New England Colonies

Why did the Puritans think the Church of England wasn't pure enough?

To the Puritans, the purest form of Christianity was based only on the words of the Bible. The Puritans thought the Church of England didn't follow the Bible closely enough.

For example, many Puritans did not believe in celebrating Christmas. Christmas was one of the biggest Christian holidays, but it is not a holiday in the Bible.

How were Puritans treated in England?

The Puritans were persecuted, or treated badly, for trying to change the Church of England. Some of them even went to jail. So, thousands of Puritans decided to move to North America. There, they hoped to be free to practice their beliefs.

How were the Puritans different from the Pilgrims?

The Puritans were different than the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth in 1620. The Pilgrims wanted to separate from the Church of England. But Puritans wanted to change the Church of England.

In 1628, a group of English businessmen formed the Massachusetts Bay Company.

In the early 1600s, many people in England were interested in starting colonies in North America. Usually, these colonies were meant to make money by trading, fishing, or growing crops.

But the Massachusetts Bay Company was unusual. It was formed by Puritan businessmen who wanted to build a new society. The company's main purpose was to help Puritans start new settlements in New England.

Who gave the Massachusetts Bay Company the right to start settlements?

In 1628, King Charles I of England gave a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company. A charter is a document that gives a group certain rights. The Massachusetts Bay Company charter said that the company had the right to settle land in New England.

Who created the Massachusetts Bay Company?

The people who formed the Massachusetts Bay Company were mostly businessmen. In the early 1600s, many English businessmen were interested in starting colonies in North America. Usually, these colonies were meant to make money by trading, fishing, or growing crops.

But the people who founded the Massachusetts Bay Company were also Puritans. They were less interested in making money than in practicing their beliefs freely. They started the Massachusetts Bay Company to help Puritans settle in New England.

Who gave the Massachusetts Bay Company the right to start settlements?

In 1628, King Charles I of England gave a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company. A charter is a piece of paper that gives an organization certain rights.

The Massachusetts Bay Company charter said that the company had the right to settle land in New England. The company leaders also believed the charter gave them a legal right to govern themselves without answering directly to anyone in England.

Where does the "city upon a hill" metaphor come from?

The phrase "city upon a hill" comes from the Bible. In one famous story, Jesus Christ says these words to his followers:

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

By using similar words, Governor John Winthrop was comparing the Puritans to the original followers of Jesus. The first followers of Jesus set examples for later Christians. Winthrop wanted the Puritans in Massachusetts to set an example for Christians around the world.

Boston: the city upon a hill

The settlers led by Governor John Winthrop founded the city of Boston. Winthrop wanted Boston to be a model Christian community, where everyone would live according to the Bible.

Over the next decade, thousands more Puritans came to Boston. As the city grew, it attracted other people from Europe, too. Soon, it was the biggest settlement in New England. Today, it is still the state capital of Massachusetts.

Roger Williams: a dissenter in Massachusetts

Roger Williams moved from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631. He soon became a minister in Salem, a village north of Boston.

Williams had many dissenting opinions. For example, he did not think the church and the government should be connected. He also said the colonists had no right to settle on Native American lands.

Most of all, Roger Williams believed in religious tolerance, or accepting people with different religious beliefs. This view angered the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They thought different religious ideas would destroy their community.

The leaders tried to get Williams to change his mind. But he kept dissenting. So, in 1636, they banished him, or forced him to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Roger Williams's journey

Roger Williams was forced to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony in January 1636, in the middle of a blizzard. Eventually he met the Wampanoag Native Americans and stayed with them until spring.

In the spring, some of Roger Williams's friends from Salem joined him. They traveled to present-day Rhode Island and met the Narragansett people. The Narragansett people sold Roger Williams land for a new colony.

Founding Rhode Island

Williams named his colony Providence, after a religious word meaning God's protection. It became a home for dissenters from across New England. Today, Providence is the state capital of Rhode Island.

In 1644, the colony of Rhode Island got its own charter. The colony became one of the first places in the modern world where all people were free to choose their own religion.

How did Anne Hutchinson stand up for her beliefs?

In the 1600s, women were not allowed to be ministers, but they could still share their ideas about religion. So, in 1634, Anne Hutchinson started a group for women to study the Bible in her home.

At the weekly meetings, Hutchinson said that being a good Christian was about personal faith, not about following the rules of a church. Hutchinson's ideas were interesting to men as well as women, and her study group quickly grew.

The trial of Anne Hutchinson

As more people took interest in Anne Hutchinson's ideas, church leaders felt threatened. They worried she was going to break up the church. They accused her of sedition, or convincing people to rebel against their leaders.

The colony's leaders put Hutchinson on trial and eventually found her guilty. The leaders banished her, and in 1638 she left the Massachusetts Bay Colony forever.

Roger Williams encouraged Hutchinson and her followers to come to present-day Rhode Island. There, they started a new settlement called Portsmouth.

What did Thomas Hooker do?

Thomas Hooker's ideas were not popular in Massachusetts. So, Hooker decided to start a new colony. In 1636, he led 100 settlers into the mostly unknown area outside of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their journey took them to present-day Connecticut. There, they founded the town of Hartford. Today, Hartford is the state capital of Connecticut.

The Connecticut Colony

Soon, more settlers moved to Connecticut for other reasons. The soil near the Connecticut River was much better for growing crops than the land around Boston and Plymouth. The new settlements in the area eventually formed the Connecticut Colony.

Why was Thomas Hooker's idea important?

Throughout history, people have had many different ideas about government authority, or power:

• In England, where Hooker was born, authority came from the king or queen.

• In Puritan Massachusetts, authority came from religion, especially the Bible.

But Thomas Hooker wanted Connecticut to be different. He wanted authority to come from an agreement between people.

Tracing Hooker's words through time

Today, the United States government is based on the idea that power comes from the people.

For example, the Declaration of Independence said that governments get their power "from the consent of the governed."

What is a constitution?

A constitution is a plan for a government or other organization. A written constitution is important because it explains what a government can and cannot do. The Fundamental Orders is sometimes called a constitution because it included a plan for the government for the new Connecticut Colony.

The Fundamental Orders included some ideas that were new to colonial governments. Some ideas later appeared in the United States Constitution:

• Each person had rights that the government needed to protect.

• Laws were written by two houses, or groups, of elected representatives.

• Representatives came from each town in the colony.

Connecticut: the Constitution State

The Fundamental Orders remained in use for less than 30 years. But later constitutions, in Connecticut and elsewhere, used ideas from the Fundamental Orders.

Today, Connecticut's nickname is the "Constitution State" because of the Fundamental Orders.

A difficult place to settle

The environment of New England made growing crops more difficult than in other North American colonies. One problem was the soil quality. Most of the area was shaped by ancient sheets of ice called glaciers. Glaciers had scraped away most of the good soil.

New England was also colder than other colonies. The growing season was short, and the winters were long and cold.

The Pilgrims, who settled Plymouth in 1620, arrived during the winter. Due to cold and sickness, about half of them died before the spring.

How was New England's environment different during colonial times?

Today, the landscape of New England is much different than in the 1600s. When English settlers first arrived, almost all of New England was covered in trees.

Eventually, the settlers cut down most of the forest. Lumber, or wood prepared from trees, was valuable for building houses and ships. The settlers also had to cut down trees to clear land for farms.

The weather was also colder during colonial times. The entire world had a cold period between the 1600s and 1800s. Scientists call this period the Little Ice Age.

The early settlers described winters that were much colder and snowier than many of the winters New England has today.

The New England town common

The early settlers of New England knew they would need to work together to survive. They often shared resources, or the things they needed to support themselves.

The common was an area near the center of town that townspeople could share. Sometimes people let their livestock, or farm animals, graze on the common. Other times, the local militia, or volunteer army, would use the area for drills.

Town commons today

Today, many towns and cities in New England still have town commons. They are usually used as public parks.

Education in colonial New England

New England schools were small but important. The Puritans, who built many of the first towns in New England, based their whole lives around the words of the Bible. For that reason, they thought it was important for everyone to learn how to read. In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony even passed a law stating that any town with more than 50 families had to build a school.

Boys and girls often learned together. They learned the alphabet and Christian prayers. Often, the lessons were printed on paddle-shaped pieces of wood called hornbooks.

Education beyond childhood

In general, girls stopped going to school after elementary school. But some boys were allowed to continue their studies.

In 1635, the Boston Latin School became the first high school in North America. One year later, the Puritans founded Harvard College to train new ministers.

Both of these schools are still around today, but they have changed a lot. For example, they are no longer religious.

All children had to work in colonial New England. However, they usually had different jobs. Girls stayed home to help their mothers around the house. Boys followed their fathers to the workshops or fields.

How did the colonists get the things they needed?

The early settlers of New England couldn't go to stores to buy things they needed. They could buy goods from England, but that could take weeks or even months. So, settler communities had to be self-sufficient. In other words, the people of a village had to make the things they needed to survive. Children helped make necessary goods such as farm tools and candles, and they helped their families grow food.

Candles were made from animal fat. Girls boiled the fat down into wax. Then they dipped strings into the wax and hung them up to harden.

Tools were made from iron that boys found in the countryside. A blacksmith used heat to shape the iron into tools.

What did children do for fun?

Children in New England even had to make their own toys! For example, they sometimes took wooden hoops from barrels and raced to see who could roll one the fastest. They also played jump rope and hopscotch and built sleds to use during the winter.

A business makes money by selling goods or services. In this village, the businesses made certain goods. Look for evidence of the goods made in each building.

• • the cooper's shop - Notice the logs and barrels sitting outside the cooper's shop. The cooper made barrels out of wood and iron.

  • the blacksmith's shop - Notice the horseshoes hanging outside the door. Horseshoes are one of the many metal goods that blacksmiths would make.

  • the mill - Notice the bags outside the mill. They are holding grain, one of the goods produced at a mill. A mill like the one in the picture would grind corn and wheat into flour. Other mills used saws to cut trees into useful pieces of lumber.

How did New England industries use local resources?

An industry is all the businesses that make or sell a certain product or provide a certain service. Major New England industries such as shipbuilding and whaling were based on the natural resources of the area.

Shipbuilding

The huge forests of New England supplied lots of lumber to build ships. In addition, New England had pine trees taller than any in England! Their height made them valuable as masts for the ships in the English Royal Navy. Shipbuilding soon became one of New England's biggest and most profitable industries.

Whaling

The Atlantic Ocean near New England had many whales. Sailors would go out in small boats and hunt whales with special spears called harpoons. Whale oil was useful for many things, such as making soap and lamp fuel.

The whaling industry brought a lot of money into New England. Today, however, whale hunting is against the law in the United States.

Slavery played an important role in most colonial economies. In 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed one of the first laws about slavery in North America.

There shall never be any bond slavery . . . among us unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us.

bond slavery: slavery for life

captives: captured people

just: fair, legal

The law starts by saying there will not be any slavery. However, it says there are two exceptions: "lawful captives" and "strangers." So, it was legal to enslave people captured in a war or people who were sold from other places. In other words, only certain people could be enslaved.

Who were the enslaved people in New England?

Some colonists bought enslaved people from Africa and the West Indies. The settlers also enslaved Native Americans. However, New England colonists usually sold enslaved Native Americans to other places.

What did the Puritans think about slavery?

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, many of the first laws were based on the Bible. Slavery exists in the Bible, and most Puritans did not think slavery was morally wrong. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Puritans could not enslave each other, but they could enslave outsiders.

When did New Englanders turn against slavery?

Slavery existed throughout colonial times. It was legal in New England for over 150 years.

Eventually, Massachusetts became the first state to rule that slavery was illegal. In 1780, it passed a constitution that said everyone had a right to life and liberty. Soon, an enslaved woman took her owner to court for taking away her liberty. In the end, the court decided to free her.

What do we know about the native people of southern New England?

There's still a lot that historians don't know about the native people of New England. Here's what historians do know:

• There were many different groups.

• Most of the groups spoke related languages in the Algonquian language family.

• Groups sometimes formed leagues, or organizations, that shared food in times of hardship.

• Groups sometimes fought wars against each other.

• Diseases killed many Native Americans before English settlers arrived. The diseases were carried by the first European explorers and traders to arrive in New England.

Why don't we know more?

The Native Americans living in New England had no written language. Instead, they passed their history and traditions down through spoken songs and stories. When large numbers of Native Americans were killed by diseases and Europeans, their spoken histories were often lost.

Much of what we know about the native people comes from the records written by Europeans. But Europeans often did not understand Native American cultures. Not all Europeans' records are accurate or truthful.

Did the Native Americans really ask English settlers to come over?

No. Native Americans never invited English people to North America. But the Puritans who created the Massachusetts Bay Company believed they could help the Native Americans. The Puritans wanted to help Native Americans by teaching them about Christianity.

The company seal also showed a Native American without clothing. In fact, Native American peoples had many styles of clothing. The seal showed a naked person because the settlers thought the Native Americans were less civilized than the English.

Today, the state flag of Massachusetts still uses an image of a Native American. In both images, the Native American is holding a bow and arrow pointed downward, as a symbol of peace. However, the state flag does not show the Native American naked or asking for help. Why do you think the state made these changes?

he Massachusetts Bay Colony's leaders said that their charter from the king of England gave them the right to settle land in New England. Some Puritans even said that God had given them a right to settle New England. Most English settlers did not question whether it was right to move onto lands that native people had already settled.

Did all settlers believe it was right to take Native American land?

No. Roger Williams, a minister in Massachusetts, spoke out against the treatment of Native Americans by the English. Williams thought it was wrong for the English to settle on Native American lands without permission.

Roger Williams had many other disagreements with the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1636, the leaders banished him, or forced him to leave. Later, he started the colony of Rhode Island on land that he bought from Native Americans.

Who were the Pequot people?

Historians believe the Pequot people (PEEK-woht) lived in the Connecticut River Valley for thousands of years. Shortly before the English settlers arrived, the Pequot were fighting other Native American groups to control the area.

Why was the Connecticut River Valley important?

The soil of the Connecticut River Valley was some of the best in New England. The river was also valuable to many different groups because it was used by English and Dutch fur traders.

The Pequot War

The Pequot War lasted from 1636 to 1638. According to Puritans such as John Mason, the Pequots were planning to destroy the English settlers. Many Puritan sources say that the English fought the war to defend themselves. In the end, however, the English destroyed the Pequots. Hundreds of Pequots were killed or sold into slavery. As a result of the war, the English took control of the valuable Connecticut River Valley.

Did John Mason tell the whole story?

John Mason helped lead the English army that fought the Pequot. He personally helped burn down a Pequot Village, in an event now known as the Mystic Massacre.

To this day, we do not really know the Pequots' side of the story. John Mason also wrote his version over 30 years after the war ended. Do you think he remembered everything that happened?

Who was Massasoit?

Massasoit was the great sachem, or leader, of the Wampanoag people. He befriended the Pilgrims who started the Plymouth Colony. In 1621, he and the Pilgrims signed a peace treaty that said they would protect each other.

Why did Massasoit sign a peace treaty?

Before the Pilgrims arrived, most of the Wampanoag had died from diseases brought by European traders. The surviving Wampanoag were in danger of losing their land to other Native American groups. When the Pilgrims arrived, Massasoit knew they could be valuable friends.

Massasoit led the Wampanoag for over 40 years. During that time, the colonists and Wampanoag were able to live together mostly peacefully.

When Massasoit died, the friendship between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag began to fall apart.

King Philip's War

To the English, Metacomet was known as King Philip. The war he fought against the English is called Metacomet's Rebellion or King Philip's War.

Metacomet's goal was to drive all of the English out of New England. He brought many Native American groups together to fight the English. After years of terrible violence, the English defeated Metacomet's forces in 1678.

Metacomet was killed in 1676, and his family was sold into slavery.

In a total war, both sides target people who are not soldiers or warriors. During King Philip's War, both the English and the Native Americans carried out raids, or surprise attacks, on enemy villages. The raids killed hundreds of women, children, and other people who were not fighting.

The war spread throughout New England but not the entire continent. Although the English and the Wampanoag used boats on rivers and lakes, none of fighting took place at sea.