Chapter 3
Settling the
Northern
Colonies
Protestant Reformation:
Martin Luther’s Theory:
believed that the Bible alone was God’s word.
John Calvin’s Theory: foundation for New Eng
Puritans and other settlers.
Adopted the Institutes of the Christian
Religion - God was all powerful.
CALVINISM: Humans, due to original sin,
were weak/wicked and that only God
knew who was going to Heaven or Hell.
Classes of People:
a. “the elect” - people going to
Heaven
b. “visible saints” - people
predestined to go to Heaven and
were the only group admitted
for church membership.
Beliefs:
a. predestination - decision had
already been made as to who
was going to Heaven/Hell-status couldn't be changed through
goods works on earth
b. conversion - process of revelation to
those “elect” in which it was revealed
that they were going to heaven
Calvinism spread because of the depressed
status of the yeomen.
Between the reigns of James I and Charles I
Calvinism took root, a group emerged that
would not sit in the same pews with the
“damned” and they vowed to break away
completely from the Church of England.
King James I harassed this group into leaving
England. Those that were harassed became
known as Separatists.
Two groups of Separatists:
1. Pilgrims – Plymouth
a. 1st group to leave Eng. went to Holland;
negotiated with the Va Co for passage to the
New World.
b. Leader: Myles Standish Ship: Mayflower.
c. Due to storms, landed n. of the Va Colony -Plymouth/squatters
c. Mayflower Compact - document that stated
that the Pilgrims would follow only those
laws they that they themselves passed by
majority vote.
d. Elected William Bradford as governor--serve
for 30 yrs
e. 1691 - merged w/ Mass. Bay Colony
2. Puritans a. More moderate (than the Pilgrims) wanted
to reform the Church of Eng, however, after
several unsuccessful tries, they left for the
New World in 1629.
b. They secured a royal charter from the
Mass Bay Co./settled in Boston.
c. Appointed Gov John Winthrop and marks the
first mass migration to the New World.
(+/- 75,000 Puritans leave Eng but
only +/- 27,000 came to the US region.)
d. Colony flourished--fur trade, fishing, and
shipbuilding industries.
e. Religious practice: believed that they had
a covenant (agreement) with God to
build a “holy” city/a model for mankind
in the New World.
Soon after arriving, franchise was extended to
Freemen - adult males who made up the
“elect”/ “visible saints”/belonged to the
Puritan congregation, eventually formed the
Congregational Church.
f. Government: Town governments – all male
property owners & ruled by majority vote.
Basis of all of their laws revolved around
enforcing God’s laws to believers and
nonbelievers.
Everyone paid taxes to
support the gov’t and
Congregational Church.
Supporter: John Cotton - spent time
defending the gov’t’s duty to enforce
religious rules. He believed that the
power of the preacher was NOT
absolute - congregation could
hire/fire/set salaries.
Cotton also believed clergymen
were to be barred from holding
public office (idea of separation
of Church and State).
Dissenters of the Puritan Faith:
Quakers - vocally disagreed with the
power given to the clergy/were
fined, flogged, and/or ultimately
banished
Anne Hutchinson - believed in antinomianism claimed that due to predestination (set
course in life), it didn’t mattered what one
did here on earth because they were already
set to go to Heaven--didn’t have to follow
man’s laws.
She boasted that they idea of antinomianism
came to her by direct revelation from God.
Puritan clergy wouldn’t hear of anyone not
following their (God’s) laws/banished her to
Rhode Island and eventually she went to
New York.
Roger Williams - Salem minister,
denied the belief that the civil
government could regulate
religious behavior. He was
banished and went to Rhode
Island. There, Wms set up his
own Puritan church, the
Baptist Church which called for
complete freedom of religion,
even for
Jews/Catholics/Quakers.
There were NO:
a. oaths of religious beliefs
b. no mandatory attendance policy for worship
c. no taxes collected would support the Church.
d. Also practiced simple manhood suffrage - did
away with requirement to hold property = vote.
Result: RI consisted of misfits and those
banished from other colonies.
They became strongly
individualistic and stubbornly
independent.
Migration:
1. Hartford, Connecticut (1635) Boston Puritans, under
Rev. Thomas Hooker, moved
s. for eco./agrarian reasons.
After 3 yrs. created the Fundamental Orders (of
Connecticut) which established a gov’t based
upon the decision of the majority of its
citizens. (Later importance - provides
framework for our own US Constitution)
2. New Haven, Connecticut (1638) - Boston
Puritans who moved s. in an effort to tighten
the tie between Church and State.
Became a prosperous seaport.
3. Mass. Bay Colony
(1677) - due to the
success of the
fishing and fur
trade, spread n. to
encompass what is
now part of Maine.
4. New Hampshire
Colony (1677) originally owned by the
Gorges family, sold to
the Mass Bay Colony
because of the location
and success of the
fishing/trade industries.
Later, New Hampshire
will split from the Mass.
Bay Colony and form its
own colony (1679).
Rising Threat and Seeds of
Independence
1. 1643 - Formation of the
New England
Confederation
(Massachusetts Bay,
Plymouth, New Haven,
and scattering of
settlements along the
coast - didn’t include
Maine and Rhode Island too many heretics)
Goals:
1. common defense against the enemy
(Ind., Fr., and the Dutch) encroaching
on their land.
2. handled intercolonial problems
3. each colony had two votes
4. exclusive Puritan Club
Importance: Because of the coordination of
the Confederation, the Colonists were
successful in King Philip’s War (1675-1676)
2. Dominion of New England - Created by
royal authority to regain colonial
control.
Areas Affected: Massachusetts Bay,
Plymouth, RI, Conn, NH
Goals:
1. Bolster colonial defense against the Indians
2. Part of the English Navigation Laws -limited
colonial trade to just England (no other
countries)
Promoted by Edmund Andros whose
headquarters was in Boston.
1. cut back town meetings
2. placed heavy restrictions on the courts, press,
and schools (to enforce England’s laws)
3. revoked all land titles - placed people under
his control
4. did away w/ popular assemblies
5. taxed colonists without representation
6. tried to enforce the Navigation Laws - resulted
in smuggling.
Andros’s reign of terror
collapsed when the
Glorious (bloodless)
Revolution took place
in Eng. whereby
James II (Catholics)
was replaced by
William III (Protestant).
Effects of the Glorious Revolution on the
Colonies:
1. Unrest
2. Abandonment of Andros’ system of gov’t
3. Breakdown of the Navigation Laws
4. More British official came to the colonies and
tried to block local leaders from colonial
political positions.
Threat from the Dutch/Swedes
New Netherland - Dutch E. India Co.
commissioned Henry Hudson in 1609
to explored the area between the Puritan
colonies in the n. and the s. Eng. colonies in
the south--Explored the Delaware Bay and
New York Bay, Hudson River,
and n. to Hudson Bay in
Canada--became a prosperous
fur trading area.
Dutch E. India Co. bought Manhattan Island
from the Indians for trinkets - purpose to
protect the Hudson River area. Renamed
Manhattan Island - New Amsterdam.
Entire Dutch area was set up with
patroonships - huge feudal estates
fronting the Hudson River which were
obtained when the Dutch gathered 50
people to apply for the land.
Consequence: attracted a cosmopolitan
population with 18 different languages
spoken. Patroonships were led by
director-generals who actually turned
out to be quite greedy and inadequate
in protecting the settlers from Indian
attacks.
To gain security, the
Dutch built a wall
around New
Amsterdam to
protect them
from the Indians
(hence Wall
Street)
Swede threat: Swedes settled along the
Delaware River and began to spread out
towards the Dutch. The Dutch sent General
Peter Stuyvesant “Father Wooden Leg” to get
rid of the Swedes. The battle was bloodless
and thus the Swedish claim along the
Delaware was absorbed by the Dutch. (16381655)
English threat: (1664)
King Charles II didn’t like the fact
that the Dutch and Swedes were
able to claim land in the New
World. After the Dutch removed
the Swedes, King Charles II sent
his brother the Duke of York to
get rid of the Dutch. Stuyvesant,
without supplies, had to
surrender, thus New Amsterdam
was renamed New York.
Rise of the Quakers:
Separatists, known as the
Society of Friends
(nicknamed Quakers),
refused to support the
Church of England and
their numbers increased
in the English colonies.
Characteristics:
1. simple meeting
places
2. had no paid clergy
3. spoke for
themselves
4. did not require any
oaths
5. advocated passive
resistance - refused
military service.
Location: RI, NC, NJ
Quakers attracted Englishman
William Penn who established
Pennsylvania.
1. Obtained a land grant from the
King.
2. Became the “First advertising
man” because he sent out
advertisements in different
languages for people to join him
when he went to the New World-particularly artisans.
3. Created Philadelphia - carefully planned out
city
4. Bought land (for a reasonable
value) from Chief Tammany
and treated the Indians well.
5. Government –
a. liberal and included representative
assemblies of land owners
b. religious freedom (although forced to deny
Jew and Catholics from voting and
holding public office by the King)
c. Imposed the death penalty only for
treason and murder.
d. opposed black slavery
6. Produced/exported a lot of grain products.
7. Members also spread to land made available by
two English nobles in what is now NJ, then East
and West New Jersey)
Characteristics of the Middle Colonies
NY, NJ, DEL, PA
1. fertile soil
2. booming fur trade
3. industry flourished lumbering and shipbuilding
4. natural harbors – commerce grew
5. landholdings were medium in size, except in
New York
6. moderate forms of government
7. more ethnically diverse
8. greater degree of religious tolerance
9. land was easy to acquire.