Class Book c^ M 5"*^ Gopyii^htlJ^^iiU^. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Epochs of American History EDITED BY ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, Ph.D. V. \ THE COLONIES, 1492-iy^O REUBEN G. THWAITES Epochs of American History THE COLONIES 1492- 1 750 BY REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, LL.D. EDITOR OF " JESUIT RELATIONS," " EARLY WESTERN TRAVELS,' "original journals of the lewis and CLARK EXPEDITION,' ETC. author of " FRANCE IN AMERICA," " FATHER MARQUETTE," " DANIEL BOONE," " ROCKY MOUNTAIN EXPLORATION," " HISTORIC WATERWAYS," "WISCONSIN," ETC. WITH FOUR MAPS AND NUMEROUS BIBLIOGRAPHIES LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA I9IO Copyright, 1890, By Charles J. Mills. Copyright, 1897, By Longmans, Green, and Co. Copyright, 1910, By Longmans, Green, and Co. A It rights reserved. First Edition, December, 1890. Reprinted, September, 1891, February, 1S92, (Revised), January and August, 1893, December, 1893, (Revised), August, 1894, October, 1895, J"^y> ^^Q^j August, 1897, (Revised), November, 1897, July, 1898, July, 1899, April, 1900, January, 1901, October, 1901, August, 1902, November, 1902, October, 1904, September, 1906, May, 1908, June, 1910, (Revised)!. ©Ci,A271*;il V) ^ <^^ ^5- EDITOR'S PREFACE. In offering to the public a new History of the United States, — for such the three volumes of the Epochs of American History, taken together, are designed to form, — the aim is not to assemble all the important facts, or to discuss all the important questions that have arisen. There seems to be a place for a series of brief works which shall show the main causes for the foundation of the colonies, for the formation of the Union, and for the triumph of that Union over disintegrating tendencies. To make clear the development of ideas and institutions from epoch to epoch, — this is the aim of the authors and the editor. Detail has therefore been sacrificed to a more thorough treatment of the broad outlines : events are considered as evidences of tendencies and principles. Recognizing the fact that many readers will wish to go more carefully into narrative and social history, each chapter throughout the Series will be provided with a bibliography, intended to lead, first to the more com- mon and easily accessible books, afterward, through the lists of bibliographies by other hands, to special works and monographs. The reader or teacher will vi Editor^ s Preface, find a select list of books in the Suggestions a few pages below. The historical geography of the United States has been a much-neglected subject. In this Series, there- fore, both physical and political geography will re- ceive special attention. I have prepared four maps for the first volume, and a like number will appear in each subsequent volume. Colonial grants were confused and uncertain; the principle adopted has been to accept the later interpretation of the grants by the English government as settling earlier ques- tions. To my colleague, Professor Edward Channing, I beg to offer especial thanks for many generous sug- gestions, both as to the scope of the work and as to details. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. Cambridge, December i, 1890. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Upon no epoch of American history has so much been written, from every point of view, as upon the Thirteen Colonies. There has, nevertheless, been lacking a book devoted especially to it, compact in form, yet sufficiently comprehensive in scope at once to serve as a text-book for class use and for general reading and reference. The present work is intended to meet that want. In this book American colonization is considered in the Hght of general colonization as a phase of his- tory. Englishmen in planting colonies in America brought with them the institutions with which they had been familiar at home : it is shown what these institutions were, and how, in adapting themselves to new conditions of growth, they differed from English models. As prominent among the changed condi- tions, the physical geography of America and its aboriginal inhabitants receive somewhat extended treatment ; and it is sought to explain the important effect these had upon the character of the settlers and the development of the country. The social and economic condition of the people is described, and attention is paid to the political characteristics of the several colonies both in the conduct of their local affairs and in their relations with each other and the viii Author's Preface. mother-country. It is shown that the causes of the Revolution were deep-seated in colonial history. At- tention is also called to the fact, generally overlooked, that the thirteen mainland colonies which revolted in 1776 were not all of the English colonial establishments in America. From Dr. Frederick J. Turner, of the University of Wisconsin, I have had much advice and assistance throughout the prosecution of the work ; Dr. Edward Channing, of Harvard College, has kindly revised the proof-sheets and made many valuable suggestions ; while Dr. Samuel A. Green, librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, has generously done similar service on the chapters referring to New England. To all of these gentlemen, each professionally expert in certain branches of the subject, I tender most cordial thanks. REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. Madison, Wis., December i, 1890. PREFACE TO TWENTY-SECOND EDITION. From time to time there have been several revisions of the text, so that it has been kept fairly abreast of current investigation. The bibliographies, however, have remained untouched since the tenth edition (August, 1897). The principal change in the present, therefore, consists in the introduction of new and care- fully prepared references, which will render the book of greater service to the student than it has been at any time within the past ten years. In this revision, I have had the valuable assistance of Miss Annie A. Nunns. R. G. THWAITES. Madison, Wis., June i, 191a SUGGESTIONS. While this volume is intended to be complete in itself, compression has been necessary in order to make it con- form to the series in which it appears. It really is but an outline of the subject, a centre from which to start upon a study of the American colonies. The reader, especially the teacher, who would acquire a fairly complete knowledge of this interesting period of our history, will need to examine many other volumes ; from them gaining not only further information, but the point of view of other authors than the present — only in this manner may an historical perspective be obtained. The classified bibli- ographies, given by the author at the head of each chapter, have been prepared with much care. While perhaps few will desire to follow the topics to the lengths there suggested, it is urged that as many of the other volumes as possible be consulted, particularly those con- taining source material. Following is a list of books which, even for a brief study, would be desirable for reference and comparison, or for the preparation of topics : 1-5. John Andrew Doyle: English Colonies in America. 5 vols. New York : H. Holt & Co., 1882-1907. — An analytical study, in much detail, by an English author. 6-13. John Fiske: Beginnings of Ne^v England; The Discovery of America^ 2 vols.j Dutch and Quaker Colonies i?i X Suggestions for Readers and Teachers, America, 2 vols.; New France and New England; Old Vir- ginia and her Neighbours, 2 vols. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1897-1902. — The best popular accounts; but while eminently readable and inspiring, not sufficiently thorough at all points, to serve as authoritative studies. 14. Henry Cabot Lodge: Short History of the English Colo7iies in Afjierica. New York : Harper Brothers C o., 188 1 . — Concise and readable. 15-17. Herbert Levi Osgood: American Colonies in the ijth Century. 3 vols. New York : The Macmillan Co., 1904- 1907. — The most elaborate treatment of this period, from the American point of view. If a detailed study is intended, the following volumes should be added to the foregoing : A. Bibliography. 1. Edward Channing and Albert Bushnell Hart : A Guide to the Study of American History. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1896. — A well-arranged manual for both students and general readers. 2. JosEPHUS Nelson Larned: Literature of American His- tory. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1902. — More detailed than the foregoing. Contains critical estimates of many of the works cited, by experts in the several subjects. B. General. 3-5. Elroy McKendree Avery : A History of the United States and its People from their Earliest Records to the Present Time. 15 vols. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1904 +. — Volumes I.-HI. cover the colonial period. Especially notable for its illustrations — for the most part, reproductions of con- temporary views, maps, portraits, and articles of historical interest. The bibliographies are quite full. List of Reference Books. xi 6, 7. Edward Channing : A History of the United States. 8 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 19054-- — A calm, philosophical treatise, written with care and erudition. 8-13. Albert Bushnell Hart, Editor : The American Nation. New York: Harper Brothers Co., 1904-1907. — The latest co-operative history of the United States. Each volume is by an author who specializes in the topic treated. Vols. II.-VII. are concerned with the colonial period. The bibliographical chapters are very useful. 14, 15. WooDROW Wilson : A History of the American Peo- ple. 5 vols. New York : Harper Brothers Co., 1902. — Pop- ular and readable, often brilliant. Only vols. I. and II. cover the colonial period. 16-20. Justin Winsor : Narrative and Critical History of America. 8 vols. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1889. — A co-operative enterprise, the chapters being by different hands, for the most part specialists. There is a wealth of illustrations, notes, and bibliographical references. But much of the work has been superseded by later publications. Vols. I.-V. cover the colonial period. C. Special Histories. 21,22. Philip Alexander Bruce: Economic History of Virginia in the ijth Century. 2 vols. New York : The Mac- millan Co., 1896. — A careful, detailed study. 23. Philip Alexander Bruce : Social Life of Virginia in the lyth Century. Richmond : Whittet & Shepperson, 1907. — Thorough and clear. 24, 25. Sydney George Fisher : Men, Women, and Man- ners in Colonial Times. 2 vols. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott Co., 1898. — A readable and useful survey. 26. Frederick Webb Hodge : Handbook of American In- dians north of Mexico. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1907. — The author, a member of the Ethnological Bureau, is an authority on this subject. xii Suggestions for Readers and Teachers. 27-38. Francis Parkman : France and England in North America. 12 vols. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1851-1892. The titles of volumes comprising this series are : Pioneers of France in the New World; The Jesuits in North America; La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West ; The Old Re- gime in Canada; Count Frontenac and New France; A Half- Century of Conflict, 2 vols.; Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vols. ; The Conspiracy of Pontiac, 2 vols, — In spite of its age, this work remains the principal authority for the thrilling story of New France. A first-hand study, written in fascinating style. 39. Ellen Churchill Semple: American History and its Geographic Conditions. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1903. — Of first importance in understanding the causes and effects of the movements of population. 40. Cyrus Thomas : The Indians of N'orth America in His- toric Times. Philadelphia: G. Barrie & Sons, 1903. — The latest compendious treatment ; somewhat repellent in style, but useful for reference. The author is a well-known authority. 41, 42. William Babcock Weeden : Economic and Social History of New England, idso-i^Sg. 2 vols. Boston. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1890. — An admirably executed work. D. Sources. 43,44. Albert Bushnell Hart, Editor: Amt,ican History Told by Contemporaries. 4 vols. New York : The Macmillan Co., 1897, 1898. — Very useful for purposes of illustration. Vols. L, IL, are devoted to colonial material. 45-64. John Franklin Jameson, Editor : Original Nar- ratives of Early Arnerican History. 20 vols. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906 +. —Carefully edited, and in- dispensable for first-hand study. 65 V\'ILLIAM MacDonald, Editor : Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-iSgS. New York: The Mac- List of Reference Books. xiii millan Co., 1908. — Useful reprints of material otherwise difficult to obtain. In addition to the above, the publications of colonial and town record commissions and state and local histori- cal and antiquarian societies contain material of the utmost value in the study of our colonial history. Among them may especially be mentioned the volumes issued by the Prince Society, Gorges Society, American Antiqua- rian Society, and the state historical societies of Massa- chusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; also the colonial records of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE LAND AND THE NATIVE RACES. PAGES I. References, p. i. — 2. Physical characteristics of North America, p. 2. — 3. The native races, p. 7. — 4. Char- acteristics of the Indian, p. 13. — 5. Relations of the Indians and colonists, p. 17 1-19 CHAPTER 11. DISCOVERIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS (1492-1606). 6. References, p. 20. — 7. Pre-Columbian discoveries, p. 21. — 8. Early European discoveries (1492-1512), p. 23. — 9. Spanish exploration of the interior (1513-1542), p. 27. — 10. Spanish colonies (1492-1687), p. 31. — II. The French in North America (i 524-1 550), p. 32. — 12. French attempts to colonize Florida (1562- 1568), p. 33. — 13. The French in Canada (1589- 1608), p. 35. — 14. English exploration (1498-1584), p. 36. — 15. English attempts to colonize (1584- 1606), p. 38. — 16. The experience of the sixteenth century (1492-1606), p. 42 20-44 CHAPTER III. COLONIZATION AND THE COLONISTS. 17. References, p. 45. — 18. Colonial policy of European states, p. 45. — 19. Spanish and Portuguese policy, p. 47. — 20. French policy, p. 48. — 21. Dutch and Swedish policy, p. 50. — 22. English policy, p. 51. — XVI Preliniinary. TJie South. PAGES 23. Character of English emigrants, p. 53. — 24. Local government in the colonies, p. 55. — 25. Colo- nial governments, p, 58. — 26. Privileges of the colonists, p. 61 . 45-63 CHAPTER IV. THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH (1606-1700). 27. References, p. 64. — 28. Reasons for final English colonization, p. 65. — 29. The charter of 1606, p. 66. — 30. The settlement of Virginia (1607-1624), p. 69. — 31. Virginia during the English revolution (1624- 1660), p. 75. — 32. Development of Virginia (1660- 1700), p. 78. — 33. Settlement of Maryland (1632- 1635), P- ^i- — 34- Maryland during the English revolution (1642-1660), p. 84. — 35. Development of Maryland (1660-1715), p. 86. — 16. Early settlers in the Carolinas (i 542-1665), p. 87. — 37. Pro- prietorship of the Carolinas (1663-1671), p. 89. — 38. The two settlements of Carolina (1671-1700), P- 92 64-95 CHAPTER V. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH IN 1700. 39. References, p. 96. — 40. Land and People in the South, p. 96. — 41. Slavery and servants, p. 98. — 42. Middle and upper classes, p. 100. — 43. Occu- pations, p. 102. — 44. Navigation Acts, p. 104. — 45. Social life, p. to6. — 46. Political life, and con- clusions, p. 109 96-11 1 CHAPTER VL THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND (162O-1643). 47. References, p. 112. — 48. The New England colonists, p. 113. — 49. Plymouth colonized (1620-1621), p. 116. Contents, xvii PAGES — 50. Development of Plymouth (i62i-i69i),p. 120. — 51. Massachusetts founded (1630), p. 124. — 52. Government of Massachusetts (1630-1634), p. 127. — 53, Internal dissensions in Massachusetts (1634- 1637), p. 129. — 54. Religious troubles in Massachu- setts (1636-1638), p. 132, — 55. Indian wars (1635- 1637), p. 136. — 56. Laws and characteristics of Massachusetts (1637-1643), p. 137. — 57. Connecti- cut founded (1633-1639), p. 140. — 58. The Con- necticut government {1639-1643), p. 142. — 59. New Haven founded (1637-1644), p. 144. — 60. Rhode Island founded (1636-1654), p. 146. — 61. Maine founded (1622-1658), p. 150. — 62. New Hampshire founded (1620-1685), p. 152 1 12-153 CHAPTER VII. NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 '^O 1700- ^Z- References, p. 154. — 64. New England confederation formed (1637- 1643), P- ^54- — ^5- Workings of the confederation (1643-1660), p. 157. — 66. Disturb- ances in Rhode Island (1641-1647), p. 159. — 67. Policy of the confederation (1646-1660), p. 161. — 68. Repression of the Quakers (1656-1660), p. 165. — 69. Royal commission (1660-1664), p. 166. — 70. Indian wars (1660-1678), p. 170. — 71. Territorial disputes (1649-1685), p. 173. — 72. Revocation of the charters (1679-1687), p. 174. — 73. Restoration of the charters (1689-1692), p. 176 154-177 CHAPTER VIII. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1700. 74. References, p. 178. — 75. Land and people, p. 179. — 76. Social classes and professions, p. 181. — 77. Oc- cupations, p. 184. — 78. Social conditions, p. 186. — xviii New England. Middle Colonies, PAGES 79. Moral and religious conditions, p. 188. — 80. The witchcraft delusion, p. 190. —81. Political con- ditions, p. 192 178-194 CHAPTER YX. THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES {1609-I7OO). 82. References, p. 195. —83. Dut^-h settlement (1609- 1625), p. 196. — 84. Progress of New Netherland (1626-1664), p. 198. —85. Conquest of New Neth- erland (1664), p. 202. —86. Development of New York (1664-1700), p. 203. —87. Delaware (1623- 1700), p. 207. — 88. New Jersey (1664-1738), p. 210. ^89. Pennsylvania (1681-1718), p. 215. . . 195-217 CHAPTER X. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES IN 1700. 90. References, p. 218. — 91. Geographical conditions in the middle colonies, p. 218. — 92. People of the middle colonies, p. 220. — 93. Social classes, p. 222. — 94. Occupations, p. 224. — 95. Social life, p. 226. — 96. Intellectual and moral conditions, p. 229. — 97. Political conditions, and conclusion, p. 231 . 218-232 CHAPTER XL OTHER ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES (160 5-1750). 98. References, p. 233. — 99. Outlying English colonies, p. 234. — 100. Windward and Leeward Islands (1605-1814), p. 236. — loi. Bermudas (1609-1750) and Bahamas (1522-1783), p. 238, — 102. Jamaica (1655-1750), p. 240. — 103. British Honduras (1600- 1798), p. 241. — 104. Newfoundland {1497-1783), p. 241. — 105. Nova Scotia, Acadia (1497-1755), p. 242. — 106. Hudson's Bay Company, p. 243 . 233-244 Contents, xix CHAPTER XII. PAGES THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE (1608-I750). 107. References, p. 245. — 108. Settlement of Canada (1608-1629), p. 246. — 109. Exploration of the Northwest (1629-1699), p. 247. — no. Social and political conditions, p. 249. — iii. Intercolonial wars (1628-1697), p. 252. — 112. Frontier wars {1702-1748), p. 254.— 113. Territorial claims, p. 255. -~- 114. Effect of French colonization, p. 257 . 245-257 CHAPTER XIII. THE COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA (1732-I755). 115. References, p. 258. — 116. Settlement of Georgia (1732-1735), p. 258. — 117. Slow development of Georgia (1735-1755), p. 261 258-263 CHAPTER XIV. THE CONTINENTAL COLONIES FROM I7OO TO I75O. 118. References, p 264. — 119. Population (1700-1750), p 265. — 120. Attacks on the charters (1701-1749), p. 266. — 121. Settlement and boundaries (1700- 1750)) P' 267. — 122. Schemes of colonial union (1690-1754), p. 269. — 123. Quarrels with royal governors (1700-1750), p. 271. — 124. Governors of southern colonies, p. 272. — 125. Governors of middle colonies, p. 273. — 126. Governors of New England colonies, p. 275.— 127. Effect of the French wars (1700-1750), p. 277 128. Economic condi- tions, p. 278. — 129. Political and social conditions (1700-17 50), p. 280. — 130, Results of the half-cen- tury (i 700-1750), p. 282 264-284 Index 285 XX List of Maps. LIST OF MAPS. 1. Physical Features of the United States . . . Frontispiece 2. North America, 1650 End of volume. 3. English Colonies in North America, 1700 . End of volume. 4. North America, 1750 End of volume. EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. THE COLONIES. 1492-1750. CHAPTER I. THE LAND AND THE NATIVE RACES. 1. References. Bibliographies. — L. Farrand, Basis of American History, ch. xviii.; J, Lamed, Literature of American History, 21-50; J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, I., II.; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§21, 77-80; C. Lummis, Reading List on Indians. Historical Maps. — No. i, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. i); T. MacCoun, Historical Geography of United States ; school his- tories of Channing, Elson, Gordy, James and Sanford, Mace, McLaughlin, McMaster, and Montgomery. General Accounts. — Historical significance of geography of the United States: H. Mill, International Geography, ch. xxxix.; F. Ratzel, Vereinigte Staaten, I. ch. ii.; B. Hinsdale, How to Study and Teach History, ch. xiv.; E. Bogart, Economic History of United States, introduction; E. Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions ; A. Brigham, Geographic Influences in American History; W. Scaife, America: its Geographical His- tory. — Topographical descriptions of the country: J. Whitney, United States, I. pt. i.; N. Shaler, United States, I., and Nature and Man in America; Mill, as above; E. Reclus, North America, III.; Hinsdale, as above, ch. xv. — Prehistoric Man in America* L. Morgan, Ancient Society; J. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America; J. Foster, Prehistoric Races; Winsor, as abovel I. ch. vi.; E. Avery, United States and its People, I. chs. i., ii.; Farrand, as above, ch. v. — The Indians (or Amerinds): D. Brinton, Ameri- can Race; C. Thomas, Indians in Historic Times; F. Hodge, 2 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. i. Handbook of American Indians; Farrand, as above, chs. vi.- xviii.; Avery, as above, I, ch, xxii,; F. Dellenbaugh, North Americans of Yesterday; S. Drake, Aboriginal Races of America; G. Ellis, Red Man and White Man in North America; G. Grin- nell, Story of the Indian. The introduction to F. Parkman, Jesuits in North America, and his Conspiracy of Pontiac, I. ch. i., are ad- mirable general surveys. Briefer, also excellent, is J. Fiske's Dis- covery of America, I. ch. i. The mound-builders have now been identified as Indians. L. Carr, Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Historically Considered is the best exposition of this subject. C. Thomas, Catalogue of Prehistoric Works East of the Rocky Moun- tains is useful. Special Histories. — Larned, History for Ready Reference, I. 83-115, gives brief account and bibliographies of tribes; Farrand, as above, 279-286, does the same by geographical groups. Espe- cially notable are L. Morgan, League of the Iroquois, and C. Golden, Five Indian Nations. For detailed treatment of the aborigines of that section, consult H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific Coast, II., and Mexico, I.; J. Palfrey, New England, I. chs. i., ii., describes the Indians in that region; T. Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I. chs. iii., iv., the Southern tribes; and Parkman, Pontiac, the old Northwest tribes. There are numerous biographies of chiefs, and a considerable literature on border warfare. 2. Physical Characteristics of North America. Whence came the native races of America ? Doubt- less the chain of Aleutian islands served as stepping- stones for straggling bands of Asiatics to cross over Origin of the i^^o Continental Alaska many centuries ago ; native races, others may have traversed the ice-bridge of Bering's Strait ; possibly prehistoric vessels from China, Japan, or the Malay peninsula were blown upon our shores by westerly hurricanes, or drifted hither upon the ocean currents of the Pacific. There are striking simi- larities between the flora on each shore of the North Pacific; and the Eskimos of North America, like the Ch. I.] The Pacific Slope. J West-Slope Indians of South America, have been thought to exhibit physical resemblances to the Mon- a mere mat- , , , , , /^ i , , , ter of conjee- gols and Malays. On the other hand, some ^"''®* archaeologists hold that men as far advanced as the present Eskimos followed the retreating ice-cap of the last glacial epoch. In the absence of positive historical evidence, the origin of the native peoples of America is a mere matter of conjecture. North America could not, in a primitive stage of the mechanic arts, have been developed by colonization on Difficulties any considerable scale from the west, except Son°f?om^" ^^ t^^ ^^^^ o^ difficulties almost insuperable, the west. The Pacific coast of the country is dangerous to approach ; steep precipices frequently come down to the shore, and the land everywhere rises rapidly from the sea, until not far inland the broad and mighty wall of the Cordilleran mountain system extends from north to south. That formidable barrier was not scaled by civilized men until modern times, when European settlement had already reached the Mississippi from the east, and science had stepped in to assist the explorers. At San Diego and San Francisco are the only natural harbors, although Puget Sound can be entered from the extreme north, and skilful improvements have in our day made a good harbor at the mouth of Columbia River. The rivers of the Pacific Slope for the most part come noisily tumbling down to the sea over great chffs and through deep chasms, and cannot be utilized for progress far into the interior. The Atlantic seaboard, upon the other hand, is broad The Atlantic and inviting. The Appalachian range lies for the natural ^he most part nearly a hundred miles inland. N?rt*h Am- '^^^ gently sloping coast abounds in inden- erica. tations, — safe harbors and generous land- locked bays, into which flow numerous rivers of con- 4 Land and Aborigiftes, [Ch. I. siderable breadth and depth, by means of which the land can be explored for long distances from tide-water. By ascending the St. Lawrence and the chain of the Great Lakes, the interior of the continent is readily The river reached. Dragging his craft over any one of system. a half-dozen easy portages in Wisconsin, Illi- nois, Indiana, or Ohio, the canoe traveller can emerge into the Mississippi basin, by means of whose far-stretch- ing waters he is enabled to explore the heart of the New World, from the Alleghanies to the Rockies, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. A carrying trail, at the headwaters of the Missouri, will lead him over to tributaries of the Columbia, whereby he gains access to the Pacific slope ; while by another portage of a few miles in length, from Pigeon River to Rainy River, he is given command of the vast basin of Hudson Bay, — a labyrinth of waterways extending northward to the Arctic Ocean, and connected by still other portages with the Pacific. The Hudson River and Lakes George and Champlain form a natural highway from the St. Lawrence southward to the ocean. By the Mohawk and a short carrying-place, the Hudson was from early times connected with the Great Lakes. The Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Roanoke, and other Southern rivers can be traced northwestward to their sources in the mountains ; and hard by are the headwaters of west- Th A - flowing feeders of the Mississippi. The Appa- lachian val- lachian mountains run for the most part in ey system. p^j-^Hel ridges northeast and southwest; and their valley system, opening out through the Cumberland Gap upon the Kentucky prairies and the valleys of the Ohio basin, also affords a comparatively easy highway from the Atlantic sea-coast to the interior. Thus with the entrance of North America facing the east, and with Europe lying but little more than one half Ch. I.] The Atlantic Slope. 5 the distance from Boston that Asia lies from San Fran- cisco, it was in the order of things that from the east should have come the people who were to settle and civil- ize the New World. Colonists could on this side of the continent found new commonwealths, yet at the same An inviting time easily maintain their connection with the A^ry^an°colo- fatherland. The march of Aryan emigration nization. has ever been on lines little diverging from due east or west. It is fortunate that the geographical conditions of North America were such as to make her an inviting field for the further migration of the race. The Atlantic border may be considered as the thresh- old of the continent. It was among its dense, gloomy forests of hard wood and pine that European nations planted their colonies; here those colonies grew into States, which were the nucleus of the American Union. The Appalachians are not high enough seriously to affect the climate or landscape of the region. Their flanks slope gradually down to the sea, furrowed by rivers which from the first gave character to the colonies. In Geo<^raphi- ^^"^^ England, where there is an abundance of calcharac- good harbors, the coast is narrow and the New Eng- Streams are short and rapid, with stretches of land ; navigable water between the waterfalls which turn the wheels of industry for a busy, ingenious, and thrifty people. The long, broad rivers of the South, and of the Aowing lazily through a wide base-plain, the South. coast of which furnishes but little safe an- chorage, served as avenues of traffic for the large, iso- lated colonial estates strung along their banks ; the Three grand ^utocratic planters taking pleasure in having natural di- ports of entry at their doors. The Hudson Atlantic and the Potomac lead far inland, — paths to slope. ^j^g water ways of the interior, — and divide the Atlantic slope into three grand natural divisions, the 6 Land and Aborigines. [Ch. I New England, the Middle, and the Southern, in which grew up distinct groups of colonies, having quite a different origin, and for a time but few interests in com- mon. The Appalachian mountains and their foot-hills Extractive abound in many places in iron and coal ; works industries. fQj. ^j^g smelting of the former were erected near Jamestown, Virginia, as early as 1620, and early in the eighteenth century the industry began to be of con siderable importance in parts of New England, New York, and New Jersey; but the mining of anthracite coal was not commenced until 1820. The soil of the Atlantic border varies greatly, being much less fertile in the North than in the South ; but nearly everywhere it yields good returns for a proper expenditure of labor. The climate is subject to frequent and extreme changes. At about 30° latitude the mean temperature is similar to that on the opposite side of the Atlantic ; but farther north the American climate, owing to the divergence of the Gulf Stream and the influence of the great continent to the west, is much colder than at corresponding points in Europe. The rainfall along the coast is everywhere sufficient. Beyond the Appalachian mountain wall, the once heavily forested land dips gently to the Mississippi; The Missis- then the land rises again, in a long, treeless sippi basin, swell, up to the foot of the giant and pic- turesque Cordilleras. The isothermal lines in this great central basin are nearly identical with those of the Atlantic coast. The soil east of the 105th meridian west from Greenwich is generally rich, sometimes extremely fertile; and it is now agreed that nearly all the vast arid plains to the west of that meridian, formerly set The Pacific down as desert, needs only irrigation to blos- siope. sQni as the rose. The Pacific slope, narrow and abrupt, abounds in fertile, pent-up valleys, with some Ch. I.J An Aryan Stronghold. 7 of the finest scenery on the continent and a climate everywhere nearly equal at the same elevation ; the isothermal lines here run north and south, the lofty mountain range materially influencing both climate and vegetation. There is no fairer land for the building of a great nation. The region occupied by the United States is particularly available for such a purpose, ummary. j^ offcrs a wide range of diversity in climate and products, yet is traversed by noble rivers which inti- mately connect the North with the South, and have been made to bind the East with the West. It possesses in the Mississippi basin vast plains unsurpassed for health, fertility, and the capacity to support an enormous population, yet easily defended ; for the great outlying mountain ranges, while readily penetrated by bands of adventurous pioneers, and though climbed by railway trains, might easily be made serious obstacles to invading armies. The natural resources of North America are apparently exhaustless ; we command nearly every North American seaport on both oceans, and withal are so isolated that there appears to be no necessity for " entang- ling alliances " with transatlantic powers. The United States seems permitted by Nature to work out her own destiny unhampered by foreign influence, secure in her position, rich in capabilities. Her land is doubtless destined to become the greatest stronghold of the Aryan race. 3. The Native Baces. When Europeans first set foot upon the shores oi America it was found not only that a New World had rheabori- ^^^"^ discovered, but that it was peopled by gines. a, race of men theretofore unknown to civ- ilized experience. The various branches of the race differed greatly from each other in general appearance 8 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. I. and in degrees of civilization, and to some extent were settled in latitudinal strata; thus the reports concerning them made by early navigators who touched at dif- ferent points along the coast, led to much confusion in _ European estimates of the aborigines. We Divisible \ , , . , , into two now know that but one race occupied the divisions. j^^^ f^Qj^ Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Leav- ing out of account the Carib race of the West Indies, the portion resident in North and Central America may be roughly grouped into two grand divisions : — I. The semi-civilized peoples represented by the sun- worshipping Mexicans and Peruvians, who had attained Mexicans, particular efficiency in architecture, road- PueblJTs"^' niaking, and fortification, acquired some knowl- Cliff-Dwell- edge of astronomy, were facile if not elegant indiaSsof in sculpturc, practised many handicrafts, but M?sl?^r i appear* to have exhibited little capacity for valley. further progress. Their government was pa- ternal to a degree nowhere else observed, and the peo- ple, exercising neither political power nor individual judgment in the conduct of many of the common affairs of life, were helpless when deprived of their native rulers by the Spanish conquerors, Cortez and Pizarro. Closely upon the border of this division, both geographically and in point of mental status, were the Pueblos and Cliff-Dwellers of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California, — the occupants of the country around the head-waters of the Rio Grande and Gila rivers, and of the foot-hills of the Desert Range. These people, like the Mexicans, lived in great communal dwellings of stone or sun-dried brick, and were also sun- worshippers. They made crude cloth and pottery, and irrigated and cultivated large tracts of arid land, but were inferior as fighters, and occupied a mental plane considerably below the Mexicans. AUied in race and Ch. I.J The Algonquiaiis. g similar in acquirements were the tribes inhabiting the lower Mississippi valley, the Natchez and perhaps other tribes lying farther to the east. II. The natives of North America, called Red Indians, — a name which perpetuates the geographical The Red error of Columbus, and has given rise to an oFNorth erroneous opinion as to their color — occupied America. a Still lower plane of civilization. Yet one must be cautious in accepting any hard-and-fast classi- fication. The North Americans presented a consider- able variety of types, ranging from the Southern Indians, some of whose tribes were rather above the Caribs in material advancement, and quite superior to them in mental calibre, down to the Diggers, the savage root- eaters of the Cordilleran region. The migrations of some of the Red Indian tribes were frequent, and they occupied overlapping territories, so that it is impossible to fix the tribal boundaries with any degree of exactness. Again, the tribes were so merged by intermarriage, by affiliation, by consolidation, by the fact that there were numerous polyglot villages of rene- gades, by similarities in manner, habits, and appearance, that it is difficult even to separate the savages into Philological families. It is only on philological grounds RedTrTdian ^^at these divisions can be made at all. In a tribes. general way we may say that between the Atlantic and the Rockies, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, there were four Indian languages in vogue, with great varieties of local dialect. I. The Algonquians were the most numerous, holding the greater portion of the country from the unoccupied The Algon- " debatable land " of Kentucky northward to quians. Hudson Bay, and from the Atlantic westward to the Mississippi. Among their tribes were the Nar- ragansetts and Mohicans. These savages were rude lO " La7td and Aborigines. [Ch. I in life and manners, were intensely warlike, depended for subsistence chiefly on hunting and fishing, lived in rude wigwams covered with bark, skins, or matted reeds, prac- tised agriculture in a crude fashion, and were less stable in their habitations than the Southern Indians. They have made a larger figure in our history than any other family, because through their lands came the heaviest and most aggressive movement of white population. Estimates of early Indian populations necessarily differ, in the absence of accurate knowledge, but it is now known that the numbers were never so great as was at first estimated. The colonists on the Atlantic seaboard found a native population much larger than elsewhere existed, for the Indians had a superstitious, almost a romantic, attachment to the seaside ; and fish-food abounded there. Back from the waterfalls on the Atlantic slope, — in the mountains and beyond, — there were large areas destitute of inhabitants ; and even in the nominally occupied territory the villages were generally small and far apart. A careful modern estimate is that the Algon- kins at no time numbered over ninety thousand souls, and possibly not over fifty thousand. II. In the heart of this Algonquian land was planted an ethnic group called the Iroquois, with its several dis- The Iro- tinct branches, often at war with each other, quois. The. craftiest, most daring, and most intelli- gent of Red Indians, yet still in the savage hunter state, the Iroquois were the terror of every native band east of the Mississippi, and eventually pitted themselves against their white neighbors. The five principal tribes of this family — Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cay- ugas, and Senecas, all stationed in pallisaded villages south and east of Lakes Erie and Ontario — formed a loose confederacy, styled by themselves " The Long House," and by the whites " The Five Nations," which Ch. I.] Iroquois y Sioux, etc. 1 1 firmly held the waterways connecting the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. The population of the entire group was not over seventeen thousand, — a remark- ably small number, considering the active part they played in American history, and the control which they exercised over wide tracts of Algonquian terri- tory. Later they were joined by the Tuscaroras from North Carolina, and the confederacy was thereafter known as " The Six Nations." II L The Southern Indians occupied the country be- tween the Tennessee River and the Gulf, the Appalachian The South- ranges and the Mississippi. They were di- em Indians, yided into five lax confederacies, — the Cher- okees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. Of a milder disposition than their Northern cousins, they were rather in a barbarous than a savage state. The Creeks, in particular, had good intellects, were fair ag- riculturists, and quickly adopted many mechanic and rural arts from their white neighbors ; so that by the time of the Revolution they were not far behind the small white proprietors in industrial or domestic methods. In the Indian Territory of to-day the descendants of some of these Southern Indians are good farmers and herds- men, with a capacity for self-government and shrewd business dealing. It is not thought that the Southern tribes ever numbered above fifty thousand persons. IV. The Dakotah, or Sioux, family occupied for the most part the country beyond the Mississippi. They The Da- wcre and are a fierce, high-strung people, are kotahs. genuine nomads, and war appears to have been their chief occupation. Before the advent of the Spaniards they were foot-wanderers ; but runaway horses came to them from Mexico and from the exploring ex- peditions of Narvaez, Coronado, and De Soto, and very early in the historic period the Indians of the far western 12 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. I plains became expert horsemen, attaining a degree of equestrian skill equal to that of the desert-dwelling Arabs. Outlying bands of the Dakotahs once occu- pied the greater part of Wisconsin and northern lUinois, and were, it is believed by competent investigators, one of the various tribes of mound-builders. Upon with- drawing to the west of the Mississippi, they left behind them one of their tribes, — the Winnebagoes, — whom Nicolet found (1634) resident on and about Green Bay of Lake Michigan, at peace and in confederacy with the Algonquians, who hedged them about. Other trans-Mis- sissippi nations there are, but they are neither as large nor of such historical importance as the Dakotahs. The above enumeration, covering the territory south of Hudson Bay and east of the Rocky Mountains, embraces ^ , .. those savagre nations with which the white Other tribes. . r -kt i a • i colonists of North America have longest been in contact. North and west of these limits were and are other aboriginal tribes of the same race, but materially differing from those to whom allusion has been made, as well as from each other, in speech, stature, feature, and custom. These, too, lie, generally speaking, in ethno- logical zones. North of British Columbia are the fish- eating and filthy Hyperboreans, including the Eskimos and the tribes of Alaska and the British Northwest. South of these dwell the Columbians, — the aborigines of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, — a some- what higher type than the Hyperboreans, but much degenerated from contact with whites. The Californians are settled not only in what is now termed California, but stretch back irregularly into the mountains of Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Ch. I.J Indian Characteristics, 13 4. Characteristics of the Indian. But of all the North American tribes, our interest in this book is with the traditional Red Indian, — the savage of eastern North America, the crafty forest warrior whom our fathers met on landing, and whose presence so ma- terially shaped the fortunes of the colonies. First of all, the Indian was a hunter and fisherman. As such, his life was a struggle for existence. Enemies ^, , ,. were to be driven from the tribe's huntintj- The Indian 11, r 1 as a hunter grounds, but the game-preserves of other an s er. ^j-ibes were invaded when convenient, and this led to endless feuds. War was not only a pastime, but a necessity in the competition for food. Villages were as a consequence almost invariably built at vantage points, — at inlets of the sea, at waterfalls, on command- ing banks of lakes and rivers, on portage paths between the headwaters of streams, and at river junctions. Hence we find that many, if not most, of the early white towns, built before railways were introduced, are on sites originally occupied by Indian villages. The political organization of the Indians was weak. The villages were little democracies, where one warrior held himself as good as another, except for the deference Political naturally due to headmen of the several clans, organization, or to those of reputed wisdom or oratorical ability. There was a sachem, or peace-chief, hereditary in the female line, whose authority was but slight, unless aided by natural gifts which commanded respect. In times of war the fighting men ranged themselves as volun- teers under some popular leader, — perhaps a permanent chief; sometimes a warrior without titular distinction. Much which appears in the early writings about the power and authority of " nobles," " kings," and " emper- ors " among the red men was fanciful, the authors falling 14 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. I. into the error of judging Indian institutions by Old World standards. Around the village council-fires all warriors had a right to be heard ; but the talking was chiefly done by the privileged classes of headmen, old men, wise men, and orators, who were also selected as the representatives of villages in the occasional deliberative assemblies of the tribe or confederacy. The judgment of such a coun- cil could not bind the entire village, tribe, or confederacy ; any one might refuse to obey if it pleased him. It was seldom that an entire tribe united in an important enter- prise, still more unusual for several tribes to stand by each other in adversity. It was this weakness in organi- zation, — inherent in a pure democracy, — combined with their lack of self-control and steadfastness of purpose, and with the ever-prevailing tribal jealousies, which caused Indians to yield before the whites, who better understood the value of adherence in the face of a com- mon foe. Here and there in our history we shall note some formidable Indian conspiracies for entirely dispos- sessing the whites, — such as the Virginia scheme (1622),- King Philip's uprising (1675), and the Pontiac war (1763). They were the work of native men of genius who had the gift of organization highly developed, but who could not find material equal to their skill ; hence these uprisings were short-lived. The strength of the Indian as a fighter lay in his capacity for stratagem, in his ability to thread the tangled The Indian thicket as silently and easily as he w^ould an as a fighter, open plain, in his powers of secrecy, and in his habit of making rapid, unexpected sallies for rob- bery and murder, and then gliding back into the dark and almost impenetrable forest. The child of impulse, he soon tired of protracted military operations ; and in a siege or in the open usually yielded to stoutly sus- tained resistance on the part of an enemy inferior in Ch. T.] Indian Characteristics. 1 5 numbers. But the colonists were obliged to learn and adopt the Indian's skulking method of warfare before they could successfully cope with him in the forest. The Indian was lord of his own wigwam and of the squaws, whom he purchased of their fathers, kept as Social cha- his slavcs, and could divorce at his caprice, ractensucs. Families were not large, chiefly owing to the lack of food and to heavy infant mortality. The wigwams, or huts, — each tribe having peculiarities in its domestic architecture, — were foully kept, and the bodies of their dirty inhabitants swarmed with vermin. Kind and hospitable to friends and unsus- pected strangers, the Indian was merciless to his ene- mies, no cruelty being too severe for a captive. Yet prisoners were often snatched from the stake or the hands of a vindictive captor to be adopted into the family of the rescuer, taking the place of some one slaughtered by the enemy. In council and when among strangers, the Indian was dignified and reserved, too proud to exhibit curiosity or emotion ; but around his own fire he was often a jolly clown, much given to verbosity, and fond of comic tales of doubtful morality. Improvidence was one of his besetting sins. The summer dress of the men was generally a short apron made of the pelt of a wild animal, the women being clothed in skins from neck to knees; in winter both sexes wrapped themselves in large robes of similar material. Indian oratory was highly ornate; it abounded in metaphors drawn from a minute observance of nature and from a picturesque mythology. A belief in the efficacy of religious observ- ances was deep seated. Long fastings, penances, and sacrifices were frequent. The elements were ^*^°°" peopled with spirits good and bad. Every animal, every plant, had its manitou, or incarnate spirit. 1 6 Land a7id Aborigines. [Ch. I. Fancy ran riot in superstition. Even the dances prac- tised by the aborigines had a certain religious signifi- cance, being pantomimes, and in some features resem- bling the mediaeval miracle-plays of Europe. The art of . healing was tinctured with necromancy, al- though there was considerable virtue in their decoctions of barks, roots, and herbs, and their vapor- baths, which came in time to be borrowed from them by the whites. In intellectual activity the red man did not occupy so low a scale as has often been assigned him. He Intellectual was barbarous in his habits, but was so status. from choice : it suited his wild, untrammelled nature. He understood the arts of politeness when he chose to exercise them. He could plan, he was an incom- parable tactician and a fair strategist ; he was a natural logician; his tools and implements were admirably adapted to the purpose designed; he fashioned boats that have not been surpassed in their kind; he was remarkably quick in learning the use of firearms, and soon equalled the best white hunters as a marksman. A rude sense of honor was highly developed in the Indian; he had a nice perception of public propriety; he bowed his will to the force of custom, — these character- istics doing much to counteract the anarchical tendency of his extreme democracy. He understood the value of form and color, as witness his rock-carvings, his rude paintings, the decorations on his finely tanned leather, and his often graceful body markings. It was because the savage saw little in civilized ideas to attract him, that he either remained obdurate in the face of missionary endeavors, or simulated an interest he could not feel. Ch. I.J Indians and Colonists. ij 5. Relations of the Indians and Colonists. The colonists from Europe met the Red Indian in a threefold capacity, — as a neighbor, as a customer and trader, and as a foe opposed to encroach- and*the ' " ments upon his hunting-grounds. At first colonists. ^Y\t whites were regarded by the aborigines as of supernatural origin, and hospitality, veneration, and confidence were displayed toward the new-comers. Indians as But the mortality of the Europeans was soon foes. made painfully evident to them. When the early Spaniards, and afterwards the English, kidnapped tribesmen to sell them into slavery or to use them as captive guides for future expeditions, or even mur- dered the natives on slight provocation, distrust and ha- tred naturally succeeded the sentiment of awe. Like many savage races, like the earher Romans, the Indian looked upon the member of every tribe with which he had not made a formal peace as a public enemy ; hence he felt justified in wreaking his vengeance on the race whenever he failed to find individual offenders. He was exceptionally cruel, his mode of warfare was skulking, he could not easily be got at in the forest fastnesses which he alone knew well, and his strokes fell heaviest on women and children; so that whites came to fear and unspeakably to loathe the savage, and often added greatly to the bitterness of the struggle by retaliatioi\ in kind. The white borderers themselves were frequently brutal, reckless, and lawless; and under such conditions clashing was inevitable. But the love of trade was strong among the Indians, The fur- and caused them to some extent to over- imer-'tribal come or to conceal their antipathies. There barter. had always existed a system of inter-tribal barter, so widespread that the first whites landing Z 1 8 Land and Aborigines. [Ch. T on the Atlantic coast saw Indians with copper orna- ments and tools which came from the Lake Superior mines ; and by the middle of the seventeenth century many articles of European make had passed inland, by means of these forest exchanges, as far as the Missis- sippi, in advance of the earliest white explorers. The trade with the Indians was one of the incentives to colo- nization. The introduction of European blankets at once revolutionized the dress of the coast tribes ; and it is surprising how quickly the art of using firearms was ac- quired among were the American colonists of the North — the bone and sinew of the nation — saved from the temptations and the moral danger which come from contact with a numerous servile race. Again, every step of progress into the wilderness being stubbornly contested, the spirit of hardihood and bravery — so essen- tial an element in nation-building — was fostered among the borderers ; and as settlement moved westward slowly, only so fast as the pressure of population on the seaboard impelled it, the Americans were prevented from planting scattered colonies in the interior, and thus were able to present a solid front to the mother-country when, in due course of time, fostering care changed to a spirit of commercial control, and commercial control to jealous interference and menace. 20 Era of Exploration* [Ch. 1 1. CHAPTER II. DISCOVEKIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS. (1492-1606.) 6. References. Bibliographies. — Winsor, Columbus, and Narrative and Crit- ical History, I. xix-xxxvii, 33-58, 76-132, 369-444, II. 153-179, 205, III. 7-58, 78-84, 97-104, 121, 126, 184-218; Lamed, Lit- erature of American History, 50-68, and History for Ready Refer- ence, I. 54-79; Avery, United States, I. 376-403; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 81-96; also bibliographical chapters in Bourne, Cheney, and Tyler, below. Historical Maps No. i, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. i); MacCoun; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, I., II.; H. Harrisse, Discovery of North America, and Decouverte et Evolution Cartographique de Terre-Neuve; E. L. Stevenson, Maps illustrat- ing Early Discovery and Exploration in America; maps in American Nation series (Bourne, Cheney, and Tyler). General Accounts. — On geographical knowledge of ancients, and pre-Columbian discoveries : Winsor, Narrative and Critical, I. chs. i., ii., W. Wilson, American People, I. ch. i.; Avery, I. chs. iii.-vi.; E. Cheney, European Background of American History, chs. i.-v. — On discovery and settlement, from Columbus to Jamestown: M. Creighton, Age of Elizabeth (Epochs of Modern History); R. Hildreth, United States, I. chs. i., iii.; G. Bancroft, United States, I. chs. i.-v.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical, II. chs. i.-vii.. III. chs. \.-i\.,ax).d Columbus ; Avery, I. chs. vii.-xxi ; E. Channing, United States, I. chs. i.-v.; J. Doyle, English Col- onies in America, I. ch. iv. Special Histories. — E. Bourne, Spain in America; Park- man, Pioneers of France in the New World, 28-233, 296-309; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, chs. i.-iii.; C. Baird, Huguenot Emigration to America; L. Tyler, England in America, chs. i., ii. For lives of explorers, consult bibliographies, above. Contemporary Accounts. — Hakluyt, Foya^e^; Camden So- ciety, Publications, Ixxxvii.; Relation of Captain Gosnold's Voy- age (1602); Breton, Brief and True Relation (1602); Bring, Voyage for Discovery of North Part of Virginia (1603); Rosier, — looo.] The Scandinavian Claim, 21 True Relation (1605); Amerigo Vespuccius, Letters. — Reprints: Prince Society, Publications ; American History told by Contem- poraries, I. part ii.; J. Jameson, Original Narratives of Early American History; American History Leaflets, i, 3, 9, 13. 7. Pre-Columbian Discoveries. The Basques, Normans, Welsh, Irish, and Scandi- navians are the principal claimants for the honor of discovering America before Columbus ; and there are also believers in early African migrations to the western .ontinent, chiefly influenced by supposed ethnological and botanical evidences found in South America. The The Scandi- Scandinavians make out the strongest case, navian claim. Iceland, SO tradition runs, was first conquered by the Britons in the sixth century. Then followed a succession of Danish and Irish settlements. But the Celts were driven out by Ingolf, who led a colony of Norwegians thither in ?)'j$ and founded Reikjavik. The ancient Norse sagas — oral traditions, none of which were fixed in writing until the twelfth century, and most of them not until the fourteenth — mention voyages to the west from Iceland, and the discovery of new lands in that quarter as early as ^y6. In 985 Eric the Red is said to have led colonies to this western land, — by this time called Greenland. The following year (986) Bjarni Herjulfson claimed to have been driven by contrary winds to a strange shore nine days' sail southwest from Greenland, — "to a land flat and covered with trees." Then comes the familiar story, that in the year 1000 Leif, son of Eric the Red, having come from Norway and introduced Christianity into both Iceland and Greenland, sailed away to the southwest with thirty-five companions, intent on visiting the country which Bjarni had discov- ered before him. They wintered, so the saga reads, " at a place where a river flowed out from a lake," called the region Vinland because of wild grapes growing there. 22 Era of Exploration. [Ch. il " erected large buildings," and then set out for Green- land with a cargo of timber, — a commodity much needed in the fishing colonies of the less-favored North. It is related that other explorations succeeded this, and that in 1007 a temporary settlement was formed in sunny Vin- Jand, where the colonists, nearly one hundred in number, "had all the good things of the country, both of grapes and of all sorts of game and other things." Trading voy- ages to the new country now became frequent, say the sagas, and considerable shipments of timber were made from Vinland to Greenland. Eric Upsi, a Greenland bishop, is alleged, on doubtful authority, to have gone to Vinland in 1121; and in 1347 there is mention of a Greenland ship sailing out there for a cargo of timber, — but this is the very last reference to Vinland by the Norwegian bards. An enormous mass of literature has been the outgrowth of these geographical puzzles in the sagas, and many writers have ventured to identify every headland and other natural object mentioned in them. The common theory among the advocates of the Scandi- owy, bm ' navian claim is, that Vinland was somewhere notimprob- on the coast south of Labrador: but as to able. . . ' the exact locality, there is much diversity of oiDinion. There may easily have been early voyages to the American mainland south of Davis Straits by the hardy Norse seamen colonized in Iceland and Green- land, and it is probable that there were numerous adventures of that sort. The sagas, like the Homeric tales, were oral narrations for centuries before they were committed to writing, and as such were subject to distortion and patriotic and ro- mantic embellishment. It is now difficult to separate in them the tru2 from the false; yet we have other contemporaneous evidence (Adam of Bremen, 1076) that 1000-1450.] The Race for India. 23 the Danes regarded Vinland as a reality. Pretended monuments of the early visits of Northmen to our shores have been exhibited, — notably the old mill at Newport and the Dighton Rock; but modern scholarship has determined that these are not relics of the vikings, and had a much less romantic origin. It is now safe to say that nowhere in America, south of undisputed traces in Greenland, are there any convincing archaeological proofs of these alleged centuries of Norse occupation in America. 8. Early European Discoveries (1492-1512). But even granting the possibility, and indeed the prob- ability, of pre-Columbian discoveries, they bore no last- ing fruit, and are merely the antiquarian puzzles and American curiosities of American history. The develop- begun wTth"* '^^^'^ o^ *^^ ^^w World began with the Columbus, landing (Oct. 12, 1492) on an island in the Bahamas, of Christopher Columbus, the agent of Spain. It was an age of daring maritime adventure. India, whence Europe obtained her gold and silks, her spices, perfumes, and precious stones, was the common goal. For many centuries the great trade route had been by caravans from India overland through Central Asia and the Balkan peninsula to Italy, the Rhine country, the Netherlands, and beyond; but the raids of the fierce desert tribes and the capture of Constantinople (1453) had closed this path, and now the trade passed through Egypt. With improvements in the art of nav- igation there arose a general desire to reach India by sea. Three centuries before Christ, Aristotle had The race taught that the earth was a sphere, and that for India. t^g waters which laved Europe on the west washed the eastern shores of Asia. Here and there through the centuries others advanced the same opinion, 24 Era of Exploration, [Ch. IL and the map which the great Italian astronomer Tos- canelli sent to Columbus (1474) showed China to be but fifty-two degrees west of Europe. The idea that by sailing west India could be reached, was therefore quite familiar to the contemporaries of Columbus, although he The idea of Stands in the front as the one man who put his sailing faith to the test. The mistake lay in the cur- westward I 1 . ,. , . ,. , to reach rent calculations regardmg the size of the earth. originri^with Instead of being only three thousand miles to Columbus, the west, Asia was twelve thousand, and the continent of America blocked the way. It is probable that Columbus went to his grave still firm in the belief that he had reached the confines of India, — indeed, the names he gave to the islands and to the strange people who inhabited them stand as enduring evidence of his geographical error. The Portuguese, on the other hand, sought India by the southeast passage, around the continent of Africa, and had been creeping southward along the African coast for several years before Spain sent Columbus to reach Asia by the west. Thus in the race for India and the discovery of intermediate lands, the Portuguese and the Spanish had adopted opposite routes. Pope Alexander Pope Alex- ^I. now issued his famous bull (May 4, I493)> ander's bull, partitioning the un-Christian world into two parts, — Spain to have lands west of an imaginary merid- ian 100 leagues west of Cape de Verde islands, and Por- tugal those to the east — a simple arrangement, on paper. Next year, by agreement, the hne was moved to 270 leagues westward, but it was still supposed to be in mid- ocean. By this change, however, the eastern part of what is now Brazil fell to Portugal. England, although still Catholic, was not disposed to allow Spain and Portugal to monopolize between them those portions of the earth which Europeans had not 1 474-1501] 1^^^ Cabot s, 25 yet seen ; and we are told that there was grievous dis- appointment at the court of London because Spain had been the path-breaker to the west. In 1497 send^out John Cabot set sail from England armed with John Cabot. ^ trading charter, to endeavor to reach Asia by way of the northwest. He had knowledge of the exploit of Columbus, and may well have heard of the Scandinavian discovery of Vinland. Early in the morn- ing of the 24th of June he sighted the gloomy head- lands of Cape Breton, — the first known European to make this important discovery. It is on record that " great honors " were heaped upon the adventurous mariner upon his return to England, and that the gen- erous king gave ";^io to him that found the new isle" — the equivalent of $700 or $800 of our money. The year 1498 was one of the most notable in the long and splendid history of maritime discovery. Young Portugal Vasco da Gama, of Portugal, turned the Cape India^b the ^^ Good Hope, and gayly sailed his httle fleet southeast. into the harbor of Cahcut (May 20). At last India had been discovered by the southeast passage : Portugal had first reached the goal. In May, also, Co- lumbus set forth upon his third voyage, during which he first discovered the mainland of South America ; and in the same month John Cabot's second son, Sebastian, left Bristol in the hope of finding the northwest pas- „ ^ . sage, which his father had failed to reach, and bebastian ,^. , ,, i x-i Cabot's which was undiscovered until our own times voyage. (1850). Icebergs turned Sebastian southward, and he explored the American shores down to the vicin- ity of Chesapeake Bay. From this voyage sprang the claim under which the English colonies in North America were founded. Three years later (1501) a Portuguese mariner, Caspar Cortereal, explored the American coast south of 26 Era of Exploration. [Ch. Ii. the Gulf of St. Lawrence for a long distance. By 1504 we know that fishermen from Brittany and Normandy Newfound- were at Newfoundland, and from that time cofonSi^ forward there appear to have been more or nucleus. less permanent colonies of fishermen there, — French, Portuguese, Spanish, and English, — with their little huts and drying scaffolds clustered along the shores. Newfoundland proved valuable as a supply and repair station for future explorers and colonizers. It was the nucleus of both French and English settlement in America. By 1578 there were no less than one hundred and fifty French vessels alone employed in the New- foundland fisheries, and a good trade with the Indians had been established. The idea that America was but a projection of Asia possessed all the early explorers; and indeed it was Searching "^ ccntury and a half later (1728) before Bering forashort sailed from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic cut through America. and provcd that America was insulated. There was another geographical error, which took even a longer time to explode, — the notion that a waterway somewhere extended through the American continent, uniting the Atlantic and the Pacific. John Smith and other Enghsh colonists thought that by ascending the James, the York, the Potomac, the Roanoke, or the Hudson, they could emerge with ease upon waters flowing to the ocean of the west. Champlain sent (1634) the fur-trader Nicolet up the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes into Wisconsin, which he thought to be Asia; and Jolliet and Marquette (1673) imagined they had found the highway thither when their birch-bark canoes glided into the upper Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. One hundred and seven years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Balboa scaled the continental backbone at Darien (1513), and in the name of Spain 1504-1525]' The Spaniards. 27 claimed dominion over the waters of the Pacific. With undaunted zeal did Spanish explorers then beat up and down the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico, vainly seeking for a passage through by water. A great stim- ulus had now been given to the general desire to reach India by sea; for the Turks were overrunning Egypt (15 1 2-1 520) and despoiling the caravans from the East, so that the manufactures and trade of western Europe were sadly crippled. But thus far Portugal alone held the key to the sea-route to India. 9. Spanish Exploration of the Interior (1513-1542). This same year (1513) was notable also for the first visit made by Spaniards to the mainland of North Amer- Ponce da ^'^^' ^^nce de Leon, a valiant soldier worn Leon in out in long service, and who had been serving as governor of Porto Rico, went to the Florida mainland, where a popular legend said there was a foun- tain giving forth waters capable of recuperating lifC' The country was ablaze with brilliant flov;ers, but the elixir of life was not there, and he returned disappointed In 1 519 Pineda, another Spaniard, explored the north- ern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The following yeai (1520) a slave-hunting expedition, under Vas South Care- quez, visited the coast of South Carolma, ''"^' which the commander styled Chicora. The brilliant conquest of Mexico by Cortez (1519-1521) had made that hardy adventurer the hero of Christendom; and in the hope of rivalling his splendid achievement, Vasquez returned to Chicora in 1525, commissioned by Charles V. as governor of the country. But Chicora was not Mexico, and the Red Indians were of a dif- ferent temper from the Aztecs. The expedition met with disaster. While Vasquez was fighting the embittered savages in South Carolina, Gomez, also in behalf of 28 Bra of Exploration, [Ch. Ii. Spain, was ranging along the Atlantic coast from New- foundland to New Jersey, and instituting a successful trade with the natives. In April, 1528, Narvaez, with three hundred enthusi- astic young nobles and gentlemen from Spain, landed at Tampa Bay and renewed his sovereign's claim to . Florida and its supposed wealth of mines the Florida and precious stones. Led by the fables of the ^'''^^' wily native guides, who were careful to tell what their Spanish tormentors wished most to hear, they floundered hither and thither through the great swamps and forests, continually wasted by fatigue, famine, disease, and frequent assaults of savages. At last, after many distressing adventures, but four men were left out of this brilliant company, — Cabeza de Vaca, treasurer of the expedition, and three companions. For eight years did these four bruised and ragged Spaniards wearily roam through the region now divided into Texas, In- dian Territory, New Mexico, and Arizona, — through en- tangled forests, across broad rivers and desert stretches beset with wild beasts and wilder men, but ever spurred on by vague reports of a colony of their countrymen in the far southwest. At last (May, 1536), the miserable wanderers reached Culiacan, on the Gulf of California, whence they were borne in triumph to the city of Mexico as the guests of the province. Their coming revived the shadowy native tales of gold mines and wealthy cities to the north, which had for s aniards some years been exciting the cupidity of the reaching couquerors of Mcxico. In response to these from ^ rumors there had been frequent reach ings out Mexico. northward. In 1528 Cortez had despatched Maldonado up along the Pacific coast for three hundred miles. Two years later (1530) Guzman penetrated to the mouth of the Gulf of California and established the town 1528-1540] Seven Cities of Cibola, 29 of Culiacan. Cortez again had vessels on the Pacific in 1532, and by 1535 his lieutenants were claiming for him the Lower California peninsula. It is possible that Spanish vessels coasted northward beyond the Columbia; but no news of their discoveries reached the geographers in Europe. It was in 1530 that specific reports first came, through native slaves, of seven great cities of stone-built houses ^, „ g a few hundred miles north of the capital of Cities of the Aztecs, where the inhabitants had such a profusion of gold and silver that their house- hold utensils were made of those metals. The search for "the seven cities of Cibola," as these alleged com- munities came to be called by the Spaniards, was at once begun. Guzman, just then at the head of affairs in New Spain, led northward a considerable expedition of Spanish soldiers and Indians, which suffered great hardships; but failed to discover Cibola. Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow-adventurers claimed, lUpon their arrival, to have themselves seen the seven Coronad/s cities ; and they enlarged on the previous march. stories. Coronado, governor of the northern province of New Gallicia, was accordingly sent to con- quer this wonderful country which Guzman had failed ito find. Early in 1540 he set out with a well-equipped following of three hundred Spaniards and eight hun- dred Indians. The Cibola cities were found to be but pueblos in Arizona or New Mexico, like the com- munal dwellings of the Hopis and Zunis, with the aspect of which we are so familiar to-day ; while the mild inhabitants destitute of wealth, peacefully prac- tising their crude industries and tilling their irrigated fields, were foemen hardly worthy of Castilian steel. Disappointed, but still hoping to find the country of gold, Coronado's gallant little army, frequently thinned 30 Era of Exploration. [Ch. II by death and desertion, beat for three years up and down the southwestern wilderness, — now thirsting in the deserts, now penned up in gloomy canons, now crawling over pathless mountains, suffering the horrors of starva- tion and of despair, but following this will-o'-the-wisp with a melancholy perseverance seldom seen in man save when searching for some mysterious treasure. Coronado apparently crossed the State of Kansas tv/ice; "through mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth and wearisome and bare of wood. . . . All that way the plains are as full of crookback oxen as the mountain Serena in Spain is of sheep. . . . They were a great succor for the hun- ger and want of bread which our people stood in. One day it rained in that plain a great shower of hail as big as oranges, which caused many tears, weaknesses, and vows." The wanderer ventured as far as the Missouri, and would have gone still farther eastward but for his inability to cross the swollen river. Co-operating parties explored the upper valleys of the Rio Grande and Gila, ascended the Colorado for two hundred and forty miles above its mouth, and visited the Grand Canon of the same river. Coronado at last returned, satisfied that he had been made the victim of travellers' idle tales. He was rewarded with contumely and lost his place as governor of New Gallicia ; but his romantic march stands in history as one of the most remarkable exploring expeditions of modern times. Early in the summer of 1539 Hernando de Soto, the favorite of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru (1532), an- _ ^ chored his fleet in the bay of Espiritu Santo, De Soto ^, . , , . , . . , , follows Florida, determined to gain independent renown arvaez. ^^ ^^^ conqueror of the North American wilds. His was a much larger and better-equipped party than had subjugated either Mexico or Peru. But he met the fate of Narvaez. False Indian guides led him hither 1540-1687.] De Soto. 31 and thither through the swamps and moss-grown jungles of the Gulf region, and the survivors formed a sorry company indeed when the Mississippi River was reached (April, 1 541), — probably at the lowest Chickasaw Bluff, — after two years of fruitless wandering. The next winter, still betrayed by his savage guides and harassed by attacks from other natives, he spent upon the Washita, but despairing of reaching Mexico by land, he returned to the Mississippi, where he died of swamp-fever (May 21, 1542). The great river he had discovered was his tomb. His wretched followers, by this time much re- duced in numbers, descended the stream, and after great hardships finally reached the Mexican coast-settlements in September. 10. Spanish Colonies (1492-1687). A half century had now passed since the advent of Columbus in the Bahamas ; yet upon the mainland to the north, Spain as yet held neither harbor, fort, nor settle- ment. In the southwest, the proximity of Mexico and the milder character of the natives made it easier to maintain a settlement in what is now United States territory. In 1582, forty years after Coronado's march, Franciscan Spanish friars opened missions in the valleys of the friars in the Rio Grande and the Gila, — the Cibola of old. Sixteen years later (1598) Santa Fe was estab- lished as the seat of Spanish power in the north ; by 1630 this power was at its highest in New Mexico and Arizona, fifty missions administering religious instruction to ninety Pueblo towns. In 1687 the chain of missions had reached the Gulf of California, and then slowly extended northward along the Pacific coast till San Francisco, with its system of Indian vassalage, was established in 1776. In Florida, after the extermination of the French Huguenot colony in 1564, Spain made wholesale claims* ^2 Era of Exploration, [Ch. II. to all that region; but De Gourgues dealt her settle- ments a staggering blow, and she seemed thereafter in- Spain's capable of further colonizing the province. At possYssio" s the close of the sixteenth century Spain held at close of ^^t few points in what is now the United sixteenth ^ century. States, — Santa F^ in New Mexico, a few scattering missions along the Gila and Rio Grande, and St. Augustine in Florida. 11. The French in North America (152i-1550). The French were not far behind the Spanish in their attempts to colonize North America. In 1524 John Th Fren h Verrazano, a Florentine in the employ of enter the Francis I , while seeking the -supposed water passage through America to China, explored the coast from about Wilmington, N. C., to Newfound- land. Ten years later (1534) Jacques Cartier, a St. Malo seaman, sailed up the north shore of the estuary of the St. Lawrence "until land could be seen on either Cartier at sidc." The next year he was back again, and Montreal; ascended to the first rapids at La Chine, naming the island mountain there, Mont-Real. Having spent the winter in this inhospitable region, his reports were such as to discourage for a time further attempts at colonization in America by the French, who were just now engaged at home in serious difficulties with Spain. A truce being at last declared between France and Spain, Cartier was made captain-general and chief pilot of an American colonizing expedition which Francis allowed the lord of Roberval to undertake. But this conflict of authority was distasteful to both Cartier and Roberval, and the former started off before his chief in May, 1 541. He built a fort near Quebec, but a year later returned to France, just before Roberval arrived with reinforcements for the colony. The latter remained for 1527-1564] The French hi Florida, 33 a year in America before returning home, and it is thought that he visited Massachusetts Bay in his voyages along- shore. France was now ablaze with civil war, v^ue . ^^^ ^^^ Huguenots, with their independent notions, were engaging all the resources of the royal power, so that further American discoveries were for the time postponed. The Newfoundland industry, however, grew apace, for the Church prescribed a fish diet on cer- tain days and at certain seasons, and the consumption of salted fish in Europe had grown to be enormous. Breton vessels were from the first prominent in the traffic. 12. Frenchi Attempts to colonize Florida (1562-1568). Admiral Coligny, the great Huguenot leader, was am bitious to establish a colony of French Protestants in Coli n 's America which should be a refuge for his per- coiony at sccuted couutrymcn whenever it became desir- °^^ able for them to seek new seats. Jean Ribaut went out under his auspices in 1562, discovered St. John's River in Florida, went up Broad River, named the country Carolina, after the boy-king, Charles IX., and left twenty- six colonists at Port Royal, on Lemon Island. But the settlers soon tired of their enterprise, and the following year set out for home. An English cruiser captured the party on the high sea when it was reduced to the last extremity for want of food. The more exhausted of the company were landed in France ; the rest were taken to England, The succeeding season (1564), another colonizing expe- dition, made up of Protestants, headed by Rend Goulaine Laudonniire de Laudonni^re, and aided by the king, sought in Florida. Carolina. Avoiding Port Royal as ill-omened, they established themselves on St. John's River. The emigrants were a dissolute set, as emigrants were apt to be in an age when the sweepings of European jails 3 34 Era of Exploration. ICh. li and gutters were thought to furnish good colonizing material for America. Laudonni^re hung some of his followers for piracy against Spanish vessels; others were captured in the act by the Spaniards, and sold into slavery in the West Indies. What remained of the colony soon lost, through dishonesty and severity^ the respect of the Indians, who had at first received the intruders kindly. When, in August, 1565, Sir John Hawkins, the noted slaver and navigator, appeared with his fleet, he was able to render the now half-starved settlers most needed help. Ribaut soon came also, with recruits, provisions, seeds, domestic animals, and. farming implements, greatly to the joy of the little colony. But this happiness was not of long duration. The attention of Philip II. of Spain was at length called to this colony of French heretics which was gaining a foothold upon his domain of Florida. In August, 1565, his agent, Pedro Melendez de Aviles, appeared on the scenp and announced his purpose to ''gibbet and behead all the Protestants in these regions." Melendez established St. The Spanish Augustine, which is thus the oldest town in massacre. ^\^^ United States east of the Mississippi, and then with blood thirsty deliberateness proceeded to wipe the French settlement out of existence. French writers claim that nine hundred persons were cruelly massacred ; and the Spanish estimate is not far below that number. A Gascon soldier, Dominic de Gourgues, soon came over (1567) to avenge the wrong done his fellow-Hugue- TheHu ue ^<^^S- ^^ Captured all the Spanish estabhsh- nots ments left by Melendez, except St. Augustine, avenge When he found, the following year, that he could not hold his prizes, he hung the Spanish prisoners to trees and hastened back to France. His king, however, being under the influence of Spain, disavowed this act of reprisal, and relinquished all further claim to Florida. 1564-1604.] De Moiits. 35 13. The French in Canada (1589-1608). The colonial policy of Henri IV. (i 589-1610) was more progressive and enlightened than that of his im- mediate predecessors on the throne of France. But he had not yet learned what succeeding generations were to discover to their cost, — that criminals and paupers do not make good colonists. In 1598 the familiar error De la was repeated, when the Marquis de la Roche feSd ven-"' ^<^o^ O"^ ^ company of forty jail-birds, liber- ture. ated for the purpose, and landed them on the dreary, storm-washed Isle of Sable, off the Nova Scotia coast, where, eighty years earlier (1518), the Baron de Ldry had made a vain attempt to start a colony. La Roche, beggared on his return home, was unable to suc- cor his colonists, who on their inhospitable sands lived more like beasts than men. Five years later the twelve skin-clad survivors were picked up by a chance vessel and taken back to France, to tell a tale of almost matchless horror. It was an age of licensed commercial monopolies, as well as of other economic experiments. In the year 1600 Chauvin obtained the exclusive right to prosecute the fur-trade in the New Land to the west, and united with him a St. Malo merchant, Pontgrave. They made two lucrative voyages, but established no settlement. Samuel de Champlain, in Pontgrave's company, went out in 1603, Champlain's ascending the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, first voyage Later (this same year) De Monts, a Calvinist, was given the viceroyalty and the fur-trade monopoly of Acadia, — between the fortieth and sixtieth degrees of De Monts' latitude, — and religious freedom was granted colony. there for Huguenots, though the Indians were to be instructed in the Romish faith. De Monts and his strangely assorted party of vagabonds and gentlemen 36 Era of Exploration. [Ch. Ii first settled on an island, near the present boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, in the fall of 1604, but the following spring moved to Port Royal,— now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. This, the first French agricultural colony yet planted in America, suffered dis- aster after disaster ; but although Port Royal was aban- doned in 1607, the germ of colonization lived. In 1608, Quebec Champlain — who had, four years before, while established, jn the employ of De Monts, explored the coast as far south as Cape Cod — set up a permanent French post upon the gloomy cliff at Quebec. Soon the Jesuits came; and by the time the "Mayflower" had reached New England, New France was established beyond a doubt, and French influence was penetrating inland. Wandering savages from the Upper Lakes, nearly a thousand miles in the interior, had at last seen the white man and begun to feel his power. 14 English Exploration (1498-1584). England would have followed up Cabot's discovery of North America with more vigor had not Henry VII., English in- being a Catholic prince, hesitated to set aside Newfound- '^^ Pope's bull giving the new continent to land. Spain. His subjects, however, made large hauls of fish along the foggy shores of Newfoundland, and in 1502 some American savages were exhibited to him in London. Henry VIII. was at first similarly scrupulous; but when, in 1533, he got rid of his queen, Catharine of Aragon, he was free from Spanish en- tanglements, and aspired to make England a maritime nation. Among many other enterprises the northwest passage allured h.m, although nothing came of his ven- tures in that direction. With the accession of Edward VI. (1547) a progressive era opened. The Newfoundland 1587-16051 Gilbert and Raleigh. 37 fisheries were now so effectively encouraged that by 1574, under Elizabeth, from thirty to fifty English ships were making annual trips to the Grand Banks. The most popular ventures among the nobles of Eliza- beth's court were the northwest passage, American coloni- Elizabeth's nation, and freebooting voyages. Writers of courtiers vovagcs and travels and cartographers sprang looking to- ^ ^ u J ^1, ^ . .1 X • wards Amer- up on every hand, the most noteworthy bemg '^*" Richard Eden, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Richard Hakluyt, and Martin Frobisher. Patronized by the powerful Earl of Warwick, Frobisher in three succes- sive voyages (i 576-1 578) vainly sought gold in Labra- dor. Francis Drake, on his famous buccaneering tour around the world, explored the Pacific coast of the United States as far north as Cape Blanco (1579), unsuccessfully searching for a short cut by water through the continent. Gilbert saw that Newfoundland must thereafter be considered as the nucleus of English settlement in Amer- Gilbert's ica ; and in 1579 Sir Humphrey, himself a voyage. soldier and a member of Parliament, accom- panied by his step-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, went out to lead the way. Storms and other disasters drove them back, and it was 1583 before another squadron could be equipped. Raleigh remained in England ; but Gilbert landed at St. John's, where he found that four hundred vessels of various nationalities, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, were annually engaged in the fisheries. He took possession of the island for the queen, exam- ined the neighboring mainland, and freighted his ships with glistening rock, ignorantly declared by an unskilful expert accompanying the expedition to contain silver. Upon the return voyage the vessel carrying Gilbert was lost, the companion ship, with its worthless cargo, reaching Falmouth safely. 38 Era of Exploration, [Ch. IL 15. English Attempts to colonize (1584-1606). Under Raleigh's auspices two vessels set out in 1 584, commanded by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. Amadasand They landed at the island of Roanoke, the Barlowe. southernmost of the reefs enclosing Albemarle Sound, in North Carolina; but although charmed with the country, which they declared to be " the most plen- tiful, sweet, fruitful, and wholesome of all the, world," and well treated by the Indians, — " people most gentle, loving, and faithful," — they made no settlement, and returned to England. Raleigh, however, was pleased by the reports brought back ; he was knighted, his claim was confirmed, he named the country Virginia, in token of his virgin queen, and he entertained visions of estab- lishing a considerable province there, and of enjoying a comfortable rent-roll. In 1585, aided by the queen, he sent out seven ves- sels and one hundred and eight colonists, the fleet being Raleigh's Commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, and the first colony, intending settlers by Ralph Lane, a soldier of much merit. Few maritime enterprises were sent out by England in the Elizabethan age that did not include in their orders a project for preying on Spanish commerce by the way ; for our ancestors were as yet not far re- moved in this regard from the spirit of the old Norse pirates. Grenville therefore sailed around by the Cana- ries, picked up Spanish prizes partly to meet the cost of the undertaking, and in due time anchored at Wocoken, whence he proceeded to Roanoke island. With the colonists was Manteo, a native who had gone to England with some former expedition ; and the good- natured fellow secured for his new friends a warm recep- tion on the part of the aborigines. But Grenville before his return treated them harshly, leaving to them and the 1492- 1 6o6.] RaleigJi s First Colony. 39 colonists a legacy of mutual distrust and grievances. In March, 1586, Lane ascended the Roanoke River, hoping to find rich ores and pearls in the upper country ; for the deceitful savages, wishing to divide the white men's forces, had told him that the stream had its source near the western ocean, in a country abounding with these articles, and encouraged his expedition with promises of assistance. The enterprise proved full of hardship and peril, and the governor returned just in time to check a conspiracy to attack the garrison. Lane had employed his men in frequent explorations, their joumeyings reaching on the north to Chesapeake Bay and Elizabeth River, on the south to the Secotan. But the situation became irksome. The spirit of ad- venture and wealth-seeking prevailed among the colonists ; it was not a community calculated for the uneventful and toilsome prosecution of agriculture ; and before long the fretful disease of homesickness prevailed on the island of Roanoke. In June, 1586, Sir Francis Drake appeared with twenty- three vessels. He had made a rich haul from Spanish treasure-ships in the West Indies, and had turned aside on his return trip, curious to see how his friend Raleigh's colony fared. Yielding to the importunities prise aban- of the Settlers, he took them aboard his doned. fjgg^ ^^^ carried them back to England. They had been gone from Roanoke but a few days, when a ship, bringing supplies sent out by Raleigh, sailed into the inlet, only to find the place deserted. In another fort- night, Grenville appeared with three well-furnished ships, and left fifteen men on the island to renew the colonizing experiment. Raleigh displayed most remarkable persistence. He •was undismayed by this long chapter of disasters. Men on whose judgment he relied brought back good reports 40 Era of Exploration, [Ch. il. from the site of the ill-fated colony, and again he fitted out an expedition, — this time entirely at his own charge, j^ ^ . j^, for Elizabeth had had enough of the experi- second ment. It was in July, 1587, when John White attempt. arrived with Raleigh's new colonists off the shores of North Carolina. At Roanoke, deer were quietly grazing in a field fertilized by the bones of Grenville's contingent of the year before, and the fort was in ruins. Governor White re-established the settlemeht. The 1 8th of August the daughter of White, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to a daughter, called Virginia, after the country, — the first child of English par- Virginia ents born on the soil of the United States. ^^''^- A few days later, White left for England, — ostensibly for recruits and supplies, the colony which he left behind being composed of eighty-nine men, seven- teen women, and two children. But England was now threatened with invasion from Spain; the energy and resources of the island were being mustered in its de- fence ; Raleigh, Drake, Grenville, Frobisher, Hawkins, and the rest were engaged in preparing to resist the enemy. It was no time for colonization schemes. The Armada scattered, the father of EngHsh colonization in America found himself ruined, having spent ^40,000 in his several fruitless ventures. Still hopeful, he next adopted a scheme of making large grants in Virginia to merchants and adventurers, and in this manner obtained some aid. In 1 591 White returned to Roanoke, to find it again deserted, with no traces of his daughter or of the other colonists. They had probably been overcome by the Wreck of Indians, and those whose lives were spared the colony, adopted into the neighboring tribes. In spite of the many costly attempts, the sixteenth century closed with no English settlement on the shores of America. i6o2-i6o6.] Gosnold and Gorges. 4 1 Among the principal causes of this early failure in Virginia were the improper character and spirit of the Causes of emigrants, who, instead of looking to the soil urel'thu?''" ^^ ^^^ chief source of supplies, expected to far. find rich mines, or tribes possessing gold, and relied upon England for the necessaries of life ; they had not enough occupation to keep them from brooding over their isolation, and by their harshness they turned the Indians into harassing enemies. Bartholomew Gosnold has had the reputation of being the first mariner who set out for America on a direct Gosnold's voyage from England, thus avoiding the West voyages. Indies and the Spanish, and saving nearly a thousand miles ; but others before him had taken the di- rect course, —notably Verrazano (1524). In 1602, while trading with the Indians, Gosnold explored the coast from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, to the Elizabeth Islands, on his Pring in Way landing upon and naming Cape Cod. The Maine, following year Martin Pring discovered many harbors and rivers in Maine. In 1605 George Wey- ^^ ^ _ mouth, sent by the Earl of Southampton and mouth at Lord Arundel, explored from Cape Cod north- ^^^ ° ' ward. He carried back with him several kid- napped natives, three of whom he gave to Sir Ferdinando Gorges be- Gorges, governor of the English port of Ply- comes in- mouth. Gorges was particularly struck with the reported abundance of good harbors in the north, compared with the scarcity of such in Virginia and Carolina, and became at once strongly interested in New England exploration. Public attention in England had by this time become strongly attracted to the northern region as probably the most desirable for future experiments in colonization ; it was pointed out with much force that the lack of good anchorage was one of the reasons why the southern 42 Era of Exploration. fCn. II attempts had failed. Conditions in England, too, had at last so changed as to make it possible to undertake col- onization with better assurances of success. But New England was not destined to be the site of the first per- manent plantation. That honor was reserved for what is now Virginia. 16. The Experience of the Sixteenth Century (1492-1606). In reviewing the period from 1492 to 1606, — prac- tically the sixteenth century, — we see that it was notable Sixteenth fo^ the extraordinary interest displayed in dis- ^^YA^P "°^" covery and settlement. Attention has been interest in Called to the part played by the general de- and^seufe- ^^^^ ^^ Europeans to secure the trade of India, ment. But wc must not forget as well that, as a fea- ture of the great Renaissance and Reformation movement, the spirit of investigation was abroad, in religion, phi- losophy, and the arts ; there had grown up great com- mercial and trading cities, in which the successful foreign merchant became a part of a powerful aristocracy ; pop- ular imagination had been fired by traders' stories of India, China, and Japan; there was an eagerness to reach out into the regions of mystery, to enlarge the horizon of human knowledge. The effect was greatly to increase skill in navigation, to build up a merchant marine, and — it being an age of universal freebooting — to cultivate an experience in naval warfare which was a preparation for the great sea-fights of the eighteenth century. Of the three nations which, in the sixteenth century, attempted to colonize America north of the Gulf of Mexico, all had practically failed. Spain had with com- parative ease conquered the unwarlike natives of Mexico and Peru upon their cultivated plains. That very ease 1492-1606.] Causes of Failure. 43 took away the disposition, even had her people been capable of the effort, slowly and painfully to subdue Causes of ^^^^ tangled forests and savage warriors of failure in Florida, with no other .promise of reward American than the possession of unredeemed soil. Not colonization, suited to the task, she utterly wasted alike the resources of the home government applicable to coloni- zation, and those of the established colonies. France had failed because of dissensions at home, inferior powers of organization, the want of the proper coloni- zing temper, and the severity of the climate in that portion of the New World which she had seized upon as the seat of her colonies. English colonization thus far had been unproductive because there was a want of understanding of the difficulties, because of the selection of colonists who lacked experience in agriculture, be- cause poor harbors were generally chosen, because there was difficulty in keeping up communications with the mother-land, because the resident leaders lacked cour- age and had not the staying qualities which were in after years the salvation of the Plymouth Pilgrims. But the effect of these early English efforts was important in giving the people needed training in navigation and colonization, and a knowledge of the country. Taking a general view of America at the close of the sixteenth century, we find Spain in undisputed posses- European sion of Peru, Central America, the country ^4f,',?v!A" west and northwest of the Gulf of Mexico, 1600. the greater part of the West Indies, and the coast of what is now Florida; while thev claimed all of the southern third of the present United States and the greater part of South America, except Guiana and Brazil. The French laid claim to the basin of the St. Lawrence and to the coast northward and south- ward, but their colonies were not as yet permanentlj 44 Era of Exploration. [Ch. it planted; the attempts to make Huguenot settlements in Brazil (1555) and Florida had been unsuccessful, and French claims there had been abandoned under Spanish influence. It was not until 1609, when Hud- son sailed up the river named for him, that the Dutch laid any claims to American soil. Cabral discovered Brazil for the Portuguese in 1500; but when Portugal, eighty years later, became the dependency of Spain (a condition lasting sixty years), her South American colonies were harried by the Dutch, though she did not relinquish control of them. The English claimed all the North American coast from Newfoundland to Florida, and of course through to the Pacific, no one then enter- taining the belief that the continent was many hundred miles in width; but as yet none of their colonizing efforts had been successful. The Bermudas, Bahamas, and Bar- bados were neither claimed nor settled b) Englishmen until the seventeenth century. The great Mississippi basin had been visited by a few Spanish overland wan- derers, but as yet was practically forgotten and unclaimed, except so far as it was included in the undefined Spanish and English transcontinental zones; the Hudson Bay country, Oregon, and Alaska were also undiscovered lands. A few thousand miles of American coast-line were now familiar to European explorers; but of the interior of the continent scarcely more was known than might be seen over the tree-tops from the mast-head ot a caravel. Ch. III.] Colonial Policy. 4$ CHAPTER III. COLONIZATION AND THE COLONISTS. 17. Keferences. Bibliographies. — C. Lucas, Introduction to Historical Geog- raphy of British Colonies, vii., viii.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, III., V.; Larned, Literature of American History, 67-76; Avery, United States, II. 409-411 ; E. Greene, Provincial America, ch. xix. ; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 92, 104, no. Historical Maps. — No. 2, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 2); MacCoun, Winsor, and Avery. General Accounts. — Colonization : Lucas, as above (col- onial policies of the European states); J. Seeley, Expansion of England, chs. iii., iv.; A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, chapter "Of Colonies"; H. Morris, History of Colonization; A. Snow, Ad- ministration of Dependencies, chs. i.-v. — English movement : G. Beer, Origin of British Colonial System; H. Merivale, Coloniza- tion and the Colonies ; H. Egerton, Short History of British Colo- nial Policy, and Origin and Growth of English Colonies; W. Woodward, Expansion of British Empire; C. Dilke, Greater Britain, and Problems of Greater Britain; E. Creasy, Imperial and Colonial Constitutions ; Mill, Colonial Constitutions ; J. Toner, Colonies of North America; J. Marsden, Early Puritans. — Free institutions imported by American colonists, and colonial government generally: Greene, Provincial Governor; E. Eggle- ston. Transit of Civilization, and Beginners of a Nation; A. Low, American People; Wilson, The State, §§ 832-864; E. Freeman, English People in its Three Homes, lecture vi.; H. Taylor, English Constitution, 15-48; Channing, Town and County Govern- ment; C. Bishop, History of Elections in the Colonies. Contemporary Accounts. — Published records (chiefly by historical societies) of the several American colonies. See also Hakluyt, Voyages; Holinshed, Chronicles. — Reprints : E. Arber, Pilgrim Colonists; A. Brown, Genesis of United States; W. Mac- donald. Documentary Source Book of American History ; Ameri- can History told by Contemporaries, I. part iii. 18. Colonial Policy of European States. The time had now come for making the first perma- nent English settlement in America. Before we proceed 46 Coionhatio7i mid Colonists. [Ch. III. to the story of that famous enterprise, however, it will be well hastily to summarize the colonial policies of those European States which have at various times established plantations in the New World. It will be well also to know what sort of people were the seed of English colo- nization, and what institutions they brought with them as the foundations of American commonwealths. Four motives, working either singly or conjointly, lead to colonization, — the spirit of adventurous enterprise, Motives of the desire for wealth, economic or pohtical colonization, discontent, and religious sentiment. For in- stance, Columbus was quite as much a religious enthu- siast desirous of spreading the gospel in new lands as he was an adventurer; the southern group of English colonies in America was in the main the outgrowth of a trading spirit working in conjunction with economic dis- tress in England ; and the Puritan migration to New England was impelled by economic and political causes, as well as by religious. In a large sense the planting of a colony means merely the expansion of the parent State. But this was not the Colonization ^^^^^ formerly taken by European govern IS the ex- mcnts. For a long time colonies were treated pansion of ^ ■, . r ^ the parent as dependencies of the mother-country, exist- State, jj^g chiefly to furnish revenue to the latter, either directly in taxes or indirectly in increased trade. It was because the English colonists in America, taking though early a broad view of their relationship to Great source'^o?^ Britain, wished to be treated as free Eng- revenuetoit, Hshmen in Greater Britain, and not merely as revenue-producing subjects, that they revolted in 1776. Colonial history is nearly everywhere the history of this obtuseness of vision on the part of the home government, and it is full of most painful details. 1492-1600.J Spain and PortngaL 47 19. Spanish and Portuguese Policy. It chanced that the American discoveries made by Spain were in the region of rich and physically weak „ . nations. Consequently she won her vast do- Spam. . . '^ i minions on this continent by sweeping con- quest rather than by commercial growth. This was in sharp contrast with the slow, steady planting of New England, where the settlers were obliged to conquer a sterile soil and brave a rigid climate, where they were hemmed about with savage neighbors who disputed their establishment, and where they met as well the sharp opposition, first of the Dutch, and then of the French, — the latter, in their desire for the Mississippi valley, jealously endeavoring to restrict Englishmen to the Atlantic slope. The Spaniards were brave, and they could rule with severity. But they thirsted for adven- ture, conquest, and wealth, for which their appetite was early encouraged; their progress in Mexico, Peru, and the West Indies had been too rapid and brilliant for them to be satisfied with the dull life and patient devel- opment of an agricultural colony. Had they known in advance the conditions of success on the North Amer- ican mainland, it is probable that we should never have been obliged to chronicle the splendid but disastrous expeditions of Narvaez and De Soto. They would doubtless have made no attempt to subdue a land which offered nothing for such appetites as theirs. Their aims were sordid, their State was loosely knit, their commer cial policy was rigidly exclusive, their morals were lax, and their treatment of the savages was cruel, despite the tendency of the colonists to amalgamate with the latter, and thus to descend in the scale of civilization. The effect of the specie so easily acquired in Mexico and Peru was to make Spain rapidly rich without manufac- 48 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. ill. tures ; but her people were thereby demoralized and unfitted for the ordinary channels of employment, and her rulers were corrupted and enfeebled ; in the end the country was impoverished, declining as rapidly as it had risen. Spain's glory was fast waning both in the New and the Old World at the close of the sixteenth century, and France was ready, in the march of events, to suc- ceed to her place as the leading nation of Europe. France was to be supplanted a century later by England, which was not known as a great power until the dis- persion of the Armada. We have seen that in this his- torical progress wSpain unwittingly helped England by driving the French out from Florida and Carolina ; nevertheless the decline of Spain left France the most formidable rival of the English. The Portuguese, though impelled by a similar passion for conquest, were more eager for trade than their power- ful and often domineering Spanish neighbors. Portugal. ^, J ^1 • 1 • J • They oppressed their colonies, were greedy in their commercial strivings, maltreated the weak natives of Brazil and the West Indies, lacked administrative ability and the spirit of progress, and suffered from want of a well-balanced colonial system The Portuguese colonies in America had much the same history as the Spanish, their situation being similar. Brazil was of no great impor- tance until the early years of the nineteenth century, and made herself independent in 1822, ^ thus following the lead of Mexico, which set up an independent govern- ment the previous year. 20. French Policy. France had no permanent colonies in America before the seventeenth century. Port Royal was planted in 1604, and Quebec not until four years later. The French were good fighters, enterprising, and while not eager • 1497-1763-] France. 4g to colonize, were capable of adapting themselves to new conditions; they had the capacity to carry their ideas with them across the seas, and they readily assimilated with the aborigines. While freely intermarrying with the natives, unlike the Spaniards they rather improved the savage stock than were de- graded by it. They had the faculty of making the red barbarian a boon companion, and of inducing him to serve them and fight for them ; indeed, since their colo- nizing enterprises were based on the fur-trade, their opposition to the advance of English agricultural posses- sion was, like that of the Indians, fundamental. The French and the savages were therefore united in a common cause against a common foe. The Breton and Norman merchant-seamen who went out to Newfoundland and carried on fisheries and the fur-trade paved the way for the future throng of emi- grants. As colonizers the French worked quietly and persistently, and would have succeeded, had not their enterprises been ruined by their unfortunate political and ecclesiastical policy and the mismanagement of their rulers. Louis XIV. was capricious and extravagant. His court was a nest of intrigue, corruption, pecula- tion, jealousies, and dissensions. The Huguenots, who represented the industrial classes, began the French colonization of America; but we have seen how sadly their government neglected them in Florida. Finally, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) re- sulted in driving them from home, and they were eager to join their lot with that of their countrymen in Canada, priest-rule prescribed their deliberate exclusion from the colonies, — which they could have made a New France in fact, — and thus forced them to contribute their strength to the rival English settlements farther down the coast. The government was in some respects over 4 50 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III. liberal to its North American colonies, — it aided them financially to an extent unknown elsewhere; but they were not self-governed, and the king continually inter- fered with the commercial companies, which in a large measure controlled the colonies, so that a favor granted through corrupt influences to-day might to-morrow be revoked by counter-influences equally corrupt. Pater- nalism, centralization, bureaucratic government, official rottenness, instability of system, religious exclusiveness, and a vicious system of land-tenure were the prime causes of the ruin of New France ; although we must not forget that the -centre of its power had been planted in an in- hospitable climate, and that its far-reaching water-system tempted the inhabitants into the forests and cultivated the fur-trade at the expense of agriculture, thereby placing the province at a disadvantage from the start. 21. Dutch and Swedish Policy. The burden of over-population with which Spain, France, and Portugal were troubled, and to relieve the pressure of which was one of the motives of their colonizing efforts, was not felt by Hol- land ; for despite the fact that she sustained a more dense population than any other European State, her citizens were prosperous. They were not stirred, like neighboring peoples, by the impulse of emigration. Pre- eminently a trading nation, Holland sought commerce rather than extension of empire. Long the chief carrier of Europe before striking into a broader field, she fol- lowed in the steps of the Portuguese, and by the opening of the seventeenth century took rank as a colonizing power. Her most fruitful labors were in the East rather than in the West. It was in the attempt to find the northwest passage to India that Hudson discovered the river which bears his name. With the Dutch, though 1609-1664I Holland and Sweden. 51 religious reformers, religion was secondary to trade. So long as trade was good, they were patient under insult and outrage. Individually they made but little impress upon the community. Commerce was chiefly conducted through large chartered companies, minutely managed in Holland. Dutch colonies declined because their com- mercial system was non-progressive and unsound; they appear to have been unable to rise out of the trader state. Yet we must not forget that Holland was of small size and had overbearing, jealous neighbors ; her long and heroic struggle with Spain tended greatly to delay her efforts to trade in and colonize the New World. The Swedish colony on the Delaware was planned by authority of Gustavus Adolphus on broad, liberal prin- ciples ; he hoped it would become " the jewel of his kingdom." But while it throve for a time and gave much promise of endurance, the Dutch soon overpowered it. Had the Swedish monarch lived to carry out the design, doubtless he would have proved that Scandinavians could successfully maintain an inde- pendent province in the New World. Like the Germans, however, they have in later years been in the main con- tent to colonize as the subjects of foreign governments. 22. English Policy. England remains the only country which planted pop- ulous colonies within the present United States and re-^ tained them long after they were planted. Her "^ *" ■ insular position and fine harbors have given her a race of sailors ; her climate has proved favorable for rearing a hardy people, who, secure in their boundaries and not necessarily entangled in Continental affairs, have been left free to develop and to push independent enter- prises. As regards American exploration, the fact that 52 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. iil England is the westernmost State in Europe had at first much to do with her pre-eminence. Until the close of the sixteenth century England's resources were slender, and her government was not desirous of incurring the hostility of stronger European neighbors by poaching too freely on their colonial preserves. Cabot went out at his own cost. Drake's operations, while adding to the glory of England, and directly favored by Queen Eliza- beth, were continually endangering her with Spain. But in the face of all discouragements, the sixteenth century was a notable training period for English sea-rovers. The records of the age are aglow with the deeds of the Cabots, Frobisher, Davis, Drake, Cavendish, Gilbert, Raleigh, Grenville, and their like, who, while invariably failing in their persistent efforts at colonization, were charting the American coast-line, making the New "World familiar to their countrymen, and striking out shorter paths across the Atlantic. At first outstripped by other European nations, England was becoming one of the principal maritime powers when the seventeenth century began. Spain, weakened by the defection of the Nether- lands, and still further humiliated by the defeat of the Armada (1588), was by this time showing evidences of decay, and France was the growing rival in the West. English occupation in North America, like the French, began with the fishermen who, following in The En lish Cabot's wake, early sought the banks of New- trading foundland. They were courageous, business- '^'" hke men, who soon supplemented their caUing as fishermen with a profitable native trade in peltries. The trading spirit has always been deeply implanted in the Teutonic races ; when England had gathered suffi- cient strength to make it discreet to assert herself, we find that her reachings out for wider territory took the shape of commercial enterprise. The romantic adven- 1 500-1700.] English Character, 53 turers of the age of Elizabeth, as much freebooters as explorers, were now succeeded by prosaic trading com- panies, which undertook to plant colonies along the Atlantic coast. In doing this they were impelled in part by a desire to relieve England from some of her surplus population ; but in the main the colonies were to serve as trading and supply stations. In aiding these corporations, which succeeded after a fashion in planting colonies, but failed for the most part Scanty State ^^ reaping profits, the State expected increased ^^^- revenue rather than the spread of European civilization. In England, State assistance to such un- dertakings was always slight and uncertain ; the strength of the early colonies lay in the wealth and persistence of their promoters. 23. Character of English Emigrants. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were full of trouble for the English people. Religious restlessness English ^^^ succeeded by revolution and civil war, impulse to while crude and oppressive economic condi- emigra ion. ^j^^^ induced lawless disturbance and disaster. Colonizing schemes were readily taken up in such times of unrest. At first the notion prevailed that the colonies might profitably be utilized for clearing the mother-country of jail-birds and paupers, although with these went out many who were worthy pioneers. It remained for the Ply- mouth planting to demonstrate that only the honest and thrifty can work out the salvation of a wilderness. Amer- ica attracted the attention alike of traders and settlers because its soil was supposed to be rich, because the climate was temperate and not unlike that of England, because there was plenty of room, and because the • unknown land attracted the adventurous. 54 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III. Englishmen were soon found to be the best colonizers in the world. An intelligent, large, well-built, and hand- Englishmen some race, active in a high degree and passion- as colonists, ately fond of out-door life and manly sports, they are brave and enterprising, will fight for suprem- acy, are tenacious of purpose, and carry with them in their migrations their ideas, their customs, and their Their cha- laws. They do not assimilate with other racteristics, races, — in fact, there is inbred in them a strong disdain of foreigners, and still more of inferior races ; but they rule with vigor, and make a lasting impress of their characteristics upon the communities they establish. Although Englishmen in the seventeenth century, when they colonized America, lacked many of the refinements of civilization, were coarse in their tastes and sentiments, and much given to dissipation and petty vices, a fibre of robust morality ran through the na- tional life. The leaders were educated, they were ambitious for their race, and there was a healthy tone to their patriotic aspirations. Simple and reserved in manner, they prided themselves on repressing the utter- ance of their feelings, entering upon the serious business of rearing a nation in the wilds with most becoming gravity. Their conduct was often bad, but they were schooled in piety and reverence, and were steadfast in high aims. They had been trained in self-government, and were sticklers for healthy political precedents. They were the heirs of grim and sturdy Teutonic ancestors who knew no rule but that imposed by "the armed assembly of the whole people." The germs of modern English free and representative institutions are to be plainly traced in the forest councils of the Germanic tribes. In the succeeding ages these institutions had grown irregu- larly, but it was a growth founded on the irresistible i6oo.] Toivii and County. 55 will of the people ; they had descended to the men of the seventeenth century as the sacred heirlooms of and their free generations which had freely spent blood and institutions, treasure for the rights of all Englishmen to come. The principle and habit of self-government were deep rooted in the heart of every English commoner; it was a part of his nature. And this principle, this habit, he brought with him to America. English institutions were merely transplanted to the New World, where they developed with perhaps greater rapidity than at home, — certainly on somewhat different and characteristic lines ; but they were and still are English institutions. 24. Local Government in the Colonies. The primary local body in the England which these first colonists to America knew, was the parish, or town. The English which had both an ecclesiastical and a tem- town poral jurisdiction. Next above the parishes was the territorial division known as the county, with an independent magistracy and a judicial and military organization adapted to the needs of a large rural area. In making independent settlements on the and county. . . ° ^ \^ ^ ^' ^ • i American coast, the English commercial com- panies and proprietors were not establishing states ; what they planted were but the germs of states. Each detached colony had a distinct life, and it was natural that, despite the general rules of government established by the companies, the people should proceed at once to govern themselves in their local affairs upon either the town or the county plan, according to circumstances. The flexibility of English representative institutions has never elsewhere been so well illustrated as in the different forms they took on in the American colonies, without once departing from the integrity of historic models. 56 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III. In the Southern colonies the country was traversed by deep, broad river highways, leading far inland ; the cli- The county "^^^^ ^^^ genial, the savages proved compar- the political atively friendly, and the introduction of slav- Southern ery tended to foster an aristocratic class of colonies; landed proprietors, — large plantations, there- fore, were the rule. There were a few small trading villages, but the bulk of the people were isolated, and township governments were impracticable. The set- tlers therefore adopted a primary government akin to the English rural county, having jurisdiction over a wide tract of country, with a commander of militia, appointed by the governor and styled a lieutenant, whose duties and authority were similar to those of the lords-lieutenant at home ; judicial powers being exercised by eight or more gentlemen, also appointed by the governor, serving as a county court. It should be remembered that the Southern county was not, as in England, a group of towns, — it was itself the primary organization. The parish was sometimes, in newly settled portions, co-extensive with the county; but more often the latter was, for religious purposes, divided into parishes, the vestries of which had authority in some civil matters. Again, for the purposes of tax levy and collection, the county was divided into precincts; and in some districts conditions were such — among them the hostility of the savages — that the people of each plantation or small neighborhood assembled for worship by themselves, and thus became recognized as a separate community, in some matters self-governed. These differ- ences in local organization account for the terms "plan- tation," " congregation," and " hundred," often met with in early Southern records. The tendency of the Southern political and social system was to concentrate power in the hands of a few men, in sharp distinction i6o6-i775-J J-^^^ Nezu Engla7id Town. 57 to the New England plan, where the people governed themselves in small primary assemblies, only delegating the conduct of details to their agents, the town officers. In New England, the narrowness of the Atlantic slope, the shortness of the rivers, the severe climate, the hos- and the town ^'^^^^'^ °^ *^^ savagcs, the neighborhood of the in New French, the density of the forests, and the .ngan . ^^^^ ^^^ f3iC\s. Community was an organized religious congregation, — people belonging to one church, who had "resolved to live together," — led to the estab- lishment of more or less compact communities, called towns; and these were the political and ecclesiastical units. Since the conditions were changed, some features of the English parish were modified to suit the more primitive necessities of life in the wilderness. Thus we find that here and there in New England was a reversion to older Teutonic forms, although of this significant fact the colonists themselves were unaware ; for the now Unconscious familiar truth that the ancestry of our in- dderxeu-" stitutious reaches back to the beginnings of tonic forms, the race, had not then been discovered. Not only was the English town government practically repro- duced on American soil, with such changes as were adapted to the new environment, but the titles of the town officials were, in many cases, borrowed from the mother-land. When the first town meeting was held, English local government had been successfully grafted upon the New World. In the middle colonies, which partook of the climatic characteristics of both their Northern and Southern The mixed neighbors, and had a population made up mfddie'"*^^ of various nationalities, there were compact colonies. trading towns as well as large agricultural regions; and there we find a mixed system, of both townships and counties. 58 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch hi. With all these differences in form, the principle at work was the same. From the beginning the American Differences colonists were hampered in the work of their only inform, general assemblies, at first by commercial com- panies, and then by royal and proprietary interference; nevertheless, in the conduct of their purely local affairs they often exercised a greater degree of freedom than their brethren in England. It is the purpose of this and succeeding volumes to show how, amid many shift- ings, unions, and divisions, these isolated, self-governing English colonies, planted independently here and there in the American wilds, unconscious of the great future before them, were, by an orderly, logical progression of events, the trend of which was often not noticeable to the men of the time, successfully merged, at first into states, and finally into a nation. 25. Colonial Governments. The colonists were accustomed in England to specific ranks and orders of society. In America, while there Social were from the first sharp social distinctions, distinctions, ^j^g fact that the great body of the settlers be- gan life in the wilderness side by side, on an equal basis, was favorable to a democratic sentiment. Nobility was connected, in English minds, with great landed estates, of which there were few in America outside of Vir- ginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and New York. Under Locke's constitution it was attempted by the proprieta- ries formally to divide Carolina society into groups, with hereditary titles ; but the project could not be carried out. Nevertheless, Southern society was in the main as distinctly stratified, after the introduction of slavery, as though titles had existed. New England life was calcu- lated strongly to foster the spirit of independence ; and the slave class was not large enough materially to affect r6o6-i775] Colojiial Goveriiments. 59 social conditions. Still, there was an acknowledged and respected aristocracy, founded on ancestry, education, commercial success, and individual merit, but lacking staying qualities; for it had neither large estates nor primogeniture to back it. The scheme of Lord Brooke, Lord Say and Sele, and others, to introduce hereditary rank in Massachusetts (1636) fortunately failed to receive popular approval. Used as they were to the exercise of the royal pre- rogative, the colonists accepted the free exercise by Colonial the governors of the privileges of appoint- governors. ment and veto, whether those officials were selected by the Crown or by proprietaries. In ad- dition to these privileges, the governor of a royal colony was the bearer of royal instructions and the medium of royal directions ; he was the executive officer, the granter of pardons (except in capital cases), the commander of the military and naval forces, the head of the established church, and the chief of the judiciary ; and he could summon, prorogue, and dis- solve the assembly. The assembly held the purse- strings, however, and the actual power of the governor was consequently in a great degree curtailed. The record of colonial politics is largely made up of dis- putes between the representatives and the executive, in which the assembly usually won by withholding supplies until the governor came to its terms. The judiciary system was alike in no two colonies, but there were certain resemblances in all. There were Thejudi- commonly local justices of the peace, with ciary. jurisdiction limited to petty civil cases ; some- times these were elected by the freeholders of the district, but generally they were appointed by the governor. Then came the county courts, the members of which were appointees of the governor, except in New 6o Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. hi. Jersey, where they were elected. These county judges were representative gentlemen, and not trained in the law. They had criminal jurisdiction except in capital cases, and final jurisdiction in civil cases not involving large amounts ; the limit was £2.0 in Virginia and £2 in Maryland, and elsewhere between these extremes. Next was the provincial, supreme, or general court : ordinarily this was composed of the governor, as chancellor, and the members of his council; but in several colonies this colonial court was a separate body, appointed by the governor, who, with his council, constituted a still higher court of appeals and chancery. From the highest courts a suitor could, in important cases, carry his appeal to the king in council. The common and statute law of Eng- land prevailed when provincial law was silent on the subject. Sometimes questions arose upon the validity of provincial statutes : when the courts found that they were not in accordance with the charter, they declared them void ; but the matter could be carried to the English Privy Council for ultimate decision. This was the germ of the power of the United States Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of a law. At first American territory was granted to chartered commercial companies, — notably the Virginia Company and the Council for New England, — which sought to control their colonies from England, under the supervision of the Crown. The Virginia colony was early deprived of its charter by the Crown (1624); but members of the Massachusetts Company boldly emigrated to America, and taking advantage of the confusion in England, kept up a practically inde- pendent state for two generations; though at last (1692) the people were obliged to accept a new charter estab- lishing a royal governor. The colonies of Rhode Island i6o6-i 77 5- J Charters. 6 1 and Connecticut obtained charters direct from England, with privileges of self-government, and lived under them till long after they had become States. New Hampshire, after having been governed by Massachusetts, became a royal province without having passed through the charter or proprietary stage. The other colonies were proprie- tary, but all finally reverted to the Crown. Maryland and Pennsylvania and Delaware were still proprietary at the outbreak of the Revolution, having been restored to the proprietors after reversion. The two houses of Parhament had made the colonists accustomed to the bicameral system. In Virginia under company management the corporation council Two houses. • y- , j j • .i. m iingland served m a measure as the upper house, with powers of general direction. In Massachu- setts (where the company was technically resident in the colony), and in the proprietary and royal colonies as well, there was for a long time but one house. Finally, often as the result of dissensions between the deputies and the officials, the former came to sit apart, — the colonies thus in most cases returning to the English system of two houses ; but the council was small, and had administrative functions which made it very different from the House of Lords. These colonial assemblies were schools for the cultivation of the spirit of independence. Burke said the colonists " had formed within themselves, either by royal instruction or royal charter, assemblies so ex- ceedingly resembling a parliament in all their forms, functions, and powers that it was impossible they should not imbibe some opinion of a similar authority." 26. Privileges of the Colonists. Electoral qualifications varied greatly. In the consid- eration of this, as well as of other institutions, Mas- sachusetts and Virginia must be taken as types of 62 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. hi. opposite systems, the other colonies departing more or less from them, according to proximity. Originally in The suf. Massachusetts, " any person inhabiting with- frage. jn the town " could vote at town-meetings ; later, with the arrival of objectionable immigrants, this privilege was restricted (1634) to freemen, — practically all the members of the church, — and still later (1691), to " the possessors of an estate of freehold in land to the value of 40J-. per annum, or other estate to the value of ;^4o." In Virginia, at the start, all freemen were allowed to vote. But it was afterwards decided (1670) that the " usuall way of chuseing burgesses by the votes of all persons who, haveing served their time, are freemen of this country," was detrimental to the colony; and the principle was laid down that " a voyce in such election " should be given " only to such as by their estates, real or personall, have interest enough to tye them to the endeavour of the publique good." By the beginning of the eighteenth century a freehold test obtained in most, if not in all, the colonies. In 1746 Parliament added a further qualification, in the guise of a general natural- ization law, providing that a voter must have resided seven years in his colony, taken the oath of allegiance, and professed the " Protestant Christian faith." The principle of representation, by which a few are charged with acting and speaking for the many in the Representa- conduct of public affairs, has been familiar tion. ^Q Englishmen since the time when a parlia- ment was convoked during the contest between John and the barons (1213). The practice was adopted early in the history of the colonies, — the first house of bur. gesses of Virginia meeting in 1619; while in Massa- chusetts, the refusal of Watertown (1632) to be taxed without representation caused the adoption of the plan of sending deputies to the General Court. The American i6o6-i77Sl Rights of Colonists. 63 colonial assemblies were more truly representative of the great body of the people than the English Parliament of the period ; to-day, male suffrage is nearly universal in England, and entirely so in all the British depen- dencies, with the exception of the Crown colonies. In the American colonies the execution of the laws was as a rule comparatively an easy task. The English Rights of colonists had been trained in the political art the colonists, of self-control ; they had an abounding regard for just laws and the courts ; they respected prece- dent, and stoutly stood for the common law, or recog- nized customs of their race. They were restive under statutes which conflicted with the customary rights of Englishmen, which had come down to them from the earliest times, and had been confirmed by Magna Charta. These rights had not been strictly observed by the Tudor sovereigns, and many of the earlier settlers had in the mother-country assisted in agitation for their renewal. Now that they were transplanted to America, the strug- gle was continued at long range with the Stuarts, thus developing in the colonists a habit of resistance which was to stand them in good stead in the troublous period leading up to the American Revolution. 64 The South, [Ch. IV. CHAPTER IV. THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH. (1606-1700.) 27. References. Bibliographies. — S. Kingsbury, Introduction to Records of Vir- ginia Company, 207-214; P. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia, I. xv.-xix.; N. Mereness, Maryland, 521-524; E. Whitney, Gov- ernment of South Carolina, footnotes; Avery, United States, II. 411- 417, 434-438, III. 407-410, 412, 413 ; Lamed, Literature of Ameri- can History, 100-106; Winsor, III. 153-166, 553-562, V. 335- 356; C. Andrews, Colonial Self -Government, 351-354; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 97-102. Historical Maps. — Nos. 2 and 3, this volume {Epoch Maps, Nos. 2, 3); Doyle, English Colonies, I.; MacCoun, Winsor, and school histories cited in our ch. i. General Accounts. — Lodge, English Colonies, chs. i., iii., v., vii.; Doyle, as above, I.; H. Osgood, American Colonies in Seventeenth Century; Avery, as above, II. chs. ix., x.. III. chs. i.-iii.; Channing, United States, I. chs. v.-ix.; Andrews, as above, chs. ix., xiii.-xv.; Greene, Provincial America, chs. i.-v.; Winsor, as above. III. chs. v., xiii., V. ch. v. Special Histories. — Virginia : Brown, First Republic in America, and English Politics in Early Virginia History; Bruce, as above; Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors; J. Cooke (Commonwealths) ; L. Tyler, Cradle of the Republic, and Williams- burg; R. Pryor, Birth of the Nation; J. Wayland, German Ele- metit in Shenandoah Valley. ^^^ Maryland : Browne (Common-- wealths), Scharf, Bozman, Mereness, as above; C. Hall, Lords Baltimore; B. Steiner, Beginnings of Maryland. — Carohnas : J. Moore, I. chs. i.-iii. ; C. Raper ; E. McCrady, South Carolina tinder Proprietary Government; S. Ashe, North Carolina, I. Lives of Smith by Bradley, Roberts, and Smith. Contemporary Accounts. — Reprints of Smith's True Rela- tion, and other early documents: Force, Tracts; publications of historical societies and commissions of the several states ; Carroll, Historical Collections ; Brown, Genesis of United States; Kings- bury and Osgood, Records of Virginia Company; Jameson, Origi- nal Narratives of Early American History; American History told by Contemporaries, I. part iv; American History Leaflets, No. 27. 1 i6oo.] England Overpopiilated. 65 28. Reasons for Final English Colonization. By the beginning of the seventeenth century it was quite evident to thoughtful men that England needed Overpopula- ^^^^"^ ^^^ growth. The population of the tionofEug- island had greatly increased during the fif- seveiueemh tcenth and sixteenth centuries. The exten- century. gj^j^ ^f ^j^g wool trade had encouraged the turning of vast tracts of tillable ground into sheep- pastures, which elbowed large communities of farm- laborers out of their calling. England at large waxed great, the condition of the merchant and upper classes was improved, but the peasant remained where he was, the gulf widening between him and those above him. The growth of the merchant class and their appearance on the scene as large landholders, still further lessened the feudal sympathy between peasant and landlord. The and abounded with idle men. Everywhere was noticed leasiriiess which frets a people too closely packed to find ready subsistence. Starvation induced lawlessness. ^ , . . Colonization was thought by many to be the Colonization , . . . ,,-. a means of Only mcans of obtammg permanent relief from ^^ '^ ■ the pressing political and economic dangers of pauperism ; and naturally America, from whir^ Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth had but recently ' .aght favor- able reports, was deemed most available for the planting of new English communities. But the temper of Englishmen had somewhat changed since the days of Raleigh's brilliant enterprises. A spirit Chartered ^^ sober Calculation had succeeded with the trading com- increase of the mercantile habit. Raleigh panics un- - - , , , dertake the was out of favor, and there were no longer t^sk. ^j^y private men who would undertake the task of colonization. If it were to be done at all, it must be by chartered trading companies ; and natu- 5 66 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. rally they looked upon all ventures with merchants' eyes rather than statesmen's. The career of the Muscovy Company, which had been profitably trading to Russia for a half century, and the rapid successes achieved by the East India Company, founded in 1599, were pointed to as examples of what could be done in this direc- tion ; although the obvious fact that Russia and India were old and wealthy countries, while America was a wilderness peopled by savages, appears not to have been considered. 29. The Charter of 1606. Gosnold, returning from his voyage to New England, was ardent in the desire to establish a colony in the milder climate of Virginia, and easily won to his support six representative Englishmen, — Richard Hakluyt, then prebendary of Westminster, and now famous as an editor of the chronicles of early voyages ; Robert Hunt, a clergyman; Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, two "brave and pious gentlemen ; " a London merchant named Edward Maria Wingfield; and John Smith, a soldier. As a result of their endeavors, — seconded by Sir John Popham, chief justice of England, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges (page 41), — a charter was granted by King James (April 10, 1606) to a company with The London two Subdivisions, — i. The London Company, and Ply- composed of London merchants, who were Companies to establish a colony somewhere between organized ^hc 34th and 4ist degrees of latitude; that is, between the southern limit of the North Carolina of to-day and the mouth of Hudson River. 2. The Ply- mouth Company, composed chiefly of traders and coun- try gentlemen in the West of England, with chief offices at Plymouth, who were to plant a settlement somewhere between the 38th and 45th degrees ; that is, north of the i6o6.] Compa7iies and Colo7iists. 67 mouth of the Potomac, and south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But neither was to make a planting within one hundred miles of the other, although their assigned territories overlapped each other three degrees. Later (1609), the southern colony was given bounds in more specific terms, — it was to extend two hundred miles along the coast in either direction from Old Point Com- fort, and " up into the land from sea to sea, west and northwest;" this latter phrase being the foundation of the later claim of Virginia to the Northwest. King James, unlike Elizabeth, did not favor coloniza- tion ; but he was induced to yield his consent to this How the undertaking. The colonies established under colonies were the charter were directly under the king's con- go\erne . ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ under that of Parliament. The government of the two proposed colonies was placed in the hands of two resident councils, of thirteen mem- bers each, nominated by the Crown from among the colonists ; while above them was a general council of fourteen in England, also appointed by the king. After- wards, eleven other persons, similarly selected, were added to the council in England. The resident council was to govern according to laws, ordinances, and instructions dictated by the Crown. Royal in- '^^^ royal instructions sent out with the first structions colonists to Virginia stipulated that the Church Virginia of England and the king's supremacy must be colonists. maintained, but the president of the council must not be in holy orders. The land tenure was to be the same as in England. Jury trial was guaranteed. Summary 'punishment must be enforced for drunkards, vagrants, and vagabonds, while the death penalty was prescribed for rioting, mutiny, and treason, murder, man- slaughter, and offences against chastity. The resident council might coin money and control the extraction o* 68 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv. all precious metals, giving one fifth to the Crown. L might also make provisions for the proper administration of public affairs ; but all laws were to remain in vogue only conditionally, till ratified by the general council in England or the Crown. In another clause the king declared that all ordinances should be " consonant to the laws of England and the equity thereof." All trade was to be public, and in charge of a treasurer or cape mer- chant, — an officer chosen by the resident council from its own membership. All the produce of the colony was to be brought to a magazine, from which settlers were to be supplied with necessaries by the cape merchant. Doyle says : " The company . . . was to be a vast joint- stock farm, or collection of farms, worked by servants who were to receive, in return for their labor, all their necessaries and a share in the proceeds of the under- taking." As a pious afterthought, the colonists were admonished "to show kindness to the savages and hea- then people in those parts, and use all proper means to draw them to the true knowledge and service of God." The rights given to the patentees, represented in the general council in England, were : free transport of emi- The ri hts g^^nts and goods, the right to exact a duty of ofthe'^ ^ two and one half per cent on trade with the patentees. ^olony by Englishmen, and five per cent on trade by foreigners. For twenty-one years the proceeds of the enterprise were to accrue to the company; after that, to the Crown. It should be noted that this patent, given by James to the combined London and Plymouth companies, differed The kin is g^^^atly from that granted by Elizabeth to granted too Gilbert and Raleigh, for it prescribed a consti- much power ^^^^j^^ ^^^ ^^^^ colonies, and left but little to the judgment of the patentees. The latter, in their eagerness to get a commercial charter, had allowed the i6o6.] Settlement of Virginia* 69 king to assume an undue political control over their establishment. It was fortunate for Englishmen, both in America and England, that James was a weak mon- arch. He might readily have used his supreme power over the Virginia colonists, not only to browbeat them at will, but to tax them unmercifully for the purpose of raising money, with v/hich he would be the better enabled to bid the home Parliament defiance while at- tacking the liberties of his people. He did not lack desire, but was wanting in courage and astuteness, and allowed those shrewder than himself gradually to re-shape the American charter until, within twenty years, Virginia had emerged into practical independence. 30. The Settlement of Virginia (1607-1624). The London Company, of which Hakluyt, Somers, and Gates were the most active spirits, was first in the field. The London A hundred and forty-three colonists were firTufthe gathered aboard three ships, — the " Discov- fieid. ery," the " Good Speed," and the " Susan Constant," — which on the 19th of December, 1606, sailed down the Thames, on the way to Virginia. The composition of the party was not promising. Most of them were " gentlemen," unused to and Character , , ^^ ., , , , , of the scornmg manual toil ; only twelve were labor- co onists. ^^g . ^^^ among the artisans were " jewellers, gold-refiners, and a perfumer." Adventure, mines, and golden sands were in the minds of the company, and the " gentlemen " doubtless thought they were out for a holiday excursion. The fact that there were neither women nor children in the expedition shows how little conception these people had of the true mission of a colony. The little fleet was in charge of Christopher Newport, a seaman of good reputation, with whom Gosnold was associated. JO Southern Colofties. [Ch. iv. Among the party was one of the patentees, — Captain John Smith. He was the son of a Lincolnshire gentle- man; and being a soldier of fortune, had travelled and experienced adventures in many European countries, — a brave, robust, self-reliant, public- spirited, enterprising, humane, and withal a boastful Eng- lishman, he has come down to us as one of the most romantic figures in American history. Smith's active temperament was not at first appreciated by his fellow- colonists, and in a fit of jealousy on shipboard they put him into irons upon a silly charge of conspiracy; and though he had been named a councillor by the king, he was not allowed to participate in the government for nearly a montii after landing. On the sixteenth of April, 1607, land was sighted, and the adventurers soon entered Chesapeake Bay, naming Jamestown the Outlying capes, Henry and Charles, after settled. the king's sons, and the river, which they soon ascended, the James, in honor of the monarch him- self. Fifty miles above the mouth of the river is "a low peninsula half buried in the tide at high water," which they unfortunately selected as the site of a town ; and landing there on the thirteenth of May, they called the place Jamestown. Wingfield, one of the patentees, was chosen president of the resident council, explor- ing parties were sent out, fortifications were begun, and a few log-huts reared. The colonists had been instructed by the English council to search for water passages running through to the Pacific. A party soon set out, under Newport and Smith; but on reaching the falls of the James turned back. At first they were troubled by Indians ; but peace had been made with the neighboring chief before Newport left for England, the twenty-second of June. The marshes were rank, the water was bad, and food 1607-1609.] Smith in Control. 71 scanty at Jamestown. The colonists were for the most part a shiftless set, lacking the habit of industry. The A dismal heat was so intense during the first summer summer. ^]^^^ fg^ houses were built, and the tents were rotten and leaky. The natives, being ill-treated, soon broke out again into hostilities. When autumn came, fifty of the colonists had died. "Som.e departed sud- denly," wrote a chronicler, "but for the most part they died of mere famine. There were never English- men left in a foreign country in such misery as we were in this new discovered Virginia. ... It would make . . . hearts bleed to hear the pitiful murmurings and outcries." The only men in office who had not in some degree succumbed to the miseries of the situation were Gosnold, a man of really superior ability, and Smith himself, the latter having now attained to supreme control by common consent. Smith compelled his people to labor, — " he that will not work shall not eat," was his dictum, — maintained trade with the Indians, among whom he became popular, drilled the little garrison, kept up the fortifications, explored and mapped the country and the coast, wrote appeals for assistance to London, and was the life and soul of the colony for two years. In 1609 Newport had come out with supplies and one hundred and twenty emigrants, who again were mainly "gentlemen, goldsmiths, and libertines;" and he promprtly sailed back with a load of worthless shining earth. Smith found the new-comers seized with a frenzy for discovering gold mines, and his troubles increased. The „ . , . company, impatient for returns, were disap- Smiththe . /, , . . , , . ^, savior of the pomted because he insisted on having the colony. people Cultivate the rich soil, build houses, trade with the natives, and explore, rather than go seeking for gold where there was none. He appears to have been the only man of authority in the enterprise 72 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv who understood the true conditions of colonization. He had repeatedly urged the patentees in London to cease sending him gentlemen, idlers, and curious handicrafts- men, and instead of such to ship " carpenters, husband- men gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees' roots;" and insisted that they "as yet must not look for profitable returning." To Smith we owe it that Jamestown lived through all its early dis- asters, so that when he left it, in October, 1609, it had acquired a foothold and was the nucleus of per- manent settlement in Virginia. He never again returned to the colony, although in later years we find hinr. diligently exploring the New England coast. With the following year began a new order of things- The London Company, stimulated by ill success, had The king gained from the king many of the powers yields some heretofore reserved to himself, and secured of his pre- rogatives, the appointment of Lord Delaware as gover nor and captain-generai ; he was authorized to rule by martial law, thus depriving the turbulent colonists of numerous privileges heretofore given them. Dela- ware was in Jamestown but for one year, being succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale (161 1), who found the Administra- colony in ill condition; many of its servants tions of j^^fj defaulted, and there was a large defi- D el aware ' * and Dale. ciency. In March following (1612), the com- pany obtained a fresh charter, giving it still further powers of self-direction and of deajing with crime and insubordination, and adding to its domain the Bermudas, or Somers Islands, — called thus after Sir George Somers, who had touched at them in 1609 while on a voyage of relief to Virginia. Dale, now possessed of enlarged authority, met with excellent success in bringing the unruly mob of settlers under control of the military code, and induced fresh immigration of a somewhat i6i7-i6i9-] Charters afid Burgesses. 73 better class. He caused the abandonment of the non- progressive and unsatisfactory system of communal pro- prietorship, introduced individual allotment, and broadened the foundations of a prosperous State. Samuel Argall, " a sea-captain of piratical tastes," followed Dale in the governorship (161 7), but was soon recalled (1618), because the settlers complained bitterly of tyrannical and mercenary treatment at his hands. The liberals in England — prominent among whom were Sir Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton — had now Liberals gain gained control of the corporation, and were thrcom°^ fighting the king through the colony, with the pany. result that Virginia gained in the next few years political privileges which were never after wholly relinquished ; the colonists, too, had, in the case of Argall, learned the power of organized resistance, — a lesson which long stood them in good stead. The colony was granted a representative assembly, — the first in America, — called the house of burgesses, First meet- "^^"^i^h was first couvcned in June, 1619. In ingofthe the words of the '* briefe declaration," written y. ^ ^^^ years later, "That they might have a^ hande in the governinge of themselves, y^ was graunted that a general Assemblie shoulde be helde yearly once, whereat were to be present the Gov'' and Counsell w^'^ two Burgesses from each Plantation, freely to be elected by the Inhabitants thereof, this Assemblie to have power to make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should by them be thought good and profitable for our subsis. ^ tance." In this assembly Governor Yeardley (arrivea April, 1 61 9) and his council had seats and took active part. The effect of this convention, composed of twenty- two burgesses, representing eleven " cities," " hundreds,'* and "plantations," was greatly to restrict the governor's power, heretofore quite absolute. Yeardley was a judi 74 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv. cious executive, and the settlement, in spite of many difficulties, prospered under his rule. Men with families began to come out from England; but an unfortunate element in the immigration of the time was the class Indented of indented servants, which not only included servants. convicts and vagabonds, but was largely made up of boys and girls entrapped on the London streets by press-gangs and hurried off to Virginia to be forci- bly placed in servitude for long terms of years, — the nucleus of the "poor white" element in the South Another and far worse disaster befell the colony this year (1619). Twenty African slaves, the first in America, Introduction were landed and sold in Jamestown from a of slavery. Dutch man-of-war. This was the beginning of a large and wide-spreading traffic in human beings throughout ,the Southern colonies. In 1622 Sir Francis Wyatt succeeded Governor Yeardley, and brought out with him, as a gift to the ^ , colonists, a most unexpected political con- Further . ' ^ . r 11 f-i . political cession, — confirmation of all hberties pre- concessions. yjQ^igly granted, and definite assurances and provisions for the regular assemblage of the house of burgesses. It is no wonder that the king declared the London Company, with its free debates and bold experi- ments in popular government in Virginia, " a seminary for a seditious Parliament." The following year (1623) the Indians combined against the whites, who had persistently maltreated them, and more than three hundred settlers were killed. This loss, which was a serious blow to the colony, was one . of the grounds urged by James in annulling comes a royal the Company's charter (1624). Thereupon the province. settlers passed under the immediate control of the king, — which was, on principle, an improvement over government by a profit-seeking commercial company, hov^ 1619-1644] Governmejtt of Virginia. 75 ever liberal the tendencies of the latter. The growing of tobacco had by this time become an important indus- try in Virginia, — ^ forty thousand pounds being shipped to England in 1620, — and both James and his son and successor, Charles, received a considerable revenue from taxes on the product. 31. Virginia during the English Revolution (1624-1660). After a succession of inefficient governors, Sir John Harvey came out in 1629, being the first serving under , direct royal appointment. Harvey proved administra- obnoxious to the colonists bccause of his des- tion. potic rule and constant attempt to brow-beat the house of burgesses ; by the latter he was " thrust out of his government" in 1635, whereupon he hastened to England to plead his cause before Charles. The king, much incensed at the unruly temper of his people, ordered the governor back ; but four years later, desirous of mollifying the Virginians, upon the profits of whose tobacco-raising he had an eye, the king supplanted Har- vey, and again sent out Wyatt. Under his mild rule the colony once more lifted its head. Sir William Berkeley succeeded Wyatt in 1642. While frequently quarrelling with the assembly, as all Berkeley's the royal governors did, and eager for the first term. spoils of office, he was an educated, courtly gentleman and a courageous statesman, though often unscrupulous and overbearing. A man of strong passions and convictions, he was a pitiless hater of enemies of the State ; and in his estimation Puritans and Catholics were more prominent in that category than the marauding savages who skulked in the forests, A second Indian uprising (1644) was vigorously suppressed by the governor 76 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv During the great struggle in England between Charles I. and the Long Parliament (i 642-1 649), public sentiment in Vireinia was with the kingf. During the ^, , ^ ^ . . , ^^ Long Par- There were but few Puritans m or about iiament. Jamestown, and they had for the most part come in from New England under Harvey's administra- tion ; their missionary labors in the conservative South were unwelcome, and they were warned " to depart the collony with all conveniencie," — Awhile the Papists, who had settled Maryland \w 1634 under Lord Baltimore, were not tolerated in Virginia under any conditions. The execution of Charles (1649) naturally aroused deep indignation among the colonists, refugee Cava» Virginia a ,. ^ -r- i i • • ■■ i i i refuge for liers from England soon jomed them by thou- avaliers. gands, and Berkeley seriously, but in vain, invited Charles IL to take up his abode among his American subjects. The extent of this sudden influx of Cavalier immigration to the colony was so great that while the population of Virginia was but fifteen thousand in 1650, it had increased to forty thousand by 1670. Parliament, however, was not disposed to allow Vir- ginia to become a breeding-place for disloyalty to the Parliament- Commonwealth, and appointed commissioners sionerrt'ake (^^5^)' *° whom the colony was surrendered possession, with Surprising promptness. " No sooner," wrote Lord Clarendon, "had the 'Guinea' frigate an- chored in the waters of the Chesapeake than all thoughts of resistance were laid aside." The Puritan party at once took charge of the government, ruling with modera- tion and wisdom ; and the colony, now allowed the utmost freedom in the conduct of its home affairs, prospered politically and financially under the Protectorate. Among the commissioners was William Claiborne, an able, resolute, and passionate Virginian, who was the leader of the Puritan party, and carried on a consider- 1631-1656.] P arlianieiitary Control, 77 able trade with Nova ScoTia, New England, and Manhat- tan. He had been much before the public of late years. ^, ., , The grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore quarrel with was regarded by Virginians as an invasion of Maryian . ^-j^ejj- territory ; and Claiborne, holding a royai license to trade in that region, had planted a settlement (1631) on "Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, within the lim- its now claimed by Baltimore. Not acknowledging Balti more's proprietorship there, he was summarily ejected. The following year (1635) he led a party of rangers against Maryland, compelled the Catholic governor, Cal- vert, to fly to Virginia, and seized the government him- self ; being soon expelled, however, by Calvert, who had now secured Berkeley's support. As one of the Round- head commissioners to settle the affairs of the colonies, the turbulent Claiborne proceeded promptly to pay back some of his old debts against the Maryland Catholics. In 1654, Puritan invaders of Maryland, headed by Clai- borne, who was now Secretary of the Province of Vir- ginia, met the Catholics near the mouth of the Severn River and worsted them, thus again obtaining tempo- rary control of the northern colony. Three years latei a compromise was reached between Baltimore and the Puritans. Richard Bennett was the first governor of Virginia under the Commonwealth (1652), being elected by the Governors burgesses and receiving his authority from Commolf- them. He was succeeded by Edward Digges wealth. (1655) and Samuel Matthews (1656), both similarly chosen. They quarrelled with the burgesses, like the governors of old, but were worthy and sensi- ble men, and when outvoted generally yielded with grace. Clayborne's affair with Maryland and an unimportant Indian panic (1656) were the only clouds upon the hori- zon during this tranquil period. 78 Sotit)ierii Colofiies. [Ch. iv * 32. Development of Virginia (1660-1700). When Oliver Cromwell died (1658), his successor, Richard, was accepted in Virginia without question ; but Berkeley when the following year the latter abdicated, recalled. Berkeley was quickly recalled, as " the servant of the people," from peaceful retirement on his country estate ; and upon the Restoration (1660) the king's party The Res- was Suffered again to take control of the gov- toration. ernment, and Claiborne was dismissed from the secretaryship. The return of the Royalists to power was accompanied in Virginia by harsh measures against Dissenters, by the enforcement of the Navigation Act under which the colonists were obliged to ship their to- bacco to English ports alone, and to import no European goods except in vessels loaded in England, and by the gift of the entire province to Lords Arlington and Cul- peper. The Puritans, angered by the harshness and profligacy of the church, by economic distress occasioned by the navigation laws, and by the ruthless invalidation of long-established land-titles, rose against the provincial government in 1663, and were not repressed until several of their leaders were hanged. The government became corrupt and despotic, and for many years the people were denied the privilege of electing a new house of burgesses, — the Royalist house chosen at the time of the Restoration holding over by prorogation. The Bacon rebellion (1676) was an outgrowth of the general discontent. The Indians were murdering set- The Bacon ^^^^^ '^^ ^^^ frontier counties ; but Berkeley, rebellion. accused of having fur-trade interests at stake, and perhaps fearing to have the people armed, dismissed the self-organized volunteers who proposed to go out against the savages. Nathaniel Bacon, a popular young member of the council, honest and courageous, but indis- 1 658-1692.] Bacon's Rebellion. 79 creet, took it upon himself to raise a small force for the purpose. Berkeley refused Bacon a military commission, and declared him and his rangers rebels, and sought to crush them with the regular militia. Through the suc- ceeding four months Virginia was thrown into confusion by a warfare which resembled the stormy military duels with which the South American republics have been so often harassed. The opposing forces had varying for- tunes, and the fickle militiamen rallied under one standard or the other, according to the direction of the wind. Har- rying Berkeley out of Jamestown, Bacon burned the capital to ashes, " that the rogues should harbor there no more." In October he died, either from poisoning or swamp- fever. His adherents, having no other cohesion than their sympathy for him, now scattered, and were caught by Berkeley, who executed twenty-three of them, and returned to Jamestown to renew his tyrannical policy for a time undisturbed. But even Charles tired of his gov- ernor's harsh and bloody doings, saying : " That old fool has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the murder of my father." Berkeley recaifedV ^^^ summoned to England, his departure the king. being celebrated by the colonists with salutes, bonfires, and general rejoicings. The king refused him m audience upon his arrival in London, and Berkeley died (1677) "of a broken heart." The Royalists were now in full power, the friends of Bacon discreetly held their peace, and the governors were allowed to browbeat and rob the prov- underThe™* incc at their will. The successor to Berke- Royalist3. jgy ^^^ Colonel Sir Herbert Jeffries (1677) ; after him came Sir Henry Chicheley (1678), Thomas Lord Culpeper, one of the proprietors under the king's patent (1679), Lord Howard of Effingham (1684), Sir Francis Nicholson (1690), Sir Edmund Andros (1692). 8o Southerji Colo7iies, [Ch. IV and Nicholson again (1698). During the administration of Culpeper, who was a greedy extortionist, the tobacco- planters rose in rebellion because of the disaster to their industry brought on by the attempt of government to regulate prices and establish ports of shipment. The governor hanged a number of the offenders, and still fur- ther added to his unpopularity as a ruler and his noto- riety as a rascal by arbitrarily and for his own gain raising and lowering the standard of coinage. These closing years of the seventeenth century were sorry times for Virginia. Riots and consequent impris- onments and hangings were ordinary events. Nicholson told the gentlemen of the province that he would " beat them into better manners," or " bring them to reason with halters about their necks." The people were dis- contented, the province grew poorer as each new gov- ernor introduced some fresh extortion, immigration practically ceased, and the spirit of political independence was torpid. There were two or three gleams of sunshine during this period of almost total darkness. Delegates were VIriniain '^^"^ ^^ Albany in 1684 to represent the the Albany province at the famous council to consider a plan of union for repressing Indian outbreaks. It was one of the earliest attempts at the confederation of the colonies, — a scheme which Governor Nicholson persistently fostered, in the vain hope, it is said, of being placed at the head of the united provinces as governor- general. Again, under Nicholson's rule (1691), the house Establish- ^^ burgesses sent Commissary Blair to Eng- ment of wii- land to solicit a patent for a college. This Sy" was obtained, and in 1693 the agent returned College. ^j^i^ ^j^g charter of " William and Mary," the second university in America, — Harvard, in Massa- chusetts, being the first and Yale, founded in 1701, the 1684-1701.J Progress of Virginia. 8l,, third. The new college was set up at Williamsburg, whither Governor Nicholson had removed the capital of the province. Another event, quite as significant, sig- Arrivai of nalized the close of the century. De Riche- Huguenots, bourg's colony of Huguenots settled (1699) on the upper waters of the James and " infused a stream of pure and rich blood into Virginia society.'' Thus, in the ninety years from 1607 to 1697, the pop- ulation of Virginia had increased from a few score to nearly a hundred thousand ; the dreams of speedy wealth entertained by the patentees had been idle, but the hard labor of Englishmen, supplemented by the forced service of negroes, had built up a prosperous agricultural com- munity. More important still was it that, through all the vicissitudes of control, of government in England, and of party in America, the germ of popular govern- ment had grown into an established system, jealously watched by the colonies. 33. Settlement of Maryland (1632-1635). George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, had been one of the members of the London Company as well as a councillor r 1 ^^ ^^ Plymouth Company. From the begin- vert, Lord ' ning of the century he had taken a strong Baltimore interest in English colonization schemes. A staunch Roman Catholic, he was (161 8-1 625) principal Secretary of State to James L Baltimore's observation of the turbulent career of Virginia had convinced him that a commercial colony could not be successful, because of divided administration and the mercenary aims of non- resident stockholders. He went out with a colony to Newfoundland (1621) under a proprietary patent, but the inhospitable climate was against the project. In 1629 he landed at Jamestown with forty Catholic colonists ; but 6 82 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. the Protestant Virginians made it uncomfortable for the Romanists, and they returned to England. Baltimore thereupon secured a charter from King Charles I. for a tract of country north of Potomac river, the limits beinff imperfectly defined, — on Secures a . , , ,. ,, ,-,.,x, charter for the north, the fortieth degree of latitude (the Maryland, southern boundary of the Plymouth Company's patent) ; on the west, a line drawn due north from the head of the Potomac. The lands embraced in this grant were within the bounds of Virginia, as specified in 1609, but had thus far not been occupied. At the king's re- quest the country was named Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. Lord Baltimore died before the charter had passed the seal, and was succeeded in his His son Cecil ^^g^^^ ^^'^ titles by his son Cecil. The prov- pucceeds ince of Maryland being made a palatinate, '™' Lord Baltimore was given almost royal powers, the Crown reserving feudal supremacy and exacting a nominal yearly tribute. The proprietor could declare Provisions of War, make peace, appoint all officers, includ- the charter, jj^g judges, rule by martial law, pardon crim- inals, and confer titles. He was to summon the freemen to assist him in making laws, which were to be similar to those of England, but did not require the king's confir- mation, and need not be sent to England. It was there- fore impossible for the Privy Council to check or inaugu- rate legislation in Maryland. The relations between the Crown and his lordship being thus established, it was left for the colonists and the proprietor to settle their relation under the charter; but no tax could be levied without consent of the freemen. In November, 1633, Cecil sent out his brother Leonard St. Mary's with two hundred colonists, — some twenty of founded. whom were gentlemen, and the others laborers and mechanics, — and in March following they founded 1629-1638.] Maryland Founded. 83 a town near the mouth of the Potomac, calling it St. Mary's. The troubles with Claiborne, the Virginian Quarrel with who had made a settlement on Kent Island, Clayborne. jn the Chesapeake and within Baltimore's grant, have already been alluded to (page 'jj). The dispute was a protracted one, and gave rise to much ill-feeling and some bloodshed. Many of Baltimore's colonists were Protestants. He was, however, sincere in his desire for complete religious Religious toleration, and did not appear to concern him- toieration. gelf in what his subjects believed. The Jesuit priests accompanying the party exerted their influence Humane ^^ behalf of a humane treatment of the In- treatment of djans, and a cordial friendship was soon es- tablished with the resident tribes. As for the of good" ^''^^ settlers, they were thrifty and industrious, held quality. their land in fee-simple, and up to the Com- monwealth period there was prosperity and content. The colonists were, however, not blind to their political rights, in the midst of this economic security. In primary Legislative assembly, in which proxies were allowed, the fKf "^ freemen adopted a code of laws (1635) which prietor. the proprietor rejected because the former had presumed to take the initiative, and for two years the province was self-governed under the English common law. In 1638 a set of laws drafted by the proprietor was promptly vetoed by the assembly, and thus a deadlock was created. The matter was soon arranged by com- promise, with the utmost good-nature on both sides; there was created a representative house of burgesses, — in which, however, individual freemen might also ap pear, — Baltimore was granted a poll-tax subsidy, and the people reserved to themselves the rights of self- taxation and legislative initiative. The anomalous sys- tem of allowing both freemen — of whom there were but 84 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. one hundred and eighty-two in 1642 — and their repre sentatives to sit in the general assembly continued, with some variations, until 1647, when that body became truly representative. Three years later (1650), the legislature was divided into two houses, the burgesses sitting in the lower chamber, and the councillors and others especially summoned by the proprietor in the upper. 34. Maryland during the English Revolution (1642-1660). As in the other colonies, the outbreak of the civil war in England resulted in serious dissensions in Maryland. The Puritan party waxed strong, and sympa- Religious , . , . 1 ^1 ., , • T T^ dissensions thized With daibome s intrudmg Protestant anse. colonists on Kent Island. The seizure of a Parliament ship by Deputy-Governor Brent, under orders from King Charles, resulted in popular disturbances. Claiborne Claiborne, taking advantage of the disorder drives out and coming over from Virginia, seized the ^ ^^'^ ' government at St. Mary's. Governor Calvert fled to Virginia, where Governor Berkeley gave him shel- but the latter ^^^ ""^^^ ^^ ^^^ "^^^ ^^ march back at the eventually head of a large force and suppress the Clai- borne administration, which was weak and mercenary, and had not commended itself to the people. Leonard Calvert died in 1647. William Stone, a Prot- estant, appointed Governor in 1648, favored Parliament Growth of ^^ against the king, but was sworn by the pro- the Protes- prietor to protect Catholics and give them an equal chance with other colonists. The Prot- estant party grew apace; but while represented by the governor and council, was in the minority in the assem- bly. In 1649 a "Toleration Act" was passed, by which Sunday games, blasphemy, and abuse of rival sects were severally prohibited. " Whereas the enforcing of the 1642-1657-1 Struggles in Maryland, 85 conscience in matters of religion," ran the preamble, " hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous conse- quence, . . . and the better to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants of the province," no per- son professing to be a Christian shall be " in any ways molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof." The Parliamentary commissioners sent to reduce the colonies (1652) displaced Stone; but his great popu- Underthe l^rity caused them to reinstate him. Stone, Protectorate, howevcr, now sided with the proprietor, who wished to banish all colonists who would not take the oath of fidelity to his lordship. The governor proclaimed the Puritan leaders as seditious, and ejected many. The Puritans therefore rose and called in Claiborne, who was one of the Parhamentary commissioners, to help them. In a pitched battle at Providence (1655) the Protestants won, and followed up their victory by the execution of several of Stone's followers and the sequestration of their estates. Stone himself, though sentenced to death, was reprieved. The party of Cromwell was now in full power in the palatinate. Claiborne renewed his claim to Kent Island ; but the Commissioners for Plantations do not appear ever to have recognized it. Baltimore was finally restored to his proprietorship by the English Commissioners for Plantations (1657), the Baltimore re- assembly accepted the situation, an Act of In- proprietor-'^ demnity was passed, the right of the colonists s*^'P- to self-government was re-affirmed, and the policy of toleration was again adopted. The result of the proprietor's restoration was to enlarge the political privileges of the people, and toleration succeeded Catho- lic supremacy in Maryland, — a reflex of the tendencies gf the Great Rebellion in the nigther-land. 86 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. 35. Development of Maryland (1660-1715). In i66i Charles Calvert, eldest son of Lord Baltimore, became governor of the province. His admirable ad- ,^. , ministration lasted for fourteen years, during Charles , . , , , , , , t • Calvert as which the colony greatly prospered, there bemg governor. ^ considerable immigration of Quakers and foreigners, — Maryland, with its religious toleration and beneficent laws, becoming widely known as a haven for the oppressed of all nations. Unhampered by the pro- prietor, the assembly was reasonable in its dealings with him, and harmony prevailed between them. The crops, particularly of tobacco, were profitable, the Indians were never a source of serious disturbance, and the people were contented and loyal. By the death (1675) of Cecil, Lord Baltimore, Charles fell heir to the family title and estates. Thomas Notly A spirit of ^^^ ^^'^^ o^^ from England as deputy-governor, unrest. In 1 68 1 the new proprietor secured the pas- sage of a law limiting the suffrage to those having free- holds of fifty acres or other property worth forty pounds. There was some popular uneasiness over this, as well as over the encroachments on the Maryland grant made by William Penn ; the Navigation Act, compelling the planters to sell their tobacco in English ports alone, was also fretting the people ; while the Protestants, most of whom were now of the Church of England, and bitter against Puritans and other Dissenters, as well as Catho- lics, deemed the Toleration Act an impious compact. Taking advantage of this spirit of unrest, and smarting under old grievances, Josias Fendall, an un- and Coode worthy demagogue, intrigued with a retired ''^^° *■ clergyman named John Coode and instigated a revolt, in which the aid of some Virginians was ob- tained. The uprising was promptly suppressed ; but 1561-1729] Development of Maryland. 87 under the influence of the revolution in England (1688) Coode again headed an insurrection under the auspices of the Association for the Defence of the Protestant Religion. In 1689 the associators seized the government of Maryland, under the flimsy pretext that they were up- holding the cause of William and Mary. They at first won the favorable consideration of the king ; but in 1691 Maryland Maryland was declared a royal province, and foylrpr^ov- ^^^ Lionel Copley came out as the first royal ince. governor. Baltimore's interests were respec- ted, but he now became a mere absentee landlord. The powers of government rested in the Crown, the Church of England was estabhshed, and other Protestant sects were discountenanced while practically tolerated, but Catholics were persecuted. The capital was removed from St. Mary's, the centre of the Catholic interest, to Annapolis, — first settled by ,. Puritans, and now controlled by the adherents Annapolis i,., ,, ,,, becomes the of the establishment. Maryland s prosperity, capita. heretofore unrivalled in the colonies, now suf- fered a check, and for a term of years the royal adminis- tration was signalized by religious persecution and a low political and social tone, till in 171 5 the proprietorship was re-established. In 1729 the city of Baltimore was founded as a convenient port for the planters. The settle- ment and growth of Maryland had enforced two lessons which were never wholly forgotten, — the possibility, under official toleration, of bringing members of different religious sects together in one civil community and gov- ernment ; and the comfort and prosperity attainable in a well-governed colony. 36. Early Settlers in the Carolinas (1542-1665), Between Virginia and Spanish Florida a broad belt of territory lay long unoccupied. A Huguenot colony in 88 Southern Colonies, [Ch. IV. 1562 had had a brief existence there, and in consequence France claimed the country as her share of Florida. But ^ , , the Spaniards drove out the French, and thus xLarly colo- • • 1 1 r 1 ,- 1 1 1 11 r nial at- unwittuigly left the field to the north clear for tempts. ^i^g English. In 1584 Amadas and Barlowe led a prospecting party to Roanoke Island (p. 38), and here also (1585, 1587) two of Raleigh's ill-fated colonies spent their strength. The swamp-girted coast had few harbors, the colonizing material did not possess staying qualities, the ill-treated Indians turned on the invaders of their soil, the sites of settlements were ill-chosen. P^or a long period of years after the failure of these enter- prises a prejudice existed against the middle region as a colonizing ground. But before Jamestown was two years old restless Vir- ginians had explored the upper waters of some of the Adventurous southem rivcrs, and by 1625 the region was Virginians fairly familiar to hunters and adventurous N^rth^Caro- land-scekcrs as far south as the Chowan. In hna. J ^29 Charles I. gave " the province of Caro- lana" to Sir Roberth Heath, his attorney-general; but nothing came of the grant. The Virginia Assembly took it upon itself to issue exploring and trading permits in the southern portion of the Virginia claims, often called Carolana, to certain commercial companies, with the result that the character of the country became generally known. In 1653 a small colony of Virginia dissenters, Roger harassed by the Church of England party at ^lams Albe. ^o"^^' ^^ere led by Roger Green to the banks marie. of the Chowau and Roanoke ; and there they planted Albemarle, the first permanent settlement in what is now North Carolina. Numerous colonizing parties and individual settlers ventured into North Carolina during the next twenty years, and purchased lands of the Indians. Among 1652- 1 663.] The Carol inas. 89 these were many Baptists and Quakers who had found iife intolerable in the northern settlements. The story ^,. ,, e:oes that in 1660 a number of New Ener- Miscellane- ^ ° ous coioni- landers, desiring to raise cattle, settled at the zing parties, j^q^i-]^ ^f ^^pe Fear River ; but they incurred the hatred of the Indians, and the colony soon melted away. The survivors, upon taking their departure, affixed New Eng- to a post a " scandalous writing, ... the con. Cape Fear *^"*^ whereof tended not only to the dispar- River. agcmeut of the land about the said river, but also to the great discouragement of all such as should hereafter come into those parts to settle." This was Colonists said to have been found in 1663 by a company badSe?Yt" °^ wanderers from the English community Clarendon, on the island of Barbados, which had been founded in 1625. These West Indian colonists, headed by a wealthy planter, Sir John Yeamans, established them- selves (1664), to the number of several hundred, on the Cape Fear, in the district which soon came to be known as Clarendon. 37. Proprietorship of the Carolinas (1663-1671) It is probable that Charles II. knew little of these infant settlements of Virginians and Barbados men at Albemarle and Clarendon, — which were some three hundred miles apart, — or of the numerous small hold- ings between them ; but he cautiously confirmed all private purchases from the Indians, in giving Carolina (1663) The Lords to a coterie of his favorites. Chief among riTre'thl these were the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke Carolinas. of Albemarle, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and Sir William Berkeley, then governor of Virginia. The proprietaries had been commanded to recognize the land- claims of the settlers already on the ground. William Drummond, a Scotch colonist in Virginia, was made go Southern Colonies. [Ch. iv. governor of Albemarle, while Yeamans remained gov- ernor of Clarendon, these two districts roughly corre- sponding to the North and South Carolina of to-day. Early pros- '^^^ proprietaries at first authorized a popular perity. government on the simplest plan, and the set- tlers, particularly in Albemarle, looked forward to a prosperous career. A considerable trade in lumber and fur at once sprang up, and the crops were good ; for the soil proved richer than in any other of the American colonies then occupied. In 1667 Samuel Stephens succeeded Governor Drum- mond, who went to Virginia, where he became a leader in the Bacon rebellion. The Lords Proprietors mentof in 1 665 sccured a charter, with enlargements bounds. q£ ^i^gjj. bounds ; their new grants in terms in- cluded the present territory of the United States between Virginia and Florida, to the Pacific. In 1670 was added the Bahamas, — neither the claims of Virginia nor of Spain being considered in the grants. Stephens was assisted by a council of twelve, his own appointees when the proprietaries did not choose them. The assembly, of twelve members chosen by the people, was a lower house. Immigrants This first legislature met in 1669; and actu- attracted. ^^^^ j^y ^ (Jegire to attract immigrants, declared that no debts contracted abroad by settlers previous to removal to Carolina could be collected in their new home. As a consequence, along with many desirable colonists flocking in from the Bermudas, Bahamas, New England, and Virginia, came others who were not worthy material for a pioneer community. The proprietaries themselves were quite liberal in their land-grants to inhabitants. Unfortunately for the Carolinians, the Lords Pro- prietors engaged John Locke, the famous philosopher, to devise for them a scheme of colonial government (1669). It was a complicated feudal structure, entitled 1 663-1 669.] Pj'oprietorsJiip of the Carolinas. 91 the Fundamental Constitutions, not suited to any com- munity, old or new, and now chiefly interesting as a Locke's philosophical curiosity. The province was urSSt^i^* to be divided into counties, and they into tutions. seignories, baronies, precincts, and colonies ; and the people were to be separated into four es- tates of the realm, — proprietaries, landgraves, caciques, and commons. Locke defined " political power to be the right of making laws for regulating and preserving property." The objects sought to be attained in his constitution were avowedly the " establishing the inter- est of the lords proprietors," the making of a govern- ment "most agreeable to the monarchy, . . . that we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy," and the connecting political power with hereditary wealth. The leet-men, or tenants, were to be kept from asserting themselves by rigid feudal restrictions: "nor shall any leet-man or leet-woman have liberty to go off from the land of their particular lord and live anywhere else with- out license obtained from their said lord, under hand and seal. All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and so to all generations." The plan was the dream of an aristocrat ; it was an attempt to reproduce the thirteenth century in the seventeenth ; it was artificial and un- wieldy. While the rough backwoods-men could not grasp its intricacies or understand its mediaeval terms, they in- stinctively felt it to be a useless bit of constitutional romancing, and would have little to do with it. The only important result of the attempt was to un- settle existing conditions and, especially in Albemarle, to create a contempt for all government ; while the attempt of the proprietaries to regulate trade strengthened the too-prevalent spirit of lawlessness. Their officious lord- ships had set out to establish the Church of England; but the result of their interference was that the Quakers. 92 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. elsewhere despised, took advantage of the spirit of dissent and obtained a firm hold over the Carolinians. During this period of unrest in the northern settle- „, , . ments William Sayle, who had explored the The planting . , , r ^ ^ K of Charles- coast m 1667, planted (1670-1671) a colony *°"" " on the first highland " at the junction of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, — the site of the Charleston of to-day. 38. The Two Settlements of Carolina (1671-1700). The settlements at Cape Fear and Charleston being more orderly and promising than that at Albemarle, the North Caro- proprietaries were henceforth more consider- linaneg- ate towards them. North Carolina, as it was p^roprie-^^ ^ ultimately called, was practically left to take tanes. zTiX^ of itsclf for upwards of a decade, during which the neglected colonists made a rough struggle for existence upon their crude clearings in the wilder- ness, those nearest the coast eking out their scanty income by trafiicking with New England smugglers. Throughout the rest of the seventeenth century the pro- prietaries had but a nominal hold upon the people of the northern colony. In, 1676 Thomas Eastchurch was ap- pointed governor of Albemarle, but he ruled only through deputies. Deputy Miller, collector of the king's customs, a drunken, vicious fellow, added to his unpopularity by attempting to browbreat the assembly. The colonists Th c 1- ^^^^ iri arms (1678), imprisoned Miller, chose peper re- One Culpeper as collector of customs, and ^ '°" convened a new assembly, which confirmed the revolutionary proceedings and controlled affairs un- til 1683, when Seth Sothel was sent out as governor. Sothel won the reputation of being an arbitrary and rapacious ofiicial, and in 1688 the unruly assembly 1663-1680. J The Carolinas, 93 deposed and banished him, despite the feeble remon- strance of the proprietaries. Meanwhile, Sayle's colony at Charleston made good progress, the proprietaries being lavish in their aid of the Charleston enterprise. While it was found that but few propHe-^*^^ features of Locke's elaborate constitutions taries. could be put into practice in a frontier settle- ment, their lordships minutely managed the affairs of the colony, leaving little to the judgment of the inhab- itants. Sayle died the first winter, and Yeamans, the founder of the Cape Fear colony, succeeded him as gov- ernor (1672). Two years later (1674), the unpopularity of Yeamans led to his being supplanted by Joseph West, who ruled in a wholesome manner for twelve years. In 1682 the Clarendon settlements, now chiefly centred at Charleston, which had an excellent town government, ^„ .^ embraced about three thousand persons. De- 1 hnfty con- . , . . , ^ . . . dition of spite trade restrictions, the exports of furs and Clarendon, ^jj^j^^^ ^^^j.^ |^j.ge for the time, much live-stock was reared, the cultivation of tobacco was extensively engaged in, and the supply of fish was abundant. The settlers were of various types, — among the colo- inists being groups of Englishmen from the Bahamas, Arrival of Barbados, Virginia, and New England ; while iHuguenots. \^ jgyg French Huguenots began to arrive in considerable numbers, and had a permanent effect lupon the character of the province. A small party of Scotch Presbyterians, flying from persecution at home, established themselves at Port Royal, — the southern- most of the English settlements. Two days' sail to Scotch Pres- the south lay the Spanish town of St. Au- roSby gustine. The Spaniards, jealous of this en- the Spanish, croachmeut, and suffering as well from the raids of pirates who made their headquarters in Charles- ton, fell upon the little outpost of Port Royal (1686) 94 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV. and completely destroyed it. It was long held as a cause of complaint in the Carolinas that the proprie' taries peremptorily forbade the colonists chastising the Spanish, on the principle that a dependency had no right to carry on war against a country with which the home government was at peace. The Huguenots, who had settled- chiefly in Craven County, were for a time denied all political rights. Colonial although the proprietaries favored them. The fn'souX^ buccaneers, who frequently appeared in Carolina. Charleston, were continually preying on Span- ish commerce, and causing their lordships much trepi- dation lest these sea-rovers should bring on a war with Spain. The dissenters, who were in the majority, were constantly warring with the Church of England party, represented by the proprietaries. The trade restrictions were exceedingly unpopular. Proprietary interference, even when well intended, unsettled the public mind. The colonists, while conducting their local political af- fairs on independent English models, were continually apprehensive of a change in the form of government, and in general nursed many grievances, petty and great. After the close of West's first term (1683) there was some turbulence, and within the following seven years a A period of succession of unsatisfactory governors. Sothel turbulence. (1690) was driven out by the Southern colo- nists in 1 691, as he had been by the Northern (page 93), and Philip Ludwell came on from Virginia to as- „,. _ sume control. The proprietaries had at last The Caro- , , , . , . , , . , linas re- changed their policy, and determined to rule united. \)Q'Cci Carolinas as one province, Ludwell be- ing the first governor (1691) of the united colonies. He was weak, however, and unable to restore order and pub- lic confidence. Under his successor, Thomas Smith, the assembly was granted a share in initiating legislation. 1683-1700.] The Carolinas, 95 It was not until John Archdale, a sound-headed and conservative Quaker, himself one of the proprietaries, The century Came out (1695) as govemor that the colonists fm^roved'^ ceased their bickerings and the province set- conditions, tied down into a condition of peace and good order. Joseph Blake, Archdale's nephew, succeeded him (1696). Under Blake's benign rule the century closed in the CaroHnas with a better popular feeling towards the Huguenots, complete religious toleration to all Christians except Catholics, and a marked increase in the material prosperity of the settlers. The Carolinas, which had been planted sixty years later than Virginia, were in 1700 still feeble ; and it was half a century before they began to be important colonies. The chief interest of the Carolinas in the development of America is the failure of the proprietors to stem or to deflect the tide of local government Nowhere does the innate determination of the Anglo-Saxon to control his own political destiny more strikingly appear than in the contentions of the Carolinians with their rulers in England- 96 TJie South, [Ch. v. CHAPTER V. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH IN 1700. 39. References. Bibliographies. — Same as § 27, above. General Accounts. — Doyle, Colonies, I. ch. xiii,; Cooke, Virginia, ch. xxiv. Special Histories. — Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation; Bruce, Social Life of Virginia, and Economic History of Virginia; S. Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, I. ch. i.; T. Page, Old Dominion, ch. iii.; A. Earle, Colonial Dames and Good Wives, and Home Life in Colonial Days ; M. Goodwin, Colonial Cavalier; A. Wharton, Colonial Days and Dames; Hall, Lords Baltimore, lecture vi.; Channing, Town and County Government; J. Ballagh, Slavery in Virginia; S. Weeks, Quakers; G. Bern- heim, German Settlements; many publications in Johns Hopkins University Studies. See also, biographies of prominent men. Contemporary Accounts. — W. Hening, Statutes ; narratives enumerated in § 27, above. Reprints in American History told by Contemporaries, I. chs. ix., xiii.; publications of historical societies and commissions. 40. Land and People in the South. Although of dissimilar origin, developed along some- Traits com- what different lines, and having striking indi- Southerll'^ vidual cliaracterlstics, the Southern colonies colonies possessed in common so many traits — cli- matic, geographical, social, and economic — that we may conveniently treat them as a distinct group. Virginia and Maryland, topographically similar, have numerous large and safe harbors, and the area of culti- vation extends to the coast. In the Carolinas there are Ch. v.] Lajid and Peopie. gy scarcely any good harbors ; along the sea-shore are great sand-fields and pine-barrens, interspersed by swamps, but the country gradually slopes up to the Alleghany foot-hills, the soil .improving with the rise in elevation. Throughout the Southern colonies the country is drained by broad rivers running down to the sea. It is estimated that in 1688 there were but twenty-five thousand persons, white and black, in Maryland, sixty thousand in Virginia, and ^^ _ , , , monwealth many years the colonists did not heed the ^*^'^" Navigation Acts ; in consequence, the Dutch, then the chief carriers on the ocean, obtained control of the colonial trade, and thereby amassed great wealth. Jealous of their supremacy, the statesmen of the Com- monwealth sought to upbuild England by forcing English trade into English channels ; and this policy succeeded. Holland soon fell from her high position as a maritime power, and England, with her far-spreading colonies, suc- ceeded her. The Act of 1645 declared that certain ardcles 1603-1663.] Navigation Acts. IC5 should be brought into England only by ships fitted out from England, by English subjects, and manned by Eng- lishmen; this was amended the following year so as to include the colonies. In exchange for the privilege of importing English goods free of duty, the colonists were not to suffer foreign ships to be loaded with colonial goods. In 1651, a stringent Navigation Act was passed by the Long Parliament, the beginning of a series of coercive ordinances extending down to the time of the American Revolution : it provided that the rule as to the importation of goods into England or its territories, in English-built vessels, English manned, should extend to all products "of the growth, production, or manufacture of Asia, Africa, or America, or of any part thereof, . . as well of the English Plantations as others ; " but the term " English-built ships " included colonial vessels, in this and all subsequent Acts. Under the Restoration the Commonwealth law was con- firmed and extended (1660). Such enumerated colonial Under the products as the English merchants desired to Restoration, purchase were to be shipped to no other coun- try than England ; but those products which they did not wish might be sent to other markets, provided they did not there interfere in any way with English trade. In all transactions, however, " English-built ships," manned by " English subjects " only, were to be patronized. Three years later (1663) another step was taken. By an Act of that year, such duties were levied as amounted to prohi- bition of the importation of goods into the colonies except such as had h^tVi actually shipped from an English port ; thus the colonists were forced to go to England for their supplies, — the mother-country making herself the factor between her colonies and foreign markets. A considerable traffic had now sprung up between the colonies. New England merchants were competing with io6 The SotUJu [Ch. V. Englishmen in the Southern markets. At the behest of commercial interests in the parent isle, an Act was Repression passed in 1 673 scnously crippling this inter- ?oioufai' colonial trade ; all commodities that could trade. havc been supplied from England were now subjected to a duty equivalent to that imposed on their consumption in England. From 165 1 to 1764 upwards of twenty-five Acts of Parliament were passed for the regu- lation of traffic between England and her colonies. Each succeeding ministry felt it necessary to adopt some new scheme for monopolizing colonial trade in order to purchase popularity at home. It was 1731 before the home government began to repress the manufacture in the colonies of goods that could be made in England ; thereafter numerous Acts were passed by Parliament having this end in view. In brief, the mother-country regarded her American colonies merely as feeders to her trade, consumers of her England's manufactures, and factories for the distribution commercial ^^ ^^^ Capital, Parliament never succeeded in policy satisfying the greed of English merchants, while in America it was thought to be doing too much. The constant irritation felt in the colonies over the gradual application of commercial thumb-screws — turned at last , beyond the point of endurance — was one of a cause of •' '■ the Revoiu- the chief causes of the Revolution. Had it ^'°"' not been that colonial ingenuity found frequent opportunities for evading these Acts of Navigation and Trade, the final collision would doubtless have occurred at a much earlier period. 45. Social Life. The system of agriculture throughout the South was vicious. Few crops so soon exhaust the soil as tobacco ; and as this staple was the main reliance of the planters, Ch. v.] Social Life. 1 07 it was usual to seek fresh fields as fast as needed, leav- ing the old planting grounds to revert to wilderness. Travel and From this, as well as from other causes al- roads. ready stated, the settlements became diffuse, and great belts of forest often separated the holdings. The far-reaching rivers were fringed with plantations, and the waterways were the paths of commerce. The cross-country roads were very bad, often degenerating into mere bridle-paths ; there was little travel, and that largely restricted to saddle or sulky, — the former pre- ferred; for there were numerous streams to ford or swim. It was not uncommon for travellers to lose their way and to be obliged to pass the night in the thicket. Inns were few and wretched ; but the hospitality of the planters was unstinted, every respectable wayfarer being joyfully welcomed as a guest to the manor-houses. Some glowing pictures of life in these "baronial halls," with their great open fire-places, rich furnishings Life at the imported from England, crowds of negro plantations lackeys, bountcous larders, and general air of crude splendor, have come down to us in the journals of pre-Revolutionary travellers. But the wealth of the large planters was more apparent than real. Their waste- ful agricultural and business methods fostered a specu- lative spirit, their habits were reckless, their tastes expensive, and their hospitality ruinous ; they were generally steeped in debt, and bankruptcy was frequent The South Carolina planters, however, were more pros- perous and independent than those to the north of them. The means of education were limited. Governor Berke- ley, in his famous report on the state of the Virginia colony (1670), said: "I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years ; for learning has brought dis- obedience into the world, and printing has divulged them. io8 The South. [Ch. V. and libels against the best of governments. God keep us from both ! " Berkeley told the truth. There were not only no free schools, but scarcely any that were not free. Settlers were supposed to be capable of teaching their own children all that it was necessary for them to know. At the wealthiest homes tutors were kept, some of these being younger sons of good families in England who had come to America in an adventurous spirit, while now and then a freed servant who had seen better days was employed in this capacity, as was, a little later, the case in the family of the Washingtons ; occasionally the parish clergyman, when fitted for the task, instructed the youth of the district, and here and there a young man was sent to England to take a collegiate course. The upper class as a rule had but meagre scholastic training and few intellectual recreations, the middle class had even a scantier mental equipment, while the poor whites were densely ignorant. Berkeley's bluntly expressed opposition to the education of the masses, as tending to foster political and social independence, perhaps reflected the sentiments of the majority of the ruling order. In Virginia there was manifested throughout the century an intolerant spirit towards dissenters by both . the ruling sects, Puritans and Churchmen, eigion. Catholics and Quakers were persecuted, pillo- ried and fined; but the sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians made a bold stand, and were finally tolerated after a fashion. In Pennsylvania and Maryland there was more religious toleration than elsewhere in the colonies, — the Catholics were in political control until the triumph of William and Mary, when the Protestants came to the front and harassed the Catholics with exorbitant taxes. The turbulent population of North Carolina paid little atten- tion to religious matters throughout the seventeenth cen- Ch. v.] Social and Political, 1 09 tury, although there were some flourishing congregations. There was no settled Episcopal minister there until 1701, and no church until 1702. The majority in South Caro- lina dissented from the Church of England, the Puritan element holding political power, and it was 1681 before an Episcopal church was built in Charleston; the Hugue- nots were not at first tolerated, but in 1697 all Protestant sects were guaranteed equal rights. The negroes and the poor whites formed the criminal class, — a not inconsiderable element in the Southern col- onies. The pillory or stocks, whipping-post, and ducking-stool were maintained at every county seat, and were familiar objects to all. Paupers, and indeed all persons receiving pubHc relief, were com- pelled to wear conspicuous badges. 46. Political Life, and Conclusions. The colonists, like their brothers across sea, were eager politicians, and their political methods were much the „ , same as in the mother-country. Attempts Political life. ^, . ^ , . "' , , \ upon the part of Englana to regulate the rais- ing and selling of tobacco, in connection with the general policy of commercial and industrial control, led to fre- quent quarrels with the home government, which were harassing enough to the Americans, but served their purpose as a school of legislative resistance. The gen- tlemen controlled colonial affairs, but found efficient sup- port in the middle class ; to these two classes suffrage was for the most part restricted. The political organization throughout the South was closely patterned after that of England, the governor Adminis- Standing for the king, the council for the House tration. of Lords, and the assembly or house of bur- gesses for the Commons. There were four sources of no The South. [Ch. v revenue: (i) quit-rents, payable to the king or the pro- prietors ; (2) export and port duties, for the benefit of the provincial government ; (3) any duties levied by and for the assembly ; (4) regular parish, county, and pro- vincial levies. The last mentioned were payable in tobacco, and the others as might be specified. The system of taxation was simple, and was based chiefly on lands and negroes ; it was moderate in extent, but not always paid cheerfully, — in North Carolina, especially, there was chronic objection to taxes in any form. The salaries of the government officials were small; but the governor — who was the executive officer, and Official might lawfully have ruled his little realm in rapacity. most despotic fashion, had not the assem- bly, as the holder of the purse-strings, continually kept him in check — considered the salary a small part of his income. By farming the quit-rents, taking fees for patent- ing lands, and assessing office-holders, he reaped a rich harvest. Broken-down court favorites considered an ap- pointment to the colonies as governor a means of re- trieving fallen fortunes, and made little attempt to conceal their sordid purpose. The members of the council were often admitted to a share of the spoils, and official morality was much of the time in a low condition. Thus we see that in the Southern colonies, in the year 1 700, there were three sharply-defined social grades among the whites, — the upper class, the middle class, ummary. ^^^ ^^^^ indented servants ; with a caste still lower than the lowest of these, the negro slaves. The status of the bondsmen, both white and black, was morally and socially wretched, and from them sprang the criminal class : the former were the basis of the " poor white trash," which remains to-day a degenerating influ- ence in the South. The presence of degraded laborers made all labor dishonorable, and trade was held in con- Ch. v.] Summary. 1 1 1 tempt by the country gentleman. The economic condi- tion was bad, there were practically no manufactuies, the methods of the planters were wasteful, there pre- vailed a wretched system of barter based on a fluctuating crop, and finances were unsettled. The manners even of the upper class were often coarse, while those of the lowest whites were not seldom brutal. The people were clannish and narrow, having little communication or sympathy with the outer world. Political power was for the most part in the hands of the aristocratic planters, backed by the middle class ; the people at large exer- cised but slight control over public affairs. Religion was at a low ebb, especially in the estabHshed church ; Bishop Meade says, "There was not only defective preaching, but, as might be expected, most evil living among the clergy." The professions of law and medicine were scarcely recognized. In looking back upon the life of the Southern colonists at this time we cannot but con- sider their social, economic, and moral condition as poor indeed ; but it must be remembered that there was latent in them a sturdy vitality ; these men were of lusty English stock, and when the crisis came, a half century later, they were of the foremost in the ranks and the councils of the Revolution. 112 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI. CHAPTER VI. THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. (1620-1643). 47. Keferences. Bibliographies. — Winsor, III. 244-256, 283-294; Lamed, Literature of American History, 72-92; Avery, II. 421-423; Andrews, Colonial Self -Government, ch. xx.; Green, Provincial America, ch. xix.; M. Wilson, Reading List on Colonial New Eng- land; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 109-123. Historical Maps. — No. 2, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 2); Doyle, Colonies, II.; MacCoun, Winsor, and school histories al- ready cited. General Accounts. — J. Palfrey, New England, I. 47-268; Winsor, III. chs. vii.-ix.; Doyle, II. chs. i.-vii.; Osgood, Colonies; Lodge, Colonies, 341-351, 373-375, 385-387, 397, 398; Avery, II. chs. v.-viii.; Andrews and Greene, as above, passim; Chan- ning, United States, I. ch. xiv.; B. James, New England; G. Bancroft, I. 177-288; Hildreth, I. chs. vi., vii., ix.; Y\sk.c, Begin- nings of New England, I. chs. i.-iii.; Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation; L. Mathews, Expansion of New England, chs. i.-iii. Special Histories. — Ellis, Puritan Age and Rule; E. Bying- ton, Puritans in England and New England, and Puritan as Colo- nist and Reformer; D. Campbell, Puritan in Holland, England, and America; M. Dexter, Story of the Pilgrims; J. Brown, Pil- grim Fathers ; W. Cockshott, Pilgrim Fathers; F. Noble, Pilgrims; J. Goodwin, Pilgrim Republic; D. Howe, Puritan Republic. — Massachusetts: W. Northend, Bay Colony; B. Adams, Emanci- pation of Massachusetts; C. F. Adams, Three Episodes of Massa- chusetts History; Winsor, Memorial History of Boston; H. Lodge, Boston. — Connecticut : C. Levennore, Republic of New Haven; E. Atwater, New Haven Colony; Andrews, River Towns of Con- necticut; C. Orr, Pequot War; state histories by Johnston (Com- 1606-1614] Early Attempts. 113 monwealths), Trumbull, and Morgan. — Rhode Island: I. Rich- man, Rhode Island: its Making and its Meaning; Arnold, Field, and Richman (Commonwealths). — New Hampshire: Belknap and Sanborn (Commonwealths). — Maine: Williamson. Conteraporary Accounts. — Morton, Netv England's Memo- rial (1669); Bradford, Plymouth Plantation; Winthrop, New England; Johnson, Wonder-Working Providence ; Wood, New England's Prospect; New England's First-Fruits ; Shepard, Au- tobiography. — Reprints: Force, Tracts; Arber, Pilgrim Colo- nists; Young, Chronicles of Pilgrim Fathers, and Chronicles of Massachusetts; Jameson, Original Narratives; American History told by Contemporaries, I. part v.; and the many publications of colonial and town record commissions, state and local historical and antiquarian societies, Prince Society, Gorges Society, etc. 48. The New England Colonists. It will be remembered that the commercial company chartered by King James I. (1606) to colonize Virginia, as all of English America was then styled, consisted of two divisions, — the London (or South Virginia) Company, and the Plymouth (or North Virginia) Company. We have seen how the London Company planted a settlement at Jamestown, and what came of it. The Plymouth Com- pany was not at first so successful. In 1607, the same year that Jamestown was founded, the Plymouth people — urged thereto by two of their members, Sir Ferdi- nando Gorges, governor of the port of Plymouth, and Sir John Popham, chief-justice of England — sent out The ^ party of one hundred and twenty colonists to Popham the mouth of the Kennebec, headed by George CO ony. Popham, brother of Sir John ; but the follow- ing winter was exceptionally severe, many died, among them Popham, and the survivors were glad of an oppor- tunity to get back to England (1608). In 1 61 4 John Smith, after five years of quiet life in England, made a voyage to North Virginia as the agent Smith's and partner of some London merchants, and voyage to returned with a profitable cargo of fish and England. furs. The most notable result of his voyage, however, was the fact that he gave the title of New 3 114 New England Colonies. [Ch. vi. England to the northern coast, and upon many of the harbors he discovered, Prince Charles bestowed names of English seaports. During the next half-dozen years there were several voyages of exploration to New Eng- land, its fisheries became important, and some detailed knowledge of the coast was obtained ; but its colonization was not advanced. Chief among the patrons of these enterprises was Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In 1620 Gorges and his associates The new secured a new and independent charter for Saner"^^ the Plymouth Company, usually known as the (1620). Council for New England, wherein that cor- poration was granted the country between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of latitude, — from about Long Branch, N. J., to the Bay of Chaleurs. The region re- ceived in this charter the name which Smith had bestowed upon it, — New England. To the company, consisting of forty patentees, was given the monopoly of trade within the grant, and its income was to be derived from the letting or seUing of its exclusive rights to individual or corporate adventurers. It had power, also, both to es- tablish and to govern colonies. But the enterprise lacked capital and popular support. Virginia, founded as an outlet for victims of economic distress in England, ap- peared to absorb all those who cared to devote either money or energy to the planting of America. The reor- ganized Plymouth Company would doubtless have waited many years for settlements upon its lands, had not aid come from an unexpected source. The persecution of a religious sect led to the perma- nent planting of New England. The English Protestants ^ ,. . under Ehzabeth may be rouo^hly divided into Religious / N T^i ^ • -^ £ ^v. groups in Several groups : (i) The great majority of the England. people, including most of the rich and titled, adhered to the Church of England; as the "establish- is6o-i62o.] English Protestantism, 115 ment," or State religion, it retained much of the CathoHc ritual and creed, but with many important omissions and- modifications. (2) Besides the Catholics, few and op- pressed, there was a distinct class who wished to stay the progress of the Reformation and more closely to follow Rome. (3) The Puritans sought to alter the forms of the church in the other direction, but they were them- selves divided into two camps : {a) the conformists, who would go further than the establishment in purifying the State religion and in rejecting Romish forms, yet were content to remain and attempt their reforms within the folds of the Church ; and {b) the dissenters, who had withdrawn from the Church of England and would have no communion with it. The dissenters were themselves divided: (i) there were those who wished to be ruled by elders, on the Presbyterian plan, such as had been introduced by Calvin and his followers in Switzerland and France, by Zwingli in Switzerland and Germany, and by John Knox in Scotland ; then there were (2) the Independents, or Separatists, who would have each con- gregation self-governing in religious affairs, — a system in vogue in some parts of Germany. " Seeing they could not have the Word freely preached, and the sacraments administered without idolatrous gear, they concluded to break off from public churches, and sepa?'ate in private houses." Sometimes the Separatists were called Brown- ists, after one of their prominent teachers, Robert Browne. The Presbyterians and Independents were alike few in number in Elizabeth's time ; but as the result of persecu- tion under James I., and the impossibility of obtaining concessions to the demand for reform, these sects steadily gained strength. The Independents in particular were harshly treated, so that many fled to Holland, where there was religious toleration for all ; and from this branch of the Separatists came the Pilgrims, who first colonized New England. 1 16 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI 49. Plymouth colonized (1620-1621). Among those who thus departed to a strange land, to dwell among a people with habits and speech foreign to theirs, were about one hundred yeomen and congregT-*^ ^ artisans, members of the Independent congre- tion. gation at Scrooby, a village on the border be- tween Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Headed by their wise and excellent minister, John Robinson, and the ruling elder of the church, William Brewster, pendents in the party first settled at Amsterdam (1608), Holland. j|^^^ early the following year moved to Leyden. Here, joined by many other refugees, they lived for ten years, laboring in whatever capacities they could obtain employment. They lived peacefully enough in Holland, free from rehgious restraints, but remained Englishmen at heart; they saw with dissatisfaction, as the years went on, that there was no chance for material improvement in Leyden, and that their children were being made foreigners. After long deliberation they resolved to emigrate again, this time to America, far removed from their old perse- cutors, and there in the wilderness to rear a New Eng- land, where they might live under English laws, speak their native tongue, train their children in Enghsh thought and habits, establish godly ways, and perchance better their temporal condition. Mingled with these aspirations was a desire to lay " some good foundation, or at least make some way thereunto, for ye propagating & advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world ; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for ye per- forming of so great a work." Obtaining a grant of land from the London (South Vir^inia^ Company, and a promise from the king that i62o.] The Pilgrhns, 1 1 7 they should not be disturbed in their proposed colony if they behaved properly, the emigrants sailed from Leyden Emigration ^^ Southampton, where they were to take pas- te America, sage foF the New World. These Pilgrims, as they styled themselves, were about one hundred in number, and under the excellent guidance of Brewster, Robinson remaining behind with the majority of the cc^ngregation, who had decided to await the result of the experiment. Possessing little beyond their capacity to labor, the Pilgrims had found it necessary to make the best bargain possible with a number of London capitahsts for trans- portation and supplies. A stock partnership was formed, with shares at ten pounds each, each emigrant being deemed equivalent to a certain amount of cash subscrip- tion ; all over sixteen years of age were counted as equal to one share, and a sliding scale covered the cases of children and those who furnished themselves with sup- plies. All except those so provided drew necessaries from the common stock. There was to be a community of trade, property, and labor for seven years, at the end of which time the corporation was to disband, and the assets were to be distributed among the shareholders. The entire capital stock at the beginning was seven thousand pounds, from a quarter to a fifth of this being represented by the persons of the emigrants. The Lon- don partners sent out several laborers on their account. The voyage of the " Mayflower " is one of the most familiar events in American history. Its companion ves- I'u I J- sel, the " Speedwell," was obliged to return to The landing. ^ \ .. ^ / . , t a .^. England because of an accident, and thus sev- eral of the original company remained behind. The adventurers first saw land on the ninth of November ; it was the low, sandy spit of Cape Cod. Their purpose had been to settle in the domain of the South Virginia Ii8 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI. Company, somewhere between the Hudson and the Del- aware ; but fate happily willed otherwise. The captain, thought to be in the pay of the Dutch, who were trad- ing on the Hudson, professed to be unable to proceed farther southward because of contrary winds. After beating up and down the bay between the cape and the mainland, and exploring the coast here and there, the Pilgrims landed at a spot "fit for situation" (Dec. 22, 1620). With true English instinct for combination against unruly elements, the Pilgrims had (November 11), while The social Ij^^g off Cape Cod, formed themselves into compact. a body pohtic under a social compact. This notable document read as follows : " We whose names are under-writen, the loyall subjects of our dread sove- raigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God and ad- vancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonic in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preser- vation and furtherance of ye ends aforesaid ; and by vertiie heai^of to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." The compact was signed by the adult males of the company, forty-one in number, only twelve of whom bore the title of " Master," or " Mr.," — then of some signifi- cance. They elected Deacon John Carver as their first governor, styled the place where tliey landed Plymouth, 1620-1621.] The First Whiter. 119 and entered upon the serious business of building New England. An exceptionally mild winter had opened, yet it was with difficulty that they could provide adequate shelter The first ^^^ themselves, much less secure comfortable winter. quarters. The stock of food they had brought with them soon failed, and what was left was not whole- some; in consequence of hunger and exposure, sickness ensued, and about one half of the company died. Among those who succumbed was Governor Carver; in his place was chosen William Bradford, who held the office for twelve years, was the historian of the colony, and until his death (1657) the leading man among his people. Those who survived this terrible ordeal were so few and feeble that under ordinary conditions the Indians could readily have massacred them. But owing to a pestilence which, a few years before, had wasted the New England coast tribes, it was many years before the aborigines were strong enough seriously to annoy the Plymouth colonists. Had the Pilgrims been ordinary colonists, they would no doubt have abandoned their settlement and returned in the vessel that brought them. But they Persistence . rr , , , amid adver- were of Sterner stuff than the men who suc- "^^' cumbed to less hardship at Roanoke and on the Kennebec, and their religious conviction nerved them to a grim task which they believed to be God-given. It was not for faint-hearts to found a new Canaan. In November, 162 1, fifty more of the Leyden congre- gation came out. By this time the people of Plymouth had, amid many sore trials, erected log-houses enough for their use, built a rude fort on the hill overlooking the settlement, made a clearing of twenty-six acres, and had laid by enough provisions and fuel for the winter. But the addition to the number of mouths materially de- creased the per capita allotment of rations. I20 New England Colonies. [Ch. VI The Pilgrims having settled upon land for which they had no grant, it had become necessary for the London adventurers, who backed the enterprise, to the^Ply-*^ secure a patent from the reorganized Plymouth mouth Com- Company, That company was working under a charter from the king as the feudal lord, giving it privileges of settlement, trade, and government ; rights to colonize and trade, it was authorized to parcel out to others, in the form of patents, and a document of this character was issued to the adventurers in May, 1621. 50. Development of Plymouth (1621-1691). The industrial system inaugurated at Plymouth was, like that adopted for Jamestown, pure communism. The The indus- govcrnor and assistants organized the settlers trial system, into a working band, all produce going into a common stock, from which the wants of the people were first supplied : the surplus to be the profit of the corpora- tion. As in the case of Jamestown, the London partners were not pleased with the results of the speculation, and in harshly expressing their dissatisfaction soon fell into a wordy dispute with the colonists. Thirty-five new settlers came out in the autumn of 1622, and thereafter nearly every year brought increase in the Dissatisfac- number ; but the partners failed to ship sup- Lond°oV^^ plies with the new-comers, deeming it proper partners. that the colony should be self-supporting; and this neglect still further strained existing relations. In 1624 the communal system was partially abandoned, each freeman being allowed one acre as a permanent Communal holding. Thls land was to be as close to the 7\S\^ P^""" town as possible ; for the climatic conditions, abandoned, the necessity for protection against Indians, and the desire for ease of assemljlage at worship, made it 1621-1627.] Plymouth, 121 important that the settlement should be compact, — in sharp distinction to the scattered river-side plantations of the South. In 1627 each household was granted twenty acres as a private allotment ; but for many years there existed as well a system of common tillage and pasturage similar to that with which the colonists were familiar in the English villages. About the same time (1627) the colonists purchased the interest of their Lon- don partners for eighteen hundred pounds, and became wlioUy independent of dictation from England. Up to this time many of the new colonists were sent or selected by the London shareholders, and were not rr^u T^-, . always congenial to the Pilgrims. It now The Pilgrims i . , , . . , , obtain sole rested With them to invite whom they might; control. ^^^ ^g ^ result many of their faith from Eng- land were brought over. In 1643 there were three thou- sand inhabitants in the eight distinct towns comprising Plymouth colony ; there were also several independent trading and fishing stations along the coast established under the auspices of the Plymouth Company. The colony was beyond the danger of abandonment. The early history of Plymouth is a story full of pain- ful details of suffering. It was a long time before the people became inured to the rigorous climate ; the te- dious winters were often seasons of much hardship and privation. The life they led was toilsome, but they bore up under it bravely. The original colonists were kind and considerate to the aborigines, and for many years were the firm friends and ^ , . allies of Massasoit, head chief of the Pokano- Relations i i , , , .■.,,.. with the kets, whose lands they had occupied. Whites Indians. ^^XQ. not always as comfortable neighbors as the savages. Thomas Weston, one of the London part- ners, sent out (1622) an independent colony of seventy men to Wessaugusset, about twenty-five miles north of 122 New Efiglaiid Colonies. [Ch. VI. Plymouth. They were an idle, riotous set, and after making serious trouble with the Indians, a year or two later returned to England. In 1623, Robert with white Gorges, SOU of Fcrdlnando, was appointed neighbors, governor-general of the country by the Council for New England, and in person attempted to form a colony upon land patented to him "on the northeast side of Massachusetts Bay," but soon abandoned his enter- prise and returned home. In 1625, Captain Wollaston appeared with a number of indented white servants and started a colony on the site of the Quincy of to-day. But this form of slave labor not being suited to the democratic conditions of New England life, Wollaston took his servants to the more congenial climate of Vir- ginia, and his plant was taken possession of by his part- ner, Thomas Morton, who styled the settlement Merry- mount. Morton was much disliked by the Puritans, who were scandalized at his free-and-easy habits, regarded the apparently innocent sports in which he encouraged his people as "beastly practices," and charged him with the really serious offence of selling rum and firearms to the natives. The Plymouth militia dispersed the merrymak- ers and sent Morton to England (1628). Several Church of England men, representatives of Robert Gorges, — who had a patent for a strip of terri- tory ten miles coastwise and thirty miles inland, — had come out in 1623, among them WiUiam Blackstone, set- tling on Shawmut peninsula, now Boston, Thomas Wal- ford at Charlestown, and Samuel Maverick at Chelsea. Blackstone afterwards vacated his peninsula in favor of the Puritans of Charlestown. Maverick, in his palisaded fort, was a man of importance, and afterwards a royal commissioner to the colonies. There was also a small trading station at the mouth of the Piscataqua, and another at Nantasket, with here and there an individual 1620-1638.] Govenmtcnt of PlynioiUh. 123 plantation. With most of these the Plymouth people had business relations, but little else in common. Plymouth was at first governed in primary assembly with a governor and assistants elected by popular vote. Form of -^s the colony grew and new towns were government, organized by compact bodies of people detach- ing themselves from the parent settlement, it became inconvenient for all of the people frequently to assemble in Plymouth. The representative system was adopted in 1638, each township sending two delegates to an ad- ministrative body called the General Court, in which the governor and assistants also sat. It was some years later before the General Court was given law-making powers, this privilege being retained by the whole body of free- men. For sixteen years the laws of England were in vogue, but in 1636 a code of simple regulations was adopted, more especially suited to the community. The assistants, with the aid of the jury, tried cases as well as aided the governor in the conduct of public affairs. Purely local matters were managed by primary assemblies in the several towns, and petty cases were tried by town magistrates. Many features of American government and character may be readily traced to the influence of Plymouth. „. . It was the first permanent colony in New Charactens- t- i i • i i tics of Ply- England; it had become well established '"""''^- before another was planted, and therefore served in some sense as a model for its successors. It was a community of Independents acting without a charter, working out their own career practically free from royal supervision or veto, and with an elective gov- ernor and council. The Plymouth people were closely knit : their struggle for existence had been hard, and it had taught them the value of solidarity ; they set the example of a compact religious brotherhood ; they were 124 iV^'w England Colonies. [Ch. VI. good traders, cultivated peace with the Indian tribes, and advanced their towns only so fast as they needed room for growth and could hold and cultivate the land. In many respects Plymouth may be regarded as a modern American State in embryo. Three several times (1618, 1676-77, and 1690-91) the colony endeavored, as a measure of self-defence, to ., „ obtain a charter from the Crown ; but failed in Futile effort , i. • r i i i . to obtain a each application, — at first through the in- eharter. fluence of the prelates, and afterwards because of the jealousy of its neighbors. Finally, in 1691, Ply- mouth was incorporated with Massachusetts and lost its identity. 51. Massachusetts founded (1630). The Plymouth Company did business in a rather hap- hazard way. Land-grants were freely made to all man- Boundary ner of speculators, many of them members of disputes. tj^g corporation, with little or no regard to the geography of New England. These grants were dealt out to third parties, often with a lordly indifference to previous patents. The result was that holdings fre- quently overlapped each other, giving rise to boundary quarrels which lasted through several generations of claimants. In 1623, an association of merchants in Dorchester, England, sent out a party to form a colony near the -. , mouth of the Kennebec, where they had fish- Settlement . . , , , , . at Cape ing interests. The master, however, landed his "'^' men at Cape Ann, in Massachusetts Bay, the site of the present Gloucester. Roger Conant, who, withdrawing from Plymouth "out of dishke of their prin- ciples of rigid separation,*" had made an independent settlement at Cape Ann, was appointed local manager for 1623-1628.] Massachusetts Founded. I25 the Dorchester merchants. In 1626 the merchants aban- doned their colony as unprofitable, most of the settlers returning to England ; and Conant led those remaining to Salem, then called Naumkeag. John White, a conforming Puritan rector at Dorchester, determined to make this settlement of Dorchester men a White's success. To the settlers at Naumkeag he sent scheme. urgent advice to stay, while at home he set on foot a movement which resulted in a definite scheme of colonization. The arbitrary policy of Charles I. towards dissenters had greatly alarmed the Puritans, and White's plan of " raising a bulwark against the kingdom of Anti- christ " in America had the support of many wealthy and influential men. In 1628, six persons, heading the movement, obtained from the Plymouth Company a patent for a strip about The Massa- ^ixty miles wide along the coast, — from three chusetts miles south of Charles River to three miles grant, ^q^^]^ ^f ^j^g Merrimack, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, which in those days was thought to be not much farther away than the river discovered by Hen- drik Hudson in 1609. This patent conflicted with grants already issued (1622 and 1623) to Sir Ferdinando Gor- ges, his son Robert, and John Mason, of whom we shall hear later on. In September, 1628, John Endicott, gentleman, one of the patentees, arrived at Salem with sixty persons, to The first reinforce the colony already there, and super- charter sede Conant. The following spring, the pat- entees being organized as a trading company, the king granted them a charter styling the corporation the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England ; their only relationship to the Plymouth Company was now that of purchasers of a tract of the iatter's land. 126 New Englajid Colonies, [Ch. VI. Under this trading charter the whole body of freemen, or members of the company, was to elect annually a Form of govcrnor, a deputy-governor, and eighteen as- government. gistants, who were to meet monthly to perform such public duties as might be imposed upon them by the quarterly meeting of the company, or " Quarter Court." There was also to be an annual meeting, known as *' Gen- eral Court," or " Court of Elections." Laws were to be adopted by the general assembly of " freemen," — that is, of stockholders, — not contrary to the established laws of England. Endicott was continued as governor of the colony, which was at once recruited by three hundred and eighty men and women of the better grade of coloniz- ing material. Although the company was chartered as a trading cor- poration, its principal object was not gain, but to found a Religious religious commonwealth. It was composed of aspirations, j^en of rare ability and tact, as well as of con- summate courage. Among them were members of parlia- ment, diplomats, state officials, and some of the brightest and most liberal-minded clergymen in England. The church which they set up in Salem was not at first avowedly Separatist, like that of Plymouth; it was sim- ply a purified English church, with a system of faith and discipline such as they had long insisted upon in the ranks of the mother-church. But under the circum- stances this purified church was as independent in its character as the professedly Separatist congregations of Plymouth ; and it was not long, as one step led to another, and persecution hurried them on, before the Massachu- setts Puritans were, Hke their brethren in England, full- fledged Independents. Soon there was taken the most important step of all. The Massachusetts company, in the desire for still greater independence, removed its seat of government to the 1630.] The Puritan Hegira. 127 colony, thus boldly transforming itself, without legal sanc- tion, from an English trading company into an American The com- colonial government. In April, 1630, eleven pany moves vessels Went out to Massachusetts Bay, with to America. , r t- t i r i a large company of English reformers ; and during the year there crossed over to America not less than a thousand English men and women who had Character fo^nd the arbitrary rule of Charles quite un- ofthe bearable. John Winthrop, a wealthy Suffolk gentleman forty- two years of age, and one of the strongest and most lovable characters in American history, was the first governor under the new arrange- ment. Thomas Dudley, the deputy, was a stern and un- compromising Puritan, cold and narrow-minded. Francis Higginson, the first teacher, who had come over with Endicott, but died in 1630, was a Cambridge alumnus who had lost his church in Leicestershire because of nonconformity. Skelton, the pastor, was also a Cam- bridge man. 52. Government of Massachusetts (1630-1634). There were now too many people assembled at the port of Salem for the supply of food, and sickness and Salem hunger prevailed to such an alarming degree divides. ti^^t many died in consequence. It became necessary to divide, and independent congregations were established, on the Salem model, at Charlestown, Cam- bridge, Watertown, Roxbury, and later at Boston, which soon became the capital of the colony (September, 1630). Morton, who had returned to Merrymount, was again driven from the country ; Sir Christopher Gardiner, a disturbing element among the settlers, was obliged to withdraw to the Piscataqua: the Puritans now held Mas- sachusetts Bay, and brooked no rival claimants. In 128 Nezv Engtand Colonies, [Ch. vi. establishing this commonwealth in America, the Puritan founders were determined to have things their own way. It was early decided by the General Court (1631) that none but church members should be admitted as free- ^, ^ men. Four times a year the freemen were to The the- . ^ , . , , , ocracyestab- meet in quarter court, and with them the Wished. governor, his deputy, and the assistants. But, as in Plymouth, it was found after a time that the towns and the freemen had so multiplied that this primary assemblage became inconvenient. In 1630 the assis- tants were given the power to elect the governor and deputy governor, and also to make laws. Then it came about that in certain cases the control of the colony was in the hands of only five of the assistants, which made the government almost oligarchical. The cap- sheaf was applied when (1631) it was ordered that the assistants were to hold office so long as the freemen did not remove them. That same year, however, came a vigorous protest against this autocratic rule. The Watertown freemen The Water- declined to pay a tax of £60^ levied by the town protest, assistants for fortifications built at Cambridge. It was argued that a people who submitted to taxation without representation were in danger of " bringing them- selves and posterity into bondage." The next General Court accepted this plea as valid, and a House of Repre- sentatives was inaugurated on the plan of the English Commons, each town sending two deputies, and the gov- ernor and assistants sitting as members. For a time the freemen resumed the right of election of governor and deputy-governor, but soon handed this Therepre- duty Over to the representatives. Voting by Jvstrm^stab- ballot was introduced in 1634, and the free- lished. men, who had become annoyed at threats from England of interference with their charter, asserted their 1631-163S.] Govenimeiit of MassacJmsetts. 129 independence of the official class by rebuking the assist- ants, turning Winthrop out of office, electing Dudley as governor, making new rules for the election of deputies, providing for an oath of allegiance to the colony, and placing their representative system on an enduring foun- dation. Ten years later (1644), as the result of a quarrel between the assistants and the deputies, growing out of a petty civil suit over a lost pig, the colonial parliament became bicameral, the assistants forming one house, and the deputies the other. There had been a healthy renewal of immigration to Massachusetts in 1633 because of increased harshness . . , . towards Puritans in England, and a number of Aristocratic ° ' propositions strong men, — such as Sir Henry Vane and rejected. Hugh Peter, — destined to play no inconsider- able part in the history of America and England, were among the new arrivals. There were other Puritans higher in the social scale who would have liked to come, — such as Lord Say and Sele, and Lord Brook ; but their proposition (1636) that an hereditary order of nobility be established in the province, did not meet with popu- lar favor ; a desire to be free from such distinctions was one of the causes which had impelled thousands to flee to America. A little later (1638) the freemen put down another attempt at aristocratic rule, — a movement look- ing to the establishment of a permanent council, whose members were to hold for life or until removed for cause. 53. Internal Dissensions in Massachusetts (1634-1637). In 1634 the colony, now firmly planted with free Eng- lish institutions in full force, contained about four thou- Condltion of ^^^*^ inhabitants, resident in sixteen towns, the colony The old log-houses of the first settlers were ^* ^* ' gradually giving way to commodious frame structures with gambrel roofs and generous gables. The 9 130 I^ew Ejigland Colonies, [Ch. VI. fields were being fenced, roads laid out between the towns, and watercourses bridged ; and the farms were beginning to tal<:e on an air of prosperity. Goats, cattle, and swine abounded. Adventurous trading skippers, often in home-made boats, had cautiously worked their way through Long Island Sound as far as the Dutch set- tlements at New York, and up the coast to the Piscataqua, doing a small business by barter. Salt fish, furs, and lumber were exported to England, the vessels bringing back manufactured articles ; for as yet the industries of New England were few and crude. The Massachusetts colonists were for the most part middle-class Englishmen, and education was general among them. Many were graduates of Cam- Harvard 1.1 College bridge, and the clergymen had, as conscientious oun e . Reformers seeing no hope of improvement in the English Church, abandoned comfortable livings at home to take charge of rude Independent meeting-houses in America. In 1636, an appropriation of ^400 — a very large sum, considering the means of the province — was made by the General Court to found a college at Cam- bridge, that "the light of learning might not go out, nor the study of God's Word perish." Two years later (163S) the Rev. John Harvard, a graduate of Emmanuel College, who had come out in 1637, dying, left his library and a legacy of ^800 to the new institution of learning, "towards the erecting of a college;" and the Court decreed that it should bear his name. For two cen- turies the college continued to receive grants from the commonwealth. While the colonists were thus bravely making progress in laying the foundations of liberal institutions Malcontents . . -i i i • make in America, there were troubles brewing trouble. i^Q^i^ ^^ home and abroad. The unconge- nial spirits whom they had driven from Massachusetts 1634-1636.] Prosperity ajid Interference. 131 Bay made complaints in England of the ill-treatment they had received, and carried to Archbishop Laud and other members of the Privy Council reports that the Puritans were setting up in America a practically inde- pendent state and church. As an immediate consequence, emigrants, early in 1634, were not permitted to go to New England without taking the royal oath of allegiance and promising to conform to the Book of Common Prayer. In April a royal commission of twelve persons was appointed, ostensibly to take charge of all the American Attack on colonies, securc conformity, and even to revoke the charter, charters ; but it was well understood that Massachusetts was especially aimed at. The Massachu- setts people were speedily ordered to lay their charter before the Privy Council. Their answer, however, was withheld, pending prayerful consideration. Meanwhile Dorchester, Charlestown, and Castle Island were forti- fied; a military commission was set to work to collect and store arms ; militiamen were drilled ; arrangements were made on Beacon Hill, in Boston, for signalling the inhabitants of the interior in case of an attack; the people were ordered on pain of death, in the event of war, to obey the military authorities, and no longer to swear allegiance to the Crown, but to the colony of Massachusetts. But the men of the colony were politic as well as pugnacious, and despatched Winslow to England to The charter make peace with the authorities. While he annulled. ^^^s in London, in February, 1635, the Ply- mouth Company surrendered its charter to the king, with the condition that the latter should annul all exist- ing titles in New England, and partition the country in severalty among the members of the Plymouth council. In accordance with this arrangement, a writ of quo war- 132 New England Colonies, [Ch. vi. ranto was issued against the Massachusetts charter, it was declared null and void, and Gorges was authorized to be viceregal governor of New England. Winslow was imprisoned in England for four months for having broken the ecclesiastical law in celebrating Judgment marriages in the Plymouth colony, but upon suspended, j^jg release did good diplomatic work and neu- trahzed much of the opposition. Meanwhile, another and stricter order was sent out to the Massachusetts Company to surrender its charter. This again was met by silence and renewed mihtary preparations. English Puritans were at this time attempting to leave for America in great num- bers, on account of acts of royal tyranny. The difficulty with the Scotch Church ensued, and by 1640 the Long Parliament was in session. In the excitement occasioned by the Puritan rising in the mother-land, the day of pun- ishment for Massachusetts was postponed. 54. Beligious Troubles in Massachusetts (1636-1638). The opposition at home, occasioned by differences in religious belief, was not, however, so easily thrust aside. Roger Roger Wilhams, an able and learned, but big- Wiihams. Qio,^ young Welshman, a graduate from Pem- broke College, Cambridge, came out to Plymouth in 1631. His tongue was too bold to suit the English ecclesiastical authorities, and to gain peace he had been obliged to de- part for the colonies. In 1633 he went to Salem, where he became pastor of the church. Williams was fond of abstruse metaphysical discussion, and he was an extremist in thought, speech, and action; but while his arguments were phrased in such manner as often to make it difficult for us to understand him, the views he held were in the main what we style modern. He opposed the union of church and state, such as obtained in Massachusetts, 1631-1636.] Roger Williams. 133 where political power was exercised only by members of the congregation ; he was opposed to enforced attendance on church, and would have done away with all contributions for religious purposes which were not purely voluntary. Such doctrines were, however, held to be dangerous to the commonwealth ; and indeed expression of them would not at that time have been permitted in England nor in many parts of Continental Europe. But this was not all. Williams in a pamphlet pronounced it as his solemn judgment that the king was an intruder, and had no right to grant American lands to the colonists ; that honest patents could only be procured from the Indians by pur- chase ; and that all existing titles were therefore invalid. This was deemed downright treason, which he was com- pelled by the magistrates to recant. At Salem, Endicott, who was one of his disciples, became so heated under his pastor's teachings that, in token of his hatred of the sym- bols of Rome, he cut the cross of St. George from the English ensign. The General Court, greatly alarmed lest these proceedings should anger the king, reprimanded Endicott ; and, because of his "divers new and danger- ous opinions," ordered Williams (January, 1636) to return to England. The latter escaped, and passed the winter in missionary service among the Indians. In the spring, privately aided by the lenient Winthrop, the trouble- some agitator passed south, with five of his followers, to Narragansett Bay, and there established Providence Plantation. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson arrived in Boston from Eng- land in the autumn of 1634. She was a woman of bril- ^ij^g liant parts, but impetuous and indiscreet, and Hutchinson by instinct an agiiator. Her religious views and the , .1 , , Ttt- , . . Antino- are described by Wmthrop as containing " two mians. dangerous errors, — first, that the person of the Holy Ghost dwells in a justified person ; second. 134 TV^ze^ England Colonies. [Ch. VI. that no sanctification can help to evidence to us our jus- tification." This is cloudy to a modern layman. The theory is styled Antinomian by its enemies, and was sub- stantially as follows: Any person in a "state of grace" or "justification" is at the same time "sanctified;" since he is both justified and sanctified, the person of the Holy Ghost dwells in his heart, and his acts can- not in the nature of things partake of sin: therefore he need have no great concern about the outward aspect of his works. This doctrine was contrary to that enter- tained by the Puritans, who believed that a person must be first justified by faith, and then sanctified by works. They thought the Antinomian dogma open to pernicious interpretation, and not conducive to the welfare of society. Its advocacy threw Boston into a great ferment. Mrs. Hutchinson soon had a large following, among whom were Wheelwright, John Cotton, and Thomas Hooker, of the ministers ; while among laymen who were well inclined towards her doctrine was the younger Henry Vane, then governor of the colony, who was in later years to become prominent as one of the leaders in the English Commonwealth. In the conditions then existing in Mas- sachusetts Mrs. Hutchinson's teachings were considered dangerous to the State ; they opposed the authority of the ecclesiastical rulers, and this tended to breed civil dissension. One of her supporters, Greensmith, was fined ^40 by the General Court (March, 1637) for publicly declaring that all the preachers except Cotton, Wheel- wright, and Thomas Hooker taught a covenant of works instead of a covenant of grace, the difference between which, the layman Winthrop said, " no man could tell, except some few who knew the bottom of the matter." At the same time Wheelwright was found guilty of sedi- tion because in a sermon he had counselled his hearers to fight for their liberties, but with weapons spiritual, not 1634-1637-] Anne Hutchinson, 135 carnal. When the Boston church supported their min- ister, the Court responded by voting to hold its next meeting at Newtown (Cambridge), where it might delibe- rate amid quieter surroundings than at Boston. When the Court of Election met at Newtown (May, ^^?)7)y Vane and his friends were, in the course of a tumultuous session, dropped out of the government, Winthrop was again chosen governor, and the uncom- promising heretic-hater Dudley deputy-governor. Vane departed for England in disgust, never to return. For a time it seemed as if peace had come under the politic Winthrop, and the Hutchinsonians gave evidences of a desire to compromise. In a few months, however, the Court re-opened the whole controversy by legislating against all new-comers who were tainted with heresy. The old warfare broke out again. The charges of sedi- tion against Wheelwright were renewed, he was banished, and fled, with a few adherents, to the Piscataqua, Mrs. Hutchinson was placed on trial (November, 1637) and commanded to leave the colony, which she did in Mrs Hutch- ^^^^^^ following, and went to Rhode Island, inson Scventy-six of her followers were disarmed, some were disfranchised, others fined, and still others " desired and obtained license to remove them- selves and their families out of the jurisdiction." Quiet once more prevailed. Wheelwright recanted after a time, and was permitted to resume his habitation in Boston ; and many others of the disaffected were finally restored to citizenship. The Httle commonwealth had been shaken to its foun- dations by a controversy which to-day — when religion The policy of ^^^ politics are separated, to the advantage of repression both — would be Considered of small moment successful. . . , .,, , , ^ even in one of our rural villages ; but the State and the Church were one in the colony of Massachusetts. 136 New Efigland Colonies, [Ch. vl and ecclesiastical contumacy was political contumacy as well. Under such conditions there could safely be nei- ther liberty of opinion nor of speech ; the welfare of a government thus constituted lay in stern repression. The suppression and banishment of Roger Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson were eminently successful in restoring order and public security, in the train of which came increased immigration and greater prosperity. 55. Indian Wars (1635-1637). While these things were going on in Boston and Newtown, warfare of another sort was in progress to the The Dutch south. In 1635 residents of Massachusetts at Hartford, made a settlement on the Connecticut river, on the site of Windsor, above the Dutch fort at Hartford ; and later in the same year another party, under John Winthrop the younger, built Saybrook, at the mouth of the stream. These Connecticut settlements formed an outpost in the heart of the Indian country, and trouble was inevitable. At last the attitude of the Pequods, the tribe occupying the lower portion of the Connecticut valley, became un- The Pequod bearable ; they interfered with immigrants war. going overland, and rendered trade by sea dangerous. They endeavored to enlist the sympathy ot the Narragansetts in their forays. Could these tribes have formed a coalition, it seems likely that the New England colonists, then few and weak, must have been driven into the sea. Roger Williams, bearing no malice towards his old enemies in Massachusetts, averted this calamity. As the result of great exertions on his part, the Narragansetts were induced to disregard the overtures of their old enemies, the Pequods, and the Connecticut Indians went alone upon the war-path. They made lifo J635-I637-] Peg nod J Far. 1 37 a burden to the settlers in the little towns of Saybrook, Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. An appeal for aid went up from the colonists in the Connecticut valley to Massachusetts and Plymouth, and was promptly answered. In the little intercolonial army of some three hundred men, Captains John Mason of Windsor and John Under- hill of Massachusetts were the leading figures. Pequods The Pequods were surprised in their chief crushed. ^^^^ (May 20, 1637), the walls of which were burned by the whites, while volleys of musketry were poured into the crowd of savages, who huddled together in great fear. Says Underhill, " It is reported by them- selves that there were about four hundred souls in this fort, and not above five of them escaped out of our hands ; " others report that seven hundred Pequods fell on that terrible day. Of the besiegers but two were killed, though a quarter of the force were wounded. From this scene of slaughter the victorious colonists marched through the rest of the enemy's territory, burning wig- wams and granaries, taking some of the survivors prison- ers, to be sold into slavery, and so thoroughly scattering' the others that the Pequod tribe never reorganized ; the expedition had thoroughly uprooted it. 56. Laws and Characteristics of Massachusetts (1637-1643). For more than ten years after the planting of Massa- chusetts the magistrates dispensed justice according to their understanding of right and wrong ; there were no statutes, neither had the English common law been officially recognized, except so far as it was understood that Englishmen carried the law of their land with them in emigrating to America. " In the year 1634," says Hutchinson, "the plantation was greatly increased, settlements were extended more than thirty 138 New England Colonies. [Ch. VL miles from the capital town, and it was thought high time to have known established laws, that the inhabitants might no longer be subject to the varying uncertain judg- ments which otherwise would be made concerning their actions. The ministers and some of the principal laymen were consulted with about a body of laws suited to the circumstances of the colony, civil and religious. Com- mittees of magistrates and elders were appointed " from year to year by the General Court, but it was not until 1 641 that a body of statutes was finally adopted. The influence of the clergy is well illustrated in the fact that the two codes finally submitted were the work The Body of of ministers, — John Cotton of Boston, and Liberties. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich. The latter's plan, in which he received the aid of Winthrop and others of the elders, was adopted in 1641, under the title of The Body of Liberties. In England, Ward had at one time been a barrister, and was well read in the common law, on which his code was mainly based, al- though it also contained many features of the law of Moses. Equal justice was vouchsafed to all, old or young, freeman or foreigner, master or servant, man or woman; persons and property were to be inviolable except by law ; brutes were to be humanely treated ; no one was to be tried twice for the same offence ; barbar- ous or cruel punishments were forbidden ; public records were to be open for inspection ; church regulations were to be enforced by civil courts, and church officers and members were amenable to civil law ; the Scriptures were to overrule any custom or prescription ; the general rules of judicial proceedings were defined, as were also the privileges and duties of freemen, and the liberties and prerogatives of the churches; public money was to be spent only with the consent of the taxpayers. " There shall be no bond slaverie, villinage or Captivitie 1641.] Body of Liberties, 139 amongst us unles it be lawfull Captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly selle themselves or are sold to us ; " but all such were to be allowed " all the liberties and Christian usages which the law of god established in Israeli." Notwithstanding this enlightened provision, persons continued to be born and to live and die as slaves within the boundaries of the common- wealth down to 1780. Servants fleeing from the cruelty of their masters were to be protected, and there was to be appeal from parental tyranny, " Everie marryed woeman shall be free from bodilie correction or stripes by her husband, unlesse it be in his owne defence upon her assalt." The capital offences, selected from the Scriptures, were twelve in number ; among them were : *' (2) If any man or woman be a witch (that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit), they shall be put to death ;" and " (12) If any man shall conspire and at- tempt any invasion, insurrection, or publique rebellion against our commonwealth, ... or shall treacherously and perfediousHe attempt the alteration and subversion of our frame of politie or Government fundamentallie, he shall be put to death." The essence of this Body of Liberties was afterwards incorporated into the formal laws of the colony. It was the foundation of the Mas- sachusetts code. Massachusetts was the first large colony in New Eng- land. Its people were educated, and as a rule of a higher Character- social grade than those of Plymouth. Under SL^sachu- ^ charter which contained many very Hberal setts. provisions, a highly organized government was developed, which served as a model to the other colonies, and had a wide influence in the building of a nation founded on the principles of self-government. Plymouth had, after sixteen years, separated into towns ; but when organized towa and church governments moved bodily 140 New England Colonies. [Ch. VI. from Massachusetts to found Connecticut, Massachusetts became the first mother of colonies. Massachusetts was bolder, more aggressive, and more tenacious of her liber- ties than any other of the American colonies ; her people took firm, sometimes obstinate, stand for their rights as Englishmen, and were often alone in their early con- tentions for principles upon which in after years the Revolution was based. In their treatment of the In- dians they were inclined to be mors imperious than their neighbors. 57. Connecticut founded (1633-1639). In 1633 Plymouth built a fur-trading house on the site of Windsor, on the Connecticut River. A party of _,, ^, Dutch traders from New York was already Plymouth ■' traders at planted at Hartford, in " a rude earthwork '" ^°''- with two guns," and strenuously objected to this intrusion ; but the Plymouth men found trade with the Indians profitable, and stood their ground. The same year the overland route to the Connecticut was explored by the Massachusetts trader, John Oldham, The Massa- ^^° ^^^ afterwards slain by the Pequods at chusetts Block Island. The favorable reports which ^^"^^ Oldham carried back induced a number of people in Newtown (Cambridge), Dorchester, and Water- town, in the Massachusetts colony, to remove to the Connecticut and set up an independent State. " Hereing of ye fame of Conightecute river, they had a hankering mind after it." Ostensibly they sought better pasturage for their cattle, to prevent the Dutch from gaining a permanent hold on the country, and to plant an outpost in the Pequod country ; but there also appear to have been some differences of opinion between these people and the Massachusetts authorities, growing out of the taxation of Watertown in 1631 ; and no doubt their 1633-1637.] Connecticut Founded. 141 ministers and elders — among whom were such strong men as Thomas Hooker, Samuel Stone, and Roger Lud- low — were desirous of greater recognition than they obtained at home. These differences were not so grave but that Massachusetts, after a spasm of opposition, formally permitted the migration, gave to the outgoing colonists a commission, and lent to them a cannon and some ammunition. During the summer of 1635 a Dorchester party planted a settlement at Windsor around the walls of the Plymouth Plymouth post. Plymouth did not approve of this cav- overawed. ^jj-gj. treatment of her prior rights by the Massachusetts pioneers, but was obliged to submit with what grace she might, as she had in many controversies with her domineering neighbor to the north. That same autumn (1635) John Winthrop, Jr., ap- peared at the mouth of the Connecticut with a commis- winthrop at ^ion as govemor, issued by Lord Brook, Lord Saybrook. g^y ^nd Selc, and their partners, to whom in 1 63 1 Lord Warwick, as president of the council for New England, had granted all the country between the Nar- ragansett River and the Pacific Ocean. Winthrop had just thrown up a breastwork when a Dutch vessel ap- peared on its way to Hartford with supplies for the traders, and was ordered back ; thus were the New Amsterdam people cut off from a profitable commerce on the Connecticut, and from territorial expansion east ward, although their Hartford colony lived for man) years. The migration from Massachusetts to the Connecticut continued vigorously during 1636, and by the spring of Condition ^^37 the colony had a population of eight of t'^e colony hundred souls, grouped in the three towns o/ " ^ "' ^^^* Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, — Win- throp's establishment at Saybrook being but a military 142 New England Colojties. [Ch. vi. station, which had no connection with the Massachusetts settlements up the river until 1644. The Peqnod war, in 1637, stirred Connecticut to its centre. A force of about one hundred and fifteen Massachusetts and Con- necticut men, under the command of Capt. John Mason of Windsor, was handled with much skill, and soon nearly annihilated the Pequod tribe. The Indians crushed, im- migration was renewed, and prosperity became general throughout the valley. 58. The Connecticut Government (1639-1643). During the first year the Connecticut towns were still claimed by the parent colony, and were controlled by a Government commissiou from Massachusetts. At the end established, of that time (1637) there was held a General Court, in which each town was represented by two magis- trates, this body adopting such local regulations as were of immediate necessity. In January, 1639, the three towns adopted a consti- tution in which Massachusetts acquiesced, thus practi- Th Con- ^^^^y abandoning her claims of sovereignty necticut over them. This Connecticut constitution was C|)nstitution. undoubtedly, as Fiske says, "the first written cbnstitution known to history that created a government," -4- the "Mayflower" compact being rather an agreement t ^ ac cept a constitution, while Magna Charta did not c|"eate agbvernment. Bryce characterizes the Connecti- cbt document as "the oldest truly political constitution in America." It is noticeable for the fact that it made no reference to the king or to any charter or patent ; it was simply an agreement between colonists in neighboring towns, independent of any but royal authority, as to the manner of their local and general self-government. The governor and six magistrates (another name for assistants) were to be elected by a majority of the whole body of free- 1639] Coimecticjit Coiistitiitioit. 143 men ; but later, with the spread of the colony, voting by proxies was allowed. The governor alone need be a church member, and he was not to serve for two years in succes- sion; but thir. restriction on re-election was abolished in favor of the younger Winthrop in 1660. Each town might admit freemen by popular vote ; and it is noticeable that despite the fact that the original settlers of Connecticut came as organized congregations, with their ministerc and elders, it was ordained there should be no religious restriction on suffrage, which was thus made almost unrestricted ; the towns were to be represented in the General Court by two deputies each ; the practical admin- istration was in the hands of the governor and his assist- ants, who were also members of the General Court. In time the system became bicameral, the deputies forming the lower, and the council the upper house ; the towns were allowed all powers not expressly granted to the commonwealth, the affairs of each being executed by a board of " chief inhabitants," acting as magistrates. The government of Connecticut was on the whole somewhat more liberal and deaiiocratic than that of Massachusetts, and was the model upon which many American States were afterwards built. More than to any other man, the credit for this epoch- making constitution belongs to the Rev. Thomas Hooker, Hooker's of Hartford, the leading spirit of the colony, mfluence. fjg argued that " the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people;" that "the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allowance ; " and that " they who have power to appoint officers and magistrates have the right also to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place unto which they call them." Tliese are truisms to- day, but in 1638 they were the utterances of a political prophet. 144 l^ew England Colonies. [Ch. Vi. Under her liberal constitutional government, based upon the voice of the people, Connecticut was from the first a Character- Practically independent republic. The public istics of officers were plain, honest men, who acceptably Connecticut, administered the affairs of the colony with small cost. The colonists were shrewd in political man- agement, frugal in their expenditures, hard-working, and ingenious. Education flourished, a severe morality ob- tained, and religious persecution was unknown. Con- necticut was noted among the colonies for its prosperity, independence, and enlightenment. 59. New Haven founded (1637-1644). Theophilus Eaton was a London merchant "of fair estate, and of great esteem for religion and wisdom in Origin of the outward affairs." He was at one time an colony- ambassador to the Danish court, and had been one of the original assistants of the Massachusetts Com- pany, although not active in its affairs. John Davenport had been an ordained minister in London ; he turned Puritan, and on his resignation in 1633 went to Holland. These two men formed a congregation, composed for the most part of middle-class Londoners, who resolved to migrate to America, there to set up a State founded on scriptural models. The Plymouth and Massachusetts men had started out with this same idea; but as the result of circumstances, had made compromises which Eaton and Davenport could not countenance. In July, 1637, the two leaders arrived in Boston with a small company of their disciples, among whom were ^, , several men of wealth and good social position. The planta- , , , , • , i • i- • tion cove- but extremely narrow and bigoted m religious "*"*• faith. They have been styled the Brahmins of New England Puritanism. They did not deem it practicable to settle in Massachusetts, and the following 1637-1643] New Have?t Founded, ■ 145 spring (March, 1638) sailed to Long Island Sound and established an independent settlement on the site of New Haven, thirty miles west of the Connecticut river. For a year their only bond of union was a " plantation covenant " to obey the Scriptures in all things. In October, 1639, there was adopted a constitution, in the making of which Davenport had the chief hand. The Con- The govemor and four magistrates were to be stitution. elected by the freemen, who were, as in Mas- sachusetts, church members; trial by jury was rejected, because it lacked scriptural authority ; and it was for- mally declared " that the Word of God shall be the only rule attended unto in ordering the affairs of government." Eaton was chosen governor, and held the office by annual election^atil his death, twenty years later. The ^^Wborhood of New Haven was soon settled by other immigrants, most of whom were also strict con- Neighbor- structionists of the Scriptures, while a few ing towns. otha»»-were as liberal in their ideas as the people of the Connecticut valley. Guilford was estab- lished (1639) seventeen miles to the north, and Milford (1639) eleven miles westward ; Stamford (1640), well on towards New York, followed, while Southold was boldly planted (1640) on Long Island, opposite Guilford, in territory claimed by the Dutch. As each town was as well a church, these were for some years little inde- pendent communities, founded on the New Haven model. In 1643, however, they formed a union with New Haven, and a system of representation was introduced. Each town sent up deputies to the General Court, in which also sat the governor, deputy-governor, and assist- ants, elected by the whole body of freemen ; yet a major- ity of either the deputies or the magistrates might veto a measure. Local magistrates — seven to each town, known as " pillars of the church " — tried petty cases, 10 146 New England Colonies. [Ch. VL but important suits were passed upon by the assistants. The " seven pillars " were the autocrats of their several towns, and colonial affairs were also practically in the hands of the select few who controlled the church. At the meeting of the General Court in April, 1644, the magistrates in the confederation were ordered to observe Peters's " ^^^^ judicial laws of God as they were de- Faise Blue livered by Moses." This injunction afterwards ^^^' gave rise to an absurd report, circulated in 1781 by Rev. Samuel Peters, a Tory refugee, that the New Haven statutes were of peculiar quaintness and severity. For nearly one hundred years Peters's fable of the New Haven Blue Laws was accepted as historic truth. At first, New Haven failed to prosper ; but after a few years, with the increase of trade, better times prevailed, and by the close of the century the town was istics of noted for the wealth of its inhabitants and their New Haven. ^^^ houses. Education was greatly encour- aged, and there were considerable shipping interests; but the ecclesiastical system was peculiar, and suffrage greatly restricted. There were, in consequence, frequent outbursts of dissatisfaction among the people. The col- ony thus had conspicuous elements of weakness, and was finally absorbed by Connecticut. 60. Rhode Island founded (1636-1654). In 1636, with five of his disciples, Roger Williams, Rojier driven from Massachusetts as a reformer of a Williams. dangerous type, established the town of Prov- idence, at the head of Narragansett Bay. The following year (1637) a party of Anne Hutch- Anne inson's followers — also expelled from Mas- iiutchinson. sachusetls because of heretical opinions — settled on the island of Aquedneck (afterwards Rhode Island), eighteen miles to the south. Mrs. Hutchinson 1636-1638.] Rhode Island Founded. 147 joined them in 1638, and the town was eventually called Portsmouth. Both communities at once attracted from Massachu- setts people who had either been expelled from that Newport colony or were not in entire harmony with it, established, ^nd by the close of 1638 Providence contained sixty persons, and Portsmouth nearly as many. The next year fifty-nine of the Portsmouth people, headed by the chief magistrate, Coddington, dissenting from some of Mrs. Hutchinson's "new heresies," withdrew to the southern end of the island and settled Newport ; but the two towns reunited in 1640, under the name of Rhode Island, with Coddington as governor. Each of these colonies. Providence and Rhode Island, was at first an independent body politic. It is interest- _ p ._ ing to note their original compacts. The dence agree- Providence agreement (1636), signed by Roger '"^°^' Williams and twelve of his, sympathizers, was as follows : "We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the Town of Providence, do promise to sub- ject ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for the public good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major assent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorpo- rated together into a town fellowship, and such others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things." F'ive freemen, called arbitrators, managed public affairs, and for some years there appear to have been no fixed rules for their guidance. At Portsmouth the people united in the following dec- laration : " We do here solemnly, in the presence of Th P rt - Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a body mouth decla- politic, and as He shall help will submit our persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all 148 New Eftglajtd Colonies. [Ch. vi. those perfect and most absolute laws of His, given us in His holy words of truth, to be guided and judged thereby." The freemen conducted public affairs in town meeting, with a secretary, a clerk, and a chief magistrate. Newport was similarly organized ; but when Newport and Portsmouth reunited, a more complex government was instituted. A General Court was then established, in which sat the governor, the deputy-governor, and four assistants, — one town choosing the governor and two of the assistants, and the other the deputy-governor and iht remaining assistants ; the freemen composed the body of the court, and settled even the most trivial cases. In '■641 it was declared that " it is in the power of the Dody of the freemen orderly assembled, or the part of them, to make and constitute just laws by which they shall be regulated, and to depute from among themselves such ministers as shall see them faithfully executed be- tween man and man." At the same session an order was adopted "that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine, provided it be not directly repugnant to the government or laws established." By the other colonies Providence and Rhode Island were deemed hot-beds of anarchy. Persons holding An asylum ^^^ manner of Protestant theological notions for sectaries, flocked thither in considerable numbers, and it is true that for many years there were hot contentions between them, often to the disturbance of public order. Despite these years of bickerings, Providence and Rhode Island prospered. Through the exertions of Roger Williams, Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport, with a new town called War- Establish- wick, were united under one charter (1644), Providence ^^ ^^^ colony of Providencc Plantations. This Plantations, liberal document, issued by the Parliamentary Committee on the Colonies, gave to the inhabitants along 1641-1654] loleration in Rhode Tslana. 149 Narragansett Bay authority to rule themselves '' by such form of civil government as by the voluntary consent of all or the greatest part of them shall be found most serviceable to their estate and condition." Larger power could not have been wished for. By a curious provision, adopted in 1647, a law had to be proposed at the General Court ; it was then sent round to the towns for the freemen to pass upon it, thus giving the voters a voice in the con- duct of affairs, without the necessity of attending court. A majority of freemen in any one town could defeat the measure. A code of laws resembling the common laws of England, and with few references to biblical prece- dents, passed safely through the ordeal in 1647; one important section provided that "all men may walk as their conscience persuades them," The following year Coddington, as the head of a faction, obtained a separate charter for Newport and The Cod- Portsmouth, — much to the disgust of many of dington fac- the inhabitants of those as well as of the other towns. A bitter feud lasted until 1654, when Williams once more appeared as peacemaker and se- cured the reunion of all the towns under the general charter of 1644, with himself as president. The old law code was restored. Rhode Island was founded by a religious outcast, and always remained as an asylum for those sectaries who Character- could find no home elsewhere. The purpose Rhode^s- ^^^ noble, and Williams persisted in his po- land. licy, despite the fact that life was often made uncomfortable for him by his ill-assorted fellow-colo- nists, who were continually bickering with each other. Throughout the seventeenth century Rhode Island was a hot-bed of disorder. Fanaticism not only expressed itself in religion, but in politics and society ; and no scheme was so wild as to find no adherents in this con- 150 New Englajtd Colonies, [Ch. VL fused medley. The condition of the colony served as a warning to its neighbors, seeming to confirm the wisdom of their theocratic methods. 61. Maine founded (1622-1658). Sir Ferdinando Gorges, governor of Plymouth in Eng- land, became interested in New England, we have seen, Sir Ferdi- ^s early as 1605. Ten years later he assisted nando Gorges. John Smith in organizing an unsuccessful voyage to the northern coast; in 1620 we find him a member of the council of the Plymouth Company ; in 1622 he and John Mason (not the hero of the Pequod war), both of them Churchmen and strong friends of the • king, obtained a grant of the country lying between the /j^errimack and Kennebec Rivers ; and it was Gorges who sent out Maverick to settle on Noddle's Island, and Blackstone to hold the Boston peninsula. Later (1629}, Mason obtained an individual grant from the Plymouth Council of the territory between the Merri- mack and the Piscataqua (New Hampshire), and Gorges that from the Piscataqua to the Kennebec (Maine) ; these grants were similar in character to the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company. When the Plymouth Company threw up its charter in 1634, and New Eng- land was parcelled out (1635) among the members of the council, Gorges and Mason secured a confirmation of their former personal grants. Mason died a few months later, Je-aving the settlements in his tract to be annexej^l-^tTMassachusetts in 1641. /^^^''April, 1639, Gorges obtained a provincial charter from the king, conferring upon him the title of Lord Becomes P'fcTprietor of the Province or County of Maine, piiefor'S* ^'^ domain to extend, as before, from the Maine. Kcnnebcc to the Piscataqua, and backward one hundred and twenty miles from the coast. He re- 1622-1658.] Maine Founded, I51 ceived almost absolute authority over the people of his province, who were then but three hundred in number. Saco, established by him about the year 1623, was the principal settlement, and contained one half of the popu- lation ; while a half-dozen smaller hamlets, chiefly of his creation, were scattered along the neighboring shore, inhabited by fishermen, hunters, and traders. The greater part of these people were adherents of the king and the Established Church. Notwithstanding Gorges's long- sustained effort to attract men of wealth to his planta- tions, the province was not as flourishing as its neighbors to the south. Gorges amused his old age by drafting a cumbrous Constitution for his people. He was to make laws in „. conjunction with the freemen; the laws of brous con- England were to prevail in cases not covered stitution. y^^ \y^^^ statutes ; the Church of England was to be the State religion ; all Englishmen were to be al- lowed fishing privileges ; the proprietor was to establish manorial courts ; and he was also empowered, of his own motion, to levy taxes, raise troops, and declare war. In examining the official machinery which Gorges sought to erect in Maine, we are reminded of Locke's constitution for the Carolinas ; the proprietor was to be represented by a deputy-governor, under whom was to be a long line of officers with high-sounding titles, these to form the council ; with them were to meet the deputies selected by the freeholders. The provinces were to be cut up into bailiwicks or counties, hundreds, parishes, and tith- ings ; justice in each bailiwick was to be administered by a lieutenant and eight magistrates, the nominees of the proprietor or his deputy, and under each was a staff of minor functionaries. There were almost enough officers provided for in Gorges's plan to give every one of his subjects a public position. 152 New England Colonies, [Ck. vi. The proprietor himself never visited America; he was represented by his son Thomas as deputy-governor. The colony It was impossible for the latter, however, to neglected. carry all of his father's plans into effect, and gradually the province sank into disorder and neglect. Its towns were finally absorbed by Massachusetts (1652- 1658). The settlers brought out to people Maine were the servants of individuals or companies having a tract of land Character- ^^ ^^ occupied and cultivated, fisheries to con- isticsof duct, and fur-trade to prosecute. They did not come to found a church or build a state, and such institutions as they developed were the imme- diate outcome of their necessities. They had little sympathy or communication with their neighbors of Massachusetts and Plymouth. 62. N^w Hampshire founded (1620-1685). We JiS^ seen that John Mason was given a grant in i62^of the country between the Merrimack and the ^ . . . . Piscataqua. In his scheme for colonizing the Origin of the J^ .,.,,. -.^ first settle- tract, Gorges was associated with him. But '"^"^^' David Thomson and three Plymouth fur^' traders had already gained a footing at Rye iri.''fS22, under a grant from the Plymouth Council. .-B'over had been founded before 1628 by the brothers Hilton, Puritan fish-dealers in London ; and some of Mrs. Hutchinson's adherents, e^ilts from Massachusetts, founded Exeter" and Hampton. In 1630 Neal, as colonizing'-^^ent of Mason and Gorges, settled at Ports moj^^ifT on the Pis- cataqua, with a large party of farmers and fishermen, all of them Church of England men ; and it is probable that this colony absorbed the neighboring settlement at Rye. By the time the proprietors dissolved partnership in 1635 1620-16S5.] New Hampshire Founded. I53 (page 150), considerable property had been accumulated by them here, as in the inventory of their possessions at Portsmouth we find twenty-two cannons, two hundred and fifty small-arms, forty-eight fishing-boats, forty horses, fifty-four goats, nearly two hundred sheep, and over a hun- dred cattle. This argues a large establishment. Upon the death of Mason, later in the year, the Piscataqua colony was left to its own guidance. All of the New Hampshire towns were from the first independent communities, governed much after the fashion of the other English towns to the south of them. The beginnings of New Hampshire were the results of commercial enterprise in England and theological dissen- sions in Massachusetts. The inhabitants of Character- , , , i i- i . , isticsofNew the several towns had httle in common, and Hampshire, j^^jj different political and religious views. Planted under various auspices, when they grew to im- portance they were the subject of long struggles for jurisdiction. It would be tiresome to trace the history of these disputes ; suffice it to sajjiiat'after many changes the settlements on or nearJ^Fiscataqua were, (1-64 1-1643) incorporated with M5^achusetts, which ruled them with marked discretion, and refrained from meddhng with their religious views. In 1679, as the result of disputes grow-^^ ing out of the revival of the Mason claim J^n^^Bfrgland, New Hampshire was turned into a royal^fovince, but in 1685 was reunited to Massachusetts. As to the charac- ter of the people of New Hampshire, what has been said in regard to those of Maine may in a great measure also be applied to them. 154 Developments of New England. [Ch.VII CHAPTER VII. NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 TO 1700. 63. References. Bibliograpliies. — Same as §47, above; Avery, II., III.; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 124-128. Historical Maps. — Same as § 47, above. General Accounts. — Doyle, Colonies, II. chs. viii., ix.. III. chs. i.-v.; Lodge, Colonies, 351-362, 375-380, 387-392, 398-400; Osgood, Colonies; Avery, II. chs. xiii.-xviii.. III. chs. vii., viii., x.- xii., xix.-xxi.; G. Bancroft, I. 289-407, 574-613; Chancing, United States, I. chs. xv., xviii., xix.; Hildreth, I. chs. x., xii., xiv.; Palfrey, New England, I. 269-408, III. 1-386; Fiske, Beginnings of New England; Hallowell, Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts; R. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, chs. ii., iii.; A. MacLear, Early New England Towns; Winsor, Narrative and Critical, as in § 47- Special Histories. — Consult the numerous local histories, son*e of them of much importance; Winsor's Boston, and Sheldon's Deerjield are examples. Contemporary Accounts. — Sewall, Diary; Mather, Mag- nolia ; Bishop, New England Judged; Hubbard, Trouble with the Indians. — Reprints in publications of colonial and town record commissions, historical and antiquarian societies. Prince Society, Gorges Society, etc.; Andros, Tracts; American History Leaflets, Nos. 7, 25, 29; Old South Leaflets; American History told by Contemporaries, I. ch. xx., II. 64. New England Confederation formed (1637-1643). In the preceding chapter has been sketched the origin and planting of the New England colonies. Most of those colonies maintained a separate existence politics and had a history of their own during the excluded. j.gj.^ q£ ^j^g seventeenth century. But the limits of this work do not permit a sketch of the local and internal history of each colony. In this chapter will therefore be considered only those events of common interest and having a significance in the development of all the colonies. 1637-1642.] Confederatioji Formed. 155 First in time and first in its consequences is the federation of the New England colonies, for which in Connecticut -^ugust, 1 637, the men of Connecticut made makes over- overtures to the Massachusetts General Court. colonialVede- Connecticut, as an outpost of English civiliza- ration(i637). ^Jqj^ jj^ j|^g heart of the Indian country and "over against the Dutch," had especial need of support from the older colonies to the east. The tribesmen were uneasy and the menaces of the Dutch at New Amster- dam were especially alarming. Twice had the doughty Hollanders endeavored to drive English settlers from the Connecticut valley and recover their lost fur-trade there ; both attempts had been failures, but it seemed likely that in time the Dutch might summon sufficient strength to make it more difficult to withstand them. Again, the French, who had settled at Quebec in 1608, were beginning to push the confines of New France southward ; and there had been trouble with them at various times for several years, the outgrowth of bound- ary disputes and race hatred. The Connecticut and Hud- son rivers were highways quite familiar to the French Canadians and their Indian allies, and the Connecticut colonists were apprehensive of partisan raids overland from the north, which they could not hope to repel single-handed. The proposition for union was renewed in 1639, ^^d again in September, 1642. At first Massachusetts was in- Massachu- different ; but finally " the ill news we had out ol favorable^* England concerning the breach between the (1642). king and Parliament " appears to have caused her statesmen to look favorably on the project. Affairs were at such a pass in the mother-country that it behooved Englishmen in America to be prepared to act on the defensive in the event of the war-cloud drifting in their direction. Should the king win, there was reason to 156 Development of Nezv Ejigland. [Ch. VII. believe that he would speedily turn his attention towards the correction of New England, which had long been to dissenting Englishmen in the mother-land an object- lesson in political independence and a ready refuge in time of danger. In May, 1643, twelve articles were agreed upon at Boston between the representatives of Massachusetts Formation ^"^^i Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. of the New Winthrop tells us that the representatives Confedera- " coming to consultation encountered some *'°"- difficulties, but being all desirous of union and studious of peace, they readily yielded each to other in such things as tended to common utility." Com- promises were the foundation of this as well as of later American constitutions. The four colonies were bound together by a formal written constitution, under the name of *' The United TheConsti- Colonies of New England," in *'a firm and tution. perpetual league of friendship and amity for offence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare." Each colony was allowed to manage its internal affairs; but a body of eight federal commissioners, two from each colony, and all of them church members, were empowered to "determine all affairs of war or peace, leagues, aids, charges, and num- bers of men for war, division of spoils and whatsoever was gotten by conquest, receiving of more confederates for plantations into combination with any of the confeder- ates, and all things of like nature which were the proper concomitants or consequents of such a confederation for amity, oifence, and defence." Six commissioners formed a working majority of the board ; but in case of disagree- ment, the question at issue was to be sent to the legisla- 1643-1^60.] Massachusetts in Control, i^^ tures of the several colonies for decision. War expenses were to be levied against each colony in proportion to its male population between the ages of sixteen and sixty; The board was to meet at least once a year, and oftenef when necessary. The president of the commissioners, chosen from their own number, was to be "invested with no power or respect " except that of a presiding officer. 65. Workings of the Confederation (1643-1660). The league which it represented is " interesting as the first American experiment in federation ; " but it had one fertile source of weakness. There were in the ■of represe^n- four colonies represented an aggregate popula- tation, ^Jqj^ Qf about twenty-four thousand, of which Massachusetts contained fifteen thousand, the other three having not more than three thousand each. In case of war Massachusetts agreed to send one hundred men for every forty-five furnished by each of her colleagues. In two ways she bore the heaviest burden, — in the number of men sent to war, and in the amount of taxes levied therefor. As each colony was to have an equal vote in the conduct of the league, Massachusetts was placed at a disadvantage. She frequently endeavored to exercise larger power than was allowed her under the articles thus arousing the enmity of the smaller colonies, and endangering the existence of the union. Nevertheless, during the twenty years in which the con federation was the strongest poHtical power on the conti- Massachu- '^^"^ °^ North America, Massachusetts main- setts in tained control of its general policy. Maine and the settlements along Narragansett Bay in vain made application to join the confederation. It was objected that public order was not established in Rhode Island, and moreover the oath taken by the freemen 158 Developmejit of New England. [Ch. Vll. there bespoke fealty to the English king. As for Maine, its proprietor, Gorges, was enlisted on the side of the monarch, and the pohtical system in vogue in his province differed from that in the other colonies. The board was little more than a committee of public safety ; it acted upon the colonial legislatures, and not on Nature of the individual colonists, and had no power to Com^fs-'^^* enforce its decrees. One of its early interests sioners. was the building up of Harvard College ; and at its request there was taken up, throughout the four colonies, a contribution of " corn for the poor scholars in Cambridge." In the articles of confederation there was no reference whatever to the home government. The New Eng- Local inde- Zanders had taken charge of their own affairs, pendence apparently without a thought of the supremacy greater than r . ■, \ . ,. ,nr^, \. national of either kmg or parliament. The spirit of patriotism, jocal independence among these people was greater than national patriotism. With Laud in prison and the king an outcast, there could be no interference from that quarter, and Parliament was too busy just then to give much thought to the doings of the distant Amer- ican colonists. In November (1643) Parliament insti- tuted a commission for the government of the colonies, with the Earl of Warwick at its head; but it was of small avail so far as New England was concerned. Massachusetts was ever in an attitude of jealousy towards even a suspicion of interference from England. Jealousy of In 1 644 the General Court voted that any from^S" ^^^ attempting to raise soldiers for the king land. should be " accounted as an offender of an high nature against this commonwealth, and to be pro- ceeded with, either capitally or otherwise, according to the quality and degree of liis offence." The colony was, however, no more for the Commons than for the king. 1643-1653] Workings of the Confede7'ation. 159 When, in 165 1, Parliament desired that Massachusetts surrender her charter granted by King Charles and re- ceive a new one at its hands, for a year no notice was taken of the command ; when at last England had a war with Holland on her hands, the Massachusetts men evasively replied that they were quite satisfied '' to live under the government of a governor and magistrates of their own choosing and under laws of their own making." The General Court was also bold enough to establish a colonial mint (1652), and for thirty years coined " pine- tree shillings," in the face of all objections. In 1653 Cromwell, always a firm friend to New England, was declared Lord Protector ; yet Massachusetts did not allow the event to be proclaimed within her borders, and when he wished Massachusetts to help him in his war against the Dutch by capturing New Amsterdam, the colonial court somewhat haughtily " gave hberty to his Highness's commissioners" to raise volunteers in her territory. At the Restoration it was not until warning came from friends in England, that Charles II. was pro- claimed in New England. 66. Disturbances in Rhode Island (1641-1647). Over on Narragansett Bay the public peace continued to be disturbed by factious disputations. Because of „,, ^ . the freedom there srenerouslv offered to all I he sectaries -^ •' on Narra- men, the settlements of Rhode Island and gansett ay. pj-Qyifjence Were the harboring-place for dis- senters of every class, who for the most part had been ordered to leave the other colonies. Many of these per- sons were of the Baptist faith, or held other theological views which would be considered sober enough in our day; but among them were numerous rank fanatics, whom no well-ordered society was calculated to please. , i6o DcveIopi7te7it of New Englmtd, [Ch. VII. Some of Roger Williams's adherents had built Paw- tuxet. To them came a band of fanatics, headed by The case of Samuel Gorton, described by his orthodox Gorton, neighbors as "a proud and pestilent seducer," of " insolent and riotous carriage," but who was by no means so black as they painted him. The Paw- tuxet settlers asked Massachusetts (1641) "of gentle courtesy and for the preservation of humanity and mankind," to "lend a neighbor-like helping hand " and relieve them of the disturber. At the same time they secured the annexation of their town to Massachusetts, so that it might be within the jurisdiction of the latter. Gorton and nine of his followers were taken as prisoners to Boston (1643), where they were convicted of blas- phemy, and after four or five months at hard labor were released, with threats of death if they did not at once depart from Massachusetts soil, Gorton went to England (1646) and appealed to the parliamentary commissioners, who declared that he might " freely and quietly live and plant" upon his land which he had purchased from the Indians at Shawomet (Warwick), on the western shore of Narragansett Bay. Edward Winslow of Plymouth was now sent over (1647) to represent Massachusetts in the Gorton case ; and through him the plea was entered that the commissioners, being far distant from America, should not undertake the de- cision of appeals from the colonies ; and moreover, that the Massachusetts charter was an "absolute power of government." The commissioners, in return, protested that they " intended not to encourage any appeals from your justice;" nevertheless, they "commanded" the General Court to allow Gorton and his followers to dwell in peace; but "if they shall be faulty, we leave them to be proceeded with according to justice." The offender was allowed to return, but his presence was haughtily 1641-1647-] Troubles in Rhode Island. 161 ignored; and when his settlement was threatened by Indians, he cited in vain the parliamentary order as a warrant for assistance. 67. Policy of the Confederation (1646-1660). The sturdy and independent spirit of the colonists was expressed in words as well as in deeds. While Winslow „ . was thus representino^ the colonists in England Expressions ... ° , . ° of indepen- he made his famous reply to those who were ^""' disposed to criticise the formation of the New England confederacy as a presumptuous assertion of independence : " If we in America should forbear to unite for offence and defence against a common enemy till we have leave from England, our throats might be all cut before the messenger would be half seas through.'" A similar impatience of authority from England was ex- pressed by Governor John Winthrop. An opinion which he deHvered about this time betokened the proud and in- dependent attitude of Massachusetts, and was prophetic of the spirit of the Revolution. By a legal fiction, when the king granted land in America it was held as being in the manor of East Greenwich. It was said that the American colonists were represented in that body by the member returned from the borough containing this manor, and were therefore subject to Parliament. Win- throp held, however, that the supreme law in the colonies was the common weal, and should parliamentary author- ity endanger the welfare of the colonists, then they would be justified in ignoring that authority. Religious liberty was quite as dear to the New Eng- land people as political lilDerty. In 1645, under Scottish The Pres- influence, Presbyterianism was established by byterians. ^^t of Parliament as the state religion of England. Massachusetts was, however, stoutly Inde- II 1 62 Development of New England. [Ch. vil. pendent, and furnished some of the chief champions for that faith during the great controversy which was then raging between the two sects on both sides of the water. A number of Massachusetts Presbyterians sought (1646) to induce the home government to settle churches of their faith in the colonies, and to secure the franchise to all, regardless of religious affiliation ; but before they reached England to state their case the Independents were again in the ascendent, and the Puritan theocracy in Massachusetts was undisturbed. Two years later (1648) a synod of churches was held at Cambridge, at which was formulated a church discipline familiarly styled "the Cambridge platform." In it the Westminster Confes- sion was approved, the powers of the clergy defined, the civil power invoked to "coerce" churches which should " walk incorrigibly or obstinately in any corrupt way of their own," and the term " Congregational " estab- lished, to distinguish New England orthodoxy from "those corrupt sects and heresies which showed themselves under the vast title of Independency." In 1649 this plat- form was laid by the General Court before the several congregations, and two years later it was formally agreed to. It was hardly to be supposed that a people so little inclined to acknowledge the rights of England should Encroach- treat with greater respect those of Holland; Dutch pSs" ^^^ indeed they had the countenance of the sessions. homc government in encroachments upon the Dutch colonies. In 1642 Bos well, who represented England at the Hague, advised his fellow-countrymen in New England to " put forward their plantations and crowd on, crowding the Dutch out of those places where they have occupied." The New Englanders were not slow to adopt this aggressive policy. Settlements were pushed out west- 1646-1652.] Presbyterianism and the Dutch. 163 ward from New Haven on the mainland, and southward on Long Island. Peter Stuyvesant, then governor of New Netlierland, bitterly complained of these encroach- ments, — for the Dutch then claimed everything between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers, — and appealed to the federal commissioners to put a stop to them ; but the answer came that the Dutch were selling arms and ammunition to the Indians, that their conduct was not conducive to peace, that they harbored criminals from the English colonies, and that the United Colonies pro- posed to " vindicate the English rights by all suitable and just means." Stuyvesant, who was a hot-headed man, would have liked to go to war with the New Eng- enders, but was informed by the Dutch West India Company that war " cannot in any event be to our ad- vantage : the New England people are too powerful for us." The matter was finally (1651) left to arbitrators, who settled a provisional boundary line which "on the mainland was not to come within ten miles of the Hud- son River," and which gave to Connecticut the greater part of Long Island. War broke out between England and Holland in 1652, and the Connecticut people were anxious to attack New Weakness of Netherland, which had not ceased its depre- Iration^fn' ^^^'O"^ ^^ the outlyiug settlements. All of the Dutch the federal commissioners except those from War. Massachusetts voted to go to war ; there was a stormy session of the federal court, in which Massa- chusetts endeavored in vain to override the other col- onies. Connecticut and New Haven applied to Cromwell for assistance. He sent over a fleet to Boston, with injunctions to Massachusetts to cease her opposition. The General Court stoutly refused to raise troops for the enterprise, although it gave to the agents of Cromwell the privilege of enlisting five hundred volunteers in the 1 64 Development of New England. [Ch. vii colony if they could. But while arrangements were in progress for an attack by eight hundred men on New Amsterdam, news came that England and Holland had proclaimed peace (April 5, 1654), and warlike prepara- tions in America ceased. The weakness of the New England confederation was evident in domestic affairs as well as in foreign wars. Massachu- Massachusetts was frequently in collision with setts in col- the Commissioners. An instance occurred as thecommis- early as 1642-1643, when trouble broke out sioners. ^j|.j^ ^^ Narragansetts, who were friends and allies of the disturber Gorton at Shawomet. Massachu- setts refused to sanction hostilities ; nevertheless the commissioners despatched a federal force against the Indians ; but the expedition proved futile, owing to lack of support from the chief colony. Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was purchased by the Connecticut federation in 1644. In Cont ntion ^^^^^ to Compensate herself, Connecticut levied between toll on every vessel passing up the river. andMassa- Massachusetts owned the valley town of chusetts. Springfield, and entered complaint before the commissioners (1647) that Connecticut had no right to tax Massachusetts vessels trading with a Massachusetts town. Two years later (1649) the commissioners de- cided in favor of Connecticut ; whereupon Massachusetts levied both export and import duties at Boston designed to hamper the trade of her sister colonies ; at the same time she demanded that because of her greater size she be allowed three commissioners, and insisted that the power of the federal body be reduced. This action created great hostility, and threatened at one time to break up the union. By 1654 the contention had been allowed to drop on both sides, and duties on intercolo- jiial trade ceased. 1656.] The Quakers. 165 68. Repression of the Quakers (1656-1660). During the remainder of the Commonwealth period the most serious question which arose in New England ^ was what to do with the Quakers. In the the- Treatment . , '^, , . ofth« ocracy of the seventeenth century the atti- Quakers. ^^^^ ^£ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ l^^^j^ theologically and politically well calculated to arouse hostility. They would strip all formahties from religion, they would rec- ognize no priestly class, they would not take up arms in the common defence, would pay no tithes and take no oath of allegiance, they doubted the efficacy of baptism, had no veneration for the Sabbath, and had a large re- spect for the right of individual judgment in spiritual matters. They were aggressive and stubborn, and, goaded on by persecution, broke out into fantastic dis- plays of opposition to the State religion. In England four thousand of them were in jail at one time. When Anne Austin and Mary Fisher arrived in Boston (1656) from England, by way of the Barbados, as a van- guard of the Quaker missionary army, the colonial au- thorities were aghast with horror. Tlie adventurous women were shipped back to the Barbados, and a law was enacted against " all Quakers, Ranters, and other notorious heretics," providing for their flogging and imprisonment at hard labor. Despite this harsh treat- ment, the Quakers continued to arrive. Roger Williams said, when applied to by Massachusetts to harry them out of Rhode Island: where they are "most of all suf- fered to declare themselves freely, and only opposed by arguments in discourse, there they least of all desire to come. . . . They are likely to gain more followers by the conceit of their patient sufferings than by consent to their pernicious sayings." Nevertheless, Rhode Island was and is the stronghold of the Friends in New England. 1 66 Development of New England. [Ch. vil. In 1657 it was enacted that Quakers who had once been sent away and returned, should have their ears lopped off, and for the third offence should have their tongues pierced with red-hot irons. Banishment on pain of death was recommended by the federal commissioners in 1658 ; and in 1659-1660 four Quakers lost their lives by hanging on Boston Common. Public sentiment revolted at these spectacles, and in 1660 the Massachusetts death- law was repealed, and Quakers were thereafter subjected to nothing worse than being flogged in the several towns; even this gradually ceased, with the growth of a more humane spirit. In Connecticut the sect suffered but little persecution, and in Rhode Island none ; while Plymouth and New Haven were nearly as harsh in their treatment as Massachusetts. The restoration of royalty in England (1660) began a new epoch in the history of the colonies. Their control was placed in the hands of a council for the New Eng- , ^ . , , • mi land in the plantations, and twelve privy councillors were councilor designated to take New England in charge, the planta- The Quakers had seized the opportunity of gaining an early hearing from the new king, who was charitably disposed towards them. In its ad- dress to Charles, the Massachusetts court expatiated on the factious spirit of the Quakers; but the king replied that while he meant well by the colonies, he desired that hereafter the Quakers be sent to England for trial, — a desire which was as a matter of course disregarded. 69. Boyal Commission (1660-1664). It is not surprising that the king was disposed to look with suspicion upon the men of New England. He had been told that the confederacy was "a war combination made by the four colonies when they had a design to throw off their dependence on England, and for that puf 1657-1664.] Royal Commission, 167 pose." The New Englanders, too, had been somewhat slow to proclaim his ascendancy; while two of the judges The king ^^'^ ^'^^ Sentenced his father to death, Goffe su^ects and Whalley, were screened from royal justice land's by the people of New Haven, and afterwards loyalty. y^^ thosc of Hadley, a Massachusetts town in the .Connecticut valley. Massachusetts had been bold enough when the home government was so distracted by other affairs as to render attention to the colonies imprac- ticable ; now that Charles appeared to be turning his atten- tion to America a more politic course was pursued. Simon Bradstreet, a leading layman, and John Norton, promi- nent among the ministers, were sent to England to make peace with the Crown, and soon returned (1662) with a gracious answer, which, however, was coupled with an order to the court to grant all " freeholders of compe- tent estate " the right of suffrage and office-holding, "without reference to their opinion or profession," to allow the Church of England to hold services, to ad- minister justice in the name of the king, and to compel all inhabitants to swear allegiance to him. The court decreed that legal papers should thereafter run in the king's name; but all other matters in the royal mandate were referred to a committee which failed to report upon them. Affairs now went on peacefully enough in Massachu- setts until 1664. In that year the king sent over four Arrival of ^oyal Commissioners to look after the colonies, royal com- among them being Samuel Maverick, one of the Presbyterian petitioners who had made trouble for the New Englanders a few years before. These commissioners were required "to dispose the people to an entire submission and obedience to the king's government;" also to feel the public pulse in Massachusetts, in order to see whether the Crown might 1 68 Developmejtt of New England. [Ch. VII. not judiciously assume to appoint a governor for that colony. They arrived at Boston in July with two ships- of-war and four hundred troops. Obtaining help from Connecticut, the expedition proceeded to New Amster- dam and easily conquered that port from the Dutch. During the months the commissioners were at Boston they were engaged in a prolonged quarrel with the Massachusetts men, who claimed that their charter allowed them to govern themselves after their own fashion, without interference from a royal commission. The court was persistently importuned to give a plain answer to the king's demands sent out in 1662 ; but nothing satisfactory could be obtained, and the commis- sioners were obhged to return without having accom- plished their mission. The Dutch war against England was now going on, and political affairs at home were unquiet. A policy of delay had been profitable for Massachusetts. In the other colonies of New England better treatment had been accorded the commissioners. Connecticut had Treatment of scnt over her governor, the younger Winthrop, Connecticut, ^q represent her at court. He was well re- ceived there, being a man of scholarly tastes and pleas- ing manner ; the king was the more disposed to favor him because by helping Connecticut a rival to Massachusetts would be built up. A liberal charter was granted to his colony; and New Haven — disliked by Charles for having harbored the regicides — was now, despite her protest, and of annexed to her sister colony. Rhode Island, Rhode too, was benefited by the royal favor, and re- ceived a charter making it a separate colony. Doubtless the fact that the people of Narragansett Bay had been shut out from the New England confederacy had inclined the king to look kindly upon them. For these reasons Connecticut and Rhode Island had re- 1662-16S4.] Prosperity. 169 ceived the commissioners with consideration, while weak Plymouth was also praised for her ready obedience. The suppression of New Haven by the king, and the practical victory of the Quakers over the theocratic policy Decadence of Massachusetts, were staggering blows to confedera- ^^^ Confederation. The federal commissioners tion. held triennial meetings thereafter until 1684, when the Massachusetts charter was revoked; but its proceedings, except during King Philip's war, were of little importance. The period of the decadence of the confederation, how- ever, was in the main one of prosperity for New Eng- A prosper- l^^^d. Emigration to America had almost wholly ous period, ccased after 1640, with the rise of the Puritans in England ; but the restoration of the Stuarts and the passage of the Act of Uniformity, with its accompanying persecutions, caused a renewal of the departure of Dis- senters, and the movement included many, both laymen and clericals, of eminent ability. New industries were introduced, commerce grew, the area of settlement ex- tended, and wealth increased. But the accretion of wealth and the passage of time brought changes in the attitude towards England that Change of threatened in a measure to counteract the quiet ward's'^Eng' Struggle for independence which had been land. going on for nearly half a century. A second generation of Americans had come upon the stage, with but a tradidonal knowledge of the tyrannies practised upon their fathers in the old country. Larger wealth secured greater leisure, which resulted in a cultivation of the graceful arts, with a softening of the austere manners and thinking of the first emigrants. There was now manifest a desire on the part of many members of the upper class to bring about closer relations with the Old World, with its fine manners, its aristocracy, and its t^O Development of New England. [Ch. VII- historic associations. Opposition to England began to give place to imitation of England ; colonial life had entered the provincial stage. Two parties had by this time sprung up, although as yet without organization, — one desiring to conciliate England, the other standing for independence in everything except in name. Thus far none had ventured to think of the possibility of dissolving all political connection with the mother land. 70. Indian Wars (1660-1678). The Indian policy of the New Englanders was more humane than that adopted in any of the other colonies Indian cxcept Pennsylvania. Compensation had been NewVng- gi'anted to the savages for lands taken, firm land friendships had been formed between some of the chiefs and the whites, and the missionary enter- prises among the red-men were conducted on a large scale and with much zeal. Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, and the country round about Boston were the centres of proselytism ; the " praying Indians" were gathered into village congregations with native teachers, most notable being those under the supervision of John Eliot, " the apostle." Of these converted Indians there were in 1674 about four thousand ; several hundred of them were taught a written language invented by Eliot, who success- fully undertook the monumental labor of translating the Bible into it for their benefit. Massasoit, head-chief of the Pokanokets, had made a treaty of alliance with the Plymouth colonists soon after Troubles their arrival, and kept it strictly until his death with Philip. (j66o). His two sons were christened at Ply- mouth as Alexander and Philip. Alexander died (1662) at Plymouth, where he had gone to answer to a charge of plotting with the Narragansetts against the whites- i66o-i67S-] King Philip's War. l^l Philip, now chief sachem, wrongfully thinking his brother to have been poisoned, was thereafter a bitter enemy of the dominant race. For twelve years there were nu- merous complaints against him, and he was frequently summoned to Plymouth to make answer. He was smooth- spoken and fair of promise, but came to be regarded as an unsatisfactory person with whom to deal. In 1674 it became evident that Philip was planning a general Indian uprising, to drive the English out of the fend. His territory was now chiefly confined to Mount Hope, — a peninsula running into Narragansett Bay ; and here j^. he " began to keep his men in arms about Phiiip'3 him, and to gather strangers unto him, and to march about in arms towards the upper end of the neck on which he lived, and near to the English houses." On the twentieth of June a party of his war- riors attacked the little town of Swanzey, killing many settlers and perpetrating fiendish outrages. War-parties from Mount Hope now quickly spread over the country, joined by the Nipmucks and other tribes. Throughout the white settlements panic prevailed, and several towns in Massachusetts, as far west as the Connecticut valley, were scenes of heart-rending tragedies. The Narragansetts had played fast and loose in this struggle, their disaffection growing with the success of the savage arms. It was evident that unless crushed, they would openly espouse Philip's cause in the coming spring, and the danger be doubled. A thousand volun- teers, enlisted by the federal commissioners, on Decem- ber 19 attacked their palisaded fortress in what is now South Kingston. Two thousand warriors, with many women and children, were gathered within the walls. About one thousand Indians were slain in the contest, which was one of the most desperate of its kind ever fought in America. 172 Development of New E^tgland. [Ch. VII. The following spring and summer Philip again made bloody forays on the settlements ; but he "■ s persistently attacked, his followers were scattered, and^"^ U last driven, with a handful of followers, into a swai ^ 'ount Hope. Here (Aug. 12, 1676) he was shot .c ^ friendly Indian, and "fell upon his face in the muc„ ^^ water, with his gun under him; . . . upon which the w ie army gave three loud huzzas." His hands and head were cut off and taken to Boston and Plymouth respec- tively, in token to the people at home that King Philip's war was at an end, and that thereafter white men were to be supreme in New England. During the two years' deadly struggle the colonists had been surfeited with horrors, of which the statistics of Th ff ct ^*^^^ ^^"^ convey but slight idea. Of the eighty of the or ninety towns in Plymouth and Massachu- struggle. setts, nearly two-thirds had been harried by the savages, — ten or twelve wholly, and the others par- tially destroyed ; while nearly six hundred fighting men — about ten per cent of the whole — had either lost their lives or had been taken prisoners, never to return. It was many years before the heavy war-debts of the col- onies could be paid ; in Plymouth the debt exceeded in amount the value of all the personal property. The year before Philip fell (1675), trouble broke out with the Indians to the north, on the Piscataqua. In the summer of 1678 the English of Maine felt themselves compelled to purchase peace, thus establishing a pre- cedent which fortunately has not often been followed in America. The home government was much annoyed at the obstinacy of the colonists in not calling on it for aid in these two Indian wars. Jealous of English interfer- ence, they preferred to fight their battles for themselves, and thus to give no excuse to the king for maintaining royal troops in New England. 1649-1676.] Massachusetts and the Ki7ig, 173 71. Territorial Disputes (1649-1685). Ma*^' "^u^.uts early gave evidence of a desire to ex- tend , I :ntoi*y- Disputes in regard to lands fre- ,^_ ,ently gave rise to quarrels with the Indians. - *' lends In 1649 the strip of mainland along Long ritory. j^jg^j^^^ Sound, between the western boundary of Khode Island and Mystic River, was granted to her by the federal commissioners. From 1652 to 1658 she absorbed the settlements in Maine, now neglected by the heirs of Gorges, just as in 1642-1643 she had annexed the New Hampshire towns. The council for foreign plantations had been dissolved in 1675, ^"^ ^^ manage- ment of colonial affairs was resumed by a standing com- mittee of the Privy Council styled " the Lords of the Committee of Trade and Plantations." At this time the Gorges and Mason heirs renewed their respective claims to Maine and New Hampshire, which they said had been wrongfully swallowed up by Massachusetts. Other complaints against the Bay Colony, that had been allowed to slumber for some time, were now revived, The king's and the Lords of Trade, as they were familiarly agaiifsTMas- Called, were soon sitting in council upon the sachusetts. deeds of the obstinate colony. The king's charges of early years were again advanced: that the Acts of Navigation and Trade (page 104) were not being observed ; that ships from various European countries traded with Boston direct, without paying duty to Eng- land on their cargoes ; that money was being coined at a colonial mint ; and that Church of England members were denied the right of suffrage. Edward Randolph, a relative of the Masons, was sent over (1676) to be col- lector at the port of Boston, now a town of five thousand inhabitants, and to investigate the colonies. His manner was insulting, and he was rudely treated by the people, 174 Development of New E7igland. [Ch. vil- who were greatly embittered against England in conse- quence of his malicious repforts to the home government. In 1679 t^^ ^^"S erected New Hampshire into a separate royal province. Edward Cranfield, a tyrannical New Ham "^^"' became the governor (16S2), but his shire a royal conduct drove the pcople into insurrection, province. ^^ ^^^ obliged to fly to the West Indies (1685), and in the same year New Hampshire was reunited to Massachusetts. In 1665 the royal commissioners detached Maine from Massachusetts ; but three years later (1668) that com- Massachu- mouwcalth Calmly took it back again. Gorges chases""^" '^^^ inclined to make trouble, and agents of Maine. Massachusetts quietly purchased his claim (1677) for ;^i,25o. The skilful manoeuvre excited the displeasure of the king, who had intended himself to buy out the claims of Gorges, in order to erect Maine into a proprietary province for his reputed son, the Duke of Monmouth. The company of Massachusetts Bay now governed Maine under the Gorges charter as lord pro- prietor, and did not make it a part of the Massachusetts colony. 72. Kevocation of the Charters (1670-1687). It was two years later (1679) before Charles was ready again to make a movement upon Massachusetts. The Massa- He demanded that Maine should be delivered chaSr\n- ^P ^° ^^ Crown, on repayment of the pur- nulled, chase money, and also that all other com- plaints should at once be satisfied. The General Court gave an evasive answer, and adopted its usual method of sending over agents to ward off hostilities by a policy of delay. But in 1684 the blow came; a writ of quo waf'ranto was issued against the simple trading charter under which Massachusetts had so long been permitted 1679-1688.] The Rule of Andros. 175 to grow and prosper; the charter was held to be an- nulled, and the colony now became a royal possession. With the death of Charles II. (1685), James II. came to the English throne. As a Roman Catholic, and im- Arrivalof bucd with a taste for absolute power, the Andros. colonies had httle favor to expect from him. In 1686, as a step towards abolishing the American charters, James sent over Sir Edmund Andros as gov- ernor of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Maine ; he brought authority to ignore all local political machinery and to govern the country through a council, the president of which was Joseph Dudley, the unpop- ular Tory son of the stern old Puritan who had been Winthrop's lieutenant. The charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut were demanded for annulment (1686). The former colony was, as usual, obedient, and yielded up her charter ; Connecticut failed to respond to the de- mand of Andros, and he went to Hartford (October, 1687) and ordered the charter to be produced. A famil- iar myth alleges that the document was concealed from him in the hollow trunk of a large tree, known ever after as the " charter oak ; " nevertheless Andros arbitrarily declared the colony annexed to the other New England colonies which he governed. The following year (1688) Andros was also made gov- ernor of New York and the Jerseys, his jurisdiction now His despotic extending from Delaware Bay to the confines rule. Qf New France, with his seat of government at Boston. The government of Andros was despotic, and fell heavily on a people who had up to this time been ac- customed to their own way. Episcopal services were held in the principal towns, and Congregational churches were frequently seized upon for the purpose ; the writ of habeas corpus was suspended; a censorship of the press was restored, with Dudley as censor; excessive registry fees were charged ; arbitrary taxes were levied ; land grants 1/6 Development of New England. [Ch. VII. made under former administrations were annulled ; pri- vate property was unsafe from governmental interference ; common lands were enclosed and divided among the friends of Andros ; the General Court was abolished, and most popular rights were ignored. Dudley tersely de- scribed the situation (1687) on the trial of the Rev. John Wise, of Ipswich, for heading a movement in that town to resent taxation without representation : " Mr. Wise, you have no more privileges left you than not to be sold for slaves." 73. Kestoration of the Charters (1689-1692). In April, 1689, news came of the Revolution in Eng- land, the flight of the arrogant James, and the accession Andros o^ the Princc of Orange. The example of re- deposed. yQi|- ^as already foreshadowed in Boston, where Andros and Dudley were deposed. Elsewhere in the Northern colonies the representatives of the tyrant ex- tortioners were driven out. The Protestant sovereigns, William and Mary, were proclaimed amid great popular rejoicings. The old charters were restored for the time. In Sep- tember, 1 69 1, Plymouth and the newly acquired territory New Eng- of Acadia were united to Massachusetts under '^"j|.""^er ^ j^g^^ charter, which had been secured from William and ' Mary. the king chiefly through the agency of the Rev. Increase Mather, of Boston, now influential in colo- nial politics, as were also other members of the Mather family. In May following (1692) this new charter for Massachusetts was received at Boston. It was not as liberal as had been hoped. The people were allowed their representative assembly as before, but the governor was to be appointed by the Crown ; the religious quali- fication for suffrage was abolished, a small property qualification (an estate of ^40 value, or a freehold worth £7. a year) being substituted ; laws passed by the General 1689-1700.] Re-CoHstittitio7i of New England. 177 Court were subject to veto by the king, — a provision fraught with danger to the colonists. Thus Massachu- setts became a Crown charter colony, — a position not uncomfortable so long as the executive and the legisla- ture could agree. The first royal governor, Sir William Phipps ( 1 692-1 695), proved to be popular, generous, and well-meaning. He had a romantic history, but was of slender capacity, and owed his appointment to the favor of his pastor, Increase Mather. Connecticut and Rhode Island received their charters back ; New Hampshire was governed by its new pro- prietor, Samuel Allen, but without a charter; Maine continued under Massachusetts, — the Bay Colony now extending from Rhode Island to New Brunswick, except for the short intervening strip of New Hampshire coast. It was fortunate for American Hberty that the scheme of a consolidation of the New England colonies was put forward by the Stuarts too late for accompHshment. It was also fortunate that Massachusetts was flanked by and often competed with by her neighbors, Plymouth, Con- necticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, who were protected against her by a jealous government in Eng- land, and that the Dutch cut off her ambitious territorial aspirations to the west. In the separate colonial life was sown the spirit of local patriotism which is now embodied in the American States. In New England, as in the South, there was a leading, but never a dominant, colony ; the smaller colonies shared the experiences of the larger, but were freer from calamitous changes, and enjoyed in some respects governments which were more immediately under the control of the people. The end of the century saw all the New England colo- nies estabhshed on what seemed a permanent basis of loyalty to the Crown and of local independence. 178 New England. [Ch. viii. CHAPTER VIII. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1700. 74. References. Bibliographies. — Same as §§ 47 and 63, above; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 130. Historical Maps. — Same as § 47, above. General Accounts. — Osgood, Colonies ; Doyle, Colonies, III. ch. ix.; Lodge, Colonies, ch. xxii.; W. Weeden, Economic and So- cial History; J. Bishop, History of American Manufactures; American Statistical Association Publications, No. i. Special Histories. — Manners and customs : Earle, Costumes of Colonial Times, Customs and Fashions in Old New England, Sabbath in Puritan New England, and Stage Coach and Tavern Days; W. Bliss, Colonial Times on Buzzard's Bay, and Old Colony Town; F. Child, Colonial Parsons of New England; J. Felt, Customs of New England; Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners, I. chs. ii.-v. ; Howe, Puritan Republic, chs. v.-ix.; W. Love, Fast and Thanksgiving Days; M. Ward, Old Colony Days; Wharton, Colonial Days and Dames. — Education: C. Johnson, Old Time Schools and School Books; E. Brown, Making of our Middle Schools. — Theology : B. Adams, Emancipation of Massachusetts ; F. Foster, New England Theology ; M. Greene, Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut ; C. F. Adams, Antinomianism. — Press: C. Duniway, Freedom of Press in Massachusetts ; G. Littlefield, Early Massachusetts Press; R. Roden, Cambridge Press. — Slavery: G. Moore, Slavery in Massachusetts ; G. Wil- liams, Negro Race in America, 1619-1880; W. Dubois, Suppres- sion of Slave Trade. — On the witchcraft delusion : C. Upham, Salem Witchcraft; S. Drake, Annals of Witchcraft; J. Taylor, Witchcraft Delusion in Connecticut. — Medical practice : O. Holmes, Medical Profession in Massachusetts. See also, biog- raphies of prominent men. Contemporary Accounts. — Same as § 63, above. Ch. VIII.] Geography, 179 75. Land and People. North of Cape Cod the shores of New England are rugged and forbidding, though the coast-line is indented by numerous inlets from the sea, affording safe eograp y. 2C[iQ\\ox?igQ. To the south of the cape there are also abundant harbors ; but the mountains nowhere ap- proach the shore, and the beach is wide, with a sand strip extending for some distance inland, while treacherous shoals are not uncommon. The rivers, except those in Maine and the Merrimac and the Connecticut, are small, and have their sources in innumerable small laikes ; the upper streams fall in successions of picturesque cascades, the water-power of which is often profitably utihzed in manufacturing ; and the larger rivers are held back by great dams, about which have grown up the manufactur- ing towns of Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, and many others. Two ranges of mountains traverse New England : the Green Mountains and their continuation, the Berk- shire Hills, run nearly north and south from Canada to Connecticut ; the White Mountains form a group, rather than a chain, nearer the coast. In the eastern half of Maine the low watershed comes down to within one hundred and forty miles of the sea-shore, and the Atlantic- coast region may be said practically to end there. The highest elevation in the Appalachian system north of North CaroHna is Mount Washington (six thousand two hundred and ninety feet), in the White Mountain range. The soil of New England is for the most part thin, and interspersed with rocks and gravel. The banks of some of the principal rivers are enriched by alluvial deposits left by overflows ; there are fair pasturage lands in Ver- mont and New Hampshire, while Maine, back from the shore, has much good soil. The New England hills are 1 80 New England. [Ch. viii. rich in quarries of fine building stone. Their mineral wealth is not great ; iron and manganese have been found in considerable quantities, together with some anthracite coal, lead, and copper. Originally New England was one vast forest, and the trees had to be cleared away in order to prepare the soil for cultivation. The climate is subject to rapid variations, being generally accounted superb in the summer and autumn ; but the winters are long and severe, and the springs late and brief. The natural obstacles to human welfare in New Eng- land were great; but the English settlers were men of tough fibre and rare determination. They were not daunted by rugged hills, gloomy forest, harsh climate, and niggardly soil. With courageous toil they built up thrifty towns along the narrow slope, and erected endur- ing commonwealths, in which the English institutions to which they had been accustomed were reproduced, and often improved upon. The population of New England in 1700, by which time a second generation of Englishmen had arisen Thepopula- ^" America, is roughly estimated at about tion. a hundred and five thousand souls, of whom seventy thousand were in Massachusetts and Maine, five thousand in New Hampshire, six thousand in Rhode Island, and twenty-five thousand in Connecticut. The people were almost wholly of pure English stock. Up to 1640, when the first great Puritan exodus ceased, full twenty thousand English Dissenters, mainly from the eastern counties of England, came to New England ; thenceforth the population, says Palfrey, " continued to multiply on its own soil for a century and a half, in remarkable seclusion from other communities." During this time there was a small infusion of Normans from the Channel Islands, Welsh, Scotch-Irish (chiefly in 1652 and 1719), and Huguenots (1685). It is computed that at the Ch. VIII.] Population and Social Classes, i8i opening of the Revolutionary War ninety-eight per cent of New England people were English or unmixed des- cendants of Englishmen. Nowhere else in the American colonies was there so homogeneous a population, or one of such uniformly high quality. As said Stoughton, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts (1692-1 701): "God sifted a whole nation, that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness." 76. Social Classes and Professions. Social distinctions were almost as sharply drawn in New England as in the South. There was a power- ful and much-respected aristocratic class, be- ginning with the village " squire " and ending with the Crown officials in the capital towns. "The foundations of rank," says Lodge, "were birth, ancestral or individual service to the State, ability, education, and to some extent wealth." The recognized classes were, in order of precedence, gentlemen, yeomen, merchants, and mechanics ; and at church the people were puncti- liously seated according to station. Down to 1772 the students in Harvard College were carefully arranged in the catalogue in the order of their social rank, the Hutchinsons, Saltonstalls, Winthrops, and Quincys near the head. There was also a distinction between new- comers and old-comers, the " old family " class laying some pretensions to social superiority. The aristocrats were not men of leisure, — everybody in New England worked ; but the public offices and the professions were reserved for gentlemen. Now and then some of them conducted large estates, although aristocracy was not, as in England, supported on landed possessions and primo- geniture. The force of public opinion alone separated the classes ; with the growth of the democratic idea, social barriers ultimately weakened, although they con- 1 82 New England, [Ch. VIII. tinued to appear in the politics of the commonwealth down to the middle of the present century. Slaves were comparatively few in number, the greater part of them being house and body servants, and they were not harshly treated : travellers have left SlcLvcrv record of the fact that some of the humbler farmers ate at table with their human chattels. The race was, however, generally despised, and in one of the old churches in Boston is still to be seen the lofty " slaves' gallery." Judge Samuel Sewall issued the first public denunciation of slavery in Massachusetts, in a pamphlet issued in 1700, wherein he denounced " the wicked prac- tice." For many years this distinguished jurist and diarist followed up his assaults, allowing no opportunity to es- cape wherein he might espouse the cause of the op- pressed " blackamores " and mitigate the severity of the laws against them. But the colonists in general saw nothing in the system to shock their moral sense, and it was not until the Revolution that anti-slavery ideas began, in New England, to spread beyond a narrow circle of humanitarians. There was a full system of courts, ranging from the colonial judges down to the justices of the peace and The legal " Commissioners of small causes," appointed profession, ^y colonial authority in each town. The magistrates were uniformly men of good character, of the upper, well-educated class, and rendered substantial justice, although not specially trained in the law. The legal profession was practically neglected throughout the seventeenth century, doubtless owing in great part to lack of facilities for study and to the overtowering im- portance of the ministry ; we do not read of a profes- sional barrister in Massachusetts until 1688. There was, however, no lack of litigation ; personal disputes were rife in Rhode Island, and in Connecticut there were frequent Ch. VIII.] Slavery and the Professions, 183 legal contests between towns regarding lands. Between the colonies, also, there were complicated and hotly-con- tested boundary disputes. The bar gained strength, but it was not till about the middle of the eighteenth century that it stood beside the ministry. We have had frequent evidences, in preceding chap- ters, of the large influence of the clergy in the temporal Themin- affairs of New England. The ranks of the istry. Puritan ministry contained men of the best ability and station; they were pre-eminently the strongest class, and as the popular leaders, deeply impressed their character upon the laws and institutions of the com- munity. They were held in great affection and rever- ence ; but in a body of sturdy, intelligent parishioners they could maintain their supremacy only by the exercise of superior mental gifts : their calling was one offering rich rewards for excellence, and attracted to it men of the finest calibre, like the Mathers and Hooker. The sloth or the dullard was soon taught by his people that he had mistaken his calling. Jonathan Edwards, although of a later period than that of which we are treating, was a fair type, and his early resolution " to live with all my might while I do hve," was an expression of the spirit which dominated his order. It was an age in which quackery flourished. The regu- lar physicians, though excellent men and highly regarded by the people, depended upon nostrums, and had little medical knowledge ; they were in the main " herb-doctors " and *' blood-letters." Many of the practitioners were barbers, and others clergymen. " This relation between medicine and theology," writes Dr. Holmes, " has existed from a very early period ; from the Egyptian priest to the Indian medicine-man, the alli- ance has been maintained in one form or another. The partnership was very common among our British ances- 1 84 New England. [Ch. viii. tors." There were few facilities for the study of medicine in the colonies until after the Revolution. The first med- ical school in America was established in Philadelphia, about 1760. 77. Occupations. Unlike the Southern colonists, New Englanders were dependent on England only for the most important man- Domestic ufactures. Mechanics were sufficiently nu- manufac- merous in every community. The lumber industry was important, and in Connecticut and Massachusetts there was profitable iron mining, which gave rise to several kindred pursuits. There being abundant water-power, small saw and grist mills were numerous ; there were many tanneries and dis- tilleries ; the Scotch-Irish in Massachusetts and New Hampshire made linens and coarse woollens, and beaver hats and paper were manufactured on a small scale. The people were largely dressed in homespun cloth, and a spinning-wheel was to be found in every farm-house. It was not until after the Revolution, however, that New England manufacturing interests attained much magni- tude ; the home government, through the Acts of Navi- gation and Trade (page 104), had discouraged, as far as possible, American efforts in this direction. The fisheries, particularly whale and cod, were an important source of income, those of Massachusetts being estimated, in 1750, at ^250,000 per year. IS enes. pjshers' hamlets, with their great net-reels and drying stages, were strung along the shores. The men engaged in the traffic were hardy and bold, no weather deterring them from long voyages to Newfoundland and Labrador, while whale-fishers ventured into the Arctic seas. From their ranks were largely recruited the superb sailors who made the American navy famous in the two wars with England. Ch. VIII.] Mamifacttires and Commerce. 185 A pinnace, called the " Virginia," was constructed by the Popham colonists in 1607, — the first ocean-going Ship- vessel built in New England. Ship-building building, ^as first undertaken at Plymouth in 1625, and in Massachusetts six years later (1631). By 1650 New England vessels were to be seen all along the coast, and carried the bulk of the export cargoes. Before 1724 English ship carpenters complained of American com- petition. In 1760 ships to the extent of twenty thou- sand tons a year were being turned out of American shipyards, — chiefly in New England ; and most of them found a market in the mother-country. Dried fish was the chief commodity carried out of New England, and was exported in American bottoms to „ Spain, Portuijal, and the West Indies. Fish- Commerce. ., , . , , r T* T . 1 Oil and tmiber were also sent out of Mame and Massachusetts to foreign countries ; hay, grain, and cattle were taken to New York, Philadelphia, and the West Indies. There was an active longshore coasting service by small craft, which ascended the rivers and gathered produce from the farmers ; these they took to neighbor- ing ports, and brought back other colonial products in exchange. Larger vessels went with miscellaneous cargoes to the West Indies, and returned with slaves and sugar. New Englanders manufactured rum from West India sugar and molasses, and exported the finished product. There are instances of New England ships taking rum to Africa, where it was exchanged for slaves; these slaves were then transported to the West Indies, to be bartered for sugar and molasses, which was carried home and converted into rum. It was a day when kegs of rum and wines were given to ministers at donation parties, and ministers themselves made brandy by the barrel for do- mestic use, and sold it to their parishioners. Wines were imported from Madeira and Malaga, and manu- 1 86 New England. [Ch. vill. factured goods from England and the Continent. A very large and profitable business was done in the general carrying trade, which was developed by enterprising New England men in all the sister colonies. Boston alone employed, by the middle of the eighteenth century, about six hundred vessels in her foreign commerce, and a thou- sand in her fisheries and coast-trade. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the popula- tion was in about equal degree engaged in trade and Distribution agriculture. Trade was the chief calling in ofoccupa- Rhode Island, and agriculture in Connecticut and New Hampshire, while in Maine and Massachusetts both flourished. All of the colonies were also much interested in the fisheries. 78. Social Conditions. Boston, Newport, and New Haven were the chief towns; the former was at this time the centre of political and mer- cantile life on the North American continent, and there were external evidences of consider- able wealth and some luxury. New Haven was famed for its prosperous appearance, and the houses of its rich men were of a better style of architecture than commonly seen in the colonies. Small villages, neighborhood centres of the several townships, abounded everywhere. The houses of the minister and the school-teacher, with the little shops of tradesmen and artisans, formed the nucleus around which the farm-houses were grouped with more or less density. The village streets, overhung with archi..g elms, were kept in tolerable order by the " hog-reeves," ** fence-viewers," and other town officials. The quaint, roomy, gambrel-roofed houses were scrupulously plain and clean, and were presided over by model housewives. Ch. vili.] Life and Manners. 187 The people in these rural communities were in mod- erate financial circumstances, neat in habit, intelligent, Life and ^^''^ fairly educated ; both sexes, young and manners. old, worked hard, were frugal, thrifty, and as a rule rigid in morals. While coldly reserved towards strangers, they were kind and hospitable, and noted far and wide for their acute inquisitiveness. They wore so- ber-eolored garments except on Sunday, the important day of the week, when there was a general display of quaint finery of a sombre character. The men wore long stock- ings and knee-breeches, with buckled shoes ; workmen had breeches and jackets of leather, buckskin, or coarse can- vas, while those of higher degree were generally dressed in coarse homespun, — only the richest could afford imported cloths. Their great open fireplaces were ill- adapted to withstand the winter's rigor. Their churches were wholly unprovided with heating accommodations. Their diet was spare. The well-to-do prided themselves on their old silver tableware, and New England kitchens were noted for their displays of brightly burnished pewter and brasses. Cider and New England rum were favorite beverages ; but drunkenness was less prevalent than in the other colonies : the New England temperament was not inclined to excesses and roistering. The general tone of life was sedate, even gloomy ; the Puritans had " a lurk- ing inherited distrust for enjoyment," yet they cultivated a certain dry humor, and for the young people there was not lacking a round of simple amusements, such as house-raisings, dancing parties, and husking, spinning, quilting, and apple-paring bees, into which the neighbor- hoods entered with great zest. In the towns there was more pretension and ceremonial ; but taking changed conditions into account, the life of the townspeople and their habits of thought differed but little from those of their rural cousins. 1 88 New Engla?id. [Ch. VIII. The highways were generally of fair character, but the larger streams were unbridged. Outside of the neighbor- Roads and hoods of the large towns wheeled vehicles, travel. except for heavy loads, were not common until the time of the Revolution. Horseback was the ordinary mode of travel. A tavern kept by some leading citizen could be found in every town, with good lodgings at reasonable rates, although there was general complaint of the cookery. Nowhere else in the colonies was there so much intercommunication as in New England. 79. Moral and Religious Conditions. A system of public education was among the first insti- tutions established by the Puritans. Each town had its school; by 1649 there was no New England colony, except Rhode Island, in which some degree of education was not compulsory. Deep learning was rare, but the people were well drilled in the rudi- ments ; except on the far-off borders of Maine there was no illiteracy in New England when the Revolution broke out. Latin schools and academies soon supplemented parental instruction and the common schools. We have seen that Boston was but six years old when Harvard College was established (1636) ; and Yale College was opened at New Haven in the year 1700. Crime appears to have been less frequent in New Eng- land than in the Southern or the middle colonies; the highways were safe after the close of King Philip's war and the Tarratine trouble ; doors and windows were seldom barred in the country, and young women could travel anywhere with perfect safely. The list of capital crimes was a long one in that day, as well in the mother-land as in the colonies, and hangings, particularly of the pirates who infested the coast, were Ch. vin ) Religion. 189 spectacles frequently seen in New England, A more cruel form of punishment was reserved for the negro race. There were several cases of negroes being burned at th». stake for murder or arson. Great publicity was given to all manner of punishments ; gibbets, stocks, ducking-stools, pillories, and whipping-posts were familiar objects in nearly every town. Criminals might also be branded, mutilated, or compelled to wear, conspicuously sewed to their garments, colored letters indicative of the offences committed. Hawthorne's romance of the " Scar- let Letter " is based on this last-named custom. Organized on the Independent, or Congregational, form, each religious congregation was a law unto itself, electing its own deacons and minister, and was e igion. ^^^ \\\x\q influenced by the occasional synods, «or councils of churches, which at last fell into disuse. At first the Church was bitterly intolerant; but this spirit gradually softened as it became more and more separated from the State. By the close of the seventeenth century John Eliot complained that religion had declined ; in 1749 Douglass was able to write, " At present the Con- gregational ists of New England may be esteemed among the most moderate and charitable of Christian profes- sions." The introduction of the Church of England under Andros aroused bitter opposition. Episcopalian- ism was vigorously preached against until the Revolution; but there was no great cause for complaint, as it was not sought to foist it upon the people, but to gain for it a hearing. The name " Bishop's palace," still applied to .-a. house in Cambridge which was supposed when built Tto iiave been intended for an imported bishop, bears ttesti-mony to the popular feeling against the system. It fhad fco success except among the Tory element in •Boston and Portsmouth, — and later (i 736-1750) in New iHaven. In Rhode Island perfect tolerance made the igo New England, [Ch. VIII. colony a harboring place for all manner of despised sects and factious disturbers driven out of other communities, and the spirit of turbulence long reigned there. A *' great awakening" of religious fervor affected New England between 171 3 and 1744. Originating in North- *• The great ampton, Mass., in revivals under Solomon awakening." Stoddard, the popular excitement became al- most frenzied under Jonathan Edwards, beginning in 1734. A visit from George Whitefield, the English reviv- alist, in 1740 caused a great fervor of religious interest, and it is estimated that twenty-five thousand converts were made by the great agitator throughout his New England pilgrimage. By 1744, when Whitefield again visited the scene of his triumphs, the excitement had greatly subsided. 80. The Witchcraft Delusion. The witchcraft craze at Salem is commonly thought to have been a legitimate outgrowth of the gloomy religion The witch- of ^^e Puritans. It was, however, but one of craft craze, those panics of fear which during several cen- turies periodically swept over civilized lands. In the twelfth century thousands of persons in Europe were sac- rificed because the people believed them to be witches, in league with the devil, and with the power to ride through the air and vex humanity in many occult ways. Pope Innocent VIII. commanded (1484) that witches be ar- rested, and hundreds of odd and repulsive old women were burned or hanged in consequence. From King John down to 1 71 2, innocent Hves were constantly sacrificed in England on this charge ; in the year 1661 alone, one hun- dred and twenty were hanged there. It was therefore no new frenzy that broke out in Massachusetts. In 1648 Margaret Jones was hanged as a witch at Charlestown ; in 1656 the sister of Deputy-Governor Bellingham, for 1692.] Witchcraft Dehision. 191 being "too subtle in her perception of what was occur- ring around her," suffered the same fate ; in 1688 an Irish washerwoman named Glover went to the gallows because a spiteful child said she had been bewitched by the poor creature. There was general despondency in Massachusetts in 1692, the result of four small-pox epidemics which had quickly followed each other, the loss of the old ^^"*^' charter, a temporary increase in crime, finan- cial depression, and general dread of another Indian outbreak. The time was ripe for an epidemic of super- stitious fear. All at once it broke out with great fury in the old town of Salem. Despite the protest of Cotton Mather and other prominent clergymen, who, though believers in witches, condemned unjust methods of pro- cedure, a special court of oyer and terminer was hastily organized (1692) by the governor and council for the trial of the accused. Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, who pre- sided over this extraordinary tribunal, was in active sym- pathy with the fanatics who conducted the prosecution. The witnesses were chiefly children, and the testimony the flimsiest ever seriously received in an American court of justice. But the judges, although sober and respect- able citizens, were as deluded as the people ; while the frenzy lasted, nineteen persons were hanged for having bewitched children in the neighborhood, and one was pressed to death because he would not plead. Of the hundreds of others who were arrested, two died while in prison. By the following year the craze had exhausted itself, and there was a general jail-delivery. Many of the Sewall's re- children afterwards confessed to the falsity of pentance. ^j-jgi^ testimony, Samuel Sewall was one of the trial judges. He afterwards, while standing in his pew in the Old South Church at Boston, had read at the 192 New England. [Ch. VIII. desk a public declaration expressing his deep repentance that he had been in such grievous error, and asking the congregation to unite with him in praying for the forgive- ness of God. Cotton Mather, hovirever, endeavored to vindicate himself by the statement, " I know not that ever I have advanced any opinion in the matter of witch- craft but what all the ministers of the Lord that I knov/ of in the world, whether English or Scotch, or French or Dutch, are of the same opinion with me." Belief in witchcraft was not confined to Massachusetts. Evidence of this superstition — childish to us of to-day, .pj^g but a stern reality in the strongest minds of Cot- witchcraft ton Mather's time — was noticeable through- efsewhTrein out most of the colonics uutil the middle of the colonies. <^^ eighteenth century. In 1705 a witch was "ducked" in Virginia. There were trials for witchcraft in Maryland during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, but there is no evidence extant of an execution. In Pennsylvania in 1683 a woman was tried as a witch, and bound to good behavior. In 1779, during a similar panic among the French Creoles at Cahokia, 111., two negro slaves were condemned to be hanged, and another to be burned alive while chained to a post, on the charge of practising sorcery; there is, however, no evidence that the sentence was carried out. 81. Political Conditions. The town was in New England the political unit. The town-meeting v^^as a primary assembly, at which Administra- Were transacted all local affairs, — those which tion. came nearest to the individual. The colonial government dealt with general interests ; the colonial machinery of administration might break down, and yet the immediate needs of the people would have been for a time subserved by the town governments. This was Ch. VIIL] Political Conditions. 193 the case at the beginning of the Revolution. But the indispensable function of legislation upon property and contracts, the definition of crimes, and all the judicial affairs of the people, were from the first carried out by the colony. In the town-meetings — and in church congregations, which were for a long period scarcely dis- tinguishable from them — the people were trained in self- government ; their intellects were sharpened, and there was bred a stout spirit of political self-sufficiency. By the beginning of the eighteenth century a freehold test for suffrage was common in New England, as in most of the American colonies. Taxes raised on land, polls, and personal property were not onerous, as pubHc expendi- tures were carefully watched and criticised by a frugal people. The introduction of royal governors opened the door to bickerings between the executive and the legis- lature, — so prominent a feature in eighteenth-century colonial history prior to the Revolution. Up to 1700, with a few exceptions, the political machinery had run quite smoothly, when not subjected to outside interfer- ence. The several colonial governments in New Eng- land varied in detail, but they were alike in being largely independent of England, in being administered in a spirit of simplicity and economy, and in the extent to which the body of the people were enabled to influence the conduct of affairs. New England men were brave and liberty-loving, stoutly withstanding any attempt on the part of the home government to curtail their risrhts as Ensf- Summary. f, , , , , ^, hshmen or hamper their progress. They were not always successful in their resistance, but were vastly more independent than their French and Spanish neighbors ; and the principles of popular government were nowhere else, even in the English colonies, so suc- cessfully put in practice. They were hard-working, fru- 13 194 JV^w England. [Ch. vili. gal, God-fearing, educated, and virtuous men. They sprang from a high quality of pure English stock, and they had raised indeed "choice grain." They founded an enduring empire amid obstacles that two and a half centuries ago might well have seemed appalling. The creed of the Puritans was harsh, their view of life gloomy, and their church intolerant; but thei:' mission, as they conceived it, was a serious one, and the stormy experience of Rhode Island was not calculated elsewhere to encourage looseness in religious thinking. They v/ere enterprising and thrifty to a high degree. In com- merce, domestic trade, manufactures, and political saga- city, for nearly two centuries New England easily led all the American colonies. The nation owes much to the wisdom, the energy, and the fortitude of New England colonial statesmen ; and New England institutions are to-day in large measure characteristics of the American commonwealth. Ch. IX.] Middle Colofdes, 195 CHAPTER IX. THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES (1609-1700). 82. Beferences. Bibliographies. — Lamed, Literature of Atnwican History, 92-100; Andrews, Colonial Self-Government, ch. xx. ; Avery, II. 417-421, 438-444, III. 413-418, 430-432, 443-445; Winsor, III. 411-420, 449-456, 495-516, IV. 409-442, 488-502; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 104-108. Historical Maps. — Nos, i, 2, and 3, this volume {Epoch Maps, Nos. I, 2, 3); Winsor, as above. General Accounts. — Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies; Doyle, Colonies, IV.; Lodge, Colonies, chs. ix.-xvi.; Channing, United States, I. chs. xvi., xvii., II. chs. ii., iv., v., vii.; Avery, II. chs. iv., xi., xii.. III. chs. iv.-vi., xv., xvii., xviii., xxvi.; Andrews, as above, chs. v.-viii., xi., xii.; Winsor, III. chs. x.-xii., IV. chs. viii., ix. Special Histories. — New York: Roberts (Commonwealths), and Brodhead: O'Callaghan, New Netherlands; G. Schuyler, Colonial New York, I.; W. Griffis, New Netherland; histories of New York city by Innis, Janvier, Lamb, Rensselaer, Roosevelt, Stone, and Wilson. — Delaware: Conrad and Scharf; Jameson, Willem Ussclinx. — New Jersey : Lee, Mulford, Raum, and Tanner; F. Stockton, Stories of New Jersey ; A. MeHck, Old New Jersey Farm. — Pennsylvania : S. Fisher, Making of Pennsylvania; H. Jenkins, Pennsylvania; I. Sharpless, Two Centuries of Penn- sylvania, and Quaker Government ; A. Myers, Irish Quakers; O. Kuhns, German and Swiss Settlements; J. Sachse, Pennsylvania Germans, and German Pietists ; Scharf and Westcott, Philadelphia. Contemporary Accounts. — Josselyn, Two Voyages (1675); Dankers Sluyter, Voyage to New York (1679); Penn, Some Ac- count (1681); Budd, Good Order Establislied (1685); Sewel, His- tory of Quakers (1722); Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania ; Gabriel Thomas, West Jersey. Reprints : Colonial Documents and Records of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; Half Moon Series: American History told by Contemporaries, I. part vi.; Jameson, Original Narratives ; publications by colonial and town record commissions, and historical and antiquarian societies. 196 Middle Colonies. [di. IX. 83. Dutch Settlement (1609-1625), In September, 1609, Hendrik Hudson, an English navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Corn- Hudson's pany, sailed up the river to which his name discovery. j^as been given by the English — the Dutch called it North River — as far as the future site of Al- bany. He found " that the land was of the finest kind for tillage, and as beautiful as the foot of man ever trod upon." Six weeks earlier Champlain, the commander of New France, had been on the shores of Lake Cham- plain about one hundred miles to the north, fighting the native Iroquois. The object of Hudson's search was a familiar one in his tmie, — the discovery of a water- passage through the continent that might serve as a short-cut to India, where his masters were engaged in trade. He did not find what he sought, but opened the way to a lucrative traffic with the American savages, whose good graces the thrifty Dutch strove to cultivate. The French leader's introduction to the Iroquois had been as an enemy, but the explorer from Holland came as a friend: the Dutch reaped advantage from the contrast. Dutch traders annually visited the region of Hudson River during the next few j^ears. There was at first no T^ 1 T^ ,- attempt at colonization, for Holland lust at Early Dutch , . . . ^ ^^ trading- that time was not prepared to give offence posts. ^Q j^gj. qJjJ enemy, Spain, which claimed most of North America by the right of discovery and Pope Alexander's bull of partition. Nevertheless, the country was styled New Netherland, and Holland recognized it as a legal dependency. A Dutch navigator, Adrian Block, as the result of an accident, spent a winter on either Manhattan or Long Island, and built a coasting- vessel (16 1 4) for trafficking in furs. A small trading- 160^1623.] New Nctherland, 197 house, called Fort Nassau, was also erected this year on the site of Albany ; a similar establishment, with- out defences, and surrounded by a few huts for traders, was built on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the river, the following season (1615); a new Fort Nassau was afterwards (1623) set up on the Delaware River, four miles below the site of Philadelphia, but was soon abandoned. In 1 61 5 the New Netherland Company obtained a trad- ing charter from the States-General of Holland. The cor The New poration was granted a monopoly of the Dutcli Netherlands fur traffic in New Netherland for three years, omp ny. ^^^ conducted extensive operations between Albany and the Delaware, coastwise and in the interior. The Dutch thus far had not ventured to exercise polit- ical control over the New Netherland. The country was still claimed by the English Virginia Company. The land originally granted to the Pilgrims from Leyden by the latter company was described as being " about the Hudson's River." We have seen how the party on the " Mayflower" were prevented by storms — or possibly by the design of the captain — from reaching their destina- tion and planting an English colony in the neighborhood of the Dutch trading posts. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company came upon the scene as the successor of the New Netherland Com- pany. Its charter bade it "to advance the The Dutch ^ \. . . ^ . r i i x i i West India peoplmg of those fruitful and unsettled parts," Company. ^^^ ^^ u ^^ ^jj ^y^^^ ^j^^ service of those coun- tries and the profit and increase of trade sliall require." The corporation was given almost absolute commercial and political power in all Dutch domains between New- foundland and the Straits of Magellan, the home govern- ment reserving only the right to decline confirmation of colonial officers. Three years elapsed before the com- 190 Middle Colonies. iCh. IX. pany attempted to plant a colony. Thirty families of Protestant Walloons — a people of mixed Gallic and Teu- tonic blood, living in the southern provinces of Holland, whose offer to settle in Virginia had been rejected by the English — were sent over by the Dutch proprietors (1624) to their new possessions. The greater part of the emi- grants went to Albany, which they styled Fort Orange ; others were sent to the Delaware River colony ; a small party went on to the Connecticut; a few settled on Long Island; and eight men stayed on Manhattan. These set- tlements, relying for their chief support on the fur-trade with the Indians, were quite successful, and the New Netherlands soon became an important group of com- mercial colonies. 84. Progress within New Netherland (1626-1664). In 1626 Peter Minuit, then director for the company, purchased Manhattan from the Indians, united all the settlements under one system of direction, and ments foundcd Ncw Amsterdam (afterwards New united. York city) as the central trading depot. In every direction the trade of New Netherland grew. As the settlers seemed to be interested in commerce, and agricultural colonization did not flourish, the corpora- Thepatroon ^ion secured from the States-General a new system. charter of "freedoms and exemptions" (1629), which they thought better adapted to the fostering of emigration. This document sought to transplant the European feudal system to the American wilds. Mem- bers of the Dutch West India Company might purchase tracts of land from the Indians and plant colonies thereon, of which these proprietors were to be the patroons, or patrons. Each patroon thus establishing a colony of fifty persons upwards of fifteen years of age, was granted a tract "as a perpetual inheritance," sixteen miles wide i623-i633-] The Patroons. 199 along the river, or eight miles on both sides, " and so tar into the country as the situation of the occupiers will permit." The company retained intervening lands ; but no one might settle within thirty miles of a patroon colony without consent of the patroon, subject to the order of the company's officials. The patroons were given political and judicial power over their colonists ; the latter might take appeals to the New Netherlands council, but the pa- troons were generally careful to bind the settlers before starting out not to exercise this right. Leading members of the company were quick to avail themselves of this opportunity to become members of a Patroon landed aristocracy and absolute chiefs of what- settiements. gver colonies they might plant. Small settle- ments were soon made on these several domains, which were taken up chiefly along Hudson River, the princi- pal highway into the Indian country. Van Rensselaer founded Rensselaerswyck, near Fort Orange ; Pauw se- cured Hoboken and Staten Island ; while Godyn, Blom- maert, De Vries, and others settled Swaanendael, on the Delaware. Many of the old patroon estates long remained undivided, and the heirs of the founders claimed some semi-feudal privileges well into the nineteenth century. Attempts to collect long arrears of rent on the great Van Rensselaer estate led to a serious anti-rent movement ( 1 839-1 846), which broke out in bloody riots and affected New York politics for several years. The patroons, as individuals, haughtily assumed to shut out the Dutch West India Company, of which they were Collisions members, from the trade of their petty inde- with English pendent States. The corporation was not only torn by internal dissensions, but soon had on hand a quarrel with New England because of the estab- lishment of a Dutch fur-trading post at Hartford, on the Connecticut (1633), and the vain assertion of a right to 200 Middle Colonies, [Ch. IX. exclude English vessels from the Hudson river. On the south, the Dutch came into collision with Virginians trading on the Delaware and the Schuylkill. Trade in- creased, but colonization did not thrive, owing in part to the rapacity of the patroons, and partly to the mis- management of the governors sent out to represent the company. The singular lack of tact displayed by Governor Kieft led to an Algonquian Indian uprising (1643-45), which An Indian resulted in the death of sixteen hundred sav- war. ages, but left the border settlements in ruins, and seriously checked colonial growth for several years. The Algonkins being enemies of the Iroquois, the friendship originally formed between the Dutch and the latter was not disturbed by this outbreak. In 1640 the company fixed the limits of a patroon's estate at one mile along the river front and two miles in depth, but did not disturb the feudal privi- fos^eTfoiVnl leges. As a counter-influence, a new class of zation. settlers was provided for. Any one going to New Netherland with five other emigrants might take two hundred acres of land as a bounty and be indepen- dent of the patroons. A species of local self-government was also provided for at this time, the officers of each town or village being chosen by the directors of the company from a list made up by the inhabitants. These inducements do not seem to have attracted many colo- nists, for when Peter Stuyvesant came out as governor (1647), and strutted about Manhattan '* like a peacock, — as if he were the Czar of Muscovy," there were only three hundred fighting men in the entire province. Up to this time the people had been obliged to rely chiefly on petitions as a means of presenting their political grievances. In 1641 Kieft had been forced by popular opinion to call a council of twelve deputies, from the 1633-1651.] Neiv Sweden, 20i several settlements to advise him in regard to treatment of the Indians, and again in 1644 to consult as to taxes ; The colo- ^^* ^^ ^°*^^ rough-shod over the deputies. The nists Strug- public outcry over this arbitrary conduct led to poiificaf his recall and the institution of some minor re- rights. forms. Under Stuyvesant there was formed a council of nine, the members being selected by him from a list of popular nominations. The board was so ar- ranged as to be self-perpetuating, and the people, after the original election, ceased to have any hand in its make- up. In an important struggle between Stuyvesant and the residents of New Amsterdam (1651) relative to an excise tax, the director-general was obliged to yield. A source of anxiety to the rulers of New Netherland was the heterogeneous character of the population. The first permanent settlers had been the Walloons, neous pop- The Dutch themselves soon followed. Besides uiation. these were several bands of Protestant reform- ers who had fled from persecution in Europe, and nu- merous sectaries from New England who had found life intolerable there. There were so many French-speaking people in the district that pubhc documents were often printed both in French and Dutch. In 1643 it was re- ported that eighteen languages were spoken in New Amsterdam. The South Company of Sweden sent out a colony in 1638 under charge of Minuit, formerly employed by the Dutch West India Company. He built Fort Encroach- ^, . . , - . - ,,t., mentsbythe Christma, on the future site of Wilmington, Swedes. j)g|^ ^^^ called the country New Sweden. The Dutch governor at New Amsterdam vainly protested against this occupation of territory claimed by his em- ployers. Two years later (1641) a party of Englishmen from New Haven built trading-houses on the Schuylkill, and at Salem, N. J., near Fort Nassau, but were soon 202 Middle Colonies. [Ch. ix. compelled to leave. The Swedish enterprise went un- checked until Stuyvesant's rule, when a fort was built (165 1) on the site of Newcastle, Del, below the Swedish fort; and four years after this (1655) the South Com- pany was obliged, upon display of force, to abandon its enterprise. 85. Conquest of New Netherland (1664). So long as a foreign nation and a formidable commer- cial rival held the geographical centre, the northern and English southern colonies of England were separated, interference, intercommunication was hampered, and in- ternational bouiidary disputes arose. Moreover, New Amsterdam had the best harbor on the coast, and the Hudson river was an easy highway for traffic with the Indians ; it was, as well, altogether too convenient for possible raids of French and Indians from the north. For these reasons England was desirous of obtaining possession of the New Netherlands. There were not wanting excuses for interference. Englishmen in Con- necticut, on Long Island, and on the Schuylkill had had land disputes with the Dutch, and there had been much bad temper displayed on both sides. In 1654 Cromwell sent out a fleet to take the country; but peace between England and Holland intervened in time to give to New Netherland a respite of captures ten years. In 1664 Charles II. revived the Netlier- claim that Englishmen had discovered the lands. region before the Dutch. In August of that year Colonel NicoUs appeared before New Amsterdam, then a town of fifteen hundred inhabitants, with a fleet of four ships, having on board four hundred and fifty English soldiers and Connecticut volunteers, and de- manded its surrender. There was a stone fort and twenty cannon; but the enemy were too strong to be 1654-1664-] The English Conquest, 203 profitably resisted. Despite Stuyvesant's protest, " I would rather be carried to my grave" than yield, the white flag was eagerly run up by the frightened town officers, and Dutch rule in New Amsterdam came to an end. By October every possession of Holland in North America was in the hands of the English, who now held the Atlantic coast from the Savannah to the Importance __,_,, of the con- Kennebec The achievement of Nicolls had '^""*' rendered it possible for the American colonies to unite, and thus was of the greatest importance to the political development of the country. Had King Charles been able to foresee the trend of events, he would no doubt have been glad to allow the Dutch to stand as an obstacle to the union of his transatlantic possessions. The Duke of York was made proprietor of the con- quered territory, the province and capital being now ^ . styled New York ; Fort Orange was rechris- Introduction , ^ ,, -r, , , , , of English tened Albany. But beyond the change of "^^ ^" names, little was done to interrupt the smooth current of life, and Dutch customs in household and trade were retained so far as practicable ; while the pub- lic offices were impartially shared, and former Dutch officials were consulted. There was one notable act of injustice : all land-grants had to be confirmed by the new governor, Nicolls, and fees were exacted for this service. Under English rule the prosperity of the colony greatly increased. 86. Development of New York (1664-1700). The methods of local self-government were quietly transformed. Under the Dutch, the towns, manors, and Local gov- villages held direct relations with the West ernment. India Company. A systematic code drawn by Nicolls and a convention of the settlers (1665) — 204 Middle Colonies, [Ch. \X promulgated as " the duke's laws " — provided for town- meetings for the election in each town by^a " plurality of the voices of the freeholders," of a constable and eight overseers. These officers were the governing board of the town, with judicial and legislative powers, thus differ- ing from the New England selectmen, who but carried out the mandates of the town-meeting. There was cre- ated a judicial district called a " riding," with an area em- bracing several towns and preside '^^^ ^^ times had carried their warfare bois versus to the very walls of the settlements, combined rmer. ^^ make the lot of the French farmer on the St. Lawrence far from prosperous. During many of its early years. New France largely depended for food upon supplies brought out from the mother-country. The fur- trader experienced but little more personal danger than the agriculturist who remained upon his narrow farm- hold abutting on the St. Lawrence ; while the fascination of the unbridled life of adventure led by the former, free from the restraints of church and society, was such as strongly appealed to young men of spirit. The trade of New France was farmed out to .commercial companies and to favorites of the king and his autocratic colonial governors. Unhcensed traffic, such as was carried on by the coureiirs de bois, was looked upon as akin to smuggling, and harsh laws were promulgated against it. Nevertheless the forests;, far into the continental 250 French Colonies, [Cn. XII. interior, were penetrated by gay adventurers conducting illicit barter with the red barbarians, while the agricul- ture of the colony languished. The river-systems of the English coast colonies did not easily conduct to the interior, but the far-reaching waterways of New France were a continual invitation. Iroquois interests were bound up with the Dutch, and after them with the English. The better to improve their French °^^ position and to keep up prices, the Iro- treatment of quois sought to prevent Algonquians of the the Indians. ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ trading with the Canadians. But French influence in the Northwest was neverthe- less strong. Colonial officials cajoled the Indians and plied them with presents ; while the wandering traders and their employees dwelt in comparative harmony with the red men, were adopted into many of the tribes, and married squaws, who reared in the forest villages an extensive half-breed progeny. The disposition of the French Crown to interfere with the fur-trade and to repress all commercial initiative not . emanating from privileged circles, was but an policy of evidence of its general colonial policy. The ranee. colony on the St. Lawrence was made con- tinually to feel the hand of the king. In contrast to the free town and county systems of the English, the people of New France had no voice in their government or in the appointment of their officials. Even in the most trivial affairs they looked to the Crown for action. The country was governed much like a province in France. It was divided: (i) for judicial purposes, into The admin- ^^^^tricts, with a judge at the head of each, istrationof from whom there might be an appeal to the superior council. Within the districts were (2) seigniories, or great estates. The seignior held his land immediately from the king, and parcelled it out Ch. XII.] Social and Political. 251 among his vassals, the habitants^ or cultivators, who paid him a small rent, patronized his shops and mills, and owed him certain feudal obligations. Upon the estates were (3) parishes, in which the curd and the captain of militia were the chief personages. The only pubhc duties exercised by the habitants were in connection with parish affairs, and then the initiative was taken at Quebec, where resided the central authority, vested in the governor, intendant, and council. In 1672, Frontenac attempted to set up in Canada an assembly of the three estates or orders ; but Colbert, the king's prime minister, rebuked him, and gave directions for a gradual restriction of all privileges of representation. *' It seems better that every one should speak for himself, and no one for all." The people were not permitted to think or act for them- selves, and they did not covet the privilege. Without political training, they had no notion of what the English call political rights. Had King Louis XIV. been a wise monarch, paternal- ism might not have been a disadvantage for a population Causes of of this sort. But the royal patronage of colo- weakness. ^ial enterprises was spasmodic, sometimes break- ing out into extravagant aid, again remarkable for its penuriousness. There were several in the long roll of colonial governors who were men of commanding abil- ity, and well fitted, under right conditions, to make of New France a success, — notably Champlain (1622-1635), Frontenac (1672-1682, and 1689-1698), and De Nonville (1685-1689). But the times and the material at hand were against them. Official corruption ran riot. From the monopolists, who were the present favorites of the king, down to the military commander of the most distant forest trading station, officials considered the public treasury and the resources of the colony as a source of individual profit. The priesthood held full sway ; little 5 5^ French Colo7iies. [Ch. Xli. was done without the sanction of the hierarchy. The missionaries of the faith won laurels for bravery, self- denial, and hardihood, under the most adverse circum- tances. But the policy of the Church was too exclusive for the good of the colony. Huguenots, driven from France by persecution, were forbidden by the bishops to reside in Canada, and thus were compelled to contribute their brain and brawn to the upbuilding of the rival Eng- lish settlements. Of all Frenchmen, these were the best adapted to the rearing of an industrial empire in the New World. 111. Intercolonial Wars (1628-1697). In Champlain's time, while France was busy in crush- ing Protestant revolts at home, the settlements of Port The struggle Royal and Quebec, then wretched hamlets of a between fg^y dozeu huts each, fell an easy prey to small French and ' j r j English post- English naval forces (1628-1629). For a few ^°"^ * months France did not hold one foot of ground in North America. But as peace had been declared be- tween France and England before this conquest, the for- mer received back all its possessions, including Acadia (Nova Scotia) and the island of Cape Breton. The in- evitable struggle for the mastery of the continent was postponed, and Frenchmen held Canada for four genera- tions longer. By the close of the seventeenth century, men of New France were ranging at will over much of the country beyond the mountains, with visions of empire as extensive as the continent. The French were not exploring and occupying the western country unwatched. English colonial statesmen English jeal- understood from the first the import of the expansion of i^iovement, and their alarm was frequently ex- New France, pressed in communications to the home gov- ernment. While Charles II. was a pensioner of Louis XIV., the royal intendant in Canada expressed the situa- 1628-1690.] Intercolonial Wars. ^53 tion clearly when he urged Louis (1666) to purchase New York, " whereby he would have two entrances to Canadaj and by which he would give to the French all the peltries of the north, of which the English share the profit by the communication which they have with the Iroquois, by Manhattan and Orange." In 1687, Governor Dongan of New York warned the ministry at London ; " If the French have all they pretend to have discovered in these parts, the king of England will not have a hundred miles from the sea anywhere." With the accession of Protestant William and Mary (1689), the Palatinate war broke out between England Extent of ^^^ France, and at once spread to America, French set- where it was styled King William's War. The French had at that time colonies in the undefined region of Acadia, on Cape Breton, and along the north bank vof the St. Lawrence as far up as Montreal. There were a few small stockades scattered at long intervals through the Illinois country, upon the banks of the upper Missis- sippi, at Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior, at Sault Ste. Marie, on the St. Joseph's River, and elsewhere ; with here and there a lonely Jesuit mission, and the movable camps of coureurs de bois. Elsewhere, north and west of the Atlantic plain, the grim solitude was broken only by bands of red savages, who roved to and fro through the dark woodlands, intent on war or the chase. The population of New France, in this wide region, was not, in 1690, more than twelve thousand, against one hundred thousand in New England and New York. Had it not been for the help of her Indian allies, the military strength of many of her more important stations, and the fighting qualities of her commanders, aided by division in the councils of the English colonists, New France would from the first have made a feeble defence against the over- j)0wering resources of her southern neighbors. 254 French Colonies. fCH. XII. King William's (or Frontenac's) War was costly to the colonists, and resulted in no material advantage to either King Wil- side. The French, under Governor Frontenac, Ham's War. conducted their operations with vigor. Three winter expeditions, composed almost entirely of Indians, were sent out (1690) against the English frontier line, fu- riously attacking it at widely separated points, — New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. In consequence of the alarm created by these raids, the first colonial con- gress was held at New York (1690^. A fleet commanded by Sir William Phipps (page 177), with eighteen hundred New England militiamen on Bbard, captured Acadia and Port Royal that summer, but AT^adia was retaken by the French the following season. During the five ensuing years fighting was confined to bushranging along the New York and New England border. The struggle was with- out further incident until Newfoundland yielded to the French (1696), and a party of French and Indians sacked the little village of Andover, Mass. (1697), but twenty-five miles out of Boston. Later in the year came the treaty of Ryswick, under which each belligerent recovered what he possessed at the outset of the war. 112. Frontier Wars (1702-1748). After the treaty of Ryswick (1697) there was peace between England and France for five years. Then broke Outbreak °^^ what is known in America as Queen Anne's of Queen War (1702-1713), and in Europe as the War Anne's War 1 -JJt r' of the Spanish Succession. The war origin- ated in Europe; but one of England's objects in the struggle was to prevent the French from obtaining too firm a foot-hold in America. Much the same military operations as in King William's War were undertaken by both of the American opponents. Three attempts were made by New England troops to 1690-1748] Expeditions against Canada. 255 recapture Acadia (1704, 1707, and 1710), the last being successful. The peace of Utrecht (1713) recognized England's right to Acadia, "with its ancient boun- daries," but it brought only nominal peace to the New York and New England colonists. Unfortunately the ^ ,. northern and western boundaries of Acadia Continua- tion of bor- were not therein fixed, and the country be- tween the Kennebec and the St. Lawrence was in as much dispute as ever. Border settlers all along the line from the Hudson to the Kennebec were in hourly peril of their lives from Indian scalping-parties. There was abundant proof that the authorities of New France, instructed by the government at Paris, were actively in- citing the red savages to forays for scalps and plunder. This fact tended greatly to embitter the relations between the rival white races, and led to measures of reprisal. The irregular War of the Austrian Succession when it extended to America was known as King George's King V^2lX ( 1 744-1 748). The principal event was George's the Capture (1744) by New England troops turYof"^ of the strong fortress of Louisbourg, on the Louisbourg. jgj^j^^ q£ (3^pg Breton. Having achieved so heroic a victory almost single-handed, New Englanders considered themselves slighted by the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle (1748), by which Louisbourg was surrendered to France, and in other respects the unfortunate state of affairs existing before the war was restored. Disap- pointment was openly expressed, and tended still further to strain the relations between the colonies and the mother-land. 113. Territorial Claims. An attempt had been made at the convention at Aix- la-Chapelle to settle the boundary disputes in America by referring the matter to a commission. France now asserted her right to all countries drained by streams 256 French Colonies. [Ch. XTI. emptying into the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi. This allowed, the narrow strip of the Boundary Atlantic coast would alone have been left to disputes. English domination. It was asserted on behalf of Great Britain that the charters of her coast colonies carried their western bounds to the Pacific; further, that as by the treaty of Utrecht France had acknowledged the suzerainty of the British king over the Iroquois confed- eracy, the English were entitled to all lands " conquered " by those Indians, whose war-paths had extended from the Ottawa River on the north to the Carolinas on the south, and whose forays reached alike to the Mississippi and to New England. For three years the commis- sioners quarrelled at Paris over these conflicting claims ; but the dispute was irreconcilable; the only arbitrament possible was by the sword. Meanwhile both sides were preparing to occupy and hold the contested fields. New France already had a The French ^^^^^ chain of watcr-side forts and commercial line of fron- stations, the rendezvous of priests, fur-traders, travellers, and friendly Indians, extending, with long intervening stretches of savage-haunted wil- derness, through the heart of the continent, — chiefly on the shores of the Great Lakes, and the banks of the prin- cipal river highways, — from Lower Canada to her out- lying post of New Orleans. Around each of these frontier forts was a scattered farming community, the holdings being narrow fields reaching far back into the country from the water-front, with the neat log-cabins of the habitants nestled in close neighborhood upon the banks. In the summer the men, aided by their large families, tilled the ribbon-like patches in a desultory fashion, and in the winter assisted the fur-traders as oarsmen and pack-carriers. Many were married to squaws, and the younger portion of the population was Ch. XII.] Conflict Inevitable. 257 to a large extent half-breed. They were a happy, con- tented people, without ambition beyond the day's en- joyment, combining with the light-heartedness of the French the improvidence of the savage. From 1700 on, the conflict seemed inevitable. The French realized that they could not keep up connec- The French *^^^ between New Orleans and their settle- covet the ments on the St. Lawrence if not permitted Ohio. to hold the valley of the Ohio. Governor La Jonqui^re (i 749-1 752) understood the situation, and pleaded for the shipment of ten thousand French peas- ants to settle the region; but the government at Paris was just then as indifferent to New France as was King George to his colonies, and the settlers were not sent. 114. Effect of French Colonization. Of the region in which were scattered the permanent French settlements, the southern shore of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi valley eventually became a part of the United States ; although these settlements were few and small, the influence of French operations in the West, on the development of the English colonies, was far reachins^. New France will always Charactens- , , r i • i i i / tics of New be renowned for the mimense area held by France. ^ small European population. She was from the first hampered by serious drawbacks, — centraliza- tion, paternalism, official corruption, instability of system, religious exclusiveness, the fascination of the fur-trade, a deadly Indian foe, and an inhospitable climate, — the sum of which was in the end to destroy her (page 49). She expanded with mushroom growth, but was predestined to collapse. Yet more than any other part of North America, the French colonies in what is now Canada preserve the language and the customs of the time of their settlement. *7 2S8 Georgia. [Ch. xill. CHAPTER XIII. THE COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA (1732-1755). 115. References. Bibliographies. — Avery, III. 438-440; Winsor, V. 392-406; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 103. Historical Maps. — No. 4, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 4), MacCoun, and school histories already cited. General Accounts. — Avery, III. ch. xxiv.; Doyle, Colonies, V. ch. viii. ; G. Bancroft, II. 268-291 ; Greene, Provincial America, ch. XV.; Hildreth, II. 362-377; l^odge. Colonies, ch.. ix.; Winsor, V. ch. vi. ; McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, chs. xi., xii.; W. Wilson, American People, II. 62-68; histories of Georgia by Jones, McCall, and Stevens. Special Histories. — C. Jones, Dead Towns of Georgia; P. A. Strobel, Salzburgers; J. MacLean, Scotch Highlanders in America, ch. vi.; G. White, Historical Collections of Georgia; Hves of Oglethorpe by Bruce, Cooper, Harris, and Wright. Contemporary Accounts- — Oglethorpe, Account (1732); Martyn, Reasons for Establishing Georgia (1733); Account Show- ing Progress of Georgia (1741); Impartial Enquiry into State and Utility of Province of Georgia (1741); Cadogan, Impartial Account of Expedition against St. Augustine (1743); Moore, Voyage to Georgia (1744); Egmont, Journal of Trustees for Establishing Colony of Georgia; Candler, Colonial Records. 116. Settlement of Georgia (1732-1735). The southern boundary of South Carolina was practi- cally the Savannah River; but the English claimed as far Unsettled south as the St. John's. Just below the St. territory. John's, and one hundred and seventy miles south of the Savannah, lay the old Spanish colony of 1565-1732] Georgia Settled. 259 St. Augustine, founded (page 34) in 1565. Tlie country between the Savannah and the St. John's was a part of the old Carolina claim; but when the Carolinas became royal provinces the king reserved this unsettled district as crown lands. James Oglethorpe had been an army officer ; he was a member of parliament, and was prominent in various Formation efforts at domestic reform, particularly in the gia Com-^"^' improvement of the condition of debtors' pris- P^"y- ons. Stirred by the terrible revelations of his inquiry, he engaged other wealthy and benevolent men with him, and formed a company (1732) for the settle- ment of the reserved Carolina tract, which was to be . styled Georgia, in honor of the king, George II. The proposed colony was to serve the double purpose of checking the threatened Spanish advance upon the south- ern colonies in America, and of furnishing a home for members of the debtor class, who would be given a chance to retrieve their fortunes by a fresh start in life. This scheme, half philanthropic and half military, had also in view the extension of the English fur-traffic among the Cherokees, whose trade was now being eagerly sought by the Spanish on the south, and the French on the west. The company was given a charter under the name of " The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia ^, , in America," its land-grant extending from The charter. , „ , , ?, , r^, the Savannah to the Altamaha. There were twenty-one trustees, with full powers of management ; they were to appoint the governor and other officials during the first four years, — after that the Crown was to appoint. No member of the company was to hold any salaried colonial office. Never was a colony founded upon motives more disinterested. It was to be, literally, " an asylum for the oppressed." The settlers themselves 26o Geoi'gia. [Ch. xiil. were not given any political privileges, for it was thought the trustees would be better managers than a class of people who had not heretofore proved their capacity for business affairs. Slavery was prohibited, because it would interfere with free white labor, and a slave population might prove dangerous in case of a frontier war with the Spanish. That immigration might be encouraged, and thus that the colony might be strong from a military point of view, it was ordered that no one should own over five hundred acres of land. It was also ordained that all foreigners should have equal rights with Englishmen, that there was to be complete religious toleration except for Roman Catholics, that none but settlers of steady habits should be admitted, that no rum should be im- ported, and that the colonists were to practise military drill. In November, 1732, Oglethorpe, — appointed governor and general, without pay, — set out from England with Savannah thirty-five Selected families, and in February founded. (1733) founded the city of Savannah, on a bluff overlooking Savannah River, some ten miles from the sea. In May he made a firm alliance with the neighboring Creeks, whom he treated with great consid- eration. The second year (1734) there arrived a num- ber of German Protestants, persecuted exiles from Salz- burg, who had been invited to America by the English Society for Propagating the Gospel. The Salzburgers proved a desirable acquisition, setting a much-needed example of industry and thrift. The Germans settled the Other settle- town of Ebcuezer ; in the same year Augusta ments. -^^s planted, two hundred and thirty miles up the Savannah River, as a fortified trading outpost in the Indian country; while two years later (1736), another armed colony was sent to found Frederica, at the month of the Altamaha, on the Spanish frontier. I732-I741-] Development. 261 Augusta, which in 1741 numbered but forty-seven per- manent inhabitants, in addition to a small garrison, was The fur- the chief seat of the Georgia and South Caro- trade. 1}^^ fur-traffic. It was the eastern key to the Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee hunting-grounds. In 1 741, it was estimated that about one hundred and twenty-five white men — traders, pack-horse men, ser- vants, and townsmen — depended for their livelihood upon the traffic centring at the Augusta station ; another estimate, made in the same year, placed the number of horses engaged at five hundred, and the annual value of skins at fifty thousand pounds. The profits were great, and would have been larger but for sharp competition in the far-away camps of the barbarians ; there the Georgians and Carolinians met Frenchmen, who had wandered from far Louisiana by devious ways, part water, and part land, and Virginians, who found their way to the southwest through the parallel valley system, thus escaping the necessity of chmbing the mountain wall. 117. Slow development of Georgia (1735-1755). The trustees perceived at last that men who had failed at home were not likely to be successful as colonists, and Dissatisfac- ^^^^ ^^^^ °^'^^ ^ party of Scotch Highlanders tion of the and yet more German Protestants. The col- colonists. , ^ 1 ony now proved a success. Savannah was well built, courts were established, the land-system was well arranged, and Salzburgers, Moravians, and High- landers soon came out in considerable numbers (1735- 1736). Yet there was no lack of discontent. The very class for whom the colony was founded formed its most undesirable inhabitants ; hardly a regulation originally established for their supposed benefit was to their taste, idle and worthless fellows were numerous, and some 262 Georgia. [Ch. xiii. of them, finding their complaints unheeded, fled to the Carolinas or to join the rough borderers. Among the set- tlers were three enthusiastic sectaries, Charles Wesley, secretary to Oglethorpe, his brother John, a missionary to the Indians, and George Whitefield, who succeeded the latter after he returned to England. Whitefield in later years deeply stirred the American colonists, from Florida to New England, in his efforts to arouse in them a strong religious conviction (page 190.) In 1736, Oglethorpe made an expedition to the south as far as the English claim extended, and planted several Expedition forts. At the same time he made a treaty Spa^nSh ^^^^ ^^ Chickasaws, and thus strengthened Florida. the southern line. Three years later (1739), war broke out between Spain and England. Fearing that he might not be able to withstand an attack from the Spaniards, Oglethorpe took the offensive (1740), and marching into Florida planted himself before St. Augus- tine, which had a garrison of two thousand men, well supplied with artillery. Troops from Carolina soon came up. Sickness breaking out in the camp, and many of the Carolinians deserting, the siege, which had been gallantly conducted, was at last abandoned. Up to this time the Spaniards had been obliged to stand on the defensive ; Cuba was threatened by a large The Span- English squadron, — but the attack there proved cessfuiiy^T-" ^ failure, and opportunity was given for con- taliate. centrating Spanish troops in Florida. In 1742 a heavy assault by land and sea was made on Frederica. By a combination of bravery and superior stratagem, Oglethorpe succeeded in holding the place until the ene- my's fleet was frightened off by the arrival of English vessels, and Georgia was henceforth free from Spanish invasion. Oglethorpe returned to England the following year I743-I752-] Slow Growth. 263 (1743), never to return to the colony. The trustees now phiced the government in charge of a president and four A change of assistants. But after the departure of its gal- policy, lant and public-spirited founder the colony no longer flourished, and in a vain attempt to remove causes for dissatisfaction the company made matters worse. Slavery was introduced (1749), free traffic in rum was permitted, and restrictions on the acquisition of land were removed. Discontent grew apace among the original settlers, who were always hard to suit; only the High- landers and Germans remained satisfied. In 1752, the charter was surrendered by the disap- pointed proprietors, and Georgia became a royal province, A royal ^^^^^ ^ government similar to that of South province. CaroUna. The change wrought improvement in many ways. Georgia was the last of the thirteen colonies to be founded, and remained one of the weakest until long after Character- ^'^^ Revolution. Its history is a proof that the istics of robust growth of a colony depends, not upon eorgia. ^^^^ character and aims of its founders, but upon the slow accretion of public sentiment and public spirit. 264 Colonial Development. [Ch. xiv. CHAPTER XIV. THE CONTINENTAL COLONIES FROM 1700 TO 1750. 118. References. Bibliographies. — Avery, III. 426-446; Greene, Provincial America, ch. xix.; Winsor, V. passim. Historical Maps. — Nos. 3 and 4, this volume {Epoch Maps, Nos. 3, 4); MacCoun, and school histories already cited. General Accounts. — Avery, III. chs. x.-xxvii.; G. Ban- croft, II. 212-565; Channing, II. chs. xi.-xix.; Doyle, V.; G. Eggleston, Eighteenth Century; Frothingham, Rise of Republic, ch. iv.; Greene, as above; Hildreth, II. chs. xxii.-xxvii.; Lodge, Colonies; E. Sparks, Expansion of American People; Wilson, American People, II. chs. i.-iii.; Winsor, V. chs. ii.-vi. Special Histories. — Pohtical : L. Kellogg, Colonial Charter; Channing, Town and County Government; A. Cross, A.nglican Episcopate; Greene, Provincial Governor; C. Bishop, Elections in American Colonies; A. McKinley, Suffrage Franchise; McCrady, South Carolina. — Economic: Weeden, Economic History; E. Lord, Industrial Experiments ; G. Beer, Commercial Policy; R. Paine, Ships and Sailors of Old Salem. — Nationahties : L. Fosdick, French Blood in America; J. Rosengarten, French Colonists and Exiles ; S.Cobb, Palatines; F. Diffenderfer, Gerwaw Immigration; L. Bittinger, Germans in Colonial Times, and Ger- man Religious Life; Sachse, German Sectarians; Wayland, German Element; C. Hanna, Scotch-Irish; McLean, Scotch Highlanders. — Financial: D. Dewey, Financial History, ch. i.; A. Davis, Currency in Massachusetts Bay; F. McLeod, Fiat Money in New England; C. MacFarlane, Pennsylvania Paper Currency; W. Shaw, Currency. — Taxation : F, Jones, Taxation in Con- necticut. — Press: L. Schuyler, Liberty of Press; L. Rutherford, Zenger. — See also F. Dexter, Population in Colonies, and state histories. Contemporary Accounts. — Hutchinson, History of Massa- chusetts Bay; Falckner, Curie use Nachricht von Pennsylvania (1702); Madam Knight, Journal (1704); Fontaine, Diary (1710- 17 16); Mittelbergcr, Journey to Pennsylvania (1750-1754); Franklin, Autobiography ; Woolman, Journal. 1700-1750-] Population. 265 119. Population (1700-1750). Up to 1700 the history of each colony is the history of a unit ; the impulse of colonization came in successive Phases of waves, but each little commonwealth had its common de- own interests, its own struggles, and looked forward to its own future. From 1700 to 1750, though the separate life and history of each colony con- tinued, there were perceptible certain great phases of common development, which will be briefly outlined. Although disturbed by wars with the French and In- dians, by domestic political quarrels, and by disputes with Growth of the mother country regarding the regulation of population, commerce and manufactures, there was a steady growth of population in British North America during the first half of the seventeenth century. The rewards of industry were sufficient, coupled with considerable relig- ious and political freedom, to entice a continuous, though fluctuating, immigration from England and the continent of Europe. In New England, where the English stock was practically unmixed with foreign blood, the rate of progress was less pronounced than in Pennsylvania and the South, which were largely recruited from other races. In 1700, the population of New England was something over one hundred and five thousand. By the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754) it was a little less than four hundred thousand. New Hampshire having forty thou- sand, Massachusetts and Maine two hundred thousand, Rhode Island forty thousand, and Connecticut a hundred and ten thousand. The middle colonies commenced the century with fifty-nine thousand; but by 1750 this had, chiefly owing to the exceptionally rapid growth of Penn- sylvania after 1730, increased to three hundred and fifty- five thousand, of which New York contained ninety thou- sand, New Jersey eighty thousand, and Pennsylvania and 266 Colonial Developmefit. [Ch. XIV. Delaware one hundred and eighty-five thousand. In the Southern group there was a population of eighty-nine thou- sand in 1 700, which had grown to six hundred and twenty- five thousand in 1763, not counting Georgia, settled in I733» which in twenty years had acquired a population of five thousand; Maryland had a hundred and fifty-four thousand, chiefly Englishmen, but there was a liberal ad- mixture of Germans and people of other nationalities. Virginia had nearly three hundred thousand, of whom the blacks were now in the majority. North Carolina, im- portant in numbers only, had ninety thousand, of whom twenty per cent were slaves ; South Carolina had eighty thousand, the blacks outnumbering the whites by two or three to one. The total for the thirteen colonies in 1750 is about thirteen hundred and seventy thousand. 120. Attacks on the Charters (1701-174:9). For many years the New England charters were in im- minent danger of annulment, the purpose apparently be- Attack on ing to place the colonies under a vice-regal EnglanT government. Those of Connecticut and Rhode charters. Island were the liberal documents granted to them early in their career ; electing their own governors, they were practically independent of the mother-country, and the general movement against the charters had these two especially in view. From 1701 to 1749, the charters were seriously menaced at various times ; but on each oc- casion the astute diplomacy of the colonial agents in Eng- land succeeded in warding off the threatened attack. Worthy of especial mention in this connection are Sir Henry Ashurst, the representative of Connecticut, and Jeremiah Dummer, his successor. In 171 5, at a time when it was proposed to annex Rhode Island and Con- necticut to the unchartered royal province of New Hamp- shire, Dummer issued his now famous Defence of the T76I-I729-] Attacks on the Charters, 267 American Charters, in which he forcibly argued, — (i) That the colonies " have a good and undoubted right to their respective charters," inasmuch as they had been irre- vocably granted by the sovereign " as premiums for ser- vices to be performed." (2) " That these governments have by no misbehavior forfeited their charters," and were in no danger of becoming formidable to the mother- land. (3) That to repeal the charters would endanger colonial prosperity, and " whatever injures the trade of the plantations must in proportion affect Great Britain, the source and centre of their commerce." (4) That the charters should be proceeded against in lower courts of justice, not in parliament. Dummer's presentment of the case was regarded by the friends of the colonies as un- answerable, and was largely instrumental in causing an ultimate abandonment of the ministerial attack on the New England charters. In 1728, as a consequence of popular disturbances in the Carolinas, a writ of quo warranto was issued against The Caroii- the charter, and the proprietors sold their in- roya^^pro^-^ terests to the Crown. A royal governor was now vinces, sent out to each province. Heretofore, North Carolina had been nominally ruled by a deputy serving under the South Carolina governor. 121. Settlement and Boundaries (1700-1750). Boundary disputes were a constant source of interco- lonial irritation. There were long and vexatious boundary Boundary wrangles between Connecticut and her neigh- disputes. bors, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachu- setts. In 1683 an agreement reached between Connecticut and New York was the basis of the present Hne, surveyed in 1 878-1 879 ; it was 1826 before the final survey between Connecticut and Massachusetts ; the quarrel between Connecticut and Rhode Island was protracted and 268 Colonial Development. fCH. Xtv. heated, the line between them not being definitively es- tablished until 1840. Wentworth, the first royal governor of New Hampshire (i 740-1 767), made large land-grants, which overlapped territory claimed by New York, and thus brought on a protracted boundary controversy be- tween those two provinces. Patents covering both sides of Lake Champlain were alike issued by New York and New Hampshire; the settlers east of the lake organ- ized in revolt, under the cognomen of Green Mountain Boys, and were preparing to set up a government of their own, when the Revolution broke out, and in 1777 the un- acknowledged government of Vermont was formed. A set- tlement of the boundary was not reached until Vermont was admitted to the Union (1791). The boundary disputes of New York with Massachusetts and Connecticut were settled prior to the Revolution. In 1737 a boundary com- mission adopted the present line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The same commission estab- lished the present western boundary of Maine. In a con- test between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the former claimed a portion of the latter's territory, on the ground that it was included in the old Plymouth patent ; but in the final settlement Rhode Island retained possession. The Penn and Baltimore famihes long wrangled over the boundaries between Pennsylvania and Maryland. An agreement was reached in 1732, and ratified by a conven- tion in 1760: under its terms, Charles Mason and Jere- miah Dixon, two eminent London mathematicians, ran the famous "Mason and Dixon line" (1767), separating the southern colonies from the northern. The boundary line between the Carolinas was not defined until 1735-1746. To the north and west, English boundary disputes with the French led to protracted and harassing wars; while to the south, Georgia's claims clashed with those of the Spaniards in Florida, and during the war be ween Spain 17I0' i77o] Boundaries and jhronticrs. 26O and England occasion was taken by Oglethorpe (1740), governor of Georgia, to invade Spanish territory ^page 262). No man of his time was more energetic in pushing the confines of settlement and encouraging development than Spotswood's Governor Spotswood of Virginia (1710-1722), enterprising a Stalwart soldier who had fought under Marl- borough. He built iron furnaces, introduced German vine-growers, made peace with the Indians, and established several excellent mission schools for them upon the frontier; under his administration the fur-trade spread far inland, and he did much to extend topographi- cal knowledge of Virginia by fostering exploration. The Shenandoah valley, opened to settlement by Spotswood, became, after 1730, a notable home for Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, driven by English persecu- The moun- ^^^^ irom their home in Ulster. They were by tain bor- this time coming over to America in two steady streams, one pouring in at Philadelphia, and tlie other at Charleston, S. C. Those arriving at Philadel- phia pushed westward to the mountains, and drifting southwestward through the long parallel valleys of the Alleghany range, met in the Shenandoah and kindred valleys those of their brethren who had gone up into the hills of Carolina. It was from these frontier valley homes that the migration into Kentucky and Tennessee pro- ceeded a generation later, led by such daring spirits as Boone, Sevier, and Robertson. 122. Schemes of Colonial Union (1690-1754). Schemes for a union of the colonics, to provide for the common defence and settle intercolonial differences, were Govern- numerous enough, after the example set by the mental New England Confederacy (Chapter VII.). ^ * They emanated almost entirely, however, from the government party, and chiefly for this reason were 270 Colonial Development. [Ch. XIV. regarded with popular suspicion. In 1690 a continental congress had been held at New York for the purpose of treating with the Iroquois against the common enemy, New France (page 206). In 1697 William Penn laid be- fore the Board of Trade a plan providing for a high com- missioner, appointed by the king, to preside over a council composed of two delegates from each province, and to act as commander-in-chief in times of war. The scheme aroused much opposition from colonial pamphleteers, and failed of adoption ; other plans which were promulgated from time to time, for the next sixty years, were in the main adaptations of Penn's, some of them providing for two or three strongly centralized provinces, each to be presided over by a viceroy, assisted by a council of colonial delegates. While the Board of Trade, distracted by doubts whether the colonies could be more firmly held as separate gov- Nei hbor- ernments or under a viceregal union, was en- hood con- gaged in considering the various propositions gresses. submitted to it, several neighborhood con- gresses were held by the provinces themselves, chiefly to treat with Indians or for purposes of defence. But these congresses were in no sense popular meetings ; they were composed of the official class, and had little more effect on the people than to accustom them to the spectacle of colonial union for matters of common interest. In 1754 the Lords of Trade recommended a second gen- eral congress of the colonies, to treat with the Iroquois The second ^S^i'^ 5 ^^^7 ^^^^ favored "articles of union colonial and confederation with each other for the mu- congress. ^^^j defence of his Majesty's subjects and in- terests in North America, as well in time of peace as war." The congress was held at Albany. Only seven of the colonies were represented, — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Yorl^ 1690-1754-1 Colonial Unions. 271 Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The convention adopted a plan of union prepared by Franklin, providing for a general government that should be self-sustaining and control federal affairs, — war, Indians, and public lands, — while the colonial governments were to retain their constitutions intact. The plan was rejected by the Its i)!an of colonial assemblies. Franklin himself wrote : union re- "The Crown disapproved it, as having too ^^^ ^ ■ much weight in the democratic part of the constitution, and every assembly as having 'allowed too much to prerogative." The defeat of the Albany plan marks the end of efforts at union on the part of the official class. The next movement came from the peo- ple themselves, as the result of oppression on the part of the mother-country. 123. Quarrels with Royal Governors (1700-1750). The history of the English continental colonies during ihe first half of the seventeenth century was largely made Quarrels be- up of petty bickerings between the popular as- no^land^^'^' semblies and the royal governors. The salarj assemblies, question was the most prominent feature ot these disputes. Acting under orders from the Crown, the governor in each colony insisted on being paid a regular salary at stated intervals ; but the assembly as persist- ently refused, and desiring to keep him dependent upon them, voted from time to time such sums as they chose. The principle at stake was important: a fixed salary grant would have been in the nature of a tax imposed by the Crown. Had the assembly been complaisant, the govern- ment would have been thrown into the hands of the royal governor and council, through their absolute power to veto laws. The acrimonious contention was greatly dis- turbing to all material interests, but it served as a most valuable constitutional training school for the Revolution 272 Colonial Development. [Ch. XIV. At times, in Boston, excitement over this perennial quarrel ran to a high pitch, and now and then it looked as The salary though the assembly would be obliged to yield ; MaSl°chi° ^^* ^^^ "''^^ ^^ Massachusetts were of stubborn setts. clay, and never displayed more bravery than when the governor, backed by writs from England, threat- ened them the loudest. In 1728, the assembly, defended itself, saying it was "the undoubted right of all English- men, by Magna Charta, to raise and dispose of money for the public service of their own free accord, without com- pulsion." The Privy Council at last yielded the point (1735), and left the Massachusetts governor free to re- ceive whatever the assembly chose to grant. In some of the colonies this salary question resulted in frequent deadlocks, in which all public business was at a stand- still. 124. Governors of Southern Colonies. Other differences between the governors and their as- semblies hinged on claims of prerogative, fees for issuing Other dif- land-titles, issues of paper money, official at- ferences. tempts to favor the Church of England at the expense of dissenters, and levies of men and money for the public defence. There were also special grievances in many South Caro- ^^ ^^ provinces. In South Carolina (1704- lina's expe- 1706), the proprietors attempted to exclude all but Church of England men from the assem- bly. This led to a bitter controversy, in which the dis- senters successfully appealed to the House of Lords, and legal proceedings were commenced by the Crown for the revocation of the Carolina charter; but they were not then pushed to an issue. In 17 19 the meddlesome executive policy of the proprietors resulted in a popular uprising, in which the governor was deposed. Later, the authorities (i 754-1 765) attempted to resist the issue of paper money, and also to reduce representation in the 1700-1722.] So::tIici'ii Turbulence. 273 assembly, while at the same time the home government introduced some offensive regulations regarding land patents. Popular indignation again expressed itself in bloody turbulence, and the colony fell into great disorder. In North Carolina the scattered colonists maintained a vigorous resistance to arbitrary authority ; the tone of North Caro- official life was low ; corruption in office was ''"^- common ; contests over questions of public pol- icy often led to rioting and anarchy ; bloodshed was not infrequent in such times of popular disturbance. In the far western valleys there was for a long period no pretence of law or order, and criminals of every sort found a safe refuge there; while pirates — until Blackbeard's capture by Governor Spots wood of Virginia in 171 8 — freely used the deep-coast inlets as snug harbors, from which they darted out with rakish craft to attack passing merchant- vessels. From 1704 to 1711 there was practically no government in the province, owing to an insurrection headed by Thomas Carey, whom Governor Spotswood finally arrested (17 10) and sent prisoner to England. During the administration of Governor Nicholson (1698-1705) the Virginia assembly had quietly gained . . control of the financial machinery, by making the treasurer an officer of its own appointment. When, therefore, the customary eighteenth-century wrang- ling commenced, the assembly was master of the situa- tion. The burgesses refused to vote money for public defence until the governors yielded their claims of pre- rogative, and land-title fees. 125. Governors of Middle Colonies. Nowhere was the weary disagreement between gov- ernor and assembly so harmful to provincial interests as in Pennsylvania. There were elements in the contention there not existing elsewhere. The Penn family, as the 18 274 Colonial Development. L^h. XIV, proprietors, resisted the proposed inclusion of their lands in tax levies for the conduct of military operations, while Pennsyl- the assembly for many years would vote no vama. money for such purposes or pay the gover- nor's salary, except on the condition that the proprietary estates paid their share in the cost of defence. The proprietors finally yielded (1759). Other points of difference were, — the assertion of the gubernatorial pre- rogative of establishing courts, and proprietary opposi- tion to the reckless issues of paper money frequently ordered by the assembly. The Quakers were opposed to warfare on principle ; they would neither take up arms themselves in defence of the borderers from the French and Indians, nor, except when driven to it in times of great distress, vote money to equip or pay volunteers. They had, too, a great objection to levying and paying taxes ; and in this they found strong allies in the Ger- mans, who had now come over in large numbers, chiefly to settle on wild lands in the interior of the province. Most of the Germans and Quakers would go to almost any length in compromise with the Indian and French invaders who were mercilessly destroying the pioneer set- tlements. The proprietors and their governors fretted and threatened ; the English government sent over order after order to the stubborn legislators ; the borderers plied the deputies with heartrending appeals for aid: yet the assembly long maintained its obstinate course, now and then grudgingly voting insufficient issues of depre- ciated bills of credit. Lord Cornbury, who succeeded the Earl of Bellomont as governor of New York and New Jersey (1702), was not a man to inspire respect, being profligate and overbearing; he opposed popular inter- ests, winning especial hatred through his petty persecu- tion of dissenters from the Church of England. He was 1700-1750-] Middle Colonies. 275 recalled in 1708, in response to general denunciation of his course. His successors were in continuous and often acrimonious controversy with their assemblies, but gen- erally succeeded in inducing the deputies to contribute with more or less liberality to the conduct of expeditions against the French and Indians. Governor Belcher of New Jersey (1748-1757), who had been worsted in a heated salary contest in Massachusetts (1730-1741), and had profited by experience, was now one of the few executives who under- stood how to handle an assembly. By an obliging tem- per he readily secured the passage of such revenue bills as were essential to the proper defence of the colony in the French and Indian war, and avoided serious dispute. 126. Governors of New England Colonies. The brief term of Sir William Phipps (i 692-1 695), as governor of Massachusetts, — a province then extending Phipps's all the way from Rhode Island to New Bruns- MScim-'" wick, with the exception of New Hampshire,— setts. was filled with bitterness and disappointment. At the outset of his career and the inauguration of the new charter (page 176), the assembly in the absence of any provision under that head, enacted that taxes were only to be levied in the province with the consent of the assembly. Had this rule been accepted by the Crown it would have left little occasion for quarrels between gov- ernor and people ; its rejection by the home government left the door open to a train of events which ended, eighty-four years later, in continental independence. The witchcraft delusion (page 190) had stirred the colony to its centre, and Phipps gained no friends from his attitude in that affair ; he angered Boston and crippled its politi- cal influence by securing the passage of a law (1694) that 2/6 Colonial Development. [Ch. xiv. deputies to the assembly must be residents of the dis- tricts they represented ; and his temper was so testy that at the time of his recall he was engaged in a quarrel with nearly every leading man in the province. The Earl of Bellomont came over in 1698 as governor of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Tiie Earl of Hampshire. In November the General Court fnd Massa- ^^ Massachusetts invited him to visit Boston chusetts. "so soon as the season of the year might comfortably admit his undertaking so long and difficult a journey." In the following spring (1699) he responded to the call. In Massachusetts Bellomont won favor by siding, as he had in New York, with the popular party, and recommending to his government the introduction of many reforms. In Rhode Island, where he tarried by the way, he found much to dissatisfy him, and reported the people as being ignorant, in a state of political and moral disorder, with an indifferent set of public officials, who were corrupt and abetted the pirates who swarmed in Narragansett Bay. Bellomont promptly devoted himself to the suppression of these sea-robbers, and in the year of his own death (170 1 ) brought the notorious Kidd to the gallows. Bellomont 's conciliatory attitude towards Mas- sachusetts did not please the Enghsh Board of Trade, which sent him warning that the colonists had " a thirst for independency," as was particularly exempHfied in their " denial of appeals." Connecticut and Rhode Island were left with their old charters and their popularly elected governors, and thus Connecticut Were happily spared those quarrels over sala- riar^'fr^^ ries, prerogatives, and fees which elsewhere in from dis- the colonies aroused so much ill-feeling. Gov- ^" **' ernor Fletcher of New York was commissioned to take military control of Connecticut. He went to Hart- ford (1693) to assert his right; but meeting with rude 1692-1750-] New England Governors. 277 treatment, felt impelled to return home, and little more was heard from him. Like Massachusetts, Connecticut was successful in preventing legal appeals to England. In New Hampshire — which was separated from Mas- sachusetts in 1 741 and became a royal province — there The Mason ^^^ ^^^'^ more than a century of dispute be- ciaim in New tween the Settlers and the proprietors respect- amps ire. .^^ ^1^^ Mason claim, and much confusion had at times arisen. The matter was at last ended by the purchase of the claim by a land company (1749), which released all of the settled tracts. 127. Effect of the French "Wars (1700-1750). The aggressions of the French and their policy of incit- ing the northern and western Indians to murderous attacks War with ^^ ^^^ slowly advancing English frontier, kept French and the colonies which abutted on New France in an almost constant state of excitement. Those provinces which had no Indian frontier, such as Mary- land, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, and the Carolinas, — which latter had, however, several desperate local Indian uprisings to quell, — experienced but little alarm over the common danger, viewed schemes of union with indifference, and contributed but grudgingly to the funds and expeditions for general defence. Pennsylvania was open to attack along an extended border; the Ger- mans and Quakers being opposed to making war on Indians, her frontier suffered greatly from frequent raids of the enemy. New York, being on the highway between the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes and Canada, was the scene of many bloody encounters. No other province was so greatly exposed, and on none did the cost of the prolonged and desperate contest between the French and English in America so heavily fall. In 1706, during Queen Anne's war (i 702-1713), the French made an 2/8 Colonial Development. [Ch. xiv. unavailing attack on Charleston, South Carolina. In the capture of Port Royal (1710), New England men chiefly participated, and they were otherwise prominent through- out the war. In King George's War (1744- 1748), New Englanders alone took part, although New York and a few other colonies contributed-to the army chest. Louis- burg was captured in 1745 by New England troops, who were highly elated at their brilliant conquest. Eng- land, too busy with her own affairs, could not well send protection the following year, when a French fleet threat- ened New England; a curious chapter of marine disas- ters alone saved the Americans from being severely punished in retaliation. This doubtless unavoidable neg- lect on the part of the mother-country, and the final sur- render of Louisburg to the French by the treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle (1748), tended still further to strain the relations between England and her colonies on the American continent. Admiral Vernon's expedition against the French in the West Indies in 1740 was participated in by men from Vernon's nearly all the English colonies, island and Se Welt" ^° continental. A campaign against the Spanish Indies settlements in Florida was undertaken by Ogle- thorpe during the same year (page 262). The Carolinas gave somewhat tardy aid to Georgia in this daring enterprise. 128. Economic Conditions. Massachusetts was the first of the colonies to issue paper money. This v/as in 1690, to aid in fitting out an Paper money expedition against Canada. The other pro- and finance, yinces followed at intervals. Affairs had come to such a pass by 1748 that the price in paper of ^100 in coin ranged all the way from ;^iioo in New England to ^180 in Pennsylvania. The royal governors in all 1700-1750.] Wars and Economic Conditiofts. 279 «he colonies, acting under instructions from home, were generally persistent opponents of this financial expedient. Governor Belcher of Massachusetts, in a proclamation against the practice (1740), said it gave "great interrup- tion and brought confusion into trade and business," and "reflected great dishonor on his Majesty's government here." In 1720, Parliament passed what was known as " the Bubble Act," designed to break up all private bank- ing companies in the United Kingdom chartered for the issue of circulating notes ; this Act was made applicable to the colonies in 1740, and reinforced in 1751, the last-named Act forbidding the further issue of colonial paper money except in cases of invasion or for the annual current ex- penses of the government, these exceptional cases to be under control of the Crown. In 1763 all issues to date were declared void; although ten years later (1773), pro- vincial bills of credit were made receivable as legal tender at the treasuries of the colonies emitting them. The con- troversy between the colonies and the home government over these issues of a cheap circulating medium devel- oped much bitterness on the part of the former, who deemed the practice essential to their prosperity ; and it was one of the many causes of the Revolution. Another constant source of irritation were the parlia- mentary Acts of Navigation and Trade (page 104), In ActsofNavi- ^^ continental colonies there was no popular gation and sentiment against smuggling or other interfer- ence with the operation of these obnoxious laws. In no colony were the Acts strictly observed ; had they been enforced they would have worked unbearable hardship. Massachusetts particularly offended the Board of Trade by openly refusing to provide for their more rigorous execution ; coupling its stubborn behavior with the bold assertion, quite contrary to ministerial ideas, that the colonists were "as much Englishmen as those in Eng 28o Colonial Development, ^ [Ch. XIV land, and had a right, therefore, to all the privileges which the people of England enjoyed." 129. Political and Social Conditions (1700-1750). In the colonies, as afterwards in the States, there was a continual contest for supremacy between Virginia, where Virginia political powcr was lodged in the aristocratic NewEiTg-"^ class, and New England, where there was a land ideas, voluntary recognition of aristocracy, but where the body of the people ruled. Virginia ideas strongly influenced North Carolina on the south, and Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania on the north. The tone of life in South Carolina was purely southern, with no trace of Virginian characteristics ; New York, also free from Virginian methods, was strongly influenced by New England ideas. The governing class in Virginia were of strong Eng- Political ^^^ stock, and when occasion for political affairs in the action offered, were ready for it, proving them- selves good soldiers and statesmen, and fur- nishing some of the most powerful leaders in the revolt against the mother-country. Their protracted fights with the French and Indians inured them to habits of the camp ; while quarrels with their governors, and bicker- ings with the home government over the Navigation Acts (page 104) and the impressment of seamen, fur- nished schooling in constitutional agitation. By the middle of the eighteenth century the majority of Vir- ginians were natives of the soil, and their attachment to England was weaker than that of their fathers; while the considerable foreign element weakened the bond of union with the mother-country. In Maryland general hostility to the Church of England and its impolitic attempt to suppress dissent, was an important factor in widening tlie breach. North Carolina continued to be distinguished 1700-1750] Politics and Society. 281 for disorder and a low state of morals, education, and wealth, and produced no great leaders in the opposition to Great Britain. The people, having a keen percep- tion of their rights, were eager enough in the patriot cause; but there was a large Tory party, and conse- quently fierce internal dissensions characterized the his- tory of the colony throughout the Revolutionary agitation. Being dependent on England for trade and supplies, the aristocratic planters of South Carolina were drawn much closer to the mother-country than in any other continental colony. The Tory element was powerful, yet the best and strongest men of the slave-holding class were patriots, and furnished several popular lead- ers of ability, — the colony ranking second only to Vir- ginia, in the southern group, during the struggle with the home government. Georgia was but newly settled, and the English colonists were still strongly attached to their native country; she was therefore more loyal than her neighbors. The settlers from New England, with the political shrewdness peculiar to their section, succeeded in committing Georgia to the patriot cause; but the mass of the people remained lukewarm, and when English rule was overturned there was much law- lessness. The community was immature, and had not yet learned the art of self-government. The Navigation Acts and the impressment of seamen bore hard on Pennsylvania, and there was no lack of in the Mid- Complaint against other forms of ministerial die Colonies: interference with colonial rights. But the Quakers, who were chiefly of the shopkeeping and trad- ing class, had not experienced the .long and painful struggle for existence that had been the lot of most of the other colonists. They had been prosperous from the beginning; and being conservative, timid, and slow in disposition and action, were not easily persuaded to make 282 Colonial Developme7it. [Ch. XIV. material sacrifices for the sake of political sentiment. Thus Pennsylvania was an uncertain factor in tne revolt. New Jersey, with no Indian frontier, no foreign trade, and but light taxes, had few causes for complaint against England. Her rulers were thrifty, conservative farmers, who were disposed to be loyal ; yet as they were of pure English descent, and tenacious of their liberties, they were gradually drawn into an attitude of opposition to English rule. New York was the only one of the middle group of colonies which stood stoutly against England. Since the days of Andros the people " caught at every- thing to lessen the prerogative." New York city, as the second commercial port on the coast, was naturally a seat of opposition to the navigation laws. But the Tory mi- nority were nowhere more active or determined than in New York. The New Englanders were pure in race, simple and frugal in habit, enterprising, vigorous, intelligent, and and in New '^^ ^^h a high average of education. They were England. small freeholders, possessed of a democratic system which had powers of indefinite expansion, and were trained in a political school well calculated to pro- duce great popular leaders. Their political principles, developed by a century and a half of contention with the home government, pervaded the colonial revolt, and were carried out in the national government in which it re- sulted. The New England Confederation of 1643 bore fruit in the Stamp-Act congress of 1765, and still more in the Confederation of 1781 and the Constitution of 1787. 13G. Besults of the Half-Century (1700-1750). Although the period 1 700-1 750 has not the interest of the previous half century of colonization, it has great con- stitutional importance. The rugged individuality of the Stnnniary. 283 founders of the colonies, — New England, middle, and southern, — was beginning to give way to a distinctly The colonial American character. The colonies lived sepa- spirit. rate lives; there was little intercommunication, but their interests were much the same, their relations with the mother-country were the same, and in the inter- colonial wars they learned to act side by side. More than this, they all enjoyed a greater degree of personal freedom and local independence than was known any- where else in the world. They had no consciousness of any desire to become independent. They had their own assemblies, made their own laws, and disregarded the Acts of Trade. In population the colonies increased between 1650 and 1700 from about 100,000 to 250,000 ; during the period 1 700-1 750 they grew to 1,370,000. A few passable towns were built, — Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. Their means were small, their horizon narrow, but their spirit was large. As the year 1750 approached, there came upon the colo- nies two changes, destined to lead to a new political life. In the first place, the colonies at last began to overrun the mountain barrier which had hemmed them in on the west, and thus to invite another and more desperate struggle with the French. The first settlement made west of the mountains was on a branch of the Kanawha (1748); in the same season several adventurous Virginians Ohfo Com-^ hunted and made land-claims in Kentucky and pany. Tenncssce. Before the close of the following year (1749) there had been formed the Ohio Company, composed of wealthy Virginians, among whom were two brothers of Washington. King George granted the com- pany five hundred thousand acres, on which they were to plant one hundred families and build and maintain a fort. The first attempt to explore the region of the Ohio brought the English and the French traders into 284 Colonial Development, [Ch. xiv. conflict ; and troops were not long in following, on both sides. At the same time the home government was awaking to the fact that the colonies were not under strict con- New colo- trol. In 1750 the Administration began to nial policy, consider means of stopping unlawful trade. Before the plan could be perfected the French and In- dian War broke out, in 1754. The story of that war and of the consequences of simultaneously dispossessing the French enemies of the colonies, and tightening the reins of government, belongs to the next volume of the series, — the Formation of the Union. INDEX. ACA ACADIA, united to Massachu- setts, 176. See Nova Scotia. Africa, supposed migrations from, to America, 21 ; European explora- tions of coast of, 24. Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 255, 278. Alaska, Asiatic migration to, 2; aborignes of, 12. Albany, founded, 196 ; as Fort Nassau, 197 ; as Fort Orange, 19S, 199; re-named by English, 203 ; characteristics, 228 ; fur-trade, 253; first Colonial Congress, 80, 206 ; second Colonial Congress, 270 Albemarle, 89; a district in Carolina, 88-91. Alexander VI., Pope, bull of parti- tion, 24, 36, 196. Algonquian Indians, status, 9—12 ; as allies of the French, 206, 246, 250 ; uprising in New York, 200. Alleghany mountains. See Appa- lachian. Andover, Mass., sacked by French and Indians, 254. Andros, Sir Edmund, governor of Virginia, 79; governor of New York and the Jerseys, 175, 176, 205, 206, 282 ; governor of New England, 175, 189, 211. Augusta, Ga., founded, 260; fur- trade, 261. .A.nnapolis, Md., founded, 87, 98. — , Nova Scotia. See Port Royal. Antigua, Leeward Islands, 237. Antinomian theory, held by Anne Hutchinson, 133, 134. ASS Appalachian mountains, extent of, 3, 4, 6, 7 ; early explorations, 4, 269 ; characteristics, 5, 6,97,179,219; aborigines, 11 ; early Scotch set- tlements in, 269. Argall, Samuel, governor of Virginia, 73 ; destroys French settlements m Acadia, 242. Arizona, aborigines of, 8; early Spanish explorations, 28-30 ; Span- ish missions, 31. Armada, the Spanish, interrupts American colonization, 40; defeat of, 48, 52. Asia, possible emigration from, to America, 2, 3 ; distance from Am- erica, 5 ; relation to American ex- ploration, 25-27 ; early European commerce in, 23, 24. Assemblies, hampered by commercial companies and royal and proprie- tary interference, 58 ; hold the purse-strings, 59 ;origin of bicameral system, 61 ; representative system, 62, 63 ; in the South generally, 97, 109, no; in Virginia, 73,75,77, 78 ; in the Carolinas, 90, 92 ; in Maryland, 82-86 ; in Pennsylvania, 215, 216; in New Jersey, 211, 212, 214 ; in New Netherlands, 200, 201 ; in New York, 200, 201, 204-206; in Connecticut, 142, 143 ! hi Rhode Island, 147, 148; in Massachusetts, 123, 126, 12S; quarrels with the royal governors (1700- 1750), 271- 279. Association for the defence of tha Protestant religion in Maryland,S7. 286 Index, ATL Atlantic slope, natural entrance of North America, 3, 5 ; rivers, 3, 4; three grand natural divisions, 5, 6 ; mining, 6 ; soil and cHmate, 6, 97 ; aborigines of, 9, 10 ; early fur- trade on, 18 ; early European ex- plorations, 25-28; early English colonies on, 47. Aztecs. See Mexico. BACON, Nathaniel, rebellion of, 78, 79, 80. Bahamas, the, discovered by Colum- bus, 23 ; claimed by English, 44 ; included in Carolina, 90; send settlers to Carolina, 93, 97 ; his- torical sketch, 239, 240. Balboa, Vasco Nufiez de, discovers Pacific ocean, 26. Baltimore, Md., founded, 87. — , Lord. See Calvert. Baptists, in Carolina, 89 ; in Rhode Island, 159. Barbados, founded, 89 ; claimed by English, 44 ; send settlers to Vir- ginia, 93 ; Quakers at, 165 ; his- torical sketch, 236, 237, 239. Basques, American discoveries by, 21 ; engaged in Newfoundland fisheries, 241. Belcher, Jonathan, governor of New Jersey, 221, 275 ; governor of Massachusetts, 279. Belize, history of, 241. Bellomont, Earl of, governor of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, 207, 274, 276. Berkeley, Sir WiUiam, governor of Virginia, 75, 77, 78, 79, 84 ; one of the Carolina proprietors, 89; on education in Virginia, 107, 108 ; interest in New Jersey coloniza- tion, 205, 211, 212. Bermudas, claimed by English, 44 ; annexed to Virginia, 72 ; send settlers to Carolina, 90 ; inter- colonial relations, 234 ; historical sketch, 238, 239. Biloxi (Old), Miss., founded, 248. Blackbeard, a noted pirate, 273. Blommaert, Samuel, Dutch patroon, 199, 207, 20S. Blue Laws, fabricated by Peters, 146. Body of Liberties, 138, 139. CAL Boston, founded, 127; the Anne Hutchinson episode, 133-130 ; New Haven colonists in, 144 ; formation of New England Con- federation, 156; Gortonites at, 160; expeditions against New Netherlands, 163, 164, 168 ; levies intercolonial duties, 164; repres- sion of the Quakers, 165, 166; ar- rival of royal commissioners, 168 ; Indian missionary efforts, 170; evasion of Navigation Acts, 173 ; the rule of Andros, 175, 176; slavery, 182 , commerce, 186 ; con- dition in 1700, 186; Tory element, 189; Sewall's repentance, 191, 192 ; characteristics, 228 ; disputes with Phipps, 27s, 276; Bellomont's visit, 276. Boundary disputes between the Jer- seys, 212; between Maryland and Pennsylvania, 217; between French and English colonies, 255, 256 ; summary of intercolonial, 267-269. Brazil, discovered by Cabral, 44 ; Portuguese colonies, 43, 44, 48 ; Huguenots in, 44. Breda, treaty of, 237. Brewster, William, leader of the Pilgrims, 116, 117. British Honduras, historical sketch, 241. Brittany, early fishers from, at New- foundland, 26, 33, 241. Brook, Lord, attempt to introduce he- reditary rank in Massachusetts, 59, 129; Connecticut land grant, 141. Brownists, a branch of the Indepen- dents, 115. Bubble Act, passed by Parliament, 279. CABOT, John, discovery of North America, 25, 36, 52, 241, 242. — , Sebastian, on the American coast, California, gulf of, aborigines, 8, 12; early Spanish explorations, 28, 29, 31 ; Spanish missions, 31. Calvert, Cecilius, second Lord Balti- more, 82,83, 8s, 86, — , Charles, as governor of Marj^- land, 86 ; as third Lord Balti- more, 86, 87. — , George, first Lord Baltimore, 76, 77, 81, 82, 208. Index. 287 CAL CHE Calvert, Leonard, governor of Mary- land, 77, 82, S.-;, 84. Calvin, John, influence of his teach- ings, 115. Calvinisls, De Monts' colony of, 35, ^36. Cambridge, Mass., founded, 127; fortifications at, 128 ; meeting of General Court, 135, 136 ; establish- ment of Harvard College, 130, 158, 188; emigration to Connecticut, 140; the " bishop's palace," 1S9. Cambridge platform adopted, 162. Canada. See New France. Cape Breton island, discovered by Cabot, 25 ; in early struggles be- tween French and English, 252 ; fall of Louisburg, 243; in King William's War, 253; in King George's War, 255. Cape Cod, Champlain's visit, 36; named by Gosnold, 41 ; arrival of Pilgrims, 117, 118; Indian mis- sionary efforts, 170; character of, 179. Caribs, the, 8, 9, 236, 239. Carolina, named after Charles IX., 33 ; causes of failure of early colo- nies, 41-43; French expelled by Spaniards, 48 ; early settlers, 87- 89 ; under the lords proprietors, 89 -92 ; division of the colonies, 92 ; reunited, 94; Barbadians in, 236, 237 ; geography, 96, 97 ; popula- tion, 97 ; character of colonists, 97 ; agriculture, 102 ; commerce, 104. .S"^^ North Carolina and South Carolina. Carteret, Sir George, obtains grant of New Jersey, 205, 211, 212. — , Philip, governor of New Jersey, 211. Cartier, Jacques, explores St. Law- rence River, 32, 246. Catholics, in England, 115; in Vir- ginia, 76 ; in Maryland, 77, 81-87, 108 ; in the Carolinas, 95 ; in Pennsylvania, 108, 230 ; in New Jersey, 214 ; in Georgia, 260 ; policy of the church in New France, 49, 50, 246, 247, 251, 252. Cayuga Indians, 10, 11. Champlain, Samuel de, early explor- ations, 26, 35 ; founds Quebec, 36, 246; fights tlie Iroquois, 196; on Lake Huron, 246, 247 ; as gover- nor of New France, 251, 253 ; death, 248. Charles I., king of England, inter- est in Virginia, 75 ; interest in Maryland, 82, 84 ; interest in Caro- lina, 88 ; attitude towards the Puri- tans, 125, 127 ; annuls Massachu- setts charter, 131; grants Windward Islands to Carlisle, 237 ; execution, 76. Charles II., king of England, recep- tion of Berkeley 79; proclaimed in ALissachusett.':, 159; attitude to- wards Quakers, 166 ; displeased with New Englanders, 166-168, 174 ; treatment of Connecticut and Rliode Island, 168, 169 ; claims New Netherlands, 202, 203 ; in- terest in New Jersey, 212 ; charter to Penn, 215; charters Hudson's Bay Company, 243 ; attitude to- wards New France, 252 ; death, Charleston, S. C, founded, 92, 93, 98 ; churchmen in, 109 ; character- istics, 228; arrival of Scotch, 269; attacked by French, 278. Charlestown, Mass., founded, 122, 127; fortified, 131; hanging of a witch, igo. Charters, commercial privileges of, 104, 105 ; of Virginia, 60, 66-69, 72, 74, 113; of Maryland, 81, 82; of tlie Carolinas, 88, 89, 267, 272 ; of Georgia, 259 ; of Delaware, 216 ; of Pennsylvania, 210, 215, 217; under the Dutch, 197) 198; South Company of Sweden, 208 : of New Jersey, 211-213 ; of Connecticut, 61, 141, i68, 175, 276, 277; of Rhode Island, 60, 61, 148, 149, 168, 175 ; Plymouth Company, 120, 121, 124, 131, 150; Massachusetts Bay, 60, 125-127, 131, 159, 169, 174, 175, 177 ; to the Gorges, 122, 125, 150; to John Mason, 125, 150, 152; New Hampshire, 174; ministerial attacks on the (1701- 1749), 266, 267. Cherokee Indians, status, 11; rela- tions with Georgians, 259, 261. Chesapeake Bay, Cabot at, 25 ; reached by Lane, 39 ; reached by Jamestown colonists, 70 ; arrival of royal commissioners, 76 ; Clay- borne's operations, 77, 83 .; geog« raphy, 218, 219. Index, CHI Chickasaw Indians, status, ii ; rela- tions with Georgians, 261, 262. Chicora, Vasquez's conquest of, 27. Choctaw Indians, status, 11. Church of England, in England, 114, 115; in the Carolinas, 88, 91, 94, 109, 272 ; in Virginia, 67, 78, 108 ; in Maryland, 86, 87, 2S0 ; in the South generally, 102, 11 1 ; in New York, 229, 230,274; in Mas- sachusetts, 122, 130-132, 173, 175, 189; in New Hampshire, 152; in Maine, 150, 151 ; a source of dis- pute between governors and as- semblies, 272. Cibola, Seven Cities of, visited by Spaniards, 29-31. Clarendon, a district in Carolina, 89, ^<^, 93- Claiborne, William, his quarrel with Maryland, 76-7S, 83-85. Cliff-Dwellers, status, 8. Colleges, Harvard, '-^o, 130, 158, 181, 188 ; Yale, 80; William and Mary, 80,81,103. Colonization, motives of, 46 ; early views of, 46; French policy, 35, 48-50 ; Spanish policy, 47, 48, 5' ; Portuguese policy, 48 ; Dutch pol- icy, 50, 51 ; German policy, 51 ; English policy, 51, 53 ; relations of colonists with Indians, 17-19 ; experience of sixteenth century, 41-44; character of English emi- grants, 53, 54 ; the institutions they imported, 55-63 ; reasons for the English movement, 65, 66. Columbus, Christopher, discoveries prior to his, 21-23 ; his discoveries, 23-25, 31, 237 ; his motives, 4, 6. Commerce, early Norse, 22 ; of Eu- rope with India, 23, 24, 27, 42 ; fur-trade of early European ex- plorers, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53 ; French commercial companies, 35 ; of Spain, in West Indies, 38, 39 ; as a motive of colonization, 46 ; Span- ish policy, 47 ; Portuguese policy, 48, 50; Dutch policy, 50, 51, 103- 105 ; early English commercial companies, 55, 65, 68, 69; London company, 66-74 ; Plymouth com- pany, 114 ; Massachusetts Bay Company, 125-127; economic ef- fect on England, 65 ; intercolo- nial, 102-107, 130 ; colonial, with England, 103, 104, 130, 169 ; the CRO Navigation Acts, 104-106. See Fur-trade. Communal proprietorship, in Vir- ginia, 68, 73; at Plymouth, 117, 120, 121. Congregationalists, origin of name, 162; organization, 189; in middle colonies, 230. Connecticut, founded, 136, 140-142 ; Pequod War, 136, 137 ; governv ment, 142-144; early Dutch set- tlers, 136, 198, 199 ; conflicts be- tween Dutch and English, 163, 202 ; New Haven founded and absorbed, 144-146, 168 ; character- istics of Connecticut and New Haven, 146; in the New England Confederation, 155, 156; river-toll levied, 164; treatment of Quakers, 166; Massachusetts absorbs more territory, 173 ; history of the char- ter, 168, 175, 177, 266, 267, 276, 277 ; litigation, 182, 183 ; iron mining, 184 ; agriculture, 186 *, colonization schemes on the Dela- ware, 208, 209 ; boundary disputes, 267, 268 ; represented in second colonial congress, 270 ; Fletcher's visit, 276, 277 ; population (1700) 180, (1754) 265. Cordilleran mountains. See Rocky mountains. Cornbury, Lord, governor of New York and New Jersey, 274, 275. Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de, search for Cibola, 11, 29-31. Cortereal, Caspar, explores Ameri- can coast, 25, 241. Cortez, Hernando, conquest of Mex- ico, 8, 27-29. Council for New England. See Ply- mouth Company. County, the, in England, 55 ; in the South, 56; in middle colonies, 57; in New York, 204; in Penn- sylvania, 216. Coureurs de bois, their characteris- tics, 247, 249, 250; explorations of, 248, 253. _ _ Creek Indians, status, 11; relations with Georgians, 260, 261. Cromwell, Oliver, accepted in Vir- ginia, 76, 78 ; in Maryland, 85 ; friendship for New England, 159; expedition against New Nether- lands, 163, 164, 202; sends pris- oners to Barbados, 236, incCex. 28-9 CUB ENG Cuba, slavery in, 239 ; threatened by English, 262. Culpeper^ Thomas, Lord, governor of Virginia, 78-80. Cumberland Gap, a highway for ex- ploration, 4. T^AKOTAH Indians, status, 11, Danes, in Iceland, 21. Dare, Virginia, first English child born in the United States, 40. Davenport, John, heads New Haven colony, 144, 145. Delaware, early Dutch settlers, 207, 208 ; the Swedes, 201, 20S ; fall of New Sweden, 209 ; annexed to Pennsylvania, 210, 216, 217; a separate colony, 61, 210, 217; geog- raphy, 2i8, 219; social classes, 222-224 ; occupations, 224, 225 ; trade and commerce, 225, 226; life and manners, 227; religion, 230; general characteristics, 210; In- dian affairs, 277; influence of Vir- ginian ideas on, 280; population (1700), 221, 222, (1750) 266. — , Lord, governor of Virginia, 72. — River, early settlements on, 51, 197-199, 207-210, 215, 216; Dutch claims on, 163 ; conflicts \ between Dutch and Swedes, 200. De Monts, Sieur, colonizes Nova Scotia, 35, 36, 242. De Soto, Hernando, expedition of, II, 30, 31, 47. Detroit, site discovered, 248, 249. Digger Indians, status, 9. " Discovery," the, carries colonists to Virginia, 69. Dominica, Leeward Islands, 237, 238. Dorchester, Mass., fortified, 131 ; emigration from, to Connecticut, 140, 141. Drake, Sir Francis, explorations, 37, 52 ; relieves Raleigh's colony, 39; resists the Armada, 40. I)iidley, Joseph, president of An- dros's council, 175, 176. — , Thomas, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, 127, 135, 175; gov- ernor, 129. " Duke's laws," the, in New York, 203. 204. Dummer, Jeremiah, '* Defence of the Amencan Chartars," 266, 267 Dunkards, in Pennsylvania, 230. Dutch, the, early claims in America, 44 ; colonial policy, 50, 51 ; as ocean earners, 103, 104; plant New Netherlands, 196-198; pa- troon system, 198-200; operations on the Connecticut, 136, 140, 141 ; collisions with English traders and settlers, 47, 145, 155, 162-164, 199, 200; Swedish opposition, 51,208, 209; wars with England, 159, 163, 164, 168, 201-203 ; fall of New Netherlands, 16S, 202, 203 ; New Netherlands recaptured, but lost again, 205 ; in the West Indies, 236-238; in New York, 203, 204, 220, 221, 223, 227, 229, 231, 232, in New Jersey, 210, 211, 221 ; in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 207- 210, 215, 217, 221, 222. — East India Company, sends out Hudson, 196. — Reformed Church, in middle colonies, 230. — West India Company, char- tered, 197; patroon system, 198- 200, 223 ; plan of government, 203 ; Delaware settlements, 207, 209 ; pacific policy towards New Eng- land, 163. EAST INDIA COMPANY, 66. East Indies, Dutch in the, 50. East New Jersey, as a separate prov- ince, 212-214; population (1700), 221. Eaton, Theophilus, heads New Ha- ven colony, 144, 145. Edward VI., king of England, 36. Edwards, Jonathan, character, 183 ; revival work, igo. Eliot, John, the Indian missionary, 170, 189. Elizabeth, queen of England, inter- est in American colonization, 37, 38, 40, 52, 53, 67, 68; English commerce under, 104 ; Puritanism under, 114, 115. England, attitude towards papal bull of partition, 24, 25 ; sends out Cabot, 25; fishing colony at New- foundland, 26; early exploration and settlements in America, 36- 44; becomes a great power, 48; reasons for final colonization oil 19 290 Index. END GOR America, 65, 66 ; character of her colonists, 53-55 ; her colonial pol- icy, 5 1-53 ; the institutions in which her colonists were trained, 53-58 ; Quaker repression, 165. Endicott, John, heads the Massa- chusetts colony, 125, 126. Eskimos, possible Asiatic origin of, 2, 3 ; status, 12. Exeter, N. H., founded, 152. FINNS, in Delaware and Penn- sylvania, 22 1. Fisheries at Newfoundland, 26, 36, 37, 49, 52, 241, 242; in Carolina, 93 ; in England, 104 ; in New England, 113, 114, 124, 130, 151, 184, 185. Five Nations. See Iroquois. Fletcher, Benjamin, governor of New York, 206, 207, 210, 276. Florida, Spanish exploration of, 27, 28, 30, 31 ; Spanish occupation, 31, 32, 43, 88, 93 ; French occupa- tion, 33, 34, 44, 49, 88; French ex- pelled by Spanish, 48; Ogle- thorpe's expedition, 262, 278- Fort Casimir, Del., 209. Fort Christina, 208, 215. See Wil- mington, Del. Fort Nassau, site of Albany, 197. — , on the Delaware, 197, 201, 207, 208. Fort Orange. See Albany. Franklin, Benjamin, plan for colonial union, 271. Frederica, Ga., founded, 260; at- tacked by Spanish, 262. " Freemen," term defined, 62. French, the, colonies in Florida, 33, 34, 44, 49, 88 ; causes of failure of early colonies, 43, 44 ; early at- tempts to colonize Canada, 35, 36 ; fishing colony at Newfoundland, 26, 241, 242 ; Quebec founded, 36 ; France becomes a great power, 48, 52 ; colonial policy of, 48-50 ; in- fluence on English colonization in America, 57 ; opposition to Eng- lish settlement, 47, 206, 207 ; in New Amsterdam, 201 ; in Penn- sylvania and Delaware, 221; con- flicts with English in West Indies, 236-239, 244; holds Acadia, 242, 243 ; troubles with Hudson's Bay Company, 244 ; rivalry of Georgian traders. 259, 261. French and Indian War, 221, 222, 274, 275, 284. Frobisher, Martin, efforts at Ameri- ican colonization, 37, 52 ; resists the Armada, 40. Frontenac, Louis de Buade, Comte de, governor of New France, 251, 254- Fundamental constitutions, devised for Carolina, 90, 91, 93, 95. Fur-trade, early spread of, 17, 18; by Norsemen, 22 ; by other early European explorers, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53 ; of New France, 35, 49, 50, 247-251, 256-258 ; by Claiborne, 76, 77 ; of Georgia, 259, 261 ; of Carolina, 93, 104; of Virginia, 104, 269; of Alaryland, 104; of Penn- sylvania, 225, 226; of New Am- sterdam, iiS; of New Sweden, 208, 209 ; of New York, 198, 202, 221, 225, 226, 228; in middle colo- nies generally, 232 ; of Connec- ticut, 140, 141, 155; of Plymouth, 122, 124; of New Hampshire, 152 ; of New England generally, 113 ; by Hudson's Bay Company, 243, 244 ; by American and Northwest companies, 244. GAM A, Vasco da, reaches India, 25. George II., king of England, name- giver for Georgia, 259 ; grants land to Ohio Company, 283. Georgia, settlement of, 258-262 ; fur- trade, 259, 261 ; expedition against Florida Spaniards, 262, 278; be- comes a royal province, 263 ; pop- ulation (1750), 266; political spirit, 281. Germans, in Georgia, 260, 261, 263 ; in North Carolina, 97 ; in Virginia, 269; in Maryland, 266; in Penn- sylvania and Delaware, 217, 221, 222, 225, 229, 230, 274, 277; in New York, 221. Germany, colonial policy of, 51 ; Presbyterian movement in, 115. Gomez, Estevan, on the North American coast, 27, 28. Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, early '\ff- terest in American colonization, 41, 66, 150; member of Plymouth Company, 113, 114; lord propri- etor of Maine, 150-152,158; allied Index. 291 GOR IND with Mason in colonizing New Hampshire, 125, 152. Gorges, Robert, governor-general of New England, 122, 132 ; land- grants to, 125. — , Thomas, deputy-governor of Maine, 152. Gorton, Samuel, difficulties with Rhode Islanders, 160, i6i, 164. Gosnold, Bartholomew, voyages to America, 41, 65, 66, 69, 71. Green Bay, Wis., Nicolet at, 12, 248. Green Mountain Beys, origin of, 268. Greenland, discovered by Norsemen, 21 ; Norwegian settlements in, 21- 23- Grenada, Windward Islands, 237. Grenadines, the. Windward Islands, 237- Grenville, Sir Richard, leads colony to Roanoke, 38-40, 52 ; resists the Armada, 40. "Guinea," the, in Chesapeake Bay, 76. Gustavus Adolphus, king of Swe- den, interest in American coloni- zation, 5 f, 208. Guzman, Nuno Beltran de, founds Culiacan, 28, 29; expedition to Cibola, 29. HADLEY, Mass., shelters the regicides, 167. Hakluyt, Richard, early English chronicler, 37 ; interest in Ameri- can colonization, 66, 69. Hartford, Conn., founded, 136, 140, 141 ; raided by Indians, 137 ; the charter-oak story, 175; early Dutch settlement at, 199; Fletcher's visit, 276, 277. Harvard College founded, 80, 130, 188 ; aided by New England Con- federation, 158 ; social distinctions at, 181. Hawkins, Sir John, visits Florida, 34 ; resists the Armada, 40. Heath, Sir Robert, first proprietor of Carolina, 88. Henri IV., king of France, his colo- nial policy, 35. Henry VII., king of England, re- wards Cabot, 25 ; attitude towards bull of partition, 36 ; Navigation Acts under, 104. — VIII., king of England, interest in northwest passage, 36. Hoboken, N. J., founded, 199. Holland, English Independents in, 115-117. 6' 5. 8, 155, 202, 219, 220, 25s; named in London Company's charter, 66 ; Pilgrim land-grant on, 197; early settlements on, 221 ; patroons' estates on, 198-200, 223, 227 ; Dutch attempt to exclude ^ English from, 199, 200. Hudson's Bay Company, organized, 24S ; intercolonial relations, 234; historical sketch, 243, 244. Huguenots, in Florida, 31-34, 49; De Monts' colonj', 35, 36 ; in Bra- zil, 44; in New France, 49, 252; in Carolina, 87, 88, 93-95, 97, 108 ; in Virginia, 81 ; in New York, 221 ; in New England, 221. Hutchinson, Anne, religious agita- tor in Massachusetts, 133-136; in Rhode Island, 146, 147 ; Jher adherents in New Hampshire, 152. ICELAND, early settlements in, 21, 22. Illinois, canoe portages in, 4; abo- rigines of, 12; French settlements, 247. 253- ^ . . Independents, definition of term, 115; in Holland, 115-117. See Puritans. India, early commerce with Europe, 23, 24, 66 ; reached by Portuguese, 25 ; effect on American explora- tion, 26, 27, 50; search for water passage to, 42, 196. Indian Territory, Southern Indians in, T I ; early Spanish exploration in, 28. 292 Index, IND LEO Indians, their origin, 2,3; philologi- cal divisions, 9-12 ; characteris- tics, 13-16; relations with English colonists in general, 17-19, 36, 38- 43; Pequod War, 136, 137; Phil- ip's War, 14, 170-172, 188 ; rela- tions with the Spaniards, 27-32, 42, 43, 47, 238, 239'; with the Por- tuguese, 48; with the French, 34, 35, 49, 246-258; with the Dutch, 163 ; with Georgia, 259-261 ; with Carolina, 88, 89, 277; with Vir- ginia, 14, 68, 71, 74, 75, 77, 78, 269, 280; with Maryland, 83, 86, 277; with the South generally, 56, 97; with Pennsylvania, 216, 217, 222, 274, 277; with Delaware, 207-209, 277; with New Jersey, 211, 214, 231, 277, 282 ; with New York,"* 196, 198-202, 206, 207, 230, 270, 271, 277 ; with Connecticut, 140, 142, 155; with Rhode Island, 160, 161, 164, 277; with Massachusetts, 140, 170, 173; with Maine, Z72 ; with New England generally, 119, 120, 133, 136, 137, 170- Ipswich, Mass., Nathaniel Ward at, 138 ; trial of John Wise, 176. Irish, American discoveries by, 21 ; in Iceland, 21 ; in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 222. Iroquois, the, status, 10, 11 ; hos- tility to French, 196, 246, 248-250, 253 ; allies of Dutch and English, 196, 200, 207, 256. JAMAICA, historical sketch, 240, 241. James I., king of England, charters London and Plymouth companies, 66-69, 113 t interest in Virginia colonization, 74, 75, 81 ; treatment of Puritans, 115, 116. — II., king of England, colonial policy of, 175 ; attitude towards New York and New Jersey, 206, 213, 214 ; flight, 176. — River, exploration of, 26 ; named by Jamestown colonists, 70; Hu- guenot settlement on, 81. Jamestown, Va., settlement of, 70- 72, 113 : early iron smelting at, 6; mtroduction of slaves, 74; Indian massacre, 74 ; Puritans at, 76 ; burned, 79 ; Baltimore at, 81 ; as capital of Virginia, 98; communal proprietorship at, 120. Japan, prehistoric vessels from, 2 ; early European attempts to reach, Jesuits, m New France, 36, 253; in Maryland, 83 ; in New York, 230; explorations in the Northwest, 247. Jolliet, Louis, discovery of Missis- sippi River, 26, 248. XT' ANSAS, crossed by Coronado, Kent island, occupied by Claiborne, 77, 83-S5. Kentucky, early exploration, 4 ; ab- origines of, 9 ; early white settle- ments, 269, 283. Kidd, William, a noted pirate, 276. Kieft, William, governor of New Netherlands, 200, 201, 208, 209. King George's War, 255, 256, 278. King WiUiam's War, 253, 254. LABRADOR, Norse discovery of, 22 ; early English voyages to, 37- Lake Champlain, as a highway for exploration and Indian raids, 4, 220; discovery, 196; New York and New Hampshire land claims on, 268. Lake Erie, aborigines on, 10, 11 . discovery, 248. Lake George, as a highway for ex- ploration, 4. Lake Huron, reached by Champlain, 246, 248. Lake Michigan, discovered, 12,248. Lake Ontario, aborigines on, 10, n ; drainage system, 219, 220; dis- covered, 248. Lake Superior, early fur-trade on, 18 ; in Champlain's time, 247; visited by Radisson and Grosseilliers, 247, 248; early French settlement on, 253- La Salle, Chevalier, explorations of, 248. Laud, Archbishop, represses dissent in Massachusetts, 131 ; in prison, 158. Leeward Islands, English colonies on, 237, 238. Leisler, Jacob, heads a revolution in New York, 206. Leon, Ponce de, explores Florida, 27. Index. ■93 L^ry, Baron de, colonizing attempt of. 35- Locke, John, his constitution for the Carohnas, 58, 90, 91, 93, 95, London Company, chartered, 66, 113; settles Virginia, 69-74, 8i ; criticised by James L, 74 ; grant to the Pilgrims, 116, 117; charter annulled, 74. Long Island, Block's visit, 196; Wal- loon settlement, 198 ; conflicts be- tween Dutch and English, 163, 202 ; Connecticut wins a part, 163 ; religion on, 229, 230; crime on, 231- Long Parliament, the, Virginia under, 76 ; Navigation Act of, 105 ; rela- tion to Massachusetts, 132. Louis XIV., king of France, his colonial policy, 49, 251-253. Louisburg, captured by the English, ass, 278. Ludwell, Philip, governor of South Carolina, 94 ; and of reunited Carolina, 94. Lutherans, in middle colonies, 230. Louisiana, early French settlement of, 248. Lower California, early Spanish ex- ploration of, 28, 29, 31. MAINE, De Monts' colony, 36 ; visited by Gosnold and Pring, 41 ; Gorges' proprietorship, 150, »5i» i73> characteristics, 150; not in the New England Confederation, i57» 158; absorbed by Massachu- setts, 152, 173, 174; Indian up- rising, 172, 188; rule of Andros, 17s ; in King William's War, 177, 254; river system, 179; commerce, 185; agriculture 186; education, 188; population (1700) 180,(1754) 265 ; boundary established, 268. Maldonado, Lorenzo Ferrer de, on ihe Pacific coast, 28. Manhattan Island, Block's visit, 196; early settlement, 197, 198. See New York City. Marquette, Father Jacques, on Mis- sissippi River, 26, 248. Martha's Vineyard, Indian mission- ary efforts at, 170. Maryland, origin of name, 82 ; set- ♦IsTient, 76, Si-84; landed estates, 58; judiciary, 60; during English MAS Revolution, 84, 85 ; development, 86, 87 ; becomes a royal province, 61, 87 ; Claiborne's quarrel, 76, 77 ; geography, 96; character of colon- ists, 97 ; its capita], 98 ; occupa- tions, 102 ; religion, 102, 108; com» merce, 103, 104; tobacco-raising, 103 ; William and Mary's College, 103 ; witchcraft trials, 192 ; boun- dary disputes, 209, 217, 268; set- tlers patronize Pennsylvania mills, 225 ; represented in colonial con- gress, 270; Indian affairs, 83, 86, 277 ; influence of Virginia ideas on, 2S0; political spirit, 2S0; pop- ulation (1688) 97, (1763) 266. Mason, Charles, runs " Mason and Dixon line," 268. — , John, colonizing efforts in New Hampshire, 125, 150, 152, 153, 277. — , Capt. John, in Pequod War, 137, 142. Massachusetts, settlement, 124-127, 144; suffrage qualifications, 61, 62, 167; social distinctions, 59; Har- vard College founded, 80; inter- nal dissensions, 129-132 ; religious troubles, 132-136, 146, 152 ; inter- est in Pequod War, 136, 137; laws, 137-139; characteristics, 139, 140 ; the Watertown protest, 62 ; emigration to Connecticut, 140- 142 ; emigration to Rhode Island, 147 ; interest in the Gorton case, 160, 164; absorbs New Hamp- shire, 152, 153, 173; absorbs Ply-, mouth, 124, 176; annexes land in Connecticut and Maine, 173; in< fluence in the Confederation, 155- 157, 164 ; independent attitude to- wards England, 158, 159, 161 ; jealousy of king Charles, 173 ; under the royal commissioners, 167, 168; charter annulled, 131, 132, 169, 174, 17s; becomes a royal province, 175 ; rule of An- dros, 175, 176; the Presbyterian movement, 162 ; attitude in war with New Netherlands, 163, 164, disputes Connecticut ship-toll, 164, repression of Quakers, 165, 166, 169; Philip's War, 170-172, 188; absorbs Acadia, 176 ; new charter, '7^1 177; population, (1700) 180, (1754) 265 ; slavery, 182, 272, 275 j iron mining, 184 ; manufactures, 294 Index, MAS NEW 184 ; fisheries, 184 ; ship-building and commerce, 185 ; agriculture, 186; witchcraft delusion, 190-192; boundary disputes, 267, 268 ; rep- resented in second colonial con- gress, 270 ; Phipps's term, 275, 276; Bellomont's term, 207, 276; loses New Hampshire, 277 ; paper money, 278, 279. Massachusetts Bay, visited by Rober- val, 33 ; early settlements on, 122, 124, 127. ^- Company, chartered, 125 ; re- moves to America, 126, 127; char- ter annulled, 131, 132, 169, 174, Massasoit, head-chief of Pokano- kets, 121, 170. Mather, Cotton, in witchcraft trials, 191, 192. — , Increase, influence in Massachu- setts politics, 176, 177. Maverick, Samuel, early Massachu- setts settler, 122, 150; roj-al com- missioner, 167. "Mayflower," voyage of, 36, 117, 118, 142, 197. Melendez de Aviles, Pedro, his mas- sacre of Huguenots in Florida, 34. Mexico, aborigines of, 8 ; Spanish conquest of, 8, 11, 27-31, 42, 47 ; Spanish colonies, 31, 32. — Gulf of, Spanish explorations of, 4, 27; aborigines of, q, ii ; Span- ish possessions on, 43. Middletown, N. J., founded, 211. Milford, Conn., founded, 145 Mining, Spanish efforts at, 28-30; early English efforts, 6, 37, 39, 41 ; in Virginia, 6, 69, 71, 269; in New England, 180; in Pennsylvania, 219, 225. Minuit, Peter, founds New Amster- dam, 198 ; in employ of the Swedes, 201, 208. Mississippi River, portage-routes, 4 ; geography of basin, 6, 7; abori- gines of valley of, 9-12 ; discov- ered by De Soto, 31, 44; French Teaching out for the, 47 ; seen by Radisson and Grosseilliers, 247 ; seen by Jolliet and Marquette, 26, 248; early trade on, 18; drainage system, 219; La Salle on the, 248 ; early French settlements on, 253 ; as an element in French-English boundary disputes, 256. Mohawk Indians, status, 10, n. Mohican Indians, status, 9, 10. Montreal, Cartier at, 32 ; Cham* plain's visit, 35 ; founded, 246. Montserrat, Leeward Islands, 237, 238. Moravians, in North Carolina, 97 ; in Pennsylvania, 229; in Georgia, 261. Morton, Thomas, at Merrymount, 122, 127.^ Mound-builders, 12. N ANTASKET, Mass., founded, Narragansett Bay, early settlements on, 133, 146, 159, 161 ; Philip's War on, 171. Narragansett Indians, status, 9, 10 ; troubles with whites, 136, 137, 164 ; in Philip's War, 170. Narvaez, Pamphilo de, in Florida, II, 28, 30, 47. Natchez Indians, 9. Navigation Acts, historical sketch of, 104-106 ; effect in South Carolina, 94 ; in Virginia, 78, 80, 280 ; in ^laryland, 86; in Pennsylvania, 281 ; in the Jerseys, 231 ; in New York, 232 ; in Massachusetts, 173, 279, 280 ; in New England gene- rally, 184; in the West Indies, 235, 236 ; one of the causes of the Revolution, 279. Nevis, Leeward Islands, 237, 238. New Amsterdam, founded, 198; Kieft's term, 208, 209; Stuyve- sant's term, 201,209; captured by English, 168, 202, 203 : becomes New York, 203 ; fur-trade of, 253. See Dutch. Newark, N. J., founded, 211. New Brunswick, De Monts' colony in, 36. Newcastle, Del., founded, 202, 215 ; characteristics, 228. New England, geography of, 5, 6, 179, 180; early mining, 6; named by Smith, 72, 113, 114; popula- tion, (1690) 253, (1700) 180, i8r, (1700-1750) 265; social distinc- tions, 58, i8i, 182; slavery, 182; occupations, 182-184 i manufac- tures, 184; fisheries and ship* Index. 295 NEW NEW building, 185 ; commerce, 77, 164, 185, 186, 234, 235; towns, 186; A education, 188; crime, 188; re- ^ ligion, 189, 190, 194; witchcraft delusion, 190-192; life and man- ners, 187 ; political conditions, 192- 194, 282 ; repression of Quakers, 165, 166; formation of the con- federation, 156; decadence of the confederation, 169 ; in the hands of the Lords of Trade, 173 ; in Queen Anne's War, 255; in King George's War, 255, 256; ideas of versus Virginia ideas, 280, 281. New England, Council for, char- tered, 60. Newfoundland, Spaniards at, 28; early European fishermen at, 36, 37> 49i 52 ; early French visits, 32, 33 ; claimed by England, 44 ; Balti- more's colony, 81 ; intercolonial relations, 234, 235; in King Wil- liam's War, 254 ; historical sketch, 241,242,244. New France, founded, 36; Louis XIV. 's policy towards, 49, 50; Champlain fights the Iroquois, 196 ; early settlements of, 246, 247 ; exploration of the Northwest, 247-249 ; ambition for territorial aggrandizement, 155 ; contests with the English, 220, 234, 252-254,274, 275, 277, 278 ; in Queen Anne's War, 254, 255 ; in King George's War, 255, 256 ; boundary disputes with English, 256 ; line of frontier forts, 256; struggle for the Ohio valley, 257 ; social and political conditions of, 249-252 ; general characteristics, 249, 257, 258; causes of decline, 49, 50. New Hampshire, Mason's grant, 150, 152, 173, 277 ; early coloniz- ing efforts, 152, 153; soil, 179; manufactures, 184 ; agriculture, j86; characteristics, 153; popula- tion (1700), 180, (1754) 265; an- nexed by Massachusetts, 61, 153, 173 ; becomes a royal province, 61, 153,174, 277; reunited to Massa- chusetts, 153, 174; ruleof Andros, 175 ; under William and Mary, 177 ; in King William's War, 254 ; Bellomont's term, 276: boundary disputes, 268 ; represented in sec- ond colonial congress, 270. New Haven, founded, 144-146, 163 ; false "Blue Laws," 146; joins New England Confederation, 156; in war with New Netherlands, 163 ; treatment of Quakers, 166 ; shelters the regicides, 167 ; ab- sorbed by Connecticut, 146, i58, 169 ; condition in 1700, 1S6 ; Yale College founded, 188; Tory ele- ment in, 189. New Jersey, early mining, 6 ; visited by Gomez, 28 ; early settlements, 199, 210-212; covets Delaware, 210; the two Jerseys, 212, 213; reunited as a royal province. 207, 213, 214 ; claimed by New York, 205; general characteristics, 214; election of county judges, 59, 60 ; geo2;raphy, 219 ; social distinctions, 222-224; occupations, 224, 225; trade and commerce, 225, 226 ; life and manners, 227-229; educa- tion, 229; religion, 230; political conditions, 231, 282; Bellomont's term, 276; Indian affairs, 277, 282; population(i7oo), 221, (1750J 265. New Mexico, aborigines of, 8; Spanish explorations, 28-30 ; Span- ish colonies, 31, 32. New Netherland, settlement of, 196-198; progress, 198-202; Puri- tan encroachments, 162-164 ; set- tlements on the Delaware, 207- 209; conquered by England, 168, 202, 203, 210-212. New Netherlands Company, 197. New Orleans, founded, 248, 256. Newport, R. I., old mill at, 23; settled, 147 ; unites with Ports- mouth, 148; chartered, 149. New Spain. See Mexico. New Sweden, its rise and fall, 201, 202, 20S, 209. See Swedes. New York, early mining, 6 ; geo- grajihy, 218-220; social classes, 222-224; occupations, 224, 225; trade and commerce, 77, 140, 185, 225,226; fur-trade, 248-250; life and manners, 226-229 ; education, 229; religion, 229, 230; crime and pauperism, 230, 23 1 ; political con- ditions, 231, 232, 282 ; Indian af- fairs, 277 ; the Dutch regime, 196- 202 ; captured by English, 202, 203; the ''duke's laws," 204; recaptured by Dutch, 205 ; Eng- land again in possession, 205 ; th» 296 Index. NEW rule of Andros, 205, 206, 213 ; the charter of liberties, 205 ; Leisler's revolution, 206 ; French designs on, 253 ; in King William's War, 253, 254; in Queen Anne's War, 255; Bellomont's term, 276; co- lonial congress, 270, 271 ; boundary disputes, 267, 26S ; population, (1690) 253, (1700) 220, 221, (1750) 265 ; characteristics, 207. New York City, founded by the Dutch, 198; early commerce, 226 ; characteristics, 227, 228; education in, 229; political spirit in, 282. Nicholson, Sir Francis, governor of Virginia, 79, 80, 81, 273 ; deputy- governor of New York, 206. Normans, American discoveries by, 21,180; early at Newfoundland, 26, 49, 241. North Carolina, aborigines of, 11; Raleigh's colonies, 38, 40 f named in London Company's charter, 66; origin of, 88,90; first settle- ments, 92, 93 ; Culpeper rebellion, 92 ; character of colonists, 97 ; their turbulent spirit, 273, 280, 281 ; oc- cupations, 102 ; agriculture, 103 ; religion, 108, 109 ; mountains of, 1 79 ; becomes a royal province, 267; boundary established, 268 ; Indian affairs, 277 ; Oglethorpe's expedi- tion, 278 ; influence of Virginian ideas, 280 ; population (1763), 266. North Virginia Company. See Plymouth Company. Norwegians, in Iceland, 21. Nova Scotia, early French settle- ment, 35, 36; Claiborne's trade with, 77 ; intercolonial relations, 234? 235 ; French-English strug- les, 252; in King William's War, 253, 254 ; in Queen Anne's War, 255; removal of the Acadians, 243 ; general history, 242-244. OCRAKOKE inlet, English col- ony on, 38. Oglethorpe, Jarnes, character, 259 ; founds Georgia, 259, 260; cam- paign against Florida Spaniards, 262, 269, 278. Ohio Company, its colonization efforts, 283. Oneida Indians, 10, 11. Onondaga Indians, 10, 11. Oregon, aborigines of, 12, PEQ PACIFIC ocean, crossed by pre- historic vessels, 2 ; effect on American exploration, 26, 27, 70 ; discovery by Balboa, 26. — slope, north-shore flora, 2 ; diffi- culties of colonizing, 3 ; geography, 3, 4, 6, 7; early Spanish explora- tions, 28, 29 ; Spanish missions, 31 ; Drake's explorations, 37, Palatinate War. See King William's War. Palatines, in Pennsylvania, 230. Paper money, governors oppose its issue, 272-274, 278, 289. Parish, the, in England, 55, 57 ; in the South, 56. ^ Patroon system, in New York, 198- 200 ; in Delaware, 207, 208. Pawtuxet, R. I., founded, 160; the Gorton case, 160, 161. Penn Charter School, founded, 229. Penn, William, secures grant of Delaware, 210; interested in New Jersey, 212, 213, 215; secures grant of Pennsylvania, 215; his government, 216 ; relations with Indians, 216, 217; boundary dis- putes with Maryland, 86 ; on American climate, 220 ; supported by aristocrats, 224; introduces physicians, 225 ; imports Germans, 230 ; plan for colonial union, 270 ; death, 217; his heirs resist taxa- tion of their lands, 273, 274. — , Admiral Sir William, father of foregoing, 215, 240. Pennsylvania, settlements, 208, 209, 215; geography, 219; social classes, 222-224 ; occupations, 224, 225 ; trade and commerce, 225, 226; life and manners, 227-229; education, 229 ; religion, 108, 229, 230; crime and pauperism, 131; political conditions, 232, 280, 281 ; annexation of Delaware, 210, 216; Penn's constitution and laws, 216 ; development, 216, 217 ; witchcraft delusion, 192 ; boundary disputes, 86, 268 ; disagreement between governor and assembly, 273,274; Indian affairs, 170, 277; paper money, 278; characteristics, 217; influence of Virginia ideas, 280 ; population (1700), 221, 222, (1750) 265, 266. Pequod Indians, uprising of, 136, 137, 140-142. EPOCH MAP _ % f. \ z \ ^ 7| a. < — 1 i S S U- ■ 1 ^ £ I X u ^ji tf ^ i o _ ^ -^ 1 111 S -1 n = o -^ U 1^ 1 COL TOO. of Actual French i OF MILES i'OO - s •§- 1 . I ISH 1 Extent 1 1 SCALI 100 ^ i ^ ^ « "= a < O -1 i O o _ ^ ^ 1 A J ^ ^(^ w "^ D 1 ^ 1 ^ ! ^j s - ^ ^ ^ - t2 ^ A=r c. ■5 V character of colonists, 97, 114; landed estates, 58; judiciary, 60; suffrage, 61, 62; first assem- bly, 62; first charter, 66-69, 70, 113 ; second charter, 72 ; develop- ment, 75-81 ; becomes a royal prov- ince, 74; Bacon's rebellion, 78, 79, go ; occupations, 102 ; com- merce, 103, 104; education, 107, 108; religion, 108 ; witch-duck- ing, 192; conflicts with Dutch, 197, 200; Walloons rejected, 198 ; piracy, 273 ; Spotswood's term, 269 ; Nicholson's term, 273 ; in- cludes Bermudas, 238 ; Virginia ideas versus New England ideas, 280 ; reaching out to the West, 67, 283; population (1688), 97, (1763) 266. " Virginia," the early New England pinnace, 185. Virgin Islands, Leeward group, 237, 238. WALFORD, Thomas, settles at Charlestown, 122. Walloons, settle in New Nether- lands, 198, 201 ; in Delaware, 207, 208. Warwick, Earl of, interest in Ameri- can colonization, 37 ; president of Council for New England, 141, 158. — , R. I., founded, 148 ; Gorton case, 160. Washington, George, education of, 108; opinion of Bermudas, 239. Watertown, Mass., founded, 127; protest against taxation without representation, 62, 128 ; emigration to Connecticut, 140. Welsh, American discoveries by, 21 ; in New England, 180 ; in Penn- sylvania and Delaware, 217, 221. Wesley, Charles, in Georgia, 262. — , John, in Georgia, 262. West Indies, aborigines of, 8 ; Span- ish conquest of, 43, 47; Spanish commerce, 39 ; piracy, 34 ; Portu- guese in, 48; Dutch in, 50; trade with Southern colonies, 102, 104 ; trade with New England, 1S5 ; trade with m.iddle colonies, 226 ; intercolonial lelations, 234, 235. West Jersey, 212-214, 216, 221. Westminster, treaty of, 205. Wethersfield, Conn., founded, 141 \ sacked by Indians, 137. Weymouth, George, explores New England coast, 41, 65. Whitefield, George, revival work, 190, 262. William HI., king of England, 206, 253- — and Mary, sovereigns of Eng- land, proclaimed in the colonies, 87, 176. William and Mary college, chartered, 80, 81, 103. Williams, Roger, character, 132 ; at Salem, 132, 133 ; founds Provi- dence, 133, 146, 147, 149, 160; ser- vices in Pequod War, 136 ; attitude towards Quakers, 165. Williamsburg, capital of Virginia, 81, 98. _ Wilmington, Del., founded, 201, 208. — , N. C, early French visit to, 32. Windsor, Conn., founded, 13'';, 137 140. 141. Index, ;oi WIN Windward Islands, English colonies, 236,237. Wingfield, Edward Maria, member of London Company, 66; presi- dent of Jamestown, 70. Winslow, Edward, London agent of Massachusetts, 131, 132 ; in the Gorton case, 160 ; expression of colonial independence, 161. Winthrop, John, governor of Massa- chusetts, 127, 129, 135, 13S, 156; expression of colonial indepen- dence, 161. — , John, Jr., founds Saybrook, 136, 141 ; governor of Connecticut, 143 ; London agent of Connecticut, 168. Wisconsin, canoe portages in, 4 ; ab- origines of, 12; discovered by Nicoletj 26 ; early French explo- rations in, 247, 248. ZUN Witchcraft delusion, at Salem, igo- 192, 275 ; elsewhere, 190, 192. Wocoken, island of, English colony on, 38, 88. YALE COLLEGE, founded, 80, 188. Yeamans, Sir John, leads colony to Carolina, 8g, 237 ; governor of South Carolina, 93. York, Duke of, proprietor of New York, 203, 210-212; becomes James IL, 205, 206, 213; grants Delaware to Pennsylvania, 216. 'UNI Indians, visited by Span- i iards, 29, 30. LIBRARY CONGRESS