The Puritan Dream

Many people come to the United States Of America in hopes of fulfilling a dream they have. One thing most people that come to the United States have in common is that they wish for freedom. Many groups have come thought history for freedom. Two of the first and most recognized groups to come to the United States for this idea freedom are the Pilgrims and the Puritans, both coming to set up a community. Although the two groups are very  similar in why they came to America they took drastically different views in history. The Puritans have become one of the most hated groups in American history as the Pilgrims became known for thanksgiving and friendliness. Although the Puritans are hated in history they undoubtedly contributed to the American Dream.

The American Dream has many different meanings to different people, and everyone thinks about it in a different way. Today the dream is much different than when the the idea of the American Dream began, even though one can not say when it actually began. Many ideas contribute to the American Dream but the most important idea is the idea of freedom. This idea began in America when the Puritans came here for freedom of religion. One can say that the Puritans gave off the idea that there should be a dream, they wanted freedom to set up a community with freedom to believe in what they wanted. This thought that people should be able to believe in what they wanted to was their contribution to the American Dream.

When the Puritans tried to fulfill this dream they failed. Their ideas and morals got messed up and instead of making a compact small community, they spread and illegally took land from the Indians. This is the first reason they are so hated. They claimed to want to convert Indians when they actually killed them and took there land. They wanted religious freedom but made a set religion for their group. They adapted some of the ways of church that they claimed to be negative. They became hypocrites, and arrogant. They "not only made it difficult for the people who lived among them; they made it impossible for anyone to live alongside them". The Puritans landed in Mass Bay in 1630 and by the seventeenth century the original Puritan Dream no longer existed. " Their dream of a city upon a hill became an empire on a continent". So when the question, if they deserve there reputation in history, arises I say, yes they completely deserve what they got. Not only did they lie to everyone they killed innocent people. The Puritans did contribute to the basis of the American Dream but they came way to short of their dream of freedom. The only thing they did contribute was the idea they deserve no more credit than that.