According to Cotton Mather, what particular hardships did the colonists suffer?
UNDERSTAND, ANALYZE, & EVALUATE
1. According to Cotton Mather, what particular hardships did the colonists suffer?
2. What did Mather mean when he wrote that “now at last the devils [have descended] in person”?
3. What deeper explanation did Cotton Mather offer for New England’s crisis? What response did he suggest?
Source: Mather, Cotton, The Wonders of the Invisible Word. Boston, 1692, 41–43, 48; cited in Richard Godbeer, The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief Histor y with Documents. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 48–49.
40 • CHAPTER 2
(Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-32055])
THE RESTORATION COLONIES
For nearly thirty years after Lord Baltimore received the charter for Maryland in 1632, no new English colonies were established in America. England was dealing with troubles of its own at home.
The English Civil War After Charles I dissolved Parliament in 1629 and began ruling as an absolute monarch, he alienated a growing number of his subjects. Finally, desperately in need of money, Charles called Parliament back into session in 1640 and asked it to levy new taxes. But he antagonized the members by dismissing them twice in two years; and in 1642, members of Parliament organized a military force, sparking the English Civil War.
The conflict between the Cavaliers (the supporters of the king) and the Roundheads (the forces of Parliament, who were largely Puritans) lasted seven years. In 1649, the Roundheads defeated the king’s forces and shocked all of Europe by beheading the monarch. The stern Roundhead leader Oliver Cromwell assumed the position of “protector.” During his reign, Crowell looked westward to expand his influence. He authorized the ambitious Western Design—a vast expedition designed to wrest Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Hispaniola from the Spanish. He earnestly believed that God had called him to engage the Spanish and seize the land for England, but he met with uneven success.