SSUSH1B & C

European Settlement of North America (The New England, Middle, & Southern Colonies)

The Great Migration to North America

• Between 1620 – 1640, new colonies

developed in North America due to

the Great Migration of Religious

Refugees from England.

• The Protestant Reformation and

English Civil War created a hostile

Religious and Political atmosphere

in England by the 1620’s.

• Church members who adopted a reformed theology called Calvinism

became known as Puritans.

• These New England Colonies included Massachusetts, Rhode Island,

Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

Developments in New England

• In 1620, 120 settlers sailed from England to the

Plymouth Bay Colony on the ship Mayflower.

• Most of these settlers were English Separatists

who had broken ties with the Anglican Church of

England.

• Among these religious settlers were

people known as Pilgrims, Quakers, and

Baptists.

• Upon arrival in Massachusetts, the settlers established a Representative

Government by signing the Mayflower Compact

Developments in New England

• It was signed on Nov 11, 1620 on board the Mayflower by the 41 adult

male that eventually settled at the Plymouth Colony.

• In 1628, English Puritans obtained permission from the King to establish

a Colony at Massachusetts Bay.

Developments in New England

• In 1630, 900 Puritans sailed to the

colony under the leadership of John Winthrop.

• From 1630 to 1640 approximately 20,000 colonists came to New England.

• The Puritans created a deeply religious and socially tight-knit community.

Developments in New England

• Although there was a Representative Government, the Puritan Church

controlled the society through

a series of Congregational

Town Hall Meetings.

• Eventually, in order to take part in the

Government or live in Massachusetts, settlers had to be members in

Good standing with the Church.

Religious Dissenters Established New Colonies

• In 1636, a group of religious dissenters from the Massachusetts Bay

Colony followed

Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson

to establish a new colony at the head

of Narragansett Bay

• This new colonial settlement

(originally called Providence

Plantation) was eventually

renamed Rhode Island.

Religious Dissenters Established New Colonies

• Also in 1636, a Puritan Nobleman named

Thomas Hooker established another

settlement originally called the River Colony.

• This colonial settlement was later renamed

Connecticut.

• In 1662, Reverend Solomon Stoddard

proposed an answer to the church’s

declining membership and religious

turmoil called the Half-Way Covenant.

• The agreement allowed for partial membership in the Puritan Church.

Relations with the Native Americans

• Like Virginia, the New England Colonies established good Trade Relations

with the local Native American tribes.

• Puritans and Native

Americans shared their

bountiful harvests by

celebrating a day of

Thanksgiving.

• However, eventual disputes over territorial lands erupted between the

settlers and their Native American neighbors.

• Between 1675 – 1676, a

conflict known as King Philip’s

War was fought between the

settlers and Native Americans.

Relations with the Native Americans

• King Philip was a local reference to the Native

American leader known as Metacomet.

• The war involved settlements in all of the New

England Colonies.

• As a result of the war, the colonists requested military troops and

government assistance from Britain. In 1684, King Charles II revoked

the Charter of Massachusetts making it a Royal Colony.

Religious Tensions and the Salem Witch Trials

• High Religious Tensions peaked in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts

during the spring of 1692.

• Puritan leaders feared that the Devil was

active in the lives of their community.

• People who

had uncontrolled fits, practiced local remedies

or did not follow the strict guidelines of the

Church were accused of being Witches.

• Many people were tried, convicted, and

sentenced to death on little to no evidence.

Establishing the Middle Colonies

• The Dutch Colony of New Netherlands was originally established to

exploit the rich Fur Trade in

North America.

• In 1674, after several

Anglo-Dutch Wars, the

colony was formally turned

over to the British and was

renamed New York.

• The acquisition of this colony linked the New England Colonies to the

Southern Colonies.

• On March 4, 1681, King Charles II granted a Royal

Charter to a large parcel of land in North America

to William Penn .

Establishing the Middle Colonies

• This new colony was to be a

refuge for the religious

group known as Quakers.

• The Colony was given the name Pennsylvania, which translates

roughly as “Penn’s Woods.”

• Originally Chartered in 1629, the Province of Carolina was reissued as

a Charter to eight noblemen as the Lord Proprietors in 1663.

Establishing the Southern Colonies

• Although these lords and their

heirs controlled the colony from

1663 to 1729, the territory was

divided between the northern

and southern halves in 1712.

• A Rebellion against the Lord

Proprietors resulted in the

appointment of a Royal Governor in 1720.

• The last of the Thirteen Original Colonies established by Great Britain

was the Province of Georgia.

Establishing the Southern Colonies

• The Colony’s Corporate Charter

was granted to General James

Oglethorpe in 1732.

• He envisioned the colony as a

haven for the resettlement of

English debtors.

• The British Government saw the colony as a “Buffer State” between

the British Colonies and Spanish Florida.