New England Colonies
In addition to wealth, there were other reasons people came to North
America. Religious dissent (disagreement with the Anglican Church) was
one of the most common. Since Europeans strongly identified religion with
nationality, English leaders viewed any protest or refusal to follow Anglican
church teachings as a betrayal. As a result, those with different religious
views saw North America as a place to escape persecution. One such
group was the Puritans. They wanted to establish a community built solely
on "pure biblical teaching" rather than Anglican traditions. In 1620, a group
of Puritans established a colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts. These
Puritans became known as the "Pilgrims" and celebrated the first
Thanksgiving in 1621. Later, another group of Puritans settled further north
and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Eventually, Roger Williams
and Anne Hutchinson helped to form Rhode Island after they left
Massachusetts over disagreements with Puritan leaders. Other Puritan
settlers founded Connecticut and New Hampshire as well. Thus, New
England was a region founded on religion and strongly influenced by the
Puritan faith.
New England's Colonial Economy
Rather than raising cash crops, the New England colonies relied heavily on
the Atlantic Ocean. Shipbuilding, trade, and fishing became leading
industries in the region. New Englanders transported goods from England to
other regions, like the West Indies. From these regions, they acquired
products like sugarcane, molasses, and rum that they could then trade for
African slaves, etc. As a result, Boston, Massachusetts became a booming
urban center for shipping and New England commerce. Although New
Englanders farmed as well, their farms tended to be smaller and for the
primary purpose of allowing families to be self-sufficient.
New England Education
The Puritans had a strong sense of faith, family, and community and were
the first British colonists to promote public education. Puritans believed that
everyone should be able to read the Bible. Therefore, they put a high priority
on literacy. This emphasis on education eventually spread to other fields as
well. In 1647, Massachusetts passed laws requiring public schools for towns
of 50 families or more. In addition, towns of 100 or more families were
required to establish grammar schools for the purpose of preparing young
boys for college. Generally, only boys attended these schools, while girls
were trained for "womanly duties" at home (although there were some
exceptions). New Englanders also founded two of the nation's earliest
colleges: Harvard and Yale. Initially, the primary purpose of these colleges
was to train ministers.
“The Mayflower Compact”
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
New England Government
In New England, the first efforts at self-government were defined in the
Mayflower Compact. The Puritan settlers at Plymouth drafted this
document while still on board the Mayflower (the ship that transported them
to North America). It established an elected legislature and asserted that the
government derived its power from the people of the colony. It also implied
the colonists' desire to be ruled by a local government, rather than England.
This belief in representative government often took the form of town
meetings, in which local, tax-paying citizens (usually property owners) met
together to discuss and vote on issues. Once again, it gave citizens a say in
their government and helped to firmly establish a belief in democratic ideals.
However, despite advocating representative government in principle, the
Puritans still believed firmly that government should seek to enforce the will
of God rather than satisfy the will of the people. For this reason, power
tended to rest in the hands of church leaders and could often be very
authoritative (dictating to colonists what the rules of their society would be).
As a result, tensions sometimes arose between church/government leaders
and the people.
“Signing of the Fundamental Orders 1638-1639” by Albert Herter
Religion and Dissent
The Puritan church was a central part of life in New England. In
Massachusetts, for instance, every settler had to attend and support the
Puritan church. Dissenters (those who disagreed with church leaders) were
often banished from the colony. Eventually, Roger Williams and Anne
Hutchinson both left Massachusetts because they disagreed with teaching
of the Puritan church in the colony. Each played key roles in the founding of
Rhode Island as a new colony. In addition, Thomas Hooker also disagreed
with the church and left Massachusetts in 1636 to found Connecticut. He
and his followers wrote a new body of laws for their settlement known as the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. It stated that the government's
power came only from the "free consent of the people" and set limits on
what the government could do. Such principles eventually provided a
foundation for the government of the United States following the American
Revolution. Eventually, unrest in Massachusetts took its toll. The colony lost
its charter in 1684. In 1691, despite the Puritans' best attempts to resist the
Crown, Massachusetts became a royal colony under the leadership of the
king's appointed governor. The Crown also established a new,
representative legislature and abolished the requirement that every member
must be a member of the church.