New England values

Immigration to New England began in 1620 when English Puritans founded Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts. Between 1629 and 1640, about 21,000 English colonists settled in New England.

These colonists´ Puritan values strongly influenced the culture of the American colonies and later of the United States. They valued hard work and commercial success. They believed in the importance of education and established public schools as well as universities like Harvard (1636) and Yale (1701). They also developed representative governments, with town meetings, the right to vote for many citizens, and civil rights.

Over time, many people came to see the values of these New England settlers as those of Americans in general.

English G 2000, A 6, Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin, 2002, page 62