Plymouth Colony Drafts the First Laws in North America
Democracy formally took root in North America on Oct. 4, 1636, when Plymouth Colony drew up the first legal code on the continent. Plymouth Colony was settled in 1620 by Anglicans and Separatists, also...
View ArticleThe Puritan Dress Code and the Outrage of Slashed Sleeves
As the Puritans set about eking out their survival in Massachusetts in the early 1600s they naturally had to conquer some major problems: managing to obtain food, fighting their enemies for land and,...
View ArticleThe Puritan Tithingman – The Most Powerful Man in New England
In November of 1789, George Washington was passing through Connecticut on his return from his tour of New England. A man stepped out of his house and ordered him to stop. The man demanded he explain...
View ArticleWay More Than the Scarlet Letter: Puritan Punishments
In their rigid enforcement of community standards, New England's Puritan punishments often often included the bilbo, the cleft stick, the brand, the ear crop and the letter, scarlet and otherwise. In...
View ArticleShattuck and The Devil Try To Stop Quaker Persecution in New England
Quaker persecution began in Massachusetts in July 1656 as soon as the first two Quakers sailed into Boston Harbor. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived on the Swallow, a ship from Barbados, with a trunk...
View ArticleThe Puritan Divorce Allows Escape From the Chain of Matrimony
When Elizabeth Luxford found out her husband James already had a wife, she went straight to the Court of Assistants in Massachusetts Bay Colony. She then got the first-ever Puritan divorce in December...
View ArticleHow The Old Deluder Satan Act Made Sure Puritan Children Got Educated
In 1675, William Scant of Braintree, Mass., came before the court for breaking a law called the Old Deluder Satan Act: He had refused to educate his children. As a result, the court ordered Braintree’s...
View ArticleThe Land Rush that Started the Hartford Riot of 1722
In 1721, the Connecticut General Assembly ordered Jeremiah Fitch to begin paying rent to John Clark for land he lived on near Coventry, Conn. Or to leave. Fitch, however, felt he didn't need to pay...
View ArticleNathaniel Sewell Comes to America in 1643 – and Regrets It
In 1643, Londoners were worried about the well-being of street children. So they developed a scheme to improve the children's lot in life by sending them to America, where they could be apprenticed as...
View ArticleUnequal Justice for the Gay Puritans of New Haven Colony
Gay Puritans in 17th century New Haven Colony were better off with money than without. Without wealth or social standing, they could go to the gallows for the crime of sodomy. New Haven hanged three...
View ArticlePlymouth Colony Drafts the First Laws in North America
Democracy formally took root in North America on Oct. 4, 1636, when Plymouth Colony drew up the first legal code on the continent. Plymouth Colony was settled in 1620 by Anglicans and Separatists, also...
View ArticleThe Puritan Dress Code and the Outrage of Slashed Sleeves
As the Puritans set about eking out their survival in Massachusetts in the early 1600s they naturally had to conquer some major problems: managing to obtain food, fighting their enemies for land and,...
View ArticleThe Puritan Tithingman – The Most Powerful Man in New England
In November of 1789, George Washington was passing through Connecticut on his return from his tour of New England. A man stepped out of his house and ordered him to stop. The man demanded he explain...
View ArticleWay More Than the Scarlet Letter: Puritan Punishments
In their rigid enforcement of community standards, New England’s Puritan punishments often often included the bilbo, the cleft stick, the brand, the ear crop and the letter, scarlet and otherwise. In...
View ArticleShattuck and The Devil Try To Stop Quaker Persecution in New England
Quaker persecution began in Massachusetts in July 1656 as soon as the first two Quakers sailed into Boston Harbor. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived on the Swallow, a ship from Barbados, with a trunk...
View ArticleThe Puritan Divorce Allows Escape From the Chain of Matrimony
When Elizabeth Luxford found out her husband James already had a wife, she went straight to the Court of Assistants in Massachusetts Bay Colony. She then got the first-ever Puritan divorce in December...
View ArticleHow The Old Deluder Satan Act Made Sure Puritan Children Got Educated
In 1675, William Scant of Braintree, Mass., came before the court for breaking a law called the Old Deluder Satan Act: He had refused to educate his children. As a result, the court ordered Braintree’s...
View ArticleThe Land Rush that Started the Hartford Riot of 1722
In 1721, the Connecticut General Assembly ordered Jeremiah Fitch to begin paying rent to John Clark for land he lived on near Coventry, Conn. Or to leave. Fitch, however, felt he didn’t need to pay...
View ArticleNathaniel Sewell Comes to America in 1643 – and Regrets It
In 1643, Londoners were worried about the well-being of street children. So they developed a scheme to improve the children’s lot in life by sending them to America, where they could be apprenticed as...
View ArticleUnequal Justice for the Gay Puritans of New Haven Colony
Gay Puritans in 17th century New Haven Colony were better off with money than without. Without wealth or social standing, they could go to the gallows for the crime of sodomy. New Haven hanged three...
View Article