page_title: History of New England
section_title: Rhode Island and Connecticut
hierarchical_section_title: History of New England / Colonial era / Rhode Island and Connecticut
caption_attribution_description: English: Town lines and Boundaries as they appeared in 1700. New Hampshire has 6 towns, Rhode Island 9, Connecticut 31, Massachusetts Bay, including plymouth and maine, 89
context_page_description: The history of New England pertains to the New England region of the United States. New England is the oldest clearly defined region of the United States, and it predates the American Revolution by more than 150 years. The English Pilgrims were Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England who established the Plymouth Colony in 1620, the first colony in New England and the second in America. A large influx of Puritans populated the greater region during the Puritan migration to New England, largely in the Boston and Salem area. Farming, fishing, and lumbering prospered, as did whaling and sea trading.
  New England writers and events in the region helped launch and sustain the American War of Independence, which began when fighting erupted between British troops and Massachusetts militia in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The region later became a stronghold of the conservative Federalist Party.
  By the 1840s, New England was the center of the American anti-slavery movement and was the leading force in American literature and higher education. It was at the center of the Industrial Revolution in America, with many textile mills and machine shops operating by 1830.
context_section_description: Roger Williams preached religious toleration, separation of Church and State, and a complete break from the Church of England. He was banished from Massachusetts for his theological views and led a group south to found Providence Plantations in 1636. It merged with other settlements to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which became a haven for Baptists, Quakers, Jews, and others, including Anne Hutchinson who had been banished during the Antinomian Controversy.
  On March 3, 1636, the Connecticut Colony was granted a charter and established its own government, absorbing the nearby New Haven Colony. Vermont was still unsettled, and the territories of New Hampshire and Maine were governed by Massachusetts.
caption: Incorporated Towns in New England as they appeared around 1700
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