Demographics
Most that arrived in the first 12 years came from two regions of England. Many of the colonists came from the counties of Lincolnshire and East Anglia, northeast of London, and a large group also came from Devon, Somerset, and Dorset in the southwest of England. Although these areas provided the bulk of the migration, colonists also came other regions of England. The pattern of migration often centered around specific Nonconformist clergy, who, under threat from Archbishop Laud, sought to leave England, and encouraged their flock to accompany them. One characteristic unique to the New England colonies (as distinguished from some of the other English colonies) was that most of the migrants were emigrating for religious and political reasons, rather than economic ones.
The preponderance of the migrants were well-to-do gentry and skilled craftsmen. They brought with them apprentices and servants, the latter of whom were sometimes in indentured servitude. Few titled nobility migrated, even though some supported the migration politically and financially, and also acquired land holdings in Massachusetts and other colonies. Merchants, often the children of the gentry, also represented a significant proportion of the migrants, and would play an important role in establishing the economy of the colony.
With the start of the English Civil War in 1642, migration came to a comparative standstill, and some colonists even returned to England to fight for the Parliamentary cause. In the following years most of the immigrants came for economic reasons: they were merchants, seamen, and skilled craftsmen. Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the colony also saw in an influx of French Protestant Huguenots. During the period of the charter colony, small numbers of Scots immigrated, but these were assimilated into the colony. The population of Massachusetts remained largely English in character until the 1840s.
Slavery existed, but was not widespread within the colony. Some Indians captured in the Pequot War were enslaved, with those posing the greatest threat being transported to the West Indies and exchanged for goods and slaves. Governor John Winthrop owned a few Indian slaves, and Governor Simon Bradstreet owned two black slaves. The Body of Liberties enacted in 1641 included rules governing the treatment and handling of slaves. Bradstreet reported in 1680 that the colony had 100 to 120 slaves, but historian Hugh Thomas documents evidence suggesting there may have been a somewhat larger number. The slave trade, however, became a significant element of the Massachusetts economy in the 18th century as its merchants became increasingly involved in it, transporting slaves from Africa and supplies from New England to the West Indies.
Read more about this topic: Massachusetts Bay Colony