Puritanical freedom meant the liberty to practice the "true" godly religion while strictly denying religious tolerance or freedom of expression to others.
The Puritan View of Freedom
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Freedom for themselves: Puritans fled England to build a society where they could worship according to their own strict Calvinist convictions without interference from the crown or the Anglican Church.
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No tolerance for others: They did not believe in universal religious freedom or pluralism; they felt civil authorities were obligated to enforce religious laws and suppress heresy.
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Exile and banishment: Colonists who disagreed with church leaders or advocated for the separation of church and state, such as Roger Williams, faced punishment or banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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Ordered expression: While they valued public discussion and the rule of law (as seen in early documents like the 1641 Body of Liberties), they heavily restricted printing or speech deemed blasphemous or dangerous to the godly order.
THE Commission CONSTITUTING A PRESIDENT & COUNCEL FOR THE PROVINCE OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE IN NEW-ENGLAND. CAPITAL LAWS. 1680's.
[idolatry]
1. IT IS Enacted by this Assembly and the Authority thereof: That if any person, having had the knowledge of the true God, openly & manifestly have, or worship any other God but the Lord God; He shall be put to death.
[blasphemy]
2. IF any person within this Province professing the true God, shal wittingly & willingly presume to blaspheme the Holy name of God, father Son, or Holy Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous or high-handed blasphemy; either by willful or obstinate denying the true God, or his creation or government of the world; or shal curse God, father, Son, or Holy Ghost; SUCH person shal be put to death. Levit. 24. 15, 16.
3 TREASON against the person of our Sovereign the King, State and Commonwealth of England; SHAL be punished with death.
[PUBLIQUE rebellion]
4 If any man conspire & attempt any Invasion or insurrection, or public rebellion against this His Ma^ts Province; or shall endeavor to surprise any Town or Towns, fort or forts therein; or shall treacherously and perfidiously attempt the alteration & subversion of the fundamental frame of this Government according to Its Ma'ts Constitution by His Letters Patents; Every such person shal be put to death, or otherwise grievously punished.
[willful murder]
5 Iff any person shal commit Wilful murder, by killing man, woman, or child, upon premeditated malice hatred or cruelty; not in a way of necessary & just defense, nor by casualty against his wil ; He shal be put to death.
6 Iff any person slayeth another person suddenly in his anger & cruelty of passion; He shal be put to death.
7 If any person shal slay another through guile; either by poisoning, or other such Develish practices; He shal be put to death.
[witchcraft.]
8 If any Christian, so called, be a Witch; that is, hath, or consulteth with a familiar Spirit; He or they shal be put to death.
[bestiality]
9. If any person lye with a beast, or brute creature by carnal copulation; THEY shal surely be put to death; And the beast shal be slayn and buried & not eaten.
[bugoury]
10 If any man lye with mankind as he lyes with a woman; both of them have committed abomination; They both shal surely be put to death: unless one party were forced, or were under fourteen years of age. And all other Sodomitical filthiness shal be severely punished according to the nature of it.
[FALSE WITTNESS]
11 Iff any person rise up by false witness, wittingly & of purpose to take away a man's life; He shal be put to death.
[man stealing.]
12 Iff any man steal mankind; He shal be put to death; or otherwise greevously punished.
[CHILDREN CURSING THEIR PARENTS]
13 If any Child or Children above Sixteen years old, and of competent understanding, shall smite, or curse their natural father or mother; He or they shal be put to death: unless it can be sufficiently testified, that the Parents have bin very unchristianly negligent in the education of such Children; or so provoked them by extreme & cruel correction, that they have bin forced thereunto, to preserve themselves from death or maiming.
[a rebellious son]
IF any man have a rcbelious or stubborn son of sufficient years and understanding^ viz: 16 years of age or upwards^ which shall not obey the voyce of his father or the voyce of his mother^ that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them^ tlien shall his father and his mother being his natural parents bring him before the Magistrates a^senMed in courts and testify unto them that their son is rebellious and stubborn and twill not obey their voyce and chastise but lives in sundry notorious erimes^ such son shall be put to dcathy or otherwise severely punished.]
[rape.]
14 If any man shal ravish a Maid or woman (by committing carnal copulation with her,) that is above Ten years of age; Or if she were under Ten years of age, tho her will was gained by him; He shal be punished with death; or some other .greevous punishment, as the fact may be circumstanced.
[WILFULL BURNING]
15 WHOSOEVER shal willfully or on purpose burn any House, Ship, or Bark, or any other vessel of considerable value, SUCH person shall be put to death; or otherwise grievously punished, as the Oase & circumstances may require.
CRIMINAL LAWS.
1 IT IS Ordered by the Assembly and the Authority thereof; That any person soever is to answer any Criminal offence, whether they be in prison, or under bail; His Case shal be hcai'd & delenuiued ut the next Court that has proper cognizance thereof.
[adultery]
2 IT IS Enacted by this Assembly, &c. That whosoever shal commit Adultery with a married woman, or one betrothed to another man; BOTH of them shal be severely punished.
10 FORASMUCH as the open contempt of God's word, & the Messengers thereof, is the desolating sin of Church & State, IT IS therefore ENACTED, That if any Christian, so called, in this Province, shal speak contemptuously of tlie Holy Scriptures, or of the Holy Penmen thereof; SUCH person or persons shall be punished by fine, or corporal punishment, as the Court shall see reason'; so as it extend not to life or limb: OR shall behave himself contemptuously towards the Word of God preached, or any Minister thereof called, & faithfully dispensing the same in any Congregation; either by manifest interrupting him in his ministerial dispensations; or falsely or peremptorily charging liim with teaching error, to the disparagement & hinderance of the work of Christ in his hands; or manifestly & contemptuously reproach the ways, churches, or Ordinances of Christ; being duly convicted thereof; He or they shal for the first transgression be amerced Twenty shillings to the Provinces use; or be set in the Stocks, not exceeding four hours. RUT if he or they go on to transgress in the same kind; Tlien to be amerced forty shillings, or be whipp'd for every such transgression.
[CONSPIUICIB AGAINST TlIIS ruOVINCE &C:]
12 IT IS Ordered, &e THAT whosoever shal disturb or undermine the Peace of this Province, or Inhabitants thereof, by plotting with others, or by his own tumultuous & offensive cariage; traducing, (luarrelling, challenging, or assaulting, or any other way tending to public disturbance, in what place soever it shal be done; or shal defame any Court of Justice, or any of His Ma'ts Councel, or Judges of any Court in this J^rovince, in respect of any Act or Sentence therein pass'd; Every such Offender, upon due proof made, shal by the Councel be punished by fine, imprisonment, binding to the Peace, or Good behavior, according to the quality & measure of the offence or disturbance, to them seeming just & equal. AND such as beat, hurt, or strike any other person, shall be liable to pay unto the party hurt, or stricken, together Mith such fine to the Province, as on consideration of the party smiting, or being smitten, and wilh Avhnt instrument, danger, more or less, provocac'on, &c. shall be judged just & reasonable, according to the natuiH? of the offence.
[forgery of deeds]
13 IT IS Ordered, &c. THAT if any person shall forge any Deed or conveyance, Testament, bond, bil, releas, acquittances, ltrs of Attorney, or any writing, to the injury of another, to tlie prevention oT equity & justice; he shal pay the party aggrieved double damages, & be fined so much himself to the Provinces use. AND if he cannot pay it; to be publicly whipp'd, & to be burnt with a Loman in the forehead.
14 Be IT also Enacted; That it any Notary, or Keeper of public Records or writings, shal willfully embezil or make away any such record or writing of concernment committed to his keeping & trust; or shal on purpose falsify, or deface them, by razing out, adding to them, or otherwise; SUCH corrupt Officer shall lose his Office, be disfranchised, & burnt in the face, or fined, according to the circumstances of the fact.
15 AND if any person shal endeavor to corrupt any Officer, that keeps such public Records, or papers of concernment, to procure him to deface, corrupt, alter, or irabezil any of them; HE shal be severely punished by fine, imprisonment, or corporal punishment, as the matter may be circumstanced.
[Lying]
IG IT IS Enacted by this Assembly, THAT what person soever, being Sixteen years of age, shal wittingly or willingly make, or publish any Lye, which may be tending to the damage or hurt of any particular person, or with an intent to deceive or abuse the People with false news or reports; TllEY shal be fined for every such oltence, Ten shillings: And if the parly cannot, or will not pay the fine; THEN he shal sit in the Stocks so long as the Court shal think meet: and if the Offender shal come to any one of the Council, & own his offence, it shal be in the power of any one of the Council, aforesaid, to execute the Law upon him, Adhere he liveth, & spare his appearance at the Court. BUT in case Adhere the Lye is greatly pernicious to the Common wealth it shal be more severely punished, according to the nature of it,
[burning fences]
17 IT IS Enacted by this Assembly, &c. THAT if any person thal wilfully and on purpose burn down another mans fence; HE shal make good the damage to the party wronged, and be amerced forty shillings; and bound to the good behavior, if the Court see meet.
[breaking downb fences]
18 IT IS further Ordered, &c. THAT any person, that shal wilfully & on purpose break down another mans fence, gate, or bridge, to the annoyance(», inther of a particular person, or a neighborhood; HE shal make up such fence, gate or bridge at his own charge, pay the damage thereby sustained; and be amerced according to the nature of the offence; Saving the right of him, that pulls up a fence set on his land without his approbation.
[Defacing Landmarks]
19 AND whosoever shal pluck up, remove, or deface any Land-mark or bounds between paHy & party, that have bin, or shal be orderly set up, by persons thereunto appointed; He or they shal be fined from Twenty shillings to ffive pounds, as the Offence may be circumstanced.
[UNLAWFULL GAMINCS IN PUBLIQUE HOUSES]
20 IT IS Enacted by this Assembly, THAT no Innholder, or public-house keeper, shal suffer any unlawful frames, or any kind of gaming;, in or about his house, for raony or mony^s worth, liquors, wine, beer, or the like; On forfeiture of forty shillings, to be paid by the Master or Keeper of such house; And Ten shillings by each gamester for every such Offence.
21 IT also Enacted; THAT no person in the Province, shal play at cards, dice, cross & pile, or any such unlawful game, wherein there is lottery, at any private house, or elsewhere in this Province; ON penalty of Ten shillings fine, to be paid by every one that so plays; And Twenty* shillings by the master, or head of a family, that shal know of, or suffer any such gaming in his house, or where he hath command.
[DRUNKENNESS]
22 FORASMUCH as it is observed, that the sin of Drunkenness doth greatly abound, to the dishonoring of God, impoverishing of such as fall into it, and grief of such as are sober minded; for prevention of that growing & prevailing Evil; IT 18 Enaet(Hl by this Assembly and the Authority thereof. That whatsoever persons shal be found drunk at any time, in any Tavern, Ordinary, Ale-house, or elsewhere in this Province, & be legally convicted thereof; HE or they shal for the first offence be fined five shillings, to the use of the Province; ffor the Second offence Ten shillings: And if he or they wil not, or cannot the fine; Then to be set in the Stocks, not exceeding two hours: And for the third transgression, to be bound to the (good behavior. AND if he shanl transgress a fourth time; To pay flivo pounds, or be publicly whIppM; and so from time to time as often as they shal be found transgressors in that kind.
BY [Drunkenness] is to be understood, One that lisps or falters in his speech by reason of over much drink; or that staggers in his going; or that vomits by reason of excessive drinking; or that cannot by reason thereof follow his calling.
fireing woods]
23 WHEREAS many have sustained great damage by indiscreet and untimely firing of the Woods; IT IS Ordered^ That none shal fire the Woods at any time, but between the first of March, and the latter end of April.
IT IS further Ordered; THAT no Horse or horse-kind shal be suffered to go upon any of our Lands & i)astur<»s without fence within this Province, that is known 1o b(» unruly, without the approbation of the Select-men (or the major part of them) of the several Towns; UNDEIt the penalty of every owner of such horse's paying Ten shillings in mony to the party, that so find tliem contrary to this Order; or lose his said horse so taken.
10 LORDS DAY,
, BE IT ENACTED &c. for prevention of the prophanac'on of the Lords day; That whosoever shall on the Lords day be found to do unnecessary servile labour, travell, sport, or frequent Ordinaries in time of public worship; or idely straggle abroad; the person so offending shall pay a fine of Ten shillings, or be set in the stocks an hour. And for discovei7 of such offenders, IT IS ORDERED, that the Constable with some other meet person whom he shall choose, shall in the time of public worship go forth to any suspected placea within their precincts, to find out any offender as above, & when found, to return their names, to some Justice of the Peace, who shall forthwith send for such offender, & deal with him according to Law.
13 LANDMARK.
BE IT ENACTED &c. That whosoever shall willfully pluck up, remove, or deface any Land mark or bounds between Party or party that hath bin or shall be orderly made or set up by persons thereunto appointed he or they shall be fined, not exceeding fflve pounds for such offence.
Cast of Characters in 1680 N.H. Politics:
Major Richard Waldron (or Richard Waldern, Richard Walderne; 6 January 1615 – 27 June 1689) was an English-born merchant, soldier, and government official who rose to prominence in early colonial Dover, New Hampshire. His presence spread to greater New Hampshire and neighboring Massachusetts. He was the second president of the colonial New Hampshire Royal Council after it was first separated from Massachusetts.[1] His descendants remained prominent in Dover for several generations.
What kind of man was Waldern?
In 1662, three Quaker missionaries, Ann Coleman, Mary Tompkins and Alice Ambrose, arrived in Dover from England. Within weeks, their ministry became the subject of a public petition by the Puritan townsfolk, 'humbly craving relief against the spreading and the wicked errors of the Quakers among them'.
Waldron, as the local crown magistrate, ordered them to be punished as vagabonds by being bound behind a cart and being made to walk over 80 miles (130 km) in a bitter winter through ten neighboring townships. Beginning in Dover, and on arrival in each township, they were to be publicly stripped to the waist and whipped ten times. "In Dover, Hampton and Salisbury this disgraceful order was executed, but in the last named town Walter Barefoote performed almost the only praiseworthy act that stands to his credit in history, by taking these persecuted females from the constable, under the pretense of delivering them to the constables of Newbury, and securing tliem from further cruelty by sending them out of the province.'
There, after urgently required medical assistance from Walter Barefoote, the women left for Maine.[13] These three Quaker women are the subject of the poem How the Women Went from Dover by the 19th-century American Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.[14]
"Canfleld" refers to Edward Cranfield, who along with Walter Barefoote and Robert Tufton Mason, formed a highly controversial and corrupt triumvirate in late 17th-century colonial New Hampshire.
Their collective history centers around a period of intense greed, tyranny, and a land-grabbing scheme that sparked the first open rebellions against royal authority in New England.
🏛️ The Main Figures
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Edward Cranfield: Appointed as the Royal Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New Hampshire in 1682. Needy and rapacious, Cranfield openly took the job to enrich himself. [1, 2]
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Robert Tufton Mason: The grandson and heir of John Mason (the original founder of New Hampshire). Robert claimed he owned the title to all the land that New Hampshire settlers had spent decades building towns upon. [1, 2, 3]
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Walter Barefoote: A local surgeon, merchant, and staunch Anglican who aligned himself with the royal interests. He served as Cranfield's deputy governor and chief enforcer. [1, 2]
📜 The Collusion & Tyranny (1682–1685)
Before arriving in the New World, Robert Mason struck a deal with Governor Cranfield, mortgaging New Hampshire’s potential property revenues to Cranfield in exchange for political backing. [1]
Upon arrival, Cranfield used his sweeping royal powers to reshape the colony to their benefit: [1]
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Court Packing: Cranfield dissolved the local assembly and packed the courts with hand-picked judges and juries. [1, 2]
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Mass Evictions: Backed by Cranfield and Deputy Governor Barefoote, Mason initiated dozens of lawsuits for trespass and ejectment against major New Hampshire landowners (like William Vaughan and Richard Waldron). The corrupt courts ruled in Mason's favor every time.
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Unjust Taxation: When colonists refused to pay taxes that hadn't been approved by an elected assembly, Cranfield threw local leaders in jail and seized their cattle and land.
🪵 Colonist Resistance and the "Kitchen Brawl"
The people of New Hampshire fiercely resisted this overreach. In 1683, a local delegate named Edward Gove attempted to launch an armed uprising (Gove's Rebellion) against the trio. Though Gove was captured and sent to the Tower of London, nonviolent resistance escalated across the colony. Marshals trying to seize property were routinely chased off by angry mobs of citizens wielding pitchforks and clubs.
The deep contempt for the government is famously illustrated by a physical altercation at Walter Barefoote's house. Two local citizens, Thomas Wiggin and Anthony Nutter, went to remonstrate with Barefoote over his unjust actions. Mason, who was staying there as a guest, got into a heated argument with them. When Mason tried to throw Wiggin out, Wiggin—a large, powerful man—grabbed Mason and threw him directly into the fireplace, burning his clothes and wig, while Barefoote was also knocked down and injured when he tried to intervene.
📉 The Downfall
Cranfield eventually realized that the colonists could not be broken and that he would never make the fortune he was promised. Fearing for his safety, he quietly departed for the Caribbean in 1685.
Walter Barefoote briefly took over as acting governor, but his authority was fundamentally broken. In 1686, King James II dissolved the independent province and absorbed New Hampshire into the ill-fated Dominion of New England, ending the trio's direct reign of extortion.
More than I wanted to know:
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