Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Religious Dissent [Pdf]
This instructional activity supplements one on the "Settlement of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies of New England." It looks at religious dissent and intolerance among the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Students...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Raid of Deerfield
Discover facts about the raid at Deerfield, Massachusetts. This feature describes the attach of the colony, as well as the ally relationship between the French and Native Americans. Provides three pages of information, as well as an...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Colonizing the Bay
John Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" was delivered as a sermon aboard the Arabella, as the Puritans approached their destination of Massachusetts Bay in 1630. The speech spells out his vision of the society they hoped to create...
Yale University
Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents
Scroll to Massachusetts and link to the colonial documents establishing the colonies' earliest forms of government and laying the foundation for self-governing and eventual independence from England. Beginning with The Charter of England...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Settlers, Slaves and Servants
Men and women with little active interest in a new life in America were often induced to make the move to the New World by the skillful persuasion of promoters. William Penn, for example, publicized the opportunities awaiting newcomers...
Other
Winthrop Society
At the online home of the Winthrop Society find information on the early settlers of Massachusetts, the ships that brought them to America, the documents that the colonists lived by, and the Great Migration of Puritans to the New World.
University of California
The History Project: The Antinomian Controversy
One of the most enduring myths in American history is the belief that the Puritans fled to America in search of religious liberty. Unfortunately, this belief is at best only a half-truth, The Puritans were strict religious people who...
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Anne Hutchinson
Considered one of the earliest American feminists, Anne Hutchinson was a spiritual leader in colonial Massachusetts who challenged male authority.
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: New England Articles of Confederation 1643
View the complete text of the New England Articles of Confederation 1643, an alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.
PBS
Pbs Liberty!: High Tea in Boston Harbor
Presented in a newspaper format, this site explores the rise of independence in the colonies with a focus on the Boston Tea Party as it occurred on April 1, 1774 and Benjamin Franklin's experience in London. Content includes a look at...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Puritan New England: Plymouth
An overview of the Puritans who facing religious persecution in England set sail for the New World establishing the colony at Plymouth.
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: The United Colonies, 1776
A map of the United Colonies at the beginning of the American Revolution (1776) showing colonial land claims to the Mississippi River, including the territories organized after the war. The map shows the Northwest Territory (organized in...
Curated OER
Etc: New England Colonies, 1620 1638
A map of the New England colonies showing the early permanent Pilgrim settlements and their dates of establishment, including Plymouth (1620), Little Harbor, New Hampshire (1623), Pemaquid, Maine (1625), Salem, Massachusetts (1628),...
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts: Cole's Hill
Cole's Hill is the site of the burial ground of the Pilgrims. Those who died in the first winter of the Plymouth Colony (1620-21) were buried there.
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: The First Thanksgiving
This brief article tells of the help the Indians gave the Pilgrims in learning about the land, resulting in the first Thanksgiving.
Digital History
Digital History: Dimensions of Change in Colonial New England
Dissension in Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in the formation of other New England colonies. Read about their formations, and the impact on the Native Americans in the area.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Anne Hutchinson
Encyclopedia Britannica provides a biography of Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), the woman expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for "Traducing the ministers," of the Puritan Colony. She and other religious dissenters founded Rhode Island.
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: Edward Randolph Condemns Massachussetts Bay Company
At this site from the University of Groningen you can read Edward Randolph's address to Parliament concerning the rebellious attitude of the colony of Massachusetts as designated as "articles of misdemeanors." Read each of the...
Digital History
Digital History: Regional Contrasts
Read about the populations of the New England colonies as compared to the Southern colonies in the 1600s. See how the numbers of Native Americans decreased dramatically particularly in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Colonial Economy
Whatever early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in furs. In addition, the fishing industry was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small...
History Tools
History Tools: Winthrop Defends Right of Puritans to Settle on Indian Land [Pdf]
Primary source material with modernized spellings. Passage written by John Winthrop defending the right of Puritans to settle in Massachusetts Bay territory which was already occupied by Native Americans, 1629.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Rebellion, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Five documents that examine a range of reactions to colonial rebellion and associated resistance to royal authority in English colonies in Barbados, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Colonization
For a variety of reasons, those who came to settle the early colonies sought a new homeland. Puritans, for example, established several settlements in Massachusetts. These English colonists were a pious, self-disciplined people who...
Digital History
Digital History: The Salem Witch Scare
A brief look at slavery in the New England colonies and the influence that might have had on the Salem witch scare.