#Massachusetts Bay Colony

[silliestcolressfan]

sobs mass you had so much land once and you just let it go 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 just like that

[rabbitcruiser]

Puritans settled in Salem on September 6, 1628, which became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

[elgallinero]

Practice English

share.libbyapp.com/title/117990

[wrishwrosh]

drives me insane that contemporary online discourse has chewed up the word “puritan” and spat out “somebody who is scared of sex” bc sex is like the 384993th most psychologically interesting thing about puritans. they were MUCH bigger freaks about many things that are MUCH more applicable to trends in online

[aurpiment]

Sorry to be mean, but can we get like a new analysis of conservative sexual mores in the United States today?

[tribble-ations]

The way this class teaches about Native people is lowkey weird. If you were teaching an overview of Europe in a class that had nothing to do with biology would you spend 1/2 of the unit talking about competing theories as to how Europeans got to Europe from Africa tens of thousands of years ago and genetic analyses of Europeans? Well we will eventually get to Europe so I guess I’ll see.

[baradragon]

massachusetts bay colony pride 1532

[marzipanandminutiae]

I should actually finish this show but EVERY streaming platform has taken it down. I got to the end of s1 before I got distracted

Motherland: Fort Salem AKA what happens when you let a 17th-century English Puritan build the military industrial complex and never go the fuck away

(yes, there were Anglicans in the early Massachusetts Bay Colony, but I'm sorry- Sarah is such a fucking Puritan. she probably made up the whole paganism thing whole-cloth but never examined her Calvinist worldview re: having to earn your usefulness as a person through industry, perpetual self-sacrifice, and contributions to society. also the concept of a Super-Special In-Group Decided At Birth Who Should Control Everything. congrats you just re-invented the Doctrine of the Elect but it's witches)

(nope. I don't believe the goddess-worship is actually ancient for her. that bitch went to Meeting for six hours every Sunday and it shows)

[todaysdocument]

Deposition #1 of Solomon Brown, Jonathan Loring and Elijah Saunderson of Lexington, Massachusetts Regarding the Events of April 18 and 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Record Group 360: Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional ConventionSeries: Papers of the Continental CongressFile Unit: Massachusetts State Papers

N. 1 11

We Solomon Brown Jonathan Loring & Elijah Sanderson All of Lawful Age and of Lexington in the County of Middlesex and Colony of the Massachusett Bay in New England do testifie & declare that on the Evening of the Eighteenth of April Instant being on the Road between Concord & Lexington and All of us mounted on Horses we were about ten of the Clock suddenly surprized by Nine Persons whom we took to be Regular Officers who Rode up to us Mounted and Armed each having a Pistol in His Hand, and after Putting, Pistols to our Breasts and seizing the Bridles of Our Horses, they swore that ^if^ we Stirred another Step We should be all Dead Men, upon which we surrender ed Our Selves they Detained us untill Two o clock the Next morning in which time they searched and Greatly abused us, having first Enquired about the Magazine at Concord, whether any Guards were posted there and whether the Bridges were up and said Four or Five Regiments of Regulars would be in Possession of the Stores Soon they then brought us back to Lexington, cut the Horses Bridles and girt[h]s turned them Loose and ^then^ left us Lexington April 25 1775

Solomon Brown

Jonathan Loring

Elijah Sanderson

Middlesex SS April 25 1775

Jona Loring Solomon Brown and Elijah Sanderson being duly Cautioned to Testify the whole Truth, made Solemn Oath to the Truth of the above Deposition by them subscribed

Coram

Wm Reed

Josiah Johnson } Just.

Wm Stickney } Pacix

I Elijah Saunderson abovove (sic) named do further testifie & declare that I was on Lexington Common the morning of the Nineteenth of April afore said having been dismissed by the Officers abovementioned & saw a Large Body of Regular Troops advancing toward Lexington Company, many of whom were then dispersing -- I heard one of the Regulars whom I took to be an officer Say Damn Them we will have them, & immediately the Regulars shouted aloud, Run and fired on the Lexington Company which did not fire a gun before the Regulars Discharged on them Eight of the Lexington Company were killed while they were dispersing and at considerable Distance from Each other, and many wounded, & altho a spectator I narrowly Escaped with my Life

Lexington April 25 1775 Elijah Saunderson

Middlesex SS April 25 1775

Elijah Saunderson above named being Duly cautioned to Testify the whole Truth made Solemn Oath to the Truth of the above Deposition by them subscribed

Wm Reed

Coram Josiah Johnson } Just.

Wm Stickney } Pacis

Province of the Massachusetts Bay Charlestown ss

I Nathaniel Gorham Notary & Tabellion Puplic by Lawful authority duly admitted and Sworn hereby certify all of whom ^it^ doth or may concern that William Reed Josiah Johnson & William Stickney Esqrs are three of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex and that full faith and credit is to be given to their transactions as such in Witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my Name & Seal this Twenty Six Day of april Anno Domini one Thousand Seven Hundred & Seventy five

the foregoing are true copies attest

Nathaniel Gorham Noy Pubc

No 1 [sideways, in left margin]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 15, 2025 (Thursday)

Heather Cox Richardson

May 16, 2025

Perhaps in frustration, this season’s writers of the saga of American history are making their symbolism increasingly obvious.

Today the story broke that a long-neglected document held by Harvard University Law School, believed to be a cheap copy of the Magna Carta, is in fact the real document. More than 700 years ago, the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, established the concept that kings must answer to the law.

King John of England and a group of rebel barons agreed to the terms of the document on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede, a meadow a little less than an hour from London near the River Thames. After the king had raised taxes, barons rebelled, insisting that he was violating established custom. There were rumors of a plot to murder the king, and the barons armed themselves.

Those two armed camps met at Runnymede, where negotiators for the king and the barons hammered out a document with 63 clauses, mostly relating to feudal customs and the way the justice system would operate. But the document also began to articulate the principles central to modern democracies. The Magna Carta established the writ of habeas corpus—a prohibition on unlawful imprisonment—and the concept of the right to trial by jury.

Famously, it put into writing that: “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.” It also provided that “To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

The Magna Carta placed limits on the king’s ability to tax his subjects and established the law as an authority apart from the king. Anticipating the idea of checks and balances, it set up a council of barons to make sure the king obeyed the charter. If he did not, they could seize his lands and castles until he made amends.

The original charter did not last. King John convinced the pope to declare the document illegal because it circumscribed the power of the monarch, and in reaction, barons fought for the rights outlined in the Magna Carta. After the death of King John in 1216, the Magna Carta was confirmed and reissued, becoming an accepted part of the understanding of British rights. In 1297, and then again in 1300, King Edward I reissued the Magna Carta and confirmed that it was part of England’s law.

The copy in Harvard’s possession is from 1300. Harvard bought the document after World War II for $27.50, about $500 today. It is one of seven original copies of the 1300 Magna Carta, and in the United States of America in 2025, it is priceless.

In the early 1600s, King James I and King Charles I both reasserted the power of the king. Jurist Sir Edward Coke used the Magna Carta to insist that longstanding English customs guaranteed liberties to British subjects and required the king to comply with the law. There were limits to a king’s power to tax his subjects and his power to punish them.

This legal struggle was unfolding just as British subjects were colonizing the North American continent, and the charters of the new colonies echoed Coke’s arguments. The 1629 charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, for example, established that colonists and, crucially, the children they might have in the colony, “shall have and enjoy all liberties and Immunities of free and naturall Subiects.”

As constitutional scholar Mary S. Bilder notes, lawyers and political figures put into the documents of the early British settlement of North America the belief that liberties were the birthright of English subjects. That belief informed colonists’ opposition to the 1765 Stamp Act, which imposed a new tax to which they had not given their consent and called for those who violated the law to be tried not by a jury of their peers but rather in admiralty courts. The Massachusetts Assembly declared the Stamp Act to be “against the Magna Carta and the natural rights of Englishmen, and therefore, according to Lord Coke, null and void.” British politician William Pitt told Parliament: “The Americans are the sons not the bastards of England.”

In September 1774, as tensions between the king and the colonists intensified, the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and wrote a declaration of rights and grievances, claiming the liberties guaranteed by “the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts.” Showing the unity of the colonies, the Congress published an image of 12 arms holding a column crowned by a liberty cap and resting on the words “Magna Carta.”

In 1776 the colonists threw off the monarchy to establish a government based on the idea that all people must answer to the law. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense: “in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.” In 1776 the new states were writing their own constitutions that defended their liberties, including their protection from loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law.

That concept went directly into the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amendment provided that no “person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment applied that principle to the states as well as the federal government, saying: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The Harvard document is not the only Magna Carta in the U.S. In 2007, philanthropist David Rubenstein bought a 1297 copy of the Magna Carta from former presidential candidate Ross Perot. It was the only copy in the U.S., and Perot had permitted the National Archives to display it. Rubenstein bought the document for $21.3 million, hoping to keep it in the U.S. “to ensure that Americans could continue to see it, and to thereby be continuously reminded of its importance to our country.” He promptly lent it to the National Archives for public display, “as modest repayment of my debt to this country for my good fortune in being an American.”

And yet the fundamental principles on which the government of the United States is based are under attack. In an interview that aired on Sunday, May 4, President Donald J. Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he “didn’t know” if persons in the United States had a right to due process. When Welker reminded him that the right to due process is written into the Fifth Amendment, he said: “I don’t know. It seems—it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials.”

Musician Bruce Springsteen has no doubts about those rights, embedded as they are in the country’s DNA. At a concert in Manchester, England, yesterday, he warned: “In America, the richest men… [are]... abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They’re defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands. They’re removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.” He criticized lawmakers who have “no…idea of what it means to be deeply American.”

And yet, Springsteen told the crowd: “The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real and, regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people, so will survive this moment.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[rabbitcruiser]

Puritans settled in Salem on September 6, 1628, which became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

[decadentfirejellyfish]

How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation

The Indian Wars began the moment English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, when the settlers started an uneasy relationship with the Native Americans (or Indians) who had thrived on the land for thousands of years. At that time, millions of indigenous people had settled across North America in hundreds of different tribes. But between 1622 and the late 19th century, a series of wars and skirmishes known as the Indian Wars took place between American Indians and European settlers, mainly over land control. Colonial Period Indian Wars On March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked and killed colonists in eastern Virginia. Known as the Jamestown Massacre, the bloodbath gave the English government an excuse to justify their efforts to attack Native Americans and confiscate their land. In 1636, the Pequot War over trade expansion broke out between Pequot Indians and English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut. The colonists’ Indian allies joined them in battle and helped defeat the Pequot. A series of battles took place from 1636 to 1659 between New Netherlands settlers in New York and several Indian tribes (Lenape, Susquehannocks, Algonquians, Esopus). Some battles were especially violent and gruesome, sending many settlers fleeing back to the Netherlands. The Beaver Wars of 1640-1701 occurred between the French and their Indian allies (Algonquian, Huron) and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The fierce fighting started over territory and fur trade dominance around the Great Lakes and ended with the signing of the Great Peace Treaty. Queen Anne's War Queen Anne’s War of 1702-1713 occurred between French and English colonists and their respective Indian allies on several fronts including Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland and Acadia. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Indians were not included in peace negotiations and lost much of their land. During the Tuscarora War (1711-1718), Tuscarora Indians burned North Carolina settlements and randomly killed colonists over treaty disputes. After two years of bloody fighting, North Carolina defeated the Indians with the help of the South Carolina militia.

[lovingperfectionbluebird]

How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation

The Indian Wars began the moment English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, when the settlers started an uneasy relationship with the Native Americans (or Indians) who had thrived on the land for thousands of years. At that time, millions of indigenous people had settled across North America in hundreds of different tribes. But between 1622 and the late 19th century, a series of wars and skirmishes known as the Indian Wars took place between American Indians and European settlers, mainly over land control. Colonial Period Indian Wars On March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked and killed colonists in eastern Virginia. Known as the Jamestown Massacre, the bloodbath gave the English government an excuse to justify their efforts to attack Native Americans and confiscate their land. In 1636, the Pequot War over trade expansion broke out between Pequot Indians and English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut. The colonists’ Indian allies joined them in battle and helped defeat the Pequot. A series of battles took place from 1636 to 1659 between New Netherlands settlers in New York and several Indian tribes (Lenape, Susquehannocks, Algonquians, Esopus). Some battles were especially violent and gruesome, sending many settlers fleeing back to the Netherlands. The Beaver Wars of 1640-1701 occurred between the French and their Indian allies (Algonquian, Huron) and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The fierce fighting started over territory and fur trade dominance around the Great Lakes and ended with the signing of the Great Peace Treaty. Queen Anne's War Queen Anne’s War of 1702-1713 occurred between French and English colonists and their respective Indian allies on several fronts including Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland and Acadia. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Indians were not included in peace negotiations and lost much of their land. During the Tuscarora War (1711-1717), Tuscarora Indians burned North Carolina settlements and randomly killed colonists over treaty disputes. After two years of bloody fighting, North Carolina defeated the Indians with the help of the South Carolina militia.

[joyfulrunawaystarfish]

How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation

The Indian Wars began the moment English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, when the settlers started an uneasy relationship with the Native Americans (or Indians) who had thrived on the land for thousands of years. At that time, millions of indigenous people had settled across North America in hundreds of different tribes. But between 1622 and the late 19th century, a series of wars and skirmishes known as the Indian Wars took place between American Indians and European settlers, mainly over land control. Colonial Period Indian Wars On March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked and killed colonists in eastern Virginia. Known as the Jamestown Massacre, the bloodbath gave the English government an excuse to justify their efforts to attack Native Americans and confiscate their land. In 1636, the Pequot War over trade expansion broke out between Pequot Indians and English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut. The colonists’ Indian allies joined them in battle and helped defeat the Pequot. A series of battles took place from 1636 to 1659 between New Netherlands settlers in New York and several Indian tribes (Lenape, Susquehannocks, Algonquians, Esopus). Some battles were especially violent and gruesome, sending many settlers fleeing back to the Netherlands. The Beaver Wars of 1640-1701 occurred between the French and their Indian allies (Algonquian, Huron) and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The fierce fighting started over territory and fur trade dominance around the Great Lakes and ended with the signing of the Great Peace Treaty. Queen Anne's War Queen Anne’s War of 1702-1713 occurred between French and English colonists and their respective Indian allies on several fronts including Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland and Acadia. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Indians were not included in peace negotiations and lost much of their land. During the Tuscarora War (1711-1716), Tuscarora Indians burned North Carolina settlements and randomly killed colonists over treaty disputes. After two years of bloody fighting, North Carolina defeated the Indians with the help of the South Carolina militia.

[craftygardenerparadise]

How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation

The Indian Wars began the moment English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, when the settlers started an uneasy relationship with the Native Americans (or Indians) who had thrived on the land for thousands of years. At that time, millions of indigenous people had settled across North America in hundreds of different tribes. But between 1622 and the late 19th century, a series of wars and skirmishes known as the Indian Wars took place between American Indians and European settlers, mainly over land control. Colonial Period Indian Wars On March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked and killed colonists in eastern Virginia. Known as the Jamestown Massacre, the bloodbath gave the English government an excuse to justify their efforts to attack Native Americans and confiscate their land. In 1636, the Pequot War over trade expansion broke out between Pequot Indians and English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut. The colonists’ Indian allies joined them in battle and helped defeat the Pequot. A series of battles took place from 1636 to 1659 between New Netherlands settlers in New York and several Indian tribes (Lenape, Susquehannocks, Algonquians, Esopus). Some battles were especially violent and gruesome, sending many settlers fleeing back to the Netherlands. The Beaver Wars of 1640-1701 occurred between the French and their Indian allies (Algonquian, Huron) and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The fierce fighting started over territory and fur trade dominance around the Great Lakes and ended with the signing of the Great Peace Treaty. Queen Anne's War Queen Anne’s War of 1702-1713 occurred between French and English colonists and their respective Indian allies on several fronts including Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland and Acadia. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Indians were not included in peace negotiations and lost much of their land. During the Tuscarora War (1711-1715), Tuscarora Indians burned North Carolina settlements and randomly killed colonists over treaty disputes. After two years of bloody fighting, North Carolina defeated the Indians with the help of the South Carolina militia.

[fortunatelyghostlycomputer]

American-Indian Wars

The Indian Wars began the moment English colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, when the settlers started an uneasy relationship with the Native Americans (or Indians) who had thrived on the land for thousands of years. At that time, millions of indigenous people had settled across North America in hundreds of different tribes. But between 1622 and the late 19th century, a series of wars and skirmishes known as the Indian Wars took place between American Indians and European settlers, mainly over land control.Colonial Period Indian WarsOn March 22, 1622, Powhatan Indians attacked and killed colonists in eastern Virginia. Known as the Jamestown Massacre, the bloodbath gave the English government an excuse to justify their efforts to attack Native Americans and confiscate their land.In 1636, the Pequot War over trade expansion broke out between Pequot Indians and English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut. The colonists’ Indian allies joined them in battle and helped defeat the Pequot.A series of battles took place from 1636 to 1659 between New Netherlands settlers in New York and several Indian tribes (Lenape, Susquehannocks, Algonquians, Esopus). Some battles were especially violent and gruesome, sending many settlers fleeing back to the Netherlands.The Beaver Wars of 1640-1701 occurred between the French and their Indian allies (Algonquian, Huron) and the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The fierce fighting started over territory and fur trade dominance around the Great Lakes and ended with the signing of the Great Peace Treaty.Queen Anne's WarQueen Anne’s War of 1702-1713 occurred between French and English colonists and their respective Indian allies on several fronts including Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland and Acadia. The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Indians were not included in peace negotiations and lost much of their land.During the Tuscarora War (1711-1715), Tuscarora Indians burned North Carolina settlements and randomly killed colonists over treaty disputes. After two years of bloody fighting, North Carolina defeated the Indians with the help of the South Carolina militia.In 1715, Yamasee Indians—frustrated with the loss of their hunting grounds and the high debts they owed white settlers of South Carolina—formed a confederacy with other local tribes and forced many settlers to flee, devastating South Carolina’s economy.French and Indian WarAs France expanded into the Ohio River Valley from 1754 to 1763, it fought with Britain for control of North America. Both sides forged alliances with Indians to help fight their battles. Known as the French and Indian War, the struggle ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.In 1763, Pontiac Indians of the Ohio River became incensed upon learning King George III expected them to become British loyalists. During Pontiac's War, the Ottawa Chief Pontiac rallied support among other tribes and laid siege to Britain’s Fort Detroit. When a British retaliatory assault plan on Pontiac’s village was discovered, the Indians attacked and killed many British soldiers during the Battle of Bloody Run on July 31.The Battle of Fallen Timbers happened on August 20, 1794, along Ohio’s Maumee River between regional Indians (Miami, Shawnee, Lenape) and the United States. The well-trained U.S. Army decisively defeated the Indians and the battle ended with the adoption of the Treaty of Greenville.In 1759, a series of battles known as the Cherokee Wars began from the valleys of Virginia to North Carolina and southward. Two peace treaties forced the Cherokee to give up millions of acres of land to settlers, provoking them to fight for the British in the Revolutionary War, hoping to keep what land they had left.Early American Indian WarsIndians had to choose sides or try to stay neutral when the American Revolution broke out. Many tribes such as the Iroquois, Shawnee, Cherokee and Creek fought with British loyalists.