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 …
1600s
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 …
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 …
John Lilburne was Arrested for Printing and Circulating ‘Unlicensed Books’ Critical of the King Charles I’s Monarchy
On December 11, 1637, John Lilburne was arrested upon his return from Holland and put on secret trial by the Star Chamber of Charles I. …
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 …
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 …
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,1 atheists often claim that, historically, science and religion have been at …
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 …
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 …
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 …