Response to Letter A Puritan families had very large families for a purpose. First and fore most was the fact that many of the children died due to disease and accidents before reaching their twenties. By the time they had lost these children they still needed workers for the fields. With the workers that they had they could now keep up the farm without having to get slaves or indentured servants.
If the Puritans had practiced some sort of birth control the outcome of the colonization of the new world would have completely changed. Supposing that they only had a few children, within a few years some children would die and there would be no one left to help run the farm. With nobody left to maintain the colonies they would die and all expansions, revolutions, and wars would not have happened. Thus, it would have changed the way we live today.
English: source: Immigrant Servants Database autho...
Farm auction, Derby, Conn. (LOC)
English: Gallery of famous Puritans: Thomas Gouge,...Response to Letter D The Puritans had a very strong sense of family and community. To keep this community bonded they had to be close together. As you know, ninety-five percent of the Puritans in America we farmers. With the village together and farms at the limits of the town they could keep their sense of community. When you travel through the Midwest you will see these farms spread out with neighbors miles away. In the twentieth century it is no doubt easier to farm than it was back in the sixteen hundreds. In the times we are living in, farms could produce everything they need to survive whereas the Puritans needed the community to stay together. That is why the Puritans chose to live in communities with the farms surrounding the town as opposed to being spread out.
Farm road in Champaign County, Illinois Español: ...
Puritan landing in May 1666, at Newark, New Jersey...
A copy of the larger sculpture by Augustus Saint-G...