A description of religious strife and factions in the 17th Century. Provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the Puritans, their life and culture, as they migrate to America and establish themselves in New England.

The Puritans came to the New World in search of religious freedom. This National Humanities Center article tells what they did with that freedom. Site also offers topics for discussion with students.

An overview of the Puritans who facing religious persecution in England set sail for the New World establishing the colony at Plymouth.

An overview of the Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the New Haven Colony and Rhode Island. The internal and external struggles with these colonies is discussed including the Salem Witch Trials, King Philip's War,...

Resource study of the Bill of Rights examines governance by looking at three cases in history for comparison to analyze the concepts of theocracy and democracy in governing. Includes questions for discussion and small group activity.

This National Humanities Center site from the University of Delaware discusses family life, childrearing, and the importance of religion in colonial America as written about in various books.

A detailed explanation of the complex debate between John Cotton and Roger Williams about religious and civil liberty.

Mary Dyer was on a spiritual quest to Boston, to Portsmouth, to Newport, and to the northwest coast of England, where she became an ardent member of a new religion - a Quaker, or a member of the Society of Friends. Determined to spread...

Encyclopedia Britannica provides a biography of Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643), the woman expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for "Traducing the ministers," of the Puritan Colony. She and other religious dissenters founded Rhode Island.

Overview provides a description of Puritan beliefs and religion.

History paper provides a general overview of the northern, middle, and southern colonies highlighting their differences in religion, economics, and social issues.

This article on the Salem Witchcraft Trials describes the people and events that led to the hanging of 19 people in 1692.

Basic biographical information about Anne Bradstreet, one of the first poets to write English verse in the American colonies. Content includes two of her poems: "The Prologue" and "To My Dear and Loving Husband."

Resource in which the author helps us understand Evangelicalism as a religious movement as well as a social movement that ultimately helped transfom American society. Links to online resources.

America was not always the "Land of Liberty." In the 1630s, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, questioning Puritan dogma could bring you a world of trouble. It could get you shunned, it could get you ex-communicated, it could even get you...