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Introduction 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS !— What words can fittingly intro- 
 duce the colony whose ideals have become the ideals 
 of the nation; and whose men had such a large part in leading 
 the resistance to oppression and in standing for those prin- 
 ciples that made the American colonies a free nation? 
 
 For seven years, from the age of 14 to 21, I sailed in and 
 out of Boston Harbor and gazed with awe and admiration 
 upon Bunker Hill monument, as I saw it rise above the 
 waters of Massachusetts Bay or sink beneath the horizon, 
 as our little fishing vessel sailed to and fro on the very waters 
 over which the Mayflower came. For eleven years, as 
 Superintendent of Schools, I lived almost within the shadow 
 of that monument. Faneuil Hall; the old State House; 
 the old South Church; North Church; "the Charlestown 
 Shore;" Concord and Lexington; "the rude bridge that 
 spanned the flood;" Salem; Provincetown Harbor; Plymouth 
 Rock; State Street; Dorchester Heights; Battery Wharf — 
 these all became a part of my life through personal associa- 
 tions, while I lived over in imagination the scenes and events 
 that gave them their place in American History. Bradford, 
 Alden, Standish; Hancock, Franklin, Adams; Otis, Paul 
 Revere, General Warren — these seemed like living men. 
 I knew them. 
 
 That the pupils might gain something of the patriotic 
 impulse that comes through personal association with historic 
 scenes and events, I outlined a series of historic excursions, 
 or field days, to be taken by all seventh and eighth grade 
 pupils, as part of their grammar school course. This was 
 for pupils living in the vicinity of Boston. Such a means 
 
 3 
 
of teaching is not available for the children of Ohio. To 
 help meet that need, however, to some extent, the present 
 monograph— the third in the series of Colonial Studies — 
 has been provided by the Colonial Dames of America in the 
 State of Ohio, and is offered to the school children with the 
 hope that through its reading they may obtain a clearer 
 idea about the colony of the Pilgrims and Puritans, and may 
 come to have a deeper appreciation of the suffering they 
 endured and the sacrifice they made; and most of all that 
 through these clearer ideas and deeper appreciation the 
 children of today may become more devoted to America 
 and more willing to live for and, if need be, die for — the 
 things for which America stands. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 
 June, Nineteen-sixteen. 
 
 RANDALL J. CONDON, 
 
 Superintendent of Schools. 
 
Colonial Massachusetts 
 
 PART I 
 
 TO many localities in New England were given names 
 endeared to the colonists by early associations, while 
 others received such Indian names as may have pleased 
 the fancy of the newcomers. The State of Massachusetts 
 has retained to this day the name of an Indian tribe, which 
 name she has immortalized by the leading part she has played 
 in the building of a great nation, and by the eminent scholars, 
 statesmen, poets and scientists whom she has produced 
 and nurtured. 
 
 The history of Colonial Massachusetts is even more 
 closely connected with the history of contemporary England 
 than is that of Colonial Virginia or New York. For it is 
 only by a study of the religious and political conditions in 
 England that it becomes possible to understand what in- 
 duced men and women to leave comfortable homes in order 
 to face life in an unexplored wilderness with an untried 
 climate. 
 
 In the year 1602, the Englishman, Bartholomew Gos- 
 nold, while exploring the northern coasts of America, landed 
 on a sandy shore, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod, 
 from the numerous fish of this species swimming in the bay. 
 But no successful attempts were made to colonize this 
 region of the country until the establishment in England 
 of The London and Plymouth Companies, the former of 
 which was active in promoting the settlement at Jamestown, 
 while the latter turned its attention to the Northern coast 
 with its profitable fisheries. 
 
 As a member of The Plymouth Company, Chief Justice 
 Popham interested himself particularly in schemes for 
 colonization. As early as 1607, Popham sent out two vessels, 
 the "Gift of God" and the "Mary and John," with one hun- 
 dred and twenty colonists, who landed on a peninsula at 
 the mouth of the Kennebec River in what is now the State 
 
of Maine. They built a fort, which protected a church, 
 a storehouse and several dwellings. They practiced justice 
 toward the Indians and were peaceable and industrious 
 among themselves. But the death of their leader, George 
 Popham, a brother of the Chief Justice, and the severity of 
 the long winter, when they were locked in ice and snow, 
 together with the loss of their fort by fire, so discouraged 
 the settlers that, in the Spring, they resolved to abandon 
 the desolate wilderness and to sail for home. 
 
 Nevertheless, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Governor of the 
 newly fortified port of Plymouth in England, a man of reso- 
 lute purpose, not altogether unmixed with personal am- 
 bition, continued to send out ships for exploration and trade 
 and to endeavor to interest the people in schemes for coloni- 
 zation. 
 
 But the Northern coast of the North American Conti- 
 nent bid fair to be lost to England, in spite of her claims and 
 efforts to colonize. For the French became active in es- 
 tablishing settlements in Nova Scotia, while the Dutch 
 ascended the Hudson and founded a prosperous trading 
 post on Manhattan Island. It was, therefore, fortunate 
 for England that Captain John Smith did not give up his 
 love of adventure when, on account of his wounds, he left 
 forever the struggling colony at Jamestown. In 1614, he 
 sailed for the Northern coast with two ships, fitted out by 
 certain merchants of London for purposes of trade in fish 
 and furs. While the sailors were busy securing a cargo, 
 Smith spent his time examining the shores and the islands 
 and taking soundings of the water. He changed the name 
 of this region of country from Northern Virginia to New 
 England, and made a very creditable map, which was shown, 
 on his return, to Prince Charles, who gave a name to about 
 thirty different points on the coast. Plymouth, Charles 
 River and Cape Ann retain to this day the names bestowed 
 upon them by the Prince. 
 
 In 1615, Captain Smith was given the title of "Admiral 
 of New England" and was sent out by the Plymouth Com- 
 pany with two ships to effect a settlement on the New Eng- 
 land coast. But misfortune still attended this brave ad- 
 
venturer, and, his vessel falling into the hands of the French, 
 he was held for some time in captivity. This unfortunate 
 voyage seems to have cured Captain Smith of his love of 
 adventure, for he contented himself thereafter by distribu- 
 ting his maps and pamphlets among the people of England. 
 But failing to awaken by these means any general interest 
 in colonization, he exclaimed in despair, that "all availed 
 no more than to hew rocks with oyster shells." By his 
 writings, however, he managed to keep the subject before 
 the English people, reminding them that the sea which 
 washed the coast of New England abounded in fish, that 
 the shores were covered with valuable timber, and that 
 birds and beasts, which were good for food, filled the vast 
 forests. As his explorations were made in Summer, little 
 was said of the climate, and thus the colonists learned later, 
 through much suffering, of the severity of a New England 
 Winter. 
 
 Through the exploring parties sent out by Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, it became known that in the years 1616 and 1617, 
 the New England coast from the Penobscot River to Nar- 
 ragansett Bay was almost devastated by a pestilence, which 
 swept away whole Indian villages, and left some parts of 
 the Northern coast almost uninhabited. It was doubtless 
 due to this depopulation of the forests that the early settlers 
 of New England suffered so much less from the cruelty of 
 the savages than did the first colonists of Virginia or New 
 York. 
 
 Through the efforts of Gorges and Smith, interest in 
 the Plymouth Company was revived, and, in November of 
 1620, a new charter was granted to it under the name of 
 the "Council for New England." The territory included 
 in this charter was that lying between forty and forty-eight 
 degrees of latitude, upon which the name of New England 
 was formally bestowed. This corporation consisted of 
 forty persons, and any rights in the land which might be 
 enjoyed by others were obtained by special contract with 
 the Council for New England, which thus assumed the posi- 
 tion of a large land owner, who derives his income by letting 
 or selling his land. But the new corporation, in spite of all 
 
 7 
 
the privileges conferred by its charter, was unable to allure 
 missionary, merchant or adventurer to settle upon the 
 shores of New England. 
 
 Although to Smith it seemed impossible that any other 
 motive than a desire for wealth would ever erect a common- 
 wealth on the New England shores, yet it was, nevertheless, 
 an entirely different influence which at last resulted in the 
 settlement of a permanent colony on this coast. It was to 
 be proved that the love of religion can be an even stronger 
 motive power than the pursuit of wealth. For the first 
 permanent settlers of New England were men of lofty 
 religious ideals, who were seeking a home where those ideals 
 might be carried out. 
 
 To understand how it came about that men of good po- 
 sition, with comfortable incomes and happy families, should 
 be willing to abandon their accustomed comforts, and to 
 cross a stormy sea to make their homes in a wilderness full 
 of Indians and wild beasts, it becomes necessary to search 
 for the cause in the state of affairs in England. If we go back 
 to the days of Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the throne in 
 1558, we shall find that her Parliament passed two famous 
 statutes, the "Act of Supremacy," which made the Queen 
 the head of the Church as well as of the State, and the "Act 
 of Uniformity," which demanded that all ministers should 
 use the liturgy or service established by Parliament. During 
 the persecutions carried on by Queen Mary, many English 
 clergymen had taken refuge in Germany and Switzerland, 
 and had there fallen under the influence of John Calvin. 
 During Ehzabeth's reign, they returned to England and 
 became leaders of English Protestantism. These men did 
 not at first protest against the union of Church and State, 
 but they wished to purify the Church of what seemed to 
 them unnecessary forms and ceremonies, and hence they 
 soon became known by the name of Puritans. They ob- 
 jected especially to the use of vestments by the clergy and, 
 in some cases, even to the Book of Common Prayer. Queen 
 Elizabeth disliked Puritanism, because its teachings were 
 opposed to her ideas of royal power, therefore, if any refused 
 to wear vestments, she forbade them to preach, or even cast 
 
them into prison. But such punishments only strengthened 
 the opposition, and thus Nonconformity, as it was called, 
 continued to increase, until, at last, a sect arose among the 
 Puritans which maintained that it was unscriptural for the 
 Church to have any connection with the State. These men 
 wished to set up a church of their own entirely independent 
 of the State and with simplified form of worship, thus they 
 became known as Separatists, or Independents, sometimes 
 also called Brownists, from their first leader, Robert Browne . 
 
 If the Separatists expected better treatment under King 
 James I, than was their portion in the days of Elizabeth, 
 they were disappointed, for James I had exalted ideas of 
 royal rights, and would tolerate no independence in church 
 doctrines or separation of Church from State. "I will 
 make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land," 
 he said, and he was as good as his word. In spite of perse- 
 cutions, the Separatists had no thought of abandoning their 
 religious ideals, and began to look towards tolerant Holland 
 as a future home. Holland, having gained her own religious 
 freedom through years of suffering and bloody wars with 
 Spain, had become the refuge for people of all nations who 
 were seeking religious liberty . As early as 1593, a Separatist 
 congregation from London had fled to Amsterdam, seeking 
 an asylum where they might practice in peace their own 
 ideas of Church government. The Independents, who were 
 desirous of complete separation of Church from State, were 
 most numerous in the Eastern counties of England, especially 
 in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and the emigration 
 of the London congregation was followed later by those of 
 Gainsborough and Scrooby. The congregation from Gains- 
 borough settled in Amsterdam, and was soon lost to history. 
 
 Difficulties beset the little Scrooby congregation from 
 its first attempt to emigrate. In 1607, they had hired a 
 ship and had already embarked for Holland, when the officers 
 of the law came upon them, took their money and goods 
 and thrust them into jail for a month. In 1608, a more 
 successful attempt was made, but even this was not without 
 its tribulations. Already the men were aboard the ship, 
 while the women with clothes and furniture were waiting 
 
 9 
 
to embark, when the cry was raised that the officers of the 
 law were coming. The Captain of the boat, who feared 
 trouble for himself, at once weighed anchor and sailed away 
 with a fair wind, leaving the brave women lonely and un- 
 protected on the shore. They were "hurried from one 
 place to another and from one justice to another and thus 
 turmoiled a good while," says the chronicler, but managed 
 at last to make good their escape and to join those who had 
 already reached Holland. It is among the leaders of the 
 Scrooby congregation that we find the clear-headed, far- 
 sighted, determined men who became later the "Pilgrim 
 Fathers." The minister at the time of the emigration to 
 Holland was Richard Clifton. On account of the infirmities 
 of age, he was soon succeeded in Amsterdam by John Robin- 
 son, a man of learning, high character, amiable disposition, 
 and of a tolerant mind rare among Puritans in that day. 
 Other leaders there were, to whose energy and ability 
 America owes much down to the present time. William 
 Brewster, ruling elder in Robinson's church, was a man of 
 education and sound judgment, whose sense of public duty 
 fitted him to be a leader among the people. William Brad- 
 ford was but a boy of seventeen at the time of the emigration 
 to Holland. But, through his love for study, he became 
 a self-educated man. As a farmer's boy in England, as a 
 dyer in Holland, as the governor of a small colony in the 
 wilds of America, he never failed to perform his duty faith- 
 fully. To these leaders were joined later John Carver, dig- 
 nified and benevolent; Edward Winslow, a man of cultiva- 
 tion and gentle spirit, and Miles Standish, a soldier by 
 profession, bold but not rash, who proved himself a faithful 
 friend and valiant defender in times of danger. To men 
 such as these, too much praise can not be given, and es- 
 pecially by those who are enjoying in America today the 
 heritage of religious and political freedom. 
 
 On arrival in Amsterdam, the Scrooby congregation 
 found that city full of bitter theological strife, hence the 
 peaceable Robinson decided, in May, 1609, to remove his 
 flock to Leyden, "a fair and beautiful city and of a sweet 
 situation," and there the exiles found employment in various 
 
 10 
 
trades and in the manufacture of woolen cloth. With 
 unremitting toil, they made homes for themselves and their 
 children in the foreign land, where from time to time they 
 were joined by other Separatists from England, until the 
 little colony from Scrooby became a large congregation. 
 But the language was not their mother tongue, the customs 
 and costumes were different from those which had been 
 familiar to them in England, they were and must ever 
 remain strangers in a strange land, or else their children 
 must mingle with the native population and become essen- 
 tially Dutch, and, therefore, they longed for a country 
 which they might call their own. 
 
 The advantages of New Netherland were first considered , 
 but at last it was decided to emigrate to some place in Amer- 
 ica, near the Delaware River, where they could found an 
 independent colony under the London Company. They, 
 therefore, sent two of their number, John Carver and Robert 
 Cushman, to London, where they enlisted the aid of Sir 
 Edwin Sandys in their scheme of colonization. Through 
 him, a grant of land was obtained from the London Com- 
 pany, and seven thousand pounds were subscribed to the 
 enterprise by merchants in London. But the King refused 
 to grant a charter and promised only that he would not 
 molest them, "provided they carried themselves peaceably." 
 It seemed unwise to the congregation at Leyden to sever 
 all connection with Holland until they could feel assured of 
 the success of their colony in America. Part of their 
 number, therefore, remained in Leyden with their minister, 
 John Robinson, while others, under the leadership of such 
 men as Brewster, Bradford, Carver, and Miles Standish, 
 undertook the new venture. 
 
 Late in July of 1620, this little group of fearless men and 
 women sailed from Delft Haven in the ship "Speedwell.' ' 
 At Southampton, they met the Mayflower, with friends 
 from London and commenced the long journey across the 
 ocean, but the Speedwell was soon compelled to return to 
 Dartmouth for repairs. After making a fresh start, they 
 had succeeded in leaving England three hundred miles 
 behind, when the Captain of the Speedwell announced 
 
 11 
 
that the ship was in danger of foundering on account of her 
 leaky condition. Both ships accordingly returned to 
 Plymouth, where the rickety Speedwell was abandoned. 
 About twenty passengers decided to remain in Plymouth, 
 while the rest re-embarked in the Mayflower, which again 
 set sail for the new world on September 6, 1620. The 
 voyage proved stormy, and, having lost their bearings 
 through foul weather, it was the sandy coast of Cape Cod, 
 instead of the shores of Delaware Bay, which first met their 
 expectant gaze. Their efforts to continue southward were 
 baffled by strong head winds, and they were forced to anchor 
 in the harbor of Cape Cod. There they abandoned their 
 intention of proceeding southward, and, realizing the near 
 approach of winter, as well as the value of the fisheries, they 
 decided to make a permanent settlement in that region of 
 the country. The patent received from the London Com- 
 pany gave them no claim on the New England coast, they 
 held no charter from the King, but some sort of government 
 they must have, if a colony was to be founded. The men 
 of the party assembled, therefore, in the cabin of the May- 
 flower, and drew up the famous "Mayflower Compact," 
 on November 11, 1620, by which they bound themselves 
 into a "civill body pohtik" and promised "all due submission 
 and obedience" to such laws as should be thought "most 
 meet and convenient for the general good of the colony." 
 Today the beautiful Pilgrim Monument, erected by the 
 "Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association," guards the 
 harbor at Provincetown, reminding all who come near its 
 massive walls of the noble Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 Under this compact, John Carver was chosen Governor 
 for the first year. For five weeks, the Pilgrims remained 
 on the Mayflower, in what is now Provincetown Harbor, 
 during which time an exploring party was sent out, under 
 the leadership of Miles Standish, to decide on a suitable 
 place for the permanent settlement. During the absence 
 of this party, occurred the birth of Peregrine White, the 
 first white child born in New England, and also the sad death 
 of Dorothy Bradford, wife of William Bradford, who was 
 later, for many years, the loved and honored Governor of 
 
 12 
 
Plymouth Colony. After much suffering from snow and 
 sleet, the exploring party at last reached the point on Cape 
 Cod Bay, which, by a curious coincidence, Prince Charles 
 had previously christened Plymouth, the name of the Eng- 
 lish port from which the Pilgrims last sailed. Here was a 
 safe harbor and plenty of good spring water, and here 
 the weary voyagers landed from the Mayflower, in Decem- 
 ber, 1620, near a large bowlder since known as "Plymouth 
 Rock." 
 
 During this first Winter, the Pilgrims were exposed to 
 many hardships, and much suffering through lack of proper 
 food, so that fifty-one of their number died before Spring. 
 But Brewster understood the people well when he said, 
 "It is not with us as with men whom small things can dis- 
 courage, or small discontentments cause to wish them- 
 selves at home again." They had sought the wilderness 
 with a clear aim and a resolute purpose, and were not in- 
 chned to abandon the enterprise, however difficult or dan- 
 gerous it might prove. When, in April, the Mayflower set 
 sail for England, none of the settlers took advantage of the 
 opportunity to return. Just as the ship was about to sail, 
 the Governor, John Carver, suddenly died, and William 
 Bradford was elected as his successor. Bradford was in 
 the prime of Hfe, with good health and an unbounded 
 energy, which inspired the people to work, so that by the 
 end of the first Summer, the platform on the hill surmounted 
 by cannon had become a fortress from which a village 
 street, with seven finished houses, led down to the water. 
 Fields were cleared, and food and fuel were laid aside to 
 meet the wants of the coming winter. When provisions 
 against future suffering had thus been made, Governor 
 Bradford appointed a day of Thanksgiving, the first New 
 England Thanksgiving Day, a day now celebrated through- 
 out the land, after the harvests have been safely gathered. 
 On November 9, 1621, the "Fortune" arrived, bringing 
 more Pilgrims from Leyden, who were gladly welcomed, 
 in spite of the fact that this increase in numbers created a 
 shortage in provisions. 
 
 The Indians took stealthy observations of the white 
 
 13 
 
men from the protecting shelter of the forests, but were 
 afraid to come nearer, for they believed that the pestilence 
 from which they had suffered was due to the incantations 
 of white men. But at last an Indian, who had learned 
 from fishermen a few words of English, came into the 
 village. The kindness with which this Indian was treated 
 induced Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, to visit the 
 Pilgrims with a score of painted warriors, and the treaty 
 of peace then formed was faithfully kept for fifty years. 
 But the Narragansetts were less peaceably disposed, and 
 their chief, Canonicus, sent a messenger to Governor Brad- 
 ford with a bundle of arrows wrapped in a snake skin. 
 The valiant Bradford, not to be intimidated by this threat 
 of war, sent back the snake skin stuffed with powder and 
 bullets, Canonicus felt great fear of the powder and balls 
 and ordered his medicine men to carry the snake skin away. 
 Thus was peace with the powerful tribe of Narragansetts 
 preserved for the struggling Pilgrims. 
 
 With the "Fortune," in 1621, came also a patent from 
 the Plymouth Company, in whose territory they had un- 
 expectedly settled. This patent, however, was not made 
 out directly to the colonists, but to John Pierce, one of the 
 merchant partners by whom the original patent from the 
 London Company had been obtained. 
 
 By the year 1623, Bradford already realized that the 
 system of communism heretofore practiced at Plymouth was 
 a failure, and he, therefore, tried the experiment of giving 
 to each family a tract of land in proportion to its size. 
 The wisdom of this policy was soon apparent, for each one 
 worked with diligence, wishing to be as prosperous as his 
 neighbor, so that never again was there scarcity of food 
 in the Plymouth Colony. 
 
 The relations of the Colony with the London merchants 
 were never very satisfactory. From the merchants they 
 received few supplies, but many complaints, and also ship- 
 loads of colonists who were not in sympathy with the aims 
 or views of the Pilgrims. Therefore, in 1627, they bought 
 up all the stock from the merchant partners in London, 
 which they paid for in installments, and thus, by 1633, 
 
 14 
 
became independent owners of the country they had occu- 
 pied and cleared. They also tried again to secure a charter 
 from the King, but could obtain nothing more than a fresh 
 patent from the Council for New England, dated January 
 13, 1630, which, however, had the merit of defining the ex- 
 tent of territory they might call their own. The growth 
 of the colony was very slow and, after ten years, it numbered 
 but three hundred, and in 1643, but three thousand. Never- 
 theless, other towns were gradually settled. In 1632, was 
 founded the town of Duxbury, which was named for the 
 birthplace of Miles Standish. Eleven years later the towns 
 of the colony numbered ten. 
 
 As long as Plymouth was the only settlement, the 
 problems of government were not complex. At first the 
 Governor alone exercised executive and judicial power. 
 Later, to William Bradford, as Governor, was given at first 
 one assistant, then five, and at last seven. The officers 
 were elected and the laws enacted by the General Court, 
 a body composed of all the freemen, or voters, of the colony. 
 But, as the number of towns increased, it became difficult 
 for all the freemen to be present at the meetings of the 
 General Court, and thus it came about that the people 
 were allowed to send some one to represent them at these 
 meetings, Plymouth being entitled to four delegates and each 
 of the other towns to two, and thus was established repre- 
 sentative government. Such was the humble beginning 
 of the great Puritan exodus which settled on the New Eng- 
 land coast, and such were the toils and dangers through 
 which the Plymouth colony was obliged to pass, attaining 
 at last, through economy, industry and intelligence, so great 
 an influence that it became the cause of the establishment 
 of other colonies, and an important step toward the founding 
 of our Republic. 
 
 But great as was the work of the Plymouth settlers, 
 that colony was not destined to become the largest or most 
 influential, on the New England coast. During the years 
 following the arrival of the Mayflower, several attempts 
 were made to establish settlements on the shores of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, the most important of which was made in 
 
 15 
 
1623, by a private company of merchants in Dorchester, 
 England, who were in the habit of sending fishing vessels 
 to the Kennebec River. They wished to found a permanent 
 station to help the sailors in loading their vessels, and sent 
 out a ship of fifty tons, giving to the project a religious 
 character by including a clergyman in the party, whose duty 
 it was to look after the spiritual welfare of the sailors and 
 fishermen. As the cold at the mouth of the Kennebec 
 River was very intense, but the fishing was found to be 
 good in Massachusetts Bay, fourteen men landed to start 
 a settlement at Cape Ann. In 1626, the Dorchester mer- 
 chants pronounced their undertaking unprofitable and 
 dissolved partnership. Their stock in trade was sold to a 
 man by the name of Conant, who remained with three 
 servants at Cape Ann, but soon afterwards removed to the 
 safer harborage at Naumkeag. 
 
 But all the small settlements on the coast of the bay 
 were destined to be absorbed later by the great wave of 
 Puritan emigration, which took possession of the Massa- 
 chusetts shore. John White, a native of Scrooby, had 
 become rector of Trinity Church in Dorchester, England, 
 and was greatly interested in the sailors and fishermen who 
 ventured out upon the lonely ocean to fish by the distant 
 New England coast. He helped to establish the settlement 
 at Cape Ann, and when that project was abandoned, he 
 encouraged Conant to remove to Naumkeag, promising 
 to secure for him a patent, money and fresh settlers. He 
 realized that many ventures had failed in the past, because 
 idle and worthless men had been sent as colonists. He, 
 therefore, resolved to interest industrious and able men in 
 his scheme for colonization. He also understood the signs 
 of the times in England. In 1625, James I had died and had 
 been succeeded by his son, Charles I. It would seem as if 
 all the royal pride and stubborn will of James had been 
 intensified in his son. The belief of Charles in the divine 
 right of kings to govern to suit themselves soon brought 
 him into conflict with his Parliament, which wished to 
 uphold constitutional government. John White foresaw 
 the coming political storm, and feared lest the Puritans, 
 
 16 
 
with whom he sympathized, might be crushed by Charles, 
 to whom nonconformity meant rebelHon against the King. 
 Among the Puritans at this time were some of the ablest 
 men in England, merchants, scholars and statesmen, while 
 the gTeat body of Puritans was composed of strong-minded , 
 clear-headed men and women, who were not to be in- 
 timidated by King or Bishop, and who feared the terrors 
 of the wilderness less than the surrender of their religious 
 convictions. White, therefore, pushed his scheme for 
 colonization, hoping to provide a refuge for the Puritans 
 before it might be too late. On March 19, 1628, a tract of 
 land was obtained from the Council for New England, 
 consisting of all the territory between "three miles north 
 of the Merrimack and three miles south of the Charles, in 
 one direction, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the 
 other." Of course, the Council had, at this time, no idea 
 of the extent of country to the westward, as it was then 
 supposed that the Pacific Ocean lay not far from the Hud- 
 son River. This territory was granted to six gentlemen 
 one of whom, John Endicott, figures largely in the early 
 history of the Massachusetts Colony. Endicott was sent 
 to Naumkeag with sixty persons, and was appointed to 
 supersede Conant as leader. The first settlers opposed 
 this change, but at last the matter was arranged so that 
 good feeling prevailed, and Naumkeag was rechristened 
 Salem, the Hebrew for peace. 
 
 But John White and his partners were not disposed to 
 rest satisfied with this grant from the Council for New 
 England. The example of Plymouth inspired them to try 
 to establish something more permanent than a mere trading 
 company, and, in order that the settlers might feel secure 
 in the possession of their land, they deemed a royal charter 
 necessary. All the influence of the most powerful Puritans 
 in England was brought to bear upon the King, until, at last, 
 the coveted charter was signed in March 1629, which created 
 a corporation called "The Governor and Company of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay in New England," and confirmed to this 
 company the territory granted by the previous patent. 
 The affairs of this corporation were to be managed by a 
 
 17 
 
Governor, Deputy-Governor and Council of eighteen 
 assistants, and the only restrictions placed upon them by 
 the charter were that they should license no man to "rob 
 or spoil," should hinder no man from fishing upon the coast 
 of New England, and should pass "no law contrary or 
 repugnant to the laws and statutes of England." It is not 
 known what induced the King to grant so liberal a charter 
 to Puritans, whom he did not like, but he had an unruly 
 Parliament and political factions that opposed his will, 
 while he did not anticipate the transfer to America of the 
 charter and government. It is probable that he was glad 
 to be well rid of the Puritans, who were making such a 
 turmoil in his kingdom, by shipping them to America, 
 where they might clear the forests, and fight the Indians, 
 and thus free him from some troublesome subjects. The 
 Company soon sent out six small ships, with four hundred 
 people, together with cattle, goats, arms, ammunition and 
 tools. Three ministers accompanied this party, and, on 
 its arrival at Salem, Endicott suddenly found himself 
 Governor of a full-fledged, good-sized colony. 
 
 Several prominent Puritans in England, who were inter- 
 ested in this venture, entered into a compact, by which 
 they bound themselves to emigrate to America with their 
 families, provided the government and charter of the 
 Massachusetts Bay Company should be removed to New 
 England. It appeared that no legal obstacle stood in the 
 way of this transfer of the government across the sea, 
 since the place where this Company should hold its meetings 
 was not mentioned in the charter. Thus it came about 
 that the laws of the new colony were to be enacted, and the 
 officers appointed by a local government in Massachusetts, 
 and thus it happened that the new colony became self- 
 governing, with the stipulation that it was to enact no laws 
 contrary to those of England. 
 
 John Winthrop, a wealthy gentleman of Suffolk, England, 
 was elected first Governor under the new arrangement. 
 He was a gentleman in the highest sense of that term, 
 religious, intelligent, and fair-minded, a scholar and an 
 able lawyer. It was to his skill and wisdom that the strug- 
 
 18 
 
gling Massachusetts Colony owed much of its success. 
 Thomas Dudley, of ancient family, was Deputy-Governor, 
 and in him was exemplified the grim, stern, unyielding 
 character, so often associated with the term Puritan. These 
 men sailed in the "Arbella," in March, 1630, accompanied 
 by a fleet of eleven or twelve ships, and reached Salem on 
 June 12, with the precious charter from the King, to retain 
 possession of which was the constant aim of early colonial 
 politics in Massachusetts. The influence of two such 
 prominent men as Winthrop and Dudley induced many 
 other Puritans to join the colony, so that, by Christmas of 
 1630, more than one thousand passengers had sailed for 
 Massachusetts Bay. A tide of emigration followed, but it 
 was not the longing for adventure, or the search for wealth, 
 which brought to the bleak shores of Massachusetts this 
 crowd of earnest settlers. It was rather the transfer of a 
 people, a church, and a government to a land yet unoccupied, 
 where it was hoped to find political freedom and religious 
 independence. 
 
 Winthrop found Endicott's colony at Salem in "a sad 
 and unexpected condition," many having died of exposure 
 and lack of proper food. He succeeded Endicott as Govern- 
 or, and, not being pleased with Salem, removed with most 
 of the newcomers to Charlestown. Even here, illness and 
 death pursued them, so that Winthrop set aside July 30 
 as a day of Prayer. On this day, Winthrop, Dudley, 
 Johnson, and the pastor, John Wilson, drew up and signed 
 a simple church covenant, which became in reality the 
 foundation of the Congregational churches of New England. 
 There were many deaths at Charlestown, due to exposure, 
 lack of proper food, and good water. Winthrop, therefore, 
 became dissatisfied, and was ready to lend a willing ear to 
 Mr. Blackstone, who came from his lonely farm to tell the 
 Governor of the sweet spring of water on the Shawmutt 
 peninsula, and to invite him to remove thither. Accord- 
 ingly, on September 17, the Governor's frame house, then 
 in process of erection at Charlestown, was removed to its 
 new site on the peninsula, where other houses were soon 
 built. By order of the Court of Assistants, this new settle - 
 
 19 
 
ment was named Boston, from the principal town in that 
 part of England from which had come most of the leaders 
 of the new Puritan settlement. Boston soon became the 
 chief Puritan city, the center of the religious, political, and 
 social life of the colony, and it has remained to this day the 
 capital of the State and the leader of its thought. Its fine 
 harbor attracted trade, and the strong tide of immigration 
 brought to it citizens, so that, within a few years, the rude 
 houses began to give place to substantial and attractive 
 homes, and the shops to tempt buyers by their desirable 
 wares. 
 
 It was, however, not so much due to her wealth as to 
 her influence in religion and politics, and her skill in founding 
 a state, that Boston acquired so prominent a place in colonial 
 history. The Puritans who came to Boston were not at 
 first Separatists, as were the Pilgrims who settled Plymouth, 
 but they were thoughtful men, who saw the growing evils 
 in Church and State in England, and who desired to live 
 where their own theories of a purer Church could be carried 
 out. Religion was their central thought, and became the 
 keynote of their State. In order to practice religion in their 
 own way in a place where they were free from persecutions, 
 they exchanged home and friends for toils and dangers. 
 They all came with the same high moral standards, and 
 the same sincere, simple faith. For them, the Church was 
 supreme. Therefore, at the General Court, held at Boston 
 in 1631, it was ordered that "for time to come no man shall 
 be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as 
 are members of some of the churches within the limits of 
 the same." Having thus established the law that to be a 
 freeman, or voter, one must also be a member of the Puritan 
 church, it is easy to see that Church and State became 
 essentially one. Not only was citizenship based on church 
 membership, but the Bible was the recognized law book , 
 of which the ministers, who were usually educated men, 
 were considered the best interpreters. Consequently, the 
 ministers wielded great power and influence in the State, for 
 they were consulted on all occasions by the Board of Assist- 
 ants, who wished to find in the Bible a precedent for all 
 
 20 
 
their conduct. In fact, it was the aim of the Puritans to 
 estabhsh a government in which God should be recognized 
 as the supreme head, and the Bible as the supreme law. 
 
 At first, it was thought that the business of the Colony 
 could be transacted by a public meeting of all the freemen 
 four times a year. But the rapid growth of the colony soon 
 made this impossible, and it was decided to leave the choice 
 of Governor and the law-making power to the Board of 
 Assistants. In May, 1631, it was further agreed that the 
 Assistants need not be chosen afresh every year, but might 
 hold their office during good behavior. Thus it began to 
 seem as if the political power was to fall entirely into the 
 hands of the few. But, with the natural instinct of English- 
 men for political liberty, the people soon realized this danger, 
 and showed their opposition to the rule of a few on a question 
 of taxation. The Governor and Assistants, in order to 
 meet the expense of a fort at Newtown had levied a tax on 
 each separate community. This tax the men of Watertown 
 refused to pay on the ground that the power to tax was 
 vested in the whole body of freemen, and that they had not 
 been represented when the tax was levied. Although the 
 men of Watertown were reproved by Governor Winthrop, 
 and their opposition was formally withdrawn, yet their 
 protest produced its results. In the following May, the 
 General Court decreed that the Governor, Deputy-Governor 
 and Assistants should be elected by the whole body of 
 freemen, and that every town should appoint two represent- 
 atives to advise with them on the question of taxation. 
 The following year, it was ordered that there should be four 
 annual General Courts, but that the whole body of freemen 
 should only be present at the Court for the election of 
 Magistrates, while to the other three each town should send 
 its representatives to assist in making the laws. Thus the 
 idea of representative government gradually took shape in 
 the minds of the Puritans, and the demand for "no taxation 
 without representation" was recognized as justifiable in the 
 very beginning of the colony. In their town meetings, the 
 people became politicians and debaters, while by means of rep- 
 resentation, the towns were joined together into a common - 
 
 21 
 
wealth, and from this the people learned that through the 
 union of the different colonies, a nation could be made. 
 
 Enemies of this Puritan government soon carried com- 
 plaints to England of the cool manner in which the Puritans 
 were forming a government for themselves, as if no English 
 King existed to whom they owed allegiance, and they in- 
 timated that Massachusetts intended to free herself from the 
 Mother Country as soon as a favorable opportunity could 
 be found. Archbishop Laud had so increased the penalties 
 against the Puritans in England that many Puritan ministers 
 withdrew to America, followed by their entire congregations. 
 This withdrawal of so much of the best blood of England, 
 together with the reports of the independence of the Massa- 
 chusetts Colony, and the ability of the native colonial officials 
 alarmed the King so greatly that he demanded from Massa- 
 chusetts the return of her charter. From 1631 to 1642, 
 there was a constant struggle for the possession of this 
 charter. Several times, the King demanded its surrender, 
 and each time the pious rulers of the Puritan colony showed 
 themselves equal in statecraft to the King and his Ministers. 
 At last, war broke out in England between Parliament and 
 the King, leaving to the King no time to trouble his humble 
 American Colonies, and thus the people of Massachusetts 
 were left to work out in peace their owm destinies. 
 
 22 
 
Colonial Massachusetts 
 
 PART II 
 
 WE have seen how, during the period of colonization, 
 the Plymouth Colony was established by the Pilgrim 
 Fathers on the bleak shores of Cape Cod Bay. 
 Separatists in faith and of a sturdy independence of charac- 
 ter, they formed their own government with little reference 
 to the King, and carried it on in the fear of God. 
 
 A few years later, the Massachusetts Colony was estab- 
 lished on Massachusetts Bay by Puritans, who did not 
 object to the union of Church and State, but who were 
 opposed to some of the ceremonies which had become a part 
 of the service in the English Church, and conformity to 
 which was required by the English King. These Puritans 
 wished to live where they could worship in their own way, 
 and, therefore, on account of persecutions in England, came 
 over in numbers to the Massachusetts coast, bringing with 
 them their charter from the King, and establishing their 
 own government. They contrived to give to this charter 
 a most liberal interpretation, and for many years managed 
 their own affairs with little reference to English King or 
 English Parliament. The character of these Puritans was 
 stern, fearless and unyielding. They braved the dangers 
 of the unknown wilderness in order to worship God in their 
 own way and to better their condition, and they intended 
 that their colony should be united in belief, and that their 
 Church should be supreme; they, therefore, issued a decree 
 that only men admitted to their churches should hold office 
 or be allowed to vote. In other words, the Puritans had 
 fled to an unexplored country to escape persecutions at 
 home, to better their condition, and to enjoy freedom for 
 themselves, but they had not come to secure religious 
 toleration for others. On the contrary, they aimed at a 
 united colony, whose members should all think ahke on 
 
 23 
 
questions religious and political. Those who thought 
 differently were regarded as disturbers of the peace, and, 
 if they tried to spread their doctrines, were requested to 
 leave the colony. 
 
 One of the first of these disturbers who made himself 
 prominent was Roger Williams, a Welshman and a Uni- 
 versity graduate. He was quick in thought, and graceful 
 in expressing it. His winning ways and lovable character 
 drew around him many friends, but his pugnacious dis- 
 position did not allow him to dwell in peace with the stern 
 Puritans, who were so thoroughly satisfied with their own 
 creed. He maintained the doctrine that the union of 
 Church and State was a sin, and thus he struck at the very 
 foundation of the Puritan state. He also wrote a pamphlet 
 to prove that the King had no right to give away the lands 
 of the Indians, which doctrine would deprive the colonists 
 of the land, which they had settled under their charter from 
 the King. Thus the teachings of Roger Williams antago- 
 nized both Church and State, and he was summoned before 
 the Court of Assistants to answer for what was looked upon 
 as a denial of their charter rights. He was able, however, 
 to explain satisfactorily some vague phrases to which the 
 court objected, and was accordingly acquitted. He con- 
 tinued, nevertheless, to give offense to the rulers of the 
 colony by his teachings, and, in October, 1635, he was again 
 on trial. Because of his refusal to renounce his views, he 
 was sentenced to banishment from Massachusetts within 
 six weeks, which time limit was afterwards extended until 
 Spring. He decided to establish a new settlement on the 
 shores of Narragansett Bay, and a number of friends were 
 found ready to follow him thither. But Massachusetts was 
 not willing to allow such a disturber of the peace so close to 
 her borders, and sent Captain Underbill to sieze him and ship 
 him to England. Learning of this plan, he fled alone 
 through the wilderness, in the middle of winter, to the shores 
 of Narragansett Bay. Surrounded by dangers, he must 
 certainly have perished on the way had not friendly Indians 
 received him kindly and given him food and protection. In 
 June, 1636, with five friends, he succeeded in reaching the 
 
 24 
 
present site of Providence, where he was joined later by many 
 members of his Salem Church. Here he founded a prosperous 
 settlement, which afterward became a part of the colony of 
 Rhode Island, to which his later history belongs. 
 
 From 1630 to 1634, John Winthrop was Governor of 
 the Massachusetts Colony, directing with wisdom the 
 affairs of the infant commonwealth, which had so pros- 
 pered that, at the close of this period, it numbered some 
 four thousand people, while about twenty villages had been 
 settled on or near the shores of the Bay. The foundations 
 of the new State had been well laid, and the people calmly 
 proceeded to elect their own rulers and to pass their own 
 laws. 
 
 In the year 1634, Winthrop was succeeded in office by 
 Thomas Dudley, a man of sterner mold, and he, in turn, by 
 John Hajmes. Shortly before the banishment of Roger 
 Williams, a young man of note had joined the Puritan 
 colony. This was Henry Vane, the son of Sir Henry Vane, 
 the comptroller of the King's household. In 1638, when 
 but twenty-four years of age, he was elected Governor of 
 the colony, although without experience in colonial affairs, 
 for he was brilliant, well-educated, and full of enthusiasm. 
 His term of one year in office was troubled by a war with 
 the Pequod Indians and by violent theological disputes. 
 It was brightened, however, by one event which was of 
 great value to the new colony. About this time, three 
 clergymen from England joined the Massachusetts colony. 
 These were John Cotton, Thomas Hooker and John Harvard, 
 all of whom, each in his own way, were destined to exert a 
 lasting influence. These men, who were graduates from 
 Emmanuel College of the English University of Cambridge, 
 became, in their new home, leaders of thought and of public 
 opinion. Through their influence, and that of other edu- 
 cated men, a University soon seemed to the people essential 
 to the welfare of the colony. In 1636, therefore, the General 
 Court appropriated four hundred pounds to establish a 
 College at Newtown, later called Cambridge, in honor of 
 the University town of that name in England. At his 
 death, in 1638, John Harvard bequeathed his library of 
 
 25 
 
about three hundred volumes, and the half of his estate to 
 the new College, which the General Court ordered forthwith 
 to be called by his name — Harvard College. Such was the 
 humble beginning of the great University, whose name and 
 fame are now known from ocean to ocean. A little later, 
 subscriptions were made in Boston for the establishment of 
 a free school "for the teaching and nourturing" of children, 
 and thus was founded that system of free public schools, 
 which today extends from Maine to California. 
 
 Both John Cotton and Thomas Hooker were eloquent 
 preachers and scholarly men, but they held quite opposite 
 views on the theory of government. The law that none but 
 members of the Puritan Church should vote or hold office 
 did not meet with unanimous approval. John Cotton was 
 one of the chief supporters of this law, and also of the view 
 that the political power should be retained in the hands of 
 a few of the wisest and best men in the colony, while Hooker 
 believed in democracy, or a government in which all the 
 people had a part. In June of 1636, Hooker, who was the 
 popular pastor of a flourishing church in Newtown, em- 
 phasized his protest against the aristocratic views of the 
 majority of the clergy by removing to the Connecticut 
 Valley, with some one hundred members of his flock. Soon 
 the Dorchester and Watertown congregations followed, 
 and by the next May, eight hundred people had settled in 
 the fertile valley of the Connecticut River. 
 
 The religion of the Puritans was a matter of strict 
 regulation. There were rules concerning fast days, the 
 Sabbath Day, prayer meetings, speech and dress. Games 
 of all sorts were forbidden, theatrical entertainments were 
 not allowed, and even singing-schools did not come into 
 fashion until 1720. The men found recreation in hunting 
 wolves and bears, in house-raisings, and elections. The 
 women had their quilting parties, and the young people 
 enjoyed themselves at apple bees and corn huskings. The 
 principal interest, however, for both men and women, 
 centered in theological discussions. Among those who had 
 followed Dr. Cotton from England were Mrs. Anne Hutch- 
 inson, and her brother-in-law, Mr. Wheelwright, an eloquent 
 
 26 
 
preacher. It might be said of Mrs. Hutchinson that she 
 organized the first woman's club in America. Her home 
 in Boston was a plain, frame house at what is now the corner 
 of Washington and School Streets, and to her spacious living- 
 room came twice a week, over the marshes and through 
 cornfields and cow paths, the leading ladies of Boston and 
 neighboring towns to read, discuss, and criticise the sermons 
 of the various ministers. Mrs. Hutchinson took the leading 
 part in these meetings, and presently affirmed that all the 
 ministers, except Wheelwright and Cotton, were preaching 
 "a covenant of works" instead of "a covenant of grace." 
 At first, John Cotton and Governor Vane both expressed 
 their sympathy with the views of Mrs. Hutchinson, until 
 Cotton saw that it was likely to cost him his popularity, 
 while Vane, at the next election, lost the office of Governor, 
 which again passed to Winthrop, and returned disappointed 
 to England. Mrs. Hutchinson greatly disliked the Rev- 
 erend Mr. Wilson, preacher at the Boston Church, and 
 immediately left whenever he rose to speak, taking this 
 method of showing her preference for his colleague, the 
 Reverend John Cotton, "teacher" of the Church. Thus 
 dissensions arose which threatened the harmony of the 
 colony. The majority of the Boston Church was in sym- 
 pathy with Mrs. Hutchinson, while the ministers of the 
 colony, except Wheelwright and Cotton, sided with Wilson. 
 The churches outside of Boston supported their ministers, 
 and thus this purely theological dispute gradually assumed 
 a political character. But it seemed to Winthrop and other 
 leaders of the State necessary to present a united front to 
 England, or there might be danger of losing the charter, 
 and with it that liberty so dear to their hearts. Nor did 
 they feel that the constituted authorities could allow an 
 individual to destroy the faith of the people in a Church 
 and government just established at such great trouble. 
 The General Court, therefore, took action, and banished 
 Wheelwright, who withdrew, with his followers, to seek, in 
 the wilderness of New Hampshire, that freedom of thought 
 which Massachusetts denied. Later the sentence of banish- 
 ment was also pronounced against Mrs. Hutchinson, who 
 
 27 
 
was to leave the colony in the following Spring. In the 
 meantime, she was kept in confinement and allowed to see 
 no one but her family and the ministers of the colony, who 
 discovered that she had "gross errors to the number of 
 thirty or thereabouts." She was, therefore, publicly ex- 
 communicated from the Puritan church. Being thus cast 
 out by the State and the Church, this brilliant woman, who 
 was possessed of wit, intellect, education and independence 
 of character, passed from the borders of Massachusetts to 
 settle on the island of Aquidneck, which afterward became 
 a part of Rhode Island, and at last to meet death, with most 
 of her children, in August, 1643, at the hands of the Indians, 
 in the lonely wilderness near the borders of New Netherland. 
 Although Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers were driven 
 from the Massachusetts colony, free thought and disaffection 
 did not disappear with them. In less than ten years came 
 a struggle with the Baptists, who were excommunicated 
 and fined, but with little success in accomplishing the pur- 
 pose of making all men think alike. 
 
 The Puritan settlement having grown and increased in 
 importance, the English government began to realize that 
 an independent State was being established across the 
 Atlantic, and to prevent this, demanded the return of the 
 charter. In this crisis, the grim courage of the Puritans 
 did not waver, for they began to arm themselves and to 
 fortify the harbor of Boston, being ready, if necessary, to 
 defend their charter by force. An humble petition to be 
 allowed to retain it was, nevertheless, sent to the Mother 
 Country, and the issue was thereby delayed until England 
 became so occupied with the Puritans at home that she had 
 no time to trouble about the Puritans abroad. Thus was 
 the charter saved to the Massachusetts Colony for fifty 
 years. 
 
 After Charles I had been beheaded, and while Cromwell 
 and the Long Parliament were all-powerful, the Puritans 
 found plenty to interest them in England, and the exodus 
 to the new world almost ceased. However, some twenty 
 thousand people had already joined the first settlers on the 
 Massachusetts coast, and the colonies continued to prosper. 
 
 28 
 
With this rapid growth, the government was hampered by 
 a lack of fixed laws, such as are necessary to regulate a 
 State properly, therefore, in 1641, the deficiency was sup- 
 plied by a code of laws called in Massachusetts the "Body of 
 Liberties." Another important step was taken, when the 
 four colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven and 
 Connecticut, joined together and formed what is known as 
 the "New England Confederation." This alliance soon 
 proved the value of united action, and furnished a lesson of 
 great importance, as the troublous days of the Revolution 
 approached. The representatives of these four colonies 
 held their first meeting in Boston, September 17, 1643, and 
 planted, at that time, those principles of government which 
 later, when developed, produced the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 In 1649, Massachusetts lost, through the death of Gov- 
 ernor Winthrop, the man whose wisdom and skill had guided 
 the infant colony in safety through the first trying years. 
 His death was followed, in 1652, by that of John Cotton. 
 Unfortunately, their successors were men more fanatical 
 and less broad-minded. For thirteen out of the following 
 fifteen years, stern John Endicott acted as Governor of the 
 colony, while Cotton's successor in office and influence was 
 John Norton, a man of unyielding temper. With such 
 leaders, it is not surprising that the Puritans broke out 
 afresh in the persecution of others, and this time it was the 
 new sect of Quakers who fell under their disapproval. The 
 Quakers believed in the separation of Church and State, 
 and wished to do away with all distinctions between clergy 
 and laity. They refused to pay tithes, perform military 
 service, or take the oath of allegiance, and they laid claim 
 to an "Inward Light" by which their conduct was guided. 
 The enthusiasm of the Quakers for these doctrines some- 
 times led them to acts of impropriety and rudeness. Their 
 mere coming to New England was regarded by the Puritans 
 as an invasion, which must be repelled by the harshest 
 measures. Therefore, when the Quakers, Anne Austin and 
 Mary Fisher, arrived in Boston, they were at once arrested 
 and placed in prison, their books were publicly burned, and 
 
 29 
 
they were sent from the colony by the ships on which they 
 had come. But no sooner had these two women been 
 disposed of than eight other Quakers arrived from England, 
 who were likewise imprisoned and later sent out of the 
 country. All the colonies of the Federation now proceeded 
 to pass laws to keep out "notorious heretics, such as Quakers 
 or Ranters." Of all the New England colonies, Massa- 
 chusetts was the least tolerant in spirit, and passed the 
 severest laws. The Quaker who returned for the first time, 
 after banishment, was to be flogged and imprisoned at hard 
 labor; for the second offense, his ears were to be cut off, and 
 for the third, his tongue was to be bored with a red hot iron. 
 As the Quakers persisted in coming back after banishment, 
 in spite of these cruel laws, their return was finally made an 
 offense punishable by death, although most of the Puritans 
 of Massachusetts did not favor this decree. But the Quakers 
 felt themselves under divine command to defy their perse- 
 cutors, and persisted in returning, notwithstanding the 
 death penalty. In September of 1659, the Quakers, William 
 Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, and Mary Dyer came to 
 Boston and were banished, when they at once returned, as 
 if to court martyrdom. Governor Endicott did not flinch, 
 the law must be enforced, and the three were led to the 
 gallows, where the two men met death bravely. Mary 
 Dyer was the wife of the Secretary of Rhode Island, and just 
 as the halter was being placed about her neck, her son ar- 
 rived to take her home. But all the entreaties of her hus- 
 band and her son could not keep her there. She returned 
 to Boston, called as she thought by the Lord, and met the 
 fate which she courted. But the people of Massachusetts, 
 not being cruel by nature, grew tired of bloodshed, and thus 
 only one more Quaker was to fall a victim to their mistaken 
 zeal. This was William Leddra, who returned from banish- 
 ment and refused to leave, in spite of many entreaties, 
 therefore, in March, 1661, he too perished for his faith. 
 But the people refused to listen longer to the demands of 
 Governor Endicott, or to the severe reprimands of the 
 Boston ministers, Wilson and Norton. Capital punishment 
 was henceforth abolished for returning Quakers, although 
 
 30 
 
they were still fined, imprisoned, and whipped from town 
 to town. But gradually these persecutions likewise ceased, 
 and a more tolerant spirit prevailed. 
 
 For thirty-eight years after the Pequod War, there was 
 peace between Puritan and Indian. The white men paid 
 a fair price for the land which they occupied, and made 
 efforts to Christianize the savages, whose rude, untutored 
 minds seemed unable to grasp the idea of a loving and for- 
 giving God. John Eliot, an educated man who had mastered 
 the Algonquin dialect, was the most successful of the mission- 
 aries. He established several villages for his converts near 
 the English towns, in order to bring them closer to Christian 
 influences. These "Praying Indians," as they were called, 
 built for themselves log houses, and most of them adopted 
 the English dress. The members of the more powerful 
 tribes, however, refused to join the praying Indians, and 
 believed that an effort was being made to adopt them, in 
 order to add to the fighting strength of the English. Their 
 fear and dread of the Puritans increased, as they saw their 
 forests disappearing and realized that the strangers were 
 pushing farther and farther westward. Hatred of the in- 
 truders grew stronger, and they began to harbor thoughts 
 of revenge. At last, an unfortunate incident hastened the 
 conflict. Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, and stead- 
 fast ally of the Plymouth colonists, had died, leaving two 
 sons, Wamsutta and Metacom, or Alexander and Philip, 
 as they were called by the English. It was rumored that 
 Alexander, Massasoit's successor as chief of the tribe, was 
 plotting against the colonists, and he was accordingly 
 summoned to Plymouth to make explanations. While 
 returning to his tribe, he fell ill of a fever and died. The 
 mind of his brother, Philip, could only think of poison, 
 and plot revenge. It is difficult to tell just what part 
 Philip really played in the terrible Indian war which followed, 
 and which is called by his name, "King Philip's War." 
 For many years, he seems to have passed from tribe to tribe, 
 stirring up hostility against the Enghsh, and forming a 
 federation among the Indians, for the purpose of extermi- 
 nating the white men, who were robbing them of their hunt- 
 
 31 
 
ing grounds. In 1674, the time appeared ripe to put these 
 plans for revenge into execution, and the village of Swansey 
 in Pljonouth, near the Rhode Island border, was the first 
 to be attacked. On account of rumors of trouble, messengers 
 were sent from Plymouth and Boston, who were horrified, 
 as they approached Swansey to find the road covered with 
 the scorched, mutilated and dismembered bodies of men, 
 women and children. Dartmouth, Middleborough and 
 Taunton were the next to suffer, and the Indians showed 
 no mercy. Their victims were impaled on sharp sticks, 
 or roasted over slow fires, or tortured with all the cruelty 
 which only an Indian can devise. Along the once peaceful 
 Connecticut Valley, devastation was now spread. For ten 
 weeks, the commissioners of the New England Confederacy 
 were in session at Boston, discussing means of defense 
 while day after day, reports of fresh horrors reached their 
 ears. What wonder if the Indians seemed to them more 
 like savage beasts than men? At last, the powerful tribe 
 of the Narragansetts joined Philip in this bloody war, and 
 a thousand men of New England were enlisted to march 
 against them. It was December, and the Indians had taken 
 up winter quarters on a piece of rising ground in the midst 
 of a swamp in the Narragansett country. They had sur- 
 rounded their camp by rows of tall palisades, making a wall 
 twelve feet thick. The single approach to the one entrance 
 of this fortress was over a log slippery with the winter's ice 
 and snow. Within were women and children, and not less 
 than two thousand warriors, who were provided with muskets 
 which they knew well how to use. Early in the afternoon 
 of December 19, there approached this stronghold the five 
 hundred and twenty-seven men from Massachusetts, the 
 one hundred and fifty-eight from Plymouth, the three 
 hundred from Connecticut. Those in advance rushed upon 
 the slippery bridge, and immediately six captains fell, 
 struck by the bullets of the savages, while many men were 
 hurled into the swamp. But others pushed on with a 
 resolute spirit, and forced the entrance in front, just as the 
 men from Connecticut poured through an opening which 
 
 32 
 
they had made in the rear. It was a Sabbath afternoon, 
 but the Puritan restrained not his hand on account of the 
 day, for he felt that the Lord had dehvered unto him his 
 enemies. In this terrible conflict, known as the "Great 
 Swamp Fight," about one thousand Indians perished, 
 their supplies of food were destroyed, and their wigwams 
 were burned. But at least one thousand escaped into the 
 snows of winter, with hearts full of hatred and revenge. 
 Thus the war was prolonged until Canonchet, the brave 
 chief of the Narragansetts, was defeated and killed, and 
 until Philip was finally driven from his retreat, on August 
 12, 1676, and being struck by a bullet, fell on his face and 
 died. His head was severed and sent to Plymouth, where 
 it was mounted on a pole, which was set up on the village 
 green, while the townspeople held in their church a service 
 of thanksgiving. By midsummer of 1678, the Indians were 
 everywhere defeated, and peace was restored to the land. 
 Twelve towns had been utterly destroyed and many others 
 had suffered severely. One thousand men had lost their 
 lives, and the colonies were burdened with debts caused by 
 the war. But the result was even more disastrous for the 
 Massachusetts Indians, since for them it meant utter ex- 
 tinction. The Puritan had done his work thoroughly, and 
 the red man figures no more in New England history, ex- 
 cept in the border warfare as an ally of the French. 
 
 Men were not lacking in New England who felt that they 
 were unjustly treated by the Puritan government, and 
 especially was this the case among those who were deprived 
 of the right to vote, because they were not members of the 
 Puritan church. In Boston, after 1650, the opinion rapidly 
 spread that all baptized persons of upright lives, even if 
 not communicants of the church, should politically be re- 
 garded as members. This political doctrine was known as 
 the "Halfway Covenant," and aroused such intense oppo- 
 sition as resulted in a division of the Boston Church, and 
 the organization by the supporters of the Halfway Covenant 
 of a new church, which became famous in history as the 
 "Old South." This church grew rapidly and, in 1729, 
 erected the famous building which still stands, and which 
 
 33 
 
has become endeared by its history to the heart of every 
 American. 
 
 At the accession to the throne of Charles II, the colonists 
 sent commissioners to England imploring the favor of the 
 King, who promised to respect their charter, provided they 
 would take the oath of allegiance, administer justice in the 
 King's name, extend the right of suffrage, and permit in 
 their colony the form of worship used by the English church. 
 
 The people consented to administer justice in the King's 
 name, but paid no attention to the other restrictions. The 
 disturbed state of politics in England at this time operated 
 in favor of this independent attitude on the part of the 
 colonists. Nevertheless, their enemies contrived to keep 
 busy at the English Court, and evidence was not lacking 
 that some of the English laws had been evaded, and es- 
 pecially was it true that Massachusetts constantly trans- 
 gressed the Navigation Act by allowing vessels from France, 
 Spain and the Canaries to trade directly with Boston, and 
 thus to bring in goods which had never paid duty to England. 
 For the colonists could hardly be expected to share the 
 peculiar view of England that the colonies existed solely 
 for her benefit. 
 
 Feeling the need of a more convenient currency than 
 the Indian Wampum, or than corn and cattle, which had 
 been made legal tender for debts, the colonial government 
 had established a mint in Boston in 1652. The shillings 
 from this mint bore on one side the word Massachusetts 
 encircling a tree, hence they were known as "pine-tree 
 shillings." Although this coinage had been made on account 
 of the necessities of trade, the King objected to it, as being 
 an act suitable only for an independent government, and he 
 therefore considered this act on the part of Massachusetts 
 an offense against England. 
 
 The general supervision of the colonies was intrusted to 
 a standing committee of the privy council, familiarly known 
 as the "Lords of Trade." This committee appointed 
 Edward Randolph to go about through New Hampshire 
 and Maine, which colonies were under the protection of 
 Massachusetts, in order to find out what grounds for dis- 
 
 34 
 
satisfaction might there exist. From this time on, Ran- 
 dolph became the evil genius of Massachusetts. In 1678, 
 he was appointed by the King Collector of Customs at the 
 Port of Boston. For many years he went back and forth 
 across the water, carrying to the ears of the King tales of 
 the independent attitude of Massachusetts, and constantly 
 putting wrong constructions on the acts of the colonists. 
 He also stirred up some of the leading men in Boston, who 
 were dissatisfied with the Puritan government, and who 
 formed a new political group, later known as the "Tory" 
 party. This party was headed by Joseph Dudley, son of 
 Thomas Dudley, a former Governor. But Joseph Dudley was 
 wholly unlike his father, and seemed to have been a 
 seeker for place rather than a stickler for principle. 
 
 The history of Massachusetts, from 1680 to 1684, is a 
 history of efforts to foil the adversaries of the colony, and 
 to preserve the charter of Charles I, which, nevertheless, 
 was annulled by a decree in chancery, June 21, 1684. Her 
 enemies had finally triumphed and she now became the 
 property of King Charles II, who might, if he so chose, 
 turn the people from their homes and deprive them of all 
 the benefits of their hard labor. But, in February, a stroke 
 of apoplexy, from which he died, frustrated the King's 
 schemes for revenge. He was succeeded by his brother, 
 James II, whose favorite project it was to unite all the 
 provinces from Maine to the Delaware River under one 
 Governor. 
 
 The man chosen for this important post was Sir Edmond 
 Andros, the former Governor of New York. He made 
 Boston his headquarters, and antagonized the liberty- 
 loving people by many high-handed measures. He gave an 
 especial affront, when he demanded the use of the Old 
 South Meeting House for an Episcopal service, but even 
 more offensive were his arbitrary taxation, and his censor- 
 ship of the press, so that Dudley openly boasted that the 
 people of New England had "no privileges left except the 
 privilege of not being sold for slaves." 
 
 But England herself grew tired of the tyranny of James 
 II, and drove him into exile across the channel. When, 
 
 35 
 
on April 4, 1689, the news was brought to Boston of the 
 landing in England of the Prince of Orange, the people 
 remained strangely quiet for two weeks, but, on the 18th, a 
 town meeting was held, the drums suddenly beat to arms, 
 the militia assembled, and the signal fires were lighted on 
 Beacon Hill. Andros was summoned to surrender, and was 
 finally arrested and imprisoned. The colonies, united by 
 James II, at once fell apart, when their governments under 
 the old charters were re-established. Five weeks after this 
 revolution in Boston, King William and Queen Mary were 
 proclaimed in the city with great rejoicings. 
 
 Increase Mather, a celebrated preacher of Boston, and 
 President of Harvard College, was at that time in England, 
 and made every effort to obtain from the new King a res- 
 toration of the former charter. But even William and Mary 
 did not entirely approve of an independent government in 
 one of their provinces, therefore a new charter was prepared, 
 which somewhat curtailed the former liberties of the colony. 
 Mather succeeded in having Nova Scotia, Maine and Ply- 
 mouth annexed to Massachusetts. But a Governor was, 
 henceforth, to be appointed by the crown, instead of elected 
 by the people, although they were still to have a legislature 
 of their own choosing, which should levy the taxes and make 
 the laws, subject, however, to England's approval. Mem- 
 bership in the Puritan church was no longer to be required 
 of a voter. Increase Mather was allowed, practically, to 
 select the new Governor, and his choice fell upon Sir William 
 Phipps, who was born in the woods of Maine. In early 
 life, Phipps became a sailor and heard of a Spanish treasure 
 ship, which was lying at the bottom of the sea. By the aid 
 of King James II, and leading men in England, he succeeded 
 in finding the exact location of this ship and in securing its 
 treasure, a portion of which was awarded to him. In this 
 way, he became very wealthy and was made a knight. 
 As a statesman, however, he showed no great qualities, and 
 his term of Governor, which lasted only two years and a 
 half, was "more picturesque than important." 
 
 It was during his administration that superstition and 
 intolerance were once more to reap their harvest of blood 
 
 36 
 
in Massachusetts. The belief in witchcraft was not pecuHar 
 to New England, for a fear of the supernatural prevailed 
 everywhere at that time, and executions for that crime had 
 already occurred in England and elsewhere. A witch was 
 a person supposed to have made a compact with the devil, 
 whose faithful subject he agreed to become, in return for 
 the power to exert upon others an evil influence. Boston 
 did not bear an unstained record, for witches had been 
 persecuted within her borders. But it was the great out- 
 burst of fanaticism in Salem which finally made the life 
 of every man or woman in the colony insecure, and which 
 caused the special court of seven judges, appointed by 
 Governor Phipps, to inflict the death penalty upon so many 
 unhappy victims. Many accusations of witchcraft were 
 made, and some persons even found this a convenient 
 method of taking revenge on their enemies, so that the jails 
 were full of prisoners awaiting trial. Nineteen persons 
 suffered death on the gallows at Salem for witchcraft, some 
 of whom were from well-known families, and of upright 
 lives. The executions took place on four different occasions, 
 June 10, July 19, August 19, and September 22, 1692. 
 At last, even the wife of Governor Phipps was suspected, 
 and then the Governor concluded it was high time to put 
 an end to such dangerous proceedings. Accordingly, he 
 ordered that all persons accused of witchcraft should be 
 released from prison. Hundreds returned to their homes, 
 the unnatural excitement died down, and prosecutions for 
 witchcraft were hereafter unknown in the New England 
 settlements. 
 
 After the departure of Governor Phipps, came a succes- 
 sion of royal Governors, most of whom were men of ability, 
 and some of whom were of native Puritan stock. A con- 
 tinual cause of trouble between Governor and Assembly 
 was the question of the Governor's salary. Governor 
 Bellomont, on his arrival, informed the General Court that 
 he expected a becoming salary to be settled upon him. 
 He was popular, and the Court therefore voted him "pres- 
 ents," but firmly declined to fix his salary for a term of years. 
 This contest was continued under all succeeding Governors, 
 
 37 
 
until the year 1735, when Governor Belcher was advised 
 by England to accept the sum granted for a year, and after- 
 wards to take what he could get. This was a triumph for 
 the popular cause, for to vote the Governor a fixed salary 
 for a term of years, would leave the people without any 
 weapon against possible tyranny. 
 
 For many years, under the second, or provincial charter, 
 warfare with the Indians was kept up on the frontier. The 
 Indians were organized and directed by the French, and, 
 whether France was at war with England or not, the Indians 
 continued to burn the border settlements and to massacre 
 the settlers. At last, the great French and Indian war 
 broke out, when England, aided by her colonies, fought 
 valiantly for the destruction of French power on the North 
 American continent. At its close, the colonists found them- 
 selves much weakened in men and exhausted in finances, 
 but they now realized their own strength and knew, that, 
 once for all, they were free from the danger of French aggres- 
 sions, free to develop their own resources and to expand their 
 borders. But it was due to the expense of this war that 
 troubles with England now increased, and that a struggle 
 began in which Boston became the central point. 
 
 In 1760, Boston was one of the most important towns 
 on the continent, and indeed few towns in England, outside 
 of London, were larger or of greater commercial importance. 
 Her wharves were extensive, her streets clean and well 
 kept, although crooked and paved with cobblestones. 
 The city had fine shops, many handsome houses, and some 
 substantial public buildings. One of the latter was Faneuil 
 Hall, given to the town by a rich merchant, whose name it 
 bore. There were also numerous schoolhouses, while several 
 newspapers and some periodicals kept the inhabitants 
 informed of the news of the day. The severity of the Puritan 
 customs had somewhat relaxed, due largely to the influence 
 of the royal Governors, and other representatives of the 
 Crown. For these officials dressed well, lived well, danced 
 well, and made the sombre Puritan town resound with their 
 revelries and laughter. But even the Puritans themselves 
 were beginning to own handsome houses and to drive out 
 
 38 
 
in stately coaches. The slaves in the province were mostly 
 domestic servants, of whom there were about fourteen 
 hundred in Boston. Since the farms of New England were 
 small, and each farmer cultivated his own estate, few slaves 
 were owned in the country. The sports were riding, hunt- 
 ing, fishing, skating, excursions down the harbor, picnics 
 and teas. But none of these were indulged in on Sunday, 
 for the Puritan Sabbath was still strictly observed, nor could 
 anyone enter or leave the town on that day. 
 
 Bitterness of feeling existed between the customhouse 
 officers and the merchants and traders of the province, and 
 this reached its height, when it was proposed that the custom- 
 house officers should be armed with writs to enable them 
 forcibly to enter houses, shops or warehouses for the purpose 
 of seizing goods which they suspected might be smuggled. 
 The people were greatly aroused at this, and James Otis 
 asked for a hearing on these "writs of assistance," as they 
 were called. This hearing was held in February, 1761, 
 and was made memorable by the eloquent speech of Otis, 
 who plead for human rights and the sanctity of the home. 
 This speech prepared the minds of the people for resistance 
 to England, so that, as John Adams said, "then and there 
 the child independence was born." 
 
 When, in 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament, 
 requiring stamped paper to be used for all legal business 
 in America, this spirit of resistance manifested itself in mob 
 violence. When, on November 1, the Stamp Act was to 
 take effect, the people of Massachusetts refused to use the 
 stamps. In Boston, bells were rung, guns were fired, flags 
 were at half-mast, and Greenville, who had become the 
 English Prime Minister, was hung in effigy. All this was 
 in protest against an act giving the power of taxation to 
 a Parliament in which the colonists were not represented, 
 for it was a principle dear to the hearts of all Englishmen, 
 that taxes should not be levied upon them, save by a body 
 in which they were represented. The English government 
 was much surprised at this resistance, but Pitt took up the 
 cause of the colonists, and, through his influence, the law 
 was repealed. Nevertheless, England still maintained the 
 
 39 
 
right of Parliament to tax the colonies, and, in 1767, the 
 famous Townshend Bill was passed, which created in America 
 a board of commissioners of the customs, with large powers, 
 and laid an import duty on glass, lead, paper and tea, which 
 tax was to be used in providing salaries for the royal judges 
 and governors in America. The same hatred of tjn-anny, 
 which caused the English to behead Charles I, and to drive 
 James II into exile, aroused the English Puritans in America 
 to resent this attack upon their rights as Englishmen, for 
 not only were they to be taxed without representation, but 
 this money was to be used in paying governor and judges, 
 and thus freeing these officers completely from popular 
 control. Addresses, petitions, and nonimportation agree- 
 ments were prepared, while Governor Bernard, by refusing 
 to summon the Assembly, brought into action the Boston 
 "Town Meeting." This body was led by Samuel Adams, a 
 man of strong will, unyielding purpose, literary ability, and 
 a thorough believer in liberty, and the rights of the people. 
 He was an organizer and a politician, in the best sense of 
 that term, and became one of the great leaders in the Revo- 
 lutionary movement. This Town Meeting expressed its 
 disapproval of the new tax by means of resolutions which 
 were widely circulated. When the Assembly met in 1768, 
 a circular letter, drafted by Samuel Adams, and sent to the 
 other colonial Assemblies, called out sympathetic replies, 
 and taught the different colonies that they might work 
 together for the preservation of the liberties of Englishmen. 
 Reports were continually being carried to England that 
 the Massachusetts colony was seeking independence. The 
 "Romney," a ship of fifty guns, was, therefore, stationed in 
 Boston Harbor to help the royal officials enforce the acts 
 of Parliament and to prevent smuggling. By the close of 
 1768, more warships were in the harbor, while two regi- 
 ments of soldiers were encamped upon the Common. But, 
 greatly as the people resented the presence of these soldiers, 
 they were not intimidated by them. On September 12, 
 1768, a town meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, when it was 
 resolved that "the inhabitants of the Town of Boston will, 
 at the utmost peril of their lives and fortunes, maintain and 
 
 40 
 
defend their rights, hberties, privileges and immunities." 
 It was, with this state of feehng, but natural that riots 
 should occur between citizens and soldiers. On the 5th 
 day of March, 1770, straggling soldiers and aimless citizens 
 had indulged in various street brawls, when, at nine o'clock 
 in the evening, a quarrel arose with a sentinel, who called 
 for aid. When a sergeant appeared with a file of men, the 
 crowd railed at the soldiers and dared them to shoot, where- 
 upon the soldiers fired upon the crowd, killing three and 
 wounding eight. Thus the first Massachusetts blood was 
 shed in the cause of hberty, for the "Boston Massacre," as 
 it is called, was more than a mere street riot. It was the 
 protest of the people against the presence of soldiers sent to 
 enforce laws which the people believed fatal to their liberties 
 as Englishmen. 
 
 On the very day of this Boston Massacre, the Townshend 
 Bill was repealed by Parliament, with the exception of the 
 tax on tea, retained to prove the right of the English govern- 
 ment to tax the colonies. But it was to this principle, and 
 not to the tax, that the colonists objected, therefore, when 
 the ships loaded with tea entered the harbor of Boston, 
 the people were prepared. A large mass meeting was held 
 in Old South Church, and the people requested that the tea 
 be returned. But Hutchinson, who was then Governor, 
 refused the ships a permit to sail. It was Thursday, Decem- 
 ber 16, 1773, and in and aroujid the Old South Church 
 seven thousand people were gathered, when the Captain of 
 the "Dartmouth" reported for the last time that the Govern- 
 or still refused clearance papers for the ships. Samuel 
 Adams then said, "This meeting can do nothing more to 
 save the country." This signal was understood, and in the 
 street some forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, passed 
 by. They proceeded to the harbor, boarded the tea ships, 
 and the hated tea, which had become a symbol of tyranny, 
 was cast into the waters. 
 
 The news of this action aroused deep resentment in 
 England and, as a retaliatory measure, the government 
 passed the "Boston Port Bill," to close the harbor and 
 destroy the trade of the rebellious town. To this was 
 
 41 
 
added the "Regulation and Restriction Acts," which did 
 away with the charter and the cherished liberties of the 
 province. A third act permitted officers of the Crown to 
 be sent to England for trial for crimes committed while 
 enforcing the laws; while a fourth, legalized the quartering 
 of troops upon the inhabitants of Boston. 
 
 But, by these measures, England brought about the very 
 thing which she had most to dread — the union of the colonies, 
 for it was now generally recognized that a similar fate might 
 befall them all at any time. Letters were sent by the 
 Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence to the Com- 
 mittees in all the provinces, recommending a suspension of 
 trade with Great Britain, while gifts of money and food came 
 to Boston from the other provinces. The call from Virginia 
 for a Continental Congress met with a favorable response 
 from the other colonies. In this first Continental Congress, 
 which met in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, Massa- 
 chusetts was represented by John and Samuel Adams. 
 The deputies of this congress, in order to assist Massachusetts 
 in the struggle for her rights, agreed not to import or to 
 export goods to England after certain stated times. And 
 thus was Massachusetts supported by her "sister colonies," 
 and the ties between them were strengthened. 
 
 General Gage was now appointed Governor of the 
 Massachusetts Colony, as well as Commander of the English 
 Army in America. Additional soldiers were sent to enforce 
 obedience on the part of the colonists, and the official 
 records were removed to Salem, which was made the seat 
 of government by royal order. The Americans, on their 
 part, made preparations to resist the execution of the unjust 
 laws by force. Minute men were enrolled in every town, 
 while arms and ammunition were collected in Concord, 
 which fact became known to General Gage. On the night 
 of April 18, 1775, eight hundred English soldiers were em- 
 barked at the foot of the Common and rowed to East 
 Cambridge, from which place they began their march 
 through Lexington to Concord, to capture the military 
 supplies of the colonists. This movement was not un- 
 known to the patriots, and when the two signal lights in 
 
 42 
 
the tower of the Old North Church gave notice to Paul 
 Revere, watching on the Charlestown shore, that the British 
 had started by sea, he put spurs to his horse and aroused the 
 minute men from Boston to Lexington. There the royal 
 troops met a small body of minute men and crying out, 
 "Disperse, ye villians! Ye rebels!" fired upon them. Eight 
 minute men soon lay dead or dying on the square, ten others 
 being wounded, and thus war with England was begun. 
 The British soldiers then continued their march to Concord 
 and were there met at the bridge by a body of colonials. 
 A skirmish took place, and several on each side were killed 
 or wounded. The British now commenced a retreat, but 
 the country was thoroughly aroused, and from the friendly 
 shelter of each rock, tree or stump, the minute men poured 
 forth their deadly fire. At Lexington, the British were met 
 by a force sent to relieve them, but the fight continued until 
 at dusk the retreating English soldiers found protection 
 beneath the guns of the fleet. 
 
 The effect of this battle was to encourage the provincial 
 soldiers, and minute men poured in from every direction 
 in such numbers that the siege of Boston began, which penned 
 up in the city General Gage with his well-disciplined army. 
 On June 16, 1775, a detachment of colonial troops was sent 
 to take possession of Charlestown Heights. These forces 
 first stopped at Bunker Hill, but later decided to advance 
 to Breed's Hill, where a redoubt was laid out and breast- 
 works thrown up. At noon, June 17, General Howe ad- 
 vanced with two thousand troops and the battle began. 
 The British met with terrible losses, but the ammunition of 
 the Americans gave out and they were forced to withdraw. 
 The moral victory of the "Battle of Bunker Hill," as it is 
 called in history, remained, nevertheless, with the Americans, 
 for they had proved that the colonists could and would fight 
 in defense of their liberties. 
 
 The second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, 
 May 10, 1775, and appointed George Washington Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the American Army. He reached 
 Cambridge July 3, and took command of the army under 
 the historic elm. He needed time to discipline his troops 
 
 43 
 
and collect ammunition, and this was given him by the 
 hesitating policy of General Gage, who was later super- 
 seded as Commander of the British by Sir William Howe. 
 Closer and closer Washington drew his forces around Boston 
 from which most patriots had fled, and in which the sym- 
 pathizers of the King had gathered. At last, on the evening 
 of March 4, 1776, Washington took possession of Dorchester 
 Heights, where he threw up intrenchments and threatened 
 to bombard the town. On the evening of the 8th, Howe 
 sent a flag of truce with the promise to withdraw from the 
 city. On the 17th, the entire English army sailed away, 
 and Washington had won his first great victory. Boston 
 was thus freed from English control, and the war was trans- 
 ferred to other parts of the country. But the men of Massa- 
 chusetts continued to contribute their money and to offer 
 up their lives, until independence from England was won, 
 and the citizens of all the colonies became a united people. 
 To the colonists of that day there were things worse than 
 war, and the worst of these was tyranny; and there were 
 things well worth fighting for, and the chiefest of these was 
 liberty. 
 
 44 
 
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