Massachusetts Research

Massachusetts was first colonized by principally English Europeans in the early 17th century, and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Prior to English colonization of the area, it was inhabited by a variety of mainly Algonquian-speaking indigenous tribes. The first permanent English settlement was established in 1620 with the founding of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. A second, shorter-lasting colony, was established near Plymouth in 1622 at Wessagusset, now Weymouth. A large Puritan migration begun in 1630 established the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Boston, and spawned the settlement of other New England colonies. Friction with the natives grew with the population, erupting in the Pequot War of the mid-1630s and King Philip's War in the 1670s. The colonies were religiously conservative, and Massachusetts Bay authorities in particular repeatedly deported, cast out, and even executed people with views that did not accord with their narrow Puritan views. The Massachusetts Bay Colony frequently clashed with political opponents in England, including several kings, over its religious intolerance and the status of its charter. Businessmen established wide-ranging trade links, sending ships to the West Indies and Europe, and sometimes shipping goods in violation of the Navigation Acts. These political and trade issues led to the revocation of the Massachusetts charter in 1684.
King James II in 1686 established the Dominion of New England to govern all of New England to centralize royal control and weaken local government. The intensely unpopular rule by Sir Edmund Andros came to a sudden end in 1689 with an uprising sparked by the Glorious Revolution which overthrew King James II. King William III established the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, to govern a territory roughly equivalent to that of the modern Commonwealth and Maine, although border issues with its neighbors would persist into the 19th century.