Join the 17th Century
Explore the story of early Boston, Massachusetts, and the wider 17TH century world
TYRANTS NEED TOPPLING
And the results are in! We have two winners of our Why Is the 17th Century Important? competition. Congratulations to Karen Fitzpatrick and an entrant who prefers not to be known. You can read both their submissions in our blog, linked below.
We struggled to whittle down the list to just two winners. We judged each entry on a scale measuring historical accuracy, eloquence and insight, all of which were on abundant display. We’re therefore awarding honorary mentions to three entries by Pam Borys, Meg Campbell and an entrant named Jenny. A huge thanks to all of you, too, who entered the competition, offering their insights and observations on our past and present. You’ll see some of your words in the blog.
Your views ran the gamut, from concern about the legacy of Calvinist-induced guilt to highlighting the advent of self-governance, individual rights, and the institutions on which today’s polity is built. But despite this early democratic foundation, wrote one person, today’s lesson is that “we can never be complacent about our constitutional rights.” Many people wrote about the colonists’ devastating impact on Native people though land annexation and war, and the terrible legacy of slavery.
Others drew the lessons from the Salem witch trials. “We need to learn how to not blindly follow leaders,” wrote Julie Nicolai. “We can choose responses that strengthen bonds rather than fracture them,” wrote Sarah Jack.
Possibly the most hard-hitting, pithy lesson of all was voiced by Diane Brenner, perhaps reflecting on the English civil wars that caused the world to turn upside in both Britain and New England: “Tyrants need toppling!”
For British people in the mid-17th century, the world really did feel as though it had turned upside down, as this image, the cover of J.T.’s 1647 pamphlet, The World turn’d upside down, so aptly illustrates. Two civil wars, the overthrow of the monarchy and the execution of a king, the advent of natural philosophy, and economic change caused upheaval at home and in the colonies. Image: British Library
Events
The Other: Understanding Witch hunts, part I
Emerson Baker, with Sarah Hunt and Josh Hutchinson
ONLINE, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2025, 6-7:30PM ET
Join this freewheeling discussion of the nature of witchcraft - its victims, its accusers, and its alarming spread - and the underlying factors which led to multiple cases of witchcraft and witch trials throughout New England. Acclaimed historian Emerson “Tad” Baker is interviewed by Stop Witch Hunt podcasters Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson in this unique and wide-ranging discussion of a history that has long troubled New England and beyond.
Resistance: stopping Witch hunts, part II
Emerson Baker, with Sarah Hunt and Josh Hutchinson
ONLINE, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2025, 6-7:30PM ET
The second in our exploration of witchcraft in New England looks at the resistance: who stood for their neighbours and family members, when to do so placed them in danger of being accused of witchcraft? How did the Salem witch trials end, and what happened in other instances of witchcraft? What gives people the courage to stand up for what’s right? Join renowned historian Emerson Baker and our guest moderators Sarah Hunt and Josh Hutchison.
“We need a full and honest
reckoning with our history.”
— attendee, Tyranny vs Liberty series
black lives, white worlds
Who tells the story of history - the powerful or the powerless? In this pithy book review, Evana Rose Tamayo asks what Jared Hardesty’s masterful book, Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds has to tell us about people in the least powerful position of all, how how they retained their own agency, and their role in building New England into the strongest economy in the new nation..
English New England, 1620
We think of colonial Massachusetts as the home of black hatted puritans, friends of Oliver Cromwell and led by John Winthrop. Yet it was separatist puritans settling in Plymouth a decade earlier who established the New England Way of church practice, based on participation and self-government. Cattle, advice, and leadership flowed north. Award-winning historian Francis J. Bremer tells the story.
Defend your rights!
The rights we take for granted did not begin in the 20th century, or in the Revolutionary era - but with the Massachusetts Body of Liberties in 1641, the first bill of rights in the English-speaking world. Honoured as much in the breach as in practice, the rights of 1641 - to equal justice under law and protection from arbitrary rule - remain for us to expand and defend today, as historian Lori Rogers-Stokes argues.
“This talk opened a new world for me.”
— attendee, ‘I Pledge Allegiance’: Sovereignty and Sanctuary in the Dawnland