British Colonization:
Settling the Northern
Colonies
New England and Middle Colonies
Founding of Plymouth Bay: Early Activities
of the Plymouth Company
 First company expedition was captured by Spanish in the






West Indies (1606)
Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent George Popham and Raleigh
Gilbert to explore coast of Maine (1607)
Trading and fishing activities sent to Maine
John Smith explored New England coast for the company
(1614): published A Description of New England- gave region
its name
Area rich in cod- revived interests of Plymouth Company
James I (English King) gave charter to New England in 1620
Council for New England given rights to land between 40 and
48 degrees north and from ‘sea’ to ‘sea’
Puritanism
 Calvinism:
 Predestination.
• Good works could not save those predestined for hell.
• No one could be certain of their spiritual status.
• Gnawing doubts led to constantly seeking signs of
“conversion.”
 Puritans:
 Want to totally reform [purify] the Church of England.
 Grew impatient with the slow process of Protestant
Reformation back in England.
Separatists
 Separatist Beliefs:
 Puritans who believed only
“visible saints” [those who
could demonstrate in front of
their fellow Puritans their
elect status] should be
admitted to church
membership.
 Because the Church of
England enrolled all the
king’s subjects, Separatists
felt they had to share
churches with the “damned.”
 Therefore, they believed in a
total break from the Church
of England.
Founding of Plymouth Rock
 James I required all Englishmen to attend services of the




Anglican Church- no other services allowed
Some Separatists migrated to Holland- granted limited
asylum (1607)
Some English Separatists feared their kids would lose
contact w/ English culture as the years went by in Holland
Negotiated w/ Virginia Co. to emigrate to lands in New
World
Group leaders secured rights to sail w/ Virginia Co. (1619)
and settle w/in company borders
The Mayflower Voyage: 22 July- 9
Nov 1620
 1620 : a group of 102
people
 Negotiated with the
Virginia Company to
settle in its
jurisdiction.
 Non-Separatists
included Captain Myles
Standish. (military leader)
 30 pilgrims boarded
Mayflower w/ adventurers &
planters
 Landed outside of Virginia
Co. land
 Technically, Pilgrims were
squatters w/out land rights from
King
Mayflower Compact: 21 Nov. 1620
 In response to non-Pilgrim
assertions that no man had
rights over others:
 Pilgrim leaders drafted




Mayflower Compact, a social
contract
Set up a ‘civil body politic’ to
‘frame just and equal laws’
Signed by 41 adults- not all
Pilgrims
Not a constitution, but an
agreement to form a crude
govt. and submit to majority
rule
Led to adult male settlers
meeting in assemblies to make
laws in town meetings
The Compact
In the name of God, amen…We whose names are underwritten, the loyal
subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc, having undertaken,
for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our
King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of
Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and
one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a ‘civil body politic’,
for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid;
and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and ‘frame such just and equal laws’
ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought
most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which ‘we
promise all due submission and obedience’ In witness whererof we have
hereunto subscribed our names a Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the
reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the
eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth…..AD 1620.
Plymouth Colony
 Plymouth chosen as site (Dec 25)- Deacon John Carver served
as first governor
 Half of Pilgrims died w/in first 4 months
 Squanto & Samoset: Indians who taught Pilgrims to grow corn
 Friendship ensued, but Pilgrims dominated (they had guns)
 Roots of Thanksgiving celebration
 Celebrated after first corn harvest- 3-day event w/ 90-some men present
 Pilgrims militarized colony: Miles Standish leader after Virginia
Massacre (1622)
 Pilgrims became agriculturally self-sufficient; still in debt after
years of farming and fishing
 Abandoned communal farming in 1623
 Settlement finally freed itself from debt & grew in population
Significance of Pilgrims
 Helped inspire American
vision of sturdy, selfreliant, God-fearing folk
who govern themselves
freely
 They foreshadowed
methods later
generations would use
for mastery over Indians
(firearms)
Massachusetts Bay Colony
 1629:non-Separatists got a royal charter to form the MA
Bay Co.
 Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of
England.
 They didn’t want to leave the Church, just
its “impurities.”
 1630:1,000 people set off in 11 well-stocked ships
 Established a colony with Boston as its hub
 “Great Migration” of the 1630s
 Turmoil in England [leading to the English Civil War] sent about
70,000 Puritans to America.
 Not all Puritans -20,000 came to MA.
John Winthrop
 Well-off attorney and
manor lord in England.
 Became 1st governor of
Massachusetts.
 Believed that he had a
“calling” from God to
lead there.
 Served as governor or
deputy-governor for 19
years.
PURITAN MIGRATION
New England

good harbors

small farms and towns

trade centered around harbors

hilly, forested and shallow soil

cities: Boston
• 15,000 – 1750

fishing, lumber
and trapping

Family, religion and community
Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire,
Connecticut
Colonizing New England
Pilgrims merge w/ Puritans to
become part of Massachusetts
Bay Colony
Building the Bay Colony
 Franchise (right to vote) extended to “freemen”
 adult Puritan men of Congregational church (about 40%
of men in the colony- higher percentage than in England)
 In town: all property -owning males could vote
 Town meetings a form of direct democracy
 Idea of gov’t to enforce God’s Laws
• Therefore, religious leaders were influential (e.g.-John Cotton)
• Clergy barred from political positions (separation from Church &
State)
Dissent in Bay Colony
 Social harmony when only
Puritans lived in colony
 Roger Williams
 Arrived 1631- pastor of
Salem Church
 Denied gov’t to regulate
religious behavior
 Argued for a full break from
Anglican Church
 Exiled in 1635
Rhode Island
 Roger Williams fled to Rhode Island territory w/
help of Indians founded new colony
 Started first Baptist Church in colonies
 Puritans wanted him exiled to England- would not
have to fear a competitive colony forming
 Religious & political freedoms in Providence, RI
 Rhode Island more liberal than any other colony
 Known as ‘Sewer Colony’: Puritans saw Rhode Island as
a dumping ground for dissenters, non-believers
Anne Hutchinson
 Intelligent, well-spoken woman
 Challenged the Patriarchic society
 Held views of Antinomianism (opponents of rule of law)- placed on trial
 Her Beliefs:
 Believed in John Cotton’s theology that true Saints (born-agains) could
only be governed by those who had undergone religious experience
 Hutchinson argued that saints must be free from interference by the nonelect (unborn agains)to launch into attacks on clergy authority
 She was dissatisfied w/ her minister, accused him of being non-elect in
order to dispute his view
 She held meetings in her home after Church- men started to come to
these gathering; thus a ‘woman was teaching a man’
 This was subversive to the religious leaders of the colony
 Hutchinson was viewed as heretical and banished- left to Rhode Island
New England Spreads Out
Rhode Island founded by
Roger Williams; opposed
compulsory church service;
did not necessarily believe
in tolerance of all religions,
but that the state would
eventually corrupt the
Church
Hutchison and her family
went to Rhode Island first,
and then joined other Boston
exiles in establishing
Portsmouth
New England Spreads Out Cont’
Fishing & trading = new
communities; John
Wheelwright banished from
Mass.- establishes town of
Exeter; Portsmouth &
Exeter relinquish authority
to Bay Colony in 1641;
Wheelwright w/drew to
Maine
1635: Hartford (Conn.) founded by
Dutch/English settlers; some
Puritans moved westward w/ Rev.
Thomas Hooker
Dominion of New England
 Goals:
 Bring colonies under
England’s direct rule
 Defend colonies from French
& Indian
 Stop colonial smuggling
 Sir Edmund Andros: King’s
(James II) Representative
 Restricted town meetings
 Restricts on courts, press &
schools
 Taxed people w/out consent of
elected representatives
 Collapses after Glorious
Revolution
Population of New England Colonies
Population Comparisons: New
England & Chesapeake
Middle Colonies
 New York, Pennsylvania,







New Jersey & Delaware
River systems
Valleys – fertile soil
"bread basket" large
farms -surplus food
diverse population
manufacturing
iron mines, glass,
shipyards, and paper
Cities: New York and
Philadelphia
Europeanizing America or
Americanizing Europe?
New Netherland (New York)
1609: Henry Hudson sailing for Dutch East India
Company sails into Hudson river looking for passage
through continent








claims area for Dutch
1623-24: Dutch West India Company establishes
New Netherland
Goal: quick-profit fur trade
“Bought” Manhattan from Indians
Company town: no religious tolerance or free speech,
harsh governors
Colony had aristocratic influence
Diverse population: 1640s- Missionary observed 18
languages
Dutch Conflicts
 Dutch cruelties to Indians brought retaliatory
massacres – Dutch built wall (Wall Street)
 Increased English settlement into Dutch territory
and growth of Iroquois led to tensions

Dutch settlements raided by Indians in 1640s
 Dutch resettled Long Island but frozen out of
Connecticut (English settlers unwelcome)
 Connecticut rejected Dutch settlers
New Netherland to New York
 English immigration to New Netherland resulted
in 1/2 total population - English regarded Dutch
as intruders
 Charles II brazenly granted area to his brother
(Duke of York)
 No authority to do this, really
 English squadron comes, New Netherland leader,
Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New York had no
defense; surrendered, renamed New York
New Sweden (New Jersey)
 Duke of York granted John Lord Berkeley and Sir
George Carteret land between Hudson and
Delaware Rivers
 Both proprietors allowed religious freedom and an
assembly in addition to giving generous land offers
to attract settlers
 Concessions and Agreements: granted freedom of
conscience, generous land concessions and a general
assembly of deputies elected by freeholders
New Netherland &
New Sweden
William Penn





Mid-1600s: religious
dissenters named Quakers
arose in England
Hated by authorities
because they refused to pay
taxes to Church of England,
refused to take oaths,
refused military service
Penn’s family owed a large
debt from the British Crown.
Given a land grant in 1681.
Pennsylvania
Penn governs the colony
Advertised in Europe,
promising land & freedoms
Penn & Native Americans
Pennsylvania &
Neighbors
Penn bought land from Indians
 treatment of them fair enough that
Quakers went to them unarmed and even employed
Indians as babysitters
 However, as non-Quaker immigrants came, they were less
tolerant of Indians (Scots-Irish)
 Liberal features: elected assembly, no tax-supported church,
freedom of worship, only 2 capital crimes
