Chapter 3: Settling the Northern Colonies, 1619–1700

Overview: The Northern Colonies, 1619–1700

Regions shared a common language and allegiance to England but developed distinct settlement patterns, economies, political systems, and values that persisted for generations.
Southern colonies pursued riches (notably tobacco); the northern/middle colonies, especially New England, were driven more by religious devotion and communal ideals.
The chapter covers the Protestant Reformation’s impact on American settlement, Puritanism, key dissenters, and the growth of New England and the middle colonies; it also surveys interactions with Indigenous peoples, European rivals, and evolving colonial governance leading to early steps toward unity and independence.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of Puritanism

Martin Luther (1517) sparked the Protestant Reformation, arguing that the Bible alone is the source of God’s word and challenging church authority.
John Calvin shaped Puritan theology: Calvinism became dominant among New England Puritans, Presbyterians, Huguenots, and Dutch Reformed.
Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536):
- God is all-powerful and all-good; humans are corrupted by original sin.
- God is all-knowing and predestines some to heaven (the elect) and others to hell.
- Good works cannot save the elect; salvation is not earned by works.
Predestination and conversion: Calvinists sought signs of conversion to prove they were among the elect; conversion was seen as a personal, transformative experience.
The Reformation spread to England as Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church; Puritans sought to purify the Church of England from Catholic remnants.
Puritans vs Separatists:
- Puritans aimed to reform within the Church of England; Separatists wanted to separate entirely.
- Separatists faced royal and church opposition; King James I persecuted dissenters and sought to keep them under royal control.
The Puritan belief in a covenanted community influenced governance in Massachusetts Bay: church members (visible saints) would guide civil life; nonbelievers paid taxes but had limited political rights.

The Pilgrims at Plymouth: The Mayflower Compact and the First Winter

The Separatists left England for Holland (1608) to preserve English religious purity but grew concerned about Dutch influence on their children.
They secured land rights under the Virginia Company; the Mayflower carried 102 passengers, including Separatists and others; 65 days at sea; they landed at Plymouth Bay in 1620 (not Plymouth Rock).
The Mayflower Compact (1620): a simple self-government agreement signed by 41 adult males (not by servants or seamen) creating a framework for governing the settlement by majority rule.
The first winter (1620–1621) was brutal: 44 of 102 died; only about 7 were healthy enough to help bury the dead.
The 1621 harvest brought relief and the first Thanksgiving; the colony developed an economy around fur, fish, and lumber (beaver and the Bible as early sustenance).
Leadership: William Bradford emerged as a key governor; he valued education (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Dutch) and governance; the Pilgrims’ faith and perseverance shaped their moral framework.
Plymouth’s long-term impact: morally significant but economically small; population ~7,000 by 1691 and then absorbed by Massachusetts Bay in 1691.
The Pilgrims’ legacy highlighted self-government and religiously framed community life, even as they depended on trade (fur, fish, lumber).

The Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Bible Commonwealth

Puritans who remained in England faced persecution under Archbishop William Laud (Laud’s anti-Puritan policies).
In 1629, a group of Puritans secured a royal charter to form the Massachusetts Bay Company and established a sizable settlement in Massachusetts, with Boston as a hub.
They came with a constitutional framework that de-emphasized royal interference and used their charter as a de facto constitution.
The Great Migration (1630s): ~ $70{,}000$ Puritans fled England; about $20{,}000$ settled in Massachusetts (the rest to the West Indies or other colonies).
The Bay Colony’s theology and civic structure:
- They believed in a covenant with God to build a holy society as a model for humankind (William Bradford’s Plymouth motto was echoed in Winthrop’s city-on-a-hill metaphor).
- Franchise extended to all “freemen” (adult males who belonged to Puritan congregations); unchurched men and women remained disenfranchised.
- The General Court represented the people; voting rights required church membership for Puritans; nonbelievers paid taxes but did not vote.
- The government was not a democracy: Governor and assistants were elected, but real power remained with the clergy and the church’s influence over civil life.
- Clergymen could not hold political office; congregations could hire/fire ministers and set salaries.
Key Puritan leaders and culture:
- John Cotton, Cambridge-educated minister, supported the government’s duty to enforce religious rules.
- The Puritan emphasis on “visible saints” and the role of church membership in civil life shaped a “Bible Commonwealth.”
- The clergy’s public interrogations of conversion signaled the integration of religion and law.
Dissent within the Bay Colony:
- Some Puritans argued for a separation of church and state to prevent civil abuses of religious authority.
- Notable dissidents included Anne Hutchinson (antinomianism) and Roger Williams (separation of church and state, religious toleration).
New England’s expansion:
- Hartford and Connecticut River settlements (1635) led by Thomas Hooker; 1639 Fundamental Orders established democratic governance by substantial citizens and served as a forerunner for Connecticut’s charter.
- New Haven (1638) pursued a tighter church-government alliance, but 1662 charter merged New Haven with Connecticut.
- Maine and New Hampshire (1623 onward) were absorbed by Massachusetts; New Hampshire became a royal colony in 1679 after separation.

Religion, Law, and Social Life in the Bay Colony

Puritans pursued a disciplined, austere social order:
- Sumptuary laws (Blue Laws) governed behavior; public morality was intensely regulated (e.g., kissing in public could be fined in New Haven area).
- Hellfire imagery and moral sermons (e.g., Wigglesworth’s Day of Doom, 1662) reinforced social norms.
Church-state relations:
- There was a degree of separation between church and state to curb magistrates’ power, though religious belief remained central to civil life.
- Refusal to attend church or join the church often led to social and legal penalties.

Conflicts and Dissent: Anne Hutchinson, Roger Williams, and Rhode Island

Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) held antinomianist views, challenging church authority and the link between salvation and obedience to civil law.
- Brought to trial in 1638, banished, and later killed in New York while accompanying her party; she became a symbol of dissent.
Roger Williams (1603–1683): radical Separatist who questioned the validity of Bay Colony’s charter and the expropriation of Indigenous lands without fair compensation.
- Banished in 1635–1636; he founded Rhode Island (Providence, 1636) advocating religious toleration and complete freedom of religion (including Jews and Catholics) and separation of church and state.
- Rhode Island became a liberal haven, printing a charter in 1644; it exercised broad manhood suffrage from its inception, though later restricted by property qualifications.
Rhode Island’s legacy: “Little Rhody” as a home for dissenters and exiles; notable for religious liberty and independence from the Puritan orthodoxy.

Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven: The Spread of New England Settlements

Providence (Rhode Island) became a model of religious tolerance and civic freedom, attracting various dissenters.
Connecticut’s growth included Hartford (1635) and the 1639 Fundamental Orders, often cited as a precursor to colonial constitutionalism.
New Haven (1638) sought a more closely aligned church-government structure; chartered in 1662 to merge with Connecticut.
Maine and New Hampshire: Maine remained under Massachusetts for a long time; New Hampshire was separated in 1679 and became royal in 1684, with some governance changes after the Dominion period.

Native Peoples and Intercolonial Conflicts in New England

Early Indians and Puritans:
- Squanto, a Patuxet (Wampanoag) taught the Pilgrims and helped with the harvest; the Wampanoag chief Massasoit signed a treaty in 1621.
Pequots and the Mystic River War (1637): English and Narragansett allied against the Pequot; village burnings and killings marked a brutal end to the Pequot resistance and solidified English control in parts of Connecticut.
King Philip’s War (Metacom, 1675–1676): a major, devastating conflict in which Metacom forged a pan-Indian alliance against English settlers; 52 Puritan towns attacked, 12 destroyed; thousands of casualties on both sides; Metacom was killed; his body displayed; war slowed westward expansion for decades.
Aftermath: The war reduced Indigenous power in New England and ushered in two to four decades of uneasy peace, with increasing colonial dominance.

The New England Confederation and the Dominion of New England

New England Confederation (1643): a defensive alliance formed by four Puritan colonies to coordinate defense against Indigenous, French, and Dutch threats; it also settled intercolonial disputes (e.g., runaway servants, criminals).
- Each member colony had two votes; Massachusetts Bay’s dominance was a concern for smaller colonies.
- A forerunner to colonial unity and intercolonial governance; reinforced the path toward later political cooperation.
Charles II and royal authority:
- After the English Civil War and Restoration, royalists reasserted influence; Massachusetts faced renewed pressure.
- In 1662, Connecticut received a sea-to-sea charter grant penalizing Massachusetts’ control over the region.
Dominion of New England (1686): a royal attempt to consolidate New England, New York, and East/West Jersey under a single administrator (Sir Edmund Andros) to improve efficiency and enforce the Navigation Laws.
- Headquarters in Boston; Andros curbed town meetings, tightened courts, and revoked land titles; heavy-handed governance sparked renewed resistance.
- The Glorious Revolution (1688–1689) toppled James II; the Dominion collapsed with Andros’s removal and a return to more self-governing colonies.
- 1691: Massachusetts became a royal colony under a new charter; voting rights broadened to all qualified male property holders.
Salutary neglect: after the Glorious Revolution, a more relaxed enforcement of Navigation Laws allowed colonies to pursue their own economic interests with less direct interference.
Ongoing governance issues: increasing enforcement of English officials and a growing frustration with external control, contributing to evolving colonial political culture.

The Dutch, Swedes, and the Middle Colonies: New Netherland, New Sweden, and New Sweden’s Legacy

The Dutch colonial venture: New Netherland (1623–24) established for fur trade; Manhattan purchased from Native Americans for relatively small value; later renamed New York in 1664 after English conquest.
Peter Stuyvesant and Dutch governance: autocratic and company-driven, with limited consent from colonists; the colony remained a company town with aristocratic landholding tendencies.
New Netherland’s challenges: internal dissent, Dutch Reformed Church dominance, and disputes with English neighbors; it faced frequent pressure from English colonies to abandon Dutch rule.
New Sweden (1638–1655): established along the Delaware River; Swedish colonists created a small outpost but were eventually absorbed by the Dutch when Sweden’s colonial project waned.
Quakers in New York: Quaker influence grew in the Middle Colonies, contributing to broader religious tolerance and more inclusive civic life.

The Quakers and William Penn: Pennsylvania’s Founding and Liberal Experiment

The Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) emerged in England in the mid-1600s; they pursued pacifism, simple worship, and egalitarian religious practice.
Core beliefs and practices:
- No paid clergy; meetings led by the “inner light”; speech to be shared in worship when moved by the Spirit; simple dress and speech; broad tolerance for other beliefs.
- Refused to take oaths; refused military service; opposed taxes supporting an established church.
Pennsylvania (1681): William Penn, a wealthy Quaker, secured a royal charter to establish an American colony with liberal governance.
- Philadelphia (Greek for “brotherly love”) planned with wide streets; land purchased from Indigenous peoples (including Chief Tammany).
- Government: representative assembly elected by landowners; no tax-supported state church; freedom of worship guaranteed to all residents (though Catholics and Jews were initially denied the right to vote or hold office under pressure from London).
- Death penalty limited to treason and murder; no standing army required; a relatively progressive approach to criminal justice and civil liberties.
- Quaker tolerance extended to Indians, with fair land purchases and attempts to live in harmony; however, influx of non-Quaker settlers eventually strained native relations.
Achievements and challenges:
- The colony rapidly grew: by 1700 Philadelphia boasted ~300 houses and ~2,500 people; by 1700, Pennsylvania’s population and wealth trailed only Virginia and Massachusetts among the colonies.
- Internal tensions: Penn’s leadership had to navigate governance that sometimes clashed with colonists’ expectations for broader political power.
New Jersey and Delaware:
- New Jersey (1664) was granted to two proprietors; later bifurcated into West and East Jersey and then united as a royal colony in 1702.
- Delaware (three counties) was closely linked to Pennsylvania and obtained its own assembly in 1703; governance remained under Penn’s influence until the Revolution.
The Middle Colonies as a whole:
- Known as the “bread colonies” for their grain exports; fertile lands and broad river networks (Susquehanna, Delaware, Hudson) supported commerce and backcountry development.
- Population and religion were notably diverse and tolerant; Quakers contributed significantly to civil freedom and humanitarian reform.
- Economic activity balanced farming with lumber, shipbuilding, and trade; Albany and Philadelphia emerged as important commercial hubs.

The Middle Colonies: Geography, Society, and Governance

The Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania) shared advantages:
- Fertile soil and broad land tracts; river systems supported trade and travel; less natural water power than New England but strong interior commerce.
- Grain exports; bread basket status for the region and for export to the Atlantic economy.
- Greater ethnic and religious diversity than New England; substantial Quaker influence in governance and social reform.
- Political structures reflected a blend of local democracy (some town/patriot-like participation) and colonial proprietary rule in several areas.
Social and religious climate:
- Religious toleration was more pronounced in the middle colonies; ethnic and religious groups included Dutch, English, Germans, Scots-Irish, Quakers, Lutherans, and others.
- The middle colonies fostered economic opportunity and civil liberty, creating a relatively liberal climate for colonial America.

Cultural Exchange and Transatlantic Perspectives

Historiographical debate: Europeanizing America vs Americanizing Europe; the transatlantic approach emphasizes cultural exchange and contact among European, African, and Native American groups.
Major scholarly voices emphasize that American colonies developed through a mosaic of motives, cultures, and institutions, not through a monolithic European transplantation.
Economic and social forces: sugar and slavery in the Caribbean; English colonization driven by economic goals in addition to religious aims; slavery and race began to shape the Atlantic world’s demographic landscape.
Scholars highlighted in this chapter include Richard S. Dunn, Edmund Morgan, Bernard Bailyn, David Hackett Fischer, Perry Miller, and others who explore how colonial America was shaped by a mix of motives and external influences.

Chronology: Key Dates to Remember

1517: Martin Luther begins the Protestant Reformation.
1536: John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion published.
1620: Pilgrims sail to Plymouth Bay on the Mayflower.
1624: Dutch found New Netherland.
1629–1649: Charles I’s rule; Puritan tensions increase; Civil war context grows.
1630: Puritans found the Massachusetts Bay Colony; Great Migration continues.
1635–1636: Roger Williams exiled; Rhode Island founded (Providence, 1636).
1635–1638: Connecticut and New Haven settlements established; Hartford founded (1635).
1637: Pequot War.
1638: Anne Hutchinson banished.
1639: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut drafted.
1643: New England Confederation formed.
1644: Rhode Island charter granted by Parliament; a period of religious freedom.
1662: New Haven charter merged with Connecticut; Connecticut more unified.
1664: English seize New Netherland; New Amsterdam becomes New York.
1675–1676: King Philip’s War.
1681: William Penn founds Pennsylvania.
1682–1684: Swedes and Dutch influences decline; Dominion of New England formed (1686).
1688–1689: Glorious Revolution in England; colonial resistance increases; salutary neglect emerges afterward.
1691: Massachusetts becomes a royal colony; broader franchise rights.
1700: Population and economic development continue; Middles and New England remain leading cultural centers.

Key People, Terms, and Concepts (quick reference)

People: Martin Luther; John Calvin; William Bradford; John Winthrop; Anne Hutchinson; Roger Williams; Massasoit; Metacom (King Philip); Sir Edmund Andros; William Penn.
Concepts: Puritans; Separatists; Calvinism; predestination; conversion; visible saints; covenant; freemen; blue laws; town meetings; church-state relations; colonial charters; Great Migration; navigation laws; salutary neglect; New England Confederation; Dominion of New England.
Places and colonies: Plymouth; Massachusetts Bay; Connecticut (Hartford, New Haven); Rhode Island; New Hampshire; New Netherland (New Amsterdam, New York); New Sweden; Pennsylvania (Philadelphia); Delaware; New Jersey.
Terms: Fundamental Orders; Mayflower Compact; Patroonships; Wall Street (Dutch influence).
Events: Pequot War (1637); King Philip’s War (1675–1676); Glorious Revolution (1688–1689); Dominion of New England (1686); Royal charter changes (1644, 1662, 1691).

Exam-Style Review Questions (study prompts)

Calvinism and Puritanism: What were the core tenets of Calvinism, and how did predestination influence Puritan society?
Separatists and Plymouth: Why did the Pilgrims leave Holland for the New World, and what was the significance of the Mayflower Compact?
Puritan governance in Massachusetts: How did church membership influence voting rights and civil authority in the Bay Colony?
Dissent in Puritan New England: Compare Anne Hutchinson’s antinomianism and Roger Williams’s religious toleration. What were the outcomes for Rhode Island and for Puritan governance?
Native relations and wars: What caused the Pequot War and King Philip’s War, and what were their consequences for New England Indians and settlers?
Intercolonial unity: What was the New England Confederation, and how did it differ from the Dominion of New England under Andros?
The Middle Colonies: Why were New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania described as the “middle way,” and what made Pennsylvania unique among them?
Quakers and Penn’s Pennsylvania: What liberties did Penn’s colony promote, and what limits did it place on voting or religious practice? How did Penn balance tolerance with political practicality?
Transatlantic context: How does the chapter’s transatlantic perspective alter our understanding of colonial development and the origins of American democracy?

Additional Notes on Illustrative Details and Examples

“City upon a hill” (Winthrop) captured the Puritans’ belief that their colony would serve as a moral example to the world; it reflected their covenantal theology and sense of mission.
Blue laws (sumptuary laws) in New England illustrate the strong social desire to enforce moral behavior and religious norms, sometimes at the expense of personal liberty.
Rhode Island’s religious liberty contrasted sharply with Massachusetts Bay’s more theocratic order; Williams’s emphasis on freedom of conscience laid groundwork for a more pluralistic society.
The Dutch legacy in New York (Wall Street, Harlem, Brooklyn) persisted after 1664, influencing urban culture, architecture, and naming conventions; Dutch and Swedes left lasting, albeit limited, cultural residues.
The Middle Colonies’ religious toleration, economic diversity, and ethnic plurality helped shape a more Americanized political culture that contrasted with the more rigid Puritanism of New England.
The era’s broader Atlantic context—caribbean sugar economies, slavery, and transatlantic trade—helps explain colonial motives and demographic changes across North America.