The American Colonies Emerge 2 3 PURITAN NEW

The American Colonies Emerge 2. 3 PURITAN NEW ENGLAND

2. 3 Puritan New England Main Themes Essential Question Freedom of Religion Citizenship Ethnocentrism Should church and state be kept separate? Why or why not?

Objectives Identify the motives that led the Puritans to New England Summarize the principles of government established by the dissenters who fled to Rhode Island Explain the conflicts between English colonists and the Pequot and Wampanoag

Precolonial Era � Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, the location of Plymouth was a village of 2, 000 Wampanoag Native Americans called Patuxet. This region that became Plymouth was visited twice by European explorers prior to the establishment of Plymouth Colony. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain sailed to Plymouth Harbor, calling it Port St. Louis. Captain John Smith, a leader of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, explored parts of Cape Cod Bay; he is credited with naming the region "New Plymouth. " � Two plagues afflicted coastal New England in 1614 and 1617, possibly transmitted from British and French fishermen to natives on the shore. The plague killed between 90% and 95% of the local Wampanoag. � The near disappearance of the tribe from the site left their cornfields and cleared areas vacant for the Pilgrims to occupy; it also meant that the Native Americans were in no condition to resist the arrival of the colonists. The absence of any serious native opposition to settlement by the Pilgrims was pivotal to their success and to English colonization in New England.

Puritan Beliefs � Influenced by the Protestant Reformation in the 16 th century, the Church of England was formed and formally renounced Papal authority. The King became the ceremonial leader of the church, though it was a largely decentralized institution. Followers were called Anglicans as a whole. � Puritans were a strictly religious community within the Anglican church that wanted to purify the Anglican Church of Catholic practices they considered corrupt that remained despite the English Reformation. Some Puritans wanted to reform from within, others demanded separation. Those who split from the Church to avoid persecution were known as Separatists. � Predestination – The Puritans held Calvinist beliefs, based on John Calvin’s interpretation of the Bible which said that God is all-powerful and humans were rendered weak and corruptible by original sin. Puritans lived sanctified lives out of fear that their misbehavior was evidence they were damned in the after life

The Pilgrims � Pilgrims fled the volatile political environment in England, residing in for the relative tolerance of 16 th century Netherlands. As a separatist group, they were concerned that they might lose their English cultural identity if they remained in the Netherlands, so they arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America. Not all of the congregation were able to depart on the first trip. Many members were not able to settle their affairs within the time constraints, and the budget was limited for travel and supplies. It was decided that the initial settlement should be undertaken primarily by younger and stronger members. The remainder agreed to follow if and when they could. � The church in America would be run independently, but it was agreed that membership would automatically be granted in either congregation to members who moved between the continents.

Mayflower Compact � The Pilgrim congregation obtained a land patent from the London Company in June 1619. This made it possible to settle at a distance from Virginia, which allayed concerns of political, and religious conflicts, but still provided the military and economic benefits of relative closeness to an established colony. � They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers investment group. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts. Using the financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on two ships: the Mayflower and the Speedwell. � The charter with England was incomplete for the Plymouth Council when the colonists departed England. Some of the passengers, aware of the situation, suggested that they were free to do as they chose upon landing, without a charter in place, and to ignore the contract with the investors. A brief contract was drafted to address this issue, known as the Mayflower Compact, promising cooperation among the settlers. It dictated that issues would be decided by voting. It was ratified by majority rule, with 41 adult male Pilgrims signing for the 102 passengers (73 males and 29 females).

Mayflower Compact Founders of Plymouth created a representative government that tied church and state closely together. Because it was the 1 st agreement for self-government to be created and enforced in America, the Compact is considered the world's first written constitution.

Plymouth Colony � The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown on November 11, 1620. The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for settlement. The Pilgrims eventually came across the sheltered waters of Plymouth on 12/17 � Plymouth – � Plymouth faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being starvation and the lack of shelter. Between the landing and March, only 47 colonists had survived the diseases that they contracted. During the worst of the sickness, only six or seven of the group were able to feed and care for the rest. � Assistance from Native was vital. Squanto, a Native sent by Wampanoag Tribe Chief Massasoit as an ambassador taught the colonists how to farm corn, where and how to catch fish. Massasoit later formed a Peace Treaty with the Pilgrims. Upon growing a plentiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered with Wampanoag men in a celebration of thanksgiving to God for their plentiful harvest. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving

The Formative Years � For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income, buying furs from Native Americans and selling to Europeans. Shortly after the departure of the Mayflower, William Bradford was elected as Governor and went on to lead the colony for 11 years � There was very little cash in Plymouth Colony, so most wealth was accumulated in the form of possessions. Trade goods such as furs, fish, and livestock were subject to fluctuations in price and were unreliable. Durable goods such as fine wares and furnishings represented an important source of economic stability for the residents � In May 1622, three vessels arrived from the Merchant Adventurers. They spent the summer in Plymouth before moving north to create a settlement named Weymouth. Between 1622 and 1630, several more ships arrived, collecting payments on behalf of the Merchant Adventurers and dropping off more settlers. By 1630, 300 colonists lived in Plymouth. In 1643 about 2, 000. By 1690, the estimated total population of Plymouth County was 3, 055 people.

Massachusetts Bay Colony � In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained a royal charter to settle in New England. The Puritan stockholders conceived of the colony as a religious and political refuge. A group led by John Winthrop signed the Cambridge Agreement, by which they agreed to buy out the stock of the company and thus gain complete control of the company's government and charter. � Since the charter did not specify where the stockholders should meet, the Massachusetts Bay Company became the only English colony not subject to the control of a board of governors in England. � The colonists sailed for New England in 1630. They decided to make their chief settlement at the mouth of the Charles River, a commanding position on Massachusetts Bay. There Boston was established. � John Winthop –

“We must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for Gods sake; we shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into Curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land. ” John Winthrop

Government in Massachusetts � The colony's laws were based on a hybrid of English common law and religious law as laid out in the Bible. The colonial authorities were convinced that democracy was the government mandated by God. The Bible was the primary religious and legal document of the society. Church attendance was not only mandatory, but membership was socially vital. � The colony offered nearly all adult males in good standing with the church potential citizenship. Full citizens, or "freemen", were accorded full rights and privileges in areas such as voting and holding office. To be considered a freeman, adult males had to be sponsored by an existing freeman and accepted by the General Court � The executive was the Governor, who was appointed by the General Court in an annual election. The General Court elected seven Assistants to form a cabinet to assist the governor. The Governor and his cabinet appointed Constables who served as the chief administrators (mayor) for the towns. � The General Court, as the legislative and judicial bodies, and the Governor, as the executive, constituted a political system of division of power. It set up institutions which constrain each other in order to minimize the misuse of power.

"If any Person within this Jurisdiction, professing the true God, shall wittingly and willingly presume to Blaspheme [curse] the Holy Name of God, Father, Son or Holy Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous or high-handed Blasphemy, either by willful or obstinate denying of the true God, or His Creation or Government of the World; or shall Curse God, Father, Son or Holy Ghost, such Person shall be put to Death. " Laws of Plymouth Colony, 1671

Religion in Massachusetts � John Robinson – Robinson taught that men and women have distinct roles in church, home, and society as a whole. In matters of religious understanding, he proclaimed that it was the man's role to educate and "guide and go before" women. Robinson prescribed a strict upbringing of children with an emphasis on corporal punishment. He believed that a child's inclination towards independence was a manifestation of original sin and should be repressed � Blue Law � Church congregations had a democratic structure. Ministers were elected by and responsible to the entire congregation. Each congregation was independent of all the others and directly subject to God's government.

Disagreements in Puritan Community � Most churches used two ways to sanction members: censure and banishment. Censure was a formal reprimand for behavior that did not conform with accepted religious and social norms, while excommunication involved full removal from church membership or even civil society. Many perceived social evils, from fornication to public drunkenness, were dealt with through church discipline rather than through civil punishment. Such sanctions were a powerful tool of social control � Roger Williams – Williams secured a royal charter from the Parliament in England to create a society based on equality and religious freedom. He settled at the top of Narragansett Bay on land sold to him by the Narragansett tribe.

Rhode Island � Roger Williams founded Providence in 1636 on land given to him by the Narragansett. He named the settlement Providence, believing that God had brought them there. He and his fellow settlers agreed on an egalitarian constitution providing for majority rule "in civil things, " with liberty of conscience on spiritual matters. In 1637, another group of Massachusetts dissenters purchased land from the Natives on Aquidneck Island, which was called Rhode Island at the time, and they established two separate settlements, Portsmouth and Newport. � Following the 1660 restoration of royal rule in England, it was necessary to gain a Royal Charter from King Charles II. He granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, uniting the different settlements together into the Colony of Rhode Island Providence Plantations. � In the following years, many persecuted groups settled in the colony, notably Quakers and Jews. The Rhode Island colony was very progressive for the time, maintaining peace with Natives and passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, capital punishment and, on May 18, 1652, slavery.

Disagreements in Puritan Community � Anne Hutchinson - Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community � The situation eventually erupted into what is commonly called the Antinomian Controversy, culminating in her 1637 trial, conviction, and banishment from the colony. The distinction between antinomian and other Christian views on moral law is that antinomians believe that obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than from any external compulsion � Hutchinson and her supporters established the settlement of Portsmouth with encouragement from Providence founder Roger Williams in what became the Colony of Rhode Island.

Natives Resist Colonial Expansion � Rapid expansion of English towns and farms creates conflict with local Native tribes. A series of betrayals took place between the Pequot tribe and the English, leading to the assassinations of several prominent leaders. � Pequot War - (1636 -38) an armed conflict between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the English colonists and their Native allies. The war concluded with the decisive defeat of the Pequot at the Mystic Massacre where their palisade was burned with many tribe members caught inside. Hundreds of prisoners were sold into slavery to the West Indies � Metacom, a Wampanoag chief had adopted the English name Philip due to the friendly relations between his father and the Pilgrims. He persuaded other Native tribes to see the Europeans as a common problem, allowing tribes that had once warred to work together � King Philip’s War – (78– 1675) alliance of New England tribes under Wampanoag chief Metacom. Many towns were destroyed or damaged, the colony's economy was all but ruined, and one-tenth of all men available for military service were dead. The Native alliance was disbanded, never threatening New England again.

Aftermath of King Phillip’s War � Several Indians were enslaved and transported to Bermuda, including Metacomet's son, and numerous Bermudians today claim ancestry from the Indian exiles. Other survivors joined western and northern tribes and refugee communities as captives or tribal members. Some of the Native refugees returned to southern New England. The Narragansetts, Wampanoags and several smaller bands were virtually eliminated. � The colonists' successful defense of New England with their own resources brought them to the attention of the British royal government. Before King Philip's War, the colonies had been generally ignored, thought to be uninteresting and poor English outposts. The English authorities soon tried to exploit the colonies and their resources for their own gain � Simultaneously, King Philip's War began the development of an independent American colonial identity. The colonists faced their trials without significant English government support, and this gave them a group identity separate and distinct from those who lived in Britain

“The English who came first to this country were but a handful of people, forlorn, poor and distressed. My father was then sachem. He relieved their distresses in the most kind and hospitable manner. He gave them land to plant and build upon. …They flourished and increased. …By various means they got possessed of a great part of his territory. But he still remained their friend till he died. My elder brother became sachem. They pretended to suspect him of evil designs against them. He was seized and confined and thereby thrown into illness and died. Soon after I became sachem, they disarmed all my people. …Their lands were taken. …But a small part of the dominion of my ancestors remains. I am determined not to live until I have no country. ” Chief Metacom

Why were the Natives Conquered by the English? Disease • Lack of exposure to European diseases had left Natives without antibodies needed to fight off smallpox and measles Disorganization • Natives lacked unity with which to make effective opposition to the military disciplined Europeans Disposability • Natives served no economic function for the English. They would not work the fields, and offered nothing to trade

Critical Thinking Question A portion of America’s identity, culture, political structure and religious expression can be traced back to Puritan New England. What was the Puritan government, economy and religious structure like?

Critical Thinking Answer Government: 1. Separation of powers between the Governor and the General Council 2. Church going adult males receive right to vote Economy: 1. Trade with Natives to obtain furs which will be sold in England 2. Farm corn and beans, catch fish Religious Structure: 1. Bible acts as primary religious and legal law 2. Strict observation of Puritan customs, punishments for deviation