New England Colony
Dawn Smith
Massachusetts
Massachusetts was founded in 1620 by John Winthrop. The reason behind the founding of the state was for religious freedom for the puritans. The economy of the state was based off of the fish that was caught and sold to other countries and people. They did not have a cash crop, but they did rely on shipbuilding for money to help the economy stay stable. Massachusetts had a corporate government. Along with the other states in the New England colony, Massachusetts had town meetings. They figured it would be easier for everyone in a little town to come together, rather than have a huge meeting with everyone in the town and people from surrounding towns. Around the year of 1770, Massachusetts was estimated to have around 235,808 people living in the area. Most of the people who came to Massachusetts, arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. Some of the native groups that originally lived in the state were the Wampanoag, Pequot, Nipmuck, and the Massachuset tribes. The Pequot war took place from 1634 to 1638. It was a war fought between the Pequot tribe and the English steelers. Many of the natives began to die after the Europeans came over and brought diseases along with them. About 90% of the native population died off. Along with most of the New England states, Massachusetts was also known to be a puritan state. An import event that took place in this state, was the banishment of Roger Williams. Williams didn't think the puritan beliefs were the best thing in the world. When the state banished him, he moved to another piece of land which later became known as Rhode Island.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island was established in 1636 by Roger Williams. He chose to form Rhode Island after he was banished from Massachusetts for his separation of beliefs. Like other states, the economy was based off of mixed farming. Rhode Island was a corporate government. In 1633 the king made a liberal charter which was granted by the english monarch. The charter granted religious freedom and gave the state the right to their own government. The population in colonial times was around 68,725 people. About 948 of those people were involved in slavery. Much of Rhode Island is inhabited by the Irish, Norsemen, and Portuguese foreigners. The Narragansett indians were the largest group in Rhode Island, followed by the Niantic and Nipmuc tribes. Rhode Island was not associated with very much religion and never officially declared one for the state itself.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire was founded in 1623 by Caption John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The council gave a land grant seven years before the state was officially named New Hampshire. The economy of the state was based off of mixed farming. They did not have a particular cash crop. The government of New Hampshire was at first a corporate government. As the years went by they changed the government type to become a royal government. Like the other states in the New England colony, New Hampshire also had town meetings. They thought it was a better idea to just meet up as a town, rather than getting everyone from all across the state to meet somewhere and discuss things involving the town. In the early years of the settlement of New Hampshire, the population was around 141,885 people. About 158 of those people were involved in slavery. Native american tribes that originally lived in New Hampshire was the Androscoggin and Pennacook tribes. The religion of New Hampshire is no different than the other states in the New England colony. The official religion of the state was Puritan.
Connecticut
Connecticut was founded in 1636 by Thomas Hooker. Connecticut's economy was based off of mixed farming. They did not have a specific cash crop, nor did they build boats or anything like that. The government was said to have been a corporate government. They did have town meetings, for the same reason the other states in the New England colony had them. They thought it made more sense to meet up with people near their location who was actually part of the town,rather than meet with people from across the state to discuss the same issues. Around 1780, the population of the state was about 206,701 people. Most of the population was made up of Dutch, which were the first group of Europeans to settle on Connecticut. The first original groups of people to settle the area were in fact the native americans better known as the, Mohegan's, and Pequot indians. Religion on the other hand was in fact puritan. A big historical event that took place in Connecticut was it officially made the first written constitution of the united states. It was called the "fundamental orders of Connecticut"