Download
1 / 11
110 likes | 205 Views
The New England Colonies. Savannah, Lindsey, and Eddie. Background info. The New England colonies were: Rhode Island Connecticut Massachusetts New Hampshire
E N D
The New England Colonies Savannah, Lindsey, and Eddie
Background info • The New England colonies were: • Rhode Island • Connecticut • Massachusetts • New Hampshire • By and large, the people who settled in the New England Colonies wanted to keep their family unit together and practice their own religion. • The colonial structure of a New England colony insisted of small towns that had house that were very close together
Economy • The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. The people made their own clothes and shoes. • They grew much of their own food. • Crops like corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England. • Foods that didn't grow in America were shipped from England. • Boston was the major New England port. • Natural resources were very important in the middle colonies because their environment wasn’t very suitable for agriculture. • Rocky soil • Short growing season
Lifestyle • New England was heavily involved in its church. They believed in it so heavy that it had political control. • The Pilgrims in Massachusetts were examples of people who had left England so they could practice the religion they chose. • Maryland and Rhode Island passed laws of religious toleration • (meaning that people couldn't be harmed just because their religion was different from other people's). • Puritans that were in New England did not have religious toleration. • These American colonists also believed that they had a right to govern themselves. • More and more, they believed that they shouldn't have to pay so much in taxes to England, especially since they couldn't serve in the English government and have a say on how high or low those taxes were.
Lifestyle cont. • On the farm the men did the hunting and planting. The women made clothes, candles, soap, corn meal, preserved vegetables and meat, and did the cooking. • Women did not play a major role in business or public life of New England. They did do a lot of the work around the home, though. The men in New England, from high to low, held just about every possible position. • Life in the New England Colonies was hard. Every family member that could walk helped with the chores. Even though the colonies had poor soil most people farmed. Most farms were either too small or too poor to have need for African slaves. • Before the farm was used they had to cut down the trees and use them to make the house and the farm yard; like fences and the barn, of course.
Lifestyle cont. • The settlers believed in covenants. They believed in honesty and by this, it helped them work together. To give the colony some form, the colony gave power to the adult males. Who made laws and elected officers to the General Court. • In the middle of the community was the Puritan church. This was also known as the meeting house. Meetings were held here to decide laws, fees for laborers, price for ale, and to assigned people to certain tasks for the community. Church services were held here every Sunday all day long and, by law, everyone had to attend.
New Hampshire • In 1614, John Smith explored what is now New Hampshire. By 1623, settlers founded New Hampshire's first permanent non-Indian town. Today that town is Hover. John Mason named New Hampshire in 1629 after Hampshire, England. In 1641, it was part of Massachusetts, but by 1680 it was made a colony by New England. Click here to see a Map of New Hampshire.
Massachusetts • In 1620 the pilgrims landed in what is now Massachusetts under a grant to the Plymouth Company. The "Mayflower Compact" lead them; it was signed before they left. They settled the Plymouth Colony and endured many hardships, almost not surviving. The Indians helped them, and in 1621 they celebrated the first Thanksgiving. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed in 1628, and by 1630 the city of Boston was formed. Click here to see a Map of Massachusetts.
Rhode Island • Rhode Island was settled in 1636. Roger Williams was a large portion of the formation of Rhode Island. He was driven from Boston for his religious and political beliefs. He bought land and formed the city Providence. It was a place for people seeking religious freedom to go. In 1647, it became a colony. Click here to see a Map of Rhode Island.
Connecticut • Early Connecticut settlement patterns followed two distinct routes, along the Connecticut River and along the coast. The first coastal towns included Saybrook, New Haven, Milford, Greenwich, Fairfield, New London, and Stonington. Native American relations and border disputes dictated the expansion of the coastal and river settlements. The land north of Windsor was claimed by both Connecticut and Massachusetts, so settlers ran the risk of being caught in a border dispute. The colonists did not have peaceful relations with the Natives who lived south of Windsor, so settlement did not spread to there until 1646.(2) Towns began to grow more rapidly as the Native Americans left the area, resulting in the creation of 24 new towns between 1650 and 1720
Works Cited • John Winthrop. “ON liberty” http://www.constitution.org/bcp/winthlib.htm1654. Web. • John Geree. “The Character of a Puritan” http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/primarysources.html#16 1646. Web. • John Winthrop. “The Journal of John Winthrop” http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/winthrop.html1640. Web • Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne, Master William Walwyn, Master Thomas Prince, and Master Richard Overton, Prisoners in the Tower of London. “ANAGREEMENT OF THE Free People of England. Tendered as a Peace-Offering to this distressed Nation.” http://www.constitution.org/eng/agreepeo.htm May the 1. 1649. Web
