books of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock and the founding of the Massachusetts Colony. We read of the high resolve and the firm principles of the colonists and their desire for political and religious freedom. Both fact and myth are interwoven in our concepts of the early colonists.

One of the concepts widely held is that the Pilgrims were dissenters, both politically and in religious beliefs and that they were non-conformists. We learn that they escaped from England and sought and obtained asylum in Holland before venturing to cross the ocean to the unknown western hemisphere. We know, from English history of the upheaval and bloodshed caused by the strife for power in the Cromwell revolt. As in all such revolts, the motivations of the participants are mixed, some craftily seeking personal power and aggrandizement and some justifying firmly held principles. In all such revolts, the ultimate losers fear for their lives and property in reprisals by the victors.

The puritans were probably a mixture of both groups who opposed the constituted authorities in their home land.

But when we conceive of them, as non-conformists, we are viewing but one aspect of their deeply held convictions. As we read the rules and laws which the early settlers laid down for universal observance by all, we realize that they were strict conformists in many of their actions. They were basically fundamentalists in religious matters and adhered strictly to biblical teachings. Since they believed absolutely in the Ten Commandments, they proscribed any secular activity on the Sabbath Day. In their conception of the relation of man _to God, they believed that man's life is and should be somber and purposeful, not frivolous and com-what-may. Not only did they believe this, but they enforced obedience to these beliefs by enacting laws prohibiting dancing and merry-making and enforced the laws with punishments to the violators. In other words, they demanded conformity to the code of behavior they deemed advantageous.

In many matters the Puritan settlers not only held fundamentalist beliefs, such as the evil of money-lending at high interest charges, but proscribed by law and punishment any deviation from these beliefs. Since the daily business intercourse among people in a close society sometimes needs and demands a liberal rather than a strict interpretation of the Judeo-Christian ethics which Western civilization embraced, the Puritans, in their daily behavior sometimes deviated from their strict code, and then, guiltily and remorsefully, suffered what has become known as the "Puritan conscience."

Non-conformists they were not, even going so far as to banish from their midst men like Rodger Williams because he believed that every man's religious beliefs should be respected and allowed, although they did not conform to those of the majority of the community.

The strict code of conduct required by the Puritans circumscribed all of their behavior and was based largely on the belief that any behavior was either "right" or "wrong." Each act had to be weighed in the balance scale and its "goodness" or "badness" determined by the accepted mode. This adherence to a strict code of behavior led to the repression of much spontaneous action. If a young woman, walking through the woods and seeing the brilliant colors of the flowers, and hearing the singing of the birds should involuntarily burst forth in a happy song, her conduct would have been deemed frivolous and deserving of censure or discipline. Therefore, the circumspect maiden would repress her feelings and adhere to "becoming" conduct.

Our present knowledge of psychiatry indicates that many of the Puritan settlers developed disturbed if not unbalanced personalities because of their feelings of guilt in thought or action that deviated from the code and from the repressions that adherence forced upon them.

The influence of the Puritans transcended the borders of their colony and permeated the behavior of other colonists along the Atlantic seaboard, and their ethics and adherence to biblical injunction became so imbedded in the beliefs and value judgments of all in this hemisphere that some writers and researchers have recognized the unique character of this influence on behavior and have called it the "Protestant Ethic."

Although the United States is truly a melting pot of the peoples and cultures of the whole world, the influence of the Puritan code still permeates the basic beliefs of its people. We are prone to weigh our own behavior and that of our fellows in the absolutes of "right" or "wrong." We have discarded the restrictions on enjoyment of life, singing, dancing, feasting, merry-making, etc., but we have still deep within ourselves a complaining witness, our conscience, which tells us it is wrong for us to so enjoy ourselves when two thirds of the world is suffering from hunger and privation.

We do not voluntarily forswear hedonic enjoyment, but we seek to make amends to our guilty conscience by individual and collective charities.

The Puritan influence is evident on the national level of our foreign policy. There have been lapses from moral conduct in American behavior in the past, such as our treatment of the American Indians, the wresting of territory from Mexico, and, as some maintain, the Spanish American War and the imperialist designs for territory thereafter. But we, ashamedly, admit these lapses and are fortified in our determination never to repeat such actions in fact or in spirit.

The American view, expressed during and after World War I and II that the United States wants not one inch of foreign soil, is evidence of our Puritan background of "righteousness."

No matter what primary motives of practicality or "chess-game" strategy are involved in our dealings with the Soviets or with our allies everywhere, we seek to ascribe our motives for national policy to high ethical principles, the absolutes of "right" and "wrong". Regardless of whether we are truly trying to adhere to high ethical ideals or are just deluding ourselves, the world has gained enormously by our behavior and actions motivated by Puritan influence. Countless millions of starving humans have been helped and ethical principles and precepts have permeated the spoken words heard in the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations. In other words, though we may have good cause to suspect the high ethical ideals of the international statesmen, yet their trying to justify means and ends by ethical standards is at least a deterrent to shameless and brutal use of force among nations. More than a little of this desire for moral justification can be attributed to the Puritan influence.

So, in retrospect, the beliefs and the strict codes laid down by the Puritans, both in this country and in the British Isles had long lasting influences. The influences have been neither wholly good or wholly bad (as most human behavior is both good and bad, sometimes a single act is both good and bad at the same time). Except for the guilt complexes endured by individuals resulting from the Puritan influence, the desire for unselfish action, for ethical, moral behavior, and the mass charity motivated by Puritan influence has well-served individuals and societies of men.

Many of you who will (I hope) read this article are interested in establishing a better system in the world in which equality of opportunity will be afforded. Your having studied economics has led many of you to advocate land-value taxation as a means to achieve your desire for equality of opportunity. May we wonder whether the Puritan influence has helped to motivate you? If so, let us all be thankful that there were Puritans who helped make us what we are.