University of Groningen
American History: Documents: New England Articles of Confederation 1643
View the complete text of the New England Articles of Confederation 1643, an alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.
PBS
Pbs Liberty!: High Tea in Boston Harbor
Presented in a newspaper format, this site explores the rise of independence in the colonies with a focus on the Boston Tea Party as it occurred on April 1, 1774 and Benjamin Franklin's experience in London. Content includes a look at...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Puritan New England: Plymouth
An overview of the Puritans who facing religious persecution in England set sail for the New World establishing the colony at Plymouth.
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: The United Colonies, 1776
A map of the United Colonies at the beginning of the American Revolution (1776) showing colonial land claims to the Mississippi River, including the territories organized after the war. The map shows the Northwest Territory (organized in...
Curated OER
Etc: New England Colonies, 1620 1638
A map of the New England colonies showing the early permanent Pilgrim settlements and their dates of establishment, including Plymouth (1620), Little Harbor, New Hampshire (1623), Pemaquid, Maine (1625), Salem, Massachusetts (1628),...
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts: Cole's Hill
Cole's Hill is the site of the burial ground of the Pilgrims. Those who died in the first winter of the Plymouth Colony (1620-21) were buried there.
Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: The First Thanksgiving
This brief article tells of the help the Indians gave the Pilgrims in learning about the land, resulting in the first Thanksgiving.
Digital History
Digital History: Dimensions of Change in Colonial New England
Dissension in Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in the formation of other New England colonies. Read about their formations, and the impact on the Native Americans in the area.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Anne Hutchinson
Encyclopedia Britannica provides a biography of Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), the woman expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for "Traducing the ministers," of the Puritan Colony. She and other religious dissenters founded Rhode Island.
University of Groningen
American History: Documents: Edward Randolph Condemns Massachussetts Bay Company
At this site from the University of Groningen you can read Edward Randolph's address to Parliament concerning the rebellious attitude of the colony of Massachusetts as designated as "articles of misdemeanors." Read each of the...
Digital History
Digital History: Regional Contrasts
Read about the populations of the New England colonies as compared to the Southern colonies in the 1600s. See how the numbers of Native Americans decreased dramatically particularly in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Colonial Economy
Whatever early colonial prosperity there was resulted from trapping and trading in furs. In addition, the fishing industry was a primary source of wealth in Massachusetts. But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small...
History Tools
History Tools: Winthrop Defends Right of Puritans to Settle on Indian Land [Pdf]
Primary source material with modernized spellings. Passage written by John Winthrop defending the right of Puritans to settle in Massachusetts Bay territory which was already occupied by Native Americans, 1629.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Rebellion, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Five documents that examine a range of reactions to colonial rebellion and associated resistance to royal authority in English colonies in Barbados, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Colonization
For a variety of reasons, those who came to settle the early colonies sought a new homeland. Puritans, for example, established several settlements in Massachusetts. These English colonists were a pious, self-disciplined people who...
University of Missouri
Famous Trials: Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)
America was not always the "Land of Liberty." In the 1630s, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, questioning Puritan dogma could bring you a world of trouble. It could get you shunned, it could get you ex-communicated, it could even get you...
Black Past
Black Past: Cuffe, Paul Sr.
This interesting encyclopedia entry tells about Paul Cuffe, a black abolitionist and philanthropist who attempted to form a colony in Africa for freed slaves.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Anne Bradstreet
Biographical information and details about the themes and style of Bradstreet's poetry. Includes quotations from her poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband."
Library of Congress
Loc: Learning Page: Primary Source Set: Thanksgiving
A set of primary documents that reflect the Mayflower, Plymouth, Puritans, the first Thanksgiving, and legislation for the holiday.
Other
Memorial Hall Online Museum: In the Classroom
This site from the Memorial Hall Museum provides curricula, information and activities for teachers teaching social studies.
Other
The Descendants of Henry Doude: Perspectives: The Pequot War
A brief description of the Pequot War, a conflict between the Pequots and the English colonists from the Massachusetts Bay colony. There are two maps showing the location of Indian tribes in 1636 and again in 1639.
Siteseen
Siteseen: Land of the Brave: Anne Hutchinson
Overview and biographical facts on the life of Anne Hutchinson, an early colonist of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was banished from Boston in 1637 for her religious and feminist beliefs and fled to the Rhode Island Colony.
National Women's Hall of Fame
National Women's Hall of Fame: Anne Hutchinson
The National Women's Hall of Fame honors Anne Hutchinson for her early advocation for religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Siteseen
Siteseen: Land of the Brave: John Winthrop
Overview and biographical facts on the life of John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England.