Massachusetts Bay

(noun)

The Massachusetts Bay, also called Mass Bay, is one of the largest bays of the Atlantic Ocean and forms the distinctive shape of the coastline of the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

Related Terms

Examples of Massachusetts Bay in the following topics:

  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony

    • The Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded in the 17th century, included parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
    • The owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company founded the colony.
    • Two small proprietary colonies were set up in addition to Massachusetts Bay—one in New Hampshire and one in Maine.
    • Prior to the arrival of Europeans on the eastern shores of New England, the area around Massachusetts Bay was the territory of several Algonquian tribes, including the Massachusett, Nauset, and Wampanoag.
    • This map illustrates the early settlements in eastern Massachusetts, including the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

  • The Glorious Revolution in America

    • The Glorious Revolution led to the dissolution of the Dominion of New England and the establishment of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
    • He had revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684 after its Puritan rulers refused to act on his demands to streamline the administration of the small colonies and bring them more closely under the crown's control.
    • The Dominion consisted of the Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island colonies.
    • The Massachusetts agents then petitioned the new monarchs and the Lords of Trade (who oversaw colonial affairs) for restoration of the Massachusetts charter.
    • The resulting Province of Massachusetts Bay, whose charter was issued in 1691 and began operating in 1692 under governor Sir William Phips, combined the territories of both colonies, along with the islands south of Cape Cod (Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands) that had been part of New York.

  • Settling New England

    • New England colonies included New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
    • The New England colonies included New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
    • The promoters of the Massachusetts Bay Colony contributed 200 thousand British pounds to its founding.
    • That war kept Charles I from suppressing the Bay Colony and its government became a model for the other colonies.
    • Connecticut, too, was formed as a migration from the Massachusetts colony.

  • An Emerging Colonial System

    • The colonies were: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
    • The Dominion of New England was created in 1685 by a decree from King James II that consolidated Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Province of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey into a single larger colony.
    • Maine was officially merged into Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.
    • Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

  • Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine

    • The designation of colonial New England included colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
    • New Hampshire was not truly a separate province from Massachusetts until after 1691.
    • Connecticut was formed as a migration from the Massachusetts colony.
    • Like Rhode Island, this colony's history in this century is bound to that of Massachusetts, in the Confederation.

  • Rhode Island

    • When dissenters, including Puritan minister Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, challenged Governor Winthrop in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s, they were banished.
    • Anne Hutchinson also ran afoul of Puritan authorities for her criticism of the evolving religious practices in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
    • In Massachusetts, Governor Winthrop noted her death as the righteous judgment of God against a heretic.
    • Rhode Island became a colony that sheltered dissenting Puritans from their brethren in Massachusetts.
    • A map of the colony of Rhode Island, with the adjacent parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay.

  • The Coming of the English

    • In August of 1576, he landed at Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island.
    • In 1578, he reached the shores of Greenland and made an unsuccessful attempt at founding a settlement in Frobisher Bay.
    • The colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
    • The Puritans (a much larger group than the Pilgrims) established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with 400 settlers.
    • By 1640, 20,000 settlers had arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

  • The Dominion of New England

    • The Dominion of New England in North America was an administrative union of English colonies, including the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, the Province of Maine, and the Narragansett Country (present-day Washington County, Rhode Island).
    • The Dominion at this time consisted of the Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island colonies.
    • Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed governance under their earlier charters, and Massachusetts resumed governance according to its vacated charter after being temporarily governed by a committee composed of magistrates, Massachusetts Bay officials, and a majority of Andros' council.
    • Plymouth had never had a royal charter, and Massachusetts had been legally vacated.
    • The resulting Province of Massachusetts Bay, whose charter was issued in 1691 and began operating in 1692 under governor Sir William Phips, combined the territories of both colonies, along with the islands south of Cape Cod (Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands) that had previously been part of New York.

  • English Colonies

    • The colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
    • The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established in 1607 near Chesapeake Bay.
    • One group sailed on the Mayflower and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.
    • The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with 400 settlers.
    • The Massachusetts settlement spawned other Puritan colonies in New England, including the New Haven, Saybrook, and Connecticut colonies.

  • Puritanism

    • Particularly in the years after 1630, Puritans left for New England, supporting the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other settlements.
    • The term Great Migration usually refers to the migration in this period of English settlers, primarily Puritans to Massachusetts and the warm islands of the West Indies.
    • The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the most active of the New England persecutors of Quakers, and the persecuting spirit was shared by the Plymouth Colony and the colonies along the Connecticut River .
    • Quakers were brutally expelled from Massachusetts, but they were welcomed in Rhode Island .