The New England Colonies New Ideas, New Colonies Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire Ch. 5 Lesson 2

The lives of the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay colony centered around religion. In fact, religion was so important to the Puritans that they expected all newcomers to follow Puritan beliefs. When the Puritan leaders disapproved of someone’s ideas, they sent that person back to England, or to another colony….

Roger Williams In 1631, Roger Williams and his family arrived in the Massachusetts Bay colony from England, and settled in a village called Salem. He became a minister there, and was very popular at first….

…But several years later, the Puritan leaders decided that they didn’t like some of his beliefs, so they voted to expel him, which means they forced him to leave the colony!! He was no longer allowed to live in the Massachusetts Bay colony.

So Williams and his family fled to new land, and founded a settlement he called Providence (which would later be called the Rhode Island Colony).

Williams set up a government based on consent, or agreement, of the settlers. This meant that they settlers could discuss and agree upon all the laws and rules they made. This new government gave the people freedom to follow whatever religion they chose.

Anne Hutchinson Soon after Roger Williams was expelled from the Mass. Bay Colony, a woman named Anne Hutchinson started to challenge and question the Puritan ministers and their teachings.

They charged her with sedition, speaking or behaving against the government. The Puritan ministers did not like that at all, so….. What did they do????

…..They ordered Hutchinson to leave the colony!! So Hutchinson left, and founded a new settlement right next to Providence. Hutchinson’s settlement later joined with Williams’ settlement, and they formed the Rhode Island Colony.

Connecticut and New Hampshire Other settlers left Massachusetts Bay Colony to find better farmland, instead of the rocky fields of Massachusetts. Colonists founded the Connecticut Colony and the New Hampshire Colony, where they discovered much more fertile farmland.

Indian Wars As settlers started moving beyond the Massachusetts Colony, the Native Americans who already lived in those areas wanted to stop the colonists from taking over Indian lands.

King Philip’s War There were bad feelings between the settlers and the Indians because of the conflict over land, and those bad feelings started a war. The colonists called the war, “King Philip’s War.” (Metacomet, the leader of the Native Americans, was known to the colonists as King Philip)

Both the settlers and the colonists lost many people during the war. Many Native American tribes were forced off their lands, and so the settlers continued to move north and settle in new areas.

Frontier The frontier was being pushed farther west as well. A frontier is the land that lies past the settled areas. The New England frontier separated the land settled by Europeans from the land lived on by Native Americans.

It’s time to record the vocab you’ve learned!

expel To be forced to leave

consent agreement

sedition Speaking or behaving against the government

frontier The land that lies past the settled areas, but in front of where the Indians live.