Who were the puritans in The Crucible by Arthur Miller?

In short, pretty much every character in The Crucibleis a Puritan, except perhaps for Tituba who is a slave brought to America from Barbados. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a social commentary on what was happening in America during the 1950s in what is now called The Red Scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy was accusing people, specifically actors in America, of being communists. There was absolutely no way to prove that one was innocent...

In short, pretty much every character in The Crucible is a Puritan, except perhaps for Tituba who is a slave brought to America from Barbados. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a social commentary on what was happening in America during the 1950s in what is now called The Red Scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy was accusing people, specifically actors in America, of being communists. There was absolutely no way to prove that one was innocent of these claims - of course, a communist would deny trying to overthrow the government! With these accusations came backlash from the public, and some careers were impacted by the now-determined-false accusations. 

What's really troubling is that Joseph McCarthy had essentially no proof of any guilt for anyone he accused. People were fearful of communism, and he exploited those fears. Arthur Miller hoped that by writing The Crucible and highlighting how crazy and out of control the witchtrials in Salem were, he could draw a parallel to what was happening in America at that time. These Puritan characters offered a great similarity to how hysteria can take hold very quickly and have devastating results.