The New England colonies were a seriesof English colonies established in New England in the 17thcentury. They were a part of the original 13 colonies of NorthAmerica.
What Were the Original New England Colonies?
Therewere originally seven colonies in New England in the 17thcentury:
- Plymouth Colony, founded in 1620, absorbed by the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691
- Province of Maine, founded in 1622, later absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
- New Hampshire Colony, founded in 1623, later became the Province of New Hampshire
- Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded in 1630, became the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691
- Rhode Island Colony, founded in 1636
- Connecticut Colony, founded in 1636
- New Haven Colony, founded in 1638, absorbed by Connecticut Colony in 1664
How Many Colonies Were in New England in 1750?
Therewere four colonies in New England in 1750:
- Province of Massachusetts Bay
- Rhode Island Colony
- Connecticut Colony
- Province of New Hampshire
New England Climate & Geography:
TheNew England colonies had a humid continental climate. Humidcontinental climates have four seasons: winter, spring, summer andfall and exhibit large seasonal temperature contrasts with hotsummers and cold winters.
Precipitationwas ample throughout the year, with rain in the spring and summer andabout one to four months of snow in the winter.
One advantage of the cold weather in New England was that it limited the spread of certain diseases, such as malaria, which were a considerable problem in the southern colonies. One disadvantage of the cold weather was that it shortened the growing season to about five months.
The geography of the New England colonies was shaped by glaciers during the last ice age. The glaciers dug up and scraped away the rich soil in New England, leaving behind a thin layer of rocky soil that was too poor to sustain many crops. The many hills, mountains and thick forests in New England also made it difficult to farm the land.
New England Natural Resources:
The natural resources in the New England colonies were:
- Lumber
- Furs
- Whales
- Fish
- Iron ore
- Granite
Economy of the New England Colonies:
Since the soil in New England was poor and the growing season was too short to grow many crops, besides corn, beans and squash, the New England colonies had to rely on other ways to make money, primarily through fishing, whaling, shipbuilding and rum making.
Fish was the primary export of the NewEngland colonies by the 18th century, according to anarticle by Christopher P. Magra in the Enterprise and Societyjournal:
“Between 1768 and 1772, fish represented 35% of New England’s total export revenue. The second most valuable export commodity, livestock, represented only 20% of this revenue stream. By 1775, an estimated 10,000 New Englanders, or 8% of the adult male working population, labored in the fishing industry.”
Thefish that New England colonists caught and traded included cod,mackeral, halibut, herring, hake, sturgeon and bass.
Shipbuilding was also an importantindustry in the New England colonies as a result of the abundance oftall, straight oak trees and white pine, which were ideal trees forshipbuilding. To take advantage of this natural resource, thecolonists built many sawmills to process these trees into lumber forthe shipbuilding process.
According to the book EncyclopediaAmericana, between the years 1674 and 1714, a total of 1,332 vesselswere built in New England shipyards (Encyclopedia Americana 115.)
The New England colonies were alsoinvolved in the Triangle Trade, which was the slave and rum trade.The Triangle Trade involved three ports where goods were shipped andsold.
One example of the Triangle Trade iswhen slaves were shipped from Africa to the Caribbean in the Americasto work on the sugar cane plantations, then the sugar cane wasshipped from the Caribbean to the New England colonies where it wasused to make rum, then the rum was shipped from the New Englandcolonies to Africa where it was sold or traded for slaves to beshipped to the southern colonies.
Anotherexample of the Triangle Trade is the colonial molasses trade, whenraw sugar and/or molasses was shipped from the Caribbean to NewEngland where it was used to make rum which was then shipped toeither Europe or Africa where it was sold or traded.
Religion in the New England Colonies:
The dominant religion practiced in New England was Puritanism, except for in Rhode Island were many colonists were Quakers.
The Puritans were a sect of Protestant religious dissidents who felt the Church of England was too closely associated with the Catholic religion and needed to be reformed.
The New England colonies were established by two religious groups within the Puritan religion. These two groups consisted of two different sects of Puritanism: Separatist Puritans and Non-Separatist Puritans.
Non-Separatist Puritans believed the church could be reformed and wanted to remain in the church.
Separatist Puritans believed the Church of England was too corrupt to reform and decided to distance themselves from it by separating from the church.
Plymouth Colony was established by Separatist Puritans while the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by Non-Separatist Puritans.
Government of the New England Colonies:
There were two main government systemsused in the New England colonies:
- Royal Government
- Charter Government
Royal colonies were ruled directly bythe English monarchy and government officials were appointed by thecrown.
Charter colonies were generallyself-governed and government officials were elected by the colonists.
The New England colonies were alloriginally charter colonies and were quite proficient atself-governing themselves, according to Alan Taylor in his bookAmerican Colonies:
“By virtue of their especially indulgent charters, the New England colonies were virtually independent of crown authority. Answering to no external proprietors, the New English developed republican regimes where the propertied men elected their governors and councils, as well as their assemblies, and where much decision-making was dispersed to the many small towns” (Taylor 247.)
Manyof the New England colonies eventually had their chartersrevoked though and became royal colonies when the crown began totighten its control over the colonies due to its growing economicinterest in colonial trade.
The monarchy first converted some ofits southern colonies before attempting to convert the New Englandcolonies, according to Taylor:
“During the seventeenth century, crown officials gradually converted a few proprietary colonies into royal colonies. Such conversion primarily meant that the king, rather than a proprietor, appointed the governor and council, for the crown felt obliged to retain the elected assemblies. The crown acted first where the revenues were greatest, to secure control over tobacco-rich Virginia and the sugar colonies of Barbados, the Leeward islands, and Jamaica. The crown was slower to reorganize the New England colonies because they lacked a lucrative staple critical to the royal revenue. Moreover, the numerous Puritan colonists promised to make any imperial attempt to compel their obedience expensive and difficult” (Taylor 247.)
After converting the southern colonies, the English monarchy established the Dominion of New England in 1686, merging the colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, together into one large royal colony. Two years later, in 1688, New York and New Jersey were added to the Dominion.
The Dominion was short lived though andcame to an end after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 occurred inEngland and the colonists rose up and overthrew the Dominionofficials.
After the dominion was overthrown, manyof the New England colonies remained royal colonies. A new charterwas issued for Massachusetts Bay in 1691, which converted it into aroyal colony called the Province of Massachusetts Bayand ordered Plymouth colony to be absorbed into the province.
A new charter was also issued for NewHampshire in 1691 which converted it into a royal colony called theProvince of New Hampshire.
Only Connecticut and Rhode Island remained charter colonies after the Glorious Revolution.
Education in the New England Colonies:
New England colonists highly valuededucation and had a much higher literacy rate than the southerncolonies. This was partly due to the colonist’s desire that everyoneshould be able to read the bible.
In fact, in 1642, the Massachusetts BayColony passed a law requiring that children be taught “to read &understand the principles of religion & the capitall lawes ofthis country.”
A few years later, in 1647, theMassachusetts Bay Colony passed another law requiring that all townsestablish and maintain public schools. Towns with 50 or more familieswere obligated to hire a schoolmaster to teach their children how toread and write and in towns with 100 or more families theschoolmaster had to be able to teach Latin.
As a result of this emphasis oneducation, the New England colonies became highly more educated andliterate than other colonies.
According to Kenneth Lockridge in his book Literacy in Colonial New England, about 60 percent of white New England men were literate between 1650 and 1670. Between 1758 and 1762, that number rose to 85 percent, and between 1787 and 1795, it rose to 90 percent. In cities such as Boston, the literacy rate had come close to 100 percent by the end of the 18th century.
Yet,female literacy rates still lagged behind men in New England.Lockridge estimates that while male literacy rates rose from 60percent to 90 percent in the late 18th century, femaleliteracy rates rose at about half that rate, from 31 percent to 48percent.
Eventually,the female literacy rate caught up to the male literacy rate and by1810, nearly all women in New England were literate.
Sources:
Taylor, Alan. American Colonies. Penguin Books, 2001.
Encyclopedia Americana. Vol 24, The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation, 1919.
MAGRA, CHRISTOPHER P. “The New England Cod Fishing Industry and Maritime Dimensions of the American Revolution.” Enterprise & Society, vol. 8, no. 4, 2007, pp. 799–806. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23700768.
“The Charter of 1662.” Connecticut History, connecticuthistory.org/the-charter-of-1662/
Winson, Gail I., “Researching the Laws of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”(2003). Roger Williams University School of Law Faculty Papers. Paper 1. http://lsr.nellco.org/rwu_fp/1
“Every Man Able to Read.” Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site, www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter11/literacy.cfm
“Laws During the Dominion of New England.” State Library of Massachusetts, mastatelibrary.blogspot.com/2018/04/laws-during-dominion-of-new-england.html
“A Brief History of New Hampshire.” NH.gov, www.nh.gov/almanac/history.htm
