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| 3. Colonial History, 1641–1737 |
| a. New England |
| 1641 |
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| The Body of Liberties, a code of 100 laws, was established by the general court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. | 1 |
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| 1643, May 19 |
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| The New England Confederation was formed by Connecticut (Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield), New Haven, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay for purposes of defense. | 2 |
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| 1646 |
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| In Massachusetts, John Eliot began his missionary work among the Indians, translating the Bible into Massachusetts dialect, 1661–63. | 3 |
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| 1647 |
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| Christian and civil authorities intensified attacks on persons claiming to possess supernatural powers as healers and prophets. Over the next decade and a half, Massachusetts and Connecticut officials hanged 14 people, mainly women, for witchcraft. | 4 |
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| 1662 |
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| Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, kept throughout the colonial period and the constitution of the state until 1842. | 5 |
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| 1662 |
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| Puritan ministers initiated the “halfway covenant.” This policy allowed children of all baptized Puritans to become active members of the church and helped to concentrate power in the hands of certain established families. | 6 |
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| 1664 |
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| Union of Connecticut and New Haven, because of the latter's fear of annexation to New York. | 7 |
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| 1675–76 |
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| KING PHILIP'S WAR in New England. Displaced by European settlements and ravaged by disease, the population of New England's Native Americans dropped drastically, from 120,000 in 1570 to 12,000 in 1670. Metacom (called Philip by the Europeans), son of Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, believed only armed resistance could stop the European advance. In 1675, Metacom formed a military league comprising most of the Indians from Maine to Connecticut. Full-scale war ensued. Bitter fighting continued into 1676. Chief Canonchet of the Narragansetts was shot (April 1676). | 8 |
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| 1680 |
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| New Hampshire was separated from Massachusetts by royal charter. | 9 |
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| 1684 |
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| ANNULMENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS CHARTER. The independent course of Massachusetts had long irritated the crown. In 1679 Edward Randolph arrived in Boston as collector of the customs, bearing instructions for the colony to relinquish jurisdiction over New Hampshire, which authorities transformed into a royal colony. Friction continued, as did Randolph's complaints against the colony, until legal action in 1684 annulled the charter. | 10 |
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