Settling the Northern Colonies, 1619–1700
Focus Questions
1. What religious turmoil in the Old World resulted in the little colony of Plymouth in the New World?
2. Why was the initial and subsequent colonization of the Massachusetts Bay Colony more successful than Plymouth?
3. How did the colony of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony contribute to the origins of American independence and government? What were the contributions to American independence and government from the New England Confederation, the Dominion of New England, and the Glorious Revolution?
4. What role did religious intolerance play in the founding of New England colonies other than Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay and in the founding of some middle colonies?
5. Besides England, what other nations influenced the colonization of the Atlantic coast of North America?
6. How did the colonization of Pennsylvania differ from the New England colonies and other middle colonies?
Chapter Themes
Theme: Religious and political turmoil in England shaped settlement in New England and the middle colonies. Religious persecution in England pushed the Separatists into Plymouth and Quakers into Pennsylvania. England’s Glorious Revolution also prompted changes in the colonies.
Theme: The Protestant Reformation, in its English Calvinist (Reformed) version, provided the major impetus and leadership for the settlement of New England. The New England colonies developed a fairly homogeneous social order based on religion and semi-communal family and town settlements.
Theme: Principles of American government developed in New England with the beginnings of written constitutions (Mayflower Compact and Massachusetts’s royal charter) and with glimpses of self-rule seen in town hall meetings, the New England Confederation, and colonial opposition to the Dominion of New England.
Theme: The middle colonies of New Netherland (New York), Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware developed