Social Studies Flashcards
Test Tuesday, December 10, 2024
New England Colonies
Massachusetts (Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay), Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
Compact
An agreement
What year was Plymouth founded?
1620
Plymouth, Massachusetts
People called Puritans were Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England, known as the Anglican Church.
These separatists were English Protestants, and one group known as the Pilgrims left Europe.
On the Mayflower, more than 100 men, women, and children arrived in Cape Cod of present-day MA in 1620 and settled in Plymouth (named for Plymouth, England).
The Mayflower Compact was an agreement signed by 41 men and was the first document of self-government in the colonies.
In 1621, Pilgrims celebrated the Harvest Festival (Thanksgiving) with the Wampanoag Natives (Squanto, Samoset, and Chief Massasoit). The Wampanoag helped the colonists survive.
William Bradford was Governor of Plymouth Colony.
Plymouth Community
Most became farmers, but farmland was poor.
Some colonists traded corn with Native Americans for beaver furs.
The colony grew stronger in the mid-1620’s: had many families, taught children to read the most important book, the Bible.
Families served as centers of religious life, health care, and community well-being.
Women cooked, spun and wove wool, sewed clothing, made soap and butter, carried water, dried fruits and vegetables; men spent most of the time outside repairing tools, working the fields, chopping wood, building shelters.
Women in the Coloney
Women had more legal rights than they did in England.
They could sign contracts, and widows could own property.
The great migration
England’s economic, political, and religious problems in England led to a Great Migration of English men, women, and children between 1629 and 1640.
In 1629, King Charles granted a group of Puritans and merchants a charter to settle in New England. They formed the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Massachusetts Bay Coloney
In 1630 ships carrying Puritan colonists led by John Winthrop left England.
They were well prepared to start their colony, and few people died. Their main settlement was Boston.
By 1691, the MA Bay Colony had expanded to include the Pilgrims’ Plymouth Colony.
Religion and Government
Religion and politics were closely linked.
Massachusetts created a General Assembly to govern the colony; it was a bicameral (two-house) legislature.
Government leaders were also church members, and male church members were the only ones who could vote.
This arrangement led some Puritans to dissent (dissenters – people who disagree) and start other colonies.
Massachusetts
Plymouth Colony – 1620 – Gov. William Bradford – Pilgrims and Wampanoag.
Massachusetts Bay Colony – 1629 – Gov. John Winthrop – Puritans -Boston
Connecticut
1636
Founded by Thomas Hooker who left MA to find a more democratic kind of colony.
Hooker wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut which allowed men who were NOT church members to vote.
Rhode Island
1644
Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were dissenters, and Puritan ministers banished them from MA.
Hutchinson thought that people could have a more personal relationship with God and read the Bible on their own.
Williams believed in separation of church from the state/government.
Providence and Portsmouth eventually became part of Rhode Island.
New Hampshire
1623
Business venture/Puritans’ settlement
Expanding population - founded by John Mason and Fernando Gorges.
General Information about the New England Coloney
Very different from Southern Colonies
Harsh climate with short summers and long winters
Rocky, sandy soil and difficult to grow crops
Crops were grown for their own use (staple crops)
No real need of slave labor
Major Industries
Merchants/Traders
Traded goods locally, with other colonies, and overseas
Local products traded were furs, pickled beef, and pork
Many merchants grew powerful and wealthy, such as John Hancock.
