Puritan New England
Reformation and England
• Split in Church:
1530’s.
• Anglican Church—
Catholic Church?
• Catholic Kings:
persecution of
Puritans: 1603-1642
• English Civil War:
1630-1642, Puritans v.
Royals (Cavaliers)
Puritan Journey
• First to Holland: 1608
• Holland=too “wilde”
• Charter acquired to
move on to Virginia.
• William Bradford’s
history of “Plimouth
Plantation”
The Landing
• The glorious landing
at Plymouth Rock
• The most “boring
site in America”.
• Stats: only one died
on the journey
over…
The Landing?
• Landed in the wrong spot…aiming for Va.
• Turned south, retreated due to storms.
• “They fell upon their knees and blessed
the god of heaven who had brought them
over the vast and furious ocean, and
delivered them from all the perils thereof,
again to set their feet on the firm and
stable earth” William Bradford 1619
The Mayflower Compact
• Purpose?
• Significance?
Historical populations
Date
Pop.
November,
1620
103
September,
1621
53
November,
1621
88
July,
1623
180
January,
1630
290
July,
1630
380
1643
2000
• Elected for 33
straight terms for
Governor of the
young colony.
• Similar to John
Smith in that his
leadership had the
ability to “unify”.
• Formed early
relationships with
Native Americans.
Plimoth (Plymouth)
• Populated by
a group of
“Separatists”
• Wanted to
separate from
the Anglican
Church of
England.
The landing
New England
Non-Separtists 1630
Separatists 1619
Relations with Natives
• Squanto and
Samoset pave the
way for effective
relations early.
First Thanksgiving
The tide turns…Blue Laws
• Native Cultures are
encroached upon.
• Sabbath a mandatory
day of rest, other
non-Native traditions
are outlawed.
• 1623
Wealth and New England?
• Unable to find wealth and in great
economic hardship, their only tangible
resource is corn and fish, the colonists of
New England turn to Furs.
• Beaver furs in particular were coveted by
the English.
The New England Way
• A second wave of
Puritans will arrive
in 1630 under the
leadership of John
Winthrop.
• 13,000 people
emigrated to
Massachusetts
The Great Migration
• Puritans “flowed”
into the colonies in
great quantities
between 1630 and
1642. The result of
massive persecution
of Puritans in
England.
City upon a hill
• “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon
a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we
shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have
undertaken ... we shall be made a story and a by-word
throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of
enemies to speak evil of the ways of God ... We shall
shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants,
and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon
us til we be consumed out of the good land whither
we are going. “
Christian Charity
• Puritans believed the wealthy had an
obligation to support the poor.
• Winthrop discussed this regularly in his
sermons.
“Saints”
• Conversion relation
• 1662: halfway
covenant
New England Governance
• All male saints could
participate (30% of
total, 55% of males)
• Democracy?: Town
Hall Meeting
• Structure?
Governor
Town deputies
Colonial Legislature
Male Saints
Education
• In order to defeat the
“old Deluder Satan”,
Puritans believed
literacy and bible
study were crucial.
• Each town of 50
needed at least 1
school/teacher.
• The Boston School,
founded 1650.
Training ministers
• Harvard College
founded 1636, to train
ministers.
Daily Life in New England
• Importance of faith
and church.
Military
• Every man from age
16-60 served.
• Well defended fort
Fortified cities
Typical Home
Anne Hutchinson
• Denied “covenant of
works” promoted
covenant of grace.
• Believer of Calvin
• Critical of ministers
• Gender issues?
• Didn’t “attend to her
household affairs and
such things that
belong to a woman.”
Roger Williams
• Purged from
Massachusetts Bay
as a dissident.
• Believed in separation
of church and state
(violated
congregationalism)
• Advocated fairness
with Native
Americans
Thomas Hooker
• Left on his own will to
found Connecticut
(Hartford)
• Disagreed with Mass.
Bay leaders on the
ability/right of all men to
vote.
• Contradicted
congregationalism
• Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut
Native American Wars
• Pequot War
• Pondered taking Native
Lands
• Pointed to the plague of
1618
• Viewed as savages
• Often treated as bad as
Spanish treated groups
and Nathaniel Bacon
treated Powhatan.
• Racism?
Pequot War
Battle of Mystic River
• Pequot farmers
attacked English
farmers
• A Puritan militia
responded with a
massacred where 500
men, women, and
children were burned
alive.
King Phillips War
• King Phillip a version of
Opechcancanough and
Pope
• Military resistance only
chance
• Mass. Bay hired Mohawk
and Mohegan fighters
• Killed 1000 settlers (5%
of population)
• Devastating defeat for
Natives.