Classroom notes

Conflict with Native Americans
• As more colonists settled in New England, they took over Native American lands and fighting broke out
• The largest conflict came in 1675, with the Wampanoag ( Chief Metacom )
• Metacom attacked villages throughout New England ( fought for 14 months before he was caught and sold into slavery with 1000 other Native Americans

• At the center of each village was the common, an open field where cattle grazed
• Nearby stood the meeting house, where Puritans worshipped and held town meetings
Religion
• Sabbath, or holy day of rest, Puritans took it very seriously
• No one was allowed to play games or visit taverns to joke, talk, and drink
• The law required all citizens to attend church services on Sunday which lasted all day

• Women sat on one side of the church and men o the other
• Black and Indians stood in a balcony at the back
• Children had separate pews, where an adult watched over them
• If they sported or played they were punished
Family
• Puritans taught that children were a blessing of God
• Average family had seven or eight children
• Many lived to reach the age of 70
• Children grew up knowing both parents and grandparents

Government
• At town meetings, settlers discussed and voted on many issues
• Town meetings gave New Englanders a chance to speak their minds

• Puritan laws were strict
• 15 crimes carried the death penalty
• One crime punishable by death was witchcraft
• In 1692, Puritans in Salem Village executed 20 men and women as witches
Economy
• New England’s rocky soil was poor for farming, but settlers learned to grow Native American crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, and beans
• Hunted wild turkey, deer and hogs
• Collected sweet sap from sugar maple trees
• Cut down trees
• Fished, shellfish in New England was especially large Oyster and lobsters
• Hunted whales