WI Plymouth colony stays independent of Mass & more New England WIs?

raharris1973

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The Plymouth colony was not set up by the same Puritan group that later started the colonization of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was set up by the Pilgrim Fathers who were from a more extreme "Separatist" Puritan/Calvinist sect, who had earlier taken refuge in Netherlands.

The Plymouth Colony existed separately from Massachussetts for about 70 years. What if it had been granted its own separate charter after the the dissolution of the Dominion of New England.

This would keep OTL's southeastern Mass, an area somewhat bigger than Rhode Island and containing Cape Cod, its own entity. How would this continued territorial separation affect the 18th and 19th century.

A parallel What if could be made about Maine, what if it had remained separate from Massachusetts?

Finally, given all the other colonial timelines around here lately (WI Jamestown failed) what about a different alternative, what if the Popham colony of 1607-1608 in Maine survived?
 
The Popham Colony even if it didn't fail would have to deal with the fact that Maine was part of the original land granted to the Duke of York, if MA doesn't take it, New York will. Maine won't find itself independent any earlier than it was in OTL.

An independent Plymouth simply means there are 14 original states, not 13, other than that not much is different in history. Perhaps Rhode Island has a bit more clout to negotiate a better border than it did with MA but other than that one extra state is not going to butterfly anything.
 
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