Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the
first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the
Jamestown Colony
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement
''English Settlement'' is the fifth studio album and first double album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 February 1982 on Virgin Reco ...
. It was first settled by the passengers on the ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
'', at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain
John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth (; historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as ...
. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of
. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of
American folklore
American folklore encompasses the folklores that have evolved in the present-day United States since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much in the way of Native American tradition, it is not wholly identical to the tribal ...
, including the American tradition of
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
and the monument of
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known writt ...
.
Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of
Puritan Separatists initially known as the
Brownist
The Brownists were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. A majority of the Separatists aboard the ' ...
Emigration, who came to be known as the
Pilgrims. It was the second successful colony to be founded by the English in the United States after
Jamestown in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and it was the first permanent English settlement in the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
region. The colony established a treaty with
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
Chief
Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem () or Ousamequin (c. 15811661)"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web pag was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''.
Mas ...
which helped to ensure its success; in this, they were aided by
Squanto
Tisquantum (; 1585 (±10 years?) – late November 1622 O.S.), more commonly known as Squanto Sam (), was a member of the Patuxet tribe best known for being an early liaison between the Native American population in Southern New England and t ...
, a member of the
Patuxet
The Patuxet were a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation. They lived primarily in and around modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and were among the first Native Americans encountered by European settlers in the region in th ...
tribe. Plymouth played a central role in
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
(1675–1678), one of several
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
, but the colony was ultimately merged with the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
and other territories in 1691 to form the
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...
.
Despite the colony's relatively short existence, Plymouth holds a special role in American history. Most of the citizens of Plymouth were fleeing religious persecution and searching for a place to worship as they saw fit, while wanting the groups around them to adhere to their beliefs, rather than being entrepreneurs like many of the settlers of Jamestown in Virginia. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as to English custom.
History
Origin
![Scrooby village addison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Scrooby_village_addison.PNG)
Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of
English Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
who came to be known as the ''
Pilgrims''. The core group (roughly 40% of the adults and 56% of the family groupings)
were part of a congregation led by
William Bradford. They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of
Scrooby
Scrooby is a small village on the River Ryton in north Nottinghamshire, England, near Bawtry in South Yorkshire. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 329. Until 1766, it was on the Great North Road (United Kingdom), Great North ...
, near
East Retford
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
, Nottinghamshire.
In 1607, Archbishop
Tobias Matthew
Tobias Matthew (also Tobie and Toby; 13 June 154629 March 1628), was an Anglican bishop who was President of St John's College, Oxford, from 1572 to 1576, before being appointed Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1579 to 1583, and Matthew ...
raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation.
The congregation left England in 1608 and emigrated to the Netherlands, settling first in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and then in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
.
In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them. Scrooby had been an agricultural community, whereas Leiden was a thriving industrial center, and they found the pace of life difficult. The community remained close-knit, but their children began adopting the Dutch language and customs, and some also entered the Dutch Army. They also were still not free from the persecutions of the English Crown. English authorities came to Leiden to arrest
William Brewster in 1618 after he published comments highly critical of the King of England and the
Anglican Church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
. Brewster escaped arrest, but the events spurred the congregation to move farther from England.
The congregation obtained a land patent from the
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of America between latitudes 38° and 45° N.
History
The merchants (with ...
in June 1619. They had declined the opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence.
This land patent allowed them to settle at the mouth of the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
. They sought to finance their venture through the
Merchant Adventurers, a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts.
Using the financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on the ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
'' and the ''
Speedwell''. They had intended to leave early in 1620, but they were delayed several months due to difficulties in dealing with the Merchant Adventurers, including several changes in plans for the voyage and in financing. The congregation and the other colonists finally boarded the ''Speedwell'' in July 1620 in the Dutch port of
Delfshaven
Delfshaven is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the right bank of river Nieuwe Maas. It was a separate municipality until 1886.
The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of the city of Delft. Delft itself was not located on a major river ...
.
''Mayflower'' voyage
''Speedwell'' was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet ''Mayflower'' in
Southampton, England
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Por ...
, around the end of July 1620.
The ''Mayflower'' was purchased in London. The original captains were Captain Reynolds for ''Speedwell'' and
Captain Christopher Jones for ''Mayflower''.
Other passengers joined the group in Southampton, including William Brewster, who had been in hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of people known to the Leiden congregation as "The Strangers." This group was largely made up of people recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical assistance to the colony and additional hands to work for the colony's ventures. The term was also used for many of the
indentured servants
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
.
Among the Strangers were
Myles Standish
Myles Standish (c. 1584 – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer and colonizer. He was hired as military adviser for Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, United States by the Pilgrims. Standish accompanied the Pilgrims on ...
, who was the colony's military leader;
Christopher Martin, who had been designated by the Merchant Adventurers to act as shipboard governor during the trans-Atlantic trip; and
Stephen Hopkins, a veteran of a failed colonial venture that may have inspired
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
The Tempest''.
The group who later became the Leiden Leaders after the merging of ships included John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, and Isaac Allerton.
![Embarkation-Weir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Embarkation-Weir.PNG)
The departure of the ''Mayflower'' and ''Speedwell'' was beset by delays. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton. A total of 120 passengers finally departed on August 590 on the ''Mayflower'' and 30 on the ''Speedwell''.
Leaving Southampton, the ''Speedwell'' suffered significant leakage, which required the ships to immediately put in at
Dartmouth. The leakage was partly caused by being overmasted and being pressed too much with sail.
Repairs were completed, and a further delay ensued as they awaited favorable winds. The two ships finally set sail on August 23; they traveled only beyond
Land's End
Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
before another major leak in the ''Speedwell'' forced the expedition to return again to England, this time to the port of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. The ''Speedwell'' was found to be unseaworthy; some passengers abandoned their attempt to emigrate, while others joined the ''Mayflower'', crowding the already heavily burdened ship. Later, it was speculated that the crew of the ''Speedwell'' had intentionally sabotaged the ship to avoid having to make the treacherous trans-Atlantic voyage.
The delays had significant consequences; the cost of the repairs and port fees required that the colonists sell some of their vital provisions. More importantly, the late-autumn voyage meant that everyone had to spend the coming winter on board the ''Mayflower'' off Cape Cod in increasingly squalid conditions.
The ''Mayflower'' departed
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on September 6, 1620 with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in the small, long ship. The seas were not severe during the first month in the Atlantic but, by the second month, the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales, causing it to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of the ship. One death occurred, that of William Button.
After two months at sea, they sighted land on November 9, 1620 off the coast of
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
. They attempted to sail south to the designated landing site at the mouth of the Hudson but ran into trouble in the region of
Pollock Rip, a shallow area of shoals between Cape Cod and
Nantucket Island
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
. With winter approaching and provisions running dangerously low, the passengers decided to return north to Cape Cod Bay and abandon their original landing plans.
Prior exploration and settlements
![Descr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Descr.of.New_England-Title_page.jpg)
The Pilgrims were not the first Europeans in the area.
John Cabot
John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...
's discovery of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
in 1497 had laid the foundation for the extensive English claims over the east coast of North America. Cartographer
Giacomo Gastaldi
Giacomo Gastaldi ( c. 1500 in Villafranca Piemonte – October 1566 in Venice) was an Italian cartographer, astronomer and engineer of the 16th century. Gastaldi (sometimes referred to as JacopoTooley, R.V, and Charles Bricker, ''Landmarks ...
made one of the earliest maps of New England , but he erroneously identified
Cape Breton
Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18. ...
with the
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
and completely omitted most of the New England coast. European fishermen had also been plying the waters off the New England coast for much of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Frenchman
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
had explored the area extensively in 1605. He had specifically explored
Plymouth Harbor
Plymouth Harbor is a harbor located in Plymouth, a town in the South Shore region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is part of the larger Plymouth Bay. Historically, Plymouth Harbor was the site of anchorage of the ''Mayflower'' where the ...
, which he called "Port St. Louis," and he made an extensive and detailed map of it and the surrounding lands. He showed the
Patuxet
The Patuxet were a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation. They lived primarily in and around modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and were among the first Native Americans encountered by European settlers in the region in th ...
village (where the town of Plymouth was later built) as a thriving settlement.
However, an epidemic wiped out up to 90 percent of the Indians along the Massachusetts coast in 1617–1619, including the Patuxets, before the arrival of the ''Mayflower''. The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox, but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been a lesser-known disease called
leptospirosis
Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacteria ''Leptospira''. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, muscle pains, and fevers) to severe ( bleeding in the lungs or meningitis). Weil's disease, the acute, severe ...
. The absence of any serious Indian opposition to the Pilgrims' settlement may have been a pivotal event to their success and to English colonization in America.
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America. It was established in 1607 by the proprietary Plymouth Company and was located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Ma ...
, also known as Fort St. George, was organized by the
Plymouth Company
The Plymouth Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of Plymouth, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of America between latitudes 38° and 45° N.
History
The merchants (with ...
(unrelated to Plymouth Colony) and founded in 1607. It was settled on the coast of
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
and was beset by internal political struggles, sickness, and weather problems. It was abandoned in 1608.
Captain
John Smith of Jamestown
John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...
had explored the area in 1614 and is credited with naming the region New England. He named many locations using approximations of Indian words. He gave the name "Accomack" to the Patuxet settlement on which the Pilgrims founded Plymouth, but he changed it to New Plymouth after consulting
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
, son of King James. A map published in his 1616 work ''
A Description of New England'' clearly shows the site as "New Plimouth."
In the ''Mayflower'' settlers' first explorations of Cape Cod, they came across evidence that Europeans had previously spent extensive time there. They discovered remains of a European fort and uncovered a grave that contained the remains of both an adult European male and an Indian child.
Landings at Provincetown and Plymouth
![Interview of Samoset with the Pilgrims](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Interview_of_Samoset_with_the_Pilgrims.jpg)
The ''Mayflower'' anchored at
Provincetown Harbor
Provincetown Harbor is a large harbor#Natural harbors, natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly deep and stretches roughly from northwest to southeast and from northea ...
on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have a patent to settle this area, and some passengers began to question their right to land, objecting that there was no legal authority to establish a colony and hence no guarantee of retaining ownership over any land they had improved. In response to this a group of colonists drafted and signed the first governing document of the colony, the
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, an ...
, while still aboard the ship as it lay at anchor. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the property concerns of many of the settlers.
This social contract was written and signed by
41 male passengers. It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that the colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep those laws.
The group remained on board the ship through the next day, a Sunday, for prayer and worship. They finally set foot on land at
Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...
on November 13. The first task was to rebuild a
shallop
Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a l ...
, a shallow draft boat that had been built in England and disassembled for transport aboard the ''Mayflower''. It would remain with the Pilgrims when the ''Mayflower'' returned to England. On November 15, Captain Myles Standish led a party of 16 men on an exploratory mission, during which they disturbed an Indian grave and located a buried cache of Indian corn. The following week, Susanna White gave birth to son
Peregrine White
Peregrine White ( 20 November 162020 July 1704) was the first
baby boy born on the Pilgrim ship the '' Mayflower'' in the harbour of Massachusetts, the second baby born on the ''Mayflower''s historic voyage, and the first known English child b ...
on the ''Mayflower''. He was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. The shallop was finished on November 27, and a second expedition was undertaken using it, under the direction of ''Mayflower'' master
Christopher Jones. Thirty-four men went, but the expedition was beset by bad weather; the only positive result was that they found an Indian burial ground and corn that had been intended for the dead, taking the corn for future planting. A third expedition along Cape Cod left on December 6; it resulted in a skirmish with Indians known as the "First Encounter" near
Eastham, Massachusetts
Eastham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census.
For geographic and demographic information about the village of North Eastham ...
. The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for their settlement, and fearing that they had angered the Indians by taking their corn and firing upon them. The ''Mayflower'' left Provincetown Harbor and set sail for Plymouth Harbor.
![Mayflower compact](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Mayflower_compact.jpg)
The ''Mayflower'' dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for a settlement site. They rejected several sites, including one on
Clark's Island
Clark's Island is the name of a small island located in Duxbury Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was named for John Clark, the first mate of the ''Mayflower'', the ship that brought the Pilgrims to New England. The island was initial ...
and another at the mouth of the
Jones River
The Jones River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river running through Kingston, Massachusetts. The river drains about , has its source in Silver Lak ...
, in favor of the site of a recently abandoned settlement which had been occupied by the
Patuxet
The Patuxet were a Native American band of the Wampanoag tribal confederation. They lived primarily in and around modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and were among the first Native Americans encountered by European settlers in the region in th ...
tribe.
The location was chosen largely for its defensive position. The settlement would be centered on two hills: Cole's Hill, where the village would be built, and Fort Hill, where a defensive cannon would be stationed. Also important in choosing the site was that the prior villagers had cleared much of the land making agriculture relatively easy. Fresh water for the colony was provided by
Town Brook and
Billington Sea
Billington Sea (also Billington's Sea) is a warm water pond located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Morton Park lies on the pond's northern shore. The pond is fed by groundwater and cranberry bog outlets. The average depth is seven feet and the maxim ...
. There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend, but
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known writt ...
is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland.
[Johnson (1997), p. 37]
The area where the colonists settled had been identified as "New Plymouth" in maps which
John Smith published in 1614. The colonists elected to retain the name for their own settlement, in honor of their final point of departure from England:
Plymouth, Devon
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth' ...
.
First winter
![Landing-Bacon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Landing-Bacon.PNG)
On December 21, 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. Plans to build houses, however, were delayed by bad weather until December 23. As the building progressed, 20 men always remained ashore for security purposes while the rest of the work crews returned each night to the ''Mayflower''. Women, children, and the infirm remained on board the ''Mayflower'', and many had not left the ship for six months. The first structure was a common house of
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
, and it took two weeks to complete in the harsh New England winter. In the following weeks, the rest of the settlement slowly took shape. The living and working structures were built on the relatively flat top of Cole's Hill, and a wooden platform was constructed atop nearby Fort Hill to support the cannon that would defend the settlement.
During the winter, the ''Mayflower'' colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as
scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
, and general conditions on board ship.
Many of the men were too infirm to work; 45 out of 102 pilgrims died and were buried on
Cole's Hill
Cole's Hill is a National Historic Landmark containing the first cemetery used by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. The hill is located on Carver Street near the foot of Leyden Street and across the street from Plymo ...
. Thus, only seven residences and four common houses were constructed during the first winter out of a planned 19.
By the end of January, enough of the settlement had been built to begin unloading provisions from the ''Mayflower''.
The men of the settlement organized themselves into military orders in mid-February, after several tense encounters with local Indians, and Myles Standish was designated as the commanding officer. By the end of the month, five cannons had been defensively positioned on Fort Hill.
John Carver was elected governor to replace Governor Martin.
On March 16, 1621, the first formal contact occurred with the Indians.
Samoset
Samoset (also Somerset, – ) was an Abenaki sagamore and the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony. He startled the colonists on March 16, 1621, by walking into Plymouth Colony and greeting them in Engl ...
was an
Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
sagamore who was originally from
Pemaquid Point
The Pemaquid Point Light is a historic U.S. lighthouse located in Bristol, Lincoln County, Maine, at the tip of the Pemaquid Neck.
History
The lighthouse was commissioned in 1827 by President John Quincy Adams and built that year. Because of poo ...
in
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. He had learned some English from fishermen and trappers in Maine, and he walked boldly into the midst of the settlement and proclaimed, "Welcome, Englishmen!" It was during this meeting that the Pilgrims learned how the previous residents of Patuxet had died of an epidemic. They also learned that an important leader of the region was
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
Indian chief
Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem () or Ousamequin (c. 15811661)"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web pag was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''.
Mas ...
,
and they learned about
Squanto
Tisquantum (; 1585 (±10 years?) – late November 1622 O.S.), more commonly known as Squanto Sam (), was a member of the Patuxet tribe best known for being an early liaison between the Native American population in Southern New England and t ...
(Tisquantum) who was the sole survivor from Patuxet. Squanto had spent time in Europe and spoke English quite well. Samoset spent the night in Plymouth and agreed to arrange a meeting with some of Massasoit's men.
Massasoit and Squanto were apprehensive about the Pilgrims, as several men of his tribe had been killed by English sailors. He also knew that the Pilgrims had taken some corn stores in their landings at Provincetown.
Squanto himself had been abducted in 1614 by English explorer Thomas Hunt and had spent five years in Europe, first as a slave for a group of Spanish monks, then as a freeman in England. He had returned to New England in 1619, acting as a guide to explorer Capt.
Robert Gorges
Robert Gorges (1595 – late 1620s) was a captain in the Royal Navy and briefly Governor-General of New England from 1623 to 1624. He was the son of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. After having served in the Venetian wars, Gorges was given a commissio ...
, but Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken Squanto.
Samoset returned to Plymouth on March 22 with a delegation from Massasoit that included Squanto; Massasoit joined them shortly after, and he and Governor Carver established a formal treaty of peace after exchanging gifts. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Massasoit would send his allies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other's aid in a time of war.
The ''Mayflower'' set sail for England on April 5, 1621, after being anchored for almost four months in
Plymouth Harbor
Plymouth Harbor is a harbor located in Plymouth, a town in the South Shore region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is part of the larger Plymouth Bay. Historically, Plymouth Harbor was the site of anchorage of the ''Mayflower'' where the ...
.
Nearly half of the original 102 passengers had died during the first winter.
As William Bradford wrote, "of these one hundred persons who came over in this first ship together, the greatest half died in the general mortality, and most of them in two or three months' time". Several of the graves on Cole's Hill were uncovered in 1855; their bodies were disinterred and moved to a site near Plymouth Rock.
First Thanksgiving
![Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1925, Brownscombe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Thanksgiving_at_Plymouth%2C_1925%2C_Brownscombe.jpg)
In November 1621, the surviving pilgrims celebrated a harvest feast which became known in the 19th century as "The First
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...
". The feast was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive: ''
Of Plymouth Plantation
''Of Plymouth Plantation'' is a journal that was written over a period of years by William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. It is regarded as the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the ...
'' by William Bradford; ''
Mourt's Relation
The booklet ''Mourt's Relation'' (full title: ''A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England'') was written between November 1620 and November 1621, and describes in detail wh ...
'' probably written by Edward Winslow; and ''New England's Memorial'' by Plymouth Colony Secretary (and Bradford's nephew) Capt.
Nathaniel Morton
Capt. Nathaniel Morton (christened 161629 June 1685) was a Separatist settler of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, where he served for most of his life as Plymouth's secretary under his uncle, Governor William Bradford. Morton wrote an account of ...
. The celebration lasted three days and featured a feast that included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the indigenous people.
Early relations with the Native Americans
After the departure of Massasoit and his men, Squanto remained in Plymouth to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in New England, such as using dead fish to fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the
fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming, buying furs from Natives and selling to Europeans. Governor Carver suddenly died shortly after the ''Mayflower'' returned to England. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years.
As promised by Massasoit, numerous indigenous arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow (who later became the chief diplomat of the colony) set out to continue negotiations with the chief. The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator. After traveling for several days, they arrived at Massasoit's village of Sowams near
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
. After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the Plymouth colonists. Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes.
In late July, a boy named John Billington became lost for some time in the woods around the colony. It was reported that he was found by the
Nauset
The Nauset people, sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Indians, were a Native American tribe who lived in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They lived east of Bass River and lands occupied by their closely-related neighbors, the Wampanoag.
Although the ...
s, the same native tribe on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations. The colonists organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth, and they agreed to reimburse the Nausets for the corn which they had taken in return for the boy. This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the tribes in the area.
During their dealings with the Nausets over the release of John Billington, the Pilgrims learned of troubles that Massasoit was experiencing. Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by
Corbitant
Corbitant was a Wampanoag Indian sachem or sagamore under Massasoit. Corbitant was sachem of the Pocasset tribe in present-day North Tiverton, Rhode Island, c. 1618–1630. He lived in Mattapuyst or Mattapoiset, located in the southern part of ...
,
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
of the
Narragansett tribe. A party of ten men under the leadership of Myles Standish set out to find and execute Corbitant. While hunting for him, they learned that Squanto had escaped and Massasoit was back in power. Standish and his men had injured several Native Americans, so the colonists offered them medical attention in Plymouth. They had failed to capture Corbitant, but the show of force by Standish had garnered respect for the Pilgrims and, as a result, nine of the most powerful sachems in the area signed a treaty in September, including Massasoit and Corbitant, pledging their loyalty to King James.
In May 1622, a vessel named the ''Sparrow'' arrived carrying seven men from the Merchant Adventurers whose purpose was to seek out a site for a new settlement in the area. Two ships followed shortly after carrying 60 settlers, all men. They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in
Weymouth, Massachusetts ("To Work Is to Conquer")
, image_map = Norfolk County Massachusetts incorporated and unincorporated areas Weymouth highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in Norfolk County in Massa ...
at a settlement which they named
Wessagussett
Wessagusset Colony (sometimes called the Weston Colony or Weymouth Colony) was a short-lived English trading colony in New England located in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was settled in August 1622 by between fifty and sixty colonists who were ill-p ...
.
The settlement of Wessagussett was short-lived, but it provided the spark for an event that dramatically changed the political landscape between the local native tribes and the settlers. Reports reached Plymouth of a military threat to Wessagussett, and Myles Standish organized a militia to defend them. However, he found that there had been no attack. He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike, an event which historian
Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrick (born June 11, 1956) is an American author of history, winner of the National Book Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His maritime history, '' In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,'' which tells ...
calls "Standish's raid". He lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into a house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations. Standish and his men then stabbed and killed them. Standish and his men pursued Obtakiest, a local sachem, but he escaped with three prisoners from Wessagussett; he then executed them.
Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth.
Word quickly spread among the indigenous tribes of Standish's attack; many natives abandoned their villages and fled the area. As noted by Philbrick: "Standish's raid had irreparably damaged the human ecology of the region…. It was some time before a new equilibrium came to the region."
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...
reports in his 1624 memoirs ''Good News from New England'' that "they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and so brought manifold diseases amongst themselves, whereof very many are dead". The Pilgrims lost the trade in furs which they had enjoyed with the local tribes, and which was their main source of income for paying off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers. Rather than strengthening their position, Standish's raid had disastrous consequences for the colony, as attested by William Bradford in a letter to the Merchant Adventurers: "we had much damaged our trade, for there where we had most skins the Indians are run away from their habitations".
The only positive effect of Standish's raid seemed to be the increased power of the Massasoit-led Wampanoag tribe, the Pilgrims' closest ally in the region.
Growth of Plymouth
A second ship arrived in November 1621 named the ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'', sent by the Merchant Adventurers one year after the Pilgrims first set foot in New England. It arrived with 37 new settlers for Plymouth. However, the ship had arrived unexpectedly and also without many supplies, so the additional settlers put a strain on the resources of the colony. Among the passengers of the ''Fortune'' were several of the original Leiden congregation, including
William Brewster's son Jonathan, Edward Winslow's brother John, and
Philip Delano
Philip Delano (c. 1603 – c. 1681-82) arrived in Plymouth Colony in November 1621 on the voyage of the ship ''Fortune''. He was about 18 years of age on arrival. ''Mayflower'' passenger Francis Cooke was his uncle with whom he may initially ha ...
(the family name was earlier "de la Noye") whose descendants include President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. The ''Fortune'' also carried a letter from the Merchant Adventurers chastising the colony for failure to return goods with the ''Mayflower'' that had been promised in return for their support. The ''Fortune'' began its return to England laden with £500 worth of goods (equivalent to £ in 2010, or $ at
PPP), more than enough to keep the colonists on schedule for repayment of their debt. However, the ''Fortune'' was captured by the French before she could deliver her cargo to England, creating an even larger deficit for the colony.
In July 1623, two more ships arrived: the
''Anne'' under the command of Captain "Master" William Peirce and Master John Bridges, and the ''Little James'' under the command of Captain Emanuel Altham. These ships carried 96 new settlers, among them Leideners, including
William Bradford's future wife Alice and William and Mary Brewster's daughters Patience and Fear. Some of the passengers who arrived on the ''Anne'' were either unprepared for frontier life or undesirable additions to the colony, and they returned to England the next year. According to Gleason Archer, "those who remained were not willing to join the colony under the terms of the agreement with the Merchant Adventurers. They had embarked for America upon an understanding with the Adventurers that they might settle in a community of their own, or at least be free from the bonds by which the Plymouth colonists were enslaved. A letter addressed to the colonists and signed by thirteen of the merchants recited these facts and urged acceptance of the new comers on the specified terms." The new arrivals were allotted land in the area of the
Eel River known as
Hobs Hole, which became Wellingsley, a mile south of Plymouth Rock.
In September 1623, another ship arrived carrying settlers destined to refound the failed colony at Weymouth, and they stayed temporarily in Plymouth. In March 1624, a ship arrived bearing a few additional settlers and the first cattle. A 1627 division of cattle lists 156 colonists divided into twelve lots of thirteen colonists each. Another ship arrived in August 1629, also named the ''Mayflower'', with 35 additional members of the Leiden congregation. Ships arrived throughout the period between 1629 and 1630 carrying new settlers, though the exact number is unknown; contemporaneous documents indicate that the colony had almost 300 people by January 1630. In 1643, the colony had an estimated 600 males fit for military service, implying a total population of about 2,000. The estimated total population of Plymouth County was 3,055 by 1690, on the eve of the colony's merger with Massachusetts Bay.
It is estimated that the entire population of the colony at the point of its dissolution was around 7,000. For comparison, it is estimated that more than 20,000 settlers had arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1630 and 1640 (a period known as the
Great Migration), and the population of all New England was estimated to be about 60,000 by 1678. Plymouth was the first colony in the region, but it was much smaller than Massachusetts Bay Colony by the time they merged.
Military history
Myles Standish
Myles Standish was the military leader of Plymouth Colony from the beginning. He was officially designated as the captain of the colony's militia in February 1621, shortly after the arrival of the ''Mayflower'' in December 1620. He organized and led the first party to set foot in New England, an exploratory expedition of Cape Cod upon arrival in Provincetown Harbor. He also led the third expedition, during which Standish fired the first recorded shot by the Pilgrim settlers in an event known as the First Encounter. Standish had training in
military engineering
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics be ...
from the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
, and it was he who decided the defensive layout of the settlement when they finally arrived at Plymouth. Standish also organized the able-bodied men into military orders in February of the first winter. During the second winter, he helped design and organize the construction of a large palisade wall surrounding the settlement. Standish led two early military raids on Indian villages: the raid to find and punish Corbitant for his attempted coup, and the killing at Wessagussett called "Standish's raid". The former had the desired effect of gaining the respect of the local Indians; the latter only served to frighten and scatter them, resulting in loss of trade and income.
Pequot War
The first major war in New England was the Pequot War of 1637. The war's roots go back to 1632, when a dispute arose between Dutch fur traders and Plymouth officials over control of the
Connecticut River Valley
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
near modern
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
. Representatives from the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
and Plymouth Colony both had deeds which claimed that they had rightfully purchased the land from the
Pequot
The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...
s. A sort of
land rush
A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to Homestead Act, homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other th ...
occurred as settlers from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies tried to beat the Dutch in settling the area; the influx of English settlers also threatened the Pequot. Other confederations in the area sided with the English, including the
Narragansetts
The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983.
The tribe was nearly lan ...
and
Mohegan
The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the easte ...
s, who were the traditional enemies of the Pequots. The event that sparked formal hostilities was the capture of a boat and the murder of its captain John Oldham in 1636, an event blamed on allies of the Pequots. In April 1637, a raid on a Pequot village by
John Endicott
John Endecott (also spelled Endicott; before 1600 – 15 March 1664/1665), regarded as one of the Fathers of New England, was the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He ser ...
led to a retaliatory raid by Pequot warriors on the town of
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. Its population was 27,298 at the time of the 2020 census.
Many records from colonial times spell the name ...
, where some 30 English settlers were killed. This led to a further retaliation, where a raid led by
Captain John Underhill
John Underhill (7 October 1597 – 21 July 1672) was an early English settler and soldier in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, where he also served as governor; the New Haven Colony, New Netherland, and later the Pro ...
and Captain
John Mason burned a Pequot village to the ground near modern
Mystic, Connecticut
Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton, Connecticut, Groton and Stonington, Connecticut, United States.
Historically, Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in ...
, killing 300 Pequots. Plymouth Colony had little to do with the actual fighting in the war.
When it appeared that the war would resume, four of the New England colonies (Massachusetts Bay,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, and Plymouth) formed a defensive compact known as the
United Colonies of New England
The United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a confederal alliance of the New England colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Saybrook (Connecticut), and New Haven formed in May 1643. Its primary pur ...
. Edward Winslow was already known for his diplomatic skills, and he was the chief architect of the United Colonies. His experience in the
United Provinces of the Netherlands
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
during the Leiden years was key to organizing the confederation.
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
later considered the United Colonies to be the prototype for the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
, which was the first attempt at a national government.
King Philip's War
Metacomet
Metacomet (1638 – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,[Wamsutta
Wamsutta ( 16341662), also known as Alexander Pokanoket, as he was called by New England colonists, was the eldest son of Massasoit (meaning Great Leader) Ousa Mequin of the Pokanoket Tribe and Wampanoag nation, and brother of Metacomet.
Life
W ...]
, also known as Alexander, in 1662.
The cause of the war stems from the increasing numbers of English colonists and their demand for land. As more land was purchased from the Native Americans, they were restricted to smaller territories for themselves. Native American leaders such as King Philip resented the loss of land and looked for a means to slow or reverse it.
Of specific concern was the founding of the town of
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, which was located only a few miles from the Wampanoag capital at
Mount Hope. The
General Court of Plymouth
The Plymouth General Court (formerly styled, ''The General Court of Plymouth Colony'') was the original colonial legislature of the Plymouth colony from 1620 to 1692. The body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases.
History
The General ...
began using military force to coerce the sale of Wampanoag land to the settlers of the town.
The proximate cause of the conflict was the death of a
Praying Indian
Praying Indian is a 17th-century term referring to Native Americans of New England, New York, Ontario, and Quebec who converted to Christianity either voluntarily or involuntarily. Many groups are referred to by the term, but it is more commonly ...
named
John Sassamon
John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon (), was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In January ...
in 1675. Sassamon had been an advisor and friend to King Philip; however, Sassamon's conversion to Christianity had driven the two apart.
Accused in the murder of Sassamon were some of Philip's most senior lieutenants. A jury of twelve Englishmen and six Praying Indians found the Native Americans guilty of murder and sentenced them to death.
To this day, some debate exists whether King Philip's men actually committed the murder.
Philip had already begun war preparations at his home base near
Mount Hope where he started raiding English farms and pillaging their property. In response, Governor
Josiah Winslow
Josiah Winslow ( in Plymouth Colony – 1680 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony) was the 13th Governor of Plymouth Colony. In records of the time, historians also name him Josias Winslow, and modern writers have carried that name forward. He was b ...
called out the militia, and they organized and began to move on Philip's position.
King Philip's men attacked unarmed women and children in order to receive a ransom. One such attack resulted in the capture of
Mary Rowlandson
Mary Rowlandson, née White, later Mary Talcott (c. 1637January 5, 1711), was a colonial American woman who was captured by Native Americans in 1676 during King Philip's War and held for 11 weeks before being ransomed. In 1682, six years after h ...
. The memoirs of her capture provided historians with much information on Native American culture during this time period.
The war continued through the rest of 1675 and into the next year. The English were constantly frustrated by the Native Americans' refusal to meet them in pitched battle. They employed a form of
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
that confounded the English. Captain
Benjamin Church continuously campaigned to enlist the help of friendly Native Americans to help learn how to fight on an even footing with Philip's warrior bands, but he was constantly rebuffed by the Plymouth leadership who mistrusted all Native Americans, thinking them potential enemies. Eventually, Governor Winslow and Plymouth military commander Major
William Bradford (son of the late Governor William Bradford) relented and gave Church permission to organize a combined force of English and Native Americans. After securing the alliance of the Sakonnet, he led his combined force in pursuit of Philip, who had thus far avoided any major battles in the war that bears his name. Throughout July 1676, Church's band captured hundreds of Native American warriors, often without much of a fight, though Philip eluded him. Church was given permission to grant amnesty to any captured Native Americans who would agree to join the English side, and his force grew immensely.
Philip was killed by a Pocasset Indian, and the war soon ended as an overwhelming English victory.
Eight percent of the English adult male population is estimated to have died during the war, a rather large percentage by most standards. The impact on the Native Americans was far higher, however. So many were killed, fled, or shipped off as slaves that the entire Native American population of New England fell by sixty to eighty percent.
Final years
In 1686, the entire region was reorganized under a single government known as the
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure represe ...
; this included the colonies of Plymouth,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
,
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, and
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. In 1688,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
West Jersey
West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often ...
, and
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...
were added.
The President of the Dominion
Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...
was highly unpopular, and the union did not last. The union was dissolved after news of the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
reached Boston in April 1689, and the citizens of Boston
rose up and arrested Andros. When news of these events reached Plymouth, its magistrates reclaimed power.
The return of self-rule for Plymouth Colony was short-lived, however. A delegation of New Englanders led by
Increase Mather
Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administrati ...
went to England to negotiate a return of the colonial charters that had been nullified during the Dominion years. The situation was particularly problematic for Plymouth Colony, as it had existed without a formal charter since its founding. Plymouth did not get its wish for a formal charter; instead, a new charter was issued, combining Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and other territories. The official date of the proclamation was October 17, 1691, ending the existence of Plymouth Colony, though it was not put into force until the arrival of the charter of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the Thirteen Colonies, thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III of England, William III and Mary II ...
on May 14, 1692, carried by the new royal governor Sir
William Phips
Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...
. The last official meeting of the
Plymouth General Court
The Plymouth General Court (formerly styled, ''The General Court of Plymouth Colony'') was the original State legislature (United States), colonial legislature of the Plymouth colony from 1620 to 1692. The body also sat in judgment of judicial app ...
occurred on June 8, 1692.
Life
Religion
![George-Henry-Boughton-Pilgrims-Going-To-Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/George-Henry-Boughton-Pilgrims-Going-To-Church.jpg)
The most important religious figure in the colony was
John Robinson John Robinson may refer to:
Academics
*John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist
* John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood''
*John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist
*John ...
, an original pastor of the
Scrooby congregation and religious leader of the separatists throughout the Leiden years. He never actually set foot in New England, but many of his theological pronouncements shaped the nature and character of the Plymouth church.
For example, Robinson stated that women and men have different social roles but neither was lesser in the eyes of God. He taught that men and women have distinct but complementary roles in church, home, and society as a whole, and he referred to women as the "weaker vessel", quoting from 1 Peter 3:7.
In matters of religious understanding, he proclaimed that it was the man's role to "guide and go before" women.
The Pilgrims themselves were separatist Puritans, Protestant Christians who separated from the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. They sought to practice Christianity as was done in the times of the
Apostle
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
s. Following
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
's and
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
's
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, they believed that the Bible was the only true source of religious teaching and that any additions made to Christianity had no place in Christian practice, especially with regard to church traditions such as clerical vestments or the use of Latin in church services. In particular, they were strongly opposed to the Anglicans' episcopal form of church government. They believed that the church was a community of Christians who made a covenant with God and with one another. Their congregations had a democratic structure. Ministers, teachers, and lay church elders were elected by and responsible to the entire congregation (Calvinist Federalism). Each congregation was independent of all the others and directly subject to Christ's government (theocracy), hence the name
Congregationalism
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...
. The Pilgrims distinguished themselves from another branch of Puritans in that they sought to "separate" themselves from the Anglican Church, rather than reform it from within. It was this desire to worship from outside of the Anglican Communion that led them first to the Netherlands and ultimately to New England.
Each town in the colony was considered a single church congregation; in later years, some of the larger towns split into two or three congregations. Church attendance was mandatory for all residents of the colony, while church membership was restricted to those who had converted to the faith. In Plymouth Colony, it seems that a simple profession of faith was all that was required for acceptance as a member. This was a more liberal doctrine than the congregations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where it was common to conduct detailed interviews with those seeking formal membership. There was no central governing body for the churches. Each individual congregation was left to determine its own standards of membership, hire its own ministers, and conduct its own business.
The church was the most important social institution in the colony. The Bible was the primary religious document of the society, and it also served as the primary legal document.
Church membership was socially vital. Education was carried out for religious purposes, motivated by a determination to teach the next generation how to read the Bible. The laws of the colony specifically asked parents to provide for the education of their children, "at least to be able duly to read the Scriptures" and to understand "the main Grounds and Principles of Christian Religion".
It was expected that the male head of the household would be responsible for the religious well-being of all its members, children and servants alike.
Most churches used two acts to sanction its members:
censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spir ...
and being "put out". Censure was a formal reprimand for behavior that did not conform with accepted religious and social norms, while being "put out" meant to be removed from church membership. Many social breaches were dealt with through church discipline rather than through civil punishment, from fornication to public drunkenness. Church sanctions seldom held official recognition outside church membership and seldom resulted in civil or criminal proceedings. Nevertheless, such sanctions were a powerful tool of social stability.
The Pilgrims practiced
infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions.
Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that ...
. The public baptism ceremony was usually performed within six months of birth.
Marriage was considered a civil ceremony, rather than a religious one. Such an arrangement may have been a habit that had developed during the Leiden years, as civil marriage was common in the Netherlands. However, the Pilgrims saw this arrangement as biblical, there being no evidence from Scripture that a minister should preside over a wedding.
Besides the theology espoused by their religious leaders, the people of Plymouth Colony had a strong belief in the supernatural.
Richard Greenham
Richard Greenham (also Grenham) (1535?–1594?) was an English clergyman of Puritan views, well known for his strong Puritan doctrine of the Sabbath. His many sermons and theological treatises had a significant influence on the Puritan movemen ...
was a Puritan theologian whose works were known to the Plymouth residents, and he counseled extensively against turning to magic or wizardry to solve problems. The Pilgrims saw Satan's work in nearly every calamity that befell them; the dark magical arts were very real and present for them. They believed in the presence of malevolent spirits who brought misfortune to people. For example, in 1660, a court inquest into the drowning death of Jeremiah Burroughs determined that a possessed canoe was to blame.
Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced an outbreak of
witchcraft scares in the 17th century, but there is little evidence that Plymouth was engulfed in anything similar.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
was listed as a capital crime in the 1636 codification of the laws by the Plymouth General Court, but there were no actual convictions of witches in Plymouth Colony. The court records only show two formal accusations of witchcraft. The first was of Goodwife Holmes in 1661, but it never went to trial. The second was of Mary Ingram in 1677 which resulted in trial and acquittal.
Marriage and family life
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...
and Susanna White both lost their spouses during the harsh winter of 1620–1621, and the two became the first couple to be married in Plymouth. Governor Bradford presided over the civil ceremony.
In Plymouth Colony, "courtships were usually initiated by the young people themselves, but as a relationship progressed toward something more permanent, the parents became more directly involved."
Parents were concerned with the moral and religious qualities of the proposed spouse, as well as the financial means of each party's family.
The first step toward marriage was generally a betrothal or pre-contract, a ceremony carried out before two witnesses in which the couple pledged to wed in due time.
The couple's intentions were published several weeks or months after the betrothal was contracted.
"A betrothed couple was considered to have a special status, not married but no longer unmarried either."
Sexual contact was prohibited between a betrothed couple, but the penalty for it was one-fourth of what it was for single persons, and records indicate a relatively high number of babies born less than nine months after a wedding ceremony.
Marriage was considered the normal state for all adult residents of the colony.
Most men first married in their mid-twenties and women around age 20.
Second marriages were not uncommon, and widows and widowers faced social and economic pressures to remarry; most widows and widowers remarried within six months to a year. Most adults who reached marriageable age lived into their sixties, so effectively two-thirds of a person's life was spent married.
Women in Plymouth Colony had more extensive legal and social rights compared to 17th-century European norms. They were considered equal to men before God from the perspective of the Church. Women were, however, expected to take traditionally feminine roles, such as child-rearing and maintaining the household.
Plymouth women enjoyed extensive property and legal rights, unlike European women who had few rights. A wife in Plymouth could not be "written out" of her husband's will and was guaranteed a full third of the family's property upon his death. Women were parties to contracts in Plymouth, most notably
prenuptial agreement
A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple prior to marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the leg ...
s. It was common for brides-to-be (rather than their fathers) to enter into contractual agreements on the consolidation of property upon marriage. In some cases, especially in second marriages, women were given exclusive right to retain control of their property separately from their husbands.
Women were also known to occasionally sit on juries in Plymouth, a remarkable circumstance in seventeenth century legal practice. Historians James and Patricia Scott Deetz cite a 1678 inquest into the death of Anne Batson's child, where the jury was composed of five women and seven men.
Family size in the colony was large by modern American standards,
though childbirth was often spaced out, with an average of two years between children. Most families averaged five to six children living under the same roof, though it was not uncommon for one family to have grown children moving out before the mother had finished giving birth. Maternal mortality rates were fairly high; one birth in thirty ended in the death of the mother, resulting in one in five women dying in childbirth.
However, "the rate of infant mortality in Plymouth seems to have been relatively low." Demos concludes that "it appears that the rate of infant and child mortality in Plymouth was no more than 25 per cent".
Childhood, adolescence, and education
Children generally remained in the direct care of their mothers until about the age of 8, after which it was not uncommon for the child to be placed in the foster care of another family.
Some children were placed into households to learn a trade, others to be taught to read and write. It was assumed that children's own parents would love them too much and would not properly discipline them. By placing children in the care of another family, there was little danger of them being spoiled.
Adolescence was not a recognized phase of life in Plymouth colony, and there was no rite of passage which marked transition from youth to adulthood. Several important transitions occurred at various ages, but none marked a single "coming of age" event. Children were expected to begin learning their adult roles in life quite early by taking on some of the family work or by being placed in foster homes to learn a trade.
Orphaned children were given the right to choose their own guardians at age 14. At 16, males became eligible for military duty and were also considered adults for legal purposes, such as standing trial for crimes. Age 21 was the youngest at which a male could become a freeman, though for practical purposes this occurred some time in a man's mid-twenties. Twenty-one was the assumed age of inheritance, as well, although the law respected the rights of the deceased to name an earlier age in his will.
Actual schools were rare in Plymouth colony. The first true school was not founded until 40 years after the foundation of the colony. The General Court first authorized colony-wide funding for formal public schooling in 1673, but only the town of Plymouth made use of these funds at that time. By 1683, though, five additional towns had received this funding.
Education of the young was never considered to be the primary domain of schools, even after they had become more common. Most education was carried out by a child's parents or foster parents. Formal apprenticeships were not the norm in Plymouth; it was expected that a foster family would teach the children whatever trades they themselves practiced. The church also played a central role in a child's education.
As noted above, the primary purpose of teaching children to read was so that they could read the Bible for themselves.
Government and laws
Organization
![Plymouth law book](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Plymouth_law_book.jpg)
Plymouth Colony did not have a royal charter authorizing it to form a government, yet some means of governance was needed. The
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, an ...
was the colony's first governing document, signed by the 41 Puritan men aboard the ''Mayflower'' upon their arrival in Provincetown Harbor on November 21, 1620. Formal laws were not codified until 1636. The colony's laws were based on a hybrid of English common law and religious law as laid out in the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
.
The colonial authorities were deeply influenced by Calvinist theology, and were convinced that democracy was the form of government mandated by God.
The colony offered nearly all adult males potential citizenship. Full citizens, or "freemen", were accorded full rights and privileges in areas such as voting and holding office. To be considered a freeman, adult males had to be sponsored by an existing freeman and accepted by the General Court. Later restrictions established a one-year waiting period between nominating and granting of freeman status, and also placed religious restrictions on the colony's citizens, specifically preventing
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
from becoming freemen.
Freeman status was also restricted by age; the official minimum age was 21, although in practice most men were elevated to freeman status between the ages of 25 and 40, averaging somewhere in their early thirties.
The colony established a disabled veterans' fund in 1636 to support veterans who returned from service with disabilities.
In 1641, the Body of Liberties developed protections for people who were unable to perform public service.
In 1660, the colonial government restricted voting with a specified property qualification, and they restricted it further in 1671 to only freemen who were "orthodox in the fundamentals of religion".
The colony's most powerful executive was its Governor, who was originally elected by the freemen but was later appointed by the General Court in an annual election. The General Court also elected seven Assistants to form a cabinet to assist the governor. The Governor and Assistants then appointed Constables who served as the chief administrators for the towns, and Messengers who were the main civil servants of the colony. They were responsible for publishing announcements, performing land surveys, carrying out executions, and a host of other duties.
The General Court was the chief legislative and judicial body of the colony. It was elected by the freemen from among their own number and met regularly in Plymouth, the capital town of the colony. As part of its judicial duties, it would periodically call a Grand Enquest, which was a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
of sorts elected from the freemen, who would hear complaints and swear out indictments for credible accusations. The General Court, and later lesser town and county courts, would preside over trials of accused criminals and over civil matters, but the ultimate decisions were made by a jury of freemen.
The General Court as the legislative and judicial bodies, and the Governor as the chief executive of the colony constituted a political system of division of power. It followed a recommendation in John Calvin's political theory to set up several institutions which complement and control each other in a system of
checks and balances
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
in order to minimize the misuse of political power. In 1625, the settlers had repaid their debts and thus gained complete possession of the colony. The colony was a de facto republic, since neither an English company nor the King and Parliament exerted any influence—a representative democracy governed on the principles of the Mayflower Compact ("self-rule").
Laws
As a legislative body, the General Court could make proclamations of law as needed. These laws were not formally compiled anywhere in the early years of the colony; they were first organized and published in the ''1636 Book of Laws''. The book was reissued in 1658, 1672, and 1685.
These laws included the levying of "rates" or taxes and the distribution of colony lands.
The General Court established townships as a means of providing local government over settlements, but reserved for itself the right to control specific distribution of land to individuals within those towns. When new land was granted to a freeman, it was directed that only the person to whom the land was granted was allowed to settle it.
It was forbidden for individual settlers to purchase land from Native Americans without formal permission from the General Court.
The government recognized the precarious peace that existed with the Wampanoag, and wished to avoid antagonizing them by buying up all of their land.
The laws also set out crimes and their associated punishment. There were several crimes that carried the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
:
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
,
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
,
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
,
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
,
sodomy
Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...
,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
,
bestiality,
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
, and cursing or smiting one's parents.
The actual exercise of the death penalty was fairly rare; only one sex-related crime resulted in execution, a 1642 incidence of bestiality by Thomas Granger.
Edward Bumpus was sentenced to death for "striking and abusing his parents" in 1679, but his sentence was commuted to a severe whipping by reason of insanity.
Perhaps the most notable use of the death penalty was in the execution of the Native Americans convicted of the murder of John Sassamon; this helped lead to King Philip's War.
Though nominally a capital crime, adultery was usually dealt with by public humiliation only. Convicted adulterers were often forced to wear the letters "A.D." sewn into their garments, much in the manner of
Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter''. She is portrayed as a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in ...
in
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
's novel ''
The Scarlet Letter
''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...
''.
Several laws dealt with
indentured servitude
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
, a legal status whereby a person would work off debts or be given training in exchange for a period of unrecompensed service. The law required that all indentured servants had to be registered by the Governor or one of the Assistants, and that no period of indenture could be less than six months. Further laws forbade a master from shortening the length of time of service required for his servant, and also confirmed that any indentured servants whose period of service began in England would still be required to complete their service while in Plymouth.
Official seal
The seal of the Plymouth Colony was designed in 1629 and is still used by the town of Plymouth. It depicts four figures within a shield bearing
St George's Cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the cru ...
, apparently in Native-American style clothing, each carrying the burning heart symbol of
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
. The seal was also used by the County of Plymouth until 1931.
Geography
Boundaries
![Hubbard map 1677](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Hubbard_map_1677.JPG)
Without a clear land patent for the area, the settlers settled without a charter to form a government and, as a result, it was often unclear in the early years what land was under the colony's jurisdiction. In 1644, "The Old Colony Line"—which had been surveyed in 1639—was formally accepted as the boundary between Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth.
The situation was more complicated along the border with Rhode Island.
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
settled in the area of
Rehoboth in 1636, near modern
Pawtucket. He was forcibly evicted in order to maintain Plymouth's claim to the area. Williams moved to the west side of the Pawtucket River to found the settlement of
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
, the nucleus for the colony of Rhode Island, which was formally established with the "Providence Plantations Patent" of 1644. Various settlers from both Rhode Island and Plymouth began to settle along the area, and the exact nature of the western boundary of Plymouth became unclear. The issue was not fully resolved until the 1740s, long after the dissolution of Plymouth Colony itself. Rhode Island had received a patent for the area in 1693, which had been disputed by Massachusetts Bay Colony. Rhode Island successfully defended the patent, and a royal decree in 1746 transferred the land to Rhode Island along the eastern shore of the Narragansett Bay, including the mainland portion of
Newport County and all of modern
Bristol County,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
.
The border itself continued to be contested by Massachusetts, first as a colony and later as a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
, until as late as 1898, when the boundary was settled and ratified by both states.
Counties and towns
![Barnstable county 1890](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Barnstable_county_1890.PNG)
For most of its history, the town was the primary administrative unit and political division of the colony. Plymouth Colony was not formally divided into counties until June 2, 1685, during the reorganization that led to the formation of the
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure represe ...
. Three counties were composed of the following towns.
Barnstable County
Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its shire town is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands (some adjacent islands are in Duk ...
on Cape Cod:
:*
Barnstable, the
shire town
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
(county seat) of the county, first settled in 1639 and incorporated 1650.
:*
Eastham, site of the "First Encounter", first settled 1644 and incorporated as the town of Nauset in 1646, name changed to Eastham in 1651.
:*
Falmouth, first settled in 1661 and incorporated as Succonesset in 1686.
:*
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
, settled 1638, incorporated 1686.
:*
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
, first settled in 1637 and incorporated in 1639.
:*
Yarmouth
Yarmouth may refer to:
Places Canada
*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
**Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
**Yarmouth (provincial electoral district)
**Yarmouth (electoral district)
* Yarmouth Township, Ontario
*New ...
, Originally named ''Mattacheese'' by the native Americans, it was named for a seaport at the mouth of the Yar river in England and incorporated in 1639.
Bristol County along the shores of
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
and
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
; part of this county was later ceded to Rhode Island:
:*
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
, the shire town of the county, incorporated 1639 and grew due to the early discovery of bog-iron.
:*
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, incorporated 1680 and including the former locations of Sowams and Montaup (Mount Hope), which were Massasoit's and King Philip's capitals, respectively. Ceded to Rhode Island in 1746 and is now part of Bristol County, Rhode Island.
:*
Dartmouth, incorporated 1664. Dartmouth was the site of a significant massacre by the Indian forces during King Philip's War. It was also the location of a surrender of a group of some 160 of Philip's forces who were later sold into slavery.
:*
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...
, Originally known as "Assonet" to the natives, and "Freemen's Land" by its first settlers. Settlement records are lost however it was incorporated under its current name in July 1683.
:*
Little Compton, incorporated as Sakonnet in 1682, ceded to Rhode Island in 1746 and is now part of Newport County, Rhode Island.
:*
Rehoboth, first settled 1644 and incorporated 1645. Nearby to, but distinct from the Rehoboth settlement of Roger Williams, which is now the town of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
:*
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
, founded as the township of Wannamoiset in 1667, incorporated as town of Swansea in 1668. It was here that the first English casualty occurred in King Philip's War.
Plymouth County, located along the western shores of
Cape Cod Bay
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
:
:*
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
, the shire town of the county and capital of the colony. This was the original 1620 settlement of the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims, and continued as the largest and most significant settlement in the colony until its dissolution in 1691.
:*
Bridgewater, purchased from Massasoit by Myles Standish, and originally named Duxburrow New Plantation, it was incorporated as Bridgewater in 1656.
:*
Duxbury
Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...
, founded by Myles Standish, it was incorporated in 1637. Other notable residents of Duxbury included
John Alden
John Alden (c. 1598 - September 12, 1687) was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Sou ...
, William Brewster, and Governor Thomas Prence.
:*
Marshfield, settled 1632, incorporated 1640. Home to Governor Edward Winslow. Also home to Josiah Winslow, who was governor of the colony during King Philip's War, and to Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England.
:*
Middleborough
Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
The town was first set ...
, incorporated 1669 as Middleberry. Named for its location as the halfway point on the journey from Plymouth to Mount Hope, the Wampanoag capital.
:*
Scituate
Scituate is the name of some communities in New England in the United States:
*Brunswick, Maine, formerly named Scituate
*Scituate, Massachusetts, a New England town
**Scituate (CDP), Massachusetts, an area in the town of Scituate
*Scituate, Rhode ...
, settled 1628 and incorporated 1636. The town was the site of a major attack by King Philip's forces in 1676.
Demographics
English
The settlers of Plymouth Colony fit broadly into three categories: ''Pilgrims'', ''Strangers'', and ''Particulars''. The Pilgrims were a Puritan group who closely followed the teachings of
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
, like the later founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north. (The difference was that the Massachusetts Bay Puritans hoped to reform the Anglican church from within, whereas the Pilgrims saw it as a morally defunct organization and removed themselves from it.)
The name "Pilgrims" was actually not used by the settlers themselves. William Bradford used the term to describe the group, but he was using it generically to define them as travelers on a religious mission. The Pilgrims referred to themselves as the ''Saints'', ''First Comers'', ''Ancient Brethren'', or ''Ancient Men''.
[David Lindsay, ''Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger amongst the Pilgrims'' (St. Martins Press, New York, 2002) pp. x, xvi.] They used such terms to indicate their place as
God's elect, as they subscribed to the Calvinist belief in
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
.
"The First Comers" was a term more loosely used in their day to refer to any of the Mayflower passengers.
There were also a number of
indentured servant
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...
s among the colonists. Indentured servants were mostly poor children whose families were receiving church relief and "homeless waifs from the streets of London sent as laborers".
In addition to the Pilgrims, the ''Mayflower'' carried "Strangers", the non-Puritan settlers placed on the ''Mayflower'' by the Merchant Adventurers who provided various skills needed to establish a colony. This also included later settlers who came for other reasons throughout the history of the colony and who did not adhere to the Pilgrim religious ideals.
A third group known as the "Particulars" consisted of later settlers who paid their own "particular" way to America, and thus were not obligated to pay the colony's debts.
The presence of outsiders such as the Strangers and the Particulars was a considerable annoyance to the Pilgrims. As early as 1623, a conflict broke out between the Pilgrims and the Strangers over the celebration of Christmas, a day of no particular significance to the Pilgrims. Furthermore, a group of Strangers founded the nearby settlement of
Wessagussett
Wessagusset Colony (sometimes called the Weston Colony or Weymouth Colony) was a short-lived English trading colony in New England located in Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was settled in August 1622 by between fifty and sixty colonists who were ill-p ...
and the Pilgrims were highly strained by their lack of discipline, both emotionally and in terms of resources. They looked at the eventual failure of the Wessagussett settlement as Divine Providence against a sinful people.
The residents of Plymouth also used terms to distinguish between the earliest settlers of the colony and those who came later. The first generation of settlers called themselves the ''Old Comers'' or ''Planters'', those who arrived before 1627. Later generations of Plymouth residents referred to this group as the ''Forefathers''.
Historian
John Demos did a demographic study in ''A Little Commonwealth'' (1970). He reports that the colony's average household grew from 7.8 children per family for first-generation families to 8.6 children for second-generation families and to 9.3 for third-generation families. Child mortality also decreased over this time, with 7.2 children born to first-generation families living until their 21st birthday. That number increased to 7.9 children by the third generation.
Life expectancy was higher for men than for women. Of the men who survived until age 21, the average life expectancy was 69.2 years. Over 55 percent of these men lived past 70; less than 15 percent died before the age of 50. The numbers were much lower for women owing to the difficulties of childbearing. The average life expectancy of women at the age of 21 was 62.4 years. Of these women, fewer than 45 percent lived past 70, and about 30 percent died before the age of 50.
During
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
, Plymouth Colony lost eight percent of its adult male population. By the end of the war, one-third of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
's approximately 100 towns had been burned and abandoned, and this had a significant demographic effect on the population of New England.
Native Americans
The Native Americans in New England were organized into loose tribal confederations, sometimes referred to as nations. Among these confederations were the
Nipmuck
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
s, the
Massachusett
The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...
, the
Narragansett, the
Niantics, the
Mohegan
The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the easte ...
, and the
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
.
Several significant events dramatically altered the demographics of the Native American population in the region. The first was "Standish's raid" on Wessagussett, which frightened Native American leaders to the extent that many abandoned their settlements, resulting in many deaths through starvation and disease.
The second, the
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragans ...
, resulted in the dissolution of the Pequot tribe and a major shift in the local power structure.
The third,
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
, had the most dramatic effect on local populations, resulting in the death or displacement of as much as 80% of the ''total'' number of Native Americans of southern New England and the enslavement and
forced displacement
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: dis ...
of thousands of Native Americans to the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and other locales.
Black and indigenous slaves
Some of the wealthier families in Plymouth Colony enslaved Black people and Native Americans. Colonists considered enslaved persons to be the property of their owners, able to be passed on to hiers, unlike
indentured servants
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment, ...
. Slave ownership was not widespread and very few families possessed the wealth necessary to enslave people. In 1674, the inventory of Capt. Thomas Willet of Marshfield includes "8 Negroes" at a value of £200. In the July 29th, 1680 codicil to the will of Peter Worden of Yarmouth, he bequeathed ownership of his "Indian servant" to his wife Mary, to be passed on to their son Samuel upon her decease. The unnamed slave was dutifully recorded in the January 21st, 1681 inventory of Worden's estate at the original purchase price of £4 10s. Other inventories of the time valued "Negro" slaves at £24–25 each (equivalent to £ in 2010, or $ at
PPP), well out of the financial ability of most families. A 1689 census of the town of Bristol shows that, of the 70 families that lived there, only one had enslaved a Black person or persons.
So few were Black and indigenous slaves in the colony that the General Court never saw fit to pass any laws dealing with them.
Economy
The largest source of wealth for Plymouth Colony was the
fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
. The disruption of this trade caused by Myles Standish's raid at Wessagussett created great hardship for the colonists for many years and was directly cited by William Bradford as a contributing factor to the economic difficulties in their early years.
The colonists attempted to supplement their income by fishing; the waters in Cape Cod bay were known to be excellent fisheries. However, they lacked any skill in this area, and it did little to relieve their economic hardship.
The colony traded throughout the region, establishing trading posts as far away as
Penobscot, Maine
Penobscot is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The Bagaduce River flows through the town. The population was 1,136 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of w ...
. They were also frequent trading partners with the Dutch at
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
.
The economic situation improved with the arrival of cattle in the colony. It is unknown when the first cattle arrived, but the division of land for the grazing of cattle in 1627 represented one of the first moves towards private land ownership in the colony.
Cattle became an important source of wealth in the colony; the average cow could sell for £28 in 1638 (£ in 2010, or $ at parity). However, the flood of immigrants during the Great Migration drove down the price of cattle. The same cows sold at £28 in 1638 were valued in 1640 at only £5 (£ in 2010, or $ at parity). Besides cattle, there were also pigs, sheep, and goats raised in the colony.
Agriculture also made up an important part of the Plymouth economy. The colonists adopted Indian agricultural practices and crops. They planted
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, squash, pumpkins, and beans. Besides the crops themselves, the Pilgrims learned productive farming techniques from the Indians, such as proper crop rotation and the use of dead fish to fertilize the soil. In addition to these native crops, the colonists also successfully planted Old World crops such as turnips, carrots, peas, wheat, barley, and oats.
Overall, there was very little cash in Plymouth Colony, so most wealth was accumulated in the form of possessions. Trade goods such as furs, fish, and livestock were subject to fluctuations in price and were unreliable repositories of wealth. Durable goods such as fine wares, clothes, and furnishings represented an important source of economic stability for the residents.
Currency was another issue in the colonies. In 1652 the
Massachusetts legislature
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, w ...
authorized
John Hull to produce coinage (
mintmaster). "The Hull Mint produced several denominations of silver coinage, including
the pine tree shilling
The pine tree shilling was a type of coin minted and circulated in the thirteen colonies.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony established a mint in Boston in 1652. John Hull was Treasurer and mintmaster; Hull's partner at the "Hull Mint" was Robert S ...
, for over 30 years until the political and economic situation made operating the mint no longer practical." Mostly political for King
Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
deemed the "Hull Mint"
high treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; committing adultery with the sovereign's consort, with the sovereign's eld ...
which had a punishment of
hanging, drawing and quartering
To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ( ...
. "On April 6, 1681, Randolph petitioned the king, informing him the colony was still pressing their own coins which he saw as high treason and believed it was enough to void the charter. He asked that a writ of Quo warranto (a legal action requiring the defendant to show what authority they have for exercising some right, power, or franchise they claim to hold) be issued against
for the violations."
Legacy
The events surrounding the founding and history of Plymouth Colony have had a lasting effect on the art, traditions, mythology, and politics of the United States of America, despite its short history of fewer than 72 years.
Art, literature, and film
![Of Plimoth Plantation First 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Of_Plimoth_Plantation_First_1900.jpg)
The earliest artistic depiction of the Pilgrims was actually done before their arrival in America; Dutch painter
Adam Willaerts
Adam Willaerts (21 July 1577 – 4 April 1664) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Biography
Willaerts (occasionally ''Willarts'', ''Willers'') was born in London to Flemish parents who had fled from Antwerp for religious reasons. By 1585 the fa ...
painted a portrait of their departure from
Delfshaven
Delfshaven is a borough of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the right bank of river Nieuwe Maas. It was a separate municipality until 1886.
The town of Delfshaven grew around the port of the city of Delft. Delft itself was not located on a major river ...
in 1620.
The same scene was repainted by
Robert Walter Weir
Robert Walter Weir (June 18, 1803 – May 1, 1889) was an American artist and educator and is considered a painter of the Hudson River School. Weir was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1829 and was an instructor at the United States M ...
in 1844, and hangs in the Rotunda of the
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
building. Numerous other paintings have been created memorializing various scenes from the life of Plymouth Colony, including their landing and the "First Thanksgiving", many of which have been collected by
Pilgrim Hall
The Pilgrim Hall Museum at 75 Court Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts is the oldest public museum in the United States in continuous operation, having opened in 1824.
History
The Pilgrim Society, established in 1820, runs the museum. The museum ...
, a museum and historical society founded in 1824 to preserve the history of the Colony.
Several contemporaneous accounts of life in Plymouth Colony have become both vital primary historical documents and literary classics. ''
Of Plimoth Plantation
''Of Plymouth Plantation'' is a journal that was written over a period of years by William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. It is regarded as the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the ...
'' (1630 and 1651) by William Bradford and ''
Mourt's Relation
The booklet ''Mourt's Relation'' (full title: ''A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England'') was written between November 1620 and November 1621, and describes in detail wh ...
'' (1622) by Bradford, Edward Winslow, and others are both accounts written by ''Mayflower'' passengers that provide much of the information which we have today regarding the trans-Atlantic voyage and early years of the settlement.
Benjamin Church wrote several accounts of King Philip's War, including ''Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War'', which remained popular throughout the 18th century. An edition of the work was illustrated by
Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to ale ...
in 1772. ''The Sovereignty and Goodness of God'' provides an account of King Philip's War from the perspective of
Mary Rowlandson
Mary Rowlandson, née White, later Mary Talcott (c. 1637January 5, 1711), was a colonial American woman who was captured by Native Americans in 1676 during King Philip's War and held for 11 weeks before being ransomed. In 1682, six years after h ...
, an Englishwoman who was captured and spent some time in the company of Native Americans during the war.
Later works, such as "
The Courtship of Miles Standish
''The Courtship of Miles Standish'' is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims.
Overview
''Th ...
" by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
, have provided a romantic and partially fictionalized account of life in Plymouth Colony.
There are also numerous films about the Pilgrims, including the several
film adaptations
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
of "''
The Courtship of Miles Standish
''The Courtship of Miles Standish'' is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims.
Overview
''Th ...
''"; the 1952 film ''
Plymouth Adventure
''Plymouth Adventure'' is a 1952 Technicolor drama film with an ensemble cast starring Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson and Leo Genn, made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Clarence Brown, and produced by Dore Schary. The screenplay ...
'' starring
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
; and ''Desperate Crossings: The True Story of the Mayflower'', a 2006 television documentary produced by the
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
.
In 1970, the United States Postal Service issued a three hundred and fiftieth-year commemorative stamp recognizing the
English Dissenters
English Dissenters or English Separatists were Protestant Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who disagrees in opinion, belief and ...
first landing at the modern day settlement of
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...
in 1620.
Thanksgiving
![Letter-SarahHaletoLincoln](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Letter-SarahHaletoLincoln.jpg)
Each year, the United States celebrates a holiday known as Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a
federal holiday
Federal holidays in the United States are the eleven calendar dates that are designated by the U.S. government as holidays. On U.S. federal holidays, non-essential federal government offices are closed and federal government employees are paid ...
and frequently involves a family gathering with a large feast, traditionally featuring a
turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. Civic recognitions of the holiday typically include parades and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
games. The holiday is meant to honor the First Thanksgiving, which was a harvest feast held in Plymouth in 1621, as first recorded in the book ''New England's Memorial'' by
Nathaniel Morton
Capt. Nathaniel Morton (christened 161629 June 1685) was a Separatist settler of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, where he served for most of his life as Plymouth's secretary under his uncle, Governor William Bradford. Morton wrote an account of ...
, secretary of Plymouth Colony and nephew of Governor William Bradford.
The annual Thanksgiving holiday is a fairly recent creation. Throughout the early 19th century, the U.S. government had declared a particular day as a national day of Thanksgiving, but these were one-time declarations meant to celebrate a significant event, such as victory in a battle. The northeastern states began adopting an annual day of Thanksgiving in November shortly after the end of the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
.
Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of ''Godey's Lady's Book''. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the ...
, editor of Boston's ''
Ladies' Magazine'', wrote editorials beginning in 1827 which called for the nationwide expansion of this annual day of thanksgiving to commemorate the Pilgrim's first harvest feast. After nearly 40 years,
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
declared the first modern Thanksgiving to fall on the last Thursday in November in 1863.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
ultimately moved it to the fourth Thursday in November. After some sparring as to the date, the holiday was recognized by
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
as an official federal holiday in 1941.
Some of the modern traditions which have developed alongside the Thanksgiving holiday are the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
's
Thanksgiving Day games and the annual
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Plymouth Rock
![Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA, jjron 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Plymouth_Rock%2C_Plymouth%2C_MA%2C_jjron_03.05.2012.jpg)
One of the enduring symbols of the landing of the Pilgrims is Plymouth Rock, a large
granodiorite
Granodiorite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...
boulder that was near their landing site at Plymouth. However, none of the contemporary accounts of the actual landing makes any mention that the Rock was the specific place of landing. The Pilgrims chose the site for their landing not for the rock, but for a small brook nearby that was a source of fresh water and fish.
The first identification of Plymouth Rock as the actual landing site was in 1741 by 90-year-old Thomas Faunce, whose father had arrived in Plymouth in 1623, three years after the supposed event. The rock was later covered by a solid-fill pier. In 1774, an attempt was made to excavate the rock, but it broke in two. The severed piece was placed in the Town Square at the center of Plymouth. In 1880, the intact half of the rock was excavated from the pier, and the broken piece was reattached to it. Over the years, souvenir hunters have removed chunks from the rock, but the remains are now protected as part of the complex of
living museums
An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum.
Definition
Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere ...
. These include the ''
Mayflower II
''Mayflower II'' is a reproduction of the 17th-century ship ''Mayflower'', celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.
"Press Kit - Mayflower X" (with history of the ''Mayflower''),
Plimoth Plantation Museum, 20 ...
'', a recreation of the original ship;
Plimoth Patuxet (once known as ''Plimoth Plantation''), a historical recreation of the original 1620 settlement; and the Wampanoag Homesite, which recreates a 17th-century Indian village.
Political legacy
The democratic setup of Plymouth Colony had a strong influence on shaping democracy in both England and America. William Bradford's ''History of Plimoth Plantation'' was widely read in the motherland. It influenced the political thought of Puritan politician and poet
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
, assistant to
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
, and philosopher
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
. For example, Locke referred to the Mayflower Compact in his ''Letters Concerning Toleration''. In America, Plymouth Colony initiated a democratic tradition that was followed by
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
(1628),
Connecticut Colony
The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...
(1636), the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
(1636), the
Province of New Jersey
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...
, and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
(1681).
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
established
Providence Plantations
Providence Plantations was the first permanent European American settlement in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was established by a group of colonists led by Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke who left Massachusetts Bay ...
specifically as a safe haven for those who experienced religious persecution, thereby adding freedom of conscience to Plymouth's democratic model.
The Mayflower Society
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, or The Mayflower Society, is a
genealogical organization of individuals who have documented their descent from one or more of the 102 passengers who arrived on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. The Society, founded at Plymouth in 1897, claims that tens of millions of Americans are descended from these passengers, and it offers research services for people seeking to document their descent.
See also
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English colonial empire
The English overseas possessions, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Ac ...
*
European colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short ter ...
*
British colonization of the Americas
The British colonization of the Americas was the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. C ...
*
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
*
Plantation (settlement or colony)
In the history of colonialism, a plantation was a form of colonization where settlers would establish permanent or semi-permanent colonial settlements in a new region. The term first appeared in the 1580s in the English language to describe the p ...
*
List of colonial governors of Massachusetts
The territory of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the fifty United States, was settled in the 17th century by several different English colonies. The territories claimed or administered by these colonies encompassed a much larger area tha ...
(includes Plymouth)
Locations related to Plymouth Colony
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Alexander Standish House
The Alexander Standish House is a historic house at 341 Standish Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts. It has been claimed that this house was built in 1666 by Alexander Standish (1626–1702), son of Mayflower Pilgrim, Capt. Myles Standish, but ...
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Burial Hill
Burial Hill is a historic cemetery or burying ground on School Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Established in the 17th century, it is the burial site of several Pilgrims, the founding settlers of Plymouth Colony. It was listed on the Nat ...
, site of the first fort at New Plymouth, originally known as Fort Hill
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Cole's Hill
Cole's Hill is a National Historic Landmark containing the first cemetery used by the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. The hill is located on Carver Street near the foot of Leyden Street and across the street from Plymo ...
, contained the original cemetery at New Plymouth, later moved to Burial Hill
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First Parish Church in Plymouth
First Parish Church in Plymouth is a historic Unitarian Universalist church at the base of Burial Hill on the town square off Leyden Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The congregation was founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims in Plymouth. The curr ...
, the modern descendant of the Scrooby congregation that founded Plymouth Colony
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First Parish Church (Duxbury, Massachusetts)
The First Parish Church is a historic Unitarian Universalist (formerly Congregationalist) church at Tremont and Depot Streets in Duxbury, Massachusetts. First Parish Church is currently a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Asso ...
, another early congregation founded by the Pilgrims
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Harlow Old Fort House
The Harlow Old Fort House is a First Period historic house at 119 Sandwich Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
History
According to legend, Sergeant William Harlow built the house in 1677 using timbers from the Pilgrims' original fort on Buria ...
, a private house built in 1677 in Plymouth, partially out of timbers of the original fort built in 1621
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Jabez Howland House
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Jenney Grist Mill
The Plimoth Grist Mill (formerly the Jenney Grist Mill) is a working grist mill located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a reconstruction of the original Jenney Grist Mill, and it stands on the site of the original mill.
History
John Jenney, ...
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John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites
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Leyden Street
Leyden Street (Originally named First Street, afterward in the Records called
Great and Broad Street; named Leyden Street in 1823, also known as Leiden Street or The Street), is a street in Plymouth, Massachusetts that was created in 1620 by the P ...
, claimed to be the first street in Plymouth Colony
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Myles Standish Burial Ground
The Myles Standish Burial Ground (also known as Old Burying Ground or Standish Cemetery) in Duxbury, Massachusetts is, according to the American Cemetery Association, the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States.
The burying ground is th ...
contains remains of several important Pilgrims, including Myles Standish
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Plymouth Village Historic District
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Town Brook Historic and Archaeological District
Monuments and other commemorations
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Myles Standish Monument State Reservation
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National Monument to the Forefathers
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Pilgrim Hall Museum
The Pilgrim Hall Museum at 75 Court Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts is the oldest public museum in the United States in continuous operation, having opened in 1824.
History
The Pilgrim Society, established in 1820, runs the museum. The museum t ...
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Pilgrim Monument
The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing of the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown Harbor. This campanile is the tallest all- ...
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Plimoth Plantation
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts, founded in 1947. Formerly Plimoth Plantation, it replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English coloni ...
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Plymouth Antiquarian Society
The Plymouth Antiquarian Society is a historical organization in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Society, founded in 1919, owns and maintains the Harlow Old Fort House, the Spooner House, the Hedge House, and an ancient Native American site, Sacri ...
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Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known writt ...
Notes
References
Works cited
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External links
Colonial America: Plymouth Colony 1620A short history of Plymouth Colony hosted at U-S-History.com, includes a map of all of the New England colonies.
The Plymouth Colony Archive ProjectA collection of primary sources documents and secondary source analysis related to Plymouth Colony.
Pilgrim ships searchable by ship name, sailing date and passengers.
''History of the Town of Plymouth 1620...''Free Google eBook; PDF format
{{Authority control
1620 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
1691 disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies
Colonial United States (British)
Dominion of New England
Former English colonies
History of the Thirteen Colonies
Massachusetts culture
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Politically motivated migrations
Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts
States and territories disestablished in 1691
States and territories established in 1620