Chapter 3
Settling the Northern Colonies
1619-1700
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A Little Background
Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic
Church in the 1530’s and making himself
the head of the Church of England
stimulated Puritanism.
2 groups eventually emerge – the NonSeparatists (Puritans) and the Separatists
(Pilgrims)
Most devout Puritans are too good for
others
Pilgrims vowed to break away from the
Church of England
James I Encourages the Enclosure
Movement
• Landlords were “enclosing” croplands for
sheep grazing, forcing many small farmers
into precarious tenancy or off the land
altogether.
• Also known as the enclosure movement
• These were the people who decided to
migrate to North America
Pilgrims
• Also known as “Separatists” were
hated by James I because they
might defy his political authority
Pilgrims
• Moved to Holland
• Didn’t like customs
• “Dutchification” of children
• Stayed 12 years, returned to
England
Pilgrims
• Got permission from James I to settle close
to Jamestown
• Tried 3 times to leave England
• Got off course and sailed to Plymouth
• Arrived November 19, 1620 – Plymouth
Rock!? with 102 people.
The Pilgrims
• Surveyed land,
then settled on
Plymouth Bay as
squatters
Mayflower Compact
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Document of laws
Wanted to advance the Christian Faith
Promised all due submission and obedience
SUBMIT TO THE WILL OF THE
MAJORITY.
• A promising step toward genuine selfgovernment
• William Bradford was their leader
• An agreement of SELF-RULE
Plymouth
• 1st winter (1620-21)- of the 102 that came
only 44 survived
• Set the tone for religious freedom, unlike
England
Thanksgiving?
Massachusetts Bay Colony
• A City upon a Hill
• A utopian alternative
to Old England
• 1630s- “Great Migration”
over 20,000 Puritans settled
• Transplanted entire
communities to
Massachusetts from England
The Great Migration
Protestant Ethic
• Puritans believed in wealth through hard
work
• Maintained simple pleasures and repressed
certain instincts
• The Scarlet Letter
Puritan Covenant with God
John Winthrop = Governor
• A model of Christian Charity
• Must accept the idea of
joining in a covenant
with God
• “We shall be as a city upon
a hill, the eyes of the people
are upon us.”
• Severe winter = 30% survived
Education Encouraged
• Established congregations
• Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647
– Every town with 50 or more
households must appoint someone to
teach the children
– Teach to read the Bible
Puritan Government
• Made up of male church members
• Eligible to vote
• Governor’s Council and House of
Representatives
• Town meetings – only male taxpayers
Laws about Young People
The town government shall take
any child who is delinquent and
bad and lives without working,
and put him in a house of
correction.
Laws about Young People
A young person cannot move out
of town unless he can show the
town authorities that he has a
job and a place to live in the
new town.
Laws about Young People
The town authorities shall take
any children of parents who are
ill and unable to care for them
and put them to work.
Laws about Young People
If a child of 16 or older is
rebellious and stubborn and
lives in evil ways and will not
obey his parents, his father and
mother may bring him to court
and testify of this and…
…such a son shall be put to
death!
Dissenting Puritans who flouted
authority had to..
• Pay fines
• Receive floggings
• Banishment
Anne Hutchinson
• Banished for questioning
moral authority
• “A woman of haughty
and fierce courage,
of a nimble wit and
active spirit”
Said that…
The truly saved need not bother
to obey the laws of God or man.
Roger Williams
• Heresy
• Banished in 1635
• Established a colony in Rhode
Island-Little Rhody-The Sewer
• Land was purchased from the
Indians
Roger Williams
• Promoted the
Separation of
Church and State
Also Believed that…
• His followers should break away from the
Church of England
• Condemned taking Indian land without fair
compensation
• Challenged the legality of the
Massachusetts Bay’s charter
• Simple manhood suffrage
New England Spreads Out
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Maine  part of
Massachusetts 1677
New Hampshire,
good for granite and
fishing, absorbed
1641, separated
1679
Two Different Philosophies
• The Native Americans believed that the
land should be shared.
– Use land, but not own land
• English settlers believed in ownership of
land
– Believed Indians were wasting the land.
• Led to many Indian conflicts
Fighting Breaks Out
Metacom (King Philip)
King Philip’s War
1675-1676
• Metacom was able to
unite many tribes to fight
against the settlers.
• Native Americans were
successful in driving the
settlers back into their
larger towns.
• Metacom was killed and
beheaded, his head was
carried on a pike and
displayed for years at
Plymouth.
Native Americans
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In New England were never united again
Treated as inferiors
Heathens
Succumbed to diseases such as diphtheria,
measles, chicken pox, mumps, whooping
cough, and tuberculosis brought by the
Europeans
• Numbers greatly reduced
Connecticut
Thomas Hooker established colony whose
government was ruled by the
• Fundamental Orders –
– Any white man owning property could vote
– Established a regime democratically elected
controlled by “substantial” citizens”
Hudson paid $25 for Manhattan
New Amsterdam/New York
New Netherlands (Later New York)
• Henry Hudson sailed for Dutch East India
Company
• Established for a quick profit by trading fur
• New Amsterdam later New York City
• Patroonships: feudal estates for promoters
who agree to settle 50 people on them
• Peter Stuyvesant – mean governor kicked
out the Swedes from the Delaware
Peter Stuyvesant
New York
• Anglo-Dutch Wars
• 1644 - Charles II gave to his
brother, the Duke of York
• Name changed to New York
New York Harbor, 1639
Charles II wanted to impose royal
authority
James II
• Wanted more authority over New England
colonies so he dissolved the governments in
1686 and formed The Dominion of New
England
• On June 3, 1686, King James II of England
decreed the creation of the Dominion as a
measure to enforce the Navigation Acts and
to coordinate the mutual defense of the
colonies against French and Indian attacks.
Sir Edmond Andros led the
Dominion of New England
Why was Sir Edmund Andros hated?
He revoked land
titles, and
enforced
Navigation Laws
which restricted
colonial trade.
Why was Andros hated?
• Curbed town meetings
• Tried to enforce the Navigation Laws
• Taxes were levied without the consent of
elected representatives
• Smuggling was suppressed
Dominion of New England
• Included all of the New England colonies
• Was created by the English government to
streamline the administration of its colonies
• Was designed to bolster colonial defense
• Eventually included New York and east and
west New Jersey
James II Alienates Parliament
-Glorious Revolution = Bloodless
take-over of English Government
-James II was dethroned and the
Dutch William III and his wife
Mary were enthroned. Mary was
daughter of James II.
William of Orange
…and Mary II
William and Mary dissolved the
Dominion of New England
and… relax royal grip on colonial
trade.
William Penn
The “Holy Experiment”
William Penn Receiving Grant from
Charles II
Royal Land Grant to Penn
Pennsylvania
• In 1681, Charles II gave
land as payment to
William Penn
• Refugee for
persecuted people
• Society of
Friends = Quakers
• Holy Experiment
• Land purchased, not
stolen
Society of Friends
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King glad to get rid of because Quakers
wouldn’t join the military
Detested war or violence
Advocates of passive resistance
Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woodland)
Welcomed “substantial” (wealthy) citizens
and had liberal land policy
No slavery
Benevolent towards Indians
Quaker Meeting