Puritan Life

Puritan lifestyle was based basically exclusively on serving God.  Therefore if someone was found not serving God in Puritan eyes, they were punished.  The Puritans were not shy about punishing their people. Public whippings were commonplace.  The stockade was an embarrassing punishment which forced the guilty to sit in the public square and be mocked. The Puritans believed in Old Testament methods, and that any earthly punishment was much better than God's alternative.  The Puritans were extreme God-fearing Christians who thought punishment was necessary so the guilty could learn from their wrongdoing and hopefully avoid going to hell.