Chapter 03 - Settling the Northern Colonies

Chapter 3 Settling the Northern colonies 1619-1700

I. The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism

1. Martin Luther nailed his protests against Catholicism on the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517.
   • Said that the bible only was God’s word and started Protestant Reformation.
2. John Calvin of Geneva believed in the Reformation so much he had ideas that affected America’s future generations.
3. Calvinism was the main religion for New England.
   • Calvin wrote institutes of the Christian Religion (1536). It said God was good, powerful and already predestines who was going to heaven (the elect) and hell before they were born and said that humans were weak and evil.
4. Those who were sure to go had signs of conversion where god told them they were of the elect and were then expected to live the life of a visible saint.
   • Calvinism swept through England in the 1530’s where King Henry the 8th broke the Roman Catholic Church.
5. The Puritans wanted to completely de-catholicize the church.
   • Devout Puritans thought that only visible saints belonged in the church but the king let everyone in.
   • This mix angered a group called the separatists who broke away from the church of England.

II. The Pilgrims end their Pilgrimage at Plymouth

1. They were unhappy and they wanted to move to a place where they could still keep their English values.
   • They negotiated with the Virginia Company to get the Mayflower ship charter.
2. When reaching America the ship missed its mark and landed at Plymouth.
   • Fewer than half the people on the ship were separatists; before disembarking 41 adult males not including servants or seamen signed the Mayflower compact – a simple agreement to form a crude government and submit to the will of the majority.
   • After the first winter (1620-1621) only 44/102 pilgrims survived. They weren’t ready at all for it. The men who went considered themselves “gentlemen” and didn’t want to farm and make settlements. They were looking for gold.
   • In the autumn of 1621 they started to see improvements in harvest and celebrated the first Thanksgiving.
   • Pilgrims were blessed with William Bradford who was elected governor 30 times he was a great leader.

III. The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth

1. In 1630 Massachusetts Bay colony was established by non-separating puritans, it soon grew to be the largest and most influential of the colonies.
2. The great migration started in 1630- 70000 refugees left England-not all of them were puritans.
   • John Winthrop became Massachusetts 1st governor for 19 years. The Puritan Bay colonists believed that they had a covenant with God, an agreement to build a holy society that would be a model for all humankind.

IV. Building the Bay Colony

1. Nonbelievers as well as believers paid taxes for the government- this supported the church.
   • A congregation had the right to hire and fire its ministers and set his salary. Clergymen were also barred from holding formal political office.
   • They endorsed the idea of separating church and state. The freemen annually elected the governor and his assistants and a representative assembly called the General Court.
2. Winthrop didn’t like democracy.

V. Trouble in the Bible Commonwealth

1. The Bay commonwealth enjoyed a high degree of social harmony.
   • The Quakers were persecuted with fines, floggings and banishment.
   • Antinomianism was the belief that the elect need not obey the laws of either God or man; most notably promoted in the colonies by Anne Hutchinson.
   • She was banished and fled to Rhode Island, eventually killed by Indians.
2. Roger Williams, an extreme Separatist, was a popular Salem minister who also challenged the Church. He was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

VI. The Rhode Island “Sewer”

1. Aided by friendly Indians, Roger Williams fled to Rhode Island in 1636. He built the first Baptist church, and established complete freedom of religion even for Jews and Catholics.
   • There were no taxes demanded for the church, no oaths had to be made for religious beliefs.
2. Rhode Island became individualistic and stubbornly independent.

VII. New England Spreads Out

1. Hartford and Connecticut were founded in 1635.
2. In 1639 the settlers of the new Connecticut River colony drafted the Fundamental orders.
3. 1638- New Haven was established in Connecticut, it was a community founded by puritans. In 1662 Charles II granted Connecticut a charter. In 1641, New Hampshire was absorbed by the greedy Massachusetts Bay. The king took it back and made New Hampshire a royal colony in 1679.

VIII. Puritans Versus Indians

1. Wampanoag Chieftain signed a treaty with the Plymouth Pilgrims and helped them celebrate the first thanksgiving.
2. Hostility arose between English settlers and Pequot tribe. The English and their Narragansett Indian allies annihilated the Pequot tribe.
3. In 1675 King Philip, a Massasoit attacked colonist tribes, was defeated in 1676. IX. Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence
4. In 1643 four colonies banded together to form the New England Confederation.
5. During the English civil war there was armed conflict between the between royalists and parliamentarians, resulting in the victory of pro-parliament forces and execution of Charles I. X. Andros Promotes the First American Revolution
6. Massachusetts suffered humiliation when the Dominion of New England was created by royal authority. The leader of the Dominion was Lord Edmund Andros who was disliked because of his harsh regulations. He was shipped back to England.
7. The glorious (bloodless) revolution occurred in England to dethrone king James II.
   • A period of salutary neglect –where navigation laws were only weakly enforced- started.

XI. Old Netherlands at New Netherlands

1. Netherlands revolted against Spain and got their independence in the late 16th century.
   • The 17th century was a golden age in Dutch history
2. The Dutch East India Company employed henry Hudson to search for riches.
3. The Dutch West India Company mostly raided other ships, most importantly bought Manhattan Island for very little. New Amsterdam- later called New York was run by the company. It attracted all kinds of people. XII. Friction with English and Swedish Neighbors
4. New England wasn’t happy about their Dutch neighbor growing.
5. Sweden also came into America to colonize in their golden years but their rule came to an end when the Dutch sent a military dispatch over and New Sweden was absorbed by new Netherlands.

XIII. Dutch Residues In New York

1. The English regarded the Dutch as invaders
   • Charles II granted the area to his brother the Duke of York, whom it was named after.
   • They sent over troops to fight the Dutch and conquered the area. The aristocratic atmosphere discouraged European immigrants from coming and retarded the growth of the city.
   • The Dutch left many influences in New York such as street names, Santa Claus and golf. XIV. Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania
2. The Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends were a group of dissenters who were unconventional, they refused to sign oaths, or pay taxes to the Church of England. They hated war and violence.
3. William Penn was attracted to the Quaker faith; he was paid a monetary debt that was owed to his father with a tract of land called Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods).
   • It welcomed immigrants and it had fertile land.

XV. Quaker Pennsylvania and its Neighbors

1. He formally launched his colony in 1681; thousands of squatters lived here already.
   • Philadelphia- the city of brotherly love- was one of the best planned cities with wide streets.
2. He had peaceful relations with Indians.
   • They went among each other without weapons and Quakers even used some as babysitters.
   • Unfortunately non-Quakers who came on the Quaker land to settle provoked bad feelings towards the Indians.
3. Pennsylvania had many liberal features such as, unrestricted immigration and paying taxes for church was not mandatory.
   • Attracted a big mix of ethnicity.
4. Penn wasn’t appreciated or liked because he was friends with King James II
5. Delaware and New Jersey also formed next to Pennsylvania.

XVI. The Middle Way in the Middle Colonies

1. The middle colonies- New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania- had fertile soil, rivers and forests.
2. They were intermediate in size, held a higher degree of toleration, and had an ethnically mixed group of people.
3. Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston, entered Philadelphia as a seventeen-year-old in 1720 and loved it.