Massachusetts

===Colonial period===

{{Main|Mayflower Compact|Plymouth Colony|Massachusetts Bay Colony|New England Confederation|Dominion of New England|Province of Massachusetts Bay}}

In the early 1600s, [[European diaspora|European colonizers]] caused [[virgin soil epidemic]]s such as [[smallpox]], [[measles]], [[influenza]], and perhaps [[leptospirosis]] in what is now known as the [[northeastern United States|northeastern region]] of the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoxie |first=Frederick E |title=Encyclopedia of North American Indians |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1996 |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi/page/164 164] |isbn=978-0-395-66921-1 |oclc=34669430 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofno00hoxi |url-access=registration |access-date=July 30, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.3201/e0di1602.090276 |last1=Marr |first1=JS |last2=Cathey |first2=JT |title=New hypothesis for cause of an epidemic among Native Americans, New England, 1616–1619 |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |date=February 2010 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=281–286|pmid=20113559 |pmc=2957993 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Between 1617 and 1619, what was most likely [[smallpox]] killed approximately 90% of the [[Massachusetts Bay]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Smallpox: The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge|last=Kaplow|first=David|publisher=University of California Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0520242203|page=13}}</ref>[[File:Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, by William Halsall.jpg|thumb|The [[Mayflower]] ''in Plymouth Harbor'' by [[William Halsall]] (1882). The [[Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] founded [[Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth]] in 1620.|left]]

The first English colonizers in Massachusetts Bay Colony landed with Richard Vines and wintered over in Biddeford Pool near Cape Porpoise (after 1820 the State of Maine) in 1616. The [[Puritans]], arrived at [[Plymouth, Massachusetts|Plymouth]] in 1620. This was the second permanent [[British colonization of the Americas|English colony]] in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown Colony]]. The [[Thanksgiving (United States)|"First Thanksgiving"]] was celebrated by the Puritans after their first harvest in the "[[New World]]" and lasted for three days. They were soon followed by other Puritans, who colonized the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]—now known as Boston—in 1630.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=30}}

The Puritans believed the [[Church of England]] needed to be further [[Reformation|reformed]] along [[Protestant]] [[Calvinist]] lines, and experienced harassment due to the religious policies of [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] and high-ranking churchmen such as [[William Laud]], who would become Charles's [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], whom they feared were re-introducing [[Ritualism in the Church of England|"Romish"]] elements to the national church.<ref name=puritans>{{cite web |title=The New England Colonies |url=http://www.ushistory.org/us/3.asp |publisher=ushistory.org |access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> They decided to colonize to Massachusetts, intending to establish what they considered an "ideal" religious society.{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=29}} The [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] was colonized under a royal charter, unlike the Plymouth colony, in 1629.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charter Of Massachusetts Bay 1629 |url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/charter-of-massachusetts-bay-1629.php |publisher=let.rug.nl |access-date=April 24, 2015}}</ref> Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded, shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, elsewhere in New England. The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as [[Anne Hutchinson]] and [[Roger Williams]] due to religious and political conflict. In 1636, Williams colonized what is now known as [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]], and Hutchinson joined him there several years later. Religious intolerance continued, and among those who objected to this later that century were the English Quaker preachers [[Alice Curwen|Alice and Thomas Curwen]], who were publicly flogged and imprisoned in Boston in 1676.<ref>Michael Mullett: "Curwen, Thomas ({{circa|1610–1680}})", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6968 Retrieved 17 November 2015]</ref>{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=30–32}}

By 1641, Massachusetts had expanded inland significantly. The Commonwealth acquired the [[Connecticut River|Connecticut River Valley]] settlement of [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]], which had recently disputed with—and defected from—its original administrators, the [[Connecticut Colony]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Barrows |first=Charles Henry |title=The History of Springfield in Massachusetts for the Young: Being Also in Some Part the History of Other Towns and Cities in the County of Hampden |publisher=The Connecticut Valley Historical Society |year=1911 |pages=46–48 |id=US 13459.5.7}}</ref> This established Massachusetts's southern border in the west.<ref>[http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html William Pynchon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921185345/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/pynchon.html |date=September 21, 2013 }}. Bio.umass.edu. Retrieved September 7, 2013.</ref> However, this became disputed territory until 1803–04 due to surveying problems, leading to the modern [[Southwick Jog]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Connecticut's "Southwick Jog" |url=http://www.ctstatelibrary.org/subjectguides/connecticuts-southwick-jog |publisher=Connecticut State Library |access-date=June 10, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Eliot_Bible.jpg|left|thumb|280x280px|The ''[[Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God]]'' (cover page shown), also called the ''[[Eliot Indian Bible]]'', was the first Bible printed in British North America.]]
In 1652 the [[Massachusetts General Court]] authorized Boston silversmith [[John Hull (merchant)|John Hull]] to produce [[pine tree shilling|local coinage]] in shilling, sixpence and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in the colony.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=499}}</ref> Before that point, the colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and counterfeit coins.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=Hermann F. |year=1937 |title=John Hull: Mintmaster |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=669;673 |doi=10.2307/359931 |jstor=359931}}</ref> In 1661, shortly after the [[Stuart Restoration|restoration of the British monarchy]], the British government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=500}}</ref> However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract as mintmaster expired, and the colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mintmaster.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=514}}</ref> The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684.<ref>{{Harvnb|Barth|2014|p=520}}</ref>

In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day [[Maine]], which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and [[Province of New York|New York]]) into the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]].{{sfn|Goldfield|Abbott|Anderson|Argersinger|1998|p=66}} Shortly after, the new province's first governor, [[William Phips]], arrived. The [[Salem witch trials]] also took place, where a number of men and women were hanged for alleged [[witchcraft]].{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=50}}

The [[1755 Cape Ann earthquake|most destructive earthquake]] known to date in [[New England]] occurred on November 18, 1755, causing considerable damage across Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite news|last=Perley |first=Sidney |agency=[[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] |title=Historic Earthquakes |publisher=Earthquake Hazards Program |date=April 18, 2014 |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1755_11_18_hs.php |access-date=February 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110190706/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1755_11_18_hs.php |archive-date=November 10, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Memorandum |newspaper=[[Boston Gazette]] |date=November 24, 1755 |page=1}}</ref>