United States History Student Edition

Thanksgiving at Plymouth was painted in 1925. The painting presents an idealized version of the feast held by the Pilgrims and attended by the Wampanoag people.

At first, the Pilgrims had little contact with the Wampanoag people who lived in the area. In the spring, Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag, sent two English-speaking Native Americans, Squanto and Samoset, to meet and bargain with the Pilgrims. Massasoit hoped to ally with the Pilgrims against his Native American enemies. Squanto stayed with the Pilgrims, teaching them to grow corn, beans, and pumpkins and showed the colonists where to hunt and fish. In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims included the Wampanoag in their celebration of a successful harvest, in what is thought of as the first Thanksgiving. 7 CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING Explaining Why did the passengers on the Mayflower produce the Mayflower Compact? The Puritans GUIDING QUESTION What role did religion play in founding the New England Colonies? In 1629, a group of Puritans formed the Massachusetts Bay Company and received a royal charter to establish a colony north of Plymouth. John Winthrop served as governor. In 1630, Winthrop led about 900 people to the Massachusetts Bay area. Most settled in a place they called Boston.

During the 1630s, more than 15,000 Puritans journeyed to Massachusetts from England. This movement became known as the Great Migration. The Puritans came to America to put their religious beliefs into practice. At the same time, they had little tolerance (TAH•luhr•uhnts) for different beliefs. This lack of tolerance led people to form new colonies. Connecticut and Rhode Island The Connecticut River Valley, to the west of Boston, has rich soil that is better for farming than the stony ground around Boston. In the 1630s, colonists began to settle this area. Thomas Hooker was a popular minister who opposed the lack of religious tolerance in Massachusetts. In 1636, Hooker led his congregation out of Massachusetts to the Connecticut River Valley, where they founded the town of Hartford. Other nearby towns were soon established. In 1639, these towns wrote and adopted a plan of government called the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. This was the first written constitution (kahn•stih•TOO•shuhn) in America. Like the Mayflower Compact, it reflected a belief in democratic principles. A minister named Roger Williams believed that government should not force people to worship in a certain way. He also believed it was wrong for settlers to take land away from the Native Americans. Williams was expelled from Massachusetts and found refuge with the

establish to create

tolerance willingness to allow or overlook

Niday Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo

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The English Colonies Are Settled and Grow