Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Division of Cattle

After two harvests, the Plymouth colonists decided that the task of raising food for the settlers would prosper only if it was separated from that of earning profits for London.

Having tried what Bradford called the “common course and condition” – the communal stewardship of the land demanded of them by their investors – Bradford reports that the community was afflicted by an unwillingness to work, by confusion and discontent, by a loss of mutual respect, and by a prevailing sense of slavery and injustice.

And this among “godly and sober men.” In short, the arrangement of communal living was a failure that was endangering the health of the colony.

In 1623 a parcel of land was allotted to each man to till for his family and to maintain those who were exempt from agricultural employment because of other duties.  Each family was given one acre per family member.

In abandoning the “common course and condition” everyone worked harder and more willingly.  After the first abundant harvest under individual cultivation, the Pilgrims did not have to endure the meager rations of the first years. The plots assigned them permanently in 1624 became privately owned in 1627.

Livestock

The Pilgrims did not bring any large livestock animals with them on the Mayflower. In fact, the only animals known with certainty to have come on the Mayflower were two dogs, an English mastiff and an English spaniel, who are mentioned on a couple of occasions in the Pilgrims’ journals.

Although not specifically mentioned, it seems likely that they had with them some chickens, because chicken broth was given by Mayflower passenger Edward  Winslow to the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit when he was sick in early 1623; and it is also likely they brought some pigs.  In 1623, Emmanual Altham visited Plymouth and reported there were six goats, fifty pigs, and many chickens.

In 1624, Bradford reports that “Mr. Winslow came over, and brought a prety good supply, and the ship came on fishing, a thing fatall to this plantation. He brought 3. Heifers & a bull, the first begining of any catle of that kind in ye land”. Other cattle came, some nicknamed the “Great Black Cow”, the “Lesser Black Cow”, and the “Great White-Backed Cow”.  By 1627, both  the “Lesser Black Cow” and the “Great White-backed Cow” had calves.

Onboard the Jacob in 1624 were four black heifers (a heifer is a young female cow that has not yet had a calf.)  The four black heifers were nicknamed “Least”, “Raghorn”, “Blind”, and “Smooth-Horned”.  There was also a “Red Cow” that belonged to the poor of the colony, which had a red female calf around 1625, and a male calf in 1627. 

By May 1627, there were 16 head of cattle and at least 22 goats living in Plymouth.  The exact arrival of the first sheep in the colony is uncertain (likely some time before 1629).  The first horses and oxen did not begin arriving until the 1630s, most being brought to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north. (Caleb Johnson’s MayflowerHistory)

Like the distribution of land in 1623 and 1627, the Pilgrims divided their livestock (cattle, goats, etc) into separate ‘lots’ in 1627.

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England: Deeds, &c., 1620-1651 Vol 1 tells of the 1627 Division of Cattle:

At a publique court held the 22nd of May [1627] it was concluded by the whole Companie, that the cattell wch were the Companies, to wit, the Cowes & the Goates should be equally deuided to all the psonts of the same company & soe kept vntill the expiration of ten yeares after the date aboue written. & that euery one should  well and sufficiently puid for there owne pt vnder penalty of forfeiting the same.

That the old stock with halfe th increase should remaine for comon vse to be deuided at thend of the said terme or otherwise as ocation falleth out, & the other halfe to be their owne for euer.

Vppon wch agreement they were equally deuided by lotts soe as the burthen of the keeping the males then beeing should be borne for common vse by those to whose lot the best Cowes should fall & so the lotts fell as followeth. thirteene psonts being pportioned to one lot.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Division of Cattle:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Division-of-Cattle.pdf

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dorothy Bradford

“William Bradford his wife dyed soone after their arrival” (Bradford)

Dorothy May was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, about 1597, the daughter of Henry and Katherine May.  She was the niece of Mayflower passenger William White (her grandmother Thomasine (Cross)(May) White was also the mother of William White).  (Caleb Johnson)

The May family moved to Amsterdam around 1608 and Henry May was a leading church elder in the Henry Ainsworth church congregation in the city.

At the age of 16, she married 23-year old William Bradford in Amsterdam, and returned with her husband to take up residence in Leiden, Holland.  (Caleb Johnson)

Then appeared also as before William Bradford [noted as Willem Braetfort], from Austerfield, fustian weaver, 23 years old, living at Leyden, where the banns have been published, declaring that he has no parents, on the one part, and Dorothy May [noted as Dorethea Maije], 16 years old, from Wisbeach in England, at present living on the New Dyke, assisted by Henry May, on the other part …

and declared that they were betrothed to one another with true covenants, requesting their three Sunday proclamations in order after the same to solemnize the aforesaid covenant and in all respects to execute it, so far as there shall be no lawful hindrances otherwise. And to this end they declared it as truth that they were free persons and not akin to each other by blood

That nothing existed whereby a Christian marriage might be hindered; and their banns are admitted. (The Mayflower Descendant, Bowman, Mayflower Marriage Records at Leyden and Amsterdam, April 1920)

The record of the marriage intentions of William Bradford and Dorothy May, at Amsterdam, is not dated, but it follows one dated 9 November 9, 1613. The marriage took place at Amsterdam, December 10, 1613 and was recorded in the Pui Book. (The Mayflower Descendant)

Dorothy and William Bradford had a son, John, who was born in Leiden sometime around 1617.   When William and Dorothy decided to make the voyage to America in 1620 on the Mayflower, they left John behind in Leiden with Dorothy’s parents. (Caleb Johnson)  Bradford notes the son ‘came afterward”. (Bradford)

On September 6 (September 16), 1620, the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America.  The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem was sea-sickness.  But by October, they began encountering a number of Atlantic storms that made the voyage treacherous.

The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6 (September 16).  On the way and just 3-days from their arrival at Cape Cod, William Butten was the first Mayflower passenger to die.  He was believed to have been sick for much of the two-month voyage.

Bradford recorded: “in all this voyage there died one of the passengers, which was William Butten, a youth, servant to Samuel Fuller, when they drew near the coast”. He was a “youth,” as noted by William Bradford and a servant of Samuel Fuller.

November 9 (November 19), 1620 they sighted Cape Cod.  Of the arrival, Bradford wrote, “Being thus arived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees & blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast & furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles & miseries therof, againe to set their feete on ye firme and stable earth, their proper elemente.”

“And no marvell if they were thus joyefull, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on ye coast of his owne Italy; as he affirmed, that he had rather remaine twentie years on his way by land, then pass by sea to any place in a short time; so tedious & dreadfull was ye same unto him.”

“But hear I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amased at this poore peoples presente condition; and so I thinke will the reader too, when he well considered ye same.”

“Being thus passed ye vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before in their preparation (as may be remembred by yt which wente before), they had now no friends to wellcome them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their weatherbeaten bodys, no houses or much less townes to repaire too, to seeke for succoure. …”

“Let it also be considred what weake hopes of supply & succoure they left behinde them, yt might bear up their minds in this sade condition and trialls they were under; and they could not but be very smale.”

“It is true, indeed, ye affections & love of their brethren at Leyden was cordiall & entire towards them, but they had litle power to help them, or them selves; and how ye case stode betweene them & ye marchants at their coming away, hath already been declared.”

“What could not sustaine them but ye spirite of God & his grace? May not & ought not the children of these fathers rightly say:”

“Our faithers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this willdernes; but they cried unto ye Lord, and he heard their voyce, and looked on their adversitie…”

Then, Pilgrims started to die.

Edward Thompson died December 4/14, 1620, and was the first person to die after the Mayflower arrived in America. This was several weeks before the Pilgrims located and made plans to settle at Plymouth. He was a servant of William White.

Others died, typically of sickness … Jasper More was a 7-year-old boy from Shropshire and a servant of John Carver. Bradford recorded that Jasper died “of the common infection” on 6/16 December.   James Chilton. He was about 64 years old and a Separatist from Leiden. He died on December 8/18 and William Bradford wrote that he died in the First Sickness.

Tragedy struck the Bradford household.  Bradford simply wrote, “William Bradford his wife dyed soone after their arrival”.

Dorothy Bradford was about 23 years old.  On December 7/17, 1620, she possibly slipped, falling from the deck of the Mayflower and drowning in the icy water of Cape Cod harbor. This happened while her husband was ashore with an expedition.

Mather wrote of Bradford and his wife, “his dearest consort accidentally falling overboard, was drowned in the harbour ; and the rest of his days were spent in the services, and the temptations, of that American wilderness.” (Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana)

Within weeks, fifty-two of the 102 passengers who had reached Cape Cod were dead, including fourteen of the twenty-six heads of families. All but four families had lost at least one member. Of the eighteen married couples who had sailed from England, only three had survived intact.

William Bradford married again, in 1623, to Alice Southworth. They had three children.

Click the following link to a general summary about Dorothy Bradford:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Dorothy-Bradford.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lyford and Oldham

Bradford uses the terms “general” and “particular” to describe two sorts within the colony’s population: those who partook in the common ownership and working of the land, and those who were independent planters or entrepreneurs.

At first, until the time when the common stock was abolished in 1623, nearly all were in the “general.”

But within a short time, the London investors began sending over more and more people who were on their own “particular”.

At least, that was their status on paper: for the general were often expected to support them until they were established, or ended up having to do so because those on their particular proved particularly incompetent.

In either case, these were significant drains on the colony’s resources, which made it more difficult and extended the time it took to pay their debts.

As noted by Bradford, one such “particular” was John Lyford.  Lyford had studied at Oxford.  He had then gone on to be a preacher in the Church of Ireland, which was an ideal position for a Puritan because King James had allowed ministers in Ireland to implement whatever Puritan policies they wanted to.

They didn’t have to do any of the church rituals they disapproved of, like pledging allegiance to the Book of Common Prayer, making the sign of the cross or wearing the surplice.

That meant that Puritans who didn’t want to compromise their ideas could move to Ireland to help convert the locals.  The Church of Ireland had become dominated by Puritans, and Lyford had chosen to settle in one of the most contentious counties.

Then, he had an illegitimate child while in Ireland, and another.  Then he got married, but after his marriage he got caught having raped a woman.  After that, he was expelled from the Church of Ireland, and forced to return to London.

That’s where he connected with the Merchant Adventurers, who had sent him to Plymouth as a new minister.  They’d already sent one minister, but he’d simply stayed a year, and lived quietly, written Latin poems, and left everyone alone.    (Sarah Tanksalvala)

While his stay in the colony began well, Lyford soon collected a faction of discontented people, led by John Oldham. The two of them wrote a number of letters to the investors, which Governor William Bradford described as “full of slanders & false accusations, tending not only to their prejudice, but to their ruin and utter subversion.” (Plimoth Patuxet)

As noted by Bradford, “When this man first came a shore, he saluted them with that reverence & humilitie as is seldome to be seen, and indeed made them ashamed, he so bowed and cringed unto them, and would have kissed their hands if they would have suffered him …”

“… yea, he wept & shed many tears, blessing God that had brought him to see their faces; and admiring ye things they had done in their wants, &c. as if he had been made all of love, and ye humblest person in ye world.”

“Ater some short time he desired to joyne himselfe a member to ye church hear, and was accordingly received.”

“He made a large confession of his faith, and an acknowledgemente of his former disorderly walking, and his being intangled with many corruptions, which had been a burthen to his conscience, and blessed God for this opportunitie of freedom & libertie to injoye ye ordinances of God in puritie among his people, with many more such like expressions.”  (Bradford)

Bradford then speaks about John Oldham, “I must hear speake a word also of Mr. John Oldom [Oldham], who was a copartner with him in his after courses. He had bene a cheefe sticler in ye former faction among ye perticulers, and an intelligencer to those in England.”

“But now, since the coming of this ship and he saw ye supply that came, he tooke occasion to open his minde to some of ye cheefe amongst them heere, and confessed he had done them wrong both by word & deed, & writing into England …”

“…  but he now saw the eminente hand of God to be with them, and his blesing upon them, which made his hart smite him, neither should those in England ever use him as an instrumente any longer against them in any thing …”

“… he also desired former things might be forgotten, and that they would looke upon him as one that desired to close with them in all things, with such like expressions.”

“Now whether this was in hipocrisie, or out of some sudden pange of conviction (which I rather thinke), God only knows.” (Bradford)

The Pilgrims became suspicious that Lyford almost immediately joined with John Oldham (both non-Pilgrims) in sending letters to London criticizing the colony and its leadership to the Merchant Adventurers.

These criticisms had included criticism of everyday life, policy, and even the colony’s religious nature.

When confronted, Lyford denied the accusations. 

Bradford was determined to find out what he was doing, so he asked the captain of the next boat carrying mail to England to pause after they were beyond the view of the Plymouth colonists.  He followed in a small boat, intercepted the vessel and opened Lyford’s mail.  (Sarah Tanksalvala)

It seemed clear that Lyford and Oldham were partnering with a faction of investors at home and planning to overturn the religious and political leadership of the colony, ending the independence movement within the colony, and turning into a mainstream Puritan colony. (Sarah Tanksalvala)

So, Lyford and Oldham were put on trial. 

Lyford denied writing the letters, but then he was shown the letters he wrote …

“Lyford denyed that he had any thing to doe with them in England, or knew of their courses, and made other things as strange that he was charged with.”

“Then his letters were prodused & some of them read, at which he was struck mute.”

“But Oldam begane to rage furiously, because they had intercepted and opened his letters, threatening them in very high language, and in a most audacious and mutinous maner stood up & caled upon ye people, saying, My maisters, wher is your harts?”

Lyford and Oldham were convicted and exiled.

“In conclusion, he was fully convicted, and burst out into tears, and ‘confest he feared he was a reprobate, his sinns were so great that he doubted God would not pardon them, he was unsavorie salte, &c.; and that he had so wronged them as he could never make them amends, confessing all he had write against them was false & nought, both for matter & maner.’”

“And all this he did with as much fullnes as words & tears could express.”

“After their triall & conviction, the court censured them to be expeld the place; Oldame presently, though his wife & family had liberty to stay all winter, or longer, till he could make provission to remove them comfortably.”

“Lyford had liberty to stay 6. months.”

Lyford and Oldham briefly stayed with a new band of colonists at Naumkeag, which would later become Salem.  From there, they went to Virginia, where Lyford seemed to have been made a minister at either the Wests’ or John Martin’s plantation, but died just a few months later.  Oldham later apologized for his participation in the affair and rejoined Plymouth colony.

The Lyford affair nearly tore the investors apart.  Investors in London split into two groups, but most of the company’s powerful backers supported Lyford.

London investors wrote to Plymouth, accusing the settlers of being “contentious, cruel and hard-hearted among your neighbors, and towards such as in all points both civil and religious, jump not with you.”

Meanwhile, Bradford said that Oldham and Lyford were evil, profane and perverse, a human manifestation of the anti-Christ, and malignants.  (Sarah Tanksalvala)

Click the following link to a general summary about Lyford and Oldham:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Lyford-and-Oldham.pdf

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Meeting House

The origin of the town meeting form of government can be traced to meetinghouses of the colonies.  Early English settlers came to America for religious freedom from the Church of England. They set up a society that was free of the ornate, rigid traditions of the Anglo-Catholic church.

The central focus of every New England town was the meetinghouse.  These structures were usually the largest building in the town. They were used both for religious worship, and for conducting town business.  Taxes supported these structures.

They were always very simple buildings, with no statues, decorations, or stained glass. Not even a cross hung on the wall.

The practice of supporting the church with tax money continued until about 1820, when individual states passed laws separating church and state. Until that time, it was common (except in Rhode Island) to support the dominant church – referred to as the “standing order” – by taxing the citizens.

In fact, in the early years a town was not granted a charter until it had built a meetinghouse and hired a minister. Rhode Island did not support the church with taxes because it was founded by the Baptists who were expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for refusing to pay the church tax.

These structures have evolved over the centuries. Most that are still standing have been renovated several times to meet the needs of their owners and the styles of the times.

In the early 1800s, people wanted ‘modern’ churches that had one entrance on a short end of the building, a long isle to a pulpit on the other short end, and slip pews instead of box pews.  At this time it was also common to build steeples over the entrances, either incorporated into the building, or as part of an entrance porch that was added to the building’s end.

Many a typical white New England church started out as a colonial meetinghouse. An interesting variation to the “make a church” type of renovation took place in several towns when the separation of church and state took place.

In these cases, the thrifty New Englanders complied with the law by building a floor at the balcony level, and using the first floor for town business, and the second floor for church. Many meetinghouses thus have a floor at what used to be the balcony level.  (ColonialMeetingHouses-com)

Plymouth Meeting House

The first structure the Pilgrims built at Plymouth was a fort (it also served as the Pilgrims’ meeting house).  As noted by Bradford,

“On ye 15. of Desemr [1620]: they wayed anchor to goe to ye place they had discovered, & came within 2. Leagues of it, but were faine to bear up againe; but ye 16. day ye winde came faire, and they arrived safe in this harbor.”

“And after wards tooke better view of ye place, and resolved wher to pitch their dwelling; and ye 25. day begane to erecte ye first house for comone use to receive them and their goods.”

According to John Cuckson’s A Brief History of the First Church in Plymouth, the first meetings of the congregation in Plymouth were held in a common house built ca. 1621 and located on the south side of Leyden Street, the first street laid out in Plymouth, which runs between the harbor and what is now known as Town Square. This building consisted of a twenty-foot-square form. (NPS)

Unfortunately, that initial structure was lost to fire, “… ye 14th of January [1621] the house which they had made for a general randevoze [rendezvous/meeting house] by casualty fell afire, and some were fain to retire aboard for shelter.”  (Bradford)

Worship services were then held in a fort, built ca. 1621, on what is now known as Old Burial Hill. The fort was located directly behind the current First Parish Church.

According to Isaak de Rasiers, who visited Plymouth in 1627, the building consisted of “a large square house with a flat roof made of sawn planks set on oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannon…. . The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays.” (NPS)

Later, a separate meetinghouse was built in either 1637 or 1648 – accounts differ.

Since the Mayflower Pilgrims’ first Meetinghouse was built at the top of Leyden Street in Plymouth, MA in 1621, a place of spiritual ministry has continued to this day. Presently, the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Plymouth worships at this centerpiece of the Plymouth, MA cultural district.

The Mayflower Meetinghouse (formerly the National Pilgrim Memorial Meetinghouse) is the fifth spiritual structure built on this location.  The first meetinghouse was built on common land on the north side of Town Square, at a different location from the subsequent four meetinghouses. (GSMD)

When the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (GSMD) became aware that the congregation was having trouble with the increasing maintenance and restoration of the building, it approached the congregation about donating the Meetinghouse to GSMD as a place to fulfill its educational mission.

To save the building they love, the First Parish Church congregation has agreed to donate it to GSMD upon the condition that funds be put in place to permanently maintain it, and that they be allowed to continue scheduling their services there.

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants and First Parish Church signed a Joint Venture Agreement, which led to the Charitable Trust, during Congress 2017.

Along with the Meetinghouse, GSMD will be given all the church records from modern times back to 1620, written by William Bradford, William Brewster, Robert Cushman, and many others.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Meeting House:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Meeting-House.pdf

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New England Confederation

There were seven colonies in New England in the 17th century:

  • Plymouth Colony, founded in 1620, absorbed by the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691
  • Province of Maine, founded in 1622, later absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony
  • New Hampshire Colony, founded in 1623, later became the Province of New Hampshire
  • Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded in 1630, became the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691
  • Rhode Island Colony, founded in 1636
  • Connecticut Colony, founded in 1636
  • New Haven Colony, founded in 1638, absorbed by Connecticut Colony in 1664

“The main principles which underlay the social and political life of each colony were identical. Each was formed of much the same material, each had been established from the same motives and with the same hopes, each started with the same political training and had carried on that training in the same direction.”  (Doyle)

Over time, “Experience had by this time made it clear that some sort of union between the various colonies was a necessity. Union indeed had been distasteful when it was likely to be enforced from without in a manner which would override local liberties and rights.”

“But the state of affairs in England put an end to that danger, and the colonists were left free to enter upon a self-imposed union which should be consistent with local independence, and even helpful to it”. (Doyle)

“[S]ources of dispute, actual or possible, showed the need for some common jurisdiction.  An even stronger motive to union existed in the necessity for mutual support against the Indians, against the Dutch in New Netherlands, and, in a less degree, against the French to the North.”

“The real hindrance to union was the inequality which could not fail to exist between the partners. In population, in wealth, in learning, in the security of her possessions, in the friendship of those who were now rising into power in England, Massachusetts towered over the other colonies.” (Doyle)

In spring of 1638, several Connecticut ministers suggested a confederation but neither side could see eye to eye on the matter.

Connecticut brought up the issue again in 1639, as a result of threats from the New Netherland colony, but nothing came of it.

In 1640, threat of an Indian war prompted Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Haven to offer a joint proposal on the matter but the Massachusetts Bay Colony refused to work with Rhode Island, whom it viewed as too tolerant of other religions.

Finally, in the fall of 1642, Plymouth Colony proposed a confederation in which the General Courts in each colony would ratify all agreements.

The colonies all decided to send delegates to a meeting in the spring to finalize the details.

“In May, 1643, the Commissioners from each of the three colonies, Connecticut, Newhaven, and Plymouth, met at Boston. Fenwick, too, the governor of the fort at Saybrook, appeared on behalf of the Proprietors. Massachusetts was represented by the Governor, two Magistrates, and four Deputies.”  (Doyle)

The representatives “coming to consultation encountered some difficulties, but being all desirous of union and studious of peace, they readily yielded each to other in such things as tended to common utility.”  (Winthrop)

After two or three meetings the Articles of Confederation were agreed upon, and signed by all the Commissioners save those from Plymouth. Their commission obliged them to refer the matter back to the Court of the colony, by whom the agreement was at once ratified.

New England Confederation, also called United Colonies of New England, a federation of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth was established on May 19, 1643 by delegates from those four colonies.

“The Confederation … was looked on as a convenient piece of political machinery and no more.  Yet even in this there were compensating advantages. It was well that the federal constitution was framed deliberately and, so to speak, in cold blood, not under the pressure of any special excitement.”

“It was an advantage too that it should have come into being while the individual colonies still kept the plasticity of youth. A confederation is a frame to which organized and articulated communities have to adapt themselves. The experiment is more likely to succeed if they have not yet acquired the fixity and rigidity of mature life.”

“One aspect of the matter, all the more striking from the fact that it seems to have been almost unnoticed, was the absence of any reference to the home government. There is nothing to show that the framers of the Confederation ever entertained a thought as to the manner in which their policy would be regarded in England.”

“Yet this was undoubtedly the most important political step that any of the colonies had yet taken. The feeling of local independence, the spirit which made men look on themselves as citizens of Massachusetts and not as citizens of England, ebbed and flowed.”

“Beyond a doubt it was stronger in 1640 than it was in 1700. But it never wholly perished, and the formation of the Confederacy was perhaps the most striking manifestation of it.” (Doyle)

“It was adopted by only four colonies, and these four were not long afterwards consolidated into two; but it embodied principles, and recognized rights, and· established precedents, which have entered largely into the composition of all subsequent instruments of union.”  (Winthrop)

The New England Confederation did achieve some of its goals, but the alliance ultimately proved to be weak, since its decisions were only advisory and were often ignored by Massachusetts, its strongest member.

The confederation’s influence declined with the merger of Connecticut and New Haven (1662–1665), though it continued to exist until the Massachusetts charter was forfeited in 1684. The New England Confederation had represented the first significant effort by English colonists to form an intercolonial alliance for mutual benefit.  (Britannica)

Click the following link to a general summary about the New England Confederation:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/New-England-Confederation.pdf

© 2021 Hoʻokuleana LLC