Winthrop's “city upon a hill“

With certain parallelism to John Winthrop's "City upon a Hill" visionary foresight of New England in 1630, the colonists attempted to follow his dream and create a community that corresponded with the footsteps of Puritan society, which attempted to purify their connection with God and sought to maintain perfect order in their society. Without looking beyond the underlying facts, the result perfectly matched the "City upon a Hill" vision, which strived for national perfection, and seemed to be a smashing success. This newly established colony paved the road for the creation of America that the world watched with amazement as it immensely grew over the years, ultimately becoming a superpower (Holland, p87). However, upon further analysis, several flaws are found in this vision that has greatly impacted our world and modern society.

According to the people who experienced this colony's creation, they felt as if all eyes were on them and that an inability to create this godly community would result in great shame. It became apparent that one of the main goals of this endeavour was to develop a reform church and to create a 'nation of saints'(Holland, p87). According to John Winthrop, the success of a society was dependent on the existence of both the rich and the poor. He believed that the rich would practice charity and mercy, and the poor would show faith, patience, and fortitude in God's will. In order for the ultimate goal to be attained, a social hierarchy needed to be established. It was proposed that the government would prevent the rich from exploiting the poor, who in turn would not disturb their fellow citizens.

The Pilgrims strived for religious freedom but did not have the right to be in Plymouth. Upon signing the Mayflower Compact, they were able to enforce their status as a more equal, civil, and political people. The Pilgrims were instrumental in the establishment of the American ideals, which included a sturdy self-reliant God as well as the ability to govern oneself freely. These methods would better enable future generations to obtain dominance over another people, such as the Indians. The New Englanders wanted to enforce laws prohibiting Indians from practicing their own beliefs. If the Indians did not follow these laws, that basically forced them to convert to Christianity, the Christians would feel justified to begin a massacre of these Indians. After eliminating the problems that supposedly ...