The beliefs of the Puritans and the Deists, like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson differed greatly. Puritan writers wrote private documents such as journals or sermons. Enlightenment writers such as Paine and Jefferson wrote for the public. They published pamphlets, speeches and documents to inform the common man. These writers were eloquent in speech and used elaborate language where as Puritan writers used plain language. For example, Thomas Jefferson said in A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another," (117). He could have written this in an easier manner to understand but he chooses to use big, strong, powerful words in hopes his readers would become impassioned. Writers from the Enlightenment also incorporated science and reason in their lives as fanatically as the Puritans did with God and religion. Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan writer, said "And to my God my heart did cry," in Here Follow Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666. (68). She wrote this
             piece after her house burned down. This quote exemplifies that Puritans had a strong faith in God and that they believed he was there for them even in the worst of times. The Deists of the Enlightenment era had different views on God. They believed that there was a God who created the earth and then left. When Thomas Paine wrote The Age of Reason, many people misinterpreted his work and thought Paine was an atheist that he did not believe in God. Deists did believe in God however they merely scorned churchmen and organized religion because people tended to abuse their power. Perhaps after events such as the Salem Witch Trials people decided to break away from the Puritan philosophies and form beliefs that more
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