In 1630 about 1,000 Puritans set sail for the American colonies intending to establish a community that would reflect and embody their religious views. Their beliefs centered not around the individual but on the community, and Puritans emphasized that people were bound together by reciprocal responsibilities and rights. One important aspect of Puritanism lay in their theory of work, associated with the Calvinist notion of a “calling” in which the labor of every person was equally valued. Hard work and discipline were for the glory of God. Therefore, idleness was equated with sin, while work was associated with obedience. Individuals worked not so much to increase their own material wealth as to improve the society. If a person grew wealthier, it was sometimes a sign of God’s blessing. This emphasis on dedicated, continual labor had not characterized Western preindustrial societies, in which work routines were generally much more casual.
As 18th-century American culture began to stress individualism, ambition, and materialism, the Puritan emphasis on self-discipline and hard work for the sake of church and community slowly eroded. Increasingly, colonists viewed work and land as a means to acquire material goods.
In a secular sense, Benjamin Franklin is the quintessential representative of the Protestant work ethic. The 12th child of a Boston candle maker, Franklin began his life in poverty but managed to rise to a position of wealth and power. By the age of 23 Benjamin Franklin was a financial success, a self-made human being in material terms. In 1748 he launched Poor Richard’s Almanack, a collection of common sense, wit, and, most of all, financial advice. One reason for the almanac’s incredible success was its advice on how to gain wealth, including such aphorisms as “time is money” and “lost time is never found again.” Hard work and frugality were primary values Franklin advocated, thus continuing, in a secular sense, the historical threads of the Protestant work ethic.
—Kate Werner
World History
