The Handy American History Answer Book. David L. Hudson
governed themselves according to the Scriptures. Plymouth Colony remained independent until 1691, when it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—founded by the Puritans.
A reconstructed village designed to be historically accurate as to what the settlement of Plymouth looked like is run by the Plimoth Plantation museum in Massachusetts. It serves as an education center for people to learn both about the Pilgrims and the native peoples they encountered.
How were the Puritans different from the Pilgrims?
The Puritans who founded Massachusetts Bay Colony were, like the Pilgrims, religious Protestants (both sects “protested” against the Anglican church). But while the Pilgrims separated from the church, the Puritans wished to purify it. Their religious movement began in England during the 1500s, and they were influenced by the teachings of reformer John Calvin (1509–1564). They also had strong feelings about government, maintaining that people can only be governed by a contract (such as a constitution) that limits a ruler’s powers. When King James I (1566–1625) ascended the throne of England, he was the first ruler of the House (royal family) of Stuart. The Stuart monarchs, particularly James’s successor, King Charles I (1600–1649), tried to enforce absolute adherence to the High Church of Anglicanism and viewed the Puritan agitators as a threat to the crown’s authority.
Persecuted by the throne, groups of Puritans fled England for the New World. One group was granted a corporate charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company (1629). Unlike other such contracts, which provided the framework to establish colonies in America, this one did not require its stockholders to hold their meetings in England. Stockholders who made the voyage across the Atlantic would become voting citizens in their own settlement; the board of directors would form the legislative assembly; and the company president, Puritan leader John Winthrop (1588–1649), would become governor. In 1630, they settled in present-day Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, establishing a Puritan Commonwealth. By 1643, more than twenty thousand Puritans arrived in Massachusetts during what was called the Great Migration. Puritans also settled in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia during the colonial period.
What were the Salem Witch Trials?
The Salem Witch trials were a series of trials in colonial Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693 that resulted in the execution of many women (and one man) accused of witchcraft. The trials did not occur only in Salem but also in surrounding towns. Many of those charged were women who were a little different, who did not subscribe to the tenets of the Puritan Church and who were all outcasts of some sort. Some of the women wore black clothing and allegedly lived an immoral lifestyle.
The Salem Witch Trials today are seen as a form of mass hysteria, of community judgment gone overboard, and as exemplifying the lack of due process and fair trial procedures. For example, Bridget Bishop (1632–1692) was the first person charged in the Salem Witch Trials. She was indicted and tried on June 2, 1692, and executed on June 10. Much of the testimony of people who claimed to have been afflicted by the defendants was very dubious.
Who was Roger Williams?
Roger Williams (1603–1683) was an English theologian best known for his early defense of religious freedom and for the principle of separation of church and state. Williams learned under the great English jurist Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634). Williams later traveled to the Puritan colony of Massachusetts. However, Williams ran afoul of authorities in Salem, particularly after he questioned the close ties between the Puritan church and the Church of England. He was charged and convicted of heresy and sedition. He managed to escape to a new land that he called Providence, where he believed God had guided him to establish a new church and community. Williams is considered the founder of Rhode Island. He also opposed slavery and believed in treating Indian tribes with respect for their cultures.
Who was Anne Hutchinson?
Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was a Puritan religious leader who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her dissident religious views. She preached a so-called “covenant of grace,” emphasizing the importance of individual communication with God and the importance of divine grace. This offended many orthodox Puritans, who adhered to a view that emphasized the importance of religious figures and of good works. Hutchinson was referred to as an antinomian, a person who believes that one can achieve salvation through grace alone. Gender bias also played a role in Hutchinson’s treatment, as she ruffled the feathers of some male religious leaders. After being expelled from the colony in 1638, she fled to Rhode Island. She and her family were killed by Siwanoy Indians in the so-called “Hutchinson Massacre.”
Who was Thomas Hooker?
Thomas Hooker (1586–1647) was a religious leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who inspired jealousy and ire among other religious leaders. A popular preacher, Hooker left the Massachusetts Colony rather than face expulsion. He and a group of his followers formed the colony of Connecticut; Hooker is called “the Father of Connecticut.” He contributed greatly to the written founding document of the Connecticut colony, “the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,” a progenitor to later written constitutions. Some consider it the first written constitution in colonial America. The Orders provided for expanded suffrage and more freedom than existed in Massachusetts.
What were the Dutch colonial holdings?
New Netherlands was the only Dutch colony on the North American mainland. It consisted of lands surrounding the Hudson River (in present-day New York) and, later, the lower Delaware River (in New Jersey and Delaware). Explorers from the Netherlands first settled the area around 1610. In 1624, the colony of New Netherlands was officially founded by the Dutch West India Company. On behalf of the company, in 1626 Dutch colonial official Peter Minuit (1580–1638) purchased the island of Manhattan from the American Indians for an estimated $24 in trinkets. The colonial capital of New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) was established there. The Dutch held the colony until 1664, when it was conquered by the English under the direction of King Charles II’s brother James II, the Duke of York (1633–1701). The English sought the territory since New Netherlands separated its American holdings. While under British control, the area was divided into two colonies: New Jersey and New York.
An etching depicting English explorer Henry Hudson meeting Indians at Sandy Hook, New York, in 1609.
What were the Swedish colonial holdings?
The Swedish possessions consisted of a small colony called New Sweden, established in 1638 at Fort Christina (present-day Wilmington), Delaware. The Swedes gradually extended the settlement from the mouth of the Delaware Bay (south of Wilmington) northward along the Delaware River as far as present-day Trenton, New Jersey. The settlers were mostly fur traders, although there was farming in the colony as well. In 1655, the territory was taken by the Dutch in a military expedition led by Director-General of New Netherlands, Peter Stuyvesant (c. 1610–1672). For nine years, the territory was part of the Dutch colonial claims called New Netherlands. In 1664, the English claimed it and the rest of New Netherlands. Delaware was set up as a British proprietary colony and remained so until the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775–1783).
During the colonial period, the Netherlands also claimed the West Indies islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (the present-day Netherlands Antilles), which were administered separately from New Netherlands on the North American mainland.
Who was Henry Hudson?
Henry Hudson (1560–1611) was an English-born explorer whose most notable exploits were carried out under the banner of the Dutch East India Company. Hudson sailed mainly in North America, originally to find a passage in the Northwest that would take him to present-day China. Unsuccessful in those attempts, Hudson did discover many areas in North America in the present-day New York region. For the Dutch East India Company, he established Dutch claim to many lands in New York.