“Knowing the full picture can’t help but change who we think we are”
Indigenous enslavement in New England began with the Pequot War of 1636-37, when the Puritans enslaved thousands of captives in New England or sold them into slavery in the Caribbean. This portrait, long thought to be of Niantic leader Ninigret II, portrays Robin Cassacinamon, an important Pequot leader. Native American Sachem, accession number 48.246, courtesy of RISD/public domain.
In June 2025 we launched a challenge to our audience: answer the question, “Why is the 17th century important to New England?” Two months later, dozens of you had replied, in essays and survey responses.
We judged the results on the basis of their historical accuracy, eloquence and insight, awarding points on a graded basis. The answers were too good to yield just one winner, so we chose two, Karen Fitzpatrick and a writer who preferred to be anonymous. Honorable mentions went to Pam Borys, Meg Campbell, and Jenny. But everyone had something important to say.
Here’s a round up of the survey responses, together with the full submissions from the two winners.
“As a nation we have had a shared idea of who we are and where ‘we’ come from - our shared historical narrative,” wrote Karen Fitzpatrick. “Knowing the true, full picture of the earliest colonies in the north and of the Indigenous forced removal and enslavement of Native peoples, and then Africans, can’t help but change who we think we are as Americans.”
This was the response of one of our two winners to the question: Why is the 17th century important? The idea that we have something momentous to learn from our shared past, the good and the past, was echoed over and over in the survey responses.
“The dispossession of Native nations so that Europeans could claim and own land and dominate others has left a long and painful legacy,” read one anonymous submission. The advent of slavery in early New England was “an event that forever and irreversibly defined our economy and decimated millions of lives,” wrote Julie Nicolai.
For Jenny, this legacy is not an abstraction. She wrote that the 17th century marked “a huge shift within Indigenous communities. The impact is multigenerational. One of my tribal leaders from that time was murdered by white settlers.”
Pam Borys reminded us that the colonists made choices. “Had we taken the time to understand native wisdom,” she wrote, “our country would be in better health…. The abundance which startled Europeans led to the uninhibited plundering of the New World.”
WPA artist Earnest Hamlin Baker, "South County Life in the Days of the Narragansett Planters," Wakefield, Rhode Island, post office in ca.1939/40. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Other survey-takers highlighted the foundations of early democracy, the result of the Puritan’s “experimental political community,” as Mike Passmore called it, which insisted on self-governance, independence, universal education, and the rule of law. An anonymous entrant wrote that the Puritans’ experiment marked “the beginning of democratic government.” Robert Abel argued that the Mayflower compact was the “first real constitution of modern times.”
“We are to this day ‘a nation of rebels,’” wrote another anonymous survey-taker. “This was an outgrowth of radical protestantism and its framing of authority as essentially tyrannical.”
In a similar vein, Michael Rhodes wrote that, for him, “New England really did become a shining city on a hill.” He pointed to its culture of self-reliance and collaborative decision making, the valuing of education and literacy - qualities from which there was a direct line to the Enlightenment and, later, abolitionism. Clearly a champion of New England, he added: “I don't think it’s an accident that the desire to transition from democracy to technocratic oligarchy shares more adherence in Silicon Valley than in Boston and New England.”
Many of you likewise recognised the deep roots in early New England of today’s institutions and rights, specifically town meetings, the insistence on the rule of law, and a culture of rights.
“Elections eventually included all men regardless of property ownership, town meetings were held, and the results of elections were respected,” explained our anonymous winner. “These practices gave citizens a say in how they were governed. Government by, for, and of the people was the result. We are still trying to perfect the governing.” And the lesson of New England’s 17th century? “Do not accept the status quo. Keep striving for a better civilization for all.”
For some, this history held a warning. “I was not aware that the early colonists were fighting to maintain their Magna Carta rights all though the 1600s in the colony,” wrote Karen Fitzpatrick. “We’re seeing now that those same rights must continue to be fought for as they are not guaranteed. We can never be complacent.”
“early colonists fought to maintain their magna carta rights. those same rights must continue to be fought for.”
Quite a few people highlighted a darker side of early New England, however: intolerance, the Salem witch trials, and the banishment of people such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams.
Carol Majahad pointed to the “lingering medieval worldview of the Invisible World and the Puritan insistence on seeing the Devil as an active agent in their lives.” The trials in Essex county, she wrote, “demonstrated just how far into death and destruction” this belief could take them - the “price we pay for intolerance.”
“Accusation does not equal guilt,” observed Keri Willis, as a lesson of the trials. “We need to learn how to not blindly follow leaders,” wrote Julie Nicolai.
Sarah Jack, podcaster and leading campaigner against witch hunts, submitted an eloquent and thoughtful discussion of the witch trials in Salem and elsewhere. It is worth quoting at length. “The New Englanders [involved in the witch trials] cared deeply about building strong communities where people looked out for each other. they valued education, created mutual support systems, and believed their neighbours mattered,” she wrote.
"The lesson of the witch trials? we need to learn how to not blindly follow leaders.”
“Their mistake was letting care become anxious and controlling. When fear crept in, they started watching neighbours for signs of danger instead of being present for them. Community care became community policing.
“We can learn from both their successes and their failures. We still face uncertainty, social pressures, and the challenge of building communities that work. We can choose responses that strengthen bonds rather than fracture them.”
Twenty people were executed, with five more dying in jail, in the Salem witch trials. The majority of them women, their convictions relied on “spectral evidence” - signs of invisible imps or witches’ malevolent acts. But as Keri Willis wrote, “accusation does not equal guilt,” a fact recognised by the Massachusetts colonial government and at least one judge, Samuel Sewell, who apologised in front of his congregation. Image: Ralph Gardiner, From Englands grievance discovered (London: For R. Ibbitson and P. Stent, 1655). British Library archive
Some people raised the danger of drawing too direct a connection between past and present. “To always be looking for antecedents to our present day experience,” wrote David Achenbach, “is to do [the past] an injustice. Michael Wenzke spoke to the risks of misusing history. “It is wrong to romanticise the past to push a rightwing agenda about heritage and tradition; but it is just as wrong to demonize the past to push a leftwing agenda about equity and social justice. Distortions are distortions and neither help us to understand (and live with) ourselves and each other.”
Yet, in our survey, many respondents felt strongly that they could see the roots of current problems in the past. An anonymous entrant wrote that she observed “the seeds of our inequities today, the legacies of slavery and disenfranchisement and annihilation of Indigenous people… shaping the 17th century. All this history is screaming at us today at every turn.” “We need to learn from early mistakes… else we run the risk of repeating them,” wrote Jenny.
Most of all, running throughout survey is a conviction that we have much to learn from the 17th century, not least from those we have not yet thoroughly studied. Wrote Meg Campbell: “Their voices need not remain silent to us.”
On the eve of the Puritan departure from Southampton, John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, preached a vision of a community knit together “as one man.” They would be bound “in brotherly affection, we must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, labour together, suffer together, always having before our eyes… our community… keep[ing] the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” Image: title page of a manuscript of his sermon, mistakenly noting that it was written on the ship Arbella. New York Historical Society
THE WINNERS!
KAREN FITZPATRICK
Q. Which three 17th century events stand out to you?
A. Native removal and enslavement in the northeast colonies; the Boston colony’s support for the Puritan political movement in England and retaining its rights in the colony; an economic/agricultural model to support sugarcane production in the West Indies.
Q. How do these relate to us today, if at all?
A. The standard historical narrative of the Pilgrims is so one-sided that the omissions of Indigenous forced removal and enslavement apparently to most Americans to have never happened. Knowing the full story shines a light on ideas about who has a “right” to be here. Regarding our constitutional rights, I was not aware that the early colonists were fighting to maintain their Magna Carta rights all though the 1600s in the colony. We’re seeing now that those same rights must continue to be fought for as they are not guaranteed.
Q. Why is the 17th century important?
A. As a nation we have had a shared idea of who we are and where “we” come from - our shared historical narrative. Knowing the true, full picture of the earliest colonies in the north and the Indigenous forced removal and enslavement of first, the Native peoples, and then Africans, can't help but change who we think we are as Americans.
Q. What hard lessons do we need to learn from the 17th century?
A.We can never be complacent about our constitutional rights.
ANONYMOUS
Q. Which three 17th century events stand out to you?
A. Because you have "New England," I will limit my comments to the people who came from England. 1) John Winthrop and the other Congregational leaders who created the city on a hill. 2) Anne Hutchinson was a strong leader who established the Massachusetts way of not going along with things. 3) The intellectual life that the early settlers supported. Their practice of reading and thinking eventually led to the creation of the longest surviving constitution in the world.
Q. How do these relate to us today, if at all?
A.Making sure that physical and spiritual needs of the people were fulfilled. Today we need to care for people at war and in famine in too many places to list.
Elections eventually included all men regardless of property ownership, town meetings were held, and the results of elections were respected. These practices gave citizens a say in how they were governed. Government by, for, and of the people was the result. We are still trying to perfect the governing.
Dissent was a threat to the early communities, but it was not punished by death, torture, or physical punishment. This was a huge change from England. Now we must incorporate dissenting opinions in our society.
Q. Why is the 17th century important?
A.The mindset of 17th-century New Englanders would lead to the creation of the US. It is not a simple, straight path, but if the people of the 17th century not attempted to create a better society, the Declaration might have been written elsewhere.
Q. What hard lessons do we need to learn from the 17th century?
Do not accept the status quo. Keep striving for a better civilization for all people.
honorable mentions
JENNY
Q. Which three 17th century events stand out to you?
A. Indigenous people and remembering our ways, language, culture, and spiritual practices before colonizers showed up.
Q. How do these three events relate to us today?
Tribal sovereignty, medicine peoples, traditions regarding gender roles and fluidity.
Q. Why is the 17th century important?
It was a huge shift within indigenous communities. The impact felt is multigenerational. One of my tribal leaders from that time was murdered by white settlers.
Q. What hard lessons do we need to draw from the 17th century?
Enslavement, racism, colonialism, erasure, genocide. We need to learn from these early mistakes else we run the risk of repeating atrocities.
P.A.M. BORYS
Q. Which three 17th century events stand out to you?
A.Interaction with indigenous people; establishment of non-royal rule; structure of religion in society.
Q. How do these three events relate to us today?
A. We have never kept a treaty with our indigenous peoples. They are regaining their voices and it is important to look back and forward in time.
Early colonists developed a framework to define their colony according to its time and place. Our country is being redefined by those who would look backward rather than forward. Instead of meeting challenges and exploring opportunities the party in power often ignores law and custom to achieve its goals. Dialogue, education, research and more have been hobbled to narrow their focus.
Q. Why is the 17th century important?
A. Disregard for our balance of power and constitutional rights has led to many protests. I attend protests and often talk with people, some of whom hold different views. Being able to bring history into discussion ends to more productive conversations.
Q. What hard lessons do we need to draw from the 17th century?
A. Had we taken the time to understand more native wisdom our country would be in better health. Native people understood that different plants, animals and insects needed each other to complete their lifecycles and preserve the health of the varied ecosystems. The abundance which startled Europeans and led to the uninhibited plundering of the New World. The disregard for land health continues as pollution goes largely unchecked and unpunished. The land is seldom remediated. Many continue to choose the easiest path of disregard instead of the native teaching of respect. Resources will always limited. Plastic pollution invades drinking supplies.
MEG CAMPBELL
Q. Which three 17th century events stand out to you?
A. First public school established 1635 - literacy and focus on education including girls learning to read; tripling of immigrant population from 3,000 in 1630 to 91,000 in 1700 - having catastrophic consequences for indigenous population; and seeds of self-reliance (farming) and self-government (town meeting) including passing legislation to allow slavery. So it wasn't a clean, widening arc of tolerance, even if they could read!
Q. How do these events relate to us today?
A. Colin Woodard's book, American Nations, brilliantly explains the origin stories of each region in North America. He calls New England the epicenter of "Yankeedom" which extends, culturally, to upper mid west and along west coast from Northern California to Washington state. Our "blue state" has deep roots in 17th century culture and values which immigrants brought with them from England -- some features in opposition to English culture, and some they embraced. Our economy today is heavily reliant on "meds and eds" - higher education and science research. That started in the 17th century.
Q. Why is the 17th century important?
A. It's important because the 17th century shapes our culture and values in ways we are oblivious to unless we step back and examine what happened and try to understand why it happened, widening our lens to walk in the shoes of all the humans on this patch of earth at that time. Who had power in the 17th century compared to who has it now?
Q. What hard lessons do we need to learn from the 17th century?
A. If we want to learn from our 17th century residents, we have to first see them as flawed human beings, just like us. We can then admire the moments when a group broke through their limitations - religious tolerance in Rhode Island, for example. How did they make that happen? I think there is so much to learn from the 17th century, and especially for the ones we haven't studied in enough depth yet. Their voices need not remain silent to us.