It should probably be generally understood that for the majority of the seventeenth century, the New England colonies were basically independent countries. Though ostensibly under the protection of England, there was really no reason for England to give two shits about them. They had very little access to the fur trade, especially as it moved westward, and the soil and climate didn’t allow for the growing of any cash crops, such as tobacco. Basically, if it hadn’t been for the Puritans looking for a place to live out their own specific brand of Christianity, the areas would’ve likely not been settled at all, which is why the Puritans got to do basically whatever the hell they wanted as long as they didn’t bother anyone else. In a lot of ways, this was a fairly positive turn of events. Each of the colonies set up democratically elected assemblies, people were guaranteed certain inalienable rights, and overall the quality of life was not only better than England, but one of the highest in the world. Unfortunately this was only true if you were a Puritan. If you weren’t a Puritan you basically got no rights whatsoever and would most likely get the shit kicked out of you prior to being hanged. It was an interesting mix of liberal democracy and theocratic autocracy.
Now say what you want about the Puritans, but they were industrious as all get out. When the colony was first established, one of the few exports they had was shipping wood to England for shipbuilding. Over time this shifted to them building ships themselves, which then shifted to them building up their own merchant fleets. Similarly, tired of importing cloth from England, they began raising more sheep, which provided them with wool, which they then used to build up their own small textile industry, which let them then use their merchant ships to export cloth to other colonies. This led to an economic boom, which resulted in a currency shortage, which the colonists solved by minting their own coins. As you can imagine, all of this caused all sorts of troubles with England, which we will get into later, but for now we’re going to focus in on how this all affected the New England colonists’ relationship with the natives.
Now basically from the start the Puritans had made it a point to befriend various native groups in the area, the most powerful being the Wampanoag Confederacy. For the Wampanoag, this friendship was seen as important as it gave them access to European goods, some protection against other more hostile tribes, and guarantees of territorial integrity. Unfortunately, the colonists didn’t really agree regarding this last one. The Puritans, did not view the natives as their equals, and as their population expanded, they began expanding deeper into the interior. By 1675, the New England colonial population had reached some 65,000 people spread across some 110 towns. In comparison, the native population was only around 10,000 to 20,000, their numbers thinned by epidemics and various tribes, such as the Pequot, getting into conflicts with the colonists.
As one can probably imagine, things steadily got worse for the native Algonquian peoples, with the colonists increasingly ignoring the old agreements made by their forefathers in favor of just forcing their will on everyone around them, including forcing the natives to live by colonial laws, demanding the return of all of their firearms, and pressuring them to convert to Christianity. As a result, the various Algonquian tribes, deciding enough was enough already, set aside their differences and joined under a Wampanoag chief named Metacomet, whom the colonists called King Philip for some reason. In 1675, they launched attacks across New England, sparking a bloody war which would last for the next three years. Thousands died on both sides in raids, attacks, and wanton executions of prisoners. Entire towns and villages were razed. Already outnumbered, the Wampanoag and their allies became increasingly desperate as the Iroquois joined in on the side of the colonists. Metacomet died in 1676, but the war drug on until 1678 in northern New England.
The war caused significant damage to all of the New England colonies, resulting in significant damage, towns being abandoned, and the death of some ten percent of the male population of fighting age. Attempts to colonize what is today Maine were effectively ended for decades. This was nothing compared to what happened to the native Algonquians. Entire tribes ceased to exist, their members killed, enslaved, and scattered. The few tribes which remained had no power left to resist, becoming an ever shrinking and silent minority in lands once their own. The only exception to this was in the north, where the Algonquian tribes in what is today Maine and New Brunswick united into the Wabanaki Confederacy. United by a common enemy, and armed by the French, they kept the New England colonists from expanding northward.
