Colonial New England and the Middle Colonies in British America
In September of 1620, some one hundred English people boarded the Mayflower and set sail for Virginia.
Most of those aboard ship were dissenters from the Church of England who called themselves Pilgrims.
After nine long weeks at sea, battling sickness and Atlantic storms, they lay anchor near Cape Cod,
hundreds of miles away from their intended destination. A few years after the Mayflower’s arrival,
another wave of English settlers, known as Puritans, arrived in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, small
colonies of Dutch and Swedish settlers, who were particularly interested in trading with the Indians,
gained toeholds to the south. Although England eventually seized both New Netherlands and New
Sweden, the ethnic diversity brought by these early colonization efforts would endure. In 1681, King
Charles II granted William Penn a huge tract of land, which became known as Pennsylvania, or “Penn’s
woods.” Pennsylvania too would become a site of religious and ethnic diversity. From these modest
beginnings, the colonial regions of New England (the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, and New Hampshire) and the Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New
Jersey) would grow to power and influence.
From very early on, colonial New England and the Middle Colonies had several prominent features. First,
religious belief deeply colored the aspirations and daily life of many colonists. Ironically, the Puritans’
quest to create “holy communities” in Massachusetts led to religious conflict and encouraged some to
flee westward and form their own colonies in Rhode Island and Connecticut. A variety of religious groups
made use of Penn’s promise of religious tolerance in the Middle Colonies and created additional
communities into the eighteenth century. In the mid-eighteenth century, many colonists would be stirred
to religious rebirth by a movement known as the Great Awakening. Second, ethnic diversity
characterized the Middle Colonies, and this did not diminish over time; if anything, it increased. In the
eighteenth century, immigrants front Ireland, Scotland, and Germany joined English colonists in settling
the rich farmland of Pennsylvania. As the century progressed, they participated in a westward migration
that brought them into contact— and often into conflict—with Indians. A third characteristic was an
interest in trade; even though the Dutch traders were conquered by the British, their economic
aspirations for a trading empire endured. By the eighteenth century, merchants from the Middle Colonies
and New England dominated colonial trade. Fleets of ships, owned and operated by American colonists,
plied their trade throughout the Atlantic world.
The endurance of these features led the economies of New England and the Middle Colonies to develop
in ways that differed from those of the southern colonies. Slavery existed in all the British American
colonies, but plantation agriculture never took root in the soils of the North. Rather, people in these
colonies either farmed or joined a growing mercantile and artisanal class that provided services or made
goods for the whole colonial economy. These activities changed the society and culture of the northern
colonies as well as their economy. Religious goals tended to give way to economic ones; as some
historians haw pointed out, “puritans" became “yankees.” Americans also began to focus on the
economic opportunity that their society offered to Europe’s poor. More than one American observed that
their colony was “the best poor man’s country” in the world.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
Historians have been fascinated by the transformation of religious colonies into secular societies. What
psychological anxieties might have resulted from this transition? In what ways might these anxieties
have been manifested in society? How did the population of the northern colonies differ from that of
the South in terms of occupation and ethnic background? How did this contribute to a colonial world
different from that of the plantation South?
“Our Plantation Is Very Weak”: The Experiences of an Indentured Servant in Virginia, 1623
Planters in early seventeenth-century Virginia had bountiful amounts of land and a profitable crop in
tobacco, but they needed labor to till their fields. They faced resistance from the local Indian people and
were unable to enslave them, so they recruited poor English adults as servants. These young men and
women signed indentures, or contracts, for four to seven year terms of work in exchange for their
passage to North America. Richard Frethorne came to Jamestown colony in 1623 as an indentured
servant. In this letter dated March 20, 1623, written just three months after his entry into the colony, he
described the death and disease all around him. Two thirds of his fellow shipmates had died since their
arrival. Those without capital suffered particularly precarious situations with the lack of supplies and loss
of leaders. Frethorne pleaded with his parents to redeem (buy out) his indenture.
Richard Frethorne:
LOVING AND KIND FATHER AND MOTHER:
My most humble duty remembered to you, hoping in god of your good health…for since I came out of
the ship I never ate anything but peas, and loblollie (that is, water gruel). As for deer or venison I never
saw any since I came into this land. There is indeed some fowl, but we are not allowed to go and get it,
but must work hard both early and late for a mess of water gruel and a mouthful of bread and beef. A
mouthful of bread for a penny loaf must serve for four men which is most pitiful…we are in great
danger; for our plantation is very weak by reason of the death and sickness of our company. For we
came but twenty for the merchants, and they are half dead just; and we look every hour when two more
should go. Yet there came some four other men yet to live with us, of which there is but one alive; and
our Lieutenant is dead, and [also] his father and his brother…
And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death…
…Good father, do not forget me, but have mercy and pity my miserable case. I know if you did but see
me, you would weep to see me; for I have but one suit... I pray you to remember my love to all my
friends and kindred. I hope all my brothers and sisters are in good health, and as for my part I have set
down my resolution that certainly will be; that is, that the answer of this letter will be life or death to
me. Therefore, good father, send as soon as you can; and if you send me anything let this be the mark.
RICHARD FRETHORNE,
MARTIN’S HUNDRED .Source: Richard Frethorne, letter to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 & 3,
1623, in Susan Kingsbury, ed., The Records of the Virginia Company of London (Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1935), 4: 58–62
John Smith, "The Starving Time" (1624)
Captain John Smith quickly rose to become the leader of the colonists in Virginia based on his proven
skills as soldier and explorer. Later in his life, Smith endeavored to write a history of the Virginia colony,
of which this document is an excerpt. Specifically, this document is from a section titled "The Starving
Time," which recounts the period after Smith returned to England in 1609.
It might well be thought, a Countrie so faire (as Virginia is) and a people so tractable, would long ere this
have beene quietly possessed to the satisfaction of the adventurers, & the eternizing of the memory of
those that effected it. But because all the world doe see a defailement; this following Treatise shall give
satisfaction to all indifferent Readers, how the businesse hath bin carried; where no doubt they will
easily understand and answer to their question, how it came to passe there was no better speed and
successe in those proceedings. . . .
The day before Captain Smith returned for England with the ships, Captain Davis arrived in a small
Pinace, with some sixteene proper men more . . . for the Salvages no sooner understood Smith was
gone, but they all revolted, and did spoile and murther all they incountered. Now wee were all
constrained to live onely on that Smith had onely for his owne Companie, for the rest had consumed
their proportions . . . Sicklemore upon the confidence of Powhatan, with about thirtie others as
carelesse as himselfe, were all slaine, onely Jeffrey Shortridge escaped, and Pokahontas the Kings
daughter saved a boy called Henry Spilman, that lived many yeeres after, by her meanes, amongst the
Patawomekes…
Now we all found the losse of Captain Smith, yea his greatest maligners could now curse his losse: as for
corne, provision and contribution from the Salvages, we had nothing but mortall wounds, with clubs and
arrowes; as for our Hogs, Hens, Goats, Sheepe, Horse, or what lived, our commanders, officers &
Salvages daily consumed them, some small proportions sometimes we tasted, till all was devoured; then
swords, armes, pieces, or anything, wee traded with the Salvages, whose cruell fingers were so oft
imbrewed in our blouds, that what by their crueltie, our Governours indiscretion, and the losse of our
ships, of five hundred within six moneths after Captain Smiths departure, there remained not past sixtie
men, women and children, most miserable and poore creatures; and those were preserved for the most
part, by roots, herbes, acornes, walnuts, berries, now and then a little fish: they that had startch in these
extremities, made no small use of it; yea, even the very skinnes of our horses. Nay, so great was our
famine, that a Salvage we slew, and buried, the poorer sort tooke him up againe and eat him, and so did
divers one another boyled and stewed with roots and herbs: And one amongst the rest did kill his wife,
powdered [salted] her, and had eaten part of her before it was knowne, for which hee was executed, as
hee well deserved; now whether shee was better roasted, boyled or carbonado'd [grilled], I know not,
but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of. This was that time, which still to this day we called
the starving time; it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured.
Questions: Why do you think the Virginians were incapable of feeding themselves--when the Indians
were able to grow corn, the woods were filled with game, and the rivers were covered with geese and
filled with fish?
Nathaniel Bacon's Declaration (July 30, 1676)
Nathaniel Bacon was a tobacco farmer from the frontier in western Virginia. He was also a member of a
group that appealed to Governor William Berkeley in Jamestown in 1676 to raise an expedition against
the Susquehannock Indians, who had been periodically attacking the farmers. Berkeley denied the
request and refused to hear the farmers' grievances.
In response Bacon led a group of 500 farmers first against the native populations in West Virginia and
then against the government in Jamestown. Bacon's men were victorious over both targets, slaughtering
numerous Indians and burning Jamestown before British troops could be called in to subdue the
rebellion. Before the military could capture Bacon, however, he passed away from illness. This excerpt is
from "Declaration of Nathaniel Bacon in the Name of the People of Virginia, July 30, 1676," a list of
grievances to King Charles II on behalf of the frontier settlers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For having, upon specious pretenses of public works, raised great unjust taxes upon the commonalty for
the advancement of private favorites and other sinister ends, but no visible effects in any measure
adequate; for not having, during this long time of his government, in any measure advanced this hopeful
colony either by fortifications, towns, or trade.
For having abused and rendered contemptible the magistrates of justice by advancing to places of
judicature scandalous and ignorant favorites.
For having wronged his Majesty's prerogative and interest by assuming monopoly of the beaver trade
and for having in it unjust gain betrayed and sold his Majesty's country and the lives of his loyal subjects
to the barbarous heathen.
For having protected, favored, and emboldened the Indians against his Majesty's loyal subjects, never
contriving, requiring, or appointing any due or proper means of satisfaction for their many invasions,
robberies, and murders committed upon us.
For having, when the army of English was just upon the track of those Indians, who now in all places
burn, spoil, murder and when we might with ease have destroyed them who then were in open hostility,
for then having expressly countermanded and sent back our army by passing his word for the peaceable
demeanor of the said Indians, who immediately prosecuted their evil intentions, committing horrid
murders and robberies in all places, being protected by the said engagement and word past of him the
said Sir William Berkeley, having ruined and laid desolate a great part of his Majesty's country, and have
now drawn themselves into such obscure and remote places and are by their success so emboldened
and confirmed by their confederacy so strengthened that the cries of blood are in all places, and the
terror and consternation of the people so great, are now become not only difficult but a very formidable
enemy who might at first with ease have been destroyed.
And lately, when, upon the loud outcries of blood, the assembly had, with all care, raised and framed an
army for the preventing of further mischief and safeguard of this his Majesty's colony.
For having, with only the privacy of some few favorites without acquainting the people, only by the
alteration of a figure, forged a commission, by we know not what hand, not only without but even
against the consent of the people, for the raising and effecting civil war and destruction, which being
happily and without bloodshed prevented; for having the second time attempted the same, thereby
calling down our forces from the defense of the frontiers and most weakly exposed places.
For the prevention of civil mischief and ruin amongst ourselves while the barbarous enemy in all places
did invade, murder, and spoil us, his Majesty's most faithful subjects.
—>
Of this and the aforesaid articles we accuse Sir William Berkeley as guilty of each and every one of the
same, and as one who has traitorously attempted, violated, and injured his Majesty's interest here by a
loss of a great part of this his colony and many of his faithful loyal subjects by him betrayed and in a
barbarous and shameful manner exposed to the incursions and murder of the heathen. And we do
further declare these the ensuing persons in this list to have been his wicked and pernicious councilors,
confederates, aiders, and assisters against the commonalty in these our civil commotions. [A list of
names is given]
And we do further demand that the said Sir William Berkeley with all the persons in this list be forthwith
delivered up or surrender themselves within four days after the notice hereof, or otherwise we declare
as follows.
That in whatsoever place, house, or ship, any of the said persons shall reside, be hid, or protected, we
declare the owners, masters, or inhabitants of the said places to be confederates and traitors to the
people and the estates of them is also of all the aforesaid persons to be confiscated. And this we, the
commons of Virginia, do declare, desiring a firm union amongst ourselves that we may jointly and with
one accord defend ourselves against the common enemy. And let not the faults of the guilty be the
reproach of the innocent, or the faults or crimes of the oppressors divide and separate us who have
suffered by their oppressions.
These are, therefore, in his Majesty's name, to command you forthwith to seize the persons
abovementioned as traitors to the King and country and them to bring to Middle Plantation and there to
secure them until further order, and, in case of opposition, if you want any further assistance you are
forthwith to demand it in the name of the people in all the counties of Virginia.
Nathaniel Bacon
General by Consent of the people.
William Sherwood
John Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630)
When the first settlers came to Virginia they were faced with numerous hardships that nearly devastated
their entire venture. In contrast, when the Puritans settled in Massachusetts in 1630 they experienced
few major difficulties and grew into a thriving community. The major difference between these two
colonies was in their leadership and organization. Specifically, the strict religious beliefs and firm
authority of the Puritans' leader, John Winthrop, and the established order he created before arriving in
America enabled the Puritans to meet the challenges of colonization better than the Virginia colonists
did.
On board the ship Arabella, Winthrop delivered the following sermon, called "A Model of Christian
Charity," as a final dedication for the Puritans and their cause in the New World. Notice how Winthrop
portrays their purpose in America as a divine mandate to serve as an example for the rest of the world.
God almighty in His most holy and wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in
all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and
in subjection.
Reason: First, to hold conformity with the rest of His works, being delighted to show forth the glory of
His wisdom in the variety and difference of the creatures and the glory of His power, in ordering all
these differences for the preservation and good of the whole.
Reason: Secondly, that He might have the more occasion to manifest the work of His spirit. First, upon
the wicked in moderating and restraining them, so that the rich and mighty should not eat up the poor,
nor the poor and despised rise up against their superiors and shake off their yoke. Secondly, in the
regenerate in exercising His graces in them, as in the great ones, their love, mercy, gentleness,
temperance, etc., in the poor and inferior sort, their faith, patience, obedience, etc.
Reason: Thirdly, that every man might have need of other, and from hence they might all be knit more
nearly together in the bond of brotherly affection. From hence it appears plainly that no man is made
more honorable than another, or more wealthy, etc., out of any particular and singular respect to
himself, but for the glory of his creator and the common good of the creature, man.
Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work, we
have taken out a commission, the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles we have professed
to enterprise these actions upon these and these ends, we have hereupon besought Him of favor and
blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath
He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, [and] will expect a strict performance of the
articles contained in it, but if we shall neglect the observations of these articles which are the ends we
have propounded, and dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute
our carnal intentions seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out
in wrath against us, be revenged of such a perjured people, and make us know the price of the breach of
such a covenant.
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of
Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end we must be knit together
in this work as one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection, we must be willing to
abridge ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of others' necessities, we must uphold a familiar
commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience, and liberality, we must delight in each other,
make others' conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always
having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the
same body So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
The Lord will be our God and delight in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom,
power, goodness, and truth than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of
Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when He shall make
us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations, the Lord make it like that of New
England. For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.
So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to
withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and byword throughout the world, we shall
open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God's sake, we shall
shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses
upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
And to shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord in His last
farewell to Israel, Deut. 30., Beloved there is now set before us life and good, death and evil, in that we
are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in His ways and to
keep His commandments and His ordinance, and His laws, and the articles of our covenant with Him
that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God my bless us in the land whither we go to
possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced and worship
other Gods, our pleasures, our profits, and serve them, it is propounded unto us this day we shall surely
perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it. Therefore let us choose life,
that we, and our seed, may live, and by obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our
prosperity.
Question: Explain the symbolism of “city upon a hill”. What does it tell us about these places the
colonists hoped to hold for North America?
Proprietor William Penn Promotes His Colony, 1681
Since (by the good providence of God) a country in America is fallen to my lot, I thought it not less my
duty than my honest interest to give some public notice of it to the world, that those of our own, or
other nations, that are inclined to transport themselves or families beyond the seas, may find another
country added to their choice.... But before I come to treat of my particular concernment, I shall take
leave to say something of the benefit of plantations or colonies in general, to obviate a common
objection.
Colonies, then, are the seeds of nations begun and nourished by the care of wise and populous
countries, as conceiving them best for the increase of human stock, and beneficial for commerce.
Some of the wisest men in history have justly taken their tame from this design and service....
Nor did any of these ever dream it was the way of decreasing their people or wealth. For the cause of
the decay of any of those states or empires was not their plantations, but their luxury and corruption of
manner.... 1 deny the vulgar opinion against plantations, that they weaken England. They have
manifestly enriched and so strengthened her. which I briefly evidence thus:
1st. Those that go into a foreign plantation, their industry there is worth more than if they stayed at
home, the product of their labor being in commodities of a superior nature to those of this country....
2dly. More being produced and imported than we can spend here, we export it to other countries in
Europe, which brings in money or the growth of those countries, which is the same thing. And this is [toj
the advantage of the English merchants and seamen.
3dly. Such as could not only not marry here, but hardly live and allow themselves clothes, do marry
there, and bestow thrice more in all necessaries and conveniencies (and not a little in ornamental things,
too) for themselves, their wives, and children, both as to apparel and household stuff....
4thly. But let it be considered that the plantations employ many hundreds of shipping and many
thousands of seamen, which must be in diverse respects an advantage to England, being an island, and
by nature fitted for navigation above any country in Europe. This is followed by other depending trades,
as shipwrights, carpenters, sawyers, hewers____
The place lies 600 miles nearer the sun than England-, for England begins at the 50th degree and ten
minutes of north latitude, and this place begins at forty, which is about the latitude of Naples in Italy, or
Montpellier in France. I shall say little in its praise to excite desires in any, whatever I could truly write as
to the soil, air, and water. This shall satisfy me, that by the blessing of God and the honesty and industry
of man, it may be a good and fruitful land.
For navigation it is said to have two conveniences: the one by lying nine score miles upon Delaware
River.... The other convenience is through Chesapeake Bay.
For timber and other wood, there is variety for the use of man.
For fowl, fish, and wild deer, they are reported to be plentiful in those pans. Our English provision is
likewise now to be had there at reasonable rates. The commodities that the country is thought to be
capable of, are silk, flax, hemp, wine, cider, wood, madder, licorice, tobacco, potashes, and iron, and it
does actually produce hides, tallow, pipe-staves, beef, pork, sheep, wool, corn, as wheat, barley, rye,
and also furs, as your peltry, minks, raccoons, martens, and such like; store o (furs which is to be found
among the Indians, that are profitable commodities in Europe.
The way of trading in those countries is thus: they send to the southern plantations corn, beef, pork,
fish, and pipe-staves, and take their growth and bring for England, and return with English goods to their
own country. Their furs they bring for England, and either sell them here, or carry them out again to
other parts