Chapter 4 - Colonial North America

Summary

Puritan New England was not isolated from other European empires. It sat between the colonies of New Netherland and New France and, thanks to New Englanders’ participation in the broader English culture of anti-Catholicism, was acutely conscious of Spain’s presence in America. Rivalries and relations with these different European colonies, as well as their Indigenous allies, left their mark on New England literature. Even though few of those nonpuritan peoples ever visited New England, captivity narratives, anti-Catholic polemics, criticisms of the Dutch, praise for the Huguenot victims of French Catholicism, and fear and suspicion of the Anglican establishment they had left behind in England testify to the ways that the broader world figured in New England culture. A closer look at some of the sources generated by the encounter with their various North American neighbors also points to the diversity within New England. Paying attention to the frontiers, away from the cultural center around Boston, it becomes clear that there was no complete agreement on how to respond to the non-English peoples across the border. These connections highlight how New England was both part of the wider English world as well as a distinct subculture within it.