The New England

Chapter Summary

The New England colonies were founded by English Puritans. While most Puritans sought to "purify" the Church of England from within, and not to break away from it, a small group of Separatists--the Pilgrims--founded the first small, pious Plymouth Colony in New England. More important was the larger group of nonseparating Puritans, led by John Winthrop, who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the "great migration" of Puritans fleeing persecution in England in the 1630s.

A strong sense of common purpose among the first settlers shaped the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Because of the close alignment of religion and politics in the colony, those who challenged religious orthodoxy, among them Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, were considered guilty of sedition and driven out of Massachusetts. The banished Williams founded Rhode Island, by far the most religiously and politically tolerant of the colonies. Other New England settlements, all originating in Massachusetts Bay, were established in Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire. Although they shared a common way of life, the New England colonies developed with a substantial degree of independence.

The middle colonies took shape quite differently. New York, founded as New Netherland by the Dutch and later conquered by England, was economically and ethnically diverse, socially hierarchical, and politically quarrelsome. Pennsylvania, founded as a Quaker haven by William Penn, also attracted an economically ambitious and politically troublesome population of diverse ethnic groups.

With their economic variety, ethnic diversity, and political factionalism, the middle colonies were the most typically "American" of England's thirteen Atlantic seaboard colonies.

GLOSSARY - To build your social science vocabulary, familiarize yourself with the following terms:

Predestination - The Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned.

Elect - In Calvinist doctrine, those who have been chosen by God for salvation.

Conversion - A religious turn to God, thought by Calvinists to involve an intense, identifiable personal experience of grace.

Visible saints - In Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives.

Calling - In Protestantism, the belief that saved individuals have a religious obligation to engage in worldly work.

Heresy - Departure from correct or officially defined belief.

Seditious - Concerning resistance to or rebellion against the government.

Commonwealth - An organized civil government or social order united for a shared purpose.

Autocratic - Absolute or dictatorial rule.

Passive resistance - Nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs.

Asylum - A place of refuge and security, especially for the persecuted or unfortunate.

Proprietary - Concerning exclusive legal ownership, as of colonies granted to individuals by the monarch.

Naturalization - The granting of citizenship to foreigners or immigrants.

Blue laws - Laws designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code of morality.

Ethnic - Concerning diverse peoples or cultures, specifically those of non-Anglo-Saxon background.

Locate the following places by reference number on the map:

____ Rhode Island

____ Massachusetts Bay

____ New Hampshire

____ Pennsylvania

____ New Jersey

____ Delaware

____ New York

____ Plymouth

Locate the following places by reference number on the map:

____ Boston

____ Salem

____ Connecticut River

____ Delaware Bay

____ Hudson River

____ New York City

____ Albany

____ Philadelphia

Why is John Calvin a significant figure in U.S. History? ____________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________.

What action taken by Henry VIII aided the entrance of Protestant beliefs into England? (pg. 44) ____________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

What impact did the Mayflower Compact have on self-government in the United States? (pg. 44) __________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

What special qualities did William Bradford possess? (pg. 45) _____________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________.

What was the historical significance of the Pilgrims of Plymouth Bay? (pg. 45) _______________________________ _________________________________________________________________.

What was the primary difference between the Separatists and the Puritans (pg. 45) ______________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________.

Explain the ways in which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was "blessed"? (pg. 46-47) ___________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________