Colonizing the Bay - Warren Hills Regional School District

[Pages:7]Colonizing the Bay

John Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" was delivered as a sermon aboard the Arabella, as the Puritans approached their destination of Massachusetts Bay in 1630. It is a powerful speech outlining some key tenets of the Puritans' beliefs, as well as Winthrop's ideas of what the Puritans needed to do to build a successful community in the land they were entering. The speech, often referred to by its "City upon a Hill" metaphor, spells out his vision of the society they hoped to create and how they must act if they were to succeed in the eyes of God. The sermon sought to inspire and to motivate the Puritans by pointing out the distance between an ideal community and their real-world situation. It is a speech that American political leaders still quote.

Why would a large number of English people leave their country and homes for a destination far across the Atlantic Ocean? From 1630 to 1641, approximately 13,000 Puritans left England for New England ? WHY? They followed the migration of the Pilgrims, who arrived in 1620, and an advance party of Puritans who went to Salem in 1629. But the first mass exodus occurred in 1630, when Governor John Winthrop led a fleet of ships from England to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony. King Charles I issued a charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company that would serve as the colony's constitution, in other words, its framework of government.

This lesson focuses on the content of Winthrop's speech and how it illuminates the Puritans' beliefs, goals, and programs. It requires a close reading of a difficult text ? but one that yields significant benefits to those who persist and analyze it closely.

Guiding Questions

What does John Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" sermon explain about the beliefs and goals of the Puritans? What type of society did he hope to create and how? What were the consequences if they did not succeed?

Activity 1. Why leave England?

Prior to analyzing some key excerpts from Winthrop's "City Upon a Hill" speech, we will examine an essay written (and probably plagiarized) by Winthrop in 1629 entitled "Reasons for the Plantation in New England." Scholars believe that John Winthrop authored this document as a justification for the colonization of New England as well as a defense against those who criticized the Puritans' departure from England.

We will read "Reasons for the Plantation in New England" to determine the major reasons Puritans wanted to immigrate to New England. Working in groups, you and I will analyze the nine different reasons, and three of the "objections" that were raised and answered. I will read each of the reasons and you will work in groups to "mark up" the reason (i.e. Marginalia). I will model the analysis of the first excerpt, and you will be responsible for the remaining eight (which will be discussed one at a time). After marking up the text, your group is to work together to complete the Group Work page following the text.

Student Worksheet for Activity One: Why Leave England?

For each of the seven (7) reasons given below, explain the reason in your own words.

Reasons to be considered for justifying the undertakers of the intended Plantation in New England, and for encouraging such whose hearts God shall move to join with them in it.

1. It will be a service to the Church of great consequence to carry the Gospel into those parts of the world, to help on the fullness of the coming of the Gentiles, and to raise a bulwark against the kingdom of AnteChrist, which the Jesuits labor to rear up in those parts.

2. All other Churches of Europe are brought to desolation, and our sins, for which the Lord begins already to frown upon us and to cut us short, do threaten evil times to be coming upon us, and who knows, but that God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the general calamity, and seeing the Church hath no place left to fly into but the wilderness, what better work can there be, than to go and provide tabernacles and food for her when she be restored.

3. This England grows weary of her inhabitants, so as Man, who is the most precious of all creatures, is here more vile and base than the earth we tread upon, and of less price among us than a horse or a sheep. Masters are forced by authority to entertain servants, parents to maintain their own children, all towns complain of their burden to maintain their poor, though we have taken up many unnecessary, yea unlawful, trades to maintain them. We use the authority of the Law to hinder the increase of our people, as by urging the statute against cottages and inmates -- and thus it is come to pass, that children, servants and neighbors, especially if they be poor, are counted the greatest burdens, which if things were right would be the chiefest earthly blessings.

4. The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and He hath given it to mankind with a general commission (Gen. 1:28) to increase and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it, which was again renewed to Noah. The end is double and natural, that Mankind might enjoy the fruits of the earth, and God might have His due Glory from His creatures. Why then should one strive here for places of habitation, at such a cost as would obtain better land in another country, and at the same time suffer a whole continent as fruitful and convenient for the use of man to lie waste without any improvement?

5. We are grown to that height of intemperance in all excess of riot that as no man's estate, almost, will suffice to keep sail with his equals. He who fails herein must live in scorn and contempt. Hence it comes that all arts and trades are carried on in that deceitful and unrighteous course, so that it is almost impossible for a good and upright man to maintain his charge and live comfortably in any of them.

6. The fountains of learning and religion are so corrupted that most children (besides the unsupportable charge of their education) are perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil examples and the licentious government of those seminaries, where men strain at gnats and swallow camels, and use all severity for maintenance of caps and like accomplishments, but suffer all ruffianlike fashions and disorder in manners to pass uncontrolled.

7. What can be a better work, and more honorable and worthy of a Christian than to help rise and support a particular church while it is in its infancy, and to join his forces with such a company of faithful people, as by a timely assistance may grow strong and prosper, when for want of such help may be put to great hazard, if not wholly ruined.

8. If any such as are known to be Godly and live in all wealth and prosperity here, and shall forsake all this to join themselves with this Church and to run a hazard with them of a hard and mean condition, it will be an example of great use both for removing the scandal of worldly and sinister respects which is cast upon the Adventurer, to give more life to the faith of God's people in their prayers for the Plantation, and to encourage others to join the more willingly in it.

9. It appears to be a work of God for the good of His Church, in that He hath disposed the hearts of so many of His wise and faithful servants, both ministers and others, not only to approve of the enterprise but to interest themselves in it, some in their persons and estates, and others by their serious advice and help otherwise, and all by their prayers for the welfare of it. (Amos 3:) The Lord revealed his secret to His servants, the prophets, and it is likely He hath some great work in hand which He hath revealed to His prophets among us, whom He hath stirred up to encourage His servants to this Plantation, for He doth not use to seduce His people by His own prophets, but committeth that office to the ministry of false prophets and lying spirits.

Below are three (3) of the ten (10) objections that are raised, which provide more insights into why the Puritans believed they should go to New England. For each of the objections explain the reason in your own words

Diverse objections which have been made against this Plantation, with their answers and resolutions:

Objection I -- We have no warrant to enter upon that land, which has been so long possessed by others.

Answer I -- That which lies common, and has never been replenished or subdued, is free to any that possess and improve it; for God hath given to the sons of men a double right to the earth -- there is a natural right and a civil right. The first right was natural when men held the earth in common, every man sowing and feeding where he pleased. Then as men and their cattle increased, they appropriated certain parcels of ground by enclosing and peculiar cultivation, and this in time got them a civil right ... As for the natives in New England, they enclose no land, neither have they any settled habitation, nor any tame cattle to improve the land by, and so have no other but a natural right to those countries. So if we leave them sufficient for their own use, we may lawfully take the rest, there being more than enough for them and for us.

God hath consumed the natives with a great plague in those parts, so as there be few inhabitants left.

Objection II -- It will be a great wrong to our Church and Country to take away the good people, and we shall lay it the more open to the judgment feared.

Answer II -- ... It is the revealed will of God that the Gospel shall be preached in all nations, and though we know not whether those barbarians will receive it at first or not, yet it is a good work to serve God's providence in offering it to them.

Objection IV -- The ill success of the other Plantations may tell us what will become of this.

Answer IV -- None of the former sustained any great damage but Virginia, which happened there through their own sloth and poor security.

There are great and fundamental errors in the former which are likely to be avoided in this, for:

1. their main end was carnal and not religious; 2. they used unfit instruments -- a multitude of rude and

misgoverned persons, the very scum of the land; 3. they did not establish a right form of government.

Group Work: Discussion/follow-up/summary question ? Based on your reading of the document (and without any further research) speculate on what might be the most critical reasons for going? Why?

? Create a list of the "most" to "least" important reasons for the migration. (This excludes the "Objection/Answer" portion of Winthrop's speech).

List of Reasons for Migration to New England

Most important 1. ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. ____________________________________________________________________________ 4. ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. ____________________________________________________________________________ 7. ____________________________________________________________________________ 8. ____________________________________________________________________________ 9. ____________________________________________________________________________

Least important

Activity 2. John Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" (aka "City Upon a Hill") Speech

1. Focusing on only the last two paragraphs of Winthrop's speech, we will read the first sentence and try to figure out what it is saying.

2. In the next five sentences, Winthrop offers specific suggestions of how the Puritans can succeed; let's read and attempt to explain all of Winthrop's suggestions in our own words. (i.e. I will read, and your group will attempt to paraphrase.)

3. The next three sentences offer "proof," in Winthrop's words, of how the Puritans will know that they are being successful (starting with "So shall we keep the unity ...") ,as I read, you should create three "bullet points" from the "evidence" that Winthrop pinpoints.

4. The next part of the speech has become an ageless metaphor for America. 5. In groups, read and annotate the last paragraph of the speech considering the following questions:

Why did Winthrop quote Moses? What was he predicting would happen if they followed Moses' advice? What was the alternative, if they did not?

1. Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God.

2. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others' necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body.

3. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may the Lord make it like that of New England."

4. For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

5. And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. "Beloved, there is now set before us life and death, good and evil," in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

Therefore let us choose life, that we and our seed may live, by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity.

Historical Context

The term "New England" was first used by John Smith before any English settlers had even reached North America. The Puritans' charter from King Charles, creating a typical joint stock company, was issued to the Massachusetts Bay Company, although it did not specify the exact location in North America where they would settle. It was used as the colony's framework of government when they arrived in 1630, with different parts of the large fleet settling in several small communities around Massachusetts Bay. Each town was formed around a minister and a magistrate. The Puritans had demanded a fuller reformation of the Church of England. They were being persecuted for their beliefs and their protests against the corruption they saw in the Church of England. By fleeing England they hoped to escape the divine wrath that threatened England and create the kind of churches that God demanded in New England.

The Puritans did not arrive in an unoccupied world, however. The Algonquian population had recently suffered a dramatic decline caused by their contact with Europeans and their deadly contagious diseases, which led to a series of epidemics among the natives. The English, accustomed to seeing signs of God's providence throughout the natural world, viewed this plague as evidence of God's desire for them to build their colony.

Winthrop's speech addresses the dual concerns of the Puritans as they arrive in this new land: the fact that they have left England for a potentially hostile, unwelcoming terrain, and the idea that they are there to fulfill their mission. He is exhorting his fellow Puritans to see their endeavor as a tremendous opportunity to do God's work, while cautioning them of the dangers with which it is fraught. As such, it is a good example of the Puritans' notion of a covenant, or agreement, of how they believed they must act in order to retain God's favor and be successful in their work.

New England settlers also intended to continue their familiar agricultural practices; soon they were raising livestock and grains. They established a successful trade in grain, lumber, and fish with the West Indies. Their economic success ultimately led to a shifting of emphasis away from religious matters and greater attention to material prosperity ? much to Winthrop's dismay. Economic considerations, religious persecution in England, and the desire to establish a community based on their religious ideals were important motivating forces in the settlement of New England.

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