What are the importances of the Puritans and Separatists?

Question

What are the importances of the Puritans and Separatists?

Answer 1

The Separatists were protestants in England who left the country rather than submit to the authority of the Church of England.  They first went to Leyden in the Netherlands, and then some received permission to settle in North America.  The founded the Plymouth Colony in what is now southeast Massachusetts in 1620.  Most people refer to them as the Pilgrims.

Puritans had Protestant beliefs very much like those of the Pilgrims in that they wanted to "purify" the Church of England of all things especially the rituals, that were like those of the Roman Catholic Church.  Some of these decided that the Separatists had been right to leave England so from 1629 to 1642 about 20,000 left England and migrated to North America.  The established the Massachusetts Bay Colony immediately to the north of the Plymouth colony (eventually the two merged to form a single colony that rebelled against British rule in 1774 (Boston Massacre, then the tea party, etc.).  Both Mass Bay and Plymouth were theocratic states in that they were ruled by the leaders of the two churches.  A person had to be a member in good standing to vote and if one opposed the rulers one was usually banished Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson are two examples of those who were ousted.

   Back in England, where most Puritans remained and continued to encourage purification of the Church of England the King, Charles I, made unreasonable demands upon them and in 1642 the Puritans found themselves allied with the leaders of Parliament who fought the English Civil War from 1642 to 1649.  The king was beheaded and the leader of the Parliamentarian arm, Oliver Cromwell, became Lord Protector.  The Church was Purified and Puritan moral teachings were imposed on England (no gambling, for example).  This lasted until Cromwell's death in 1659 (he was probably poisoned by his personal physician who gave him purgatives laced with arsenic).  The following year, 1660, the son of Charles I became Charles II and the monarchy was restored.

  Hope this answers your question about why they were important in America and in England.  I don't know enough about religious beliefs to provide you with a theology lesson so you may wish to post your question under the heading of religion and philosophy.