What led to the demise of the Puritans?
The Witch Trials.
Who made celebrating Christmas illegal?
The Puritans
Iāve read a little bit about the Covenanters from Scotland and how they died because they refused to say, āGod save the king.ā I have a dumb question: was there some sort of significance behind the phrase āGod save the kingā? Why wouldnāt they say it?
They were not Royalists. They mixed religion with politic, and favored a parliamentary government they could control rather than a king they could not.
Saving the King, expresses loyalty to the king. They were not.
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Thanks, that makes a lot more sense. I thought they saying they didnāt want the king to receive Salvation. I can see now that that wasnāt the case. Whew! 
It is too complicated to go into here. I gave you a very condensed version. Interesting topic if you decide to dig deeper.
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Salvation was understood differently at that time. āSaveā in this meaning refers to a long life for the monarch.
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Our smallest President:
James Madison.
Largest: Taft
No one was burned at the stake in the USA or during the colonial period for witchcraft. That was a European punishment.
In the American Colonies those found guilty of witchcraft were punished by hanging or being pressed to death with large boulders.
Dogs were considered to be possible communication vehicles for Satan, not cats. Cats were small in number in the 1600s America.
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I personally find it extremely comforting that my relatives were pressed to death with boulders rather than being burned at the stake. 
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One elderly man was pressed to death. We now know he exhibited signs of dementia , but at that time demons and spells were blamed.
When people ask why the Puritans declined to nothingā-Salem is why.
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