New England , being settled more than 150 years before the American Revolution. The first English colony in New England, Plymouth Colony, was established in 1620 by Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution in England; a French colony established in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, Maine, had failed. Plymouth was the second English colony in America, after Jamestown. A large influx of Puritans populated the greater region during the Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640), largely in the Boston and Salem area. Farming, fishing, and lumbering prospered, as did whaling and sea trading.

New England writers and events in the region helped launch and sustain the American War of Independence, which began when fighting erupted between British troops and Massachusetts militia in became a stronghold of the conservative Federalist Party.

By the 1840s, New England was the center of the American anti-slavery movement and was the leading force in American literature and higher education. It was at the center of the Industrial Revolution in America, with many textile mills and machine shops operating by 1830. The region was the manufacturing center of the entire United States for much of the nineteenth century, and it played an important role during and after the American Civil War as a fervent intellectual, political, and cultural promoter of abolitionism and civil rights.

Manufacturing in the United States began to shift south and west during the 20th century, and New England experienced a sustained period of economic decline and de-industrialization. By the beginning of the 21st century, however, the region had become a center for technology, weapons manufacturing, scientific research, and financial services.