NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Objective

I can explain why the New England colonies were founded.

I can draw inferences from text and pictures.

Review

Table Talk….. Why was Jamestown founded? Why was Plymouth founded? What similarities did they face? What differences did they experience?

Puritans

Shortly after the Pilgrims came another religious group founded a colony nearby.

The Puritans also disagreed with the Church of England. But they did NOT want to Separate from it. They wanted to change some of what the Church did to make it more “pure”.

They founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1629 a group of Puritans joined other people in England to form the New England Company. The same year, the King granted the company a charter. This allowed them to settle in the region called “New England”. The first group of Puritans sailed to New England that year. They began a settlement named Salem on Massachusetts Bay.

In 1630, John Winthrop brought a second and much larger group of Puritans from England to settle in the same area. The group included nearly one thousand colonists traveling on 11 ships. He decided Salem was not the perfect place and went to a nearby area called Shawmut, which he renamed Boston after his hometown in England.

Just like in Plymouth, the first year was very difficult and about 200 settlers died. Another 200 returned to England in the spring of 1631. Things improved and during the next 20 years more than 20,000 people settled in the colony. They were mostly Puritans.

The Puritans built many new villages, many were near Boston. Life in these villages was centered around the Puritan church which had strict rules. In the beginning, Puritan settlers got along fairly well with the Native Americans of the area. However, as the Puritans began to spread out in the region, conflicts with Native Americans increased.

The region supported many different economic activities. Although the soil was rocky, some people were still able to grow crops on small farms. Other people cut lumber and used it to build houses and ships. Fishing was also important in the colony.

The colony leaders enforced strict Puritan ways of life and laws. People who did not follow Puritan ways were told to leave the colony. As a result of this, new colonies were founded in the region.

Table Talk

Why do you think the Puritans chose to start a new settlement of their own instead of joining the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony?

What economic activities were found in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?

How was this colony different from Plymouth?

How was it alike? The Puritans left England looking for

religious freedom. Did they allow religious freedom in their own colony?

Massachusetts Bay Colony

In 1630 the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the Puritans.

In 1691 the King took back the charter and made Massachusetts Bay a royal colony that included the Plymouth colony. It was renamed “Massachusetts”.

(Turn back to your map of The colonies and addMassachusetts.)

Making Infrences

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS HAPPENING IN THESE PICTURES?

Rhode Island

Read about Rhode Island at your tables. Page 9 of 12 supplemental materials

DISCUSS-TABLE TALK What is the connection between the

Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Rhode Island Colony?

How would you describe the character traits of Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson?

What kind of colony do you think Rhode Island became?

(add Rhode Island to our colonies map)

Massachusetts Bay

Geography made people want to leave Massachusetts Bay. The colony had thin, rocky soil that was not good for farming. Settlers began leaving in search of better land.

Massachusetts Bay

In the 1630’s, some people moved from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the fertile Connecticut River Valley.

What does fertile mean? In 1633, Windsor became the first

permanent English settlement in the area.

Connecticut

Others began to come to the Connecticut River Valley for religious reasons.

Reverend Thomas Hooker was one example. He left Massachusetts Bay because he thought the Puritan leaders were too strict.

He led a group of people from Massachusetts through the wilderness to the Connecticut River. The group had about 60 men, women, children and animals.

Thomas Hooker and his group founded the settlement of Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1636, Hartford and the other settlements in the area came together to become the Connecticut Colony.

New Hampshire

Other people also were looking for better farmland headed north of Massachusetts and settled along the Merrimack River.

Others came around the same time trying to escape the Puritan way of life.

New Hampshire

David Thomson began the first settlement in 1623. This was called Portsmouth and began shipping lumber to England.

What is lumber? Why was this important?

New Hampsire

John Mason was granted land in the area in order to set up a fishing colony.

John Wheelwright, a friend of Anne Hutchinson, came to the area after being expelled from Boston.

For many years the area was controlled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1679, the settlements were all united under a charter from the king when New Hampshire became a royal colony.

Table Talk

Name the New England colonies Why were the founded? How did geography influence these

colonies? What economic activities did the settlers

participate in? What were the push and pull factors?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrR3Kxd24Hs