The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth , which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island .
115-618: The document was written and signed by a group of Christian dissidents who were seeking religious freedom from the governmental oversight of the Massachusetts Bay Colony by moving to Aquidneck Island to set up a new colony. Among this group was Anne Hutchinson , who had been banished from Massachusetts Bay following the Antinomian Controversy there. The purpose of the Portsmouth Compact
230-596: A Mattabesic village near present-day Fairfield, Connecticut . The colonists memorialized this event as the Fairfield Swamp Fight (not to be confused with the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War ). The English surrounded the swamp and allowed several hundred to surrender, mostly women and children, but Sassacus slipped out before dawn with perhaps 80 warriors, and continued west. Sassacus and his followers had hoped to gain refuge among
345-452: A theocratic government limited to church members, although ministers were barred from holding governmental positions. Winthrop, Dudley, the Rev. John Cotton, and other leaders sought to prevent dissenting religious views, and many were banished because of differing religious beliefs, including Roger Williams of Salem and Anne Hutchinson of Boston , and unrepentant Quakers and Anabaptists. By
460-613: A Mare of Edward Pomroye's killed by his Men. The Pequots were then bound by Covenant, That none should inhabit their native Country, nor should any of them be called PEQUOTS any more, but Moheags and Narragansatts for ever. Other Pequots were enslaved and shipped to Bermuda or the West Indies, or were forced to become household slaves in English households in Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay. The Colonies essentially declared
575-406: A body to veto the general court's act. The consequence of the ensuing debate was that the general court voted in 1644 that the council of assistants would sit and deliberate separately from the general court (they had sat together until then), and both bodies must concur for any legislation to be passed. Judicial appeals were to be decided by a joint session, since otherwise the assistants would be in
690-613: A fiery Oven", and "thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen." Of the estimated 500 Pequots in the fort, seven were taken prisoner and another seven escaped to the woods. The Narragansetts and Mohegans with Mason and Underhill's colonial militia were horrified by the actions and "manner of the Englishmen's fight… because it is too furious, and slays too many men." The Narragansetts attempted to leave and return home, but were cut off by
805-688: A halt to major migration, and a significant number of men returned to England to fight in the war. Massachusetts authorities were sympathetic to the Parliamentary cause and had generally positive relationships with the governments of the English Commonwealth and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell . The colony's economy began to diversify in the 1640s, as the fur trading, lumber, and fishing industries found markets in Europe and
920-546: A house near their properties on the outskirts of the town. A town center that was well laid out would be fairly compact, with a tavern, school, possibly some small shops, and a meeting house that was used for civic and religious functions. The meeting house would be the center of the town's political and religious life. Church services might be held for several hours on Wednesday and all day Sunday. Puritans did not observe annual holidays, especially Christmas , which they said had pagan roots. Annual town meetings would be held at
1035-418: A larger kitchen (possibly with a brick or stone chimney including an oven), additional rooms, and a sleeping loft. These houses were the precursors to what is now called the saltbox style of architecture. Interiors became more elaborate in later years, with plaster walls, wainscoting , and potentially expensive turned woodwork in the most expensive homes. Colonists arriving after the first wave found that
1150-577: A legal basis to continue their government, yet it remained intact until its official revocation in 1686. James II of England united Massachusetts with the other New England colonies in the Dominion of New England in 1686. The dominion was governed by Sir Edmund Andros without any local representation beyond his own hand-picked councillors, and it was extremely unpopular throughout New England. Massachusetts authorities arrested Andros in April 1689 after
1265-433: A name by this charter, but the territories were named as the "first Colony" and "second Colony", over which they were respectively authorized to settle and to govern. Under this charter, the "first Colony" and the "second Colony" were to be ruled by a Council composed of 13 individuals in each colony. The charter provided for an additional council of 13 persons named "Council of Virginia" which had overarching responsibility for
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#17327763485941380-533: A number of cattle and horses, and took two young girls captive. (They were daughters of William Swaine and were later ransomed by Dutch traders.) In all, the towns lost about 30 settlers. In May, leaders of Connecticut River towns met in Hartford, raised a militia, and placed Captain John Mason in command. Mason set out with 90 militia and 70 Mohegan warriors under Uncas; their orders were to directly attack
1495-549: A promotional tract intended to encourage further immigration. Plymouth Colony would remain separate from Massachusetts Bay Colony until the creation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . There were other attempts at colonies more closely tied to England in 1623 and 1624 at Weymouth, Massachusetts . Thomas Weston's Wessagusset Colony failed in under a year. An effort by Robert Gorges to establish an overarching civil and religious colonial structure for New England based in
1610-605: A reputation as a troublemaker and had been exiled from Plymouth Colony shortly before the incident on Block Island. In the weeks that followed, officials from Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island , and Connecticut assumed that the Narragansetts were the likely culprits. They knew that the Indians of Block Island were allies of the Eastern Niantics, who were allied with the Narragansetts, and they became suspicious of
1725-497: A small group of leaders strongly influenced by Puritan teachings. It was the first slave-holding colony in New England, and its governors were elected by an electorate limited to freemen who had been formally admitted to the local church. As a consequence, the colonial leadership showed little tolerance for other religious views, including Anglican , Quaker , and Baptist theologies. The colonists had good relationships with
1840-429: Is forced to touch the dead body; if blood appears, the accused is deemed guilty. This was used to convict and execute a woman accused of murdering her newborn child. Bodies of individuals hanged for piracy were sometimes gibbeted (publicly displayed) on harbor islands visible to seagoing vessels. Pequot War The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place in 1636 and ended in 1638 in New England, between
1955-532: The American Revolution . Many behaviors were frowned upon culturally which modern sensibilities might consider relatively trivial actions, and some led to criminal prosecution. These included sleeping during church services, playing cards, and engaging in any number of activities on the Sabbath. Conversely, there were laws which reflected attitudes that are still endorsed by popular sensibilities in
2070-743: The Cambridge Agreement , in which a group of investors agreed to emigrate and work to buy out others who would not emigrate. The Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first English chartered colony whose board of governors did not reside in England. This independence helped the settlers to maintain their Puritan religious practices without interference from the king, Archbishop Laud, or the Anglican Church of England . The charter remained in force for 55 years; Charles II revoked it in 1684. Parliament passed legislation collectively called
2185-838: The Charles River and Merrimack River that extended from "the Atlantick and westerne sea and ocean on the east parte, to the South sea on the west parte". The company to whom the grant was sold was styled "The New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay". The company elected Matthew Cradock as its first governor and immediately began organizing provisions and recruiting settlers. The company sent approximately 100 new settlers with provisions to join Conant in 1628, led by Governor's Assistant John Endecott , one of
2300-617: The English Restoration led to the revocation of the colonial charter in 1684. King James II established the Dominion of New England in 1686 to bring all of the New England colonies under firmer crown control. The Dominion collapsed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony reverted to rule under its revoked charter until 1691, when a new charter
2415-631: The Mohawks , who were expanding aggressively from upstate New York. The total Indigenous population in 1620 has been estimated to be 7,000. This number was significantly larger as late as 1616; in later years, contemporaneous chroniclers interviewed Indigenous people who described a major pestilence which killed as many as two-thirds of the population. The land-use patterns of the Indigenous people included plots cleared for agricultural purposes and woodland territories for hunting game. Land divisions among
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#17327763485942530-543: The Navigation Acts which attempted to prevent the colonists from trading with any nation other than England. Colonial resistance to those acts led King Charles to revoke the Massachusetts charter and consolidate all the colonies in New England, New York, and New Jersey into the Dominion of New England . Territory claimed but never administered by the colonial government extended theoretically as far west as
2645-482: The Navigation Acts , which had been passed by Parliament to regulate trade within the English colonial empire. These regulations determined whom the colonies could trade with and how trade could be conducted, and New England merchants were flaunting them by trading directly with European powers. This infuriated many English merchants, commercial societies, and Royal committees who petitioned the King for action, claiming that
2760-797: The Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay , Plymouth , and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. The war concluded with the decisive defeat of the Pequot. At the end, about 700 Pequots had been killed or taken into captivity. Hundreds of prisoners were sold into slavery to colonists in Bermuda or the West Indies ; other survivors were dispersed as captives to
2875-617: The "first Colony"; investors from the "Town of Plimouth in the County of Devon " were appointed to govern over any settlements in the "second Colony". The London Company proceeded to establish Jamestown . The Plymouth Company under the guidance of Sir Ferdinando Gorges covered the more northern area, including New England , and established the Sagadahoc Colony in 1607 in Maine . The experience proved exceptionally difficult for
2990-403: The 120 settlers, however, and the surviving colonists abandoned the colony after only one year. Gorges noted that "there was no more speech of settling plantations in those parts" for a number of years. English ships continued to come to the New England area for fishing and trade with the Indigenous population. In December 1620, a group of English religious Separatists , later referred to as "
3105-594: The 1620s led them to believe that religious reform would not be possible while Charles was king, and many decided to seek a new life in the New World. John White continued to seek funding for a colony. On 19 March 1628 [ O.S. 1627], the Council for New England issued a land grant to a new group of investors that included a few from the Dorchester Company. The land grant was for territory between
3220-593: The 1620s. By 1636, the Dutch had fortified their trading post, and the English had built a trading fort at Saybrook . English Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay , along with the Pilgrims from Plymouth Colony , settled at the recently established river towns of Windsor (1632), Wethersfield (1633), Hartford (1635), and Springfield (1636). The Pilgrims had been allied with the Wampanoag since 1621. Beginning in
3335-463: The 1688 Glorious Revolution in England, and they re-established government under the forms of the vacated charter. However, dissenters from the Puritan rule argued that the government lacked a proper constitutional foundation, and some of its actions were resisted on that basis. King William III issued a charter in 1691, despite efforts by Massachusetts agents to revive the old colonial charter. It
3450-694: The 21st century US, against things such as smoking tobacco, abusing one's mother-in-law, profane dancing, and pulling hair. Children, newcomers, and people with disabilities were exempt from punishment for such infractions. The colony's council of assistants sat as the final court of appeal and as the principal court for criminal issues of "life, limb, or banishment" and civil issues where the damages exceeded £100. Lesser offenses were heard in county courts or by commissioners appointed for hearing minor disputes. The lower courts were also responsible for issuing licenses and for matters such as probate. Juries were authorized to decide questions of both fact and law, although
3565-523: The Dutch abducted him and demanded a substantial amount of ransom for his safe return. The Pequots quickly sent bushels of wampum to the Dutch, but received only Tatobem's dead body in return. But the colonial officials in Boston did not accept the Pequots' excuses that they had been unaware of Stone's nationality. Pequot sachem Sassacus sent the colonists some wampum to atone for the killing, but he refused
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3680-451: The English colonists and the Pequots with the Dutch colonists. The peace ended between the Dutch and Pequots when the Pequots assaulted a tribe of Indians who had tried to trade in the area of Hartford. Tensions grew as the Massachusetts Bay Colony became a stronghold for wampum production, which the Narragansetts and Pequots had controlled until the mid-1630s. Adding to the tensions, John Stone and seven of his crew were murdered in 1634 by
3795-578: The General Court was supportive of Randolph and the changes that the crown wished to make, but the conservatives remained too powerful and blocked any attempt to side with England. However, as the tensions mounted between the crown and Massachusetts Bay, and threats mounted of legal action against the colony, the General Court did pass laws that acknowledged certain English admiralty laws while still making allowance for self-governance. Two delegates from Massachusetts Bay were sent to London to meet with
3910-535: The Indigenous peoples of southern New England rose up against the colonists and were decisively defeated, although at great cost in life to all concerned. The Massachusetts frontier was particularly hard hit: several communities in the Connecticut and Swift River valleys were abandoned. By the end of the war, most of the Indigenous population of southern New England made peace treaties with the colonists. England had difficulty enforcing its laws and regulations in
4025-508: The Lords of Trade when the crown threatened the colony with a quo warranto . The Lords demanded a supplementary charter to alleviate problems, but the delegates were under orders that they could not negotiate any change with the Charter and this enraged the Lords. The quo warranto was issued immediately. The King feared that this would stir problems within the colony and attempted to reassure
4140-600: The Massachusetts Bay colony, as it was a joint-stock colony which was unlike the royal colonies and proprietary colonies that the English crown administered. Massachusetts Bay was largely self-governing with its own house of deputies, governor, and other self-appointed officers. The colony also did not keep its headquarters and oversight in London but moved them to the colony. The Massachusetts Bay colonists viewed themselves as something apart from their "mother country" of England because of this tradition of self-rule, coupled with
4255-541: The Mohawk in present-day New York. However, the Mohawk instead murdered his bodyguard and him, afterwards sending his head and hands to Hartford (for reasons which were never made clear). This essentially ended the Pequot War; colonial officials continued to call for hunting down what remained of the Pequots after war's end, but they granted asylum to any who went to live with the Narragansetts or Mohegans. In September,
4370-592: The Mohegans and Narragansetts met at the General Court of Connecticut and agreed on the disposition of the Pequot survivors. The agreement, known as the first Treaty of Hartford , was signed on September 21, 1638. About 200 Pequots survived the war; they finally gave up and submitted themselves under the authority of the sachem of the Mohegans or Narragansetts. There were then given to Onkos, Sachem of Monheag , Eighty; to Myan Tonimo, Sachem of Narragansett , Eighty; and to Nynigrett, Twenty, when he should satisfy for
4485-605: The Narragansett, openly sided with the English. The Narragansetts had warred with and lost territory to the Pequots in 1622. Now, their friend Roger Williams urged the Narragansetts to side with the English against the Pequots. Through the autumn and winter, Fort Saybrook was effectively besieged. People who ventured outside were killed. As spring arrived in 1637, the Pequots stepped up their raids on Connecticut towns. On April 23, Wangunk chief Sequin attacked Wethersfield with Pequot help. They killed six men and three women and
4600-405: The Narragansetts. The murderers, meanwhile, escaped and were given sanctuary with the Pequots. News of Oldham's death became the subject of sermons in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In August, Governor Vane sent John Endecott to exact revenge on the Indians of Block Island . Endecott's party of roughly 90 men sailed to Block Island and attacked two apparently abandoned Niantic villages. Most of
4715-479: The New England Company) for the little-known territories of the New World, and because of the increasing number of Puritans who wanted to join them. Charles granted the new charter on 4 March 1629 [O.S. 1628], superseding the land grant and establishing a legal basis for the new English colony at Massachusetts, appointing Endecott as governor. It was not apparent whether Charles knew that the company
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4830-485: The New England colonists were hurting their trade. The Lords of Trade's complaints were so serious that the King sent Edward Randolph to Boston in an attempt to rein in and regulate the colony. When he arrived in Boston, he found a colonial government that refused to give in to the royal demands. Randolph reported to London that the General Court of Massachusetts Bay claimed that the King had no right to interfere with their commercial dealings. In response, Randolph asked
4945-493: The Niantic escaped, while two of Endecott's men were injured. The English claimed to have killed 14, but later Narragansett reports claimed that only one Indian was killed on the island. The Massachusetts Bay militia burned the villages to the ground. They carried away crops that the Niantic had stored for winter and destroyed what they could not carry. Endecott went on to Fort Saybrook. The English at Saybrook were not happy about
5060-600: The Niantics, western tributary clients of the Pequots. Stone was from the West Indies and had been banished from Boston for malfeasance, including drunkenness, adultery, and piracy. He had abducted two Western Niantic men, forcing them to show him the way up the Connecticut River. Soon after, his crew and he were attacked and killed by a larger group of Western Niantics. The initial reactions in Boston varied from indifference to outright joy at Stone's death, but
5175-634: The Pacific Ocean. The Dutch colony of New Netherland disputed many of its territorial claims, arguing that they held rights to land beyond Rhode Island up to the western side of Cape Cod, under the jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony at the time. A flotilla of ships sailed from England beginning in April 1630, sometimes known as the Winthrop Fleet . They began arriving at Salem in June and carried more than 700 colonists, Governor John Winthrop , and
5290-429: The Pequot War were written within one year of the war. Later histories recounted events from a similar perspective, restating arguments first used by military leaders such as John Underhill and John Mason, as well as Puritans Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather . Recent historians and others have reviewed these accounts. In 2004, an artist and archaeologist (Jack Dempsey and David R. Wagner) teamed up to evaluate
5405-522: The Pequot War). The Massachusetts Bay Colony was economically successful, trading with England, Mexico, and the West Indies. In addition to barter, transactions were done in English pounds, Spanish " pieces of eight ", and wampum in the 1640s. In 1652, a currency shortage prompted the colony to authorize silversmith John Hull to issue coinage, now known as the oak tree, willow tree, and pine tree shillings . Political differences with England after
5520-463: The Pequot War, no significant battles occurred between Indians and southern New England colonists for about 38 years. This long period of peace came to an end in 1675 with King Philip's War . According to historian Andrew Lipman, the Pequot War introduced the practice of colonists and Indians taking body parts as trophies of battle. Honor and monetary reimbursement was given to those who brought back heads and scalps of Pequots. The earliest accounts of
5635-578: The Pequot at their fort. At Fort Saybrook, Captain Mason was joined by John Underhill with another 20 men. Underhill and Mason then sailed from Fort Saybrook to Narragansett Bay, a tactic intended to mislead Pequot spies along the shoreline into thinking that the English were not intending an attack. After gaining the support of 200 Narragansetts, Mason and Underhill marched their forces with Uncas and Wequash Cooke about 20 miles towards Mistick Fort (present-day Mystic ). They briefly camped at Porter's Rocks near
5750-421: The Pequot spirit, and they decided to abandon their villages and flee westward to seek refuge with the Mohawk tribe. Sassacus led roughly 400 warriors along the coast; when they crossed the Connecticut River, the Pequots killed three men whom they encountered near Fort Saybrook. In mid-June, John Mason set out from Saybrook with 160 men and 40 Mohegan scouts led by Uncas. They caught up with the refugees at Sasqua,
5865-415: The Pequots and English colonists, who were ill-prepared to face periods of famine. A more proximate cause of the war was the killing of a trader named John Oldham , who was attacked on a voyage to Block Island on July 20, 1636. Several of his crew and he were killed and his ship was looted by Narragansett -allied Indians, who sought to discourage settlers from trading with their Pequot rivals. Oldham had
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#17327763485945980-506: The Pequots extinct by prohibiting them from using the name any longer. The colonists attributed their victory over the hostile Pequot tribe to an act of God: Let the whole Earth be filled with his glory! Thus the lord was pleased to smite our Enemies in the hinder Parts, and to give us their Land for an Inheritance. This was the first instance wherein Algonquian peoples of southern New England encountered European-style warfare. After
6095-412: The Pequots from the other village of Weinshauks and had to be rescued by Underhill's men—after which they reluctantly rejoined the colonists for protection and were used to carry the wounded, thereby freeing up more soldiers to fend off the numerous attacks along the withdrawal route. The destruction of people and the village at Mistick Fort and losing even more warriors during the withdrawal pursuit broke
6210-548: The Pilgrims ", established Plymouth Colony just to the south of Massachusetts Bay, seeking to preserve their cultural identity and attain religious freedom. Plymouth's colonists faced great hardships and earned few profits for their investors, who sold their interests to them in 1627. Edward Winslow and William Bradford were two of the colony's leaders and were likely the authors of a work published in England in 1622 called Mourt's Relation . This book in some ways resembles
6325-538: The West Indies, and the colony's shipbuilding industry developed. The growth of a generation of people born in the colony and the rise of a merchant class began to slowly change the political and cultural landscape of the colony, even though its governance continued to be dominated by relatively conservative Puritans. Colonial support for the Commonwealth created tension after the throne was restored to Charles II in 1660. Charles sought to extend royal influence over
6440-456: The ability to vote in the colony. After a protest over the imposition of taxes by a meeting of the council of assistants, the general court ordered each town to send two representatives known as deputies to meet with the court to discuss matters of taxation. Questions of governance and representation arose again in 1634 when several deputies demanded to see the charter, which the assistants had kept hidden from public view. The deputies learned of
6555-619: The arrival of European colonists on the eastern shore of New England, the area around Massachusetts Bay was the territory of several Algonquian-speaking peoples, including the Massachusetts , Nausets , and Wampanoags . The Pennacooks occupied the Merrimack River valley to the north, and the Nipmucs , Pocumtucs , and Mahicans occupied the western lands of Massachusetts, although some of those tribes were under tribute to
6670-546: The colonial charter. Winthrop delivered his famous sermon " City upon a Hill " either before or during the voyage. Over the next ten years, about 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England to Massachusetts and the neighboring colonies during the Great Migration . Many ministers reacted to the repressive religious policies of England, making the trip with their congregations, among whom were John Cotton , Roger Williams , Thomas Hooker , and others. Religious divisions and
6785-448: The colonial officials still felt compelled to protest the killing. According to the Pequots' later explanations, he was killed in reprisal for the Dutch murdering the principal Pequot sachem Tatobem, and they claimed to be unaware that Stone was English and not Dutch. (Contemporaneous accounts claim that the Pequots knew Stone to be English. ) In the earlier incident, Tatobem had boarded a Dutch vessel to trade. Instead of conducting trade,
6900-480: The colonies, which Massachusetts resisted along with the other colonies. For example, the Massachusetts Bay colony repeatedly refused requests by Charles and his agents to allow the Church of England to become established, and the New England colonies generally resisted the Navigation Acts , laws that restricted colonial trade to England alone. The New England colonies were ravaged by King Philip's War (1675–76), when
7015-524: The colonists that their private interests would not be infringed upon. The declaration did create problems, however, and the confrontations increased between the moderates and conservatives. The moderates controlled the office of the Governor and the Council of Assistants, and the conservatives controlled the Assembly of Deputies. This political turmoil ended in a compromise with the deputies voting to allow
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#17327763485947130-481: The colonists' demands that the warriors responsible for Stone's death be turned over to them for trial and punishment. The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 also placed a great deal of pressure on the harvests of that year, according to historian Katherine Grandjean, increasing competition for winter food supplies for several years afterwards throughout much of coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. This, in turn, precipitated even greater tensions between
7245-517: The colony were eligible to become freemen and gain the vote. This restriction was not changed until after the English Restoration. The process by which individuals became members of one of the colony's churches involved a detailed questioning by the church elders of their beliefs and religious experiences; as a result, only individuals whose religious views accorded with those of the church leadership were likely to become members and gain
7360-435: The colony's founders believed to be important for forming a proper relationship with God. Towns were obligated to provide education for their children, which was usually satisfied by hiring a teacher of some sort. The quality of these instructors varied, from minimally educated local people to Harvard-educated ministers. The structure of the colonial government changed over the lifetime of the charter. The Puritans established
7475-439: The combined enterprise. The "first Colony" ranged from the 34th- to 41st-degree latitude north; the "second Colony" ranged from the 38th- to 45th-degree latitude. (The "first Colony" and the "second Colony" overlapped. The 1629 charter of King Charles I asserted that the second Colony ranged from 40th to 48th degrees north latitude, which reduced the overlap.) Investors from London were appointed to govern over any settlements in
7590-583: The course of the previous three decades had severely reduced the Indian populations, and there was a power vacuum in the area as a result. The Dutch and the English from Western Europe were also striving to extend the reach of their trade into the North American interior to achieve dominance in the lush, fertile region. The colonies were new at the time, as the original settlements had been founded in
7705-428: The court could decide if a jury failed to reach a decision. Sentences for offenses included fines and corporal punishments such as whipping and sitting in the stocks , with the punishments of banishment from the colony and death by hanging reserved for the most serious offenses. Evidence was sometimes based on hearsay and superstition. For example, the "ordeal of touch" was used in 1646 in which someone accused of murder
7820-489: The crown to cut off all trade to and from the colony and asked that further regulations be put in place. The crown did not wish to enforce such a harsh measure and risk alienating the moderate members of New England society who supported England, so the British offered conciliatory measures if Massachusetts Bay followed the law. Massachusetts Bay refused, and the Lords of Trade became wary of the colony's charter; they petitioned
7935-484: The crown to either revoke it or amend it. Randolph was made head of Customs and Surveyor General of New England, with his office in Boston. Despite this increased pressure, the General Court established laws that allowed merchants to circumvent Randolph's authority. Adding to Randolph's frustration was his reliance on the Admiralty Court to rule on the laws that he was attempting to enforce. The moderate faction of
8050-413: The delegates in London to negotiate and defend the colonial charter. When the warrant arrived in Boston, the General Court voted on what course the colony should take. The two options were to immediately submit to royal authority and dismantle their government or to wait for the crown to revoke their charter and install a new governmental system. The General Court decided to wait out the crown. They lacked
8165-399: The early 1630s, a series of contributing factors increased the tensions between English colonists and the tribes of southeastern New England. Efforts to control fur trade access resulted in a series of escalating incidents and attacks that increased tensions on both sides. Political divisions widened between the Pequots and Mohegans as they aligned with different trade sources, the Mohegans with
8280-472: The early towns did not have room for them. Seeking land of their own, groups of families would petition the government for land on which to establish a new town; the government would typically allow the group's leaders to select the land. These grants were typically about 40 square miles (10,000 ha), and were located sufficiently near other towns to facilitate defense and social support. The group leaders would also be responsible for acquiring native title to
8395-405: The early years of the colony. Many colonists lived in fairly crude structures, including dugouts , wigwams , and dirt-floor huts made using wattle and daub construction. Construction improved in later years, and houses began to be sheathed in clapboard , with thatch or plank roofs and wooden chimneys. Wealthier individuals would extend their house by adding a lean-to on the back, which allowed
8510-557: The end of 1625. Their settlement was abandoned at present-day Gloucester , but a few settlers remained in the area, including Roger Conant , establishing a settlement a little further south at what is now Salem , near the village of the Naumkeag tribe . Archbishop William Laud was a favorite advisor of King Charles I and a dedicated Anglican , and he sought to suppress the religious practices of Puritans and other nonconforming beliefs in England. The persecution of many Puritans in
8625-477: The first settlers of Newport, arriving in 1638, and the same may be true of John Brightman. William Hall's name may have erasure marks due to his disagreement with Portsmouth authorities soon after the town's establishment. Hall is said to have stated, "A pastor is not needed to figure out one's religion as I can read the bible for myself" and "one's deeds and action ye are known in Heaven." The Compact of Loyalty [4]
8740-540: The future direction of the colony. Many wealthy merchants and colonists wished to expand their economic base and commercial interests and saw the conservative Puritan leadership as thwarting that. Even in Puritan society, the younger generation wished to liberalize society in a way that would help with commerce. Those who wanted Massachusetts Bay and New England to be a place for religious observance and theocracy were most hostile to any change in governance. The Crown learned of these divisions and sought to include non-Puritans in
8855-425: The government and legal system of the colonies. These commissioners were to bring the New England colonies into a stronger connection with England, including allowing the crown to nominate the governor of the colony. The New England colonists refused, claiming that the King had no right to "supervise" Massachusetts Bay's laws and courts, and saying that they ought to continue as they were so long as they remained within
8970-413: The governor and deputy from among themselves. The general court determined at the next session that it would elect the governor and deputy. An additional 116 settlers were admitted to the general court as freemen in 1631, but most of the governing and judicial power remained with the council of assistants. They also enacted a law specifying that only those men who "are members of some of the churches" in
9085-474: The grantees. The next year, Naumkeag was renamed Salem and fortified by another 300 settlers led by Rev. Francis Higginson , one of the first ministers of the settlement. The first winters were difficult, with colonists struggling against starvation and disease, resulting in numerous deaths. The company leaders sought a royal charter for the colony because they were concerned about the legality of conflicting land claims given to several companies (including
9200-547: The head of the Mystic River before mounting a surprise attack just before dawn. The Mystic Massacre started in the predawn hours of May 26, 1637, when colonial forces led by Captains John Mason and John Underhill, along with their allies from the Mohegan and Narragansett tribes, surrounded one of two main fortified Pequot villages at Mistick. Only 20 soldiers breached the palisade's gate and they were quickly overwhelmed, to
9315-407: The lands that they selected. By this means, the colony expanded into the interior, spawning settlements in adjacent territories as well. The land within a town would be divided by communal agreement, usually allocating by methods that originated in England. Outside a town center, land would be allocated for farming, some of which might be held communally. Farmers with large plots of land might build
9430-429: The leadership in the hope of managing the colony. The charges of insubordination against the colony included denying the crown's authority to legislate in New England, asserting that Massachusetts Bay was governing in the Province of New Hampshire and Maine , and denying freedom of conscience. However, chief among the colonists' transgressions were the coining of money ( the pine tree shilling ) and their violations of
9545-476: The legal rights and privileges of their charter. The Commissioners asked that the colony pay its obligated 20 percent of all gold and silver found in New England, but the colonists responded that they were "not obligated to the king but by civility". Massachusetts Bay extended the right to vote only to Puritans, but the population of the colony was increasing and the non-Puritan population was growing along with it; thus, tensions and conflicts were growing concerning
9660-474: The local Native Americans ; however, they did join their neighbor colonies in the Pequot War (1636–1638) and King Philip's War (1675–1678). After that, most of the Indians in southern New England made peace treaties with the colonists or were sold into slavery after King Philips's War (apart from the Pequot tribe, whose survivors were largely absorbed into the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes following
9775-774: The meeting house, generally in May, to elect the town's representatives to the general court and to transact other community business. Towns often had a village green , used for outdoor celebrations and activities such as military exercises of the town's trainband or militia . Many of the early colonists who migrated from England came with some or all of their family. It was expected that individuals would marry fairly young and begin producing offspring. Infant mortality rates were comparatively low, as were instances of childhood death. Men who lost their wives often remarried fairly quickly, especially if they had children needing care. Older widows would also sometimes marry for financial security. It
9890-527: The mid-1640s, Massachusetts Bay Colony had grown to more than 20,000 inhabitants. The charter granted the general court the authority to elect officers and to make laws for the colony. Its first meeting in North America was held in October 1630, but it was attended by only eight freemen. They formed the first council of assistants and voted (contrary to the terms of the charter) that they should elect
10005-713: The need for additional land prompted a number of new settlements that resulted in Connecticut Colony (by Hooker) and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (by Williams and others). Minister John Wheelwright was banished after the Antinomian controversy (like Anne Hutchinson ), and he moved north to found Exeter, New Hampshire . The advent of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in 1639 brought
10120-467: The point that they used fire to create chaos and facilitate their escape. The ensuing conflagration trapped the majority of the Pequots; those who managed to escape the fire were slain by the soldiers and warriors who surrounded the fort. Mason later declared that the attack against the Pequots was the act of a God who "laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to scorn", making the Pequot fort "as
10235-541: The position to veto attempts to overturn their own decisions. The King and the British government held enough power in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s that Puritans and others were afraid of being sent home if they got word of unorthodox beliefs such as what Roger Williams expounded. During 1641, the colony formally adopted the Massachusetts Body of Liberties , which Nathaniel Ward compiled. This document consisted of 100 civil and criminal laws based upon
10350-404: The provisions that the general court should make all laws, and that all freemen should be members of the general court. They then demanded that the charter be enforced to the letter, which Governor Winthrop pointed out was impractical given the growing number of freemen. The parties reached a compromise and agreed that the general court would be made up of two deputies representing each town. Dudley
10465-416: The raid, but agreed that some of them would accompany Endecott as guides. Endecott sailed along the coast to a Pequot village, where he repeated the previous year's demand for those responsible for the death of Stone, and now also for those who murdered Oldham. After some discussion, Endecott concluded that the Pequots were stalling and attacked, but most escaped into the woods. Endecott had his forces burn down
10580-589: The same location likewise failed and most of the settlers left. Those families who remained after the departure of Gorges formed a permanent settlement the oldest in what would become Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England , the successor to the Plymouth Company, established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company, with Thomas Gardner as its overseer. This company
10695-579: The sequence of events in the Pequot War. Their popular history took issue with events and whether John Mason and John Underhill wrote the accounts that appeared under their names. The authors have been adopted as honorary members of the Lenape Pequots. Most modern historians do not debate questions of the outcome of the battle or its chronology, such as Alfred A. Cave , a specialist in the ethnohistory of colonial America. However, Cave contends that Mason and Underhill's eyewitness accounts, as well as
10810-469: The settlement were in southern New England , with initial settlements on two natural harbors and surrounding land about 15.4 miles (24.8 km) apart—the areas around Salem and Boston , north of the previously established Plymouth Colony . The territory nominally administered by the Massachusetts Bay Colony covered much of central New England, including portions of Massachusetts , Maine , New Hampshire , and Connecticut . The Massachusetts Bay Colony
10925-458: The signatories of the Portsmouth compact is that of William Hutchinson. Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay , was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay , one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay . The lands of
11040-692: The social sanctions recorded in the Bible. These laws formed the nucleus of colonial legislation until independence and contained some provisions later incorporated into the United States Constitution , such as the ideas of equal protection and double jeopardy . Massachusetts Bay was the first colony to formalize laws concerning slavery with provision 91 of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties which developed protections for people unable to perform public service. Another law
11155-411: The theocratic nature of New England Puritan society. The Puritan founders of Massachusetts and Plymouth saw themselves as having been divinely given their lands in the New World with a duty to implement and observe religious law. English colonists took control of New Netherland in 1664, and the crown sent royal commissioners to New England from the new Province of New York to investigate the status of
11270-401: The tribes were well understood. During the early 17th century, several European explorers charted the area, including Samuel de Champlain and John Smith . Plans began in 1606 for the first permanent British settlements on the east coast of North America. On April 10, 1606, King James I of England granted a charter forming two joint-stock companies. Neither of these corporations was given
11385-546: The two competing groups sometime before contact with the Puritan English colonists. The earliest historians of the Pequot War speculated that the Pequot people migrated from the upper Hudson River Valley toward central and eastern Connecticut sometime around 1500. These claims are disputed by the evidence of modern archaeology and anthropology finds. In the 1630s, the Connecticut River Valley
11500-454: The victorious tribes. The result was the elimination of the Pequot tribe as a viable polity in southern New England , and the colonial authorities classified them as extinct. Survivors who remained in the area were absorbed into other local tribes. The Pequot and the Mohegan people were at one time a single sociopolitical entity. Anthropologists and historians contend that they split into
11615-468: The village and crops before sailing home. In the aftermath, the English of Connecticut Colony had to deal with the anger of the Pequots. The Pequots attempted to get their allies to join their cause, some 36 tributary villages, but were only partly effective. The Western Niantic (Nehantic) joined them, but the Eastern Niantic remained neutral. The traditional enemies of the Pequot, the Mohegan and
11730-420: Was also normal for older widowed parents to live with one of their children. Due to the Puritan perception of marriage as a civil union, divorce did sometimes occur and could be pursued by both genders. Sexual activity was expected to be confined to marriage. Sex outside of marriage was considered fornication if neither partner was married, and adultery if one or both were married to someone else. Fornication
11845-460: Was chiefly negotiated by Increase Mather in his role as the colony's ambassador-extraordinary, unifying Massachusetts Bay with Plymouth Colony , Martha's Vineyard , Nantucket , and territories that roughly encompass Maine , New Brunswick , and Nova Scotia to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . This new charter additionally extended voting rights to non-Puritans, an outcome that Mather had tried to avoid. Life could be quite difficult in
11960-439: Was developed to protect married women, children, and people with mental disabilities from making financial decisions. Colonial law differentiated among types of mental disabilities, classifying them as "distracted persons", "idiots", and "lunaticks". In 1693, "poor laws" enabled communities to use the estates of people with disabilities to defer the cost of community support of those individuals. Many of these laws remained until
12075-413: Was elected governor in 1634, and the general court reserved a large number of powers for itself, including those of taxation, distribution of land, and the admission of freemen. A legal case in 1642 brought about the separation of the council of assistants into an upper house of the general court. The case involved a widow's lost pig and had been overturned by the general court, but the assistants voted as
12190-495: Was founded by the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company , including investors in the failed Dorchester Company , which had established a short-lived settlement on Cape Ann in 1623. The colony began in 1628 and was the company's second attempt at colonization. It was successful, with about 20,000 people migrating to New England in the 1630s. The population was strongly Puritan and was governed largely by
12305-407: Was generally punished by fines and pressure to marry; a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child could also be fined. Adultery and rape were more serious crimes, and both were punishable by death. Rape, however, required more than one witness, and was therefore rarely prosecuted. Sexual activity between men was called sodomy , and was also punishable by death. Within the marriage, the husband
12420-682: Was in turmoil. The Pequot aggressively extended their area of control at the expense of the Wampanoag to the north, the Narragansett to the east, the Connecticut River Valley Algonquian tribes and the Mohegan to the west, and the Lenape Algonquian people of Long Island to the south. The tribes contended for political dominance and control of the European fur trade . A series of epidemics over
12535-602: Was issued for the Province of Massachusetts Bay. This new province combined the Massachusetts Bay territories with those of the Plymouth Colony and proprietary holdings on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard . Sir William Phips arrived in 1692 bearing the charter and formally took charge of the new province, when the colony, beginning in Salem Village , was coming to grips with the witch trials crises. Before
12650-430: Was meant to support the Puritan emigration, and he was likely left to assume that it was purely for business purposes, as was the custom. The charter omitted a significant clause: the location for the annual stockholders' meeting. Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629, whereupon the company's directors met to consider the possibility of moving the company's seat of governance to the colony. This was followed later that year by
12765-493: Was originally organized through the efforts of Puritan minister John White (1575–1648) of Dorchester , in the English county of Dorset . White has been called "the father of the Massachusetts Colony" because of his influence in establishing this settlement, even though he never emigrated. The Cape Ann settlement was not profitable, and the financial backers of the Dorchester Company terminated their support by
12880-616: Was to set up a new, independent colony that was Christian in character but non-sectarian in governance. It has been called "the first instrument for governing as a true democracy." The text of the Portsmouth Compact: In the margin are the following Bible citations: Exodus 24:3–4 1 Chronicles 11:3 2 Kings 11:17 It was signed by 23 men: The last four names show erasure marks or strikethroughs for unknown reasons: Thomas Clarke, John Johnson, William Hall, and John Brightman. The first three of those four were among
12995-419: Was typically responsible for supplying the family's financial needs, although it was not uncommon for women to work in the fields and to perform some home labor (for example, spinning thread or weaving cloth) to supplement the family income. Women were almost exclusively responsible for seeing to the welfare of the children. Children were baptized at the local meeting house within a week of being born. The mother
13110-419: Was usually not present because she was still recovering from the birth, and the child's name was usually chosen by the father. Names were propagated within the family, and names would be reused when infants died. If an adult died without issue, his (or her) name could be carried on when the siblings of the deceased named children in his or her memory. Most children received some form of schooling, something which
13225-458: Was written and signed April 30, 1639. "We whose names are underwritten do acknowledge ourselves the legal subjects of His Majesty King Charles, and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil body politic, unto his laws according to matters of justice." Signatories The names of the signatories above were copied verbatim from the Compact of Loyalty. Note that the only name in common with
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