Plymouth

(noun)

An English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691, first surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and at its height, it occupied most of the southeastern portion of the modern state of Massachusetts.

Related Terms

Examples of Plymouth in the following topics:

  • The Habit of Self-Government

    • In a self-governing colony such as Plymouth, elected rulers make most decisions without referring to the imperial power that nominally controls the colony.
    • This type of government was seen in Plymouth Colony between 1630 and 1684.
    • The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony.
    • In Plymouth's form of self-government, the colony was led by a governor and local legislature elected by a local oligarchy; the governor was appointed by the colonial power rather than the English Crown.
    • In 1620, the Mayflower Compact became the first governing document of Plymouth Colony.

  • Plymouth

    • The Puritans founded Plymouth in order to practice their own brand of Protestantism without interference from England.
    • Therefore, in 1620, the Pilgrims moved on to found the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts.
    • The governor of Plymouth, William Bradford, was a separatist, a proponent of complete separation from the English state church.
    • Different labor systems in Plymouth and other Puritan New England colonies distinguished them from the Chesapeake colonies to the south.
    • In their first winter in the new land, over half of the population of Plymouth died of scurvy and harsh conditions.

  • Conclusion: Growth and Development of the Colonies

    • Another stream, this one of pious Puritan families, sought to live as they believed scripture demanded and established the Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Haven, Connecticut, and Rhode Island colonies of New England.
    • After Roanoke Colony failed in 1587, the English found more success with the founding of Jamestown in 1607 and Plymouth in 1620.
    • The Virginia Company of London founded Jamestown with the express purpose of making money for its investors, while Puritans founded Plymouth to practice their own brand of Protestantism without interference.

  • 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).
    • Plymouth's relatively poor landowners were hard hit by the high rates on livestock.
    • The Puritans of Plymouth and Massachusetts, some of whom had extensive landholdings, were among the latter.
    • The dissolution of the Dominion presented legal problems for both Massachusetts and Plymouth.
    • Plymouth had never had a royal charter, and Massachusetts had been legally vacated.

  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony

    • In 1624, the Plymouth Council for New England established a small fishing village at Cape Ann.
    • The dominion collapsed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James, and the colony reverted to rule under the revoked charter until 1692, when the Massachusetts Bay territories combined with those of the Plymouth Colony and proprietary holdings on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
    • In 1621, the Wampanoag, led by Massasoit, concluded a peace treaty with the Pilgrims at Plymouth.
    • In the 1630s, the Puritans in Massachusetts and Plymouth allied themselves with the Narragansett and Mohegan people against the Pequot, who had recently expanded their claims into southern New England.

  • The Coming of the English

    • The Plymouth Company was given the northern portions, and the London Company was given the southern portions.
    • The Northern Plymouth settlement in Maine faltered and was abandoned.
    • This map illustrates the 1606 grants by James I to the London and Plymouth companies.

  • An Emerging Colonial System

    • 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.
    • Plymouth Colony was settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims.
    • Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

  • King Philip's War

    • When the governor of Plymouth Colony heard rumors that Metacom was planning to gather Native American tribes and attack colonial settlements, he was brought before a public court.
    • He was released when the court determined there was no proof, but when his advisor and interpreter Sassamon—who had reported on Metacom's intentions to the governor—was found murdered, the government of Plymouth Colony arrested and executed several Wompanoag men.
    • Philip was ultimately killed by one of these teams when he was tracked down by colony-allied Native Americans led by Captain Benjamin Church and Captain Josiah Standish of the Plymouth Colony militia at Mt.

  • The Glorious Revolution in America

    • The dissolution of the dominion presented legal problems for both Massachusetts and Plymouth.
    • Plymouth had never had a royal charter, and Massachusetts' had been legally vacated.

  • The Development of Holidays

    • The organization has led a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the name of social equality and in honor of political prisoners.