SETTLING THE NORTHERN COLONIES

Chapter 3

The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism  Martin Luther was indirectly helping shape a nation that was yet to be discovered when he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral.

 Out of his beliefs came the theological idea of Calvinism.

Calvinism

 Calvinism was founded by John Calvin of Geneva.

 Calvinism became the dominant theological credo of New England Puritans, other American settlers, Scottish Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and the Dutch Reformed Church.

 God, according to Calvin, was all-powerful and all-good. Humans, were weak and wicked.

Calvinism

 Calvin also thought, since God was all-knowing, that people were predestined to go to heaven or hell.

 Even though people were predestined, it did not mean that they could live their lives however they wanted.

 The fact that they were unsure of their statuses gnawed at Calvinists as they continually searched for conversion, signs of their saving grace.

Puritans

 The Puritans in England were from the depressed woolen districts and they fed off of the thought of a divine plan that shaped their lives.

 The most devout Puritans, including those who eventually settled in New England, believed that they should not have to share their pews with those who were “damned”.

Puritans

 These devout Puritans became known as Separatists, and vowed to break away from the Church of England entirely.

 King James I was head of both church and state from 1603 to 1625.

 He decided that if people could defy him as their spiritual leader, they could eventually defy him as their political leader.

King James I

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King James decided that he would harass the Separatists out of the England.

The Pilgrims end Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth  The Separatists originally set sail for Holland in 1608, but lived in poverty and resented the “Dutchification” of their children.

 They longed to live as English men and women and purified Protestants.

 The Separatists were supposed to land in Virginia, but after being at sea for 65 days, missed their destination.

The Pilgrims end Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth  Only one of the 102 died en route and one was born during the voyage aboard the Mayflower.

 Less than half were Separatists.

 One such nonbelonger was Myles Standish, who proved to be indispensable as an Indian fighter and negotiator.

 Since the Pilgrims were not on the land they were supposed to be, they were technically squatters.

The Pilgrims end Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth  Before disembarking, the Pilgrim leaders drew up the Mayflower Compact, which was a significant step toward the first form of self government.

 The winter 1620-1621 claimed the lives of all but 44 of the 102 settlers.

 When the Mayflower sailed back to England none of the Separatists returned with it.

The Pilgrims end Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth  Eventually, the colony found its economic legs in fur, fish, and lumber.

 The little colony was never significant economically or numerically (only 7,000 by 1691), but its cultural importance cannot be overstated.

 In 1691, the Plymouth colony merged with its neighbor, the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth  In 1629 Non-Separatist Puritans secured a royal charter to form the Massachusetts Bay Company.

 The Massachusetts Bay Colony was blessed with 11 ships carrying nearly a thousand immigrants.

The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth  During the Great Migration of the 1630s, about 70,000 refugees left England (about 20,000 came to Mass.)  May Puritans went to the West Indies, especially Barbados  Mass. Bay Colony settlers believed that they had a covenant with God, an agreement to build a holy society that would be a model for humankind.

Building the Bay Colony

 The colonial government, although liberal, was not a democracy.

 The Governor John Winthrop, thought democracy was the “meanest and worst” of all forms of government.

 There was a strong dividing line between the Puritans who were “freemen” (belonging to the Congregational Church) and those who were not.

Building the Bay Colony

 The Bay colonists endorsed the idea of the separation of church and state by;  Giving the congregation the right to hire and fire the minister and set his salary.

 Clergymen were barred from holding formal political office.

Trouble in the Commonwealth

 At the beginning, the Bay colonists lived in relative harmony.

 However, the Quakers, who flouted the authority of the Puritan clergy, were given fines, floggings, and banishment.

 In an extreme case, four Quakers who defied expulsion, one of them a woman, were hanged on the Boston Common.

Anne Hutchinson: Dissenter

 Hutchinson was exceptionally intelligent, strong willed, and talkative (mother of 14).

 She questioned the Puritan doctrine of predestination (this was heresy).

 She believed in antinomianism- those whoa re truly saved need not bother to obey the law of either God or man (even worse heresy).

Anne Hutchinson: Dissenter

 She was banished by Puritan magistrates.

 She set out, on foot, with her family to Rhode Island.

 She and all but one of her household were killed by Indians.

 John Winthrop, Gov. of Mass. Bay, saw “god’s hands” in her fate.

New England Spreads Out

 In 1639, settlers on the Connecticut River drafted a document known as the Fundamental Orders.

 This document was, in effect, a modern constitution, which established a regime democratically controlled by the “substantial” citizens.

 Parts of the Fundamental Orders were later borrowed by Connecticut for its colonial charter and ultimately for its state constitution.

Glorious Revolution (1688-1689)

 Also known as the Bloodless Revolution.

 The unpopular Catholic King James II was dethroned and replaced with Protestant rulers (Dutch-born William II and his English wife Mary II).

Glorious Revolution (1688-1689)

 Inspired, many colonists struck back against royal authority (New York and Maryland 1689-1691).

 Most importantly, the new monarchs relaxed their grip on colonial trade, ushering in a period of “salutary neglect” when the hated Navigation Laws were only weakly enforced.

Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence  A path-breaking experiment in union was launched in 1643, when four colonies banded together to form the New England Confederation.

 It was an exclusively Puritan club consisting of Massachusetts colonies (Bay and Plymouth) and New Haven and the valley settlements in Connecticut

Old Netherlanders at New Netherland  The Dutch East India Company (DEIC) at one time supported an army of 10,000 men and a fleet of 190 ships.

 Henry Hudson was employed by DEIC to find riches and also the coveted shortcut through the continent.

 New Netherland was planted in 1623-1634 and was never of primary interest to the founders.

Old Netherlanders at New Netherland  The Company bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for worthless trinkets.

 This was 22,000 acres of perhaps the most valuable real estate in the world for pennies/acre.

Dutch Residues in New York

       Charles II had granted the area of New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York.

The English came to reclaim the land from the Dutch and after it was renamed New York.

We still see Dutch influence in New York Harlem (Haarlem) Brooklyn (Breuckelen) Hell Gate (Hellegat) Easter Eggs, Santa Claus, waffles, bowling, sleighing, skating, kolf (golf)

Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania  Quakers were considered to be a problem to the establishment because;  They refused to support the Church of England with taxes.

 They would take no oaths because Jesus commanded, “Swear not at all”.

 They refused military service.

William Penn

 William Penn was a young man who grew increasingly fond of the Quaker faith and wanted to escape persecution by going to the New World.

 Penn was granted an immense amount of fertile land by the king in the land known as Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woodland), named for Penn’s father.

William Penn

 Penn was the “first American advertising man”.

 He sent out paid agents with pamphlets printed in English, Dutch, French, and German to advertise Pennsylvania.

 Penn launched the colony in 1681.

 Penn got along well with the Natives and was an astute city planner.

Pennsylvania

 Pennsylvania was considered a nice place to live because;  All ethnic groups were treated equally  Land was plentiful  There were only 2 capital crimes; treason and murder (as opposed to 200 in England)  People were afforded economic opportunity, civil liberty, and religious freedom.

Pennsylvania

 Penn ended up in prison because of his close bond with Charles II, who was falling out of favor with the colonists.

 Penn died of a paralytic stroke and was never fully appreciate by the people of Pennsylvania.

The Middle Way in the Middle Colonies  The middle colonies- New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

       The “middle way” of the middle colonies was; The fertile soil Broad streams and rivers (Delaware, Hudson, and Susquehanna) They were the “bread colonies” Industrial (vast forests for logging and shipbuilding) Ethnically mixed and religiously tolerant Smaller than the plantations of the South, but bigger than small-farm New England.