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John Winthrop — was an early Puritan leader whose vision for a godly commonwealth created the basis for an established religion that remained in place in Massachusetts until well after adoption of the First Amendment.
It was, however, eventually superseded by ideas of separation of church and state. The Puritans left England primarily due to religious persecution but also for economic reasons as well.
England was in religious turmoil in the early 17th century, the religious climate was hostile and threatening, especially towards religious nonconformists like the puritans. English Puritans founded the colony of Plymouth to practice their own brand of Protestantism without interference.
The separatist Puritans felt the church was too corrupt to reform and instead wanted to separate from it. This was problematic for the separatists because, at that time, the church and state were one in England and the act of separating from the Church of England was considered treasonous. This prompted the separatists to leave England for the New World in order to escape potential punishment for their beliefs and to be able to worship more freely. In , a sect of separatists from Yorkshire left England and moved to Leiden, Holland in search of religious freedom.
In , after living in Holland for 12 years, these separatists sought out investors in England who would be willing to finance their journey to the New World. The group made a deal with the Plymouth Company who promised to finance their trip to North America to establish a colony. In return, the colony would repay the company by harvesting supplies, such as fur, timber and fish, to send back to England. In September of , the separatists traveled to the New World on a rented cargo ship called the Mayflower and landed off the coast of Massachusetts in November, where they established Plymouth Colony , the first colony in New England.
This event marks the beginning of the Great Puritan Migration. Embarkation of the Pilgrims, oil painting by Robert W. Weir, circa The Gloucester settlement later failed in and the colonists migrated to the Salem area where they started a new settlement without obtaining permission from the king to do so.
Although the Old Planter colonies were established as a business venture, one of the founders of the Cape Ann settlement, Reverend John White, also wanted the settlement to be a place of refuge for Puritans escaping religious persecution in England. In , the religious climate in England worsened when King Charles I ascended the throne. Since King Charles had a catholic wife and favored the catholic religion, hostility towards the puritans and protestants alike greatly increased.
This prompted many of the more moderate Puritans in England, such as the non-separatists, to finally leave the country. In , the New England Company, the original name of the Massachusetts Bay Company, obtained a patent to settle Salem and took over the illegal settlement established there by the colonists from the failed Gloucester settlement in The charter neglected to say that the company had to remain in England to conduct the business so the company took a vote in August of that year and decided to move the entire company to New England.
The colony became the largest colony in New England and was hugely successful. Arrival of the Winthrop Fleet, painting by William F. According to the book The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Bradford to Edwards, the Massachusetts Bay puritans felt a moral obligation to live the way God commanded and felt that by doing so they could serve as a religious example to others which, in turn, would help reform England and Christianity:.
The eyes of all people are upon us. Winthrop was not alone in explaining that the purpose of the new England was to re-form the old. Other Puritans who recorded their reasons for settling Massachusetts emphasized the redemptive function they hoped to perform. When the old planter colonies in New England began to fail, the Massachusetts Bay Colonists believed it to be a punishment from God for establishing a colony for financial reasons rather than religious ones, according to Cotton Mather in his book Magnalia:.
Similar fines were levied against those who danced in taverns or worked on the sabbath. Life was harsh and often short. Medical care was of poor quality.
Some Puritan ministers had received some medical education but most colonial doctors had next to no real credentials. In most cases, it was safer to let nature take its course than to let an unqualified physician do his work. There was a constant shortage of workers in the colonies. Clearing land for cultivation was extremely demanding, labor-intensive work. Those who paid their own way across the Atlantic were granted a plot of land. Of course, few could actually afford to pay their way across, so agreed to a period of indentured servitude, usually around 7 years.
Not all indentured servants entered into temporary bondage willingly. Conditions for indentured servants were poor and a great many died well before their period of service expired.
After a war with the colonists from , members of the Pequot tribe were enslaved by the colonies of New England. They resisted enslavement so were exchanged for African slaves from the West Indies later that year.
The Body of Liberties legalized slavery in Massachusetts under the following justification:. A defensive pact was formed with other New England colonies to offer protection against native tribes and to ensure the return of any escaped slaves or indentured servants. Strong dissatisfaction with the lack of a king led to the monarchy being restored in The Puritans finally settled in Charlestown, across the river from the Shawmut peninsula, which is now modern day Boston.
Although they had finally settled, the colony still suffered due to a lack of fresh water. Little did Winthrop know, a friend he had attended the University of Cambridge with back in England, William Blackstone, was living on the nearby Shawmut peninsula. Blackstone, a member of the failed Dorchester colony, had moved to the peninsula after the remaining members of his colony returned to England. Winthrop accepted the offer and the Puritans began construction on their settlement.
In September of , the colonists officially named the settlement Boston after their hometown in England. By the mid s, the Puritans had invited hundreds of more colonists over from England and were taking over the area. After the Puritans took control over almost all the land Blackstone believed was his, Blackstone decided to sell his remaining 50 acres back to the Puritans, which later became Boston Common, and moved to the area that is now Rhode Island.
By , more than 40, English colonists had moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Coastal communities, such as Salem town, became overcrowded and colonists began to move inland to establish farming communities, which led to the formation of Salem Village and many other farming towns in Massachusetts and New England.
These colonies included many villages. Each village consisted of houses, a community garden and a meetinghouse to host church services. Schools were also built, including the first American public school, called the Boston Latin School, and laws were passed requiring a school in every town with more than 50 inhabitants.
In , the four colonies formed a military alliance, known as the New England Confederation , to help defend themselves from Native American attacks. In , the Massachusetts Bay Colony tried and executed an accused witch for the first time. The accused was a midwife named Margaret Jones from Charlestown and she was hanged at Gallows Hill in Boston after she was accused by some of her patients. Diseases brought by the colonists started to ravage the Native American population.
By , about 90 percent of the Native Americans living in New England died due to disease. The Native Americans that survived the war either fled to the west or surrendered and were sold into slavery. While the Native American population declined, the number of colonists flourished. By , Boston had 4, residents. Colonists also declared war on local wildlife that they deemed a threat, such as the local wolf population, according to the book Disguised as the Devil: A History of Lyme Disease and Witch Accusations:.
They became the pariah of the wilderness — dark, insidious predators biting at the heels of civilization. They had a price on their heads from almost the moment of contact with the English colonists. Well nourished on deer meat, this thriving wolf population was unfortunately not discerning enough to know a domesticated animal from their wild prey.
When they began to add pork, beef, and mutton to their diet, it was not tolerated. In Salem Village was rimmed by a set of wolf traps.
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