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John Winthrop, (born January 22 [January 12, Old Style], 1588, Edwardstone, Suffolk, England-died April 5 [March 26], 1649, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony [U.S.]), first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the chief figure among the Puritan founders of New England.

Background and early life

Winthrop's father was a newly risen country gentleman whose 500-acre (200-hectare) estate, Groton Manor, had been bought from Henry VIII at the time of the Reformation. Winthrop thus belonged to a class-the gentry-that became the dominant force in English society between 1540 and 1640, and he early assumed the habit of command appropriate to a member of the ruling class in a highly stratified society.

At age 15 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. At age 17 he married the first of his four wives-Mary Forth, daughter of an Essex squire-and the next year the first of his 16 children was born. Like many members of his class, Winthrop studied law, served as justice of the peace, and obtained a government office; from 1627 to 1629 he was an attorney at the Court of Wards and Liveries. For more than 20 years Winthrop was primarily a country squire at Groton, with no discernible interest in overseas colonization.

He was an ardently religious person. From his early teens Winthrop threw himself into scriptural study and prayers, and gradually he trained himself into a full-fledged Puritan, convinced that God had elected him to salvation-or, in Puritan terms, to "sainthood." His religious experience reinforced his elitist outlook, but it also made him a social activist. Like other prominent Puritans, Winthrop dedicated himself to remaking, as far as possible, the wicked world as he saw it, arguing that "the life which is most exercised with tryalls and temptations is the sweetest, and will prove the safeste."

During the late 1620s, Winthrop felt increasingly trapped by the economic slump that reduced his landed income and by Charles I's belligerent anti-Puritan policy, which cost him his court post in 1629. When, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained a royal charter to plant a colony in New England, Winthrop joined the company, pledging to sell his English estate and take his family to Massachusetts if the company government and charter were also transferred to America. The other members agreed to these terms and elected him governor (October 20).

Journey to America

As Winthrop sailed west on the Arbella in the spring of 1630, he composed a lay sermon, "A Modell of Christian Charity," in which he pictured the Massachusetts colonists in covenant with God and with each other, divinely ordained to build "a Citty upon a Hill" in New England, with "the eyes of all people" on them:

If we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world; we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all believers in God; we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us, till we are forced out of the new land where we are going.

Some critics have seen Winthrop as a visionary utopian while others have seen him as a social reactionary, but most obviously he was urging his fellow colonists to adopt the combination of group discipline and individual responsibility that gave Massachusetts such immediate and lasting success as a social experiment.

For the remaining 19 years of his life, Winthrop lived in the New England wilderness, a father figure among the colonists. In the annual Massachusetts elections he was chosen governor 12 times between 1631 and 1648, and during the intervening years he sat on the court of assistants or colony council. His American career passed through three distinct phases. On first arrival, in the early 1630s, he did his most creative work, guiding the colonists as they laid out a network of tightly organized towns, each with its church of self-professed saints. Winthrop himself settled at Boston, which quickly became the capital and chief port of Massachusetts. His new farm on the Mystic River was much inferior to his former estate at Groton, but Winthrop never regretted the move, because he was free at last to build a godly commonwealth.

Opposition against him built up after a few years, however, as dissidents kept challenging Winthrop's system in the mid- and late 1630s. He was nettled when the freemen (voters) insisted in 1634 on electing a representative assembly to share in decision making. He found Roger Williams's criticism of church-state relations intolerable, though he secretly helped Williams to flee to Rhode Island in 1636. And he took it as a personal affront when numerous colonists chose to migrate from Massachusetts to Connecticut.

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John Winthrop | Significance, Beliefs, City upon a Hill

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John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the chief figure among the Puritan founders of New England. Winthrop famously composed a lay sermon in which he pictured the Massachusetts colonists in covenant with God and with each other, divinely ordained to build a city upon a hill.

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Winthrop's son John was one of the founders of the Connecticut Colony, and Winthrop himself wrote one of the leading historical accounts of the early colonial period. Many modern politicians refer to Winthrop's writings in their speeches, people as diverse as John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Michael Dukakis, and Sarah Palin.

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"Out of small beginnings have greater things been produced by His (God's) hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled has shone unto many."
Many of the early European visitors to North America came seeking their fortunes. Trappers earned money selling furs; conquistadors came looking for gold. The early Pilgrims had only one goal: they wanted to worship God as they saw fit. They wanted to pray and read the Bible together without persecution. They believed that both the Catholic Church and the Church of England had become corrupted by greedy leaders. They wanted to start a new religion.

William Bradford joined this group, known as the Separatists, at the age of 18, against his family's wishes. He and the other church members were persecuted in England. They found some peace in Holland but dreamed of starting their own settlement, with their own culture and religion. At the age of 30, Bradford sold everything he had and sailed for North America on the Mayflower. He became the governor of Plymouth, the new colony in America, and served in this position for more than 30 years.
Fun Facts

William Bradford was born in Yorkshire in 1590. His father died when he was a baby. His mother and grandparents died when he was a small child. William was an orphan at the age of seven.

He and his sister, Alice, were raised by their uncle, Robert Bradford.

Bradford was a sickly child and enjoyed reading the Bible to pass the time. He learned about the Separatist church during his teenage years and soon converted.

He married Dorothy May in Holland and they had one child.

Knowing how hard the journey would be, William and Dorothy left their child with friends when they sailed on the Mayflower. Dorothy fell off the ship and drowned as it sat in the port at Cape Cod.

William must have been very sad, but he quickly got to work in Plymouth, encouraging the other colonists to build homes.

Bradford was made governor of the Plymouth Colony after John Carver's death. He tried hard to be fair and make good decisions for the colony. He helped establish peaceful relationships with the Indians.

Bradford kept detailed journals of the Plymouth Colony. These journals are the main source of information we have about the people. The journals have been published as a book, History of Plymouth Plantation.

William Bradford married widow, Alice Carpenter Southworth in 1623. They had three children.

Bradford became ill during the winter of 1657. He died that May at age 68. He had devoted his life to building the Plymouth Colony.

Vocabulary

1. Persecution: to be emotionally or physically harmed because of one's beliefs

2. Orphan: one whose parents have died

Questions and Answers
Question: What jobs did Bradford do in his role as governor?

Answer: He was a very busy man. He oversaw the courts, kept the finances, communicated with investors, and negotiated relationships with the Indians.
Learn More
Visit Scholastic to learn more about William Bradford.

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William Bradford was born in Yorkshire in 1590. His father died when he was a baby. His mother and grandparents died when he was a small child.

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Kids learn about the biography of William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony and leader of the Pilgrims for 30 years including his early life, conversion to Separatism, and writing the history Of Plymouth Plantation.

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The Maryland Colony was one of America's first original 13 colonies. The 13 original colonies were divided into three regions which included the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. The Maryland Colony was one of the Southern Colonies which also included the Virginia Colony, the North Colony, the South Carolina Colony, and the Georgia Colony.

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Read under the heading "The History of Maryland Colony"

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This page tells about the history of the Maryland Colony.

Lord Baltimore

The Ark, the Dove, and Marie's Land

Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord of Baltimore, founded Maryland in 1632. Cecil's father, George Calvert, had received a royal charter for the land from King Charles I. The new colony was named after Henrietta Maria, the wife of the king. In November of 1633, about 200 Catholic settlers led by Cecil's younger brother boarded the ships ARK and DOVE, and set sail for Marie's Land (later Maryland).

Catholic Refuge

By 1634, Maryland became one of the few territories of England to be predominately Catholic. Their settlement became known as St. Mary's and is currently the fourth oldest permanent British settlement in America.

The Puritans Take Over

In 1649, the Maryland Toleration Act was passed which guaranteed religious tolerance to settlers, as long as the religion was a sect of Christianity. After England's "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, which established the Protestant faith in England, Catholicism was outlawed in Maryland until after the Revolutionary War. The Puritan government of Maryland at the time burned down all of southern Maryland's original Catholic churches.

Slaves and Tobacco

By the 1700's, Maryland and Virginia became plantation economies, and grew tobacco as the cash crop. Up to 40 percent of Maryland's population were slaves or convicts who worked in the tobacco fields. Soon, Baltimore, a large port on the Chesapeake Bay, became an important center for tobacco export.

Maryland Colony Articles and Activities

13 Colonies Navigation

Other 13 Colonies Articles

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This page tells about the history of the Maryland Colony. Lord Baltimore Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord of Baltimore, founded Maryland in 1632. Cecil's father, George Calvert, had received a royal charter for the land from King Charles I. The new colony was named after Henrietta Maria, the wife of the king.

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A history of William Penn, founder of the city of Phiuladelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, and champion of religious freedom

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Kids learn about the biography of William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania for Quakers including his early life, becoming a Quaker, establishing Philadelphia, and fun facts.

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Kids learn about the biography of Roger Williams, the founder of the Colony of Providence Plantation and Rhode Island including his early life, exile from Massachusetts, and fun facts.

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Roger Williams, (born 1603?, London, England-died January 27/March 15, 1683, Providence, Rhode Island [U.S.]), English colonist in New England, founder of the colony of Rhode Island and pioneer of religious liberty.

The son of a merchant tailor, he was a protégé of the jurist Sir Edward Coke and was educated at Cambridge. In 1630 he left his post as chaplain to Sir William Masham, which had brought him into contact with such politically active Puritans as Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Hooker, to pursue his by-then completely Nonconformist religious ideals in New England.

Arriving in Boston in 1631, Williams refused to associate himself with the Anglican Puritans and in the following year moved to the separatist Plymouth Colony. In 1633 he was back in Salem after a disagreement with Plymouth in which he insisted that the king's patent was invalid and that only direct purchase from the Indians gave a just title to the land.

Invited by the church at Salem to become pastor in 1634, Williams was banished from Massachusetts Bay by the civil authorities for his dangerous views: besides those on land rights, he held that magistrates had no right to interfere in matters of religion. Consequently, in January 1636 Williams set out for Narragansett Bay, and in the spring, on land purchased from the Narragansett Indians, he founded the town of Providence and the colony of Rhode Island. Providence became a haven for Anabaptists, Quakers, and others whose beliefs were denied public expression. Williams was briefly an Anabaptist but in 1639 declared himself a Seeker. He remained a steadfast believer in Calvinist theology. Williams went to England in 1643 to obtain a charter for Rhode Island and again in 1651-54 to have it confirmed, during which visit he became a friend of the poet John Milton. He was the first president of Rhode Island under its charter and until his death always held some public office. He was of constant service to Rhode Island and neighbouring colonies as a peacemaker with the Narragansett Indians, whose language he knew and whose trust he had earned, although he helped defend Rhode Island against them during King Philip's War (1675-76). From 1636 until his death he supported himself by farming and trading.

Williams was a vigorous controversialist and a prolific writer. His greatest work was The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644).

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Roger Williams | Founder of Rhode Island, Religious Freedom Advocate

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Roger Williams, English colonist in New England, founder of the colony of Rhode Island and pioneer of religious liberty. The son of a merchant tailor, he was a protégé of the jurist Sir Edward Coke and was educated at Cambridge.

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john smith jamestown virginia america explorer explorers  k-12

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John Smith: A Founder of Jamestown - EnchantedLearning.com

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John Smith (January 9, 1580 - June, 1631) was an English adventurer and soldier, and one of the founders of the Jamestown, Virginia, settlement. Smith also led expeditions exploring Chesapeake Bay and the New England coast.

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(1696-1785). A British general and noted philanthropist of colonial America, James Oglethorpe founded the Georgia Colony. He planned the colony as a haven for people who had been imprisoned for debt.

James Edward Oglethorpe, the son of a wealthy baronet, was born on Dec. 22, 1696, in London. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1716-17 he served in the war against the Turks and was praised for his services at the siege of Belgrade. He returned to England and in 1722 was elected to Parliament.

Oglethorpe opposed the practice of imprisoning English debtors and believed that oppressed members of dissenting religious sects deserved a place of refuge. He suggested a colony in Georgia for them would also serve as a buffer between the English settlers in the Carolinas and the Spaniards in Florida. His heartfelt and persuasive arguments won a charter for the Georgia Colony in 1732.

Oglethorpe sailed for the new colony in 1733 accompanied by the first party of 120 settlers, who founded the city of Savannah. He returned to England the following year, by which time Georgia was already attracting colonists of German Lutherans and Moravians and Scottish Presbyterians. Late in 1735 Oglethorpe returned to Georgia, bringing with him the brothers John and Charles Wesley, founders of Methodism, who conducted preaching missions there and in other colonies (see Wesley). In 1736 Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island as a defense against the Spanish to the south. He made friends of the Indians and spent his own money on the colony's defenses.

When war broke out between England and Spain in 1739, he led an unsuccessful attack on Spain's St. Augustine settlement and defended his Fort Frederica against the Spanish. Despite his popularity, some colonists opposed his rules against drinking and slavery. A subordinate charged Oglethorpe with mismanaging the St. Augustine expeditions, and in 1743 he returned to England to stand trial. A court martial vindicated him.

In England Oglethorpe pursued his military career and in 1745 helped put down a Scottish rebellion. The trustees of the Georgia Colony became discouraged and surrendered their charter in 1752. Georgia became a royal province. Oglethorpe spent the rest of his life in England. He died at Cranham Hall, Essex, on June 30, 1785.

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(1696-1785). A British general and noted philanthropist of colonial America, James Oglethorpe founded the Georgia Colony. He planned the colony as a haven for people who had been imprisoned for debt. James Edward Oglethorpe, the son of a wealthy baronet, was born on Dec. 22, 1696, in London.

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Kids learn about the biography of James Oglethorpe founder of the Colony of Georgia including his early life, career, starting the colony, debtor’s prison, time as governor, facts, and death.

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So you want to learn interesting Thomas Hooker facts? Hooker was an important player in early Colonial America.

Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 - July 7, 1647) was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts Bay. He was known as an outstanding speaker and a leader of universal Christian suffrage. He was called the "Father of Connecticut" and was an influential figure in the development of the New England Colonies.

Thomas Hooker Facts: Early Life

Thomas Hooker was likely born at Marefield or Birstall, Leicestershire, and went to school at Market Bosworth.

In March 1604, he entered Queen's College, Cambridge as a scholarship student. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1608, continuing there to earn his Master of Arts in 1611.

He met and married Susannah Garbrand.

Around 1626, Hooker became a lecturer or preacher at what was then St. Mary's parish church.

In 1629 Archbishop William Laud suppressed church lecturers, and Hooker was forced to retire to Little Baddow. His leadership of Puritan sympathizers brought him a summons to the Court of High Commission. Forfeiting his bond, Hooker fled to Rotterdam and for a time considered a position in the English reformed church in Amsterdam, as assistant to its senior paster, the Rev. John Paget. From Holland, after a final clandestine trip to England to put his affairs in order, he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the Griffin.

Thomas Hooker Facts: Massachusetts to Connecticut

Hooker arrived in Boston and settled in Newtown, where he became the pastor of the earliest established church there, known to its members as "The Church of Christ at Cambridge." His congregation, some of whom may have been members of congregations he had served in England, became known as "Mr. Hooker's Company".

Voting in Massachusetts was limited to freemen, individuals who had been formally admitted to their church after a detailed interrogation of their religious views and experiences. Hooker disagreed with this limitation of suffrage, putting him at odds with the influential pastor John Cotton. Owing to his conflict with Cotton and discontented with the suppression of Puritan suffrage and at odds with the colony leadership,Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone led a group of about 100 who, in 1636, founded the settlement of Hartford, named for Stone's place of birth: Hertford, in England.

This led to the founding of the Connecticut Colony. Hooker became more active in politics in Connecticut. The General Court representing Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford met at the end of May 1638 to frame a written constitution in order to establish a government for the commonwealth.

Hooker preached the opening sermon at First Church of Hartford on May 31, declaring that "the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people."

On January 14, 1639, freemen from these three settlements ratified the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut." It marked the beginnings of American democracy.

Thomas Hooker Facts: Death

The Rev. Hooker died during an "epidemical sickness" in 1647, at the age of 61. The location of his grave is unknown, although he is believed to be buried in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground.

Because there was no known portrait of him, the statue of him that stands nearby, in front of Hartford's Old State House, was sculpted from the likenesses of his descendants.

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Thomas Hooker Facts, Biography, and Accomplishments

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So you want to learn interesting Thomas Hooker facts? Hooker was an important player in early Colonial America. Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 - July 7, 1647) was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts Bay.

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Thomas Hooker, (born probably July 7, 1586, Markfield, Leicestershire, England-died July 7, 1647, Hartford, Connecticut [U.S.]), prominent British American colonial clergyman known as "the father of Connecticut." Seeking independence from other Puritan sects in Massachusetts, Thomas Hooker and his followers established one of the first major colonies in Hartford, Connecticut. A staunch supporter of universal Christian suffrage (voting rights independent of church membership), Hooker was a renowned theologian and orator who greatly shaped the early development of colonial New England.

After preaching briefly in the parish of Esher in Surrey, England, Hooker became lecturer to the Church of St. Mary at Chelmsford, Essex, around 1626, where he delivered fervent evangelical addresses. Such church lectureships, an innovation of Puritanism, came under attack from the Church of England in 1629, and in 1630 Hooker was cited to appear before the Court of High Commission. He fled to Holland, forfeiting his bond, and in 1633 immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony. At New Towne (now Cambridge), he became the pastor of a company of Puritans who had arrived from England the previous year; in expectation of his joining them, they had been called Mr. Hooker's Company. Hooker and his supporters became restive under the influence of John Cotton, and in 1636 Hooker led a group to Connecticut to settle Hartford, where he served as pastor until his death.

Critical of limiting suffrage to male church members with property, Hooker sought a more-universal suffrage and told the Connecticut General Court in 1638 that the people had the God-given right to choose their magistrates. Though his view was an advanced one for his time and led some historians to call him "the father of American democracy," Hooker had no intention of separating church and state; he declared that the privilege of voting should be exercised according to the will of God. He was active in formulating the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639), which later helped shape aspects of the Constitution of the United States of America. In matters of church governance, Hooker preferred the more-autonomous Congregational model to the hierarchical structure of Presbyterianism and defended his views in A Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline (1648).

Melissa Petruzzello.

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Thomas Hooker | American colonial clergyman

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Thomas Hooker, (born probably July 7, 1586, Markfield, Leicestershire, England-died July 7, 1647, Hartford, Connecticut [U.S.]), prominent British American colonial clergyman known as "the father of Connecticut." Seeking independence from other Puritan sects in Massachusetts, Thomas Hooker and his followers established one of the first major colonies in Hartford, Connecticut.