NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Religious Freedom• England was Protestant

• King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church• King Henry VIII forms the Anglican Church (Church of England)

• Wanted to divorce his wife because she didnt give birth to a boy• How is the gender of a child determined?

• Not everyone was happy with the Anglican Church

Dissenters• Dissent: Disagreement• 2 groups were not happy with the Anglican Church• 1. Puritans

• Wanted to change or reform the Anglican Church

• 2. Separatists• Wanted to leave and set up their own churches

Separatists• Faced persecution in England

• Many fled to the Netherlands• Couldn’t find work• Worried their children were losing their religious values and

English way of life• Needed to find a new place to settle

The Pilgrim’s Journey• Separatists in the Netherlands made an arrangement

with the Virginia Company• Could settle in Virginia and practice their religion IF they

would give the company a share of any profits

• Separatists considered themselves Pilgrims

• Pilgrims: People who go on a journey for a religious purpose

The Mayflower• Only 35 of the 102 passengers were actually Pilgrims

• The rest were common people-servants, craftspeople, and poor farmers

Plymouth• The Pilgrims arrived in North America in December

• Problems?• Where were they trying to land?

• William Bradford is the leader of the Pilgrims

The Mayflower Compact• Formal Document• Pledges loyalty to England• Pledges to form a government and to obey laws

passed by the government

• Important step towards representative government!!

Relations with Native Americans• During the first winter nearly half of the Pilgrims died

• Malnutrition, Cold, Disease

• Squanto and Samoset (Native Americans)• Show Pilgrims how to grow corn, beans, pumpkins, and how

to hunt and fish• Helped to make peace between Pilgrims and other Native

American groups in 1621

Puritans• 1625- Charles I comes to the throne

• Persecuted Puritans• Many Puritans want to leave England

• Massachusetts Bay Company• 1630• Leader: John Winthrop• Want to establish a society based upon the Bible in America• Boston• 1630s: 15,000 Puritans journey to Massachusetts

• Known as the Great Migration

Puritan Government• Initially, John Winthrop and his assistants make the

colony’s laws• 1634- Colonists demand a larger role

• An elected assembly is established• Adult male church members were allowed to vote for their

representatives• Later, owning property became a requirement

Rhode Island and Connecticut• Puritans came to America to practice their religious

freedom• However: The Puritans persecuted people of other faiths

• Thomas Hooker: Connecticut• 1636

• Roger Williams: Rhode Island• Banished in 1635• Rhode Island is established in 1644 as the first place where

ALL religions could be practiced freely

• John Wheelwright: New Hampshire• 1679

Conflict with Native Americans• Native Americans traded furs for:

• Guns• Iron Pots• Blankets

• Conflict came from:• Settlers moving onto Native American lands without

permission• 1675: War broke out between New England and Native

Americans• “King Philip’s War”• The New England colonists win and were now free to expand their

settlements