Lesson 5: The New England Colonies

Question 1

Anne Hutchinson Definition

Answer 1

A Puritan woman who questioned teachings and was put on trial; she was expelled from Massachusetts and moved to Rhode Island

Question 2

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut Definition

Answer 2

A 1639 plan for government in the Puritan colony in Connecticut

Question 3

General Court Definition

Answer 3

The elected representative assembly of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Question 4

John Winthrop Definition

Answer 4

A Puritan leader who was also a respected landowner and lawyer who helped to form Massachusetts Bay Company

Question 5

Mayflower Compact Definition

Answer 5

A 1620 agreement for ruling the Plymouth Colony

Question 6

Metacom Definition

Answer 6

Chief of Wampanoag, also known as King Philip. His goal was to stop Puritan expansion

Question 7

Persecution Definition

Answer 7

The mistreatment or punishment of a group of people because of their beliefs

Question 8

Pilgrim Definition

Answer 8

An English settler who sought religious freedom in the Americas in the 1600s

Question 9

Puritans Definition

Answer 9

A group of English Protestants who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Question 10

Religious Tolerance Definition

Answer 10

The willingness to let others practice their own beliefs

Question 11

Roger Williams Definition

Answer 11

A minister of a church in Salem, Massachusetts who believed in religious tolerance; left Massachusetts and founded a settlement that become Rhode Island

Question 12

Thomas Hooker Definition

Answer 12

A Puritan minister that disagreed with Puritans; he left Massachusetts Bay and settled in Hartford, Connecticut

Question 13

Town Meeting Definition

Answer 13

A meeting in colonial New England where settlers discussed and voted on local government matters

Question 14

William Bradford Definition

Answer 14

Pilgrim leader who signed the Mayflower Compact and lead the Plymouth colony for 36 years.

Question 15

What did colonists traveling to New England desire?

Answer 15

Unlike the Jamestown colonists or the Spanish, these newcomers sought neither gold nor silver nor great riches. What they wanted most was to practice their religion freely.

Question 16

What did the founders of Plymouth come to be known as?

Answer 16

Pilgrims

Question 17

What were conflicts after the Protestant Reformation?

Answer 17

After the Protestant Reformation, Christians in western Europe were divided into Protestants and Roman Catholics. This division led to fierce religious wars. In France, for example, Protestants and Catholics fought each other for nearly 40 years. Thousands upon thousands of people were killed because of their religious beliefs.

Question 18

True or False: It was not easy for people to practice religion freely in Europe during the 1500s.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

What did most European leaders believe about religion and rule?

Answer 19

Most European rulers believed that they could not maintain order unless everyone followed the ruler’s religion.

Question 20

What was the religion chosen by a ruler called?

Answer 20

The religion chosen by the ruler was known as the established church.

Question 21

What was the Established Church in England

Answer 21

In England, for example, the established church was the Anglican church, or Church of England. In the 1530s, Parliament passed laws making the English monarch the head of the Church of England.

Question 22

What happened to those that did not follow the Established Church in England and other nations?

Answer 22

In England and other nations, people who did not follow the established religion were often persecuted. Persecution is the mistreatment or punishment of certain people because of their beliefs. Sometimes, members of persecuted groups had to worship secretly. If they were discovered, they might be imprisoned or even executed by being burned at the stake.

Question 23

What was the original name of the Pilgrims?

Answer 23

Separatists; they were one of the persecuted groups in England

Question 24

Why were the Pilgrim originally called Separatists?

Answer 24

They were called that because, although they were Protestant, they wanted to separate from the Church of England.

Question 25

What did the English government think of Separatists?

Answer 25

The English government bitterly opposed the Separatists.

Question 26

How did the English government treat Separatists, according to William Bradford?

Answer 26

They … were hunted and persecuted on every side…. For some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day … and the most were [glad] to flee and leave their houses.

—William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation

Question 27

What did a group of Separatists do in the early 1600s, to escape English persecution?

Answer 27

In the early 1600s, a group of Separatists left England for Leyden, a city in the Netherlands. The Dutch allowed the newcomers to worship freely. Still, the Pilgrims missed their English way of life. They were also worried that their children were growing up more Dutch than English.

Question 28

When and how did the Mayflower set sail?

Answer 28

A group of Separatists decided to return to England – from Leyden. Along with some other English people who were not Separatists, they won a charter to set up a colony in the northern part of Virginia. Like the colonists who followed them, the Pilgrims’ enterprise was started and funded privately in the hopes that it would earn a profit. In September 1620, more than 100 men, women, and children set sail aboard a small ship called the Mayflower. The journey was long and difficult.

Question 29

When did the Mayflower land on land? Where did the Separatists, along with colonists, end up? Why did they name their settlement “Plymouth”?

Answer 29

At last, in November 1620, the Mayflower landed on the cold, bleak shore of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts. The passengers had planned to settle farther south along the Hudson River, but the difficult sea voyage exhausted them. The colonists decided to travel no farther. They called their new settlement Plimoth, or Plymouth, because the Mayflower had sailed from the port of Plymouth, England.

Question 30

What did the Pilgrims realize before going on shore, that has to do with geography?

Answer 30

Before going ashore, the Pilgrims realized that they would not be settling within the boundaries of Virginia.

Question 31

What was the problem of the Separatists landing in Massachusetts, causing their charter to not apply to them?

Answer 31

As a result, the terms of their charter would not apply to their new colony. In that case, who would govern them? The question was important because not all colonists on the Mayflower were Pilgrims. Some of these “strangers,” as the Pilgrims called them, said they were not bound to obey the Pilgrims, “for none had power to command them.”

Question 32

Due to the governing conflict, caused by the fact the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, making their charter irrelevant, what did the settlers of Plymouth do?

Answer 32

In response, the Pilgrims joined together to write a framework for governing their colony. On November 11, 1620, the 41 adult male passengers—both Pilgrims and non-Pilgrims—signed the Mayflower Compact. They pledged themselves to unite into a “civil body politic,” or government. They agreed to make and abide by laws that insured “the general Good of the Colony.”

Question 33

What was the impact of the Mayflower Compact?

Answer 33

The Mayflower Compact established an important tradition. When the Pilgrims found themselves without a government, they banded together themselves to make laws. In time, they set up a government in which adult male colonists elected a governor and council. Thus, like Virginia’s Great Charter, the Mayflower Compact strengthened the English tradition of governing through elected representatives. These representatives were in turn expected to show the religious virtues that the Pilgrims valued and to make decisions for the common good. The colony at Plymouth thought that this type of representative government, rather than the monarchy that they knew in England, would best protect their religious freedom.

Question 34

The Pilgrims were the first to allow religious freedom. Describe it.

Answer 34

The Pilgrims were the first of many immigrants who came to North America in order to worship as they pleased. That did not mean that religious freedom spread quickly through England’s colonies. Many settlers who wished to worship as they pleased still believed that only their own religious beliefs should be observed. Most of the English colonies set up their own established churches. Still, the Pilgrims’ desire to worship freely set an important precedent, or example for others to follow in the future. In time, the idea of religious freedom for all would become a cornerstone of American democracy.

Question 35

Where in Plymouth did the Pilgrims and other settle?

Answer 35

The Pilgrims built their settlement on the site of a Native American village that had been abandoned because of disease. The colonists even found baskets filled with corn that they were able to eat.

Question 36

How was the first winter for the Pilgrims and others?

Answer 36

The Pilgrims had failed to bring enough food with them, and it was too late in the season to plant new crops.
The harsh season was also difficult to survive because the Pilgrims had not had enough time to build proper shelters. During the winter, the men worked to build houses onshore, while most spent nights aboard the Mayflower. Nearly half the settlers had perished of disease or starvation by spring.

Question 37

How did William Bradford come to power, after the settlers first winter at Plymouth?

Answer 37

Among those who died that winter was the colony’s first governor. William Bradford was chosen to take his place. Bradford’s able leadership helped the colony survive. Re-elected many times, he would lead Plymouth for most of the next 36 years.

Question 38

What kept the Pilgrims strong, despite the though winter?

Answer 38

Despite the great suffering of that winter, the Pilgrims’ religious faith remained strong. They believed that it was God’s will for them to remain in Plymouth. “What could now sustain them,” wrote Bradford, “but the Spirit of God and His grace?”

Question 39

In the spring, following the settlers first winter, what did the Pilgrims start doing? Who did the meet?

Answer 39

In the spring, the Pilgrims began to clear land and plant crops. They also received help from neighboring Native Americans. A Pemaquid Indian, Samoset, had learned English from earlier explorers sailing along the coast. He introduced the Pilgrims to Massasoit (MAS uh soit), chief of the local Wampanoag (wahm puh NOH ahg) Indians.

Question 40

Which Wampanoag, that the Pilgrims were exposed to in the spring after their first winter, helped the Pilgrims the most?

Answer 40

The Wampanoag who helped the Pilgrims most was named Squanto. As a young man, Squanto had been captured by an English expedition led by John Smith. Squanto lived for a time in England, where he learned to speak the language. As a result, he could communicate easily with the Pilgrims.

Question 41

What did Squanto teach the Pilgrims?

Answer 41

Squanto brought the Pilgrims seeds of native plants—corn, beans, and pumpkins—and showed them how to plant them. He also taught the settlers how to catch eels from nearby rivers. By treading water, he stirred up eels from the mud at the river bottom and then snatched them up with his hands. The grateful Pilgrims called Squanto “a special instrument sent of God.”

Question 42

How was the holiday of Thanksgiving developed?

Answer 42

In the fall, the Pilgrims had a very good harvest. Because they believed that God had given them this harvest, they set aside a day for giving thanks. In later years, the Pilgrims celebrated after each harvest season with a day of thanksgiving. Americans today celebrate Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

Question 43

Who led the migration to Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s?

Answer 43

The migration to Massachusetts Bay during the 1630s was led by a religious group known as the Puritans.

Question 44

How did the Puritans and Pilgrims differ in religious beliefs?

Answer 44

Unlike the Pilgrims, the Puritans did not want to separate entirely from the Church of England. Instead, they hoped to reform the church by introducing simpler forms of worship. They wanted to do away with many practices inherited from the Roman Catholic Church, such as organ music, finely decorated houses of worship, and special clothing for priests.

Question 45

What was the social structure like in the Puritan group?

Answer 45

The Puritans were a powerful group in England. Although some were small farmers, many were well-educated and successful merchants or landowners.

Question 46

How did Charles I treat the Puritans during his rule, which started in 1625?

Answer 46

Charles I, who became king in 1625, disapproved of the Puritans and their ideas. He canceled Puritan business charters and even had a few Puritans jailed.

Question 47

What did Puritan leaders ask for in 1629? What did John Winthrop think of the request?

Answer 47

By 1629, some Puritan leaders were convinced that England had fallen on “evil and declining times.” They persuaded royal officials to grant them a charter to form the Massachusetts Bay Company. The company’s bold plan was to build a new society based on biblical laws and teachings. John Winthrop, a lawyer and a devout Puritan, believed that the new colony would set an example to the world.

Question 48

What were the reasons to travel to Massachusetts Bay, for people who were not Puritans?

Answer 48

Some settlers joined the Massachusetts colonists for economic rather than religious reasons. In wealthy English families, the oldest son usually inherited his father’s estate. With little hope of owning land, younger sons sought opportunity elsewhere. They were attracted to Massachusetts Bay because it offered cheap land or a chance to start a business.

Question 49

What did the Puritans do in 1629? What was John Winthrop’s job in the new colony?

Answer 49

In 1629, the Puritans sent a small advance party to North America. John Winthrop and a party of more than 1,000 arrived the following year. Winthrop was chosen as the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Question 50

How did John Winthrop set an example? What troubles started to brew in his colony?

Answer 50

Once ashore, Winthrop set an example for others. Although he was governor, he worked hard to build a home, clear land, and plant crops. There was discontent among some colonists, though. Under the charter, only stockholders who had invested money in the Massachusetts Bay Company had the right to vote. Most settlers, however, were not stockholders. They resented taxes and laws passed by a government in which they had no say.

Question 51

What did John Winthrop and other stock-holders do to solve the voting issue?

Answer 51

Winthrop and other stockholders saw that the colony would run more smoothly if a greater number of settlers could take part. At the same time, Puritan leaders wished to keep non-Puritans out of the government. As a result, they granted the right to vote for governor to all men who were church members. Later, male church members also elected representatives to an assembly called the General Court.

Question 52

What was the Great Migration?

Answer 52

Under the leadership of Winthrop and other Puritans, the Massachusetts Bay Colony prospered. Between 1629 and 1640, some 15,000 men, women, and children journeyed from England to Massachusetts. This movement of people is known as the Great Migration. Many of the newcomers settled in Boston, which grew into the colony’s largest town.

Question 53

What was the main reason for colonists to leave the Massachusetts Bay colony?

Answer 53

The Puritan leaders did not like anyone to question their religious beliefs or the way the colony was governed. Usually, discontented colonists were forced to leave. Some colonists who left Massachusetts founded other colonies in New England.

Question 54

What did Thomas Hooker do in the May of 1636?

Answer 54

In May 1636, a Puritan minister named Thomas Hooker led about 100 settlers out of Massachusetts Bay. Pushing west, they drove their cattle, goats, and pigs along Indian trails that cut through the forests. When they reached the Connecticut River, they built a town, which they called Hartford.

Question 55

Why did Thomas Hooker leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

Answer 55

Hooker left Massachusetts Bay because he believed that the governor and other officials had too much power. He wanted to set up a colony in Connecticut with strict limits on government.

Question 56

What plan for government did Thomas Hooker and the colonists that followed him form?

Answer 56

The settlers wrote a plan of government called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639. It created a government much like that of Massachusetts, which relied on the virtue of the people to obey the law and seek the common good. There were, however, two important differences. First, the Fundamental Orders gave the vote to all men who were property owners, including those who were not church members. Second, the Fundamental Orders limited the governor’s power. In this way, the Fundamental Orders expanded the idea of representative government in the English colonies.

Question 57

When did Connecticut become its own colony?

Answer 57

Connecticut became a separate colony in 1662, with a new charter granted by the king of England. By then, 15 towns were thriving along the Connecticut River.

Question 58

Who was Roger Williams?

Answer 58

Another Puritan who challenged the leaders of Massachusetts Bay was Roger Williams. A young minister in the village of Salem, Williams was gentle and good-natured. William Bradford described him as “zealous but very unsettled in judgment.” Some Puritan leaders probably agreed with this. Most people, including Governor Winthrop, liked him.

Question 59

How did Roger Williams offend the rulers of Massachusetts Bay colony?

Answer 59

His ideas on Their rule offended them. Williams believed that the Puritan church in Massachusetts had too much power. In Williams’s view, the business of church and state should be completely separate since concern with political affairs would corrupt the church. The role of the state, said Williams, was to maintain order and peace. It should not support a particular church. Finally, Williams did not believe that the Puritan leaders had the right to force people to attend religious services. Because of these political reasons, Williams sought to establish a new colony.

Question 60

Did Roger Williams believe in Religious Tolerance? What is Religious Tolerance?

Answer 60

Williams also believed in religious tolerance. Religious tolerance means a willingness to let others practice their own beliefs. In Puritan Massachusetts, non-Puritans were not allowed to worship freely.

Question 61

What did Puritan leaders do to Roger Williams in 1635?

Answer 61

Puritan leaders viewed Williams as a dangerous troublemaker. In 1635, the General Court ordered him to leave Massachusetts. Fearing that the court would send him back to England, Williams fled to Narragansett Bay, where he spent the winter with Indians. In the spring of 1636, the Indians sold him land for a settlement. After a few years, the settlement became the English colony of Rhode Island.

Question 62

How was the religious freedom in Rhode Island, the colony Roger Williams formed?

Answer 62

In Rhode Island, Williams put into practice his ideas about tolerance. He allowed complete freedom of religion for all Protestants, Jews, and Catholics. He did not set up a state church or require settlers to attend church services.

Question 63

True or False: Rhode Island expanded democratic rights.

Answer 63

True

Question 64

Who had the right to vote in Rhode Island, established by Roger Williams?

Answer 64

All white men had the right to vote.

Question 65

Why did people from Massachusetts Bay escape to Rhode Island?

Answer 65

Before long, settlers who disliked the strict Puritan rule of Massachusetts flocked to Providence and other towns in Rhode Island. The creation of a colony with freedom of religion thus offered a way to resolve conflicts between people from different religious groups.

Question 66

Who was Anne Hutchinson?

Answer 66

Among those who fled to Rhode Island was Anne Hutchinson. A devout Puritan, Hutchinson regularly attended church services in Boston, where she first lived. After church, she and her friends gathered at her home to discuss the minister’s sermon. Often, she seemed to question some of the minister’s teachings. Hutchinson was very persuasive and neighbors flocked to hear her.

Question 67

Why was Anne Hutchinson ordered to appear before the Massachusetts General Court in the November of 1637?

Answer 67

Puritan leaders grew angry. They believed that Hutchinson’s opinions were full of religious errors. Even worse, they said, a woman did not have the right to explain God’s law. In November 1637, Hutchinson was ordered to appear before the Massachusetts General Court.

Question 68

Were Anne Hutchinson’s arguments during her court hearing in 1637 strong?

Answer 68

At her trial, Hutchinson answered the questions put to her by Governor Winthrop and other members of the court. Each time, her answers revealed weaknesses in their arguments. They could not prove that she had broken any Puritan laws or that she had disobeyed any religious teachings.

Question 69

What mistake did Anne Hutchinson make, that led her to being expelled from the Massachusetts Bay colony?

Answer 69

Then, after two long days of hostile questioning, Hutchinson made a serious mistake. She told the court that God spoke directly to her, “By the voice of His own spirit to my soul.” Members of the court were shocked. Puritans believed that God spoke only through the Bible, not directly to individuals. The court ordered her out of the colony.

Question 70

Where did Anne Hutchinson go after being expelled from Massachusetts, and what was her influence?

Answer 70

In 1638, Hutchinson, along with her family and some friends, went to Rhode Island. The Puritan leaders had won their case. For later Americans, however, Hutchinson became an important symbol of the struggle for religious freedom.

Question 71

From Massachusetts Bay, where did settlers fan out?

Answer 71

From Massachusetts Bay, settlers fanned out across New England. Some built trading and fishing villages along the coast north of Boston.

Question 72

Why were port towns important? What colony did they form?

Answer 72

Port towns with good harbors were ideal for the fishing industry and also lured trading ships, building the area’s economy. In 1680, the king would make some of these coastal settlements into a separate colony called New Hampshire.

Question 73

What sparked the beginning of the conflict between the English and the Native Americans?

Answer 73

As more colonists settled in New England, they began to take over more Native American lands. By 1670, nearly 45,000 English settlers were living in the towns in New England. Land was a resource, but as more people lived in the region, it became increasingly scarce. Fighting soon broke out between white settlers and Indian nations of the region.

Question 74

What was King Phillip’s War? What were the results?

Answer 74

The largest conflict came in 1675. Metacom, also known by his English name, King Phillip, was chief of the Wampanoag Indians. He watched for years as English towns were built on Wampanoag lands. “I am resolved not to see the day when I have no country,” he told an English friend. Metacom’s people attacked villages throughout New England. Other Indian groups, from Rhode Island to Maine, soon allied themselves with the Wampanoags. They were determined to drive the English settlers off their land. Metacom and his allies destroyed 12 towns and killed more than 600 European settlers. After more than a year of fighting, however, Metacom was captured and killed. The English sold his family and about 1,000 other Indians into slavery in the West Indies. Other Indians were forced from their homelands.

Question 75

True or False: The pattern of English expansion followed by war was repeated between colonists and Indians throughout the colonies. It would continue for many years to come.

Answer 75

True

Question 76

What was the structure of towns like in New England?

Answer 76

Puritans believed that people should worship and tend to local matters as a community. As a result, New England became a land of tightly knit towns. At the center of many towns was the common, an open field where cattle grazed. Nearby stood the meetinghouse, where Puritans worshiped and held town meetings.

Question 77

When was the Puritan’s Sabbath? What activities were prohibited to be done due to the Sabbath?

Answer 77

The Puritans took their Sabbath, or holy day of religious observance and rest, very seriously. On Sundays, no one was allowed to play games or visit taverns to joke, talk, and drink. The law required all citizens to attend Sunday church services, which would last all day.

Question 78

How were Puritan Churches segregated in the 1600s?

Answer 78

During the 1600s, women sat on one side of the church and men on the other. Blacks and Indians stood in a balcony at the back. Children had separate pews, where an adult watched over them.

Question 79

How were town meetings organized in New England, where people were Puritans?

Answer 79

At town meetings, which were normally held in meeting houses where the settlers worshipped, settlers discussed and voted on many issues. What roads should be built? How much should the schoolmaster be paid? Town meetings gave New Englanders a chance to speak their minds. Puritan congregations also discussed and voted on church issues. They chose their own ministers and members and answered to no other authority.

Question 80

What idea did town meetings encourage?

Answer 80

These early experiences encouraged the growth of democratic ideas in New England. Values such as self-government, individual choice, and the common good took root and thrived.

Question 81

How were Puritan Laws? Were they strict? How about witchcraft?

Answer 81

Still, Puritan laws were strict. About 15 crimes carried the death penalty. One crime punishable by death was witchcraft. In 1692, Puritans in Salem Village executed 20 innocent men and women as witches.

Question 82

How did environment influence migration in New England?

Answer 82

New England was a difficult land for colonists. The rocky soil was poor for farming and required much labor. After a time, however, Native Americans taught English settlers how to grow many crops, such as Indian corn, pumpkins, squash, and beans. Still, some communities relocated to take advantage of better lands. In the mid-1630s, cattle and dairy farmers who had settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, moved to the Connecticut River Valley. The rich river valley at Windsor, Connecticut, provided lush meadows and pastures better suited to their cattle than the sandy soils and rocky hills of Dorchester.

Question 83

How did environment influence the shipbuilding industry in New England?

Answer 83

Although much of the soil was poor, the forests were full of riches. Settlers hunted wild turkey and deer. Settlers also cut down trees, floating them down rivers to sawmills near seaports such as Boston, Massachusetts, or Portsmouth, New Hampshire. With miles of coastline and nearby raw materials, these and other New England towns grew into major shipbuilding centers. Because abundant timber meant that ships could be built more cheaply in New England than in England, New England sold many ships to English buyers. New England’s wooden ships and boats were used by a thriving fishing industry and for overseas trade.

Question 84

When did whaling become an important industry in New England?

Answer 84

New Englanders fished for cod and halibut. In the 1600s, people began to hunt whales. Whales supplied oil for lamps and other products. In the 1700s and 1800s, whaling grew into a big business.

Question 85

Which industries did Puritan communities and their governments support?

Answer 85

Puritan communities and their governments often supported the development of important industries such as shipbuilding and ironworking. They found ways to work together for long-term goals that might benefit the general population. For example, sometimes they limited the sale of wood to make more available to shipbuilders.

Question 86

What was the influence of the Puritans and the Pilgrims?

Answer 86

During the 1700s, the Puritan tradition declined. Fewer families left England for religious reasons. Ministers had less influence on the way colonies were governed. Nevertheless, the Puritans had stamped New England with their distinctive customs and their ideal of a religious society. The ideas of Pilgrims and Puritans, their virtues of hard work and thrift, their high regard for education, and their contributions to democratic thought still influence American values and American identity today.