Pre Settlement Presentation

THE PRE – SETTLEMENT PERIOD 1620s

THE PRE – SETTLEMENT PERIOD 1620s

THE PRE – SETTLEMENT PERIOD or Colonial Period

William BradfordJohn WinthropCotton MatherAnne Bradstreet

Writers at this Period

William BradfordBorn: March 19, 1589, Aus ter field, York

shire, Eng land

Died: May 9, 1657, Ply mouth, Mass a chu sett

Buried: Bur i al Hill, Ply mouth, Mass a chu setts

Bradford is best known to the se cu lar world as Gov er nor of Ply mouth Col o ny. He em i grat ed to

Ply mouth on the fa mous May flow er in 1620, and was elect ed to offi ce at least 30 times. His

works in cludes:

History of Ply mouth Plan ta tion, circa 1650

A Brief Biography of William Bradford

A boy child was born to William Bradford and Alice Hanson in 1590. Their son's name was

William Bradford. He was born in Austerfield, Yorkshire which is about one hundred and fifty miles from London. William was baptized in the

parish church on March 29, 1590. He had two sisters Alice and Margaret. Margaret would

pass away young.

William lived on his family's farm and helped with chores. He learned how to cord and spin wool

as well as tend the sheep. By age seven he had lost both of his parents and would live with his two uncles, Robert and Thomas. When he became ill

he saw it as a blessing because he was able to learn to read and write instead of doing farm

chores. Because William learned to read he started to read the Bible and by age twelve he

"was deeply immersed in the Scriptures."


When William was born, England was ruled by Queen Elizabeth and she only allowed Anglican churches. Because William was able to read the

bible he started to question if the Queen's church was the only right one. Because of this

thinking William walked sixteen miles to another church and became a Separatist. This

new religion angered the new ruler of England, King James I. Since William did not want to be

imprisoned for his beliefs, like a large number of the believers had been, he moved to

Amsterdam in 1608 along with some fellow Separatists. After living there for nine

months he moved to the city of Leyden


At the age of twenty-one the land he inherited in England was sold because he could not go home and manage it. To make a living William became a weaver. He married Dorothy May in

1613 and had a son named John in 1614 and when the Separatists moved to the New World, John

was left behind.

The Mayflower set sail in 1620 bound for Virginia. The people ended up at Cape Cod

instead on November 10, 1620. His wife Dorothy fell over the side of the Mayflower shortly

after reaching land and died.


Because the boat didn't make it to Virginia the people believed that their patent was no longer valid so they couldn't legally govern this new colony. Because of this worry the

MayflowerCompact was written and was signed by the leaders of each house hold. The

original was some how destroyed but because William made a copy people even today can read it. The people from Leyden and the Strangers

were given equal responsibility in the colony. The first governor was John Carver who would later die leaving William Bradford to be the

new governor.


William would govern the Plymouth colony for the next thirty years. He was a good governor and was

able to establish relative peace with the natives. He also had to see to the trading of the

colony as well. Even though he had many responsibilities as a governor he also wrote.

William Bradford is well known even today for his works. He started writing what was later called OfPlymouthPlantation in 1630 where such things as births and deaths were recorded. He stopped writing it in 1646 when he wrote an account of

the Plymouth pilgrims who were alive then. William and a man named Edward Winslow wrote

Mourt'sRelation in 1622 which is a "very optimistic account of the colony." (Schmidt 113)

This was written to try to get more people to come to Plymouth and was published the next year

in London. He also wrote poems and letters.


William married Alice Southworth in 1623. He eventually had a daughter named Mercy. They had her sons named William and Joseph. He

seemed really happy with his wife and left a will for her and his children. William

Bradford died on May 9, 1657. He was sixty-nine years old. His wisdom and fairness

allowed him to govern the Plymouth colony. His literary works allow readers today to see how he and the others that survived the trip to

the New World, disease, and starvation in the 17th century.

John Winthrop

One of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop arrived in 1630 aboard the

flagship Arbella. As governor of the Colony, he established the center of government at

Boston. Winthrop began writing his Journal in 1630 and continued it till his death. On board

the Arbella, he prepared and delivered his famous sermon "A Model of Christian Charity."

In this speech, without using those words, Winthrop introduces the concept of Manifest

Destiny:

"For wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a hill. The eies of all

people are uppon us."

Primary Works of John Winthrop

Reedited as TheHistoryofNewEnglandfrom1630to1649, two volumes. Volume 1, 1825. Volume 2, 1826. WinthropPapers, 5 volumes. 1929-1947

AntinomiansandFamilistscondemnedbythesynodofeldersinNewEngland:withtheproceedingsofthemagistratesagainstthem,andtheirapologyforthe

same.1644.

Republished as AShortStoryoftherise,reign,andruinoftheAntinomians,Familists,and

libertines. 1644.

ADeclarationofFormerPassagesandProceedingsofBetwixttheEnglishandtheNarrowgansets,with

TheirConfederates,WhereintheGroundsandJusticeoftheEnsuingWarreareOpenedandCleared. 1645

AJournaloftheTransactionsandOccurrencesintheSettlementofMassachusettsandtheOtherNew-EnglandColonies,fromtheYear1630to1644. 1790.

Cotton Mather

A member of the powerful Mather family, Cotton Mather produced 444 volumes of written work. Although his writing is didactic, moralistic, and filled with references to the Bible, it reveals important information on the history

and society of his time. His best known work is the MagnaliaChristiAmericana

(1702) which gives an insight into Mather's views on Puritan society. A

good edition of his works is SelectionsfromCottonMather edited by Kenneth B.

Murdock, 1926.

Primary Works of Cotton Mather

MilitaryDuties,RecommendedtoanArtilleryCompany;attheirElectionofOfficers,inCharles-Town…(1687);

MemorableProvidence,RelatingtoWitchcraftsAndpossessions…(1689);WorkupontheArk. (1689);The

WonderfulWorkofGodCommemorated. (1690); TheTriumphsoftheReformedReligion. (1692); PreparatoryMeditations

upontheDayofJudgement. (1692); TheWondersoftheInvisibleWorld. (1692); EarlyReligion,UrgeinaSermon. (1694); BrontologiaSacra.(1695); PiscatorEvangelicus.OrthelifeofMr.ThomasHooker…(1695); TheBostonEbenezer.(1698); Eleutheria. (1698); DecenniumLuctuosm. (1699); A

PillarofGratitude…(1700); TheReligiousMarriner. (1700); MagnaliaChristiAmericana. (1702); TheNegroChristianized. (1706); CorderiusAmericanus. (1708);

Bonifacius. (1710); TheopolisAmericana. (1710); DuodecenniumLuctuosum. (1714); TheChristianPhilospher:

ACollectionofthe BestDiscoveriesinNature,withReligiousImprovement. (1720); IndiaChristiana. (1721);

Coelestinus. (1723); Parentator. (1724); ThePalm- Bearers. (1725); RatioDisciplinaeFratrumNovAnglorum.

(1726); TheVialpouredoutupontheSea. (1726); Agricola. (1727); Boanerges.(1727); TheTerrorofthe

Lord.(1727)

Anne Bradstreet

Major Works

TheTenthMuseLatelySprungUpinAmerica(first edition)

"Upon a Fit Sickness”

"Contemplations”

TheTenthMuseLatelySprungUpinAmerica(second edition)

Pre Settlement Presentation

Documents

Transcript of Pre Settlement Presentation