The Founding of New England Paperback – December 17, 2022

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeThis sweeping, historical account of the founding of New England is a study of not just the discovery and first settlement of the region in the early 17th century, but the genesis of the new religious and political ideas which there took root and flourished there.The first permanent English settlement in New England was established in 1620 by the Plymouth Company, which sent a group of Puritan separatists known as the Pilgrims to settle in the region. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in present-day Massachusetts and established the Plymouth Colony, which was followed by the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.The founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led by John Winthrop, were a group of non-separatist Puritans who sought to establish a religious utopia in New England. The Puritans who settled in New England were known for their strict religious beliefs and their strong sense of community. They established a government based on the rule of law and democracy, and they established schools, churches, and other institutions to support their community – and would go on to found the cities of Boston, Salem, and a number of other towns and settlements in the region.Geography shaped economic development, and New England was a major center of trade and commerce in the colonial period, and it played a significant role in the American Revolution as a major outlet for shipping and trade.This work outlined the rise of the New Order and the beginnings of that English overseas empire, of which it formed a part; and the early formulation of thought-on both sides of the Atlantic-regarding imperial problems. This is a must-read for any researcher or student of Colonial and Revolutionary American and British history.Chapters include detail on Staking Out Claims, The Race for Empire, Aspects of Puritanism, The First Permanent Settlement, New England and the Great Migration, An English Opposition Becomes a New England Oligarchy, The Growth of a Frontier, Attempts to Unify New England, Cross-Currents in the Confederacy, The Defeat of the Theocracy, The Theory of Empire, The Reassertion of Imperial Control, The Inevitable Conflict, Loss of the Massachusetts Charter, An Experiment in Administration, and The New Order.About the Author: James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian. He popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America; this seminal work on the Founding of New England won him the Pulitzer Prize. Read more