The 17th century in England was a period of huge political and social upheaval. From an age characterized by the Crown’s tight control of the state, the century witnessed years of war, terror and bloodshed that enveloped the kingdom, as well as the execution of Charles I and the introduction of a republic. America in the 1600s was a collection of newly established settlements and long-established Native American tribes and nations. This century would see the start of many conflicts between European colonists and Native Americans and a number of firsts that became the start of a nation.
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King Charles Delivers the ‘Answer to the Nineteen Propositions’ to Parliament
Two of Charles I advisers drafted and persuaded the king to issue a document, His Majesty’s Answer to the Nineteen Propositions of Both Houses of Parliament, in which the king, eager to dismiss his image as a monarch, declared that England was a mixed government and not a condescending monarchy. The Answer was a critical turning point in constitutional history because in it the king proclaimed that ...
Massachusetts Passes the First Education Law
Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first law in the New World requiring that children be taught to read and write. The Massachusetts School Laws were three legislative acts of 1642, 1647 and 1648 enacted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with he most famous by far, the law of 1647, also known as the Old Deluder Satan Law (after the law's first sentence). The English Puritans who ...
Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven
THE 4th day of the 4th month, called June, 1639, all the free planters assembled together in a general meeting, to consult about settling civil government, according to GOD, and the nomination of persons that might be found, by consent of all, fittest in all respects for the foundation work of a church, which was intended to be gathered in Quinipiack. After solemn invocation of the ...
John Lilburne was Arrested for Printing and Circulating ‘Unlicensed Books’ Critical of the King Charles I’s Monarchy
In 1638, John Lilburne was arrested upon his return from Holland and put on secret trial by the Star Chamber of Charles I. His crime? The writing and distribution of seditious pamphlets that skewered the legitimacy of the monarchy and challenged the primacy of the high prelates of the Church of England. He was promptly convicted of publishing writing of “dangerous consequence and evil effect.” For ...
Harvard College is Founded as a Religious School to Train Clergy in the Christian Faith
Only eighteen years after the Pilgrims landed in the New World, Harvard College, the first of the Ivy League schools, was established for the sake of educating the clergy and raising up a Christian academic institution to meet the needs of perpetuating the Christian faith. All of the Ivy League schools were established by Christians for the sake of advancing Christianity and meeting the academic needs ...
Rev. John Lothropp Arrives in Boston, Massachusetts
John Lathrop was born December 20, 1584 in Etton, Yorkshire, England. It is said the ancestral home of the Lathrop family is Lowthrope, England. He was baptized in Etton, Yorkshire England December 20, 1584 and died in Barnstable, Mass November 8, 1653. The name was sometimes written Lathrop, other times Lothrop and originated in the town of Lowthrope, England. John Lathrop was born in Yorkshire England. He ...
Galileo Convicted of Heresy for Teaching the Heliocentric System of the Earth Revolving Around the Sun
Despite the considerable evidence that the Bible provided the necessary intellectual basis for science, atheists often claim that, historically, science and religion have been at war. For centuries, they say, the church opposed the advancement of science and human progress in general. When asked for evidence in support of this view, they usually cite the ‘Galileo affair’. Few, however, know what really happened, and many historians ...
The ‘Petition of Right’ Approved by King Charles I in England
The Petition of Right (see document) is a statement of the objectives of the 1628 English legal reform movement that led to the Civil War and deposing of Charles I in 1649. One of England's most famous Constitutional documents, it expresses many of the ideals that later led to the American Revolution. It was written by Parliament as an objection to an overreach of authority by King ...
The Second Thanksgiving: Governor Bradford Proclaims November 29 a Day of Thanksgiving
In 1623, a period of drought was answered by colonists with a proclamation of prayer and fasting. This prayer and fasting was changed to another thanksgiving celebration when rains came during the prayers. Later that year, Governor Bradford proclaimed November 29 as a time for pilgrims to gather and give thanks. “Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian ...
Richard Frethorne’s Letter to His Parents
Richard Frethorne, perhaps little more than a boy when he arrived, was an indentured servant in Virginia for two years before his death there in 1624. Loving and kind father and mother, my most humble duty remembered to you, hoping in God of your good health. . . . This is to let you understand that I, your child, am in a most heavy case by ...
