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The Puritans Are Coming! Trivia Quiz

Let's check out the Massachusetts Bay colony founders and see what made them tick.

A multiple-choice quiz by obiwan04. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
obiwan04

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
350,370

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
8 / 15

Plays
1063

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. The English Puritans began their Massachusetts colony in the 1630s, but just what were they trying to "purify"? Hint

the Church of England

the terrible relations that earlier colonists had developed with Native Americans

the fouled environment of England

the Roman Catholic Church

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Question 2 of 15

2. By the 1620s, some of the Puritans believed that a colony in the New World would allow them to set up an experiment to prove that the Puritan way of life (and religion) was the correct one. Who was the English king who gave his permission for the Puritan colony? Hint

Charles I

James II

James I

Charles II

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Question 3 of 15

3. According to their first governor, John Winthrop, the Puritan colony in North America would be like what to the rest of the world? Hint

"a city upon a hill"

"a new England," where English mistakes would be eliminated

"a new Eden"

"a new way of life," where the poor would be the equals in every way to the rich

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Question 4 of 15

4. The Puritans' first wave arrived in 1630 and set up their colony northwest of Plymouth Colony, which had been founded by Separatists in 1620. What was the major difference between the two groups? Hint

The Separatists wished to overthrow the English government, but the Puritans wanted to reform it.

Actually there were no differences between the two groups, and they united their colonies in 1633.

The Separatists wanted to avoid any contact with Native American culture, yet the Puritans wanted to learn the Indian ways.

The Separatists wanted to break completely with the Church of England, while the Puritans merely wanted to purify it.

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Question 5 of 15

5. What kind of government did the Puritans set up in their new colony? Hint

a truly democratic government where all adults had the vote

a theocracy, where only male church members could vote

a matriarchy where men governed but only women could vote

the same kind of government as they had had in England

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Question 6 of 15

6. When it came to writing laws for their new colony, where did the Puritans take many laws from? Hint

Old Testament

Magna Carta

Roman Civil Code

Sermon on the Mount

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Question 7 of 15

7. Deriving their perspective from their recent experiences in England, Massachusetts Puritans treated their ministers in what fashion? Hint

They made the minister the mayor in each village they founded

They valued their learning and religious guidance, but would not let them hold political office

They ensured that no one could be a colony governor unless he was a minister

They sent their ministers back to England every three years to continue their education

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Question 8 of 15

8. Puritans set up a harsh code of justice for the colonists, including capital punishment for all these crimes EXCEPT ...? Hint

willful disobedience of a child

adultery

desertion of one's spouse for a long period of time

witchcraft

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Question 9 of 15

9. In regard to women, the Puritans believed that they were ...? Hint

never to be seen as more than "half-Christian" and were powerless in the church and community

more intelligent than men but had to be kept confined to their God-given role as mothers

equal in every way to men

equal to men in their relationship to God, but subordinate in every other area

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Question 10 of 15

10. Into every Eden a serpent must come! This man arrived in 1632 and soon accused the Puritans of not being pure enough and even charged that they were mistreating the local Native Americans. Who was he? Hint

Thaddeus Mayhew

John Cotton

Roger Williams

Thomas Morton

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Question 11 of 15

11. Further trouble arose when Anne Hutchinson arrived in the mid-1630s. Very outspoken, she soon charged that the ministers in Boston were ...? Hint

trying to undermine women's control over church Sunday schools and charity activities

teaching false doctrine which held that humans could earn their way to Heaven

in a case of divorce trying to take away a mother's right to see her children

attempting to re-introduce the Catholic practice of confession and penance

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Question 12 of 15

12. Anne Hutchinson's fate was to be exiled from Massachusetts, move to Rhode Island, and later take up residence in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. What happened to her there? Hint

she and part of her family were massacred in an Indian uprising in 1643

she finally gave up on the New World and returned to an obscure life in England

she became a moving force for better treatment for women in New Amsterdam

she launched a scathing printed attack on the Puritans that greatly damaged the Puritan movement

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Question 13 of 15

13. The next Puritan tormentors --the Quakers-- arrived in the 1650s. What was the first Puritan reaction to them? Hint

They ignored them officially and allowed them to preach in private but not in public

They arrested them, confiscated their Quaker material, whipped them, and sent them back to England

Surprisingly, they invited them into their churches and allowed them to explain Quaker doctrine

They supplied them with religious tracts and sent them as missionaries to the Native Americans

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Question 14 of 15

14. As the years wore on, the Puritan experiment began to lose steam as new generations were much less enthusiastic about the Puritan way of life. Preachers often attacked this waning dedication to the cause in sermons known as ...? Hint

Shall We Gather at the River sermons

"turn to Jesus" sermons

Jeremiads

Where Have All the Flowers Gone discourses

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Question 15 of 15

15. Two events in the 1690s probably ended the Puritan experiment more than any other cause: the colony came under English government control and Puritans and non-Puritans reacted negatively to the ...? Hint

efforts by the English Parliament to impose a heavy tax on nonconformists such as the Puritans

costly results of King Philip's War

witchcraft trials in Salem Village

Puritans in England trying to overthrow the English government

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The English Puritans began their Massachusetts colony in the 1630s, but just what were they trying to "purify"?

Answer: the Church of England

The Puritans in the 1560s and 1570s arose to protest the Church of England for having too many influences of the Catholic Church. The Puritans wanted to eliminate all "man-made" religious practices and return to a purified New Testament church.

Answer: Charles I

Relations between the king and the Puritans had become so bad by 1628 that Charles was happy to get rid of at least the colonizing bunch. Unfortunately for him, most of the Puritans stayed and by the 1640s were at war with him in the English Civil War.

3. According to their first governor, John Winthrop, the Puritan colony in North America would be like what to the rest of the world?

Answer: "a city upon a hill"

Winthrop believed that the world was watching the Puritan experiment. If it failed, the world would scorn and ridicule Puritanism, but if it succeeded, the Puritan way would spread through England and, eventually, throughout the world. Pretty heavy burden to lay on the colonists!

Answer: The Separatists wanted to break completely with the Church of England, while the Puritans merely wanted to purify it.

The Puritans were almost as appalled at the Separatists as the Church of England officials were. Both groups saw the Separatists as radicals and troublemakers who wanted to destroy the Church of England, not reform it as the Puritans wanted to do.

5. What kind of government did the Puritans set up in their new colony?

Answer: a theocracy, where only male church members could vote

The colony's charter gave all adult men the right to vote, but the Puritans leadership soon restricted the vote to male church members.

6. When it came to writing laws for their new colony, where did the Puritans take many laws from?

Answer: Old Testament

Puritans loved the strict, no-nonsense laws of the Old Testament and often copied them word for word into Puritan statutes.

7. Deriving their perspective from their recent experiences in England, Massachusetts Puritans treated their ministers in what fashion?

Answer: They valued their learning and religious guidance, but would not let them hold political office

Puritans rejected the power that Church of England ministers had exercised in England and limited their political influence by denying them political office. Furthermore, church members held the power to hire and fire each minister.

8. Puritans set up a harsh code of justice for the colonists, including capital punishment for all these crimes EXCEPT ...?

Answer: desertion of one's spouse for a long period of time

Yes, you could be executed in Massachusetts for carrying on with your neighbor's spouse, casting a spell or two, or even for being flagrantly disobedient to your parents, but in practice the Puritans seldom executed anyone for adultery or even for witchcraft (with Salem Village's withches being a notable exception), and to my knowledge never executed a child for being nasty to Mom and Pop.

In regard to the misbehaving child, they wanted to make the point that bad behavior was a very serious matter.

9. In regard to women, the Puritans believed that they were ...?

Answer: equal to men in their relationship to God, but subordinate in every other area

Women, Puritans maintained, had equal access to God, but in society God had obviously made them to rank below men, even when it came to making decisions for the family.

Answer: Roger Williams

Williams was a brilliant Puritan minister whose decision to come to Massachusetts at first elated the Puritan leadership. His increasingly radical ideas soon made him a Separatist and then a Baptist. The Puritans were about to send him back to England when he escaped and moved south to Rhode Island, where he helped establish a new colony.

11. Further trouble arose when Anne Hutchinson arrived in the mid-1630s. Very outspoken, she soon charged that the ministers in Boston were ...?

Answer: teaching false doctrine which held that humans could earn their way to Heaven

Hutchinson, a learned person, charged that the Boston preachers were preaching a Covenant of Works, not a Covenant of Faith, meaning that by doing a sufficient number of good deeds in one's life could get you into Heaven. Protestants everywhere abhorred the idea that one could bargain with God! What bothered the Puritans even more was that it was a _woman_ saying these things!

12. Anne Hutchinson's fate was to be exiled from Massachusetts, move to Rhode Island, and later take up residence in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. What happened to her there?

Answer: she and part of her family were massacred in an Indian uprising in 1643

When the Puritans in Massachusetts heard of how Hutchinson died, they could scarcely contain their glee and saw her death as a sign that God approved of their Holy Experiment!

13. The next Puritan tormentors --the Quakers-- arrived in the 1650s. What was the first Puritan reaction to them?

Answer: They arrested them, confiscated their Quaker material, whipped them, and sent them back to England

They saw Quakers as heretics of the worst kind and treated them harshly. The Quakers, even more fanatical than the Puritans, kept trying to return to Massachusetts. Eventually, the Puritans hanged four of them. At least those four never tried to return!

Answer: Jeremiads

By the 1660s, with Charles II on the throne, a hostile English government began to try to gain control over Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Puritan youth continued to drift away from their elders' teaching. Preachers lashed out, as had Jeremiah in the Old Testament, at this as a turning away from God.

Answer: witchcraft trials in Salem Village

Some historians have argued that the witchcraft hysteria arose in part because the Puritans had already lost control over their colony. Within a few years after the loss of their charter and the witchcraft craze, the Puritans transformed themselves into the Congregational Church and became a denomination similar in many ways to the Presbyterian one.

Source: Author obiwan04

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