Chapter 3 Settling the Northern Colonies
The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism
- Martin Luther and John Calvin set off religious revolutions
§ Nailed protests against Catholicism in 1517
§ Declared that Bible alone was source of God’s word. TF started Protestant Reformation
§ John Calvin elaborates ideas via Calvinism
§ Argued God was all-powerful, all-good and all-knowing. Humans were destined for eternal bliss or torment.
· Good cannot change predestination
§ AR Calvinists often looked for signs of “conversion”. TF led good lives/holy behavior among “visible saints”
§ AR became primary theology for Puritans and other American settlers
- Henry VII breaks away from Roman Catholic Church
§ Occurred in 1530s and encourages Protestantism
§ Was married to SOMEONE who was a Spanish Catholic princess
§ Had trouble conceiving healthy boy child: One girl and one sick boy
§ TF wanted divorce. HV Catholicism forbids divorce and the Pope does not wish to grant divorce
§ TF created the Church of England, the main church of Protestantism
· TF Henry VII severs ties with Spanish princess and marries a maid he was in a relationship with who promised a boy
o Was Queen Elizabeth. AR maid beheaded
§ Due to corruption in the Catholic church and Henry VIII’s new Church of England, some religious reformers undertook total purification of Christianity
§ AR came the Puritans
· Were later irritated by slow Protestant Reformation
· Wanted to quickly see Church of England de-catholicized
- Devoted Puritans gradually wanted to break away from England
§ Had believed that only “visible saints” could become admitted to church membership.
§ Were those who felt stirrings of grace in souls and showed it
§ HV Church of England enrolled all of king’s subjects
· TF a devoted group of Puritans called the Separatists wanted to break completely away.
§ King James I of Scotland encourages Separatists to leave
§ Was head of state and Church of England from 1603 – 1625
§ Believed that if subjects would defy him as spiritual leader, would also do so to him as a political leader
· That was true as the Separatists eventually would behead his son Charles I.
§ TF threatened to “harass” the Separatists out of England
The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth
- Departed for Holland in 1608.
§ Were distressed by children becoming Dutch
§ Wanted a haven to live peacefully as English subjects and purified Protestants.
§ TF negotiated with joint-stock company Virginia Company and secured rights to settle in Virginia
- Mission ended up in Plymouth
§ Went via Mayflower
§ Fewer than half of entire party were Separatists
§ Eventually decided to settle in Plymouth Bay.
§ b/c was outside Virginia Company’s land, they became “squatters”
· Did not have legal right to land
- The first signs of democracy appears in Mayflower Compact 1620
§ A simple agreement to form a government that consents to the will of the governed.
§ Were signed by 41 males but did not include servants/sailors
§ AR was soon gathering in assemblies to make their own laws in town meetings.
- The first winter of 1620-1621 was devastating
§ 44 out of 102 survived
§ HV none of Separatists left when Mayflower sailed back.
- Colony eventually became success
§ 1621 brought harvests and AR the first Thanksgiving Day in New England.
§ Economy depended on fur, fish and lumber
§ William Bradford was a prominent leader
§ Self-taught scholar. Worried that non-Puritans might disrupt the colony’s survival in the wilderness
- Eventually merges with more prominent Massachusetts Bay Colony
§ Plymouth colony did not have charter even by 1961, when it merged with more economically and numerically developed Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth
- The formation of Massachusetts Bay Colony by non-Separatist Puritans
§ Motivated by seeing conflict arise b/w group and King
§ Moderate Puritans had previously wanted reform in the Church of England from within
§ TF slowly gathered support in Parliament. HV Parliament dismissed by Charles I in 1629.
§ Eventually managed to secure royal charter to form Mass. Bay Colony.
- Moderate Puritans develop out of Church of England’s reach
§ b/c brought charter w/ them, they used it as constitution
§ TF kept out of control of Church of England
§ Though denied they wanted to separate from Church of England.
- The colony was successful
§ A successful expedition in 1630. 11 vessels carried more colonists and started the colony on a larger scale than any of the other colonies.
- Was part of the Great Migration to Americas
§ Turmoil in England continued
§ AR more moderate Puritans went to Massachusetts
§ About 70,000 refugees left England
§ HV only 20,000 came to Massachuseets
§ Approx. 48,000 went to West Indies and the sugar-rich islands, incl. Barbados
· TF refugees were not all Puritans
- John Winthrop becomes successful leader of colony
§ Was first governor - Accepted offer to become governor
§ Believed this to be calling from God to lead a new religious experiment
§ AR under his leadership developed fur trade, fishing, shipbuilding industries.
§ “We shall be as a city upon a hill”
§ Colonists shared a sense of purpose. Believed that they had an agreement w/ God to build a holy society.
Building the Bay Colony
- The Provincial Government was not yet a democracy
§ Though voting were extended to all “freemen”, they only included adult males who belonged to Puritan congregations.
§ Later became known as Congregational Church. TF men not in church and women could not vote. AR only 2/5 of men allowed to vote, though it was better than England then.
§ “Freemen” had elected governor and a representative assembly called the General Court every year
§ HV only the “visible saints” or Puritans could be freemen.
§ Even though the covenant made nonbelievers as well as believers pay for taxes in the government supported church.
- Town governments were often more inclusive
§ Male property holders and a few others could engage in public discussions of local issues.
- Religious leaders have a lot of influence on colony
§ Via the “Bible Commonwealth”
§ Powerfully influenced admission to church.
§ Interrogated those who claimed to have “conversions”. Incl. among the early clergy John Cotton
· Defended government’s duty to enforce religious rules
§ HV power of preachers were not absolute
§ A congregation could hire/fire and set salary of minister. Clergymen not allowed to hold formal political office.
· B/c Puritans suffered too much under a politically powerful Anglican clergy to permit another unholy union of religious and government power.
§ AR bay colonists endorsed idea of separation of church and state.
- Puritans were a very spiritually intense group.
§ Shared “Protestant ethic”. Involved serious commitment to worldly pursuits.
§ Enjoyed simple pleasures. AR passed laws aimed at making sure these pleasures stayed simple and repressing certain human instincts.
Trouble in the Bible Commonwealth
- Conflict with the Quakers rose
§ Flouted (insulted) the authority of the Puritan clergy. AR were persecuted w/ fines, banishment, etc.
§ Four Quakers who defied expulsion were hanged.
- Anne Hutchinson was a prominent Quaker
§ Was a sharp challenge to Puritan orthodoxy. Challenged to logical extremes the Puritan doctrine of predestination
§ Claimed that a holy life was no sure sign of salvation TF the truly saved need not bother to obey the law of either God or man
§ This assertion was known as antinomianism
· Greek for “against the law”. Was high heresy
§ Brought to trial in 1638
§ Eventually boasted she had come by her beliefs through direct revelation from God. Was even higher heresy
§ TF Puritan magistrates had to banish her lest she pollute the entire Puritan experiment
§ AR she and her family of 14 children moved to Rhode Island.
§ When she finally moved to New York, she had all but one in her household left. All else were killed by Indians.
- Roger Williams was more threatening to Puritan leaders.
§ Was an extreme Separatist. Wanted his fellow clergymen to have a clean break w/ the corrupt Church of England
§ Challenged legality of Bay Colony’s charter
§ He had opposed the charter as they removed land from Native Americans w/o fair compensation.
§ Also opposed authority of civil government to regulate religious behavior
§ AR colony authorities found Williams guilty of spreading “dangerous opinions”
§ TF banished him and attempted to send him to exile into England
§ HV Williams managed to flee to the Rhode Island area in 1636.
§ Built a Baptist Church - A likely first in America
§ Est. complete freedom of religion, even for Jews and Catholics.
· Also made a shelter for Quakers, though Williams disagreed with their views.
§ AR Rhode Island became more liberal than any other of the English settlements in the New World.
§ Became the home of outcasts and those who were unwelcome in other places.
§ Eventually gained charter from Parliament in 1644.
New England Spreads Out
- Briefing on the formation of Connecticut
§ Has Connecticut River, one of the few highly fertile expanses in New England.
§ AR attracted Dutch and English settlers
§ Hartford founded in 1635
§ Founded by energetic group of Boston Puritans. Led by Reverend Thomas Hooker.
- The Formation of a constitution
§ In 1939 settlers drafted in open meeting the Fundamental Orders
§ Was a modern constitution. Est. a regime democratically controlled by “substantial” citizens.
§ Created first for the new Connecticut River colony, and then later by Connecticut for colonial charter then for its state constitution.
- New Haven becomes a flourishing settlement in 1638
§ Founded by Puritans who wanted a closer church-government alliance than in Massachusetts.
§ Were squatters w/o a charter, but dreamed of making New Haven a busy seaport
§ HV New Havenists had sheltered two judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I. TF colonists fell into disfavor w/ Charles II
§ AR in 1662, crown granted a charter to Connecticut
§ TF merged New Haven w/ the more democratic communities
- The formation of Maine
§ Fishermen and fur traders had been active approx. dozen years before founding of Plymouth
§ HV due to unsuccessful attempts at colonization by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, land was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay
§ Via purchase in 1677 from the Gorges heirs. Was to remain part of Massachusetts for around 150 years before becoming a separate state
- The formation of New Hampshire
§ Also engaged in fishing and trading activities.
§ Absorbed by Mass. Bay Colony in 1641
§ Via strained interpretation of Massachusetts charter. AR king was annoyed by this greedy move and separated New Hampshire from Massachusetts in 1679 and made it a royal colony
Puritans Versus Indians
- Disease takes the lives of ¾ of New England natives
§ Occurred shortly after Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth in 1620. AR there were deserted Indian fields
- Indians attempt to befriend the colonists
§ B/c Wampanoag Indians were in no position to resist English taking of land.
§ Cultural accommodation facilitated by Squanto
§ He had learned English from a ship’s captain who had kidnapped him some years earlier
§ AR Wampanoag chieftain Massasoit signed a treaty w/ Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621 and helped them celebrate first Thanksgiving after first autumn harvests.
- HV more English settlers came and pushed inland
§ AR hostilities broke out in 1637 b/w English settlers and the powerful Pequot tribe.
§ English militiamen besieged a Pequot village with help of native American allies.
§ AR was a brutal finish to Pequot War which annihilated Pequot tribe
- AR were decades of uneasy peace b/w Puritans and Native Americans.
- Puritans attempt to ease matters
§ Received criticism from England.TF made little efforts to convert remaining Native Americans to Christianity.
§ Never amounted to the zeal of Catholic Spanish or French.
§ HV only handful of Indians gathered in Puritan “praying towns”.
- Indians attack back
§ 1675 Massasoit’s son, Metacom forged alliance between many tribes which all opposed the spreading English
§ Were called King Philip by the English
§ Frontier settlements were hard hit. AR fell back to Boston. War ended in 1676, with a sad ending on both sides
§ 52 Puritan towns attacked, 12 destroyed entirely. Hundreds of colonists and many more Indians died.
§ Metacom himself was captured, beheaded, drawn and quartered.
- King Philip’s War slowed westward movement of English settlement for several decades.
§ HV inflicted lasting damage on Indians. Were dispirited and disbanded and only posed sporadic threats to New England colonists later.
Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence
- Unification of the New England Confederation
§ Four colonies banded together in 1643
§ B/c Old England was deeply involved in civil wars, colonists had to survive on their own.
§ TF confederation was defense against foes and potential foes. Incl. Indians, French, and the Dutch.
§ Confederation had a jurisdiction that made decisions
§ Decisions incl. purely intercolonial problems incl. runaway servants and criminals.
§ Each member colony had two votes. AR irritated most populous colony, Massachusetts Bay.
§ Was exclusively Puritan
§ Incl. two Massachusetts colonies (Bay colony and Plymouth) and two Connecticut colonies (New Haven and scattered valley settlements)
§ Did not include Rhode Island and Maine outposts. Considered to have too many unwelcome/heretical characters
§ Was first notable milestone towards colonial unity, though weak.
§ Delegates took steps towards acting together. Common colonists received valuable experience in delegating their votes to properly chosen representatives.
§ MW back in England king paid little attention. B/c of civil wars with the parliamentarians in 1640s.
§ AR colonies were even allowed to become semiautonomous commonwealths (largely self-governing political state/unit)
- HV when Charles II was restored to throne in 1660, royalists and their allies Church of England were once more under control.
§ AR Puritan hopes of purifying Church of England . Charles II also intended to take an active and aggressive management of the colonies.
- Punishment falls upon Massachusetts Bay Colony
§ Where colonial defiance was most apparent. B/c Royal orders had very little effect. AR King Charles II punishes via:
§ Gave Mass.’s rival Connecticut in 1662 a sea-to-sea charter grant. AR legalized squatter settlements.
§ Gave outcasts in Rhode Island a charter which gave kingly permission to the most religiously tolerant government yet to appear in America.
§ Also revoked Massachusetts Bay Colony’s charter in 1684.
Andros Promotes the First American Revolution
- Dominion of England created by royal authority in 1686. Was directed from London
§ Included all of New England and expanded two years later to include New York and East and West Jersey.
§ Aimed at improving defense in the event of war w/ natives
- Was most importantly designed to promote the needed efficiency in the administration of the English Navigation Laws
§ Navigation laws aimed to bring colonies closer to homeland by “throttling” American trade w/ contries not ruled by English crown. AR smuggling became common
- Sir Edmond Andros generates hostility
§ Was at the head of the new dominion. Generated hostility via open affiliation w/ despised Church of England.
§ Colonists also outraged by his Sabbath-profaning soldiers
§ Andros makes heavy restrictions
§ Ruthlessly curbed cherished town meetings. Heavy restrictions on courts, press, schools. Revoked all land titles. Taxed people w/o consent of elected representatives. Aimed to enforce Navigation Laws and suppress smuggling.
- MW back in home, citizens resisted oppression via the Glorious (aka Bloodless) Revolution
§ Dethroned the unpopular Catholic James II. Enthroned the Protestant rulers of Netherlands, Dutch-born William III and his English wife Mary (daugter of James II
- AR Dominion of New England collapsed quickly. AR a Boston mob caught with the fever hastily shipped Sir Edmund Andros (who attempted to flee) to England.
§ HV Massachusetts was made a royal colony as a result in 1691.
§ AR there was permanent loss of ancient charter
§ Privilege of voting now available to all qualified male property holders. Before was just available to church members.
- MW New York and Maryland rocked w/ unrest from fever from Glorious Revolution in 1689 – 1691
§ Ended after newly appointed royal governors calmed things down
§ New monarchs also relaxed grip on colonial trade, where Navigation Laws were weakly enforced
- HV the aggressive acts of Charles II were felt as more English officials are now staffed in courts.
§ Appointed by patrons in England. AR blocked rise of local leaders to positions of political power.
§ AR Americans built contempt and resentment throughout 1700s.
Old Netherlanders at New Netherland
- Netherlands rise as a power
§ Rebelled against Catholic Spain and succeeded w/ aid of Protestant England.
- AR emerged as major commercial and naval power. Then challenged England. AR were three Anglo-Dutch naval wars
- MW became leading colonial power
§ Greatest activity in East Indies. Was able to maintain large and profitable empire via Dutch East India Company.
§ For greater riches employed English explorer Henry Hudson. Ignored orders to sail NE and sailed to Delaware Bay and New York Bay in 1608
§ Had hoped to find a shortcut through continent. HV founded New Netherland in the Hudson River Area.
§ Had a slightly less successful Dutch West India Company
§ Was less interested in trading and more interested in raiding Spanish treasure ships.
§ HV also maintained profitable enterprises in Carribean and est. outposts in Brazil w/ thriving sugar industries.
· Sugar industries were the principle center of activity for several decades in the New World.
- Netherlands extend their colonial territory
§ New Netherland planted in 1623-1624. Was est. by Dutch West India Company for quick-profit fur trade.
§ Had also “bought” Manhattan Island from the Native Americans for virtually nothing.
§ These 21,000 acres were not really “owned” by the natives.
§ New Amsterdam (later New York City) was est. as company town.
§ Run by and run for the West Indies Company for the interest of the stockholders and was a corporate colony
§ TF did not emphasize importance of religious toleration, freedom of speech, or democratic practices.
§ AR governors appointed by company were usually harsh.
· AR Quakers and religious dissenters who opposed Dutch Reformed Church were persecuted.
· In response to repeated protests, a local body w/ limited lawmaking power was finally est.
§ New Amsterdam attracks settlers from many cultures
· Had vast feudal estates near Hudson River called patroonships. These were granted to promoters who agreed to settle 50 people on them.
· Attracted a large population as it was w/ seaport towns. A recorded 18 languages were spoken.
Friction with English and Swedish Neighbors
- Dutch Company had several problems
§ Directors-general were incompetent. Company shareholders demanded their share of dividends even when it was at expense of colony’s welfare. Situation w/ natives not going too well.
§ AR created a wall (which was where Wall Street got its name)
- Also New England opposed intruding Hollanders
§ TF ¾ members of New England Confed agreed to wipe out New Netherland w/ military force.
§ HV Massachusetts vetoed the act. (It would have also provided the most troops)
- The rise of the Swedes
§ Was the golden age of Sweden in 1638 – 1655 after Thirty Years’ War from 1618 – 1648. Had been leader of growth of Protestantism.
§ Had planted New Sweden on the Delaware River.
§ AR the Dutch dispatched small military expedition in 1655, sending ablest of directors-general Peter Stuyvesant.
§ AR Swedish rule came to end. Colonists absorbed by New Netherland. New Sweden faded away.
Dutch Residues in New York
- New York lacked vitality and was only a secondary commercial interest of the Dutch.
§ Was also approx. ½ English by 1664.
- TF in 1664 imperially ambitious Charles II granted the area to his brother, the Duke of York.
§ A military able squadron appeared at weak defenses of New Amsterdam. Peter Stuyvesant was not properly supplied and had to surrender immediately.
§ AR New York was named in honor of Duke of York.
- AR New York growth was slow
§ Corrupt land governors granted immense amount of land to favorites. Large land owners had unfair amount of power in colonial New York
§ TF discouraged immigrants from coming.
Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania
- A brief history of the Quakers
§ Rose in mid-1600s and “quaked” under deep religious emotion. Officially they are the Religious Society of Friends.
§ Were offensive to authorities, both religious and civil. Refused to support est. Church of England w/ taxes.
§ Believed that all were children in the sight of God. Would “speak up” when moved in meetings. Were a peaceful group and opposed warfare.
- William Penn attempts to make a haven for Quakers
§ Quakers were persecuted back at home.
§ B/c the king owed his deceased father money, the king granted him the land that would become Pennsylvania.
§ Was the most advertised colony and had a liberal land policy which encouraged an inflow of immigrants.
Quaker Pennsylvania and its Neighbors
§ Formally launched colony in 1681 among the presence of already existent Dutch, Swedish, English and Welsh squatters.
- Penn establishes good relations with the natives
§ Bought land from the Indians. Treatment of the native peoples were really fair that there was no conflict.
§ AR for a brief period some southern tribes even migrated to Pennsylvania.
§ HV as non-Quakers came into Pennsylvania, they undermined Quakers’ kindness towards Indian.
- Pennsylvania was very liberal
§ Included a representative assembly elected by landowners
§ No tax-supported church that demanded allegiance. Freedom of religion, though Catholics and Jews could not vote or hold office due to pressure from London. Death penalty only used for actually serious crimes.
§ AR attracted religious misfits repelled by neighboring colonies. Underwent large population growth.
§ Eventually also began exporting grain and other foodstuffs.
- Penn did not prosper as well as Pennsylvania
§ Was never fully appreciated by colonists
§ Became too close with James II (the deposed Catholic) and arrested for treason and died in jail.
- Pennsylvania influences neighboring lands, staring New jersey.
§ New Jersey was started in 1664 when two proprietors received area from Duke of York.
§ AR New Englanders who were on weary soil went to new colony.
§ One of proprietors sold West New Jersey to Quakers in 1674. They had est. sanctuary even before Pennsylvania started.
§ East New Jersey eventually also belonged to Quakers when the monarch combined two Jerseys into one royal colony in 1702.
- Delaware eventually becomes a state. Was granted own assembly in 1703 but until the American Revolution, remained under governor of Pennsylvania.
The Middle Way in the Middle Colonies
§ Incl. New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania
- Enjoyed fertile soil and large land. Was able to grow and export a lot of grain
- Rivers contributed to fur trade and growth of milling/using water-wheel power
§ Incl. the Susquehanna, the Delaware and the Hudson.
- Forests provided ample supply of lumber and supplies for shipbuilding. Rivers also contributed to development of seaports.
- Were in between the North and South in terms of size of landholdings and the type of governmental power.
§ New England had small-farm, South had big-acreage.
§ Had personalized town meetings in New England and diffused county gov. in South. There were fewer industries in the middle colonies than in New England, but more industries in middle than in south.
- Middle colonies were more ethnically mixed and blessed with more liberty.
§ Desirable land also more easily acquired than in both N and S colonies
§ AR more economic and social democracy.
- Benjamin Franklin was often regarded as most representative American personality of his era.
§ Was child of middle colonies though born in Massachusetts though lived much of life as a Philadelphian
- MW British continued hands-off policies and had left the Americans to run their own governments, churches, and networks of intercolonial trade.
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