Massachusetts
Massachusetts was founded in 1620 by the Puritans and Pilgrims. In 1691, the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony joined together to create the Massachusetts colony. The Puritans wanted to reform the church of England, while the Pilgrims wanted to separate from it. Most of them were Protestants. Massachusetts is right next to a body of water, so fishing was one of their main ways of getting money. Because of the nearby coast, exporting materials was very easy and settlers in Massachusetts made a lot of profit from this. Shipbuilding was also one of the major businesses, which was practical because they needed ships to fish and it was easy to transport one ship to one place to another. This was only for people that lived by the coast though. For the people that lived farther upland, farming (agriculture) was a money-maker, although it wasn't as good. it had poor soil and marshes. Lumber was also a popular job, because Massachusetts has a lot of forests. As is said before, Massachusetts is nearby a large body of water. It is bordered by new Hampshire and Vermont in the North and Rhode Island and Connecticut in the south. Massachusetts has 4 major rivers that run through it. These include the Charles River, Connecticut River, Hoosic River, Housatonic River, and the Merrimack River. The important people in maryland were james Winthrop (the first governor), and William Bradford ( also a governor).The main residents in Massachusetts were usually people who wanted to escape from the Catholic church and have a safe place to practice their religion. All religions were welcome (residents could be anyone), but most 'other' religions felt oppressed and smothered because of the heavy influence of the Protestants. King Charles accidentally allowed Massachusetts to set up their own government. James Winthrop became governor and didn't tell the other settlers that they had powers to participate as well. In 1634, when they found out, the citizens decided to have a representative legislative two house government. Once this government started in 1639, everything was outspoken and bold. Here is an excerpt from an article that I thought perfectly summed up what their government was like in this time period. "In that first representative assembly, the people boldly asserted their rights and dignity. The proprietor presented to the Legislature a system of laws which he had framed. The representatives of the people, feeling that the inherent right to make laws resided in their constituents, rejected the whole system. They adopted a Declaration of Rights, defining the powers and duties of each branch of the government, and set to work to pass bills for the security to the people of every privilege that belonged to a British subject. This popular sovereignty was briefly contested by Lord Baltimore, by a series of vetoes or refusals to sign such bills. After vetoing more than forty, and finding the people firm, the proprietor gave up the contest and yielded gracefully to the popular will."