The Plymouth Colony (New England Colonies)

The Plymouth Colony (New England Colonies)

Objectives:

•Explain how the desire for religious freedom led to the settlement of the New England colonies.

•Identify the significance of the Mayflower Compact.

•Describe how conflicts over religion and politics were resolved in colonial New England.

•Identify reasons for conflict between settlers and Native Americans.

•Describe the daily life and the economy in the New England colonies.

Key Vocabulary:

Colony

• A group of people settled in a distant land who are ruled by the government of their native land. (13 of these would later become the first 13 states in the United States.)

Key Vocabulary

Settlements

• are locations in a colony where people have created homes and farms. For example, New Amsterdam was the biggest settlement in the Dutch colony of New Netherland.

Seeking Religious Freedom

After two hard months at sea, the colonists on board the small sailing ship were relieved to see the shores of New England. Still, there were no European colonies for hundreds of miles.

Seeking Religious Freedom

Unlike the Jamestown colonists or the Spanish, these newcomers sought neither gold nor silver nor great riches. What they wanted most was to practice their religion freely. Years later, the founders of Plymouth became known to history as the Pilgrims.

Religion in Europe

It was not easy for people to practice religion freely in Europe during the 1500s. As you have read, after the Protestant Reformation, Christians in western Europe were divided into Protestants and Roman Catholics. This division led to fierce religious wars. In France, for example, Protestants and Catholics fought each other for nearly 40 years. Thousands upon thousands of people were killed because of their religious beliefs.

Most European rulers believed that they could not maintain order unless everyone followed the ruler's religion. The religion chosen by the ruler was known as the established church. In England, for example, the established church was the Anglican church, or Church of England. In the 1530s, Parliament passed laws making the English monarch the head of the Church of England.

Religion in Europe

In England and other nations, people who did not follow the established religion were often persecuted. Persecution is the mistreatment or punishment of certain people because of their beliefs. Sometimes, members of persecuted groups had to worship secretly. If they were discovered, they might be imprisoned or even executed by being burned at the stake.

The Pilgrims

One religious group in England that faced persecution were the people we now call the Pilgrims. At the time, they were known as Separatists. They were called that because, although they were Protestant, they wanted to separate from the Church of England.

The English government bitterly opposed the Separatists. William Bradford remembered what some Separatists had suffered.

The Pilgrims

They . . . were hunted and persecuted on every side. . . . For some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day . . . and the most were [glad] to flee and leave their houses.

—William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation

Multiple Choice

In England, the Separatists were

• permitted freedom of religion.

• tolerated in the Church of England.

• C.punished for their beliefs.

• forced to leave England by the King.

In November 1620, English Separatists on the Mayflower, shown here, arrived at present-day Massachusetts to start new lives free of religious persecution.

The Settlement of Plymouth

In September 1620, more than 100 men, women, and children set sail aboard a small ship called the Mayflower. The journey was long and difficult.

The Plymouth Colony

At last, in November 1620, the Mayflower landed on the cold, bleak shore of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts. The passengers had planned to settle farther south along the Hudson River, but the difficult sea voyage exhausted them. The colonists decided to travel no farther. They called their new settlement Plymouth in what is now the State of Massachusetts.

The Mayflower Compact

Male passengers on the Mayflower sign the Mayflower Compact, which established a government for the colony at Plymouth.

A New Pledge to Govern the Colony

Before going ashore, the Pilgrims realized that they would not be settling within the boundaries of Virginia. As a result, the terms of their charter would not apply to their new colony. In that case, who would govern them? The question was important because not all colonists on the Mayflower were Pilgrims. Some of these “strangers,” as the Pilgrims called them, said they were not bound to obey the Pilgrims, “for none had power to command them.”

A New Pledge to Govern the Colony

The PIlgrims joined together to write a framework for governing their colony. On November 11, 1620, the 41 adult male passengers—both Pilgrims and non-Pilgrims—signed the Mayflower Compact. They agreed to make and abide by laws that insured “the general Good of the Colony.”

The Mayflower Compact established an important tradition. In time, they set up a government in which adult male colonists elected a governor and council. Thus, the Mayflower Compact strengthened the English tradition of governing through elected representatives.  This document is an important step in the development of a self-government.

Multiple Choice

The Mayflower Compact showed that the Pilgrims were

• willing to follow the same laws as Virginia.

• aware of how different they were from other colonies.

• ready to begin a new way of life without strangers.

• aware of needing to make their own government.