Puritans, Separatists, and the “Errand in the Wilderness”

 Middle-class, family migration  Longer life spans  Villages  Self-sufficient, English-style farms  Congregational Church

 Wanted simple church building & service, not elaborate vestments & rituals  Believed church was covenant community of God’s elect  Belief in predestination based on understanding of God’s sovereignty  Still saw need for piety & evangelism John Calvin

 Bartholomew Gosnold explored coast in 1603, but attempt to colonize Cuttyhunk abandoned  Plymouth Co. briefly est. colony at Sagadahoc ( )  Colony led by George Popham & Raleigh Gilbert  Abandoned due to hostilities with Indians & harsh winter  John Smith led another expedition in 1614 & named it New England John Smith Raleigh Gilbert

 Separatists est. Plymouth colony (1620)  had lived in Netherlands for many years  landed at tip of Cape Cod, but settled in abandoned Patuxet village  Tried to live peacefully with Indians  Signed treaty with Massasoit  Aided by Tisquantum, who had spent 9 years in England The Mayflower II Plymouth Fort/Meetinghouse

 Puritans established:  Massachusetts Bay (1628) est. by John Winthrop as “city on a hill”  Connecticut (1635) est. by Mass. Bay settlers – no royal charter until 1662  New Haven (1638) est. by Theophilus Eaton & Rev. John Davenport – absorbed into Connecticut in 1662  Sir Ferdinando Gorges & John Mason granted northern territory – divided it at Piscataqua River  Gorges took Maine  Mason took New Hampshire  Mass. claimed both in 1640s  N.H. became separate in 1679

 Dissenters exiled:  Roger Williams est. Rhode Island (1636)  Anne Hutcheson exiled from Boston in 1638 as antinomian  Quakers persecuted when they began arriving in 1650s Roger Williams Anne Hutcheson

 Tried to convert & civilize Indians  viewed them as irrational children, enslaved by passions – needed education  viewed them as lazy – needed discipline  est. “praying towns” like Natick to get them to settle down & assimilate  Metacom’s War ( ) was last gasp of Indian resistance in New England  5,000 Indians & 2,500 English killed Great Seal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay

 Towns = corporations  Land divided among founding settlers  Reserve land divided later for 2 nd & 3 rd generations  all landowners took part in decision-making  3 Overlapping Units:  Church – “born-again” men and women  had to testify to conversion; could receive sacraments  Half-Way Covenant (1662) blurred distinction  had to be church member to hold office in Mass. Bay  Ecclesiastical Society – all adult males; controlled meetinghouse & schools  Town Meeting – all adult males

 Population doubled every 27 years  Subsistence-plus economy  families grew enough to feed themselves  surplus traded with neighbors – currency scarce  Struggling commercial economy began to emerge in coastal region  Few slaves & generally well-treated  Far less conflict because far less inequality of wealth than just about anywhere else at that time  Education considered crucial  Mass. Bay (1647) & Conn. (1650) required towns to provide public schools  Harvard College est. in 1636 to train clergy Pine Tree Cent, Massachusetts