Article with photographs on the expansion of the new England Colonies to include the Middle and Southern Colonies. Links to primary source documents.

New England colonies and society were very different from the Jamestown and subsequent Southern colonies. Find out the reasons the colonists had for founding the New England colonies.

A multi-purpose site that provides information on history and historic artifacts from New England. There are also some interesting games that serve to enhance learning about New England. Be sure to watch video demonstrations of Early...

View the complete text of the 1620 British Charter for the settlement of New England granting authority to colonize and govern.

In this lesson, 5th graders learn about the people who founded the New England colonies and the role that religion played in shaping them. Includes background information for the teacher. Students explore primary resource readings on the...

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.

Read the online historical text written in 1620 establishing religious freedom, means of governing, and rule by law in the Plymouth colony and New England.

Read about how the colony of Connecticut grew from an expansion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. See how Thomas Hooker's idea of government resulted in a model of colonial charters, and find out how two very different settlements in...

An overview of the Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the New Haven Colony and Rhode Island. The internal and external struggles with these colonies is discussed including the Salem Witch Trials, King Philip's War,...

Essay discussing the Bay Psalm Book (1640) and the New England Primer (1683). Topics include: Classroom Issues and Strategies; Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues; Significant Form, Style, Artistic Conventions;...

Complete text of the Connecticut Colony Charter of 1662 which provided the basis for Connecticut government until 1818.

The Puritan clergy in Massachusetts Bay colony did not allow religious dissent. Read about the fate of colonists Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams who believed in religious freedom.

An overview of the Puritans who facing religious persecution in England set sail for the New World establishing the colony at Plymouth.

Learn a little about Puritan beliefs and see the importance of religion and the clergy in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Primary source documents on how the political relationship between the colonies and Great Britain changed from 1690 to 1763 and how the colonists responded.

Plymouth Colony did not suffer the same problems as the English colony farther south, Jamestown. Read about the leadership of William Bradford, and the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans who helped those who lived...

Read a brief description of the Pilgrims' journey to North America. Find out how many travelers on the Mayflower were actually Pilgrims, and find out why a mistake in navigation led to the first written constitution in the New World.

A map of the New England Colonies showing the westward expansion of the Pilgrims from Plymouth (1620) to Stamford, Connecticut (1641). The map shows settlements in the area with dates of establishment given, colony boundaries, New...

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),...

New England colonies

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the thirteen original colonies. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

Take this 15-question, multiple-choice quiz to test your knowledge of the Thirteen Colonies.

Africans first arrived in Jamestown as indentured servants, but soon the appeal of having laborers that were not free after seven years caught on. See how the use of slaves grew in the Southern colonies, the economies of which were based...

The religious and civil conflict in England in the mid-17th century limited immigration, as well as the attention the mother country paid the fledgling American colonies. In part to provide for the defense measures England was...