A.P. U.S. History
Chapter 3: Settling the Northern
Colonies
1619-1700
 Most settlers in the Northern
and Middle Colonies came
for religious freedom and
separation instead of being
lured by wealth as settlers in
the South had been.
 Most religious dissidents
that came to America were
various sects of Calvinists
(Puritans, Presbyterians,
French Huguenots, Dutch
Reformed, etc)
• Puritans: religious separatists
from England who wanted to
“purify” the Church of
England from Catholic
practices. They believed that
they should saintly lives with
others of their faith away from
the corruption of the “unsaved.”
• King Henry VIII aided the
entrance of the Protestant
religion in to England when he
broke from the Catholic church
(over a divorce!)
• Pilgrims- a group of Puritans
who left England in 1608 and
lived in Holland as outcasts.
They were concerned with the
“Dutchification” of their
children so they received
permission from the Virginia
Company to live and work in
Jamestown.
Pilgrims
• 102 came to America aboard the
Mayflower, although less than
half were Puritans.
• They were blown off course and
landed way North in New
England.
• They actually took a number of
preliminary surveys and settled
on Plymouth Bay (They didn’t
wash ashore on Plymouth
Rock).
• The settlement was outside the
domain of the Virginia
Company so the settlers had no
permission to settle there or
form a government.
Mayflower Compact
• A crude agreement (not a
constitution) that the
settlers agreed to, wherein
they submitted to the will
of the majority. This is a
step toward self
government.
• It did set a precedent for
local-rule by colonists in
the future.
• It laid the path for
democracy in America
down the road.
Pilgrims
• The Pilgrims saw themselves
as conducting a “holy
experiment” living separate
lives, away from nonbelievers, with self-imposed
strictness.
• Found moderate success
furs, fishing, and lumber.
• The first Thanksgiving was
celebrated the second Fall in
1621.
• Had a much easier time and
lower casualties than
Jamestown.
• Had strong and able leaders
like William Bradford
(elected governor 30 times).
Massachusetts Bay
 The Massachusetts Bay Company
secured a charter in 1629.
 They were non-separatist , still
connected to the Church of
England the Puritans (not nearly
as hard lined as the Pilgrims to
the North in Plymouth).
 Centered around Boston.
 Started off in 1630 with 1000
settlers, a much larger scale than
any other colony up to that time.
 Well equipped and funded
 Good skill and education level of
colonists
 Shared purpose for being there
Massachusetts Bay
• 20,000 of the 70,000 refugees
leaving England during the
Great Migration of the 1630s
came to Massachusetts Bay.
(Most went to the West Indies)
• Did well financially in fishing
and ship-building.
• Although not separatist, most
people who came to settle in
the early years were deeply
religious Puritans.
• The Puritan doctrine included
acceptance in the idea of a
“covenant with God”
• John Winthrop- able leader and
governor (served as governor
or lt. gov 19 times)
Massachusetts Bay
 They believed they were living in a “city
upon a hill” for all to see how they
behaved and were treated by God.
 All adult male members of the Puritan
congregation could vote. (about 40% of
adult males). Way more than back in
England.( or anywhere else in N. Amer)
 All male property owners could vote and
publicly speak out in Town
Governments.
 The purpose of government is to support
God’s Law and enforced religious rules.
 Not a democracy.
 The Puritans in New England believed in
the “Protestant ethic,” where they were
seriously committed to work and worldly
pursuits.
The Misfits
• Many were banned for not
following the religious
rules of the Colony
– Anne Hutchinson was
banished for threatening to
corrupt the colony with her
views. She believed that to
be truly saves they “need
not bother to obey the laws
of God or man”. (Moved to
R.I. with her family while
pregnant, ultimately had 14
children; killed by Indians
in N.Y. in 1638)
The Misfits
 Roger Williams : banned for
speaking against the Church and
the government of Mass Bay. An
extreme separatist who thought the
government corrupt.
 Aided by local Indians, he fled to
and founded R.I. in 1636 and
established the first Baptist Church.
 Enacted complete religious freedom
and tolerance for all in R.I.
 Was a squatter colony with no
permission or charter at first, R.I.
finally secured a charter in 1644
from Parliament. (nickname Rogue
Island)
 R.I became known as a colony for
individualist and independent
attitudes!
Connecticut
The Connecticut River
Colony drafted the
Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut in 1639,
which was, in effect, a
modern constitution
establishing a
democratic government.
75% of the Native American
population in New England
area died of disease shortly
before the Puritans’ arrival in
the 1620s.
Local natives in no position
to fight off Europeans as they
did in other parts.
Unlike other English
voyagers to New World, the
Puritans transplanted entire
communities, including
women, children, elderly.
They were here to stay.
As New Englanders spread
out from the coast,
confrontations became more
frequent.
Conflicts Arise
 King Philip’s War- A series of
clashes between Metacom (named
King Philip by the English) and
New England settlers in 1675-76.
 The Indians attacked 52 towns
and destroyed 12.
 Hundreds of colonists and
thousands of Indians died
 Metacom was drawn and
quartered and beheaded. His
head hung on a pike in
Plymouth for years. His wife
and son were sold into slavery.
 It was a lasting defeat of New
England Native Americans…
resistance was sparse after King
Philip’s War
The New England
Confederacy
 Formed in 1643 by 4 colonies as England was
wrapped in civil wars for their general
defence.
 Consisted of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth,
New Haven, and Conn, River Valley
settlements.
 Primarily for defense against Indians, the
French, and Dutch.
 Also for dealing with internal problems like
runaway servants.
 Each colony had 2 votes despite it’s size (MA
Bay did not like this)
The Dominion of New England
 1686- created by royal authority
(not colonial like the N.E. Confed.),
 Embraced all of New England,
N.Y, and East and West Jerseys.
 Created to administer the
Navigation Acts which were
passed to control colonial trade.
 Smuggling became a more
common and honorable
profession.
 The colonists were used to years of
“salutary neglect” (during the
early years of colonization,
England paid little attention to the
colonies) and despised the
Navigation laws and their brutal
administrator, Sir Edmund
Andros.
The Glorious Revolution- 1688
 Catholic King James II is
dethroned and his
Protestant daughter Mary,
and her husband William of
Orange became the new
King and Queen.
 The Dominion of New
England collapsed and
Andros (trying to escape
dressed as a woman) was
shipped back to England.
 Massachusetts was made a
Royal Colony in 1691.
 All male property owners
could now vote, instead of
just Church members as
before.
 The Navigation Laws were
weakly enforced after the
Glorious Rev, during
another and longer period of
salutary neglect
New York
 The Dutch founded the colony
of New Netherland along the
Hudson River in (what would
be called later) New York with
its capital at New Amsterdam.
 Made decent profits in fur
trading, but the colony was a
sideshow compared to the
Dutch East India Company’s
enterprise in Southeast Asia.
 1664- New Amsterdam (N.Y.C.)
surrendered to a large English
fleet without a shot being fired.
 England now controlled
America from Maine to the
Carolinas with no foreign
menacing colonies in between.
Pennsylvania
 Founded in 1681
 Settled by Quakers, who wanted to
be left alone after persecution in
England.
 William Penn was given the
enormous land grant as payment of
a debt owed by the King to his
father.
 Advertised to many nations and
recruiters attracted farmers, masons,
shoemakers, carpenters and other
manual laborers.
 Of all the advertisements to the new
world, those to PA were the most
truthful.
Pennsylvania
• Philadelphia- first planned city since
ancient times with whale oil lamps, wide
streets, parks, etc.
• The Quakers negotiated with and bought a
lot of land from Indians in Pennsylvania
and relations were friendly for the early
settlement period.
• A representative assembly (government)
was elected by the landowners.
• Separation of church and state
• Very tolerant of many faiths besides
Quakers.
• Quakers unpopular in England because
they refused to do military service.
• A rich mix of ethnic groups
New Jersey
Was granted to 2 noble
proprietors by the Duke
of York.
Many New Englanders
flocked to N.J.
In 1702 East and West
Jerseys were combined
into one New Jersey
Colony
Delaware
Granted its own
assembly by the King in
1703.
The Middle Colonies
 N.Y., N.J., Delaware, &
Pennsylvania
 The soil was fertile and the
size of the colonies was
generally large.
 The “bread colonies”
because of their exports of
grain.
 Blessed by large rivers like
the Hudson, Susquehanna,
and Delaware that made
traveling inland easier and
exploitation of the fur-trade
possible.
The Middle Colonies
 Several large seaports: N.Y.,
Philadelphia, Albany (100
miles up the Hudson)
 Midway between the
Southern colonies and New
England in location, but also
in politics, aristocracy,
average farm size, industry,
etc
 An ethnically mixed society
of many nationalities.
 The most American of all the
colonies
The American colonies,
by the 1700s were truly
thriving and very
successful.
See timeline on pg 64