Puritan Apocalyptic History and American Exceptionalism

Abstract

American exceptionalism or sense of mission can be traced back to the Puritan emigration to New England. This study examines the eschatological energy that fueled the original mission and the Puritan experience in the period between 1630 and 1760. Being God’s Chosen People tasked with building a New Israel, or a “shining city on a hill” was central to self-definition, but evaluation of contemporary events in England or the relationship with the indigenous population was adjusted to political realities in a pragmatic fashion. In addition to the exodus as an Errand into the Wilderness, the article also discusses the Apocalyptic Frontier: the native population alternatively deemed providential elements, subjects of evangelizing mission, or Satan’s soldiers. Conversely, the extension of religious tolerance to the colonies and the intensifying Anglo-French rivalry gave rise to a new vision of Anglo-American protestant unity and the reinterpretation of the Puritan mission in the 18th century.