Chapter 4: The Northern Colonies in the 17 th Century 1601-1700

1. Chapter 4: The Northern Colonies in the 17th Century1601-1700

2. Most settlers in the Northern and Middle Colonies came for religious freedom and separation instead of being lured by wealth as settlers in the South had been. • Most religious dissidents that came to America were various sects of Calvinists (Puritans, Presbyterians, French Huguenots, Dutch Reformed, etc)

3. Puritans: religious separatists from England who wanted to “purify” the Church of England from Catholic practices. They believed that they should saintly lives with others of their faith away from the corruption of the “un-saved.” • Pilgrims- a group of Puritans who left England in 1608 and lived in Holland as outcasts. They received permission from the Virginia Company to live and work in Jamestown.

5. Pilgrims • 102 came to America aboard the Mayflower, although less than half were Puritans. • They were blown off course and landed way North in New England. • They actually took a number of preliminary surveys and settled on Plymouth Bay (They didn’t wash ashore on Plymouth Rock). • The settlement was outside the domain of the Virginia Company so the settlers had no permission to settle there or form a government.

6. Mayflower Compact • A crude agreement (not a constitution) that the settlers agreed to, wherein they submitted to the will of the majority. • It did set a precedent for local-rule by colonists in the future. • It laid the path for democracy in America down the road.

7. The Pilgrims saw themselves as conducting a “holy experiment” living separate lives, away from non-believers, with self-imposed strictness. • Found moderate success furs, fishing, and lumber. • The first Thanksgiving was celebrated the second Fall in 1621. • Had a much easier time and fewer casualties than Jamestown. • Had strong and able leaders like William Bradford (elected governor 30 times).

8. The Massachusetts Bay Company secured a charter in 1629. • They were non-separatist Puritans (not nearly as hard lined as the Pilgrims to the North in Plymouth). • Centered around Boston. • Started off in 1630 with 1000 settlers, a much larger scale than any other colony up to that time.

9. 20,000 of the 70,000 refugees leaving England during the Great Migration of the 1630s came to Massachusetts Bay. (Most went to the West Indies) • Did well financially in fishing and ship-building. • Although not separatist, most people who came to settle in the early years were deeply religious Puritans. • John Winthrop- able leader and governor (served as governor or lt. gov 19 times)

10. Massachusetts Bay • They believed they were living in a “city upon a hill” for all to see how they behaved and were treated by God. • All adult male members of the Puritan congregation could vote. (about 40% of adult males). Way more than back in England. • All male property owners could vote and publicly speak out in Town Governments. • The government supported the Church and enforced religious rules. • Not a democracy. • The Puritans in New England believed in the “Protestant ethic,” where they were seriously committed to work and worldly pursuits.

11. Many were banned for not following the religious rules of the Colony • Anne Hutchinson was banished for threatening to corrupt the colony with her views. (Moved to R.I. with her family while pregnant, ultimately had 14 children, Killed by Indians in N.Y. in 1638)

12. Roger Williams was also banned for speaking against the Church and the government of Mass Bay. He was an extreme separatist and thought the government corrupt. • Aided by local Indians, he fled to and founded R.I. in 1636 and established the first Baptist Church. • Enacted complete religious tolerance in R.I. • Was a squatter colony with no permission or charter at first, R.I. finally secured a charter in 1644 from Parliament • Very independent people!

13. The Connecticut River Colony drafted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639, which was, in effect, a modern constitution establishing a democratic government.

14. The Dutch founded the colony of New Netherland along the Hudson River in (what would be called later) N.Y. with its capital at New Amsterdam. • Made decent profits in fur trading, but the colony was a sideshow compared to the Dutch East India Company’s enterprise in Southeast Asia. • 1664- New Amsterdam surrendered to a large English fleet without a shot being fired. • England now controlled America from Maine to the Carolinas with no foreign menacing colonies in between.

15. Pennsylvania • Founded in 1681 • Settled by Quakers, who wanted to be left alone after persecution in England. • William Penn was given the enormous land grant as payment of a debt owed by the King to his father. • Advertised to many nations and recruiters attracted farmers, masons, shoemakers, carpenters and other manual laborers. • Of all the advertisements to the new world, those to PA were the most truthful.

16. Pennsylvania • Philadelphia was built as the first planned city since ancient times with whale oil lamps, wide streets, parks, etc. • The Quakers negotiated with and bought a lot of land from Indians in Pennsylvania and relations were friendly for the early settlement period. • A representative assembly (government) was elected by the landowners. • Separation of church and state • Very tolerant of many faiths besides Quakers. • A rich mix of ethnic groups

17. The Middle Colonies • N.Y., N.J., Delaware, & Pennsylvania • The soil was fertile and the size of the colonies was generally large. • The “bread colonies” because of their exports of grain. • Blessed by large rivers like the Hudson, Susquehanna, and Delaware that made traveling inland easier and exploitation of the fur-trade possible.

18. The Middle Colonies • Several large seaports: N.Y., Philadelphia, Albany (100 miles up the Hudson) • Midway between the Southern colonies and New England in location, but also in politics, aristocracy, average farm size, industry, etc • An ethnically mixed society of many nationalities. • The most American of all the colonies

19. The Colonies & the English Empire

20. As New Englanders spread out from the coast, confrontations became more frequent in later decades. • King Philip’s War- A series of clashes between Metacom (named King Philip by the English) and New England settlers in 1675-76. • The Indians attacked 52 towns and destroyed 12. • Hundreds of colonists and thousands of Indians died • Metacom was drawn and quartered and beheaded. His head hung on a Pike in Plymouth for years. His wife and son were sold into slavery. • Native American resistance was sparse after King Philip’s War

21. 1686- The Dominion of New England was created by royal authority • Embraced all of New England, N.Y, and East and West Jerseys. • Created to administer the Navigation Acts which were passed to control colonial trade. • Smuggling became a more common and honorable profession. • The colonists were used to years of “salutary neglect” and despised the Navigation laws and their brutal administrator, Sir Edmund Andros.

22. The Glorious Revolution- 1688 • Catholic King James II is dethroned and his Protestant daughter Mary, and her husband William of Orange became the new King and Queen. • The Dominion of New England collapsed and Andros (trying to escape dressed as a woman) was shipped back to England.