Slide 1
Unit I: The Colonies
Lesson 5 – New England Colonies
Slide 2
Puritan Beliefs
• All human beings are damned due to sin.
• God saves a select few, called the “elect”
– Predestination
– Conversion
• Prepare by studying the Bible and attending church
– Success in business was a sign of election
• Protestant work ethic:
– Industrious and thrifty
– “Calling” = job
New England was settled largely by two groups of Puritans.
In order to understand the history of New England, you first have to understand the Puritans.
Puritans were radical Protestants who believed that:
• All human beings are damned due to sin.
• But God saves a select few, called the “elect”
• The elect are predetermined: doctrine of predestination
• People can do nothing to earn salvation (good works will not get you into
heaven)
• The elect don’t deserve to be saved; God saves them to show his mercy.
• Conversion
• It was obviously very important to the Puritans to know whether they were
one of the elect. You would find out that you were one of the elect by
having a “conversion” experience.
• Moment when a person realized that they were unworthy of
salvation, but that God had chosen to save them anyway.
• You prepared for the potential conversion experience by studying the Bible
(placed importance on reading and attending church.
• Others could identify the elect because they would be successful in all aspects of
life, including business.
• This led Puritans to adopt what is known as the Protestant work ethic: they
worked hard at their job (which they called their “calling) and the were
careful with their money.
Slide 3
Puritans vs. Anglican Church
• They wanted to “purify” the
Church of England (a.k.a.
Anglican Church) of its Catholic
practices.
• Problem: Church and state are
intertwined in England
King James I
– Monarch is the head of the church
– Thus, criticism of the church is
criticism of the king.
King Charles I
Protestant Reformation had caused a lot of turmoil in England. Consequently, Queen Elizabeth I
adopted a compromise in order to achieve peace and stability. The Church of England (a.k.a.
Anglican Church) was Catholic in its ceremony and structure but Protestant in its doctrine.
Puritans believed that the Protestant Reformation had not gone far enough in England. They
thought that the Church of England/Anglican Church (official church in England) remained too
Catholic. They wanted to “purify” the Church of England of its Catholic practices.
• They did not like the ceremony and ritual of the Church of England: too much like Catholic
ritual and ceremony. Thought church should revolve around a sermon that taught a lesson
and Bible reading.
• They did not like the hierarchy of authority in the Church of England (archbishops, bishops,
ministers). They thought that each church (“congregation”) should be led by its members
and choose its own minister.
• They wanted to decrease the authority of the church hierarchy and increase the
authority of the local congregations.
Problem: Church and state are intertwined in England.
• The monarch is the head of the church.
• Thus, criticism of the church is criticism of the king
• Puritan criticism of the church is interpreted by King James I and later by his son King
Charles I as an attack on their authority. Consequently, they began persecuting Puritans
• Remove Puritan ministers from churches
• Punishing Puritans who do not conform to Anglican practices.
Slide 4
Types of Puritans
Puritans
Separatists
Non-Separatists
(a.k.a. Pilgrims)
(a.k.a. Puritans)
Although all Puritans did not like the Catholic elements of the Church of England, they reacted
to the problem differently.
Separatists (a.k.a. “Pilgrims”): they wanted to completely SEPARATE from the Church of England
because they believed the Church of England would never rid itself of Catholic practices and
that these Catholic practices would threaten their salvation.
Non-separatists (a.k.a. “Puritans”): they wanted to stay within the Church of England and
REFORM it.
Slide 5
Pilgrims (Separatists)
• Shortly after James I becomes king
in 1603, they flee to the
Netherlands.
• Worried about Dutch influence on
their children some colonize
America
– Virginia Company of London sold
them the right to settle on land in
Virginia.
– 1620 set sail aboard the Mayflower.
Shortly after James I becomes king in 1603, they flee to the Netherlands.
• They had hoped that James would reform the Church of England, but he refused.
• James demands conformity with practices of the Church of England, which go against the
beliefs of the Separatists.
• Fearing for their salvation, they flee to the Netherlands, where they hope to worship as they
please.
They immigrated to the Netherlands so they could find religious freedom not so that they could
become Dutch. They did not want to integrate into Dutch society. They wanted to remain
English.
• When the realized that their children were being influenced by Dutch society, SOME decided
to leave the Netherlands and settle in America.
Slide 6
Mayflower Compact
• 1st constitution, an
agreement to form and
abide by a government
Pilgrims landed well north of VA on purpose: in order to have more autonomy.
However, Pilgrims were not the only ones on board.
• 102 people made the trip, but only 67 were pilgrims.
• Those who were not pilgrims argued that since they were not in English territory, they could
do as they pleased. To thwart this, the passengers drew up the Mayflower Compact.
It was the first American constitution. They are agreeing to form a government and abide by its
laws.
Slide 7
Plymouth Colony
• Native American relations:
– Settled on the site of a former
Indian village that had been
wiped out by disease.
– Ally with
Wampanoags/Pokanoket under
leadership of Massasoit
• First winter: starving time
• Led by Governor William
Bradford
Pilgrims establish Plymouth Colony
They settled on the site of a former Indian village that had been wiped out by disease. Thus,
they faced no Indian resistance to their settlement and had the benefit of already cleared fields.
They experience a starving time during the first winter: they arrived in November so they did
not have time plant crops and they ran short of supplies. Half of the people died.
After the first winter, they prospered
You need to know William Bradford: Governor of the colony who was continually reelected until
his death.
Plymouth Colony was soon eclipsed by the arrival of far larger numbers of non-separatist
Puritans in 1630
Slide 8
Puritans (non-separatists)
• In 1620s, Charles I, a Catholic sympathizer,
prosecutes Puritans
• Some non-separatist Puritans plan to leave:
– Form a joint-stock company, the Massachusetts Bay
Company and receive a charter to settle in presentday MA
– Why?
• Company with a charter has the right to govern a colony
• Thus, by becoming a company, they get the ability to govern
themselves
In the 1620s, King Charles I, a Catholic sympathizer starts prosecuting Puritans.
This is the final straw for many non-separating Puritans, and they decide to emigrate to
America.
• They form a joint-stock company called the Massachusetts Bay Company and receive a
charter (i.e. permission) to settle in present-day Massachusetts.
• Why did they form a company?
• A company with a charter has the right to govern a colony.
• Thus, by becoming a company, the get the ability to govern themselves (i.e.
independence).
Slide 9
John Winthrop’s sermon
“A Modell of Christian Charity”
• Puritans are on a mission
– Entered into a “covenant” with
God
• Goal: to reform the Church of
England by setting an
example (i.e. “city upon a
hill”)
– If they create a godly, and
successful settlement, others
will emulate them.
– If they fail, God will punish
them
John Winthrop delivered this sermon on the ship that brought the non-separating Puritans to
America.
The goal of the sermon was to remind the Puritans of their purpose and the stakes
• If they create a godly settlement that is a success, they will inspire the Church of England
and the rest of the world to reform.
• If they fail, God will punish them.
This mission and their religious beliefs will profoundly shape the way the colony develops.
Slide 10
Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Starving time during first
winter, but after that,
deaths were rare.
– Why?
• Cold climate = few diseases
• Industrious: grow plenty of
food
• High life expectancy (70)
The Puritans established Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north of Plymouth colony
Massachusetts Bay experienced a starving time (30% died) its first winter just like VA and
Plymouth (MD did not experience one).
High life expectancy
• Much higher than that of the Chesapeake (40)
• Even higher than that of England
Slide 11
Government
• Representative government:
– Colony government: General Court (legislature) and
governor
– Local government: Town meeting
• Church and state: theocracy
– Voters: adult, male, church members (elect)
– Puritanism is the established religion
•
•
•
•
Compulsory church attendance
Taxes support church
Criminalized immorality (e.g. blue laws)
Banished and executed dissenters
– NOT freedom of religion!!!
Voters: adult, male, church members
• Note: only the elect could become members of the church
• Voters elected the General Court (legislature)
MA does not practice freedom of religion:
• They came to America in order to be free to practice their religion, but they did not extend
that privilege to others.
• In fact, they were really horrible to people of other religion.
• They executed Quakers
• They banished dissenters from the colony
Slide 12
Roger Williams and Rhode Island (1636)
• Puritan minister who
advocated separation of
church and state.
• Banished from MA
• He founded the colony of
RI after purchasing land
from the Indians.
Slide 13
Anne Hutchinson (1638)
• Criticized clergy for focusing
on good works.
• Believed God revealed truth to
the individual (Antinomian);
which was heresy
• She defied gender norms:
– “You stepped out of your place;
you [would] have rather been a
husband than a wife; a preacher
than a hearer; a magistrate than
a subject.”
• Banished. She and her
followers immigrated to RI.
Slide 14
Massachusetts Towns
• Towns were formed when the General Court
gave land to a congregation that distributed
the land.
– Amount of land given to a person depended on
social status.
– Consequences:
• Widespread land ownership
• Class gradations more subtle
Amount of land given to a person depended on social status:
• Wealthy received more land than the poor.
• Wealth was a sign of election; the result of hard work, which was revered by the
Puritans.
• BUT people were only given enough land to support themselves and their social
standing: no large estates in MA
• Consequences:
• Widespread land ownership in contrast to leaseholds that prevailed elsewhere (VA)
• There were distinctions in social class, but they were more subtle than in VA
Slide 15
Massachusetts Towns
• Compact settlements
– Houses clustered around
town center containing
the meetinghouse
(church/government)
• Why: protect religious
mission
– Encourage unity
– Watch each other
Congregation would distribute the land so that people were clustered around the town center
• Town center contained the meetinghouse, which served as the church and town hall where
town meetings were held.
Why?
• Promote unity:
• Keep an eye on each other:
• God punishes people for their bad behavior: crop failures, Indian attack, etc. so you
need to keep your neighbor in line.
Clustered settlements and strong community ties in New England versus Dispersed settlements
and weak community ties in the Chesapeake.
Slide 16
Education
• Every town with more than 50 residents was
required to provide its children with
education.
– “Old Deluder Satan Law”
– Why: conversion required familiarity with the
Bible and thus literacy.
• Harvard established to train ministers
– First college in the English colonies
Slide 17
Family
• Colony settled by families
– ↑ in population by natural means rather than
immigration
– More stable society
• Patriarchal society
– Women subordinate to men
• “I am but a wife, and therefore it is sufficient for me to follow my
husband.”
– Coverture
– Puritan women afforded slightly more respect than
English counterparts
• Emphasized importance of love and mutual respect as the
foundation of a Christian marriage
• Informal influence over reputation
– Gender roles
– Large families : main source of labor
Colony is settled by families:
• Allows for increase in population due to natural means rather than through immigration
(like in VA).
• More stable society: men with wives and families less prone to rebel
Because there is a balance between men and women, we have a traditional patriarchal society
in New England (just like in Europe but unlike in VA).
• Women were subordinate to men:
• Coverture: women had no legal identity once they married.
• Married women could not make contracts, own property, vote, or hold
office.
• Puritan women afforded slightly more respect than their English counterparts
• Love and mutual respect in marriage
• Informal influence over reputation:
• Women played a leading role in the oral circulation of news and
opinion that determined the standing of women and men in the
community. Anyone, even a minister, who ran afoul of female
opinion lost credit and faced court or church inquiry.
• Women’s control over reputation in the community was powerful as
evidenced by the fact that men would take women to court for
slander in order to protect their reputations.
• Gender roles:
• Men managed the family farm or business
• Women: raised children, managed the house and garden, prepared food,
made clothing, and engaged in charitable work.
• Women who failed to have children or widows who were economically dependent,
aroused suspicion amongst their neighbors.
Large families: main source of labor
Slide 18
Economy
• Short growing season and rocky soil not suitable to
cash crops (i.e. tobacco, sugar).
– Few slaves and indentured servants in New England
– More egalitarian society
• Diversified economy
– Harvest a variety of crops, livestock, cod, and lumber as
well as build ships
– Transported trans-Atlantic trade
• Trade food and lumber to the West Indies (Caribbean Islands) to
feed and house slaves working on sugar plantations
• Procure sugar, molasses, and rum from West Indies to trade in
English colonies and Europe
• Note: economy ultimately depends on slave labor
– Diversified economies are stable
Diversified economy:
• Grow a variety of small crops (e.g. wheat, rye, corn, potatoes, beans, and other garden
plants), raise livestock, fish for cod, and harvest lumber from their forests as well as build
ships.
• Trans-Atlantic Trade:
• Because they have a similar climate to England, they produce many of the same
things (same types of crops and livestock). Thus, they have to find somewhere else
to sell their goods.
Diversified economies are stable
• An economy that depends on just one good (i.e. VA and tobacco) will be prone to boomand-bust cycles
• An economy that depends on many different type of goods can avoid this and be more
stable
Slide 19
Economy
• Most commercialized economy
– Protestant work ethic
• Wage and price regulations
– “Just price”
Slide 20
Homogenous Population
• White
• Middle class
• Puritan
Because there are few slave and indentured servants most of the population is white and
Puritan. Most Puritans came from the middle class of English society (many are skilled artisans)
Slide 21
Great Migration (1629-1642)
• Formation of new colonies: CT, New Haven, RI
– Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: constitution
Between 1629 to 1642: 20,000 people relocate to MA
• Why does the Great Migration end in 1642 (the start of the English Civil War)?
• Puritans take over the English government leaving less incentive to emigrate (push
factor lessened)
As the population increases, people spread out.
Slide 22
Native American Relations
• Algonquian
• Justify taking Indian land because they were “not using
it”
– “As for the Natives in New England, they inclose noe Land,
neither have any settled habitation, nor any tame Cattle or
improve the Land by, and soe have noe other but a Natural
Right to those Conutnries, soe as if we lave them sufficient
for their use, we may lawfully take the rest.” John
Winthrop
• Livestock destroyed Indian crops
• English demanded submission and the payment of
tribute in wampum
Local Indians are Algonquians, but there are no confederations as large as Powhatan’s in VA.
Livestock destroyed Indian crops (same as in VA)
• When Indians try to protect their crops by killing the livestock, the English retaliate.
English wanted to establish their power over the Indians:
• They did this by demanding tribute
• Use wampum obtained from the Indians for the fur trade in ME
Slide 23
Native American Relations
• Pequot War (1634-1638)
– English settle on Pequot land in CT
– All New England colonies unite
– English ally with Narragansett and
Mohegan Indians
– Mystic Massacre (1637)
• Survivors sold into slavery
• “It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire and the
streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stink and
scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they
gave the praise thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for
them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands and give them so
speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.” William
Bradford
Pequot War:
• To establish their authority over the Pequot, English demanded that the Pequot pay a heavy
tribute in wampum and give up several of their children as hostages.
• When the Pequot refused to comply, the English declared war and allied with the
Narragansett and Mohegan Indians
• The Narragansett and Mohegan led the English to a Pequot village in the early
morning. The English surrounded the village and set it on fire and then they shot
those trying to escape.
• Survivors were sold into slavery.
• N and M were horrified by the slaughter, which was very different from their way of
warfare.
Slide 24
Native American Relations
• English unity vs. Pan-Indian
unity
– New England Confederation
– Miantonomi
• “For we are all Indians as the
English are, and say brother to
one another, so must we be
one as they are, otherwise we
shall be gone shortly.”
Pan-Indian union:
• In contrast with the English who considered themselves a common people and would unite
in war against the Indians, the Indians lacked a collective identity. Although the English
thought of them as a group “Indians,” the Indians thought of themselves as members of
particular tribes.
• Example: New England colonies formed a military alliance to fight the Indians.
• This was detrimental because the English (and other Europeans in other colonies) could
divide them against each other and more easily conquer them.
• After the Pequot War, the leader of the Narragansetts Miantonomi proposed Pan-Indian
unity (idea that all Indians unite against the English).
• But other Indians in the area weren’t ready for this. The chief of the rival Mohegan tribe
seized Miantonomi and turned him over to the English in order to curry favor with the
English.
Slide 25
Native American Relations
• Praying Towns: communities in which
Christian missionaries (e.g. John Eliot)
converted Indians to Christianity and an
English way of life.
• Appealed to Indians most harmed by
European diseases, livestock, etc.
• Religious syncretism
• Opposed by most Puritans
Assimilation:
• Indians had to adopt English ways, take English names, wear English clothes, adopt English
gender norms (men farm and women tend house).
• Segregating Christian Indians in praying towns served two purposes:
• Praying Indians could be kept under close surveillance and under more constant
pressure to change
• They would be removed from friends and families who retained traditional ways and
might be bad influences.
• Note: similar to Spanish missions but different from French missions, which did not try to
assimilate Native Americans to their culture.
Appealed to Indians most affected by European arrival:
• Those tribes that had become small and weak as a consequence of European invasion:
disease, livestock, land loss
• Why?
• From their perspective, their spiritual leaders had failed them: failed to stop
European diseases, livestock, and settlers
• Thought the Europeans had superior spiritual power because of their immunity to
disease that killed many natives
• Praying towns were their last hope for staying on part of their homeland.
Praying towns were opposed by most Puritans:
• Preferred to just annihilate the Indians
• Distrusted the praying Indians
Slide 26
Native American Relations
• King Philip’s War/Metacom’s Rebellion (1675-1676)
– Metacom/Philip attempts to create Pan-Indian alliance in
preparation for inevitable conflict with English
– Adopting English tactic of total war, Indians attacked towns
and killed any settlers
• Colonists flee frontier
– Indiscriminate English attacks create enemies
• Neutral tribes
• Praying Indians
– English ally with Indians
• Covent Chain: alliance between English and 5 Nation Iroquois
• Turning point
– Enslaved defeated Indians
Metacom starts making alliances with other Native Americans because he believes conflict may
occur.
Plymouth colonists provoke confrontation by seizing, trying, and executing 3 Wampaonags for
murder of a praying Indian. Indians adopt English tactic of total war attacking and burning
towns and killing anyone they found including women and children.
All New England colonies and even NY unite to fight the war.
Frustrated and unable to find the Indians that were attacking them, the English attacked any
Indians they could find including neutral tribes and praying Indians.
• Praying Indians had to be relocated to islands to protect them; many died from exposure,
malnutrition, and disease on these islands.
English realize that it is to their benefit to ally with the Indians:
• Allow Praying Indians to fight on their side
• Covenant Chain: military alliance between NY and the 5 Nation Iroquois
• Turning point:
• Taught the English how to fight: adopt Indian tactics of dispersion, stealth, ambush,
and individual marksmanship rather than mass formation.
It is one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in American history (proportionately): 800
settlers dead, a quarter of the Native American population was dead, about third of the towns
in New England destroyed.
Many of the Native Americans in the area are wiped out; those who survive are sold into
slavery. This leaves the way open for further settlement to the west.
• Some Indians escape north to New France. They retain their bitter hatred of the English and
during the imperial wars between 1689 and 1760, they helped guide French raids that
devastated the frontier settlements of New England
Slide 27
Half-Way Covenant (1662)
• Decline in church membership
– Women outnumber men
– Children of the first-generation Puritan settlers chose not
to join the church
• Problems:
– Only the children of the “elect” could be baptized. Thus,
third-generation Puritans could not be baptized.
– Had to be a member of the elect to vote
• Halfway covenant: members’ children who had not
experienced conversion could join as “halfway”
members and their children would be eligible for
baptism.
Start to see signs of problems in New England society in the 1660s.
Decline in church membership:
• Less than half of adults were members of a congregation.
• Women church members begin to outnumber men
• Problem because only male church members could make decisions in the church
Children of the first-generation Puritan settlers chose not to join the church:
• Historians debate the reason why, and it may be that there are just multiple reasons
• But regardless of the reason, this does not necessarily mean that New England was
becoming less religious.
• Before I explain the possible reasons for the decline in church membership let’s review how
people became members:
• You had to be a member of the elect, which means you had to have a conversion
experience.
• One possibility is that the children of the 1st generation were holding themselves to a high
standard.
• They wanted to be very sure that they were among the elect because God didn’t
look favorably upon people who claimed to be an elect and were not.
• Another possibility is that the children of the first-generation did not want to be publicly
grilled about their conversion experience:
• Most would have witnessed an ordeal like Sarah Fiske’s: For than a year, she
answered petty charges of speaking uncharitably about her relatives and then was
admitted to the Congregation in Wenham, MA only after publicly denouncing herself
as worse “than a toad.”
The bigger problem: membership would decline to such a level that Puritans would lose control
of the colony and cease to exist.
Slide 28
Salem Witch Trials (1692)
• Result of social tension between haves and
have-nots
During the 1600s, New England women were sometimes accused by their neighbors of
witchcraft. The majority of them were unmarried, childless, or widowed, or had reputations for
being assertive and independent. In the vast majority of cases, the accusations were dismissed
by authorities.
In Salem in 1692 things got way out of hand. Over 350 women were accused of witchcraft, and
20 were executed.
The hysteria was a consequence of social tensions emerging in New England:
Salem Village was an economically stagnant district located north of Salem Town.
• Residents who lived in the eastern section of the village farmed richer soils and benefited
from Salem Town’s commercial expansion.
• Those who lived in the western section had less fertile lands and did not share in this
prosperity.
• Most accusations originated in the village’s poorer western section and were directed
largely at wealthier families in the eastern village or in Salem Town.