How Did Plymouth Colony Dominate New England

Settling New England

Plymouth Colony One of the most famous colonies, founded in December of 1620, Plymouth was the first permanent Puritan Settlement in America. Its colonists consisted of English Puritans who, on December 16 of 1620, set out on the Mayflower to find religious freedom, and a better life. These settlers are known as the Pilgrim Fathers. After 65 days at sea, land was finally sighted, and the Mayflower landed at modern day Plymouth Massachusetts. Legend says that the pilgrims stepped on land at Plymouth Rock, although records make no mention of this. The colonists promptly began putting up buildings and shelters, to prepare for winter, but climate and disease mercilessly began to work against them. By Spring, half the colonists had died. Around this time the Indians met a native Indian named Samoset, who introduced them to his tribe, the

Originally, it was meant to be a profit making venture in the New World, and was stationed on North America’s East Coast, around the modern cities of Boston and Salem. Eventually, people started arriving there. In the 1630s alone, 20,000 people migrated to the new colony of Massachusetts Bay. Since the population was mostly all Puritan, the government consisted of religiously biased people. Thus, the colonial government was intolerant of any other religions, including the Baptist, Quaker, and Anglican religions. The colony also happened to be very economically stable, as it traded with England and the West Indies frequently. Eventually, King James II established new laws which gave him more control of all New England colonies. After the Glorious Revolution, and after these laws collapsed, a man named Sir William Phips came with a charter of the Province of Massachusetts. This charter merged the Massachusetts Bay Lands with the territories of the Plymouth Colonies, making the state of