Transcript New England Colonies - Mr. Cvelbar's U.S. History Page

New England Colonies
New England Economy
 Not much commercial farming – rocky
New England soil
 New England harbors
 Fishing/Whaling

Whale Oil
Shipping/Trade
 Heavily Forested
 Lumber
 Manufacturing
 First factories
 Rum



Made from Molasses
Largest industry in America after
1664
 New York, Boston


Some estimates had every American
drinking 3 gallons/yr.
Shipbuilding
New England Colonies
 Massachusetts
 Plymouth—1620
 Massachusetts Bay
Colony—1629
 Connecticut
 Rhode Island
 New Hampshire
The Great Migration
 In the 1620’s, England began to experience
an economic downturn


High unemployment
Charles I raises taxes
 Church of England began to punish Puritans
because they were critical of the church.
 More than 40,000 Englishmen immigrated to
the colonies in the Caribbean and New
England between 1630 and 1640.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
 1629--Massachusetts Bay Company granted
John Winthrop
a charter by Charles I
 Company Colony – owned by stockholders
 All stocks were eventually bought by
Puritans and decided to move company
to America
 Led by John Winthrop, over 1000 Puritans
sailed to Massachusetts to establish an ideal
Christian community in New England.
 “City on a hill”
 First land in Salem, then Boston
 Colony grows and prospers
 Well prepared for the task
 Little resistance from Indians
 Trade with Plymouth
 Healthier climate than Virginia
Massachusetts Bay
 Company Charter provided more freedom than royal
charter in Virginia


Provided that a General Court in Massachusetts would
make laws, and elect a governor and other officials
Families, and later towns, would send representatives to
the General Court
 Only male church members were eligible to vote
 This created a Theocracy – government ruled by, or
subject to, the church
Salem Witch Trials
 In the early 1690’s, a group




Painting by Thomas Slatterwhite Noble
of girls accused people,
mostly women, of casting
spells on them.
Special Courts were formed
to conduct witchcraft trials,
often marked by hysteria
Accused were often
pressured to confess
Trials led to the execution of
19 people for witchcraft
Within a year, officials
regretted the trials and
apologized for the actions of
the Salem Court.
Connecticut
 Some colonists disagreed with the church’s
influence on government
 Minister Thomas Hooker believed that any
property owner should be eligible to vote,
regardless of church membership
 In 1636, Hooker and 100 of his followers were
granted permission to leave Massachusetts to
create a new settlement - Connecticut
 Proprietary colony – owned by one or more
individuals
 1639—Fundamental Orders of Connecticut made
the government more democratic
 Possibly the first written Constitution in the
Western World
 Acknowledges individual rights of man and
government’s job to protect them
 Men who were not church members were
allowed to vote
 General Courts/Assemblies are developing
representative government
 Still part of Connecticut’s Constitution
New Hampshire
 The English crown granted land to Captain John
Mason and others in 1623


Proprietary colony
Sent 2 groups of settlers to the new territory to
create a fishing colony



Little Harbor, Dover
Mason died in 1635 before ever arriving in N.H.
Made agreement in 1641 to join Massachusetts
Bay Colony for protection
 Became a royal colony in 1679 – under control
of the crown
Rhode Island
 Founded by Puritan minister Roger Williams
 Disagreed with leaders in Massachusetts
Believed in “Soul-Liberty” – people should
have right to opinion on religious matters
 “Wall of Separation” between church and
politics
 Promoted religious tolerance
 Wanted to deal fairly with Indians
 Exiled from Massachusetts and settled to the
south in Providence in 1644
 Given land by Natives
 Proprietary Colony
 Anne Hutchinson
 Challenged church leaders
 Banished in 1637 and founded
Portsmouth in Rhode Island

Roger Williams