New England Settlement Outline
A. Separatists vs. Puritans
a. Calvinism- Institutes of the Christian Religion
i. Predestination- Good works could not save those predestined for hell
ii. No one could be certain of their spiritual status
iii. Gnawing doubts led to constantly seeking signs of “conversion”
b. Puritans
i. Want to totally reform (purify) the Church of England
ii. Grew impatient with the slow process of Protestant Reformation back in
England
c. Separatists Beliefs
i. 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.
ii. Because the Church of England enrolled all the king’s subjects,
Separatists felt they had to share the church with the “damned”.
iii. Therefore, they believed in a total break from the Church of England.
B. The Mayflower
a. 1620- a group of 102 people (half Separatists)
i. Negotiated with the Virginia Company to settle in its jurisdiction
ii. Non-Separatists included Captain Myles Standish
b. Plymouth Bay- way outside the domain of the Virginia Company
i. Became squatters without legal right to land specific authority to
establish a government.
c. The Mayflower Compact- November 11, 1620
i. Written and signed before the Pilgrims disembarked from the ship
ii. Not a constitution, but an agreement to form a crude government and
submit to majority rule. (Signed by 41 adult males)
iii. Led to adult male settlers meeting in assemblies to make laws in town
meetings
d. Covenant Theology
i. “Covenant of Grace”- between Puritan communities and God
ii. “Social Covenant”
1. Between members of Puritan communities with each other
2. Required mutual watchfulness
3. No privacy
e. The first year (1620-1621)
i. Only 44 of the 102 survived by the end of winter
ii. None chose to leave in 1621 when the Mayflower sailed back
iii. Fall of 1621 the first “Thanksgiving”
1. Colony survived with fur (especially beaver), fish, and lumber
2. William Bradford- Governor of MBC
a. Self-taught scholar
b. Chosen governor of Plymouth 30 times in yearly
elections
c. Worried about settlements of non-Puritans springing up
nearby & corrupting Puritan society; Model of Christian
Charity
3. Plymouth stayed small and economically unimportant
a. 1691, only 7,000 people
C. Puritans vs. Native Americans
a. Indians were especially weak in New England- epidemics wiped out ¾ of the
native population
b. Wampanoag’s (near Plymouth) befriended the settlers
i. Cooperation between the two helped by Squanto
c. 1621- Chief Massasoit signed a treaty with the settlers
d. Autumn 1621- both groups celebrated the First Thanksgiving
a. Merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony
D. Massachusetts Bay Colony (MBC)
a. 1629- non-Separatists got a royal charter to form Massachusetts Bay Colony
i. Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of England
ii. They didn’t want to leave the Church, just its “impurities”
b. 1630- 1,000 people set off in 11 well-stocked ships
i. Established a colony with Boston as its hub
c. “Great Migration” of the 1630s
i. Turmoil in England (leading to the English Civil War) sent about 70,000
Puritans to America
ii. Not all Puritans, 20,000 come to MA
d. John Winthrop (well-off attorney & manor lord in England)
i. Became 1st governor of Massachusetts
ii. Believed that he had a “calling” from God to lead there
iii. Served a s governor or deputy-governor for 19 years
E. Characteristics of New England Settlements
a. Low mortality rates- average life expectancy was 70 years of age
b. Many extended families
c. Average 6 children per family
d. Average age at marriage
i. Women- 22 years old
ii. Men- 27 years old
e. Patriarchy
i. Authoritarian male father figures controlled each household
ii. Patriarchal ministers & magistrates controlled church congregations &
household patriarchs
F. Roger Williams (young popular minister in Salem)
a. Argued for a full break with the Anglican Church
b. Condemned the MBC Charter
i. Did not give fair compensation to Indians
c. Denied authority of civil government to regulate religious behavior
d. In 1635- found guilty of preaching “new & dangerous opinions” and was exiled
e. 1636- fled to Rhode Island
i. MA Bay Puritans wanted him exiled to England to keep him from
founding a competing colony
ii. Remarkable political freedom in Providence, Rhode Island
1. Universal manhood suffrage- later restricted by property
restrictions
2. Opposed to special privilege of any kind- freedom of opportunity
for all
f. RI becomes known as the “Sewer” because it was seen by Puritans as a dumping
ground for unbelievers & religious dissenters- was more liberal than any other
colony
G. Anne Hutchinson (intelligent, strong-willed, well-spoken woman)
a. Threatened patriarchal control
b. Antinomianism –direct revelation
i. Means “against the law”
ii. Carried to logical extremes Puritan doctrine of predestination
iii. Holy life was no sure sign of salvation
iv. Truly saved didn’t need to obey the law of either God or man
c. Anne Hutchinson’s Trial
i. 1638- she confounded the Puritan leaders for days
ii. Eventually bragged that she had received her beliefs “directly” from God
iii. Direct revelation was even more serious than the heresy of
antinomianism (Why?)
iv. Puritan leaders banished her & she & her family traveled to RI
& later to NY
1. She & all but one member of her family were killed in an Indian
attack in Westchester County
2. John Winthrop saw “God’s hand” in this
H. The Pequot Wars (1636-1637)
a. Very powerful tribe in Connecticut River Valley
b. 1637 Pequot War
i. Whites, with Narragansett Indian allies, attacked Pequot village on
Mystic River
ii. Whites set fire to homes & shot fleeing survivors
iii. Pequot tribe virtually annihilated- an uneasy peace lasted for 40 years
I. King Philip’s War (1675-1676) (Metacom or King Philip, to the white settlers)
a. The only hope for Native Americans to resist the white settlers was to UNITE
b. Massasoit’s son united Indians & staged coordinated attacks on white settlements
throughout New England
c. Frontier settlements forced to retreat to Boston
d. The war ended in failure for the Indians
i. Metacom was beheaded & drawn & quartered
ii. His son & wife were sold into slavery
iii. There was never a serious Indian threat in New England again!