New Hampshire

New Hampshire was founded as an English Royal Colony in 1691 and the charter was enacted the year later by King William III. Prior to this New Hampshire was a place of settlement for many as it was one of the closest parts of this 'New World' to Europe. The captain and colonist John Mason found this land in 1629 and was then named after the county he was brought up in which was the original Hampshire in England. Farming was particularly difficult in this colony due to the poor soil which was unsuitable for crops. However, within the towns along the coast, the colonists made a living with shipbuilding, fishing, and whaling. The latter became particularly resourceful and valuable as whales oil could be used in lamps.

New Hampshire had a general lack of government during the early stages of settlement and thus looked for protection in the colony of Massachusetts which resulted in Hew Hampshire being governed from Massachusetts in 1641. Many of John Masons heirs began to seek control of their territory whilst Massachusetts was coming under increasing scrutiny by King Charles II and therefore establishing the Province of New Hampshire under a charter set in 1679.

This colonies relationship with the natives began as almost non-existent due to most of the settlers staying relatively close to the shore of the Atlantic so that they could keep in easy and constant contact with England. Whilst there was minimal contact many exchanges had occurred such as trading the natives learned survival skills for improvements in metal work. However, whilst New Hampshire was not directly involved in The First Indian War many of the resources were going to New England who were a direct belligerent. Ultimately, this resulted in multiple raids and skirmishes and only got worse as time went on. This, in turn increased the amount of slavery in New Hampshire as settlers attempted to control the natives and seek profits in the meantime. Three years before the American Revolution there were up to 674 slaves in New Hampshire.