Welcome to Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620!

The Puritans, who were also known as Pilgrims, left England in 1620 on the Mayflower. They were leaving for religious freedom.

The Puritans wanted to settle in the colony of Virginia, but ended up settling the new colony of Massachusetts when their ship went off course. When they got there, half of the colonists died because of the harsh winter.

Two Algonquian Native Americans named Samoset and Squanto helped the Puritans survive. They taught the colonists how to hunt, fish and farm. The Puritans held the first Thanksgiving feast for the Native Americans.

Twenty thousand Puritans traveled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony that was funded by the Massachusetts Bay Company. The Massachusetts Bay Company had received a charter from the King to settle in America.

Many colonists were moving to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and they needed more land. They moved into Native American territory, and killed thousands of Native Americans. Those not killed were sent to England to be sold as slaves.

King James II made the colonies from Massachusetts to New Jersey part of the Dominion of New England, and decided upon their new leader. Massachusetts overthrew this new leader, Sir Edmund Andros, and sent him back to England. However, the colonists of Massachusetts were still not free to rule themselves. The new King and Queen made Massachusetts a royal colony.

The colonists were mad because they felt the King was intolerant. Unfortunately, some of the colonists were intolerant, too. In Salem Massachusetts, twenty people and two animals were put to death because they were accused of practicing witchcraft.

The King put taxes on English products to fund for England’s participation in the French and Indian War. The colonists felt that this was unfair since they were unable to vote on what would be taxed. Fifty colonists were so mad about that they threw three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor. This act was nicknamed the Boston Tea Party.

The King sent some of his soldiers to America to punish the colonists. Paul Revere told the colonists that the British were coming on his famous midnight ride. The first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired in Massachusetts in 1775. After the war, the colonists were free and Massachusetts became a state when the Constitution was signed in 1788.