The Growth of The New England Colonies

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The Growth ofThe New England Colonies
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Separatists
vs.
Puritans
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Puritanism

• Wanted to reform purify the Church of England
• Grew impatient with the slow progress of
  Protestant Reformation in England

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Separatists

• Puritans who believe that only visible saints
  should be admitted for church membership
• Because the Church of England enrolled all the
  kings subjects, separatists felt they had to
  share their church with the damned
• Therefore, they believed in a total break from
  the Church of England

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Sources of Separatist Migration
Netherlands
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Pilgrims

• Ultimately left the Netherlands because they
  didnt think it was pure enough for them
• Did not want to mix with the other religions
• 1620, a group of 100 people negotiated with the
  Virginia Company to settle in their jurisdiction

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The Mayflower

• Arrived far off course from destination
  Plymouth Bay outside the domain of the VA co.
• Squatters without legal right to land and
  authority to start government

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The May Flower CompactNovember 11, 1620
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The May Flower CompactNovember 11, 1620

• Written and signed before the passengers
  disembarked from ship
• Not a constitution, but an agreement to form to a
  crude government and submit to majority rule
• Signed by 41 adult males
• Led to meeting in assemblies to make laws
• John Carver elected governor

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That First year

• Winter of 1620-1621 extremely harsh (only 44 of
  the original 100 survived)
• weather
• starvation
• disease
• None chose to leave in 1621 when the Mayflower
  sailed back

Why?
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The First Thanksgiving

• Survival owed to Squanto and the Wampanaog
  Indians
• Native Americans were weak in the New England
  area, epidemics had wiped out over ¾ pop
• Chief Massasoit signed treaty with settlers in
  1621
• Colony survived with fur (especially beaver),
  fish and lumber
• Fall 1621 --- celebrated First Thanksgiving

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Plymouth colony

• William Bradford was chosen governor of Plymouth
  over 30 times
• Worried about non Puritan settlements springing
  up nearby and corrupting Puritan society ----- A
  Model of Christian Charity?
• Plymouth stayed small and economically
  unimportant
• Merged with Massachusetts Bay colony

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The First Seal of the MA bay colony
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Puritan Migration
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The MA Bay Colony

• The Great Migration of the 1630s
• Turmoil in England
• Charles I inherits 1625 tries to bring back
  Catholicism
• Conflicts with Parliament
• Two main reasons for exodus?
• Avoid economic ruin
• Avoid religious persecution
• Royal Charter to form MA Bay Colony
• Could govern colony as wished but could not
  violate English law

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The MA Bay colony

• 1630, approx. 1000 people established a colony
  with Boston as its hub
• These Puritans Similar and different to Pilgrims
• Escape attacks by conservatives in Church
• Didnt want to leave the church or cut all ties
  with England, only its impurities, different
  economic statuses
• John Winthrop 1st Governor
• Believed he had a calling from god to lead
• A City upon a Hill, --- a model community

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Back in Europe

• While Massachusetts Bay colony was beginning, a
  Civil War erupted in England in 1642
• PURITANS vs. ROYALISTS
• (Roundheads) (Cavaliers)
• Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector
• Puritans won, causing emigration to America to
  virtually cease during the years of 1653-1658.

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The New England Way

• Winthrops colony was one guided by English law
  and the Bible
• Expected to work together for the common good
• Voting rights granted to all freemen those who
  were church members and property owners
• Freemen in each town then elected representatives
  to make laws for the colony General court
• ½ the men could vote
• none of the women had right to vote

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The New England Way

• The symbol of this cooperation Meetinghouse
• Used for both town meetings and church
• Puritans extremely religious not tolerant
• Belief in Predestination god had already
  determined who would be saved, chosen ones
• Basic unit of social life in colonial New England
  -------- THE TOWN

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The New England Way

• Depended on educated people who could understand
  the Bible
• General Courts Laws
• required parents to make sure that their children
  learned to read
• 1636, Harvard College, Yale (1701) ministry
  training
• 1647, the old deluder law
• 50 or more people private tutor for kids
• 100 or more people mandatory school built

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Characteristics of Lifein New England settlements

• Educated farmers, artisans
• Orderly families
• Patriarchy extremely important
• Total obedience to fathers or husbands
• Worked in fields during harvest
• Made family essentials like, soap, candles, yarn,
  clothes, butter, cheese

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Characteristics.

• Many large families
• Average 6 children
• Average marriage age, women (22), men (27)
• No food problem like Jamestown
• Diseases couldnt survive in cold climate
• Low mortality
• average life expectancy was 70 years old
• In one town, 85 of all children lived to adult

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Commerce

• Very little need for indentured servants and
  slaves
• Large families, fathers, and sons provided the
  labor needed
• Cold winters and poor soil prevented farmers from
  raising a large surplus of crops to sell
• Business of New England fishing and trade
• Distilled rum, built ships
• Sold fish, grain, lumber, meat, turpentine

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Puritan Rebels
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Connecticut

• Founded by minister, Thomas Hooker 1636
• Left Massachusetts bc of religious differences
  with Puritans
• Left for more farmland (towns too close)
• 1639, Fundamental Orders of CT adopted (1st
  written constitution in the colonies)

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Rhode Island

• Founded by minister, Roger Williams, 1636
• Banished from Massachusetts Bay colony bc he
  questioned Puritan ways
• Strict separation of church and state
• Land should be purchased from Indians (which he
  did from the Narraganset Indians in 1636)
• Obtained a royal charter in 1644
• Religious freedom to all its inhabitants
• Seen as a sewer by the Puritans

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Another challenger

• Anne Hutchinson a woman of ready wit
• Found refuge in Rhode Island after she was
  banished from Massachusetts Bay colony
• Refused to follow the New England Way
• Arrested in 1637, charged with weakening the
  authority of the church
• Held religious meetings in her home
• Claimed she received her religious insights
  directly from god
• Clergy feared rebellion and thus banished her in
  1638

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New Hampshire

• Founded in 1638 by John Wheelright
• Puritans in search of more land
• Major City Concord
• Major Industries
• fishing
• shipbuilding

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Fear and Paranoia

• Conflicts also existed within the MA bay colony.
• The Salem Witch trials caused mass hysteria and
  deaths. Unsolved History The Salem Witch
  Trials
• Possible Causes
• New Englands environment of fear/accusations
• Puritan beliefs and New England Folklore
• Economic and Political tension divided the
  community
• Mens fear of women gaining economic/social
  independence, which would threaten the power
  structure and social order