The Settlementof New England

The Settlementof New England

The Settlementof New England

  1. Separatists vs. Puritans
  1. Calvinism
  2. Calvinism Institutes of the Christian Religion
  3. Predestination.
  4. Good works could not save those predestined for hell.
  5. No one could be certain of their spiritual status.
  6. Gnawing doubts led to constantly seeking signs of “conversion.”
  7. Puritans:
  8. Want to totally reform [purify] the Church of England.
  9. Grew impatient with the slow process of Protestant Reformation back in England.
  10. Separatist Beliefs
  11. Puritans who believed only “visible saints” [those who could demonstrate in front of their fellow Puritans their elect status] should be admitted to church membership.
  12. Because the Church of England enrolled all the king’s subjects, Separatists felt they had to share churches with the “damned.”
  13. Therefore, they believed in a total break from the Church of England.
  14. Sources of Puritan Migration
  15. The Mayflower
  16. 1620  group of 102 people [half Separatists]
  17. Negotiated with the Virginia Company to settle in its jurisdiction
  18. Non-Separatists
    included Captain Myles
    Standish.
  19. Plymouth Bay outside the domain of the Virginia Company
  20. Became squatters without legal right to land & specific authority to establish a govt
  21. The Mayflower Compact
  22. The First Year
  23. Winter of 1620-1621
  24. Only 44 out of the original 102 survived.
  25. None chose to leave in 1621 when the Mayflower sailed back.
  26. Fall of 1621  First “Thanksgiving.”
  27. Colony survived with fur [especially beaver], fish, and lumber.
  28. Plymouth stayed small and economically unimportant.
  29. 1691: only 7,000 people
  30. Merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony
  31. William Bradford
  32. Self-taught scholar
  33. Chosen governor of Plymouth 30 times in yearly elections
  34. Worried about settlements of non-Puritans springing up nearby and corrupting Puritan society
  35. The Massachusetts Bay Colony
  36. 1629  non-Separatists got a royal charter to form the MA Bay Co.
  37. Wanted to escape attacks by conservatives in the Church of England
  38. They didn’t want to leave the Church, just its “impurities”
  39. 1630  1,000 people set off in 11 well-stocked ships
  40. Established a colony with Boston as its hub.
  41. “Great Migration” of the 1630s
  42. Turmoil in England [leading to the English Civil War] sent about 70,000 Puritans to America.
  43. Not all Puritans 20,000 came to MA
  44. John Winthrop
  45. Well-off attorney and manor lord in England.
  46. A Modell of Christian Charity.
  47. Became 1st governor of Massachusetts.
  48. Believed that he had a “calling” from God to lead there.
  49. Served as governor or deputy-governor for 19 years.
  50. Characteristics of New England Settlements
  51. Low mortality  average life expectancy was 70 years of age.
  52. Many extended families.
  53. Average 6 children per family.
  54. Average age at marriage:
  55. Women – 22 years old
  56. Men – 27 years old.
  57. Patriarchy
  58. Authoritarian male father figures controlled each household.
  59. Patriarchal ministers and magistrates controlled church congregations and household patriarchs.
  60. Puritan Rebels
  61. Young, popular ministers in Salem
  62. Argued for a full break with the Anglican Church
  63. Condemned MA Bay Charter
  64. Did not give fair compensation to Indians
  65. Denied authority of civil govt. to regulate religious behavior
  66. 1635  found guilty of preaching “newe & dangerous opinions” and was exiled
  67. Rhode Island
  68. 1636  Roger Williams fled there
  69. MA Bay Puritans had wanted to exile him to England to prevent him from founding a competing colony
  70. Remarkable political freedom in Providence, RI
  71. Universal manhood suffrage  later restricted by a property qualification
  72. Opposed to special privilege of any kind  freedom of opportunity for all
  73. RI becomes known as the “Sewer” because it is seen by the Puritans as a dumping ground for unbelievers and religious dissenters More liberal than any other colony!
  74. Anne Hutchinson’s Trial
  75. 1638  she confounded the Puritan leaders for days.
  76. Eventually bragged that she had received her beliefs DIRECTLY from God.
  77. Direct revelation was even more serious than the heresy of antinomialism. WHY??
  78. Puritan leaders banished her  she & her family traveled to RI and later to NY
  79. She and all but one member of her family were killed in an Indian attack in Westchester County
  80. John Winthrop saw God’s hand in this!
  81. Puritans vs. Native Americans
  82. Indians especially weak in New England
  83. epidemics wiped out ¾ of the native population
  84. Wampanoags [near Plymouth] befriended the settlers.
  85. Cooperation between the two helped by Squanto.
  86. 1621: Chief Massasoit signed treaty with the settlers
  87. Autumn, 1621:both groups celebrated the First Thanksgiving
  88. The Pequot Wars, 1636-1637
  89. Pequots very powerful tribe in CT river valley.
  90. 1637  Pequot War
  91. Whites, with Narragansett Indian allies, attacked Pequot village on Mystic River.
  92. Whites set fire to homes & shot fleeing survivors!
  93. Pequot tribe virtually annihilated an uneasy peace lasted for 40 years
  94. King Philip’s War (1675-1676)
  95. Only hope for Native Americans to resist white settlers was to UNITE.
  96. Metacom [King Philip to white settlers]
  97. Massasoit’s son united Indians and staged coordinated attacks on white settlements throughout New England.
  98. Frontier settlements forced to retreat to Boston
  99. The war ended in failure for the Indians
  100. Metacom beheaded and drawn and quartered
  101. His son and wife sold into slavery
  102. Never a serious threat in New England again
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