Massachusetts - A Colony
Massachusetts is quite possibly the most famous of the 13 Colonies, laying claim to the Pilgrims' landing and the Boston Tea Party, as well as the first battles of the Revolutionary War--Lexington and Concord. Native Americans, of course, were living in Massachusetts long before Europeans arrived. Among them were the Wampanoag, the Nauset, and the Massachuset. These people were largely agricultural, although they did a good amount of fishing and trading with French and British settlers. European settlement of the Massachusetts colony began in 1620, with the landing at Plymouth of the Pilgrims, looking for freedom from religious persecution. They found the winter difficult, but they stayed. The English settlers found some friendly Native Americans in the Massachusetts area. The Wampanoag, in particular, were friendly to the Pilgrims. (Out of this friendship came the First Thanksgiving.) The Plymouth colony thrived and expanded, becoming the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Salem was the first capital, then was replaced by Boston in 1632, after a huge infusion of English settlers arrived. The colony thrived as an agricultural colony, although several important merchants set up shop in the following years. Most people lived in villages,
(This was a theme that would continue throughout the early history of Massachusetts and the other 13 Colonies and would be one of the driving forces behind the American Revolution and the Revolutionary War. The colony was, in effect, a private company and was governed as such. Like the New York and Connecticut colonies, Massachusetts continued to grow throughout the 18th Century, adding fishing lumber, and farm products to the already stable agricultural output. The result was the Revolutionary War, which started in Massachusetts, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Ironically, the majority of the settlers in Massachusetts were Puritan in religion and didn't like anyone who wasn't (even though the Pilgrims had originally come to America to get away from people who wanted to hurt them just for the way they practiced their religion). Actually, the depression created by the war hit Massachusetts hard. Among the most discontented were farmers in western Massachusetts, who banded together and tried to get their money back by force. Massachusetts was the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. With that money, however, came an increasing desire to control the people who made that money. A more friendly English government took power in 1688 and granted a new charter the following year. Interest in education was keen, and Harvard, the first American university, was founded in 1636. with the farm fields just outside of town. Revolutionaries from all over America responded by calling the First Continental Congress, which issued a call for action. Because the British thought they had "rescued" Massachusetts and other colonies from the "menace" of French soldiers and angry Native Americans in the French and Indian War, they thought that they had to dominate the colonies as before.
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Acceptance Essays
