Leisler's Rebellion In The 17th Century Essay

Separating from England to create a new place to live was a tough thing to do for colonist in the early 17th century. With no laws or rules in place, many social and political problems occurred throughout the colonies and became a severe crisis quickly. The social problems in the English colonies occurred through many people “rich and poor, free and slave, settler and Indian, and members of different religious groups” (88). Although these problems began as just local problems, they grew to become a crisis throughout all colonies that would become the United States. One of the bloodiest and most bitter conflicts that occurred was located in southern New England. “In 1675, an Indian alliance launched attacks on farms and settlements that were

encroaching on Indian lands” (88). Although at this time, the white population considerable outnumbered the Indians, the Indians had leader known to the colonies as King Philip was an uprising mastermind. “By 1676, Indian forced had attacked nearly half of New England’s ninety towns, twelve were destroyed in Massachusetts. This uprising was considered one of the bloodiest battles because about 4,000 settlers perished in the fighting (89). However, soon the tide of the battle turned and numerous counterattacks broke the Indians power once and for all.

This battle affected the colonies’ inhabitants greatly, but also unified many colonies and loyal Indian tribes to help rebuild and solidify life in the colonies. In the long run, King Philip’s wars produced a broadening freedom for white New Englanders by expanding their access to land. With many Indian tribes on the colonies sides and the expanding of land in the new world, colonies soon looked upon England as the next battle of freedom and dominance. England was determined to overthrow the liberty of Englishmen in the colonies and enacted a Bill of Rights over England to take power such as control over taxation as well as rights of individuals, including trial by jury (106). British policies began to make way to the colonies during the Glorious Revolution. The Glorious Revolution in America exposed fault lines in colonial society and offered local elites an opportunity to regain authority that had recently been challenged (106). Since then, the colonies had governed themselves, however, England established the Lords of Trade to oversee colonial affairs. When the saw that Massachusetts was not complying with the Navigation Act, which was passed by the English parliament to control colonial trade, the Massachusetts Government pointed out the flaw that “The colonies had no representatives in parliament, therefore, the acts did not apply unless the Governor approved” (106). England decided to, in order to raise money for England, to combined eight colonies into one super colony known as The Dominance of New England. This event showed the American Colonies that England, under James II rule, the country was an enemy of freedom (107). In New England, Andros was appointing local officials in place of elected ones, imposed taxes without approval, and enforced religious toleration for all protestants. These actions not only threatened English liberties, but the church-state relationships as well. With news of the overthrow of James II, rebellions in several colonies erupted and militias jailed Andros to reestablish the governments of the colonies (107). After Maryland’s Protestant Association overthrew the colonies Catholic proprietor, they “Established a new, protestant dominated government, where Catholics could practice their faith, but were not allowed to vote or hold office in any position” (107). These events helped to put an end to the history of religious toleration in 17th century Maryland.

The outcome of the Leisler’s Rebellion in New York was far different.

Although it was not his intention, Leisler’s regime divided the colony along the ethnic and economic line where the Dutch took this as an opportunity to reclaim local power after English rule for 20 years. However, Many Dutch merchants believed Leisler was a tyrant and dictator and therefore he along with this regime was imprisoned and executed. He was hanged and then had his head cut off and his body cut into pieces to reflect the deep hatred of his rebellion. Generations went by where rivals between the Leisler and anti-Liesler parties polarized New York politics (108). Many changes came in New England with Edmund Andros gone and the colonies tried to restore their charters with London. London soon decided to transform the political structure of the Bible Commonwealth. The Governor was now appointed rather than elected, thus Massachusetts became a royal colony. Therefore, it was required to abide by the English Toleration Act of 1690 which spoke to allow all Protestants to worship freely (108). These events produced an atmosphere of considerable tension in Massachusetts creating raids by French troops and Indian allies. Religious toleration created anxieties among the Puritan clergy, who considered other Protestant denominations a form of heresy. These religious attacks served as a huge social issue within the colonies and affected how they

lived.

Of all the social and political problems that occurred in the colonies, the belief in magic, astrology, and witchcraft was highly common and was widespread in the 17th century.

Many Puritans believed in supernatural interventions in the clergy and churches. They interpreted these as expressions of God’s will such events as lightning that struck one house but spared another, and epidemics that reduced the population of their Indian enemies (108). Witches were usually woman, who were accused of entering into a pact with the devil to obtain supernatural powers, which they then used to harm others. In Europe and the colonies, witchcraft was punishable by execution. “It is estimated that between the years of 1400 and 1800, over 50,000 people were executed in Europe for being accused of witchcraft” (109). Until 1692, the prosecutions of witches were local and sporadic, but over the years, many trials took place in the town Salem that made its name by its fanaticism and persecutions. This event started in 1691 when a group of young girls, including the head pastor’s daughter suffered from hallucinations and nightmares that were believed to be caused by witchcraft. Many people in Salem were accused of witchcraft and in the end, 14 women and five men were executed. Luckily, after word got out of this major trial, the governor of Massachusetts ordered that the remaining prisoners would be set free, while the clergymen of Salem named Increase Mather created an influential treatise,

Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits (110). This warned others that juries should not take seriously either the testimonies of those who claimed to be possessed or the confessions and accusations of persons facing execution.

With all of the social and political problems that the English colonies faced during the 17th century, it was seen that they all had some sort of effect on how the colonies lived and diversified amongst each other. Although in the same time period, the colonies all faced the challenges of the new world in different ways and experienced problems that altered their way of inhabiting. With the rebellions that erupted, the attacks by Indians and other cultures, and the inconsistent accusations and laws that surrounded all the colonies, many people suffered in some form. In my opinion, the crisis that had the most dramatic effect on the colonies and the greatest long-term effects was the witch trials that occurred in Salem and other colonies in America. The colonies faced many attacks from other countries already in America and the Indians since they first arrived and it was not a surprise or disbelief that wars and attacks were going to happen when venturing into new land. Rebellions happened in Europe and towards the European rule and became an issue that colonist new was prominent and possible. Although witchcraft was around for many centuries and happened in England and the colonies, it had the greatest impact as a whole and in the long run. Over 50,000 people were affected by false accusations in a span of over 400 years. It corrupted the court systems and made the colonies have to rethink what type of evidence were factual and helpful towards a case. Wars are still around today, but if witchcraft was still around today, our judicial system would be a lot different and a lot less trustworthy than how it is now. America today, is grateful for the way this issue was handled and has led to our laws and governmental system to be more concreate in accusations with criminal activity.