Settling the
Northern Colonies
1619 – 1700
Religion
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1517 – Protestant reformation
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1536 – John Calvin --- Calvinism
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The elect
Predestination
Conversion
Visible saints
Puritans v. Separatists
Pilgrims & the Mayflower
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1620 – Pilgrims/Mayflower> Plymouth
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Less than ½ were actually Puritans
Squatters – no charter, suppose to settle in
Virginia
Mayflower Compact (1620)
 town
meetings
 Simple agreement to form a crude
government & submit to the will
of majority
Plymouth
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1st Thanksgiving (1621)
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William Bradford – Governor
(reelected 30x)
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Plentiful harvest/ Wampanoag Indians
Afraid that non-Puritans would corrupt his
godly experiment
Never important politically or economically
Great Puritan Migration - 1630
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Massachusetts Bay
Colony
John Winthrop –
Governor for 19 years
calling from God
Purposed of
government was to
enforce God’s laws
Model society for
humankind
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General court
Protestant ethic –
work!
“Day of Doom”
Persecution of
Quakers
“We shall be as a
city upon a hill.”
Massachusetts Bay Colony
(1630)
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Franchise granted to all “freemen”- adult
males who belonged to Puritan congregations
Town government – all male property holders/
majority rule
Believers & non-believers paid taxes to
support church
Puritans
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Separation of church and state – clergy
could not hold political office
Could hire & fire ministers and set their
salaries
Enjoyed earthly pleasures
Roger Williams - 1635
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Extreme separatist
Condemned colony
for taking Indian
land without
compensation
(Mass. Bay Colony)
1st Baptist church
in America
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Denied the
authority of civil
government to
regulate religious
behavior
Banished
Fled to Rhode
Island (1636)with help of
Indians
Rhode Island -- 1636
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Established by
Roger Williams
Freedom of religion
No oaths or taxes to
support a church
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Simple manhood
suffrage
Strongly
individualistic/
stubbornly
independent
Many religious
dissenters
Anne Hutchinson - 1638
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Banished for heresy
from Mass. Bay Colony
Belief – a holy life was no
sure sign of salvation
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Moved to Rhode Island
Antinomianism – belief
that those whom God
had marked for
salvation need not obey
secular laws
Connecticut Colony (1635)
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Highly fertile land
Thomas Hooker -leader
Fundamental Orders (1639) (constitution)
1638 – New Haven established – no charter
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Merged with Connecticut under Charles II’s
orders
New Hampshire (1679)
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Granite rich area
Separated from Mass. Bay Colony under
King’s orders
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Massachusetts Bay colony exaggerated the
charter to include New Hampshire
King split colonies into royal colonies
Puritans versus Indians
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King Philip’s War (1675-1676)

King Philip (Metacom) launched attacks on
English villages
Slowed westward march of English settlement in
New England
 Lasting defeat of New England’s Indians
 Last serious Indian challenge to white settlement
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New England Confederation
(1643)
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4 colonies banded together “Puritan Club”
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Mass Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, & New Haven
Defense against the Indians, the French, & the
Dutch
Settled intercolonial problems
First milestone on road to colonial unity
Monarch
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1660- Charles II restored to English throne
End of “Benign Neglect”
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Took an active, aggressive hand in the
management of the colonies flexing his
muscles
Dominion of New England
(1686)
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Created by royal authority
Purpose: colonial defense & administration
of the English Navigation Laws
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stop trade with countries not ruled by English
crown
Smuggling began
Sir Edmund Andros
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Led Dominion of New England
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authoritarian rule
Stopped town meetings
Heavy restrictions on courts, press, & school
Revoked all land titles
Tax without consent
Suppress smuggling & enforce Navigation Laws
Dominion collapsed with the Glorious Revolution
(1688-1689) –William & Mary come to throne
New York
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1623-24 – New Netherlands established by the
Dutch West India Company
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Fur trade along Hudson River valley
New Amsterdam (NYC) protected from Indian
attacks by a wall
Aristocratic/Patroonships – received estates if you
settled 50 people
No enthusiasm for religious toleration,
free speech, or democratic practices
Cosmopolitan population
New Amsterdam Surrenders
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1664- Dutch & English want New Amsterdam
Peter Stuyvesant forced to surrender to
English
Land given to Duke of York by his brother
King Charles II
Pennsylvania
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1681 – Established by William Penn as a
refuge for the Quakers
Quaker beliefs
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Take no oaths, simple town meetings,
democratic, turn the other cheek, etc…
Penn: “First American advertising man.”
Pennsylvania
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Representative Assembly elected by
landowners
No tax supported church
Opposed war & slavery
Rich mix of ethnic groups
Great relationship with Native Americans
Changes in the Colonies
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1702 – East & West Jersey combined into
New Jersey
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2 proprietors received land by Duke of York
1703 – Delaware (Lord de la Warr) granted
its own assembly
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Remained under the control of Pennsylvania
until American Revolution
Characteristics of the
Middle Colonies
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Fertile soil – “Bread
Colonies”
Broad rivers –
Encouraged movement
Forests – lumbering &
shipbuilding
Deep harbors –
commerce/seaports of
NY & Philadelphia
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Intermediate
landholdings (size)
Most ethnically mixed
Unusual degree of
religious toleration &
democratic control
More economic
democracy
Similarities Among all
the Colonies
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All basically
English
Some selfgovernment
Some degree of
religious toleration/
educational
opportunity
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Unusual advantages
for economic and
social selfdevelopment
All separated from
home authority by
3,000 miles