Page 73 - American Stories, A History of the United States

2.1 Read the Document John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630)

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John winthRop Voters in Massachusetts who were called “freemen” reelected John Winthrop governor many
times, an indication of his success in translating Puritan values into practical policies.

this phenomenon—clean drinking water and a healthy climate, for example. While the
Puritans could not have planned to live longer than did colonists in other parts of the
New World, this remarkable accident reduced the emotional shock of long-distance
migration.
The first settlers possessed another source of strength and stability. They were
bound together by a common sense of purpose. God, they insisted, had formed a
special covenant with the people of Massachusetts Bay. The Lord expected them to
live according to Scripture and reform the church—in other words, to create an Old
Testament “City on a Hill” that would stand as a beacon of righteousness for the rest of
the Christian world. If they fulfilled their side of the bargain, the settlers could antici-
pate peace and prosperity.
The Bay Colonists developed an innovative form of church government known as
Congregationalism. Under this system, each village church was independent of out-
side interference. The American Puritans, of course, wanted nothing of bishops. The
people were the church, and, as a body, they pledged to uphold God’s law. In the Salem
Church, for example, the members covenanted “with the Lord and with one another
and do bind ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in all his ways.”

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