diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42701-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42701-0.txt | 11944 |
1 files changed, 11944 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42701-0.txt b/42701-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5939b42 --- /dev/null +++ b/42701-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11944 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42701 *** + +Illustration: + + EPOCH MAP I + + PHYSICAL FEATURES + OF THE + UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + BASED UPON GOVERNMENT MAPS + + _Dark buff represents 2,000 ft. and over._ + + + + + _Epochs of American History_ + + THE COLONIES + + 1492-1750 + + BY + REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, LL.D. + + EDITOR OF "JESUIT RELATIONS," "EARLY WESTERN TRAVELS," + "ORIGINAL JOURNALS OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITIONS," + 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 + + + + + _Copyright, 1890_, + BY CHARLES J. MILLS. + + _Copyright, 1897_, + BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + + _Copyright, 1910_, + BY LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + + _All rights reserved._ + + First Edition, December, 1890. + +Reprinted, September, 1891, February, 1892, (Revised), January and August, +1893, December, 1893, (Revised), August, 1894, October, 1895, July, 1896, +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), October, 1911. + + + + + 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 common and easily accessible books, afterward, through the lists of +bibliographies by other hands, to special works and monographs. The reader +or teacher will 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, therefore, both physical and political geography +will receive 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 questions. + +To my colleague, Professor Edward Channing, I beg to offer especial thanks +for many generous suggestions, both as to the scope of the work and as to +details. + + ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. + +CAMBRIDGE, December 1, 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 light of general +colonization as a phase of history. 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 conditions, 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 mother-country. It is shown that the causes of the Revolution were +deep-seated in colonial history. Attention 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 1, 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 carefully 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 1, 1910. + + + + + SUGGESTIONS. + + +While this volume is intended to be complete in itself, compression has +been necessary in order to make it conform 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 bibliographies, 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 containing 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 New England; The Discovery of America_, 2 +vols.; _Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America_, 2 vols.; _New France and +New England; Old Virginia 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 Colonies in America_. +New York: Harper Brothers Co., 1881.--Concise and readable. + +15-17. HERBERT LEVI OSGOOD: _American Colonies in the 17th 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 History_. 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.-III. cover the colonial period. +Especially notable for its illustrations--for the most part, reproductions +of contemporary views, maps, portraits, and articles of historical +interest. The bibliographies are quite full. + +6, 7. EDWARD CHANNING: _A History of the United States_. 8 vols. New York: +The Macmillan Co., 1905+.--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 People_. 5 vols. New +York: Harper Brothers Co., 1902.--Popular 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 17th +Century_. 2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1896.--A careful, detailed +study. + +23. PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE: _Social Life of Virginia in the 17th Century_. +Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1907.--Thorough and clear. + +24, 25. SYDNEY GEORGE FISHER: _Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times_. +2 vols. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1898.--A readable and useful +survey. + +26. FREDERICK WEBB HODGE: _Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico_. +Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1907.--The author, a member of the +Ethnological Bureau, is an authority on this subject. + +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 Régime 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 North America in Historic 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, 1620-1789_. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1890.--An +admirably executed work. + + + D. Sources. + +43, 44. ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, Editor: _American History Told by +Contemporaries_. 4 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1897, 1898.--Very +useful for purposes of illustration. Vols. I., II., are devoted to colonial +material. + +45-64. JOHN FRANKLIN JAMESON, Editor: _Original Narratives of Early +American History_. 20 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, +1906+.--Carefully edited, and indispensable for first-hand study. + +65. WILLIAM MACDONALD, Editor: _Documentary Source Book of American +History, 1606-1898_. New York: The Macmillan 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 historical 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 Antiquarian Society, and the state +historical societies of Massachusetts, 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 + 1. References, p. 1.--2. Physical characteristics of North + America, p. 2.--3. The native races, p. 7.--4. Characteristics + of the Indian, p. 13.--5. Relations of the Indians and + colonists, p. 17 1-19 + + + CHAPTER II. + + 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.--11. The French in North America + (1524-1550), 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.--23. Character of English + emigrants, p. 53.--24. Local government in the colonies, p. + 55.--25. Colonial 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. 81.--34. Maryland during the English + revolution (1642-1660), p. 84.--35. Development of Maryland + (1660-1715), p. 86.--36. Early settlers in the Carolinas + (1542-1665), p. 87.--37. Proprietorship 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. Occupations, p. 102.--44. Navigation + Acts, p. 104.--45. Social life, p. 106.--46. Political + life, and conclusions, p. 109 96-111 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND (1620-1643). + + 47. References, p. 112.--48. The New England colonists, + p. 113.--49. Plymouth colonized (1620-1621), p. 116.--50. + Development of Plymouth (1621-1691), 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 Massachusetts (1636-1638), p. + 132.--55. Indian wars (1635-1637), p. 136.--56. Laws and + characteristics of Massachusetts (1637-1643), p. 137.--57. + Connecticut founded (1633-1639), p. 140.--58. The + Connecticut 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. 152 112-153 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 TO 1700. + + 63. References, p. 154.--64. New England confederation formed + (1637-1643), p. 154.--65. Workings of the confederation + (1643-1660), p. 157.--66. Disturbances 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. Occupations, + p. 184.--78. Social conditions, p. 186.--79. Moral and + religious conditions, p. 188.--80. The witchcraft delusion, + p. 190.--81. Political conditions, p. 192 178-194 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES (1609-1700). + + 82. References, p. 195.--83. Dutch settlement (1609-1625), + p. 196.--84. Progress of New Netherland (1626-1664), p. + 198.--85. Conquest of New Netherland (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 XI. + + OTHER ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES (1605-1750). + + 98. References, p. 233.--99. Outlying English colonies, + p. 234.--100. Windward and Leeward Islands (1605-1814), p. + 236.--101. 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 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE (1608-1750). + + 107. References, p. 245.--108. Settlement of Canada (1608-1629), + p. 246.--109. Exploration of the Northwest (1629-1699), p. + 247.--110. Social and political conditions, p. 249.--111. + 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 (1732-1755). + + 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 1700 TO 1750. + + 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 conditions, p. + 278.--129. Political and social conditions (1700-1750), p. + 280.--130. Results of the half-century (1700-1750), p. 282 264-284 + + + INDEX 285 + + + + + 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. +Larned, _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. 1, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. 1); T. MacCoun, +_Historical Geography of United States_; school histories 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 History_.--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 above, 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, _American Race_; C. Thomas, +_Indians in Historic Times_; F. Hodge, _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. Grinnell, +_Story of the Indian_. The introduction to F. Parkman, _Jesuits in North +America_, and his _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, I. ch. i., are admirable general +surveys. Briefer, also excellent, is J. Fiske's _Discovery 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 Mountains_ 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. Especially notable are L. Morgan, +_League of the Iroquois_, and C. Colden, _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. + + Sidenote: Origin of the native races, a mere matter of conjecture. + +Whence came the native races of America? Doubtless the chain of Aleutian +islands served as stepping-stones for straggling bands of Asiatics to cross +over into continental Alaska many centuries ago; 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 similarities between the flora on each shore of the North +Pacific; and the Eskimos of North America, like the West-Slope Indians of +South America, have been thought to exhibit physical resemblances to the +Mongols and Malays. On the other hand, some archæologists 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. + + Sidenote: Difficulties of colonization from the west. + +North America could not, in a primitive stage of the mechanic arts, have +been developed by colonization on any considerable scale from the west, +except in the face of difficulties almost insuperable. 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 cliffs and through deep chasms, and +cannot be utilized for progress far into the interior. + + Sidenotes: The Atlantic seaboard the natural approach to North America. + + The river system. + + The Appalachian valley system. + +The Atlantic seaboard, upon the other hand, is broad and inviting. The +Appalachian range lies for the most part nearly a hundred miles inland. The +gently sloping coast abounds in indentations,--safe harbors and generous +land-locked bays, into which flow numerous rivers of considerable 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 reached. Dragging his craft +over any one of a half-dozen easy portages in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, +or Ohio, the canoe traveller can emerge into the Mississippi basin, by +means of whose far-stretching 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-flowing feeders of the Mississippi. The Appalachian +mountains run for the most part in parallel 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. + + Sidenote: An inviting field for Aryan colonization. + +Thus with the entrance of North America facing the east, and with Europe +lying but little more than one half the distance from Boston that Asia lies +from San Francisco, it was in the order of things that from the east should +have come the people who were to settle and civilize the New World. +Colonists could on this side of the continent found new commonwealths, yet +at the same time easily maintain their connection with the fatherland. The +march of Aryan emigration 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. + + Sidenotes: Geographical characteristics of New England and of the South. + + Three grand natural divisions of the Atlantic slope. + + Extractive industries. + + Soil. + + Climate. + +The Atlantic border may be considered as the threshold 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 New England, where there is an +abundance of good harbors, the coast is narrow and the streams are short +and rapid, with stretches of 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, flowing lazily through a wide base-plain, +the coast of which furnishes but little safe anchorage, served as avenues +of traffic for the large, isolated colonial estates strung along their +banks; the autocratic planters taking pleasure in having ports of entry at +their doors. The Hudson and the Potomac lead far inland,--paths to the +water ways of the interior,--and divide the Atlantic slope into three grand +natural divisions, the 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 common. The Appalachian mountains and their +foot-hills abound in many places in iron and coal; works for the 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 considerable +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. + + Sidenotes: The Mississippi basin. + + The Pacific slope. + +Beyond the Appalachian mountain wall, the once heavily forested land dips +gently to the Mississippi; then the land rises again, in a long, treeless +swell, up to the foot of the giant and picturesque 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 down as desert, needs only irrigation to blossom as the rose. +The Pacific slope, narrow and abrupt, abounds in fertile, pent-up valleys, +with some 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. + + Sidenote: Summary. + +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. +It offers a wide range of diversity in climate and products, yet is +traversed by noble rivers which intimately 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 "entangling 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 Races. + + Sidenotes: The aborigines. + + Divisible into two divisions. + +When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of America it was found not +only that a New World had been discovered, but that it was peopled by a +race of men theretofore unknown to civilized experience. The various +branches of the race differed greatly from each other in general appearance +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 different points along the coast, led to much +confusion in European estimates of the aborigines. We now know that but one +race occupied the land from Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Leaving 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:-- + + Sidenote: Mexicans, Peruvians, Pueblos, Cliff-Dwellers, and Indians of + the lower Mississippi valley. + +I. The semi-civilized peoples represented by the sun-worshipping Mexicans +and Peruvians, who had attained particular efficiency in architecture, +road-making, and fortification, acquired some knowledge of astronomy, were +facile if not elegant in sculpture, practised many handicrafts, but appear +to have exhibited little capacity for further progress. Their government +was paternal to a degree nowhere else observed, and the people, 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 headwaters 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. Allied in race and similar in acquirements were the tribes +inhabiting the lower Mississippi valley, the Natchez and perhaps other +tribes lying farther to the east. + + Sidenote: The Red Indians of North America. + +II. The natives of North America, called Red Indians,--a name which +perpetuates the geographical error of Columbus, and has given rise to an +erroneous opinion as to their color--occupied a still lower plane of +civilization. Yet one must be cautious in accepting any hard-and-fast +classification. The North Americans presented a considerable 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. + + Sidenote: Philological divisions of Red Indian tribes. + +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 renegades, by similarities in +manner, habits, and appearance, that it is difficult even to separate the +savages into families. It is only on philological grounds that these +divisions can be made at all. In a 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. + + Sidenote: The Algonquians. + +I. The Algonquians were the most numerous, holding the greater portion of +the country from the unoccupied "debatable land" of Kentucky northward to +Hudson Bay, and from the Atlantic westward to the Mississippi. Among their +tribes were the Narragansetts and Mohicans. These savages were rude 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, practised 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 +Algonkins at no time numbered over ninety thousand souls, and possibly not +over fifty thousand. + + Sidenote: The Iroquois. + +II. In the heart of this Algonquian land was planted an ethnic group called +the Iroquois, with its several distinct branches, often at war with each +other. The craftiest, most daring, and most intelligent 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, Cayugas, 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 firmly held the waterways connecting the Hudson +River and the Great Lakes. The population of the entire group was not over +seventeen thousand,--a remarkably small number, considering the active part +they played in American history, and the control which they exercised over +wide tracts of Algonquian territory. Later they were joined by the +Tuscaroras from North Carolina, and the confederacy was thereafter known as +"The Six Nations." + + Sidenote: The Southern Indians. + +III. The Southern Indians occupied the country between the Tennessee River +and the Gulf, the Appalachian ranges and the Mississippi. They were divided +into five lax confederacies,--the Cherokees, 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 agriculturists, 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 +herdsmen, with a capacity for self-government and shrewd business dealing. +It is not thought that the Southern tribes ever numbered above fifty +thousand persons. + + Sidenote: The Dakotahs. + +IV. The Dakotah, or Sioux, family occupied for the most part the country +beyond the Mississippi. They were and are a fierce, high-strung people, are +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 expeditions of Narvaez, +Coronado, and De Soto, and very early in the historic period the Indians of +the far western plains became expert horsemen, attaining a degree of +equestrian skill equal to that of the desert-dwelling Arabs. Outlying bands +of the Dakotahs once occupied the greater part of Wisconsin and northern +Illinois, and were, it is believed by competent investigators, one of the +various tribes of mound-builders. Upon withdrawing 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-Mississippi nations there are, but they are neither +as large nor of such historical importance as the Dakotahs. + + Sidenote: Other tribes. + +The above enumeration, covering the territory south of Hudson Bay and east +of the Rocky Mountains, embraces those savage nations with which the white +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 ethnological 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 +somewhat 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. + + + 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 +materially shaped the fortunes of the colonies. + + Sidenote: The Indian as a hunter and fisher. + +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 +hunting-grounds, but the game-preserves of other tribes 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 commanding 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. + + Sidenote: Political organization. + +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 naturally due to headmen of the several clans, 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 volunteers 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 "emperors" among the red men was +fanciful, the authors falling 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 council +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 enterprise, still more unusual for several tribes to stand +by each other in adversity. It was this weakness in organization,--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 common foe. Here and there in our +history we shall note some formidable Indian conspiracies for entirely +dispossessing 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. + + Sidenote: The Indian as a fighter. + +The strength of the Indian as a fighter lay in his capacity for stratagem, +in his ability to thread the tangled thicket as silently and easily as he +would an open plain, in his powers of secrecy, and in his habit of making +rapid, unexpected sallies for robbery 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 sustained resistance on the part of an enemy +inferior in 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. + + Sidenote: Social characteristics. + +The Indian was lord of his own wigwam and of the squaws, whom he purchased +of their fathers, kept as his slaves, and could divorce at his caprice. +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 +unsuspected strangers, the Indian was merciless to his enemies, 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. + + Sidenotes: Dress. + + Religion. + + Medicine. + +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 observances 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. Fancy ran riot in superstition. Even the dances practised +by the aborigines had a certain religious significance, being pantomimes, +and in some features resembling the mediæval miracle-plays of Europe. The +art of healing was tinctured with necromancy, although 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. + + Sidenote: Intellectual status. + +In intellectual activity the red man did not occupy so low a scale as has +often been assigned him. He was barbarous in his habits, but was so 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 +incomparable 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 characteristics 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. + + + 5. Relations of the Indians and Colonists. + + Sidenotes: The Indians and the colonists. + + Indians as foes. + +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 encroachments +upon his hunting grounds. At first the whites were regarded by the +aborigines as of supernatural origin, and hospitality, veneration, and +confidence were displayed toward the new-comers. But the morality of the +Europeans was soon 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 murdered the natives on slight provocation, distrust and hatred +naturally succeeded the sentiment of awe. Like many savage races, like the +earlier 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 retaliation in kind. The white +borderers themselves were frequently brutal, reckless, and lawless; and +under such conditions clashing was inevitable. + + Sidenote: The fur-trade, and inter-tribal barter. + +But the love of trade was strong among the Indians, and caused them to some +extent to overcome or to conceal their antipathies. There had always +existed a system of inter-tribal barter, so widespread that the first +whites landing on the Atlantic coast saw Indians with copper ornaments 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 Mississippi, in advance of +the earliest white explorers. The trade with the Indians was one of the +incentives to colonization. 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 acquired among them, and barbaric +implements and utensils abandoned for those of civilized make. So rapid was +this change that it was not long before the Indians became dependent on the +whites for nearly every article of dress and ornament, and for tools and +weapons. The white traders, who travelled through the woods visiting the +tribes, exchanging these goods for furs, often cheated and robbed the +Indian, taught him the use of intoxicants, bullied and browbeat him, +appropriated his women, and in general introduced serious demoralization +into the native camps. Trouble frequently grew out of this wretched +condition of affairs. The bulk of the whites doubtless intended to treat +the Indian honorably; but the forest traders were beyond the pale of law, +and news of the details of their transactions seldom reached the coast +settlements. + + Sidenotes: The Indian as a neighbor. + + The inevitable struggle for mastery. + +As a neighbor the Indian was difficult to deal with, whether in the +negotiation of treaties of amity, or in the purchase of lands. Having but a +loose system of government, there was no really responsible head, and no +compact was secure from the interference of malcontents who would not be +bound by treaties made by the chiefs. The English felt that the red-men +were not putting the land to its full use, that much of the territory was +growing up as a waste, that they were best entitled to it who could make it +the most productive. On the other hand, the earlier cessions of land were +made under a total misconception: the Indians supposed that the new-comers +would, after a few years of occupancy, pass on and leave the tract again +to the natives. There was no compromise possible between races with +precisely opposite views of property in land. The struggle was +inevitable,--civilization against savagery. No sentimental notions could +prevent it. It was in the nature of things that the weaker must give way. +For a long time it was not certain that a combined effort might not drive +the whites into the sea and undo the work of colonization; but in the end +the savage went to the wall. + + Sidenote: Good effect of Indian opposition on the colonists. + +Taking a general view of the growth of the American nation, it is now easy +to see that it was fortunate that Englishmen met in the Indian so +formidable an antagonist: such fierce and untamed savages could never be +held long as slaves; and thus 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 essential 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. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + DISCOVERIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS. + (1492-1606.) + + + 6. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Winsor, _Columbus_, and _Narrative and Critical 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; Larned, _Literature of American History_, 50-68, +and _History for Ready Reference_, 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. 1, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. I); MacCoun; +Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, I., II.; H. Harrisse, _Discovery +of North America_, and _Découverte et Evolution Cartographique de +Terre-Neuve_; E. L. Stevenson, _Maps illustrating 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.-iv., and _Columbus_; Avery, I. chs. +vii.--xxi.; E. Channing, _United States_, I. chs. i.-v.; J. Doyle, _English +Colonies in America_, I. ch. iv. + +Special Histories.--E. Bourne, _Spain in America_; Parkman, _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, _Voyages_; Camden Society, _Publications_, +lxxxvii.; _Relation of Captain Gosnold's Voyage_ (1602); Breton, _Brief and +True Relation_ (1602); Pring, _Voyage for Discovery of North Part of +Virginia_ (1603); Rosier, _True Relation_ (1605); Amerigo Vespuccius, +_Letters._--Reprints: Prince Society, _Publications; American History told +by Contemporaries_, I. part ii.; J. Jameson, _Original Narratives of Early +American History; American History Leaflets_, 1, 3, 9, 13. + + + 7. Pre-Columbian Discoveries. + + Sidenote: The Scandinavian claim. + +The Basques, Normans, Welsh, Irish, and Scandinavians are the principal +claimants for the honor of discovering America before Columbus; and there +are also believers in early African migrations to the western continent, +chiefly influenced by supposed ethnological and botanical evidences found +in South America. The Scandinavians make out the strongest case. 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 875 +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 876. 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 discovered 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, +"erected large buildings," and then set out for Greenland 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 Vinland, 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 voyages 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. + + Sidenote: It is shadowy, but not improbable. + +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 Scandinavian claim is, that Vinland was +somewhere on the coast south of Labrador; but as to the exact locality, +there is much diversity of opinion. There may easily have been early +voyages to the American mainland south of Davis Straits by the hardy Norse +seamen colonized in Iceland and Greenland, 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 romantic embellishment. It is now difficult to +separate in them the true from the false; yet we have other contemporaneous +evidence (Adam of Bremen, 1076) that 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 archæological proofs of these alleged centuries of Norse +occupation in America. + + + 8. Early European Discoveries (1492-1512). + + Sidenotes: American development begun with Columbus. + + The race for India. + + The idea of sailing westward to reach India not original with Columbus. + +But even granting the possibility, and indeed the probability, of +pre-Columbian discoveries, they bore no lasting fruit, and are merely the +antiquarian puzzles and curiosities of American history. The development of +the New World began with the 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 +navigation there arose a general desire to reach India by sea. Three +centuries before Christ, Aristotle had taught that the earth was a sphere, +and that the waters which laved Europe on the west washed the eastern +shores of Asia. Here and there through the centuries others advanced the +same opinion, and the map which the great Italian astronomer Toscanelli +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 stands in the +front as the one man who put his faith to the test. The mistake lay in the +current calculations regarding the size of the earth. Instead of being only +three thousand miles to 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. + + Sidenote: Pope Alexander's bull. + +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 VI. now issued his famous bull (May 4, 1493), partitioning the +un-Christian world into two parts,--Spain to have lands west of an +imaginary meridian 100 leagues west of Cape de Verde islands, and Portugal +those to the east--a simple arrangement, on paper. Next year, by agreement, +the line 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. + + Sidenote: England sends out John Cabot. + +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 yet seen; and we are told that there was grievous +disappointment at the court of London because Spain had been the +path-breaker to the west. In 1497 John Cabot set sail from England armed +with a 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 morning of the 24th of June +he sighted the gloomy headlands 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 generous king gave "£10 to him that found the new isle"--the equivalent +of $700 or $800 of our money. + + Sidenotes: Portugal reaches India by the southeast. + + Sebastian Cabot's voyage. + +The year 1498 was one of the most notable in the long and splendid history +of maritime discovery. Young Vasco da Gama, of Portugal, turned the Cape of +Good Hope, and gayly sailed his little fleet into the harbor of Calicut +(May 20). At last India had been discovered by the southeast passage: +Portugal had first reached the goal. In May, also, Columbus 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 passage, which his father had +failed to reach, and which was undiscovered until our own times (1850). +Icebergs turned Sebastian southward, and he explored the American shores +down to the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay. From this voyage sprang the claim +under which the English colonies in North America were founded. + + Sidenote: Newfoundland as a colonial nucleus. + +Three years later (1501) a Portuguese mariner, Gaspar Cortereal, explored +the American coast south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence for a long distance. +By 1504 we know that fishermen from Brittany and Normandy were at +Newfoundland, and from that time forward there appear to have been more or +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 Newfoundland fisheries, and +a good trade with the Indians had been established. + + Sidenote: Searching for a short cut through America. + +The idea that America was but a projection of Asia possessed all the early +explorers; and indeed it was a century and a half later (1728) before +Bering sailed from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic and proved 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 English 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 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 stimulus +had now been given to the general desire to reach India by sea; for the +Turks were overrunning Egypt (1512-1520) 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). + + Sidenote: Ponce de Leon in Florida. + +This same year (1513) was notable also for the first visit made by +Spaniards to the mainland of North America. Ponce de Leon, a valiant +soldier worn 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 fountain giving forth waters capable of recuperating life. The +country was ablaze with brilliant flowers, but the elixir of life was not +there, and he returned disappointed. + + Sidenote: Vasquez in South Carolina. + +In 1519 Pineda, another Spaniard, explored the northern shore of the Gulf +of Mexico. The following year (1520) a slave-hunting expedition, under +Vasquez, visited the coast of South Carolina, 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 different temper from the Aztecs. The expedition +met with disaster. While Vasquez was fighting the embittered savages in +South Carolina, Gomez, also in behalf of Spain, was ranging along the +Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to New Jersey, and instituting a +successful trade with the natives. + + Sidenote: Narvaez in the Florida wilds. + +In April, 1528, Narvaez, with three hundred enthusiastic young nobles and +gentlemen from Spain, landed at Tampa Bay and renewed his sovereign's claim +to Florida and its supposed wealth of mines 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, Indian Territory, +New Mexico, and Arizona,--through entangled 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. + + Sidenote: Spaniards reaching northward from Mexico. + +Their coming revived the shadowy native tales of gold mines and wealthy +cities to the north, which had for some years been exciting the cupidity of +the conquerors of Mexico. In response to these rumors there had been +frequent reachings out 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 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. + + Sidenote: The "Seven Cities of Cibola." + +It was in 1530 that specific reports first came, through native slaves, of +seven great cities of stone-built houses a few hundred miles north of the +capital of the Aztecs, where the inhabitants had such a profusion of gold +and silver that their household utensils were made of those metals. The +search for "the seven cities of Cibola," as these alleged communities 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. + + Sidenote: Coronado's march. + +Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow-adventurers claimed, upon their arrival, to +have themselves seen the seven cities; and they enlarged on the previous +stories. Coronado, governor of the northern province of New Gallicia, was +accordingly sent to conquer this wonderful country which Guzman had failed +to find. Early in 1540 he set out with a well-equipped following of three +hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians. The Cibola cities were found +to be but pueblos in Arizona or New Mexico, like the communal dwellings of +the Hopis and Zuñis, with the aspect of which we are so familiar to-day; +while the mild inhabitants destitute of wealth, peacefully practising 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 by +death and desertion, beat for three years up and down the southwestern +wilderness,--now thirsting in the deserts, now penned up in gloomy cañons, +now crawling over pathless mountains, suffering the horrors of starvation +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 twice; "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 hunger 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 Cañon 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. + + Sidenote: De Soto follows Narvaez. + +Early in the summer of 1539 Hernando de Soto, the favorite of Pizarro in +the conquest of Peru (1532), anchored his fleet in the bay of Espiritu +Santo, Florida, determined to gain independent renown as the 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 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, +1541),--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 reduced +in numbers, descended the stream, and after great hardships finally reached +the Mexican coast-settlements in September. + + + 10. Spanish Colonies (1492-1687). + + Sidenotes: Spanish friars in the southwest. + + Spain's American possessions at close of sixteenth century. + + +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 settlement. 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 friars opened missions in the valleys of the Rio Grande and the +Gila,--the Cibola of old. Sixteen years later (1598) Santa Fé was +established 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 to all that +region; but De Gourgues dealt her settlements a staggering blow, and she +seemed thereafter incapable of further colonizing the province. At the +close of the sixteenth century Spain held but few points in what is now the +United States,--Santa Fé in New Mexico, a few scattering missions along the +Gila and Rio Grande, and St. Augustine in Florida. + + + 11. The French in North America (1524-1550). + + Sidenotes: The French enter the field. + + Cartier at Montreal; and Quebec. + +The French were not far behind the Spanish in their attempts to colonize +North America. In 1524 John Verrazano, a Florentine in the employ of +Francis I., while seeking the supposed water passage through America to +China, explored the coast from about Wilmington, N. C., to Newfoundland. +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 side." The next year he was back again, and ascended to the first +rapids at La Chine, naming the island mountain there, Mont-Réal. 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, 1541. 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 a year in America +before returning home, and it is thought that he visited Massachusetts Bay +in his voyages alongshore. France was now ablaze with civil war, and the +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 certain 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. French Attempts to colonize Florida (1562-1568). + + Sidenote: Coligny's colony at Port Royal. + +Admiral Coligny, the great Huguenot leader, was ambitious to establish a +colony of French Protestants in America which should be a refuge for his +persecuted countrymen whenever it became desirable 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. + + Sidenote: Laudonnière in Florida. + +The succeeding season (1564), another colonizing expedition, made up of +Protestants, headed by René Goulaine de Laudonnière, and aided by the king, +sought 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 and +gutters were thought to furnish good colonizing material for America. +Laudonnière 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. + + Sidenote: The Spanish massacre. + +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 scene and announced his purpose +to "gibbet and behead all the Protestants in these regions." Melendez +established St. Augustine, which is thus the oldest town in the 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. + + Sidenote: The Huguenots avenged. + +A Gascon soldier, Dominic de Gourgues, soon came over (1567) to avenge the +wrong done his fellow-Huguenots. He captured all the Spanish establishments +left by Melendez, except St. Augustine. 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. + + + 13. The French in Canada (1589-1608). + + Sidenote: De la Roche's ill-fated venture. + +The colonial policy of Henri IV. (1589-1610) was more progressive and +enlightened than that of his immediate 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 was repeated, when the Marquis de la +Roche took out a company of forty jail-birds, liberated 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 Léry had +made a vain attempt to start a colony. La Roche, beggared on his return +home, was unable to succor 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. + + Sidenotes: Champlain's first voyage. + + De Monts' colony. + + Quebec established. + +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, Pontgravé. They made two lucrative voyages, but +established no settlement. Samuel de Champlain, in Pontgravé's company, +went out in 1603, ascending the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal. 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 +latitude,--and religious freedom was granted 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 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 disaster after disaster; but although Port Royal was +abandoned in 1607, the germ of colonization lived. In 1608, Champlain--who +had, four years before, while in 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). + + Sidenote: English interests at Newfoundland. + +England would have followed up Cabot's discovery of North America with more +vigor had not Henry VII., being a Catholic prince, hesitated to set aside +the Pope's bull giving the new continent to 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 entanglements, and aspired to +make England a maritime nation. Among many other enterprises the northwest +passage allured him, although nothing came of his ventures in that +direction. With the accession of Edward VI. (1547) a progressive era +opened. The Newfoundland 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. + + Sidenote: Elizabeth's courtiers looking towards America. + +The most popular ventures among the nobles of Elizabeth's court were the +northwest passage, American colonization, and freebooting voyages. Writers +of voyages and travels and cartographers sprang up on every hand, the most +noteworthy being Richard Eden, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Richard Hakluyt, and +Martin Frobisher. Patronized by the powerful Earl of Warwick, Frobisher in +three successive voyages (1576-1578) vainly sought gold in Labrador. +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. + + Sidenote: Gilbert's voyage. + +Gilbert saw that Newfoundland must thereafter be considered as the nucleus +of English settlement in America; and in 1579 Sir Humphrey, himself a +soldier and a member of Parliament, accompanied 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, examined 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. + + + 15. English Attempts to colonize (1584-1606). + + Sidenote: Amadas and Barlowe. + +Under Raleigh's auspices two vessels set out in 1584, commanded by Philip +Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They landed at the island of Roanoke, the +southernmost of the reefs enclosing Albemarle Sound, in North Carolina; but +although charmed with the country, which they declared to be "the most +plentiful, 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 establishing a considerable province there, and of +enjoying a comfortable rent-roll. + + Sidenote: Raleigh's first colony. + +In 1585, aided by the queen, he sent out seven vessels and one hundred and +eight colonists, the fleet being commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, and +the 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 removed in this regard from the +spirit of the old Norse pirates. Grenville therefore sailed around by the +Canaries, 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 reception on the part of the aborigines. But Grenville before his +return treated them harshly, leaving to them and the 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 journeyings +reaching on the north to Chesapeake Bay and Elizabeth River, on the south +to the Secotan. But the situation became irksome. The spirit of adventure +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. + + Sidenote: The enterprise abandoned. + +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 of the settlers, he took them +aboard his fleet and 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 +fortnight, Grenville appeared with three well-furnished ships, and left +fifteen men on the island to renew the colonizing experiment. + + Sidenote: Raleigh's second attempt. + +Raleigh displayed most remarkable persistence. He was undismayed by this +long chapter of disasters. Men on whose judgment he relied brought back +good reports from the site of the ill-fated colony, and again he fitted out +an expedition,--this time entirely at his own charge, for Elizabeth had had +enough of the experiment. It was in July, 1587, when John White 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 settlement. + + Sidenote: Birth of Virginia Dare. + +The 18th of August the daughter of White, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to a +daughter, called Virginia, after the country,--the first child of English +parents 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, seventeen 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 defence; +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 English 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. + + Sidenote: Wreck of the colony. + +In 1591 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 Indians, and those whose lives were spared 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. + + Sidenote: Causes of English failures thus far. + +Among the principal causes of this early failure in Virginia were the +improper character and spirit of the emigrants, who, instead of looking to +the soil as the chief source of supplies, expected to 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. + + Sidenotes: Gosnold's voyages. + + Pring in Maine, and Weymouth at Cape Cod. + + Gorges becomes interested. + +Bartholomew Gosnold has had the reputation of being the first mariner who +set out for America on a direct voyage from England, thus avoiding the West +Indies and the Spanish, and saving nearly a thousand miles; but others +before him had taken the direct 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 way landing upon and +naming Cape Cod. The following year Martin Pring discovered many harbors +and rivers in Maine. In 1605 George Weymouth, sent by the Earl of +Southampton and Lord Arundel, explored from Cape Cod northward. He carried +back with him several kidnapped natives, three of whom he gave to Sir +Ferdinando Gorges, governor of the English port of Plymouth. 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 attempts had failed. +Conditions in England, too, had at last so changed as to make it possible +to undertake colonization with better assurances of success. But New +England was not destined to be the site of the first permanent plantation. +That honor was reserved for what is now Virginia. + + + 16. The Experience of the Sixteenth Century + (1492-1606). + + Sidenote: Sixteenth century notable for interest in discovery and + settlement. + +In reviewing the period from 1492 to 1606,--practically the sixteenth +century,--we see that it was notable for the extraordinary interest +displayed in discovery and settlement. Attention has been called to the +part played by the general desire of Europeans to secure the trade of +India. But we must not forget as well that, as a feature of the great +Renaissance and Reformation movement, the spirit of investigation was +abroad, in religion, philosophy, and the arts; there had grown up great +commercial and trading cities, in which the successful foreign merchant +became a part of a powerful aristocracy; popular 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. + + Sidenote: Causes of failure in North American colonization. + +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 comparative ease conquered the unwarlike natives of Mexico and Peru +upon their cultivated plains. That very ease took away the disposition, +even had her people been capable of the effort, slowly and painfully to +subdue the tangled forests and savage warriors of Florida, with no other +promise of reward than the possession of unredeemed soil. Not suited to the +task, she utterly wasted alike the resources of the home government +applicable to colonization, and those of the established colonies. France +had failed because of dissensions at home, inferior powers of organization, +the want of the proper colonizing 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, because poor +harbors were generally chosen, because there was difficulty in keeping up +communications with the mother-land, because the resident leaders lacked +courage 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. + + Sidenote: European claims in America, 1600. + +Taking a general view of America at the close of the sixteenth century, we +find Spain in undisputed possession of Peru, Central America, the country +west and northwest of the Gulf of Mexico, the greater part of the West +Indies, and the coast of what is now Florida; while they 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 southward, but their +colonies were not as yet permanently 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 Hudson 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 entertaining 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 Barbados +were neither claimed nor settled by Englishmen until the seventeenth +century. The great Mississippi basin had been visited by a few Spanish +overland wanderers, 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 of a caravel. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + COLONIZATION AND THE COLONISTS. + + + 17. References. + + +Bibliographies.--C. Lucas, _Introduction to Historical Geography 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, 110. + +Historical Maps.--No. 2, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. 2); MacCoun, +Winsor, and Avery. + +General Accounts.--Colonization: Lucas, as above (colonial 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, _Administration of Dependencies_, chs. +i.-v.--English movement: G. Beer, _Origin of British Colonial System_; H. +Merivale, _Colonization and the Colonies_; H. Egerton, _Short History of +British Colonial 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. Eggleston, _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 +Government_; 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. Macdonald, _Documentary Source Book of American +History_; _American History told by Contemporaries_, I. part iii. + + + 18. Colonial Policy of European States. + +The time had now come for making the first permanent English settlement in +America. Before we proceed 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 colonization, and what institutions they brought with them as +the foundations of American commonwealths. + + Sidenote: Motives of colonization. + +Four motives, working either singly or conjointly, lead to +colonization,--the spirit of adventurous enterprise, the desire for wealth, +economic or political discontent, and religious sentiment. For instance, +Columbus was quite as much a religious enthusiast 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 distress in England; and the Puritan +migration to New England was impelled by economic and political causes, as +well as by religious. + + Sidenote: Colonization is the expansion of the parent State, though + early viewed as a source of revenue to it. + +In a large sense the planting of a colony means merely the expansion of the +parent State. But this was not the view formerly taken by European +governments. For a long time colonies were treated as dependencies of the +mother-country, existing 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 a broad view of their relationship to +Great Britain, wished to be treated as free Englishmen 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. + + + 19. Spanish and Portuguese Policy. + + Sidenote: Spain. + +It chanced that the American discoveries made by Spain were in the region +of rich and physically weak nations. Consequently she won her vast +dominions on this continent by sweeping conquest 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 adventure, 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 development of an agricultural +colony. Had they known in advance the conditions of success on the North +American 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 commercial 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 +manufactures; 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 succeed 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 dispersion of the Armada. We have seen that in +this historical progress Spain 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. + + Sidenote: Portugal. + +The Portuguese, though impelled by a similar passion for conquest, were +more eager for trade than their powerful and often domineering Spanish +neighbors. 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 importance 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 government the previous year. + + + 20. French Policy. + + Sidenote: France. + +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 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 degraded 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 colonizing enterprises were based on the fur-trade, +their opposition to the advance of English agricultural possession 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 emigrants. 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, peculation, 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) resulted 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-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 interfered 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. Paternalism, 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 inhospitable 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. + + Sidenote: Holland. + +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 Holland; 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. Preeminently a trading nation, +Holland sought commerce rather than extension of empire. Long the chief +carrier of Europe before striking into a broader field, she followed 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 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 commercial 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. + + Sidenote: Sweden. + +The Swedish colony on the Delaware was planned by authority of Gustavus +Adolphus on broad, liberal principles; 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 independent province in the New World. Like +the Germans, however, they have in later years been in the main content to +colonize as the subjects of foreign governments. + + + 22. English Policy. + + Sidenote: England. + +England remains the only country which planted populous colonies within the +present United States and retained 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 enterprises. As regards +American exploration, the fact that 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 Elizabeth, 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 +Netherlands, 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. + + Sidenote: The English trading spirit. + +English occupation in North America, like the French, began with the +fishermen who, following in Cabot's wake, early sought the banks of +Newfoundland. They were courageous, businesslike men, who soon supplemented +their calling 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 sufficient 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 adventurers of the age of Elizabeth, +as much freebooters as explorers, were now succeeded by prosaic trading +companies, 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. + + Sidenote: Scanty State aid. + +In aiding these corporations, which succeeded after a fashion in planting +colonies, but failed for the most part in reaping profits, the State +expected increased revenue rather than the spread of European civilization. +In England, State assistance to such undertakings 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. + + Sidenote: English impulse to emigration. + +The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were full of trouble for the +English people. Religious restlessness was succeeded by revolution and +civil war, while crude and oppressive economic conditions 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 Plymouth planting to demonstrate that only the honest and +thrifty can work out the salvation of a wilderness. America 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. + + Sidenotes: Englishmen as colonists. + + Their characteristics, + +Englishmen were soon found to be the best colonizers in the world. An +intelligent, large, well-built, and handsome race, active in a high degree +and passionately fond of out-door life and manly sports, they are brave and +enterprising, will fight for supremacy, are tenacious of purpose, and carry +with them in their migrations their ideas, their customs, and their laws. +They do not assimilate with other 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 +national 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 utterance +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. + + Sidenote: and their free institutions. + +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 +irregularly, but it was a growth founded on the irresistible will of the +people; they had descended to the men of the seventeenth century as the +sacred heirlooms of generations which had freely spent blood and 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. + + Sidenote: The English town and county. + +The primary local body in the England which these first colonists to +America knew, was the parish, or town, which had both an ecclesiastical and +a temporal 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 American coast, the English +commercial companies 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. + + Sidenote: The county the political unit in the Southern colonies; + +In the Southern colonies the country was traversed by deep, broad river +highways, leading far inland; the climate was genial, the savages proved +comparatively friendly, and the introduction of slavery tended to foster an +aristocratic class of landed proprietors,--large plantations, therefore, +were the rule. There were a few small trading villages, but the bulk of the +people were isolated, and township governments were impracticable. The +settlers 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 differences in local organization account for +the terms "plantation," "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 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. + + Sidenotes: and the town in New England. + + Unconscious reversion to older Teutonic forms. + +In New England, the narrowness of the Atlantic slope, the shortness of the +rivers, the severe climate, the hostility of the savages, the neighborhood +of the French, the density of the forests, and the fact that each community +was an organized religious congregation,--people belonging to one church, +who had "resolved to live together,"--led to the establishment 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 familiar truth that the +ancestry of our institutions reaches back to the beginnings of the race, +had not then been discovered. Not only was the English town government +practically reproduced 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. + + Sidenote: The mixed system in the middle colonies. + +In the middle colonies, which partook of the climatic characteristics of +both their Northern and Southern neighbors, and had a population made up of +various nationalities, there were compact trading towns as well as large +agricultural regions; and there we find a mixed system, of both townships +and counties. + + Sidenote: Differences only in form. + +With all these differences in form, the principle at work was the same. +From the beginning the American colonists were hampered in the work of +their general assemblies, at first by commercial companies, 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 shiftings, 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. + + Sidenote: Social distinctions. + +The colonists were accustomed in England to specific ranks and orders of +society. In America, while there were from the first sharp social +distinctions, the fact that the great body of the settlers began 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 Virginia, +Maryland, South Carolina, and New York. Under Locke's constitution it was +attempted by the proprietaries 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 calculated strongly to foster the spirit of independence; +and the slave class was not large enough materially to affect 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. + + Sidenote: Colonial governors. + +Used as they were to the exercise of the royal prerogative, the colonists +accepted the free exercise by the governors of the privileges of +appointment and veto, whether those officials were selected by the Crown or +by proprietaries. In addition 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 dissolve 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 disputes between the representatives and the +executive, in which the assembly usually won by withholding supplies until +the governor came to its terms. + + Sidenote: The judiciary. + +The judiciary system was alike in no two colonies, but there were certain +resemblances in all. There were commonly local justices of the peace, with +jurisdiction limited to petty civil cases; sometimes 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 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 £20 +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 England 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. + + Sidenote: Charters. + +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 independent state for two generations; +though at last (1692) the people were obliged to accept a new charter +establishing a royal governor. The colonies of Rhode Island 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 proprietary, 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. + + Sidenote: Two houses. + +The two houses of Parliament had made the colonists accustomed to the +bicameral system. In Virginia under company management the corporation +council in England served in a measure as the upper house, with powers of +general direction. In Massachusetts (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 exceedingly 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. + + Sidenote: The suffrage. + +Electoral qualifications varied greatly. In the consideration of this, as +well as of other institutions, Massachusetts and Virginia must be taken as +types of opposite systems, the other colonies departing more or less from +them, according to proximity. Originally in Massachusetts, "any person +inhabiting within 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 +40s. per annum, or other estate to the value of £40." 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 naturalization law, +providing that a voter must have resided seven years in his colony, taken +the oath of allegiance, and professed the "Protestant Christian faith." + + Sidenote: Representation. + +The principle of representation, by which a few are charged with acting and +speaking for the many in the conduct of public affairs, has been familiar +to Englishmen since the time when a parliament 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 burgesses of Virginia +meeting in 1619; while in Massachusetts, 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 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 dependencies, with the +exception of the Crown colonies. + + Sidenote: Rights of the colonists. + +In the American colonies the execution of the laws was as a rule +comparatively an easy task. The English colonists had been trained in the +political art of self-control; they had an abounding regard for just laws +and the courts; they respected precedent, and stoutly stood for the common +law, or recognized 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 struggle 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. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH. + (1606-1700.) + + + 27. References. + + +Bibliographies.--S. Kingsbury, _Introduction to Records of Virginia +Company_, 207-214; P. Bruce, _Economic History of Virginia_, I. xv.-xix.; +N. Mereness, _Maryland_, 521-524; E. Whitney, _Government of South +Carolina_, footnotes; Avery, _United States_, II. 411-417, 434-438, III. +407-410, 412, 413; Larned, _Literature of American 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 _Williamsburg_; R. Pryor, _Birth of the Nation_; J. +Wayland, _German Element in Shenandoah Valley_.--Maryland: Browne +(Commonwealths), Scharf, Bozman, Mereness, as above; C. Hall, _Lords +Baltimore_; B. Steiner, _Beginnings of Maryland_.--Carolinas: J. Moore, I. +chs. i.-iii.; C. Raper; E. McCrady, _South Carolina under Proprietary +Government_; S. Ashe, _North Carolina_, I. Lives of Smith by Bradley, +Roberts, and Smith. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Reprints of Smith's _True Relation_, and other +early documents: Force, Tracts; publications of historical societies and +commissions of the several states; Carroll, _Historical Collections_; +Brown, _Genesis of United States_; Kingsbury and Osgood, _Records of +Virginia Company_; Jameson, _Original Narratives of Early American History; +American History told by Contemporaries_, I. part iv; _American History +Leaflets_, No. 27. + + + 28. Reasons for Final English Colonization. + + Sidenotes: Over-population of England in the seventeenth century. + + Colonization as a means of relief. + +By the beginning of the seventeenth century it was quite evident to +thoughtful men that England needed room for growth. The population of the +island had greatly increased during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. +The extension of the 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 land abounded with idle men. Everywhere was noticed the +uneasiness which frets a people too closely packed to find ready +subsistence. Starvation induced lawlessness. Colonization was thought by +many to be the only means of obtaining permanent relief from the pressing +political and economic dangers of pauperism; and naturally America, from +which Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth had but recently brought favorable +reports, was deemed most available for the planting of new English +communities. + + Sidenote: Chartered trading companies undertake the task. + +But the temper of Englishmen had somewhat changed since the days of +Raleigh's brilliant enterprises. A spirit of sober calculation had +succeeded with the increase of the mercantile habit. Raleigh was out of +favor, and there were no longer any 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 naturally 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 direction; 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. + + Sidenote: The London and Plymouth Companies organized. + +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, § 15),--a charter was granted by King James +(April 10, 1606) to a company with two subdivisions,--1. The London +Company, composed of London merchants, who were to establish a colony +somewhere between the 34th and 41st degrees of latitude; that is, between +the southern limit of the North Carolina of to-day and the mouth of Hudson +River. 2. The Plymouth Company, composed chiefly of traders and country +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 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 Comfort, 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. + + Sidenote: How the colonies were governed. + +King James, unlike Elizabeth, did not favor colonization; but he was +induced to yield his consent to this undertaking. The colonies established +under the charter were directly under the king's control, and not under +that of Parliament. The government of the two proposed colonies was placed +in the hands of two resident councils, of thirteen members 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. Afterwards, +eleven other persons, similarly selected, were added to the council in +England. + + Sidenote: Royal instructions to the Virginia colonists. + +The resident council was to govern according to laws, ordinances, and +instructions dictated by the Crown. The royal instructions sent out with +the first colonists to Virginia stipulated that the Church of England and +the king's supremacy must be 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, manslaughter, and offences +against chastity. The resident council might coin money and control the +extraction of all precious metals, giving one fifth to the Crown. It 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 merchant,--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 undertaking." As a pious afterthought, the colonists were admonished +"to show kindness to the savages and heathen people in those parts, and use +all proper means to draw them to the true knowledge and service of God." + + Sidenote: The rights of the patentees. + +The rights given to the patentees, represented in the general council in +England, were: free transport of emigrants and goods, the right to exact a +duty of two and one half per cent on trade with the colony 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. + + Sidenote: The king is granted too much power. + +It should be noted that this patent, given by James to the combined London +and Plymouth companies, differed greatly from that granted by Elizabeth to +Gilbert and Raleigh, for it prescribed a constitution for the colonies, and +left but little to the judgment of the patentees. The latter, in their +eagerness to get a commercial charter, had allowed the 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 monarch. 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 which he would be the better enabled to bid the home +Parliament defiance while attacking 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). + + Sidenotes: The London Company first in the field. + + Character of the colonists. + +The London Company, of which Hakluyt, Somers, and Gates were the most +active spirits, was first in the field. A hundred and forty-three colonists +were gathered aboard three ships,--the "Discovery," 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 scorning manual +toil; only twelve were laborers; and 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. + + Sidenote: John Smith. + +Among the party was one of the patentees,--Captain John Smith. He was the +son of a Lincolnshire gentleman; 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 Englishman, 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 month after landing. + + Sidenote: Jamestown settled. + +On the sixteenth of April, 1607, land was sighted, and the adventurers soon +entered Chesapeake Bay, naming the outlying capes, Henry and Charles, after +the king's sons, and the river, which they soon ascended, the James, in +honor of the monarch himself. 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, exploring 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. + + Sidenote: A dismal summer. + +The marshes were rank, the water was bad, and food scanty at Jamestown. The +colonists were for the most part a shiftless set, lacking the habit of +industry. The heat was so intense during the first summer that few 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. "Some departed suddenly," wrote a chronicler, +"but for the most part they died of mere famine. There were never +Englishmen 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. + + Sidenote: Smith the savior of the colony. + +In 1609 Newport had come out with supplies and one hundred and twenty +emigrants, who again were mainly "gentlemen, goldsmiths, and libertines;" +and he promptly 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 +disappointed because he insisted on having the 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 who understood the true conditions of +colonization. He had repeatedly urged the patentees in London to cease +sending him gentlemen, idlers, and curious handicraftsmen, and instead of +such to ship "carpenters, husbandmen 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 disasters, so that when he left it, in October, +1609, it had acquired a foothold and was the nucleus of permanent +settlement in Virginia. He never again returned to the colony, although in +later years we find him diligently exploring the New England coast. + + Sidenotes: The king yields some of his prerogatives. + + Administrations of Delaware and Dale. + +With the following year began a new order of things. The London Company, +stimulated by ill success, had gained from the king many of the powers +heretofore reserved to himself, and secured the appointment of Lord +Delaware as governor and captain-general; he was authorized to rule by +martial law, thus depriving the turbulent colonists of numerous privileges +heretofore given them. Delaware was in Jamestown but for one year, being +succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale (1611), who found the colony in ill condition; +many of its servants had defaulted, and there was a large deficiency. In +March following (1612), the company obtained a fresh charter, giving it +still further powers of self-direction and of dealing 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 better class. He caused the abandonment of the +non-progressive and unsatisfactory system of communal proprietorship, +introduced individual allotment, and broadened the foundations of a +prosperous State. + + Sidenote: Liberals gain control of the company. + +Samuel Argall, "a sea-captain of piratical tastes," followed Dale in the +governorship (1617), 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 gained control of the corporation, and were +fighting the king through the colony, with the 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. + + Sidenotes: First meeting of the assembly. + + Indented servants. + + Introduction of slavery. + +The colony was granted a representative assembly,--the first in +America,--called the house of burgesses, which was first convened in June, +1619. In the words of the "briefe declaration," written a few years later, +"That they might have a hande in the governinge of themselves, y{t} was +graunted that a general Assemblie shoulde be helde yearly once, whereat +were to be present the Gov{r} and Counsell w{th} 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 subsistance." In this assembly +Governor Yeardley (arrived April, 1619) 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 judicious 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 of indented servants, which not only included 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 forcibly +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, were +landed and sold in Jamestown from a Dutch man-of-war. This was the +beginning of a large and wide-spreading traffic in human beings throughout +the Southern colonies. + + Sidenote: Further political concessions. + +In 1622 Sir Francis Wyatt succeeded Governor Yeardley, and brought out with +him, as a gift to the colonists, a most unexpected political +concession,--confirmation of all liberties previously 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 experiments in popular government in Virginia, "a +seminary for a seditious Parliament." + + Sidenote: Virginia becomes a royal province. + +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 the company's charter (1624). Thereupon +the settlers passed under the immediate control of the king,--which was, on +principle, an improvement over government by a profit-seeking commercial +company, however liberal the tendencies of the latter. The growing of +tobacco had by this time become an important industry 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). + + Sidenote: Harvey's administration. + +After a succession of inefficient governors, Sir John Harvey came out in +1629, being the first serving under direct royal appointment. Harvey proved +obnoxious to the colonists because of his despotic rule and constant +attempt to browbeat 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 Harvey, and again sent out Wyatt. Under his +mild rule the colony once more lifted its head. + + Sidenote: Berkeley's first term. + +Sir William Berkeley succeeded Wyatt in 1642. While frequently quarrelling +with the assembly, as all the royal governors did, and eager for the 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. + + Sidenotes: During the Long Parliament. + + Virginia a refuge for Cavaliers. + +During the great struggle in England between Charles I. and the Long +Parliament (1642-1649), public sentiment in Virginia was with the king. +There were but few Puritans in or about Jamestown, and they had for the +most part come in from New England under Harvey's administration; their +missionary labors in the conservative South were unwelcome, and they were +warned "to depart the collony with all conveniencie,"--while the Papists, +who had settled Maryland in 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 Cavaliers from +England soon joined them by thousands, and Berkeley seriously, but in vain, +invited Charles II. 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. + + Sidenote: Parliamentary commissioners take possession. + +Parliament, however, was not disposed to allow Virginia to become a +breeding-place for disloyalty to the Commonwealth, and appointed +commissioners (1652), to whom the colony was surrendered possession with +surprising promptness. "No sooner," wrote Lord Clarendon, "had the 'Guinea' +frigate anchored 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 moderation and wisdom; and the colony, now allowed +the utmost freedom in the conduct of its home affairs, prospered +politically and financially under the Protectorate. + + Sidenote: Claiborne's quarrel with Maryland. + +Among the commissioners was William Claiborne, an able, resolute, and +passionate Virginian, who was the leader of the Puritan party, and carried +on a considerable trade with Nova Scotia, New England, and Manhattan. He +had been much before the public of late years. The grant of Maryland to +Lord Baltimore was regarded by Virginians as an invasion of their +territory; and Claiborne, holding a royal license to trade in that region, +had planted a settlement (1631) on Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, within +the limits now claimed by Baltimore. Not acknowledging Baltimore's +proprietorship there, he was summarily ejected. The following year (1635) +he led a party of rangers against Maryland, compelled the Catholic +governor, Calvert, to fly to Virginia, and seized the government himself; +being soon expelled, however, by Calvert, who had now secured Berkeley's +support. As one of the Roundhead 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 Claiborne, who was now Secretary of the Province of +Virginia, met the Catholics near the mouth of the Severn River and worsted +them, thus again obtaining temporary control of the northern colony. Three +years later a compromise was reached between Baltimore and the Puritans. + + Sidenote: Governors under the Commonwealth. + +Richard Bennett was the first governor of Virginia under the Commonwealth +(1652), being elected by the burgesses and receiving his authority from +them. He was succeeded by Edward Digges (1655) and Samuel Matthews (1656), +both similarly chosen. They quarrelled with the burgesses, like the +governors of old, but were worthy and sensible men, and when outvoted +generally yielded with grace. Claiborne's affair with Maryland and an +unimportant Indian panic (1656) were the only clouds upon the horizon +during this tranquil period. + + + 32. Development of Virginia (1660-1700). + + Sidenotes: Berkeley recalled. + + The Restoration. + +When Oliver Cromwell died (1658), his successor, Richard, was accepted in +Virginia without question; but when the following year the latter +abdicated, 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 was suffered again to take control of the +government, 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 tobacco 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 Culpeper. 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. + + Sidenotes: The Bacon rebellion. + + Berkeley recalled by the king. + +The Bacon rebellion (1676) was an outgrowth of the general discontent. The +Indians were murdering settlers in the frontier counties; but Berkeley, +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 indiscreet, 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 succeeding 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 fortunes, and the fickle militiamen rallied +under one standard or the other, according to the direction of the wind. +Harrying 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 +governor'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 was summoned to England, his departure being celebrated by the +colonists with salutes, bonfires, and general rejoicings. The king refused +him an audience upon his arrival in London, and Berkeley died (1677) "of a +broken heart." + + Sidenote: A sorry time under the Royalists. + +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 +province at their will. The successor to Berkeley was 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) 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 further added to his +unpopularity as a ruler and his notoriety 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 imprisonments 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 discontented, the province grew poorer as +each new governor introduced some fresh extortion, immigration practically +ceased, and the spirit of political independence was torpid. + + Sidenotes: Virginia in the Albany Council. + + Establishment of William and Mary College. + + Arrival of Huguenots. + +There were two or three gleams of sunshine during this period of almost +total darkness. Delegates were sent to Albany in 1684 to represent the +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 of burgesses sent Commissary Blair to England to solicit a patent for +a college. This was obtained, and in 1693 the agent returned with the +charter of "William and Mary," the second university in America,--Harvard, +in Massachusetts, being the first and Yale, founded in 1701, the third. The +new college was set up at Williamsburg, whither Governor Nicholson had +removed the capital of the province. Another event, quite as significant, +signalized the close of the century. De Richebourg'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 population 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 community. 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 government had grown into an +established system, jealously watched by the colonies. + + + 33. Settlement of Maryland (1632-1635). + + Sidenote: George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. + +George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, had been one of the members of the London +Company as well as a councillor in the Plymouth Company. From the beginning +of the century he had taken a strong interest in English colonization +schemes. A staunch Roman Catholic, he was (1618-1625) principal Secretary +of State to James I. 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 +the Protestant Virginians made it uncomfortable for the Romanists, and they +returned to England. + + Sidenotes: Secures a charter for Maryland. + + His son Cecil succeeds him. + + Provisions of the charter. + +Baltimore thereupon secured a charter from King Charles I. for a tract of +country north of Potomac river, the limits being imperfectly defined,--on +the north, the fortieth degree of latitude (the 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 request 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 rights and titles by his son +Cecil. The province 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 war, make +peace, appoint all officers, including judges, rule by martial law, pardon +criminals, 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 confirmation, and need not be sent to England. It was +therefore impossible for the Privy Council to check or inaugurate +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. + + Sidenotes: St. Mary's founded. + + Quarrel with Claiborne. + +In November, 1633, Cecil sent out his brother Leonard with two hundred +colonists,--some twenty of whom were gentlemen, and the others laborers and +mechanics,--and in March following they founded a town near the mouth of +the Potomac, calling it St. Mary's. The troubles with Claiborne, the +Virginian who had made a settlement on Kent Island, in the Chesapeake and +within Baltimore's grant, have already been alluded to (page 77, § 31). The +dispute was a protracted one, and gave rise to much ill-feeling and some +bloodshed. + + Sidenotes: Religious toleration. + + Humane treatment of Indians. + + The settlers of good quality. + +Many of Baltimore's colonists were Protestants. He was, however, sincere in +his desire for complete religious toleration, and did not appear to concern +himself in what his subjects believed. The Jesuit priests accompanying the +party exerted their influence in behalf of a humane treatment of the +Indians, and a cordial friendship was soon established with the resident +tribes. As for the settlers, they were thrifty and industrious, held their +land in fee-simple, and up to the Commonwealth period there was prosperity +and content. + + Sidenote: Legislative dispute with the proprietor. + +The colonists were, however, not blind to their political rights, in the +midst of this economic security. In primary assembly, in which proxies were +allowed, the freemen adopted a code of laws (1635) which 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 +compromise, with the utmost good-nature on both sides; there was created a +representative house of burgesses,--in which, however, individual freemen +might also appear,--Baltimore was granted a poll-tax subsidy, and the +people reserved to themselves the rights of self-taxation and legislative +initiative. The anomalous system of allowing both freemen--of whom there +were but one hundred and eighty-two in 1642--and their representatives 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). + + Sidenotes: Religious dissensions arise. + + Claiborne drives out Calvert, but the latter eventually wins. + +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 +sympathized with Claiborne's intruding Protestant colonists on Kent Island. +The seizure of a Parliament ship by Deputy-Governor Brent, under orders +from King Charles, resulted in popular disturbances. Claiborne, taking +advantage of the disorder and coming over from Virginia, seized the +government at St. Mary's. Governor Calvert fled to Virginia, where Governor +Berkeley gave him shelter until he was able to march back at the head of a +large force and suppress the Claiborne administration, which was weak and +mercenary, and had not commended itself to the people. + + Sidenote: Growth of the Protestant party. + +Leonard Calvert died in 1647. William Stone, a Protestant, appointed +Governor in 1648, favored Parliament as against the king, but was sworn by +the proprietor to protect Catholics and give them an equal chance with +other colonists. The Protestant party grew apace; but while represented by +the governor and council, was in the minority in the assembly. 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 +conscience in matters of religion," ran the preamble, "hath frequently +fallen out to be of dangerous consequence, ... and the better to preserve +mutual love and amity among the inhabitants of the province," no person +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." + + Sidenote: Under the Protectorate. + +The Parliamentary commissioners sent to reduce the colonies (1652) +displaced Stone; but his great popularity caused them to reinstate him. +Stone, however, 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 +Parliamentary 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. + + Sidenote: Baltimore restored to his proprietorship. + +Baltimore was finally restored to his proprietorship by the English +Commissioners for Plantations (1657), the assembly accepted the situation, +an Act of Indemnity was passed, the right of the colonists to +self-government was reaffirmed, 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 Catholic +supremacy in Maryland,--a reflex of the tendencies of the Great Rebellion +in the mother-land. + + + 35. Development of Maryland (1660-1715). + + Sidenote: Charles Calvert as governor. + +In 1661 Charles Calvert, eldest son of Lord Baltimore, became governor of +the province. His admirable administration lasted for fourteen years, +during which the colony greatly prospered, there being a 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 proprietor, 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. + + Sidenotes: A spirit of unrest. + + The Fendall and Coode revolt. + + Maryland declared a royal province. + +By the death (1675) of Cecil, Lord Baltimore, Charles fell heir to the +family title and estates. Thomas Notly was sent out from England as +deputy-governor. In 1681 the new proprietor secured the passage of a law +limiting the suffrage to those having freeholds 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 Catholics, deemed the Toleration Act an +impious compact. Taking advantage of this spirit of unrest, and smarting +under old grievances, Josias Fendall, an unworthy demagogue, intrigued with +a retired clergyman named John Coode and instigated a revolt, in which the +aid of some Virginians was obtained. The uprising was promptly suppressed; +but 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 upholding +the cause of William and Mary. They at first won the favorable +consideration of the king; but in 1691 Maryland was declared a royal +province, and Sir Lionel Copley came out as the first royal governor. +Baltimore's interests were respected, but he now became a mere absentee +landlord. The powers of government rested in the Crown, the Church of +England was established, and other Protestant sects were discountenanced +while practically tolerated, but Catholics were persecuted. + + Sidenote: Annapolis becomes the capital. + +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 of the establishment. Maryland's prosperity, heretofore +unrivalled in the colonies, now suffered a check, and for a term of years +the royal administration was signalized by religious persecution and a low +political and social tone, till in 1715 the proprietorship was +re-established. In 1729 the city of Baltimore was founded as a convenient +port for the planters. The settlement 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 government; and the comfort and +prosperity attainable in a well-governed colony. + + + 36. Early Settlers in the Carolinas (1542-1665). + + Sidenote: Early colonial attempts. + +Between Virginia and Spanish Florida a broad belt of territory lay long +unoccupied. A Huguenot colony in 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 unwittingly left the field to the +north clear for the 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. For a long period of years after the failure +of these enterprises a prejudice existed against the middle region as a +colonizing ground. + + Sidenotes: Adventurous Virginians explore North Carolina. + + Roger Green plants Albemarle. + +But before Jamestown was two years old restless Virginians had explored the +upper waters of some of the southern rivers, and by 1625 the region was +fairly familiar to hunters and adventurous land-seekers as far south as the +Chowan. In 1629 Charles I. gave "the province of Carolana" to Sir Robert +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, +harassed by the Church of England party at home, were led by Roger Green to +the banks of the Chowan and Roanoke; and there they planted Albemarle, the +first permanent settlement in what is now North Carolina. + + Sidenotes: Miscellaneous colonizing parties. + + New Englanders at Cape Fear River. + + Colonists from Barbadoes at Clarendon. + +Numerous colonizing parties and individual settlers ventured into North +Carolina during the next twenty years, and purchased lands of the Indians. +Among these were many Baptists and Quakers who had found life intolerable +in the northern settlements. The story goes that in 1660 a number of New +Englanders, desiring to raise cattle, settled at the mouth of Cape Fear +River; but they incurred the hatred of the Indians, and the colony soon +melted away. The survivors, upon taking their departure, affixed to a post +a "scandalous writing, ... the contents whereof tended not only to the +disparagement 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 said to have been found in 1663 by a company of wanderers +from the English community on the island of Barbados, which had been +founded in 1625. These West Indian colonists, headed by a wealthy planter, +Sir John Yeamans, established themselves (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) + + Sidenotes: The Lords Proprietors acquire the Carolinas. + + Early prosperity. + +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 holdings between them; +but he cautiously confirmed all private purchases from the Indians, in +giving Carolina (1663) to a coterie of his favorites. Chief among these +were the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke 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 governor +of Albemarle, while Yeamans remained governor of Clarendon, these two +districts roughly corresponding to the North and South Carolina of to-day. +The proprietaries at first authorized a popular government on the simplest +plan, and the settlers, 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. + + Sidenotes: An enlargement of bounds. + + Immigrants attracted. + +In 1667 Samuel Stephens succeeded Governor Drummond, who went to Virginia, +where he became a leader in the Bacon rebellion. The Lords Proprietors in +1665 secured a charter, with enlargements of their bounds; their new grants +in terms included 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. This first +legislature met in 1669; and actuated by a desire 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. + + Sidenote: Locke's Fundamental Constitutions. + +Unfortunately for the Carolinians, the Lords Proprietors engaged John +Locke, the famous philosopher, to devise for them a scheme of colonial +government (1669). It was a complicated feudal structure, entitled the +Fundamental Constitutions, not suited to any community, old or new, and now +chiefly interesting as a philosophical curiosity. The province was to be +divided into counties, and they into seignories, baronies, precincts, and +colonies; and the people were to be separated into four estates 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 interest of the lords proprietors," the +making of a government "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 without 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 unwieldy. While the rough backwoods-men could not grasp its +intricacies or understand its mediæval terms, they instinctively 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 unsettle 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 +lordships had set out to establish the Church of England; but the result of +their interference was that the Quakers, elsewhere despised, took advantage +of the spirit of dissent and obtained a firm hold over the Carolinians. + + Sidenote: The planting of Charleston. + +During this period of unrest in the northern settlements William Sayle, who +had explored the coast in 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). + + Sidenotes: North Carolina neglected by the proprietaries. + + The Culpeper rebellion. + +The settlements at Cape Fear and Charleston being more orderly and +promising than that at Albemarle, the proprietaries were henceforth more +considerate towards them. North Carolina, as it was ultimately called, was +practically left to take care of itself for upwards of a decade, during +which the neglected colonists made a rough struggle for existence upon +their crude clearings in the wilderness, those nearest the coast eking out +their scanty income by trafficking with New England smugglers. Throughout +the rest of the seventeenth century the proprietaries had but a nominal +hold upon the people of the northern colony. In 1676 Thomas Eastchurch was +appointed 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 browbeat the assembly. The colonists +rose in arms (1678), imprisoned Miller, chose one Culpeper as collector of +customs, and convened a new assembly, which confirmed the revolutionary +proceedings and controlled affairs until 1683, when Seth Sothel was sent +out as governor. Sothel won the reputation of being an arbitrary and +rapacious official, and in 1688 the unruly assembly deposed and banished +him, despite the feeble remonstrance of the proprietaries. + + Sidenote: Charleston aided by the proprietaries. + +Meanwhile, Sayle's colony at Charleston made good progress, the +proprietaries being lavish in their aid of the enterprise. While it was +found that but few features of Locke's elaborate constitutions could be put +into practice in a frontier settlement, their lordships minutely managed +the affairs of the colony, leaving little to the judgment of the +inhabitants. Sayle died the first winter, and Yeamans, the founder of the +Cape Fear colony, succeeded him as governor (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. + + Sidenote: Thrifty condition of Clarendon. + +In 1682 the Clarendon settlements, now chiefly centred at Charleston, which +had an excellent town government, embraced about three thousand persons. +Despite trade restrictions, the exports of furs and timber were large for +the time, much live-stock was reared, the cultivation of tobacco was +extensively engaged in, and the supply of fish was abundant. + + Sidenotes: Arrival of Huguenots. + + Scotch Presbyterians routed by the Spanish. + +The settlers were of various types,--among the colonists being groups of +Englishmen from the Bahamas, Barbados, Virginia, and New England; while in +1679 French Huguenots began to arrive in considerable numbers, and had a +permanent effect upon the character of the province. A small party of +Scotch Presbyterians, flying from persecution at home, established +themselves at Port Royal,--the southernmost of the English settlements. Two +days' sail to the south lay the Spanish town of St. Augustine. The +Spaniards, jealous of this encroachment, and suffering as well from the +raids of pirates who made their headquarters in Charleston, fell upon the +little outpost of Port Royal (1686) and completely destroyed it. It was +long held as a cause of complaint in the Carolinas that the proprietaries +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. + + Sidenote: Colonial grievances in South Carolina. + +The Huguenots, who had settled chiefly in Craven County, were for a time +denied all political rights, although the proprietaries favored them. The +buccaneers, who frequently appeared in Charleston, were continually preying +on Spanish commerce, and causing their lordships much trepidation 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 affairs +on independent English models, were continually apprehensive of a change in +the form of government, and in general nursed many grievances, petty and +great. + + Sidenotes: A period of turbulence. + + The Carolinas reunited. + +After the close of West's first term (1683) there was some turbulence, and +within the following seven years a succession of unsatisfactory governors. +Sothel (1690) was driven out by the Southern colonists in 1691, as he had +been by the Northern (page 93, § 38), and Philip Ludwell came on from +Virginia to assume control. The proprietaries had at last changed their +policy, and determined to rule both Carolinas, as one province, Ludwell +being the first governor (1691) of the united colonies. He was weak, +however, and unable to restore order and public confidence. Under his +successor, Thomas Smith, the assembly was granted a share in initiating +legislation. + + Sidenote: The century closes with improved conditions. + +It was not until John Archdale, a sound-headed and conservative Quaker, +himself one of the proprietaries, came out (1695) as governor that the +colonists ceased their bickerings and the province settled 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 +Carolinas 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. + + + + + 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. +Bernheim, _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. + + Sidenote: Traits common to the Southern colonies. + +Although of dissimilar origin, developed along somewhat different lines, +and having striking individual characteristics, the Southern colonies +possessed in common so many traits--climatic, geographical, social, and +economic--that we may conveniently treat them as a distinct group. + + Sidenote: Geography. + +Virginia and Maryland, topographically similar, have numerous large and +safe harbors, and the area of cultivation extends to the coast. In the +Carolinas there are 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. + + Sidenote: Population. + +It is estimated that in 1688 there were but twenty-five thousand persons, +white and black, in Maryland, sixty thousand in Virginia, and four thousand +in the Carolinas. The English were dominant in all the colonies, but their +supremacy was more strongly marked in Virginia and Maryland than in the +Carolinas, where foreign elements (1700-1750) increased rapidly in numbers +and variety. The North Carolina lumbering industry attracted many +immigrants,--in the main French Huguenots, Moravians, and Germans, with +some Swiss and Scotch-Irish interspersed. The Huguenots, a particularly +desirable class, were stronger in South Carolina than in any other American +colony. While Virginia and Maryland were chiefly settled by colonists +direct from England, the Carolinas were largely peopled from the other +English colonies in North America, the Bahamas, and the West Indies. + + Sidenote: Unimportant character of the villages. + +In the South the rich soil was widely distributed, the rivers served as +convenient highways, and the climate was mild; except for protection from +the Indians, there was no necessity in colonial times for the massing of +the people. Villages were few, and the plantations were strung along the +streams, often many miles apart and separated by dense forests. The +legislatures of the Southern provinces from time to time endeavored to +create trading and manufacturing towns by statute; but with few exceptions +these remained, down to the Revolution, merely places of resort for +elections and courts, with perhaps an inn, a jail, a court-house, and two +or three dwellings. What trade there was at these cross-roads hamlets was +of the most petty retail character, and the traders themselves were deemed +of small consequence in the community. Jamestown remained the Virginia +capital until late in the century, and during the sessions of the +legislature and at gubernatorial inaugurations was a favorite resort for +the wealthy and fashionable from all parts of the province; but it was a +small, untidy village, with few of the characteristics of a modern town +except for its public buildings. Williamsburg, its successor, was but +little better. The original capital of Maryland, St. Mary's, was not worthy +the name of town; but when, in the last decade of the century, Providence, +rechristened Annapolis, became the seat of government, the new capital soon +grew into an improvement on the old, several sightly public buildings were +erected, and trade expanded with the increase of fashion. Charleston, the +capital of South Carolina, was the most important town in the South; the +wealthiest planters in the colony lived there, leaving their estates to the +care of overseers; and trade, fashion, and politics centred in the village, +which was well-built and handsome. + + + 41. Slavery and Servants. + + Sidenote: Negro slaves. + +Society was divided into four classes, social distinctions being sharply +drawn. The lowest stratum was composed of the negro slaves, first +introduced in 1619. For many years the number of blacks was comparatively +small, servile labor being mainly performed by convicts and indented +servants. At first the African slave was looked upon as but an improved +variety of indented servant, whose term of labor was for life instead of a +few years. In 1650 there were but three hundred negroes in Virginia and +fifteen thousand whites. The slave system fast extended, after this date, +so that in 1661 Virginia had two thousand blacks, and by the close of the +seventeenth century they nearly equalled the whites in number; in South +Carolina, in 1708, two thirds of the population were of the negro race. It +was not until the blacks had become a numerous class that we find the laws +regarding them savoring of harshness. They were especially severe after +1687, when a negro insurrection in Virginia inspired the whites with fear. +The statutes for the repression of the slaves now became fairly ferocious. +In the eye of the law they were simply chattels, being hardly granted the +rights of human beings. A master might kill his slave, for he was but +destroying his own property. Runaways could be slain at sight by any one, +the owner being reimbursed from the public treasury. The laws against +racial amalgamation were savage, but the actual treatment of the slave by +his owner was not so barbarous as the laws suggest,--especially in the two +northern colonies of the Southern group. He was there comfortably housed, +clothed, and fed, and indulged in many amusements. The raising of tobacco +required constant care at certain seasons of the year, but there was much +leisure, and the occupation was healthful. Work in the rice-swamps and +indigo-fields, in the fierce summer heat of South Carolina, was extremely +exhausting, and the negroes rapidly wore out; for this reason there was a +tendency on the part of the planters of that province to work them to their +full capacity while still in their prime. Nowhere else in the South was +slave life so burdensome, and nowhere was the slave trade so active. + + Sidenote: Indented white servants. + +Removed from the slaves by the impassable gulf of color, but nevertheless +almost as much despised by the upper and middle class whites as the blacks, +were the indented white servants. While here and there among them were men +capable, when freed from their bonds, of rising to the middle and indeed +the upper class, they were of low character frequently, such as transported +convicts, the riff-raff of London, and in some cases children who had been +kidnapped by lawless adventurers in the streets of the English cities. As +servants they were under no gentle bonds. The laws concerning them were +harsh. They might not marry without the consent of their masters; an +assault on the latter was heavily punished; to run away was but to lengthen +the term of service, and for a second offence to be branded on the cheek. +For numerous petty offences their service could be prolonged, and masters +might thus retain them for years after the term fixed in the bond. + + + 42. Middle and Upper Classes. + + Sidenote: Middle class. + +The middle class--small farmers and tradesmen--merged into each other, so +that it was often difficult to draw the line between them. In South +Carolina there was practically no middle class, and indented servants were +few; there existed in this colony a perfect oligarchy,--lords and their +slaves. In all the Southern colonies the trader was despised by the upper +class, which was composed of officials and wealthy planters. The men of the +middle class were uneducated, rude, and addicted to gambling, +hard-drinking, and rough sports; they were, however, a sturdy set, manly +and liberty-loving, and gave strong political support to the planters. + + Sidenote: Upper class. + +The upper class, in dress, manners, and political thought, resembled the +English country gentlemen of their time. Here and there among them were men +of fair scholarship, with degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, but the +majority had but slight education, such as was picked up haphazard from the +parish parson, an occasional tutor, or a freed servant of more than +ordinary attainments. The speech and manners of the young were badly +affected by being reared among slaves. The life of both men and women in +these "good old colony days" was exceedingly monotonous; the chief charge +of the former being the care of their plantation and negroes, and of the +latter the superintendence of their domestic affairs and the training of +house servants. There was much visiting to and fro among the county +families, and dancing was a favorite evening amusement; and there were +annual visits to the capital, where horse-racing, gambling, cock-fighting, +and wrestling were favorite recreations. The Crown officers did much to +keep the English fashions alive, and the inauguration of a governor was a +brilliant social event. + +The manners of the gentry were better than those of the middle class; +nevertheless they drank overmuch, had a passion for gaming, and sometimes +engaged in brawls at the polling-places. The fist, especially in Virginia +and Maryland, was preferred to the duel as a means of settling +controversies. The landed gentlemen, born aristocrats, were indolent, vain, +haughty, arrogant, and sensitive to restraint,--a natural outgrowth of the +social conditions of the times. But they had great virtues as well as great +faults. There was a keen sense of honor among them, and great pride of +ancestry. They were of good, vigorous English stock, especially those who +came after the Restoration, and in the struggle for independence, two +generations later, furnished to the patriot cause a high class of soldiers, +diplomats, and statesmen. + + + 43. Occupations. + + Sidenote: Scarcity of professional men. + +There were practically no professions in Virginia and North Carolina. In +Maryland and South Carolina a litigious spirit prevailed, and there arose a +small body of lawyers fairly well equipped. Medicine was in a crude state. +The clergymen of the English Established Church--except in South Carolina, +to which colony the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent +out good material--were as a rule sadly deficient in manners and education, +although there were among them many men of superior attainments and noble +character. This was especially noticeable in Maryland. The dissenting +ministers were often of quite inferior calibre. + + Sidenote: Agriculture. + +Agriculture was the mainstay of the people, tobacco being the one great +crop; although in the Carolinas rice and indigo came to be close rivals. +Naval stores were also a staple export. In South Carolina there was a +greater area devoted to mixed tillage than elsewhere in the South, and corn +and cotton were raised in considerable quantities. In both the Carolinas +cattle-raising was an important industry, the large branded herds roaming +the glades and forests at will. + + Sidenote: Economic independence of the planter. + +A great plantation, with its galleried manor-house, its rows of negro +quarters, and group of barns and shops, was in a large measure a +self-sustained community. The planter needed little that could be obtained +elsewhere in his own colony or in the South, and conducted his commercial +operations direct with England, the West Indies, and the Northern colonies. +Vessels came to his landing, bringing the supplies which he had ordered of +his correspondents, and loading for the return trip with such material as +he had for export. Under this independent system, whereby the rural magnate +was his own merchant, and negro slaves his only workmen, neither general +trade nor industries could flourish. Manufactures of every sort--even +tables, chairs, stools, wooden bowls, and birchen brooms--were, along with +many necessaries of life, imported from England and neighboring colonies. +There were a few negroes on every plantation who were trained to the +mechanic arts; and a small number of white craftsmen found work in +travelling around the country, doing such jobs as were beyond the capacity +of the slaves. + + Sidenote: Commerce. + +There was a considerable trade with the other continental colonies, as well +as with sister colonies in the West Indies and with England. Small vessels +were built in Virginia and Maryland for the coasting traffic, though +Englishmen, New Englanders, and Dutchmen were the principal carriers. The +independent methods of the planters, with their systems of barter and +direct importations, suited the lordly notions prevalent among them; but +the luxury was an expensive one, for it placed them quite at the mercy of +their foreign correspondents. Tobacco was the chief export, and barter was +based upon its value, which, despite legal restrictions, was subject to +great fluctuation. The importance of the crop, as the basis of exchange, +led to governmental supervision of its quality, which was uniformly +excellent except in North Carolina, where public spirit was at a low stage. +The importance attached by the government to this industry is illustrated +by a famous remark of Attorney-General Seymour. In 1692, when a delegation +from Virginia were soliciting a charter for the College of William and +Mary, on the ground that a higher education was necessary as a step towards +the salvation of souls by the clergy, he blurted out: "Souls! Damn your +souls; grow tobacco!" The Southern colonies had also a large and profitable +export of lumber, tar, turpentine, and furs; from the Carolinas beef was +shipped in great quantities to the West Indies; and rice, indigo, and +cotton were sent to the Northern colonies and England. The trade with the +Indians grew to considerable proportions in Virginia and Maryland, but was +long neglected in the Carolinas. + + + 44. Navigation Acts. + + Sidenote: Early attempts to protect English shipping. + +All manner of trade, however, was more or less hampered by the +Parliamentary Acts of Navigation and Trade. In the time of Richard II. +(1377-1399) it had been enacted that "None of the king's liege people +should ship any merchandise out of or into the realm, except in the ships +of the king's ligeance, on pain of forfeiture." Under Henry VII. +(1485-1509) only English-built ships manned by English sailors were +permitted to import certain commodities; and in the reign of Elizabeth +(1558-1603) only such vessels could engage in the English coasting trade +and fisheries. + + Sidenote: The Commonwealth Acts. + +The earliest English colonies were exempted by their charters from these +restrictions, but under James I. (1603-1625) the colonies were included. +For 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 Commonwealth 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, succeeded her. The Act of +1645 declared that certain articles should be brought into England only by +ships fitted out from England, by English subjects, and manned by +Englishmen; 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. + + Sidenote: Under the Restoration. + +Under the Restoration the Commonwealth law was confirmed and extended +(1660). Such enumerated colonial products as the English merchants desired +to purchase were to be shipped to no other country 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 +prohibition of the importation of goods into the colonies except such as +had been 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. + + Sidenote: Repression of intercolonial trade. + +A considerable traffic had now sprung up between the colonies. New England +merchants were competing with Englishmen in the Southern markets. At the +behest of commercial interests in the parent isle, an Act was passed in +1673 seriously crippling this intercolonial trade; all commodities that +could have been supplied from England were now subjected to a duty +equivalent to that imposed on their consumption in England. From 1651 to +1764 upwards of twenty-five Acts of Parliament were passed for the +regulation 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. + + Sidenotes: England's coercive commercial policy a cause of the Revolution. + +In brief, the mother-country regarded her American colonies merely as +feeders to her trade, consumers of her manufactures, and factories for the +distribution of her capital. Parliament never succeeded in 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 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. + + Sidenote: Travel and roads. + +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, it was usual to seek fresh fields as fast as needed, +leaving the old planting grounds to revert to wilderness. From this, as +well as from other causes already 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 preferred; 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. + + Sidenote: Life at the plantations. + +Some glowing pictures of life in these "baronial halls," with their great +open fireplaces, rich furnishings imported from England, crowds of negro +lackeys, bounteous 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 wasteful +agricultural and business methods fostered a speculative 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 prosperous and independent +than those to the north of them. + + Sidenote: Education. + +The means of education were limited. Governor Berkeley, 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 disobedience into the world, and +printing has divulged them, 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. + + Sidenote: Religion. + +In Virginia there was manifested throughout the century an intolerant +spirit towards dissenters by both the ruling sects, Puritans and Churchmen. +Catholics and Quakers were persecuted, pilloried 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 attention to religious matters +throughout the seventeenth century, although there were some flourishing +congregations. There was no settled Episcopal minister there until 1701, +and no church until 1702. The majority in South Carolina 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 Huguenots were +not at first tolerated, but in 1697 all Protestant sects were guaranteed +equal rights. + + Sidenote: Crime. + +The negroes and the poor whites formed the criminal class,--a not +inconsiderable element in the Southern colonies. 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 +public relief, were compelled to wear conspicuous badges. + + + 46. Political Life, and Conclusions. + + Sidenote: Political life. + +The colonists, like their brothers across sea, were eager politicians, and +their political methods were much the same as in the mother-country. +Attempts upon the part of England to regulate the raising and selling of +tobacco, in connection with the general policy of commercial and industrial +control, led to frequent quarrels with the home government, which were +harassing enough to the Americans, but served their purpose as a school of +legislative resistance. The gentlemen controlled colonial affairs, but +found efficient support in the middle class; to these two classes suffrage +was for the most part restricted. + + Sidenote: Administration. + +The political organization throughout the South was closely patterned after +that of England, the governor standing for the king, the council for the +House of Lords, and the assembly or house of burgesses for the Commons. +There were four sources of revenue: (1) quit-rents, payable to the king or +the proprietors; (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 provincial 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. + + Sidenote: Official rapacity. + +The salaries of the government officials were small; but the governor--who +was the executive officer, and might lawfully have ruled his little realm +in most despotic fashion, had not the assembly, 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 patenting +lands, and assessing office-holders, he reaped a rich harvest. Broken-down +court favorites considered an appointment to the colonies as governor a +means of retrieving 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. + + Sidenote: Summary. + +Thus we see that in the Southern colonies, in the year 1700, there were +three sharply-defined social grades among the whites,--the upper class, the +middle class, and the 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 influence in the South. The presence of +degraded laborers made all labor dishonorable, and trade was held in +contempt by the country gentleman. The economic condition was bad, there +were practically no manufactures, the methods of the planters were +wasteful, there prevailed 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 exercised but slight control over public +affairs. Religion was at a low ebb, especially in the established 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 consider 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. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND. + (1620-1643). + + + 47. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Winsor, III. 244-256, 283-294; Larned, _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 England_; Channing and Hart, _Guide_, +§§ 109-123. + +Historical Maps.--No. 2, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. 2); Doyle, +_Colonies_, II.; MacCoun, Winsor, and school histories already 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_; Channing, _United States_, I. ch. xiv.; B. +James, _New England_; G. Bancroft, I. 177-288; Hildreth, I. chs. vi., vii., +ix.; Fiske, _Beginnings 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. Byington, _Puritans +in England and New England_, and _Puritan as Colonist and Reformer_; D. +Campbell, _Puritan in Holland, England, and America_; M. Dexter, _Story of +the Pilgrims_; J. Brown, _Pilgrim Fathers_; W. Cockshott, _Pilgrim +Fathers_; F. Noble, _Pilgrims_; J. Goodwin, _Pilgrim Republic_; D. Howe, +_Puritan Republic_.--Massachusetts: W. Northend, _Bay Colony_; B. Adams, +_Emancipation of Massachusetts_; C. F. Adams, _Three Episodes of +Massachusetts History_; Winsor, _Memorial History of Boston_; H. Lodge, +_Boston_.--Connecticut: C. Levermore, _Republic of New Haven_; E. Atwater, +_New Haven Colony_; Andrews, _River Towns of Connecticut_; C. Orr, _Pequot +War_; state histories by Johnston (Commonwealths), Trumbull, and +Morgan.--Rhode Island: I. Richman, _Rhode Island: its Making and its +Meaning_; Arnold, Field, and Richman (Commonwealths).--New Hampshire: +Belknap and Sanborn (Commonwealths).--Maine: Williamson. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Morton, _New England's Memorial_ (1669); Bradford, +_Plymouth Plantation_; Winthrop, _New England_; Johnson, _Wonder-Working +Providence_; Wood, _New England's Prospect_; _New England's First-Fruits_; +Shepard, _Autobiography_.--Reprints: Force, _Tracts_; Arber, _Pilgrim +Colonists_; 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. + + Sidenote: The Popham colony. + +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 Company 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 Ferdinando Gorges, governor of the port of Plymouth, and +Sir John Popham, chief-justice of England--sent out a party of one hundred +and twenty colonists to the mouth of the Kennebec, headed by George Popham, +brother of Sir John; but the following winter was exceptionally severe, +many died, among them Popham, and the survivors were glad of an opportunity +to get back to England (1608). + + Sidenote: Smith's voyage to New England. + +In 1614 John Smith, after five years of quiet life in England, made a +voyage to North Virginia as the agent and partner of some London merchants, +and returned with a profitable cargo of fish and furs. The most notable +result of his voyage, however, was the fact that he gave the title of New +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 England, +its fisheries became important, and some detailed knowledge of the coast +was obtained; but its colonization was not advanced. + + Sidenote: The new Plymouth charter (1620). + +Chief among the patrons of these enterprises was Sir Ferdinando Gorges. In +1620 Gorges and his associates secured a new and independent charter for +the Plymouth Company, usually known as the Council for New England, wherein +that corporation 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 received 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 selling of its exclusive rights to +individual or corporate adventurers. It had power, also, both to establish +and to govern colonies. But the enterprise lacked capital and popular +support. Virginia, founded as an outlet for victims of economic distress in +England, appeared to absorb all those who cared to devote either money or +energy to the planting of America. The reorganized Plymouth Company would +doubtless have waited many years for settlements upon its lands, had not +aid come from an unexpected source. + + Sidenote: Religious groups in England. + +The persecution of a religious sect led to the permanent planting of New +England. The English Protestants under Elizabeth may be roughly divided +into several groups: (1) The great majority of the people, including most +of the rich and titled, adhered to the Church of England; as the +"establishment," or State religion, it retained much of the Catholic ritual +and creed, but with many important omissions and modifications. (2) Besides +the Catholics, few and oppressed, 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 themselves 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: (1) 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 +congregation 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 _separate_ in private +houses." Sometimes the Separatists were called Brownists, 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 +persecution 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. + + + 49. Plymouth colonized (1620-1621). + + Sidenotes: The Scrooby congregation. + + The Independents in Holland. + +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 +artisans, members of the Independent congregation at Scrooby, a village on +the border between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Headed by their wise and +excellent minister, John Robinson, and the ruling elder of the church, +William Brewster, the party first settled at Amsterdam (1608), but 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 religious 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 persecutors, and there in the wilderness to rear a New England, +where they might live under English laws, speak their native tongue, train +their children in English 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 performing of so great a work." + + Sidenote: Emigration to America. + +Obtaining a grant of land from the London (South Virginia) Company, and a +promise from the king that they should not be disturbed in their proposed +colony if they behaved properly, the emigrants sailed from Leyden to +Southampton, where they were to take passage for 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 congregation, 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 +capitalists for transportation and supplies. A stock partnership was +formed, with shares at ten pounds each, each emigrant being deemed +equivalent to a certain amount of cash subscription; 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 supplies. 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 London partners sent +out several laborers on their account. + + Sidenote: The landing. + +The voyage of the "Mayflower" is one of the most familiar events in +American history. Its companion vessel, the "Speedwell," was obliged to +return to England because of an accident, and thus several 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 Company, somewhere between the +Hudson and the Delaware; but fate happily willed otherwise. The captain, +thought to be in the pay of the Dutch, who were trading 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). + + Sidenote: The social compact. + +With true English instinct for combination against unruly elements, the +Pilgrims had (November 11), while lying off Cape Cod, formed themselves +into a body politic under a social compact. This notable document read as +follows: "We whose names are under-writen, the loyall subjects of our dread +soveraigne 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 advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king and +countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie 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 preservation and furtherance of +ye ends aforesaid; and _by vertue hearof_ 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 significance. They elected Deacon John Carver as their first governor, +styled the place where they landed Plymouth, and entered upon the serious +business of building New England. + + Sidenote: The first winter. + +An exceptionally mild winter had opened, yet it was with difficulty that +they could provide adequate shelter for themselves, much less secure +comfortable quarters. The stock of food they had brought with them soon +failed, and what was left was not wholesome; 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. + + Sidenote: Persistence amid adversity. + +Had the Pilgrims been ordinary colonists, they would no doubt have +abandoned their settlement and returned in the vessel that brought them. +But they were of sterner stuff than the men who succumbed 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, 1621, fifty more of the Leyden congregation 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 decreased the _per capita_ allotment of rations. + + Sidenote: Patent from the Plymouth Company. + +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 +secure a patent from the reorganized Plymouth 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). + + Sidenote: The industrial system. + +The industrial system inaugurated at Plymouth was, like that adopted for +Jamestown, pure communism. The governor and assistants organized the +settlers 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 corporation. 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. + + Sidenote: Dissatisfaction of the London partners. + +Thirty-five new settlers came out in the autumn of 1622, and thereafter +nearly every year brought increase in the number; but the partners failed +to ship supplies with the new-comers, deeming it proper that the colony +should be self-supporting; and this neglect still further strained existing +relations. + + Sidenote: Communal system partially abandoned. + +In 1624 the communal system was partially abandoned, each freeman being +allowed one acre as a permanent holding. This land was to be as close to +the town as possible; for the climatic conditions, the necessity for +protection against Indians, and the desire for ease of assemblage at +worship, made it 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 London partners for eighteen hundred pounds, and became wholly +independent of dictation from England. + + Sidenote: The Pilgrims obtain sole control. + +Up to this time many of the new colonists were sent or selected by the +London shareholders, and were not always congenial to the Pilgrims. It now +rested with them to invite whom they might; and as a result many of their +faith from England were brought over. In 1643 there were three thousand +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 painful details of +suffering. It was a long time before the people became inured to the +rigorous climate; the tedious winters were often seasons of much hardship +and privation. The life they led was toilsome, but they bore up under it +bravely. + + Sidenotes: Relations with the Indians. + + Relations with white neighbors. + +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 +Pokanokets, whose lands they had occupied. Whites were not always as +comfortable neighbors as the savages. Thomas Weston, one of the London +partners, sent out (1622) an independent colony of seventy men to +Wessaugusset, about twenty-five miles north of 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 Gorges, son of Ferdinando, +was appointed 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 +enterprise 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 Virginia, and his plant was taken possession +of by his partner, Thomas Morton, who styled the settlement Merrymount. +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 merrymakers and sent Morton to England +(1628). + +Several Church of England men, representatives of Robert Gorges,--who had a +patent for a strip of territory ten miles coastwise and thirty miles +inland,--had come out in 1623, among them William Blackstone, settling on +Shawmut peninsula, now Boston, Thomas Walford 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 plantation. With +most of these the Plymouth people had business relations, but little else +in common. + + Sidenote: Form of government. + +Plymouth was at first governed in primary assembly with a governor and +assistants elected by popular vote. As the colony grew and new towns were +organized by compact bodies of people detaching 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 administrative 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 freemen. 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. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Plymouth. + +Many features of American government and character may be readily traced to +the influence of Plymouth. It was the first permanent colony in New +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 governor 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 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. + + Sidenote: Futile effort to obtain a charter. + +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 each application,--at first through the influence of the prelates, and +afterwards because of the jealousy of its neighbors. Finally, in 1691, +Plymouth was incorporated with Massachusetts and lost its identity. + + + 51. Massachusetts founded (1630). + + Sidenote: Boundary disputes. + +The Plymouth Company did business in a rather haphazard Way. Land-grants +were freely made to all manner of speculators, many of them members of the +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 frequently +overlapped each other, giving rise to boundary quarrels which lasted +through several generations of claimants. + + Sidenote: Settlement at Cape Ann. + +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 +fishing 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 dislike of their principles of rigid +separation," had made an independent settlement at Cape Ann, was appointed +local manager for the Dorchester merchants. In 1626 the merchants abandoned +their colony as unprofitable, most of the settlers returning to England; +and Conant led those remaining to Salem, then called Naumkeag. + + Sidenote: White's scheme. + +John White, a conforming Puritan rector at Dorchester, determined to make +this settlement of Dorchester men a success. To the settlers at Naumkeag he +sent 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 Antichrist" in America +had the support of many wealthy and influential men. + + Sidenote: The Massachusetts land grant. + +In 1628, six persons, heading the movement, obtained from the Plymouth +Company a patent for a strip about sixty miles wide along the coast,--from +three miles south of Charles River to three miles north of the Merrimack, +and westward to the Pacific Ocean, which in those days was thought to be +not much farther away than the river discovered by Hendrik Hudson in 1609. +This patent conflicted with grants already issued (1622 and 1623) to Sir +Ferdinando Gorges, his son Robert, and John Mason, of whom we shall hear +later on. + + Sidenote: The first charter (1628). + +In September, 1628, John Endicott, gentleman, one of the patentees, arrived +at Salem with sixty persons, to reinforce the colony already there, and +supersede Conant. The following spring, the patentees 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 latter's land. + + Sidenote: Form of government. + +Under this trading charter the whole body of freemen, or members of the +company, was to elect annually a governor, a deputy-governor, and eighteen +assistants, 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 "General 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 colonizing material. + + Sidenote: Religious aspirations. + +Although the company was chartered as a trading corporation, its principal +object was not gain, but to found a religious commonwealth. It was composed +of men of rare ability and tact, as well as of consummate courage. Among +them were members of parliament, 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 simply 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 circumstances 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 Massachusetts Puritans were, like their +brethren in England, full-fledged Independents. + + Sidenotes: The company moves to America. + + Character of the founders. + +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 colony, thus boldly transforming itself, without legal +sanction, from an English trading company into an American colonial +government. In April, 1630, eleven vessels went out to Massachusetts Bay, +with 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 found the arbitrary rule of Charles quite unbearable. 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 arrangement. Thomas Dudley, the deputy, was a stern and +uncompromising 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 Cambridge man. + + + 52. Government of Massachusetts (1630-1634). + + Sidenote: Salem divides. + +There were now too many people assembled at the port of Salem for the +supply of food, and sickness and hunger prevailed to such an alarming +degree that many died in consequence. It became necessary to divide, and +independent congregations were established, on the Salem model, at +Charlestown, Cambridge, 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 Massachusetts Bay, and brooked no +rival claimants. In establishing this commonwealth in America, the Puritan +founders were determined to have things their own way. + + Sidenote: The theocracy established. + +It was early decided by the General Court (1631) that none but church +members should be admitted as freemen. Four times a year the freemen were +to meet in quarter court, and with them the 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 assistants 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. + + Sidenote: The Watertown protest. + +That same year, however, came a vigorous protest against this autocratic +rule. The Watertown freemen declined to pay a tax of £60, levied by the +assistants for fortifications built at Cambridge. It was argued that a +people who submitted to taxation without representation were in danger of +"bringing themselves and posterity into bondage." The next General Court +accepted this plea as valid, and a House of Representatives was inaugurated +on the plan of the English Commons, each town sending two deputies, and the +governor and assistants sitting as members. + + Sidenote: The representative system established. + +For a time the freemen resumed the right of election of governor and +deputy-governor, but soon handed this duty over to the representatives. +Voting by ballot was introduced in 1634, and the freemen, who had become +annoyed at threats from England of interference with their charter, +asserted their independence of the official class by rebuking the +assistants, 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 foundation. 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. + + Sidenote: Aristocratic propositions rejected. + +There had been a healthy renewal of immigration to Massachusetts in 1633 +because of increased harshness towards Puritans in England, and a number of +strong men,--such as Sir Henry Vane and Hugh Peter,--destined to play no +inconsiderable 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 popular 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 looking 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). + + Sidenote: Condition of the colony (1634). + +In 1634 the colony, now firmly planted with free English institutions in +full force, contained about four thousand inhabitants, resident in sixteen +towns. The old log-houses of the first settlers were gradually giving way +to commodious frame structures with gambrel roofs and generous gables. The +fields were being fenced, roads laid out between the towns, and +watercourses bridged; and the farms were beginning to take 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 settlements 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. + + Sidenote: Harvard College founded. + +The Massachusetts colonists were for the most part middle-class Englishmen, +and education was general among them. Many were graduates of Cambridge, and +the clergymen had, as conscientious 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 Cambridge, that "the light of +learning might not go out, nor the study of God's Word perish." Two years +later (1638) 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 centuries the college +continued to receive grants from the commonwealth. + + Sidenote: Malcontents make trouble. + +While the colonists were thus bravely making progress in laying the +foundations of liberal institutions in America, there were troubles brewing +both at home and abroad. The uncongenial spirits whom they had driven from +Massachusetts 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 +independent 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. + + Sidenote: Attack on the charter. + +In April a royal commission of twelve persons was appointed, ostensibly to +take charge of all the American colonies, secure conformity, and even to +revoke charters; but it was well understood that Massachusetts was +especially aimed at. The Massachusetts 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 fortified; 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. + + Sidenote: The charter annulled. + +But the men of the colony were politic as well as pugnacious, and +despatched Winslow to England to make peace with the authorities. While he +was in London, in February, 1635, the Plymouth Company surrendered its +charter to the king, with the condition that the latter should annul all +existing 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 warranto_ was issued against the Massachusetts +charter, it was declared null and void, and Gorges was authorized to be +viceregal governor of New England. + + Sidenote: Judgment suspended. + +Winslow was imprisoned in England for four months for having broken the +ecclesiastical law in celebrating marriages in the Plymouth colony, but +upon his release did good diplomatic work and neutralized 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 military preparations. English Puritans were at this +time attempting to leave for America in great numbers, 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 punishment for Massachusetts +was postponed. + + + 54. Religious Troubles in Massachusetts (1636-1638). + + Sidenote: Roger Williams. + +The opposition at home, occasioned by differences in religious belief, was +not, however, so easily thrust aside. Roger Williams, an able and learned, +but bigoted young Welshman, a graduate from Pembroke 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 depart +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, 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 purchase; +and that all existing titles were therefore invalid. This was deemed +downright treason, which he was compelled 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 symbols 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 dangerous 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 troublesome agitator passed +south, with five of his followers, to Narragansett Bay, and there +established Providence Plantation. + + Sidenote: Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomians. + +Mrs. Anne Hutchinson arrived in Boston from England in the autumn of 1634. +She was a woman of brilliant parts, but impetuous and indiscreet, and by +instinct an agitator. Her religious views are described by Winthrop as +containing "two dangerous errors,--first, that the person of the Holy Ghost +dwells in a justified person; second, that no sanctification can help to +evidence to us our justification." This is cloudy to a modern layman. The +theory is styled Antinomian by its enemies, and was substantially 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 cannot 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 entertained +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 Massachusetts 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, Wheelwright, 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 sedition because in a sermon he had counselled his hearers to +fight for their liberties, but with weapons spiritual, not carnal. When the +Boston church supported their minister, the Court responded by voting to +hold its next meeting at Newtown (Cambridge), where it might deliberate +amid quieter surroundings than at Boston. + +When the Court of Election met at Newtown (May, 1637), Vane and his friends +were, in the course of a tumultuous session, dropped out of the government, +Winthrop was again chosen governor, and the uncompromising 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 sedition against Wheelwright were +renewed, he was banished, and fled, with a few adherents, to the +Piscataqua. + + Sidenote: Mrs. Hutchinson banished. + +Mrs. Hutchinson was placed on trial (November, 1637) and commanded to leave +the colony, which she did in March following, and went to Rhode Island. +Seventy-six of her followers were disarmed, some were disfranchised, others +fined, and still others "desired and obtained license to remove themselves +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. + + Sidenote: The policy of repression successful. + +The little commonwealth had been shaken to its foundations by a controversy +which to-day---when religion and politics are separated, to the advantage +of both--would be considered of small moment even in one of our rural +villages; but the State and the Church were one in the colony of +Massachusetts, and ecclesiastical contumacy was political contumacy as +well. Under such conditions there could safely be neither 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). + + Sidenote: The Dutch at Hartford. + +While these things were going on in Boston and Newtown, warfare of another +sort was in progress to the south. In 1635 residents of Massachusetts 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. + + Sidenote: The Pequod war. + +At last the attitude of the Pequods, the tribe occupying the lower portion +of the Connecticut valley, became unbearable; they interfered with +immigrants going overland, and rendered trade by sea dangerous. They +endeavored to enlist the sympathy of 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 life 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. + + Sidenote: The Pequods crushed. + +In the little intercolonial army of some three hundred men, Captains John +Mason of Windsor and John Underhill of Massachusetts were the leading +figures. The Pequods were surprised in their chief town (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 themselves 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 wigwams and granaries, taking some +of the survivors prisoners, 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). + + Sidenote: Laws. + +For more than ten years after the planting of Massachusetts 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 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 judgments 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. Committees of magistrates and elders +were appointed" from year to year by the General Court, but it was not +until 1641 that a body of statutes was finally adopted. + + Sidenote: The Body of Liberties. + +The influence of the clergy is well illustrated in the fact that the two +codes finally submitted were the work of ministers,--John Cotton of Boston, +and 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, although 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; barbarous 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 +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 Israell." Notwithstanding this enlightened provision, +persons continued to be born and to live and die as slaves within the +boundaries of the commonwealth 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 attempt any invasion, +insurrection, or publique rebellion against our commonwealth, ... or shall +treacherously and perfediouslie 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 +Massachusetts code. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Massachusetts. + +Massachusetts was the first large colony in New England. Its people were +educated, and as a rule of a higher social grade than those of Plymouth. +Under a charter which contained many very liberal 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 town and church governments moved +bodily from Massachusetts to found Connecticut, Massachusetts became the +first mother of colonies. Massachusetts was bolder, more aggressive, and +more tenacious of her liberties 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 contentions for principles +upon which in after years the Revolution was based. In their treatment of +the Indians they were inclined to be more imperious than their neighbors. + + + 57. Connecticut founded (1633-1639). + + Sidenote: Plymouth traders at Windsor. + +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 +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. + + Sidenote: The Massachusetts hegira. + +The same year the overland route to the Connecticut was explored by the +Massachusetts trader, John Oldham, who was afterwards slain by the Pequods +at Block Island. The favorable reports which Oldham carried back induced a +number of people in Newtown (Cambridge), Dorchester, and Watertown, 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 ministers and elders--among whom were such strong +men as Thomas Hooker, Samuel Stone, and Roger Ludlow--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. + + Sidenote: Plymouth overawed. + +During the summer of 1635 a Dorchester party planted a settlement at +Windsor around the walls of the Plymouth post. Plymouth did not approve of +this cavalier 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. + + Sidenote: Winthrop at Saybrook. + +That same autumn (1635) John Winthrop, Jr., appeared at the mouth of the +Connecticut with a commission as governor, issued by Lord Brook, Lord Say +and Sele, and their partners, to whom in 1631 Lord Warwick, as president of +the council for New England, had granted all the country between the +Narragansett River and the Pacific Ocean. Winthrop had just thrown up a +breastwork when a Dutch vessel appeared 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 eastward, although their Hartford colony lived for +many years. + + Sidenote: Condition of the colony (1636-1637). + +The migration from Massachusetts to the Connecticut continued vigorously +during 1636, and by the spring of 1637 the colony had a population of eight +hundred souls, grouped in the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, and +Wethersfield,--Winthrop's establishment at Saybrook being but a military +station, which had no connection with the Massachusetts settlements up the +river until 1644. The Pequod war, in 1637, stirred Connecticut to its +centre. A force of about one hundred and fifteen Massachusetts and +Connecticut 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, immigration was renewed, and prosperity became general +throughout the valley. + + + 58. The Connecticut Government (1639-1643). + + Sidenote: Government established. + +During the first year the Connecticut towns were still claimed by the +parent colony, and were controlled by a commission from Massachusetts. At +the end of that time (1637) there was held a General Court, in which each +town was represented by two magistrates, this body adopting such local +regulations as were of immediate necessity. + + Sidenote: The Connecticut Constitution. + +In January, 1639, the three towns adopted a constitution in which +Massachusetts acquiesced, thus practically abandoning her claims of +sovereignty over them. This Connecticut constitution was undoubtedly, as +Fiske says, "the first written constitution known to history that created a +government,"--the "Mayflower" compact being rather an agreement to accept a +constitution, while Magna Charta did not create a government. Bryce +characterizes the Connecticut 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 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 succession; but this 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 +ministers 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 administration was in the hands of the governor and his +assistants, 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 democratic than that of Massachusetts, +and was the model upon which many American States were afterwards built. + + Sidenote: Hooker's influence. + +More than to any other man, the credit for this epoch-making constitution +belongs to the Rev. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, the leading spirit of the +colony. He 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." These are +truisms to-day, but in 1638 they were the utterances of a political +prophet. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Connecticut. + +Under her liberal constitutional government, based upon the voice of the +people, Connecticut was from the first a practically independent republic. +The public officers were plain, honest men, who acceptably administered the +affairs of the colony with small cost. The colonists were shrewd in +political management, frugal in their expenditures, hard-working, and +ingenious. Education flourished, a severe morality obtained, and religious +persecution was unknown. Connecticut was noted among the colonies for its +prosperity, independence, and enlightenment. + + + 59. New Haven founded (1637-1644). + + Sidenote: Origin of the colony. + +Theophilus Eaton was a London merchant "of fair estate, and of great esteem +for religion and wisdom in outward affairs." He was at one time an +ambassador to the Danish court, and had been one of the original assistants +of the Massachusetts Company, 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. + + Sidenote: The plantation covenant. + +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, but extremely narrow and bigoted in 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 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. + + Sidenote: The Constitution. + +In October, 1639, there was adopted a constitution, in the making of which +Davenport had the chief hand. The governor and four magistrates were to be +elected by the freemen, who were, as in Massachusetts, church members; +trial by jury was rejected, because it lacked scriptural authority; and it +was formally 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 until his death, twenty years later. + + Sidenote: Neighboring towns. + +The neighborhood of New Haven was soon settled by other immigrants, most of +whom were also strict constructionists of the Scriptures, while a few +others were as liberal in their ideas as the people of the Connecticut +valley. Guilford was established (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 independent 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 assistants, elected by the whole body of freemen; yet +a majority 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, 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. + + Sidenote: Peter's False Blue Laws. + +At the meeting of the General Court in April, 1644, the magistrates in the +confederation were ordered to observe "the judicial laws of God as they +were delivered 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. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of New Haven. + +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 noted for the wealth of its inhabitants and their fine houses. +Education was greatly encouraged, 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 colony thus had conspicuous elements +of weakness, and was finally absorbed by Connecticut. + + + 60. Rhode Island founded (1636-1654). + + Sidenote: Roger Williams. + +In 1636, with five of his disciples, Roger Williams, driven from +Massachusetts as a reformer of a dangerous type, established the town of +Providence, at the head of Narragansett Bay. + + Sidenote: Anne Hutchinson. + +The following year (1637) a party of Anne Hutchinson's followers--also +expelled from Massachusetts because of heretical opinions--settled on the +island of Aquedneck (afterwards Rhode Island), eighteen miles to the south. +Mrs. Hutchinson joined them in 1638, and the town was eventually called +Portsmouth. + + Sidenote: Newport established. + +Both communities at once attracted from Massachusetts people who had either +been expelled from that colony or were not in entire harmony with it, and +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. + + Sidenote: The Providence agreement. + +Each of these colonies, Providence and Rhode Island, was at first an +independent body politic. It is interesting to note their original +compacts. The 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 subject +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, incorporated +together into a town fellowship, and such others whom they shall admit unto +them, only in civil things." Five freemen, called arbitrators, managed +public affairs, and for some years there appear to have been no fixed rules +for their guidance. + + Sidenote: The Portsmouth declaration. + +At Portsmouth the people united in the following declaration: "We do here +solemnly, in the presence of Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a body +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 +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 the remaining assistants; the freemen +composed the body of the court, and settled even the most trivial cases. In +1641 it was declared that "it is in the power of the body 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 between 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." + + Sidenote: An asylum for sectaries. + +By the other colonies Providence and Rhode Island were deemed hot-beds of +anarchy. Persons holding all manner of Protestant theological notions +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. + + Sidenote: Establishment of Providence Plantations. + +Through the exertions of Roger Williams, Providence, Portsmouth, and +Newport, with a new town called Warwick were united under one charter +(1644), as the colony of Providence Plantations. This liberal document, +issued by the Parliamentary Committee on the Colonies, gave to the +inhabitants along 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 conduct 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 precedents, passed safely through the ordeal in +1647; one important section provided that "all men may walk as their +conscience persuades them." + + Sidenote: The Coddington faction. + +The following year Coddington, as the head of a faction, obtained a +separate charter for Newport and Portsmouth,--much to the disgust of many +of 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 +secured the reunion of all the towns under the general charter of 1644, +with himself as president. The old law code was restored. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Rhode Island. + +Rhode Island was founded by a religious outcast, and always remained as an +asylum for those sectaries who could find no home elsewhere. The purpose +was noble, and Williams persisted in his policy, despite the fact that life +was often made uncomfortable for him by his ill-assorted fellow-colonists, +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 confused 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). + + Sidenote: Sir Ferdinando Gorges. + +Sir Ferdinando Gorges, governor of Plymouth in England, became interested +in New England, we have seen, as early as 1605. Ten years later he assisted +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 Merrimack 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 Merrimack 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 England 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, leaving the settlements in his tract +to be annexed to Massachusetts in 1641. + + Sidenote: Becomes Lord Proprietor of Maine. + +In April, 1639, Gorges obtained a provincial charter from the king, +conferring upon him the title of Lord Proprietor of the Province or County +of Maine, his domain to extend, as before, from the Kennebec to the +Piscataqua, and backward one hundred and twenty miles from the coast. He +received 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 +population; 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 plantations, the +province was not as flourishing as its neighbors to the south. + + Sidenote: His cumbrous constitution. + +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 +England were to prevail in cases not covered by the statutes; the Church of +England was to be the State religion; all Englishmen were to be allowed +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 tithings; 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. + + Sidenote: The colony neglected. + +The proprietor himself never visited America; he was represented by his son +Thomas as deputy-governor. It was impossible for the latter, however, to +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). + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Maine. + +The settlers brought out to people Maine were the servants of individuals +or companies having a tract of land to be occupied and cultivated, +fisheries to conduct, 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 immediate outcome of their necessities. They had little sympathy +or communication with their neighbors of Massachusetts and Plymouth. + + + 62. New Hampshire founded (1620-1685). + + Sidenote: Origin of the first settlements. + +We have seen that John Mason was given a grant in 1629 of the country +between the Merrimack and the Piscataqua. In his scheme for colonizing the +tract, Gorges was associated with him. But David Thomson and three Plymouth +fur-traders had already gained a footing at Rye in 1622, under a grant from +the Plymouth Council. Dover had been founded before 1628 by the brothers +Hilton, Puritan fish-dealers in London; and some of Mrs. Hutchinson's +adherents, exiles from Massachusetts, founded Exeter and Hampton. In 1630 +Neal, as colonizing agent of Mason and Gorges, settled at Portsmouth, on +the Piscataqua, 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 (page 150, § 61), 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 hundred 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. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of New Hampshire. + +The beginnings of New Hampshire were the results of commercial enterprise +in England and theological dissensions in Massachusetts. The inhabitants of +the several towns had little in common, and held different political and +religious views. Planted under various auspices, when they grew to +importance they were the subject of long struggles for jurisdiction. It +would be tiresome to trace the history of these disputes; suffice it to say +that after many changes the settlements on or near the Piscataqua were +(1641-1643) incorporated with Massachusetts, which ruled them with marked +discretion, and refrained from meddling with their religious views. In +1679, as the result of disputes growing out of the revival of the Mason +claim in England, New Hampshire was turned into a royal province, but in +1685 was reunited to Massachusetts. As to the character 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. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 TO 1700. + + + 63. References. + + +Bibliographies.--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; Channing, _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, some of them of +much importance; Winsor's _Boston_, and Sheldon's _Deerfield_ are examples. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Sewall, _Diary_; Mather, _Magnalia_; 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). + + Sidenote: Local politics excluded. + +In the preceding chapter has been sketched the origin and planting of the +New England colonies. Most of those colonies maintained a separate +existence and had a history of their own during the rest of the 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. + + Sidenote: Connecticut makes overtures for a colonial federation (1637). + +First in time and first in its consequences is the federation of the New +England colonies, for which in August, 1637, the men of Connecticut made +overtures to the Massachusetts General Court. Connecticut, as an outpost of +English civilization in the 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 +Amsterdam 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 boundary disputes and race hatred. The +Connecticut and Hudson 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. + + Sidenote: Massachusetts at last favorable (1642). + +The proposition for union was renewed in 1639, and again in September, +1642. At first Massachusetts was indifferent; but finally "the ill news we +had out of England concerning the breach between the 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 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. + + Sidenote: Formation of the New England Confederation. + +In May, 1643, twelve articles were agreed upon at Boston between the +representatives of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. +Winthrop tells us that the representatives "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." Compromises were the foundation of this as well as of +later American constitutions. + + Sidenote: The Constitution. + +The four colonies were bound together by a formal written constitution, +under the name of "The United Colonies of New England," in "a firm and +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 numbers 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 confederates, +and all things of like nature which were the proper concomitants or +consequents of such a confederation for amity, offence, and defence." Six +commissioners formed a working majority of the board; but in case of +disagreement, the question at issue was to be sent to the legislatures 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 oftener +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). + + Sidenote: Inequality of representation. + +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 four colonies represented an aggregate population of 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. + + Sidenote: Massachusetts in control. + +Nevertheless, during the twenty years in which the confederation was the +strongest political power on the continent of North America, Massachusetts +maintained 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 there bespoke fealty to the English +king. As for Maine, its proprietor, Gorges, was enlisted on the side of the +monarch, and the political system in vogue in his province differed from +that in the other colonies. + + Sidenote: Nature of the Board of Commissioners. + +The board was little more than a committee of public safety; it acted upon +the colonial legislatures, and not on the individual colonists, and had no +power to enforce its decrees. One of its early interests 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." + + Sidenote: Local independence greater than national patriotism. + +In the articles of confederation there was no reference whatever to the +home government. The New Englanders had taken charge of their own affairs, +apparently without a thought of the supremacy of either king or parliament. +The spirit of local 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 American +colonists. In November (1643) Parliament instituted 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. + + Sidenote: Jealousy of interference from England. + +Massachusetts was ever in an attitude of jealousy towards even a suspicion +of interference from England. In 1644 the General Court voted that any one +attempting to raise soldiers for the king should be "accounted as an +offender of an high nature against this commonwealth, and to be proceeded +with, either capitally or otherwise, according to the quality and degree of +his offence." The colony was, however, no more for the Commons than for the +king. When, in 1651, Parliament desired that Massachusetts surrender her +charter granted by King Charles and receive 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 liberty 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 proclaimed in New +England. + + + 66. Disturbances in Rhode Island (1641-1647). + + Sidenote: The sectaries on Narragansett Bay. + +Over on Narragansett Bay the public peace continued to be disturbed by +factious disputations. Because of the freedom there generously offered to +all men, the settlements of Rhode Island and Providence were the +harboring-place for dissenters of every class, who for the most part had +been ordered to leave the other colonies. Many of these persons 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. + + Sidenote: The case of Gorton. + +Some of Roger Williams's adherents had built Pawtuxet. To them came a band +of fanatics, headed by Samuel Gorton, described by his orthodox 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 Pawtuxet 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 blasphemy, 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 decision 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 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). + + Sidenote: Expressions of independence. + +The sturdy and independent spirit of the colonists was expressed in words +as well as in deeds. While Winslow was thus representing the colonists in +England 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 expressed by Governor John +Winthrop. An opinion which he delivered about this time betokened the proud +and independent 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. Winthrop held, however, that the supreme law in the colonies +was the common weal, and should parliamentary authority endanger the +welfare of the colonists, then they would be justified in ignoring that +authority. + + Sidenote: The Presbyterians. + +Religious liberty was quite as dear to the New England people as political +liberty. In 1645, under Scottish influence, Presbyterianism was established +by Act of Parliament as the state religion of England. Massachusetts was, +however, stoutly Independent, 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 Confession 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" +established, to distinguish New England orthodoxy from "those corrupt sects +and heresies which showed themselves under the vast title of Independency." +In 1649 this platform was laid by the General Court before the several +congregations, and two years later it was formally agreed to. + + Sidenote: Encroachments upon Dutch possessions. + +It was hardly to be supposed that a people so little inclined to +acknowledge the rights of England should treat with greater respect those +of Holland; and indeed they had the countenance of the home government in +encroachments upon the Dutch colonies. In 1642 Boswell, 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 westward from New Haven on the mainland, and +southward on Long Island. Peter Stuyvesant, then governor of New +Netherland, bitterly complained of these encroachments,--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 proposed 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 Englanders, but +was informed by the Dutch West India Company that war "cannot in any event +be to our advantage: 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 Hudson River," and which gave to Connecticut the greater part of Long +Island. + + Sidenote: Weakness of the confederation in the Dutch War. + +War broke out between England and Holland in 1652, and the Connecticut +people were anxious to attack New Netherland, which had not ceased its +depredations on the outlying settlements. All of the federal commissioners +except those from Massachusetts voted to go to war; there was a stormy +session of the federal court, in which Massachusetts endeavored in vain to +override the other colonies. 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 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 preparations in America +ceased. + + Sidenote: Massachusetts in collision with the commissioners. + +The weakness of the New England confederation was evident in domestic +affairs as well as in foreign wars. Massachusetts was frequently in +collision with the commissioners. An instance occurred as early as +1642-1643, when trouble broke out with the Narragansetts, who were friends +and allies of the disturber Gorton at Shawomet. Massachusetts 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. + + Sidenote: Contention between Connecticut and Massachusetts. + +Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was purchased by the +Connecticut federation in 1644. In order to compensate herself, Connecticut +levied toll on every vessel passing up the river. Massachusetts owned the +valley town of 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 decided +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 intercolonial trade +ceased. + + + 68. Repression of the Quakers (1656-1660). + + Sidenote: Treatment of the Quakers. + +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 +theocracy of the seventeenth century the attitude of the sect was both +theologically and politically well calculated to arouse hostility. They +would strip all formalities from religion, they would recognize 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 respect for the +right of individual judgment in spiritual matters. They were aggressive and +stubborn, and, goaded on by persecution, broke out into fantastic displays +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 vanguard of the Quaker +missionary army, the colonial authorities were aghast with horror. The +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 +treatment, 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 suffered 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. + +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. + + Sidenote: New England in the hands of the council for the plantations. + +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 plantations, and twelve privy councillors were designated to take +New England in charge. The Quakers had seized the opportunity of gaining an +early hearing from the new king, who was charitably disposed towards them. +In its address 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. Royal Commission (1660-1664). + + Sidenote: The king suspects New England's loyalty. + +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 purpose." The New Englanders, +too, had been somewhat slow to proclaim his ascendancy; while two of the +judges who had sentenced his father to death, Goffe and Whalley, were +screened from royal justice by the people of New Haven, and afterwards by +those 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 +impracticable; now that Charles appeared to be turning his attention to +America a more politic course was pursued. Simon Bradstreet, a leading +layman, and John Norton, prominent 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 competent 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 administer 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. + + Sidenote: Arrival of royal commissioners. + +Affairs now went on peacefully enough in Massachusetts until 1664. In that +year the king sent over four royal commissioners to look after the +colonies, 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 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 Amsterdam 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 commissioners were obliged to return without having +accomplished 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. + + Sidenote: Treatment of Connecticut, and of Rhode Island. + +In the other colonies of New England better treatment had been accorded the +commissioners. Connecticut had sent over her governor, the younger +Winthrop, to represent her at court. He was well received there, being a +man of scholarly tastes and pleasing 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, annexed to her sister colony. Rhode Island, too, was +benefited by the royal favor, and received 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 +received the commissioners with consideration, while weak Plymouth was also +praised for her ready obedience. + + Sidenote: Decadence of the confederation. + +The suppression of New Haven by the king, and the practical victory of the +Quakers over the theocratic policy of Massachusetts, were staggering blows +to the confederation. The federal commissioners 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. + + Sidenote: A prosperous period. + +The period of the decadence of the confederation, however, was in the main +one of prosperity for New England. Emigration to America had almost wholly +ceased 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 +Dissenters, and the movement included many, both laymen and clericals, of +eminent ability. New industries were introduced, commerce grew, the area of +settlement extended, and wealth increased. + + Sidenote: Change of attitude towards England. + +But the accretion of wealth and the passage of time brought changes in the +attitude towards England that threatened in a measure to counteract the +quiet struggle for independence which had been going on for nearly half a +century. A second generation of Americans had come upon the stage, with but +a traditional 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 +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). + + Sidenote: Indian policy of New England. + +The Indian policy of the New Englanders was more humane than that adopted +in any of the other colonies except Pennsylvania. Compensation had been +granted to the savages for lands taken, firm friendships had been formed +between some of the chiefs and the whites, and the missionary enterprises +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 successfully undertook the +monumental labor of translating the Bible into it for their benefit. + + Sidenote: Troubles with Philip. + +Massasoit, head-chief of the Pokanokets, had made a treaty of alliance with +the Plymouth colonists soon after their arrival, and kept it strictly until +his death (1660). His two sons were christened at Plymouth 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. 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 +numerous 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 land. + + Sidenote: King Philip's War. + +His territory was now chiefly confined to Mount Hope,--a peninsula running +into Narragansett Bay; and here he "began to keep his men in arms about +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 warriors 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 volunteers, enlisted by the +federal commissioners, on December 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. + +The following spring and summer Philip again made bloody forays on the +settlements; but he was persistently attacked, his followers were +scattered, and he was at last driven, with a handful of followers, into a +swamp on Mount Hope. Here (Aug. 12, 1676) he was shot to death by a +friendly Indian, and "fell upon his face in the mud and water, with his gun +under him; ... upon which the whole army gave three loud huzzas." His hands +and head were cut off and taken to Boston and Plymouth respectively, 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. + + Sidenote: The effect of the struggle. + +During the two years' deadly struggle the colonists had been surfeited with +horrors, of which the statistics of loss can convey but slight idea. Of the +eighty or ninety towns in Plymouth and Massachusetts, nearly two-thirds had +been harried by the savages,--ten or twelve wholly, and the others +partially 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 +colonies 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 precedent +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 +interference, they preferred to fight their battles for themselves, and +thus to give no excuse to the king for maintaining royal troops in New +England. + + + 71. Territorial Disputes (1649-1685). + + Sidenote: Massachusetts extends her territory. + +Massachusetts early gave evidence of a desire to extend her territory. +Disputes in regard to lands frequently gave rise to quarrels with the +Indians. In 1649 the strip of mainland along Long Island Sound, between the +western boundary of Rhode 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, and the management of colonial affairs was +resumed by a standing committee 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. + + Sidenote: The king's charges against Massachusetts. + +Other complaints against the Bay Colony, that had been allowed to slumber +for some time, were now revived, and the Lords of Trade, as they were +familiarly called, were soon sitting in council upon the deeds of the +obstinate colony. The king's charges of early years were again advanced: +that the Acts of Navigation and Trade (page 104, § 44) were not being +observed; that ships from various European countries traded with Boston +direct, without paying duty to England 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 collector 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, who were greatly +embittered against England in consequence of his malicious reports to the +home government. + + Sidenote: New Hampshire a royal province. + +In 1679 the king erected New Hampshire into a separate royal province. +Edward Cranfield, a tyrannical man, became the governor (1682), but his +conduct drove the people into insurrection. He was obliged to fly to the +West Indies (1685), and in the same year New Hampshire was reunited to +Massachusetts. + + Sidenote: Massachusetts purchases Maine. + +In 1665 the royal commissioners detached Maine from Massachusetts; but +three years later (1668) that commonwealth calmly took it back again. +Gorges was inclined to make trouble, and agents of Massachusetts quietly +purchased his claim (1677) for £1,250. 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 proprietor, and did not make it a +part of the Massachusetts colony. + + + 72. Revocation of the Charters (1679-1687). + + Sidenote: The Massachusetts charter annulled. + +It was two years later (1679) before Charles was ready again to make a +movement upon Massachusetts. He demanded that Maine should be delivered up +to the Crown, on repayment of the purchase money, and also that all other +complaints 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 +warranto_ was issued against the simple trading charter under which +Massachusetts had so long been permitted to grow and prosper; the charter +was held to be annulled, and the colony now became a royal possession. + + Sidenote: Arrival of Andros. + +With the death of Charles II. (1685), James II. came to the English throne. +As a Roman Catholic, and imbued with a taste of absolute power, the +colonies had little favor to expect from him. In 1686, as a step towards +abolishing the American charters, James sent over Sir Edmund Andros as +governor 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 unpopular +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 demand of Andros, and he went +to Hartford (October, 1687) and ordered the charter to be produced. A +familiar 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. + + Sidenote: His despotic rule. + +The following year (1688) Andros was also made governor of New York and the +Jerseys, his jurisdiction now extending from Delaware Bay to the confines +of 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 accustomed 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 made under former +administrations were annulled; private 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 described 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. Restoration of the Charters (1689-1692). + + Sidenote: Andros deposed. + +In April, 1689, news came of the Revolution in England, the flight of the +arrogant James, and the accession of the Prince of Orange. The example of +revolt was already foreshadowed in Boston, where Andros and Dudley were +deposed. Elsewhere in the Northern colonies the representatives of the +tyrant extortioners were driven out. The Protestant sovereigns, William and +Mary, were proclaimed amid great popular rejoicings. + + Sidenote: New England under William and Mary. + +The old charters were restored for the time. In September, 1691, Plymouth +and the newly acquired territory of Acadia were united to Massachusetts +under a new charter, which had been secured from the king chiefly through +the agency of the Rev. Increase Mather, of Boston, now influential in +colonial 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 qualification for suffrage was abolished, a small +property qualification (an estate of £40 value, or a freehold worth £2 a +year) being substituted; laws passed by the General Court were subject to +veto by the king,--a provision fraught with danger to the colonists. Thus +Massachusetts became a Crown charter colony,--a position not uncomfortable +so long as the executive and the legislature could agree. The first royal +governor, Sir William Phipps (1692-1695), 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 proprietor, 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 liberty that the scheme of a consolidation of +the New England colonies was put forward by the Stuarts too late for +accomplishment. It was also fortunate that Massachusetts was flanked by and +often competed with by her neighbors, Plymouth, Connecticut, Rhode Island, +and New Hampshire, who were protected against her by a jealous government +in England, 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 colonies established on what +seemed a permanent basis of loyalty to the Crown and of local independence. + + + + + 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 Social History_; J. +Bishop, _History of American Manufactures_; American Statistical +Association _Publications_, No. 1. + +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. Williams, _Negro +Race in America, 1619-1880_; W. Dubois, _Suppression 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, +biographies of prominent men. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Same as § 63, above. + + + + 75. Land and People. + + Sidenote: Geography. + +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 anchorage. To the south of the cape there are also abundant +harbors; but the mountains nowhere approach 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 lakes; the upper streams fall in successions of +picturesque cascades, the water-power of which is often profitably utilized +in manufacturing; and the larger rivers are held back by great dams, about +which have grown up the manufacturing towns of Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, +Lawrence, Holyoke, and many others. + +Two ranges of mountains traverse New England: the Green Mountains and their +continuation, the Berkshire 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 Carolina 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 Vermont and New Hampshire, while Maine, back from the +shore, has much good soil. The New England hills are 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 England 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 enduring commonwealths, in which the English +institutions to which they had been accustomed were reproduced, and often +improved upon. + + Sidenote: The population. + +The population of New England in 1700, by which time a second generation of +Englishmen had arisen in America, is roughly estimated at about 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 opening of the Revolutionary War ninety-eight per cent of New England +people were English or unmixed descendants 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 (1692-1701): "God sifted a whole nation, that he might send +choice grain over into this wilderness." + + + 76. Social Classes and Professions. + + Sidenote: Classes. + +Social distinctions were almost as sharply drawn in New England as in the +South. There was a powerful and much-respected aristocratic class, +beginning 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 +punctiliously 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 +primogeniture. The force of public opinion alone separated the classes; +with the growth of the democratic idea, social barriers ultimately +weakened, although they continued to appear in the politics of the +commonwealth down to the middle of the present century. + + Sidenote: Slavery. + +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 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 practice." For many years this distinguished jurist +and diarist followed up his assaults, allowing no opportunity to escape +wherein he might espouse the cause of the oppressed "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. + + Sidenote: The legal profession. + +There was a full system of courts, ranging from the colonial judges down to +the justices of the peace and "commissioners of small causes," appointed by +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 +importance of the ministry; we do not read of a professional 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 legal contests between towns regarding lands. Between the +colonies, also, there were complicated and hotly-contested boundary +disputes. The bar gained strength, but it was not till about the middle of +the eighteenth century that it stood beside the ministry. + + Sidenote: The ministry. + +We have had frequent evidences, in preceding chapters, of the large +influence of the clergy in the temporal affairs of New England. The ranks +of the 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 community. +They were held in great affection and reverence; 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 live," was an +expression of the spirit which dominated his order. + + Sidenote: Medicine. + +It was an age in which quackery flourished. The regular 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 alliance has been maintained in one form or +another. The partnership was very common among our British ancestors." +There were few facilities for the study of medicine in the colonies until +after the Revolution. The first medical school in America was established +in Philadelphia, about 1760. + + + 77. Occupations. + + Sidenote: Domestic manufactures. + +Unlike the Southern colonists, New Englanders were dependent on England +only for the most important manufactures. Mechanics were sufficiently +numerous 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 +distilleries; 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 magnitude; the home government, through the Acts of Navigation and +Trade (page 104, § 44), had discouraged, as far as possible, American +efforts in this direction. + + Sidenote: Fisheries. + +The fisheries, particularly whale and cod, were an important source of +income, those of Massachusetts being estimated, in 1750, at £250,000 per +year. Fishers' 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. + + Sidenote: Shipbuilding. + +A pinnace, called the "Virginia," was constructed by the Popham colonists +in 1607,--the first ocean-going vessel built in New England. Shipbuilding +was 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 competition. In 1760 ships to the extent +of twenty thousand 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. + + Sidenote: Commerce. + +Dried fish was the chief commodity carried out of New England, and was +exported in American bottoms to Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies. +Fish-oil and timber were also sent out of Maine 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 neighboring 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 domestic use, and sold it to their +parishioners. Wines were imported from Madeira and Malaga, and manufactured +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 thousand in her fisheries and coast-trade. + + Sidenote: Distribution of occupations. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century the population was in about +equal degree engaged in trade and agriculture. Trade was the chief calling +in 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. + + Sidenote: The towns. + +Boston, Newport, and New Haven were the chief towns; the former was at this +time the centre of political and mercantile life on the North American +continent, and there were external evidences of considerable 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 arching 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. + + Sidenote: Life and manners. + +The people in these rural communities were in moderate financial +circumstances, neat in habit, intelligent, and fairly educated; both sexes, +young and 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 sober-colored 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 stockings and knee-breeches, with buckled +shoes; workmen had breeches and jackets of leather, buckskin, or coarse +canvas, 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 lurking 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 neighborhoods 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. + + Sidenote: Roads and travel. + +The highways were generally of fair character, but the larger streams were +unbridged. Outside of the neighborhoods of the large towns wheeled +vehicles, 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. + + Sidenote: Education. + +A system of public education was among the first institutions 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 +rudiments; 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. + + Sidenote: Crime. + +Crime appears to have been less frequent in New England 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 +safety. 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 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 the 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 "Scarlet +Letter" is based on this last-named custom. + + Sidenote: Religion. + +Organized on the Independent, or Congregational, form, each religious +congregation was a law unto itself, electing its own deacons and minister, +and was but little 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 Congregationalists of New England may be esteemed +among the most moderate and charitable of Christian professions." The +introduction of the Church of England under Andros aroused bitter +opposition. Episcopalianism 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 to have been intended for an imported bishop, bears testimony to +the popular feeling against the system. It had no success except among the +Tory element in Boston and Portsmouth,--and later (1736-1750) in New Haven. +In Rhode Island perfect tolerance made the 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. + + Sidenote: "The great awakening." + +A "great awakening" of religious fervor affected New England between 1713 +and 1744. Originating in Northampton, Mass., in revivals under Solomon +Stoddard, the popular excitement became almost frenzied under Jonathan +Edwards, beginning in 1734. A visit from George Whitefield, the English +revivalist, 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. + + Sidenote: The witchcraft craze. + +The witchcraft craze at Salem is commonly thought to have been a legitimate +outgrowth of the gloomy religion of the Puritans. It was, however, but one +of those panics of fear which during several centuries periodically swept +over civilized lands. In the twelfth century thousands of persons in Europe +were sacrificed 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 +arrested, and hundreds of odd and repulsive old women were burned or hanged +in consequence. From King John down to 1712, innocent lives were constantly +sacrificed in England on this charge; in the year 1661 alone, one hundred +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 being +"too subtle in her perception of what was occurring 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. + + Sidenote: The trials. + +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, financial depression, and +general dread of another Indian outbreak. The time was ripe for an epidemic +of superstitious 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 +procedure, 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 presided over this extraordinary +tribunal, was in active sympathy 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 respectable 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. + + Sidenote: Sewall's repentance. + +By the following year the craze had exhausted itself, and there was a +general jail-delivery. Many of the children afterwards confessed to the +falsity of their 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 desk at 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 forgiveness of God. Cotton Mather, +however, endeavored to vindicate himself by the statement, "I know not that +ever I have advanced any opinion in the matter of witchcraft but what all +the ministers of the Lord that I know of in the world, whether English or +Scotch, or French or Dutch, are of the same opinion with me." + + Sidenote: The witchcraft delusion elsewhere in the colonies. + +Belief in witchcraft was not confined to Massachusetts. Evidence of this +superstition--childish to us of to-day, but a stern reality in the +strongest minds of Cotton Mather's time--was noticeable throughout most of +the colonies until the middle of the 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, Ill., 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. + + Sidenote: Administration. + +The town was in New England the political unit. The town-meeting was a +primary assembly, at which were transacted all local affairs,--those which +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 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 distinguishable 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 public expenditures were carefully +watched and criticised by a frugal people. The introduction of royal +governors opened the door to bickerings between the executive and the +legislature,--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 +interference. The several colonial governments in New England 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. + + Sidenote: Summary. + +New England men were brave and liberty-loving, stoutly withstanding any +attempt on the part of the home government to curtail their rights as +Englishmen 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 successfully put in practice. They +were hard-working, frugal, 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 their 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 were enterprising and +thrifty to a high degree. In commerce, domestic trade, manufactures, and +political sagacity, 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. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES (1609-1700). + + + 82. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Larned, _Literature of American 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. 1, 2, and 3, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, Nos. 1, 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 Usselinx_.--New Jersey: Lee, Mulford, Raum, and +Tanner; F. Stockton, _Stories of New Jersey_; A. Melick, _Old New Jersey +Farm_.--Pennsylvania: S. Fisher, _Making of Pennsylvania_; H. Jenkins, +_Pennsylvania_; I. Sharpless, _Two Centuries of Pennsylvania_, 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 Account_ (1681); Budd, _Good Order +Established_ (1685); Sewel, _History 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. + + + 83. Dutch Settlement (1609-1625). + + Sidenote: Hudson's discovery. + +In September, 1609, Hendrik Hudson, an English navigator in the employ of +the Dutch East India Company, sailed up the river to which his name has +been given by the English--the Dutch called it North River--as far as the +future site of Albany. 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 Champlain about one hundred miles to the north, fighting the native +Iroquois. The object of Hudson's search was a familiar one in his +time,--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. + + Sidenote: Early Dutch trading-posts. + +Dutch traders annually visited the region of Hudson River during the next +few years. There was at first no attempt at colonization, for Holland just +at that time was not prepared to give offence to her old 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 (1614) for +trafficking in furs. A small trading-house, called Fort Nassau, was also +erected this year on the site of Albany; a similar establishment, without +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. + + Sidenote: The New Netherlands Company. + +In 1615 the New Netherland Company obtained a trading charter from the +States-General of Holland. The corporation was granted a monopoly of the +Dutch fur-traffic in New Netherland for three years, and conducted +extensive operations between Albany and the Delaware, coastwise and in the +interior. The Dutch thus far had not ventured to exercise political 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 destination and +planting an English colony in the neighborhood of the Dutch trading posts. + + Sidenote: The Dutch West India Company. + +In 1621 the Dutch West India Company came upon the scene as the successor +of the New Netherland Company. Its charter bade it "to advance the peopling +of those fruitful and unsettled parts," and to "do all that the service of +those countries and the profit and increase of trade shall require." The +corporation was given almost absolute commercial and political power in all +Dutch domains between Newfoundland and the Straits of Magellan, the home +government reserving only the right to decline confirmation of colonial +officers. Three years elapsed before the company attempted to plant a +colony. Thirty families of Protestant Walloons--a people of mixed Gallic +and Teutonic 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 emigrants 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 settlements, 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 commercial colonies. + + + 84. Progress within New Netherland (1626-1664). + + Sidenote: The settlements united. + +In 1626 Peter Minuit, then director for the company, purchased Manhattan +from the Indians, united all the settlements under one system of direction, +and founded New Amsterdam (afterwards New York city) as the central trading +depot. In every direction the trade of New Netherland grew. + + Sidenote: The patroon system. + +As the settlers seemed to be interested in commerce, and agricultural +colonization did not flourish, the corporation secured from the +States-General a new 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. +Members 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 along the river, or eight miles +on both sides, "and so far 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 patroons were +generally careful to bind the settlers before starting out not to exercise +this right. + + Sidenote: Patroon settlements. + +Leading members of the company were quick to avail themselves of this +opportunity to become members of a landed aristocracy and absolute chiefs +of whatever colonies they might plant. Small settlements were soon made on +these several domains, which were taken up chiefly along Hudson River, the +principal highway into the Indian country. Van Rensselaer founded +Rensselaerswyck, near Fort Orange; Pauw secured Hoboken and Staten Island; +while Godyn, Blommaert, 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 (1839-1846), +which broke out in bloody riots and affected New York politics for several +years. + + Sidenote: Collisions with English traders. + +The patroons, as individuals, haughtily assumed to shut out the Dutch West +India Company, of which they were members, from the trade of their petty +independent States. The corporation was not only torn by internal +dissensions, but soon had on hand a quarrel with New England because of the +establishment of a Dutch fur-trading post at Hartford, on the Connecticut +(1633), and the vain assertion of a right to 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 increased, but +colonization did not thrive, owing in part to the rapacity of the patroons, +and partly to the mismanagement of the governors sent out to represent the +company. + + Sidenote: An Indian war. + +The singular lack of tact displayed by Governor Kieft led to an Algonquian +Indian uprising (1643-45), which resulted in the death of sixteen hundred +savages, 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. + + Sidenote: Attempts to foster colonization. + +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 privileges. As a counter-influence, a new class of 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 independent 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 colonists, 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. + + Sidenote: The colonists struggling for political rights. + +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 +several settlements to advise him in regard to treatment of the Indians, +and again in 1644 to consult as to taxes; but he rode rough-shod over the +deputies. The public outcry over this arbitrary conduct led to his recall +and the institution of some minor reforms. 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 arranged as to be self-perpetuating, +and the people, after the original election, ceased to have any hand in its +makeup. 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. + + Sidenote: A heterogeneous population. + +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. The Dutch themselves soon followed. Besides these were several +bands of Protestant reformers who had fled from persecution in Europe, and +numerous sectaries from New England who had found life intolerable there. +There were so many French-speaking people in the district that public +documents were often printed both in French and Dutch. In 1643 it was +reported that eighteen languages were spoken in New Amsterdam. + + Sidenote: Encroachments by the Swedes. + +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 +Christina, on the future site of Wilmington, Del., and called the country +New Sweden. The Dutch governor at New Amsterdam vainly protested against +this occupation of territory claimed by his employers. 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 compelled +to leave. The Swedish enterprise went unchecked until Stuyvesant's rule, +when a fort was built (1651) on the site of Newcastle, Del., below the +Swedish fort; and four years after this (1655) the South Company was +obliged, upon display of force, to abandon its enterprise. + + + 85. Conquest of New Netherland (1664). + + Sidenote: English interference. + +So long as a foreign nation and a formidable commercial rival held the +geographical centre, the northern and southern colonies of England were +separated, intercommunication was hampered, and international boundary +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 Connecticut, 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. + + Sidenote: England captures New Netherlands. + +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 ten years. In 1664 Charles II. revived the claim that Englishmen had +discovered the region before the Dutch. In August of that year Colonel +Nicolls 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 demanded its +surrender. There was a stone fort and twenty cannon; but the enemy were too +strong to be 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. + + Sidenote: Importance of the conquest. + +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 +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. + + Sidenote: Introduction of English rule. + +The Duke of York was made proprietor of the conquered territory, the +province and capital being now styled New York; Fort Orange was +rechristened 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 public 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). + + Sidenote: Local government. + +The methods of local self-government were quietly transformed. Under the +Dutch, the towns, manors, and villages held direct relations with the West +India Company. A systematic code drawn by Nicolls and a convention of the +settlers (1665)--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 differing from the New England selectmen, who but carried out the +mandates of the town-meeting. There was created a judicial district called +a "riding," with an area embracing several towns and presided over by a +sheriff. In 1683, these ridings developed into counties; afterwards (1703), +it was arranged that a supervisor was to be elected by the freeholders in +each town, to represent it in a county board whose duties were chiefly to +levy, collect, and apportion taxes. Thus we see the genesis in the middle +colonies of the mixed system of local government,--town and county being of +equal importance, with elective executive officers in each: it was a +compromise between the town system of New England and the county system of +Virginia; and this mixed system now prevails in perhaps most of the States +of the Union. The duke's charter enabled him to make all laws, without +asking the advice or assistance of the freemen. By "the duke's laws," power +was vested in the hands of the governor and council, the people being +wholly ignored in all matters above the affairs of the riding. Perfect +religious liberty was allowed throughout the province. + + Sidenote: Recapture by the Dutch. + +In 1672 England and Holland were again at war, and Francis Lovelace, then +governor of New York, made such preparations as he could against +anticipated attack. The Dutch colonists had had more or less trouble about +taxes with the English authorities, and there had been some friction +because the duke had made grants to Carteret and Berkeley in what +afterwards by the release became New Jersey, and thus had still further +complicated land-titles; but in general the English rule had been borne +with comparative equanimity. Nevertheless, the Dutch were highly delighted +when a fleet from Holland appeared before the city (1673), and easily +secured the surrender of the place. + + Sidenote: England again in possession. + +Fifteen months later (1674) the treaty of Westminster ceded the province +back to England, and it became New York once more. The population at this +time was about seven thousand. + + Sidenote: The rule of Andros. + +Edmund Andros, later concerned in the attempt to reduce New England (page +174, § 72), now came out as governor. His domestic policy was wise, and the +province experienced a healthy growth, the fur-trade being greatly expanded +under his administration. Both Nicolls and Andros sought to neutralize the +ill effects of the New Jersey grants by contending that they were still +tributary to New York, and Andros, in particular, adopted aggressive +measures to maintain what he held to be his prerogative; but Carteret and +Berkeley were too influential at court, and the governor was recalled +(1680) and given other employment. + + Sidenote: Charter of liberties. + +Under Gov. Thomas Dongan (1683-1688) the government yielded to the clamor +of the people, who pointed to the greater freedom allowed the New +Englanders; and an assembly was formed composed of eighteen deputies +elected by the freeholders. A charter of liberties was adopted by this +body, with the king's consent, making the assembly co-ordinate with the +governor and council; freeholders and freemen of corporations were invested +with the franchise; religious toleration was ordained for all Christians; +taxes were not to be levied without the assembly's sanction: but all laws +were to require the assent of the duke, who was also to grant lands and +establish custom-houses. This liberal treatment was of short duration. The +Duke of York came to the throne in 1685 as James II., and his reign was +signalized by depriving his subjects in New York of their representative +government (1686). The governor and council were ordered to establish the +Church of England in the province, and to refuse permits to schools not +licensed by the Church. + + Sidenote: Leisler's revolution. + +In 1688 New York was annexed to New England under the rule of Andros, who +was represented in New York by a deputy, Francis Nicholson. Later in the +year news came of the Revolution in England. Jacob Leisler, an energetic +but uneducated German shopkeeper, who had come out as a soldier in the West +India Company's employ, headed the militia in driving Nicholson out and +proclaiming the Prince of Orange. Leisler assumed the government; but his +rule was rash and arbitrary, although there is no doubt of his patriotic +spirit, and soon there arose a demand from the conservative element for his +withdrawal. By various subterfuges, however, he retained office for three +years. His term was distinguished by his issuance of a call for the first +Colonial Congress held in America; it met at Albany, February, 1690, with +seven delegates, chiefly from New England, and sought to organize a +retaliatory raid against the French and their Algonquian allies, who had +recently swept Schenectady with fire and tomahawk. The following year +(1691) Leisler was forced to surrender to the royal governor, Col. Henry +Sloughter, who soon after, while intoxicated, was induced by Leisler's +enemies to sign the death-warrant of his predecessor. + + Sidenote: Closing years of the century. + +A representative assembly was called, which annulled Leisler's proceedings +and formulated a code similar to the earlier charter of liberties. Gov. +Benjamin Fletcher (1692-1698) was notoriously corrupt. He levied blackmail +on the pirates and smugglers who swarmed in the harbors, and intrigued for +money with members of the assembly; but in his dealings with the hostile +French and Indians he was firm and successful. In 1698 the Earl of +Bellomont was appointed governor, and New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, +and New Hampshire were jointly placed under his rule. In New York he +restored order, reduced crime, and rooted out corruption and piracy, so +that when he died (1701), his loss was sincerely regretted. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of New York. + +New York had gone through a development which down to the end of the +eighteenth century marked the colony out from her sisters. No other colony +had a history of any importance before the English domination; in no other +colony were a foreign race and a foreign language and customs so +intrenched. No colony had such an experience of control from England. The +history of New York up to 1700 is chiefly a history of administrations. The +commercial pre-eminence of New York was hardly shown in colonial times. Its +chief importance among the colonies arose out of the relations with the +Iroquois. + + + 87. Delaware (1623-1700). + + Sidenote: Early Dutch settlers. + +We have seen that the Dutch West India Company established (1623) a trading +post, called Fort Nassau, on the banks of the Delaware River within the +present town of Gloucester, N.J., and four miles below the future site of +Philadelphia. The settlers were a portion of the party of Walloons sent out +to America in that year. Eight years later (1631), De Vries, Blommaert, +and other patroons (page 199, § 84) of New Netherlands founded +Swaanendael, near the site of Lewes, Del.; but a quarrel soon arose +between the new settlers and the Indians, resulting in the complete +massacre of the Swaanendael colonists and the driving away of the garrison +at Fort Nassau. In 1635 the patroons owning lands on both shores of +Delaware Bay and River sold their possessions to the Dutch West India +Company, and a small garrison was sent by the latter to re-occupy Fort +Nassau. A party of Englishmen from New Haven attempted that year to settle +in the district, but were taken to New Amsterdam as prisoners. + + Sidenote: The South Company of Sweden. + +A third nation now appeared upon the scene as a competitor for the Delaware +country. The South Company of Sweden--which purposed trading in Asia, +Africa, and America, but especially in the last--had been chartered in +1624, under the auspices of the enterprising and ambitious Gustavus +Adolphus, by Willem Usselinx, an Amsterdam merchant, founder of the Dutch +West India Company. Usselinx had become embittered against the Dutch +company, which pursued a narrow and exclusive policy; and with him in this +new enterprise were associated several who had been formerly connected with +the Dutch corporation. Among these were Samuel Blommaert, one of the chief +patroons in the Delaware region, and Peter Minuit, a Walloon, once governor +at New Amsterdam. Minuit led the first Swedish trading colony to the +Delaware River (1638), and erected Fort Christina on the future site of +Wilmington, Del. + + Sidenote: The rivals on the Delaware. + +The governor at New Amsterdam, Kieft, protested loudly against this +invasion of soil claimed by the Dutch, although it was clearly within the +grant already made to Lord Baltimore by the English, who probably had as +good right in the district as the Dutch. The latter had indeed for a time +allowed it to revert to the Indians, after their first colonizing attempt. +Kieft rebuilt Fort Nassau, a menace to which the Swedes replied by +fortifying the island of Tinicum, six miles below the mouth of the +Schuylkill, thus planting the first colony in Pennsylvania as well as in +Delaware. In 1643 this island became the seat of Swedish government. + + Sidenote: Prosperity of New Sweden. + +New Sweden prospered. The settlers were industrious, thrifty, intelligent, +and contented. Along the shores of Delaware River and Bay were scattered +neat hamlets, and the company's fur-trade was extended far into the +interior. + + Sidenote: Swedish aggressiveness ends in the fall of New Sweden. + +In 1641 two English settlements were made on the river by New Haven men; +but there was good reason to distrust the new-comers, who belonged to a +land-hungry race, and Dutch and Swedes united to drive them out. Possibly +the Swedes might have finally settled down into friendly neighborhood +relations with the Dutch, had not the Swedish governor, John Printz, +adopted an aggressive attitude towards the New Netherlanders. This led to +reprisals. Stuyvesant, who succeeded Kieft at New Amsterdam, built Fort +Casimir, near the present city of Newcastle, Del., below the Swedish forts +(1651), and thus endeavored to cut them off from ocean communication. In +1654 a Swedish war-vessel anchored before Casimir, which was quietly +surrendered. The next year (1655) Stuyvesant raised an army of six or seven +hundred men, which suddenly appeared on the Delaware, overawed the Swedes, +and compelled them to abandon control of the region. Thus New Sweden fell, +amid a storm of protest, but without bloodshed. + + Sidenote: The Dutch domination. + +Part of the Delaware country was sold by the Dutch West India Company to +the city of Amsterdam (1656). The officers sent out by the municipality +were as a rule inefficient, and the colony declined; bad crops, famine, +disease, Indian troubles, quarrels with New Netherland, and boundary +difficulties with the English in Maryland, being additional reasons for +retrogression. + + Sidenote: English rule established. + +The city had just acquired the whole of the Delaware River region, when the +English took possession (1664), and Amsterdam rule was succeeded by that of +the Duke of York, with laws similar to those in vogue elsewhere in his +province. There were a few outbreaks, but as a rule both Dutch and Swedes +prospered under English domination. + + Sidenote: Annexed to Pennsylvania. + +The district was for some time the object of contention by rival English +claimants. Maryland and New Jersey both wanted it, but Penn finally secured +a grant of the country (1682), to give his province of Pennsylvania an +outlet to the sea. Delaware, now known as "the territories," "lower +counties," or "Delaware hundreds" of Pennsylvania, was for many years the +source of much anxiety to its Quaker proprietor, for political jealousy of +the "province," or Pennsylvania proper, gave rise to much popular +discontent. In 1691 the "territories" were granted a separate assembly and +a deputy-governor. But the "territories" and the "province" were reunited +under Fletcher's temporary rule (1693), and so remained until 1703, when +Delaware was recognized as a separate colony, with an assembly of its own, +although under the same governorship as Pennsylvania. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Delaware. + +The separate existence of Delaware was almost an accident. The colony was +unjustly cut out of the Maryland grant, and was little more than a strip +along Chesapeake Bay. It remained down to the Revolution the smallest and +least important of all the colonies. + + + 88. New Jersey (1664-1738). + + Sidenote: Berkeley and Carteret's grant. + +We have already noticed the erection of Fort Nassau by the Dutch, and the +struggle over the possession of the banks of Delaware River and Bay between +the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English. When the Duke of York came into +possession of the country (1664), he granted the lands between the Delaware +and the Hudson to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, under the name of +New Jersey; this title was in compliment to Carteret, who had been governor +of the island of Jersey and bravely held it for Charles II. during the +Great Rebellion. New Jersey had a hundred and twenty miles of sea-coast; it +was as yet sparsely settled; it had a fixed natural boundary on the west; +and it was considered a particularly desirable seat for colonization. + + Sidenote: Liberal plan of government. + +The new proprietors agreed upon a plan of government by which the +administration of affairs was placed in the hands of a governor, council, +and representative assembly, as in the other colonies; the proprietors +reserved the right to annul laws and to control the official appointments. +There was to be religious liberty to all "who do not actually disturb the +civil peace of said province;" and all who were subjects of the king and +swore fealty to him "and faithfulness to the lords, shall be admitted to +plant and become freemen." + + Sidenote: A body of laws framed. + +Philip Carteret, a nephew of Sir George, came out (1665) as governor, and +with him a body of English emigrants, who founded the town of Elizabeth. +There were already on the ground, at Bergen, a number of Dutch and Swedes, +while at Shrewsbury were several English sectaries, exiles from Connecticut +and Long Island, who had purchased land from the Indians. Other New +Englanders settled Middletown and Newark in 1666. Soon after the arrival of +Carteret, several more companies came out to New Jersey from the Eastern +colonies, together with a plentiful sprinkling of Scotch. In May, 1668, +deputies from each of the towns met at Elizabeth to frame a body of laws +for the colony. The Puritan element strongly influenced the code, +particularly in the penalties for crime, which were remarkable for their +severity. + + Sidenote: The Quaker purchase. + +Throughout 1672 there was much turbulence, owing to disputes about +quit-rents between the inhabitants and the proprietors. Berkeley was by +this time thoroughly dissatisfied, and sold his undivided moiety of the +province for a thousand pounds to a party of Quakers who desired to found a +retreat for their sect; nine tenths of this purchase soon (1674) fell into +the hands of William Penn and other Friends who were associated with him. +Two years later (1676) the Penn party purchased the remainder of the Quaker +interest. + + Sidenote: The Jerseys divided. + +In 1673 the Dutch recaptured the district. When they were obliged by treaty +(1674) to give it back to the English, Charles II. and the Duke of York +reaffirmed Sir George Carteret's claim in New Jersey. The new charter for +the first time made a division of the country, giving Carteret the eastern +part,--much more than one half,--and leaving the rest to the Quaker +proprietors. In 1676, Carteret and the Quakers agreed upon a boundary line, +running from Little Egg Harbor northwest to the Delaware, at 41° 40´. + + Sidenote: West New Jersey. + +In West New Jersey the Quakers set up a liberal government, in which the +chief features were religious toleration, a representative assembly, and an +executive council, whose members--"ten honest and able men fit for +government"--were to be elected by the assembly. As a proprietary body, the +framers of these "concessions and agreements" retained no authority for +themselves; they truly said, "We put the power in the people." To this +refuge for the oppressed, four hundred Quakers came out from England in +1677. + + Sidenote: East New Jersey. + +Sir George Carteret died in 1680, and in 1682 William Penn and twenty-four +associates--among whom were several Scotch Presbyterians--purchased East +New Jersey from the Carteret heirs. A government was established similar to +that in the western colony, except that the new proprietors and their +deputies were to form the executive council. In neither colony were the +public offices restricted to Quakers, and every Christian possessed the +elective franchise. + + Sidenote: Trouble with the Duke of York. + +Both the Jerseys had made excellent progress; but for several years there +was difficulty with Andros (page 205, § 86), who claimed that the country +was still the property of the Duke of York and therefore within his +jurisdiction, and who attempted to levy taxes. There was much bitterness +over the dispute, in the course of which Andros displayed a despotic +temper; but in the end the duke's claims were overruled by the English +arbitrator. + + Sidenote: The Crown takes possession. + +When the duke ascended the throne as James II., he had writs of _quo +warranto_ issued (1686) against the Jersey governments on the ground of +wholesale smuggling by the residents. Under this pressure the patents were +surrendered to the Crown (1688), so far as the government was concerned, +but there was a proviso that the landed rights of the proprietors were to +be undisturbed. Andros took the two colonies under his charge; thus he was +now governor of all the country north and east of the Delaware, except New +Hampshire. But though united to the northern colonies, the Jerseymen did +not cease to assert their independence. Andros again attempted to levy +taxes upon them, and they opposed him as stubbornly as ever, claiming that +there could be no lawful taxation without representation. With the +proprietors also they had ceaseless bickerings over the quit-rents. Affairs +were in a feverish state until the former, tired of keeping up the +profitless discussion, and now rent by dissensions in their councils, +surrendered all their claims to the Crown (1702). The policy of James was +to unite the colonies, and bring them into greater dependence. + + Sidenote: New Jersey's condition as a royal province. + +New Jersey, at last reunited, was made a royal colony; but until 1738, when +given a governor of its own, it was under the administration of the +governor of New York, who ruled through a deputy. The New Jersey council +was appointed by the king, and there was a popularly elected representative +assembly. All Christian sects were tolerated, but Roman Catholics were +denied political privileges. There was a property qualification for +suffrage,--the possession of two hundred acres of land, or other property +worth £50. The inhabitants were generally prosperous. Their isolated +geographical position secured them immunity from attacks by hostile +Indians; they had scrupulously purchased the lands from the native +inhabitants, and with the few who were now left they maintained friendly +relations. The new government brought them greater political security, and +under it they thrived even better than before. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of New Jersey. + +The annals of New Jersey are like the population and political +system,--confused and uninteresting. It was many years before a tradition +of common interest could be established between East and West New Jersey. +One of the most remarkable lessons in government furnished by the colony +was a decision of the courts that an Act of the assembly was void because +not in accordance with the frame of government. + + + 89. Pennsylvania (1681-1718). + + Sidenote: Penn's charter. + +In 1676 William Penn, prominent among the English Quakers, became +financially concerned, with others of his sect, in the colony of West New +Jersey, and thereby acquired an interest in American colonization. His +father, an admiral in the English navy, had left him (1670) a claim against +the government for sixteen thousand pounds; in lieu of this he induced +Charles II. (1681) to give him a proprietary charter of forty thousand +square miles in America. The king called the region Pennsylvania, in honor +of the admiral, but against the protest of the grantee, who "feared lest it +be looked on as vanity in me." + + Sidenote: His colonization scheme. + +Penn at once widely advertised his dominions. He offered to sell one +hundred acres of land for £2, subject to a small quit-rent, and even +servants might acquire half this amount. He proposed to establish a popular +government, based on the principle of exact justice to all, red and white, +regardless of religious beliefs; there was to be trial by jury; murder and +treason were to be the only capital crimes; and punishment for other +offences was to have reformation, not retaliation, in view. By the terms of +the charter Penn was, in conjunction with and by the consent of the +free-men, to make all necessary laws. The proposals of the new proprietor +were received with enthusiasm among the people of his religious faith +throughout England. + +In October three ship-loads of Quaker emigrants were sent out, and a year +later (1682) Penn himself followed, with a hundred fellow-passengers. At +the time of his arrival the Dutch had a church at Newcastle, Del., which +was within his grant, the Swedes had churches at Christina, Tinicum, and +Wicacoa, and Quaker meeting-houses were established at Chester, Shakamaxon, +and near the lower falls of the Delaware. + + Sidenote: Constitution and laws. + +The constitution drawn up by Penn for his colony provided that the +proprietor was to choose the governor, but the people were to elect the +members of the council, and also deputies to a representative assembly; it +was practically the West New Jersey plan. The laws decided upon by the +first assembly, convened by the proprietor soon after his arrival, were +beneficent. They included provisions for the humane treatment of Indians; +for the teaching of a trade to each child; for the useful employment of +criminals in prisons; for religious toleration, with the qualification that +all public officers must be professing Christians, and private citizens +believers in God. The principles set forth in Penn's original announcement +were thus given the sanction of law. + + Sidenote: Relations between the "territories" and the province. + +A distinction was made between the original Pennsylvania, as granted by the +king to Penn, and the territory afterwards known as Delaware, which the +latter had obtained in a special grant from the Duke of York,--the royal +grant being known as "the province," and the purchase from the duke as "the +territories," of Pennsylvania. In the province three counties were +established, and in the territories three more. These counties were given +popularly elected governing boards, and were made the unit of +representation in the assembly; the towns were merely administrative +subdivisions of the counties, without any form of local government. + + Sidenote: Relations with the Indians. + +Penn was eminently successful in treating with the Indians in his +neighborhood. Circumstances favored him greatly in this regard, but +nevertheless much was due to his shrewd diplomacy and humane spirit; and +for a long period the Quaker district of Pennsylvania was exempt from the +border warfare which harassed most of the other colonies. + + Sidenote: Political turbulence. + +Obliged to return to England in 1684, Penn did not again visit his American +possessions until fifteen years had elapsed, and then but for a brief time +(1699-1701). This intervening period was one of continuous political +disquiet for the proprietor and the colonists alike, despite the fact that +the material condition of the people--Quakers, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, and +Welsh alike--continued to improve. A boundary dispute with Maryland +required the intervention of the English government (1685) as an +arbitrator; during two years (1692-1694), Penn was dispossessed of his +colony by the Crown; and the turbulent "territories" gave him so much +trouble that he sought peace by erecting them into the separate colony of +Delaware in 1703. + +Dissensions, however, did not cease either in the provinces or in Delaware. +Penn died in 1718, leaving to his heirs a legacy of petty but harassing +disputes which lasted until the Revolution. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Pennsylvania. + +Planted as Pennsylvania was, half a century after the earlier Southern and +New England colonies, and aided by rich men and court favorites, its +progress was rapid and its prosperity assured from the beginning. The +pacific policy of Penn towards the Indians saved his colony from the +expense and danger of frontier wars. Nevertheless from the beginning the +colony showed the same indisposition to submit to the control of +proprietors that had so disturbed Maryland and the Carolinas. +Notwithstanding, Pennsylvania shortly became the most considerable of the +middle colonies, and eventually equalled Virginia and Massachusetts in +importance. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES IN 1700. + + + 90. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Same as § 82, above. + +Historical Maps.--Same as § 82, above. + +General Accounts.--Doyle, _Colonies_, IV.; Lodge, _Colonies_, chs. xiii., +xv., xvii.; Andrews, _Colonial Self-Government_, chs. xviii., xix. See also +histories of separate colonies, § 82, above. + +Special Histories.--Topography: Semple, _American History and its +Geographic Conditions_, chs. i.-iv.; Roberts, _New York_, I. ch. viii.; +Scharf, _Delaware_, ch. i.--Manners and Customs: Fisher, _Men, Women, and +Manners in Colonial Times_, I. chs. vi., vii., II. ch. viii.; Wilson, +_Rambles in Colonial Byways_; Earle, _Colonial Days in Old New York_; C. +Hemstreet, _When Old New York was Young_; T. Janvier, _Old New York_; E. +Singleton, _Dutch New York_; J. Van Rensselaer, _Goede Vrouw of +Mana-ha-ta_; A. Gummere, _The Quaker: a Study in Costume_; novels by +S. W. Mitchell.--Industries: Bishop, _History of American +Manufactures_.--Slavery: J. Brackett, _Negro in Maryland_. See also § 82, +above, and biographies of prominent men. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Same as § 82, above. + + + 91. Geographical Conditions in the Middle Colonies. + + Sidenote: Geography. + +The middle section of the Atlantic plain in the United States is +distinguished by three deep indentations,--Chesapeake, Delaware, and New +York bays; each of these is the expanded mouth of a comprehensive river +system, and furnishes abundant anchorage,--New York bay being the finest +harbor on the continent. Along the coast south of New York is a low, level +base-plain of sand and clay, from twenty-five to fifty miles in width, the +larger towns being generally situated on the uplands beyond. The +Appalachian mountains extend in several ridges across the middle district +from southwest to northeast, the highest elevations being those of the +Catskill group in southeastern New York, where Slide Mountain towers 4,205 +feet above sea-level. New Jersey is largely occupied by the base-plain, +with hills in the northwest. From the eastern range of mountains, the +surface of New York slopes gently down, with great diversity, to Lake +Ontario; the mountains are rent by the interesting and important water-gap +of the Mohawk valley, which in an earlier geological age connected the lake +basin with the trough of the Hudson. Pennsylvania has three distinct +topographical divisions: (1) the highly fertile district between the Blue +Mountains and the sea,--including Delaware; (2) the middle belt of elevated +valleys, separated by low parallel ridges of mountains rich in anthracite +coal and iron ore; (3) the upland north and west of the mountain walls, +sloping down to the tributaries of the Ohio with a wealth of bituminous +coal, oil, and natural gas. + + Sidenote: Intermingling river-systems. + +In the New York and Pennsylvania hills the numerous rivers of the region +have their rise. These rivers either flow westward into the Mississippi +basin, northward into the Great Lakes, eastward into the deep cleft cut +through the mountains by the Hudson, or southward into the estuaries of the +Delaware and Chesapeake. Within a short distance of each other are waters +which will reach the Atlantic ocean by three divergent routes,--through the +Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the bays we have mentioned. +This fact has had a potent influence on the course of American settlement +and trade, which have persistently followed the water highways into the +interior of the continent; and along those rivers were fought two great +wars. + + Sidenote: Their historical significance. + +The ease with which the French and English in America could approach each +other, along the almost continuous water-route formed by Hudson River and +Lake Champlain and their tributaries, made this central region the theatre +of a protracted and desperate struggle throughout the French and Indian +war; while we shall see that during the Revolution the Hudson was regarded +as the key to the military situation. It has already been remarked (page +202, § 85) how important the English government deemed the possession of +the Hudson, in 1664, as a means to the unification of the Anglo-American +empire. Through its Mohawk arm, waters running into the Great Lakes +could be readily reached. + + Sidenote: Soil and climate. + +The soil in the middle district, back from the sandy coast-belt, is for the +most part fertile. Originally the entire country was densely wooded, even +to the summits of the mountains, which nowhere rise to the snow-line. The +climate is, judged by the record of average temperature, an agreeable +compromise between New England and the South; although, as elsewhere on the +Atlantic slope, it is subject to rapid and extreme variations. Penn wrote +that the "weather often changeth without notice, and is constant almost in +its inconstancy." + + + 92. People of the Middle Colonies. + + Sidenote: Population of New York, + +The population of the middle colonies was noted for its heterogeneous +character. New York was first settled by the Dutch, who ruled the district +for fifty years. After the English conquest (1664), Dutch immigration +practically ceased; nevertheless in 1700 a majority of the whites were +Dutch, although the English, more of whom had emigrated from New England +than from the parent isle, were widely spread and politically dominant. +There were in 1700 about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, perhaps two +thousand five hundred being blacks. Besides the prevailing Dutch and +English, there were many French Huguenots, a number of Palatine Germans who +had fled from persecution at home, and a few Jews. The New York colonists +chiefly dwelt on the islands and shores of New York bay, and the banks of +the Hudson and Mohawk. Beyond this thin fringe of settlement, the forest +wall was for the most part still unbroken. Agricultural development was as +yet slow, but the fur-trade was spreading far into the interior. + + Sidenote: of the Jerseys, + +East Jersey had a population of about ten thousand, composed of Quakers, +New England men, and Scotch Presbyterians. Of the four thousand inhabitants +of West Jersey, the Quakers were the prevailing element. The population of +New Jersey was homogeneous, being very largely English; the few Dutch, +Germans, and Swedes having little effect on the character of the colony. +Jerseymen were vigorous and quick-witted, although Governor Belcher +(1748-1757) wrote, "They are a very rustical people, and deficient in +learning." + + Sidenote: and of Pennsylvania and Delaware. + +Pennsylvania and Delaware had, together, a population of about twenty +thousand in 1700, having developed more rapidly than any other of the +American colonies. Somewhat over one half were English Quakers, the others +being sectaries from New England, French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Finns, +Welsh, and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The Germans moved in large numbers +to what were then the western borders, where they evolved a distinct +dialect, popularly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." Although valuable +pioneers of civilization, they exhibited a stubborn temper, which, with +their strong opposition to the bearing of arms, made them untrustworthy +during the French and Indian wars. The rugged, liberty-loving Scotch-Irish +were a later acquisition. The pure Irish, destined to become so prominent +on the frontier, did not commence arriving until 1719. The Swedes were +strong, sturdy, and simple agriculturists. The English Quakers were of the +middle class of tradesmen and small farmers. Their prejudice against taking +up arms made it difficult for the colonial military officers to defend the +province against the disastrous Indian forays of the eighteenth century, +and was a fruitful source of political and social disturbance. + +By the close of the seventeenth century a people had grown up in most of +the middle colonies which was largely English in composition, with habits +of speech, thought, and manner greatly affected by English traditions, but +still much modified by the liberal infusion of blood from kindred +nationalities on the continent of Europe. The eager, enterprising spirit of +the English, quickened by removal to the New World, had, after a generation +or two of amalgamation, been noticeably tempered by the phlegmatic +temperament of the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian settlers. + + + 93. Social Classes. + + Sidenote: Classes. + +In the middle colonies, as in New England and the South, there existed an +acknowledged aristocracy, although there was a wide gap between the haughty +and elegant Dutch manor-chiefs in New York and the rude gentlemen farmers +who headed New Jersey society. The servile classes common to the Southern +colonies were also present here, as a foundation for aristocratic +distinction; but they were comparatively insignificant in number. Nowhere +in this middle group was free white labor regarded as degrading; nearly all +the colonists were workers, whether behind the desk or the counter, in the +shop or in the field. Trade was exalted to a high station. + + Sidenote: Slavery. + +New York had many negroes, left over from the Dutch rule, but there was a +strong physical prejudice against them, and their further importation was +gradually restricted. In 1711 and 1741, on insufficient evidence, the +blacks were accused of plots against the whites of New York city, and were +cruelly dealt with,--on the former occasion nineteen were hanged; on the +latter, eighteen suffered death by the gallows, and thirteen were burned at +the stake. The laws against negroes were harsh in all of the middle +colonies. But in practice, slaves were mildly treated, compared with those +in the South. The Quakers were opposed to human bondage on principle, yet +many employed slaves, chiefly as house-servants. There were numerous +indented servants, especially in Pennsylvania, and most stringent laws were +adopted for their regulation. From these and the negroes the criminal class +was recruited. Among Pennsylvania Quakers were formed the first abolition +societies. + + Sidenote: The Dutch aristocrats. + +No aristocrats in America so nearly resembled the nobility of the Old World +as the great-landed Dutch proprietors in New York,--such as the Van +Rensselaers, the Cortlandts, and the Livingstons. Their vast estates up the +Hudson, granted to their fathers in the days of the Dutch West India +Company, were rented out to tenant-farmers, over whom they ruled in +princely fashion, dispensing justice, and bountifully feasting the tenants +on semi-annual rent-days. Some of these estates were entitled to +representatives in the assembly, and the lords of the manor practically +held such appointments in their keeping. There was an impassable gulf +between the rural aristocrats and the small freeholders and tradesmen. This +condition of affairs was not calculated to encourage settlement; and out of +these feudal privileges, often harshly exercised, there arose conflicts +which became riotous as the Revolution approached. + + Sidenote: Aristocracy among the Quakers. + +The aristocrats of Pennsylvania and Delaware were also the wealthy landed +gentry, chiefly Penn's followers; but the class was not strongly marked, +and almost imperceptibly faded away into the ranks of the merchants and +small freeholders. Each village, however, had its Quaker "squire" or +magistrate, in powdered wig, broad ruffles, cocked hat, and gold-headed +cane, who meted out justice at the neighboring tavern and was highly +regarded. Rich and poor alike, among the Quakers, were simple in tastes and +habits. In New Jersey there was a mild recognition of the social +superiority of the gentlemen farmers, notwithstanding a strong underlying +spirit of democracy; a rude plenty prevailed, and the gentlemen's houses +were not without some degree of elegance. + + + 94. Occupations. + + Sidenote: The professions. + +The judicial system was very similar to that which obtained elsewhere in +America. In each province was an upper court, consisting of a chief justice +and associates, appointed by the governor; from this an appeal might go in +important cases to the governor and council, and in causes involving £200 +or over, to the king in council. Below the upper court was a regular series +of courts, ranging down to the local justices of the peace. Justice was +cheap, and court practice simple. In New York, the quality of both bench +and bar was inferior, and remained so down to the Revolution; the judges +had often no legal training, and the law was not recognized as a +profession. In Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania men of ability and +character were engaged on the bench and at the bar, and their calling won +universal respect. Penn brought out two physicians with him, and in the +Quaker colonies the art of medicine had from the first an honorable +standing; but in New York physicians were not licensed until 1760. In all +four colonies the clergymen for the most part were zealous, upright men, of +learning and ability, and took high social rank. + + Sidenote: Agriculture and manufacturing. + +Except in New York, where trade was equally important, agriculture was the +chief industry; but as the soil was fertile and the average farmer +consequently careless, farming was, except among the painstaking Quakers of +Pennsylvania, in a low condition. The principal crop was wheat, although +there was much variety in farm products, and New Jersey raised large herds +of cattle on her broad lowland meadows. There were many small manufactures +for domestic use, the most important being among the Germans of Germantown, +who made, in a small way, paper and glass, and also some varieties of knit +goods and coarse cloths; the spinning-wheel was a familiar household +machine, for homespun was much worn by all except the rich. But the bulk of +manufactured goods was imported from England and the continent of Europe. +Little picturesque windmills, with broad canvas sails, after the Dutch +fashion, were numerous. Many of the Maryland and Virginia colonists came +long distances to patronize the Pennsylvania mills. It was not until 1720 +than an iron furnace was erected in the latter province,--the first in the +middle group of colonies. + + Sidenote: Trade and commerce. + +The middle-colony people had a keen sense for trade. The fur-traffic was +widespread and of the first importance, particularly in New York and +Pennsylvania; while the personal danger to the adventurous forest trader +was very great, the profits on packs of peltries successfully landed in New +York and Philadelphia were such as to warrant the hazard. The principal +exports were grain, flour, and furs, and vessels with these American +products sailed to England, Lisbon, Madeira, and the West Indies; the +exports of goods were never equal to the imports, however, and ships +bringing over wines, sugar, and miscellaneous manufactured articles often +found it difficult to obtain return cargoes. There was a profitable +'longshore commerce in farm products and small manufactures, boats +penetrating up the rivers far inland. New England bottoms were largely +employed, although a shipbuilding industry soon sprang up at Philadelphia. +New York was the chief port of the middle colonies for foreign trade; her +merchants were highly active and prosperous. + + + 95. Social Life. + + Sidenote: Life and manners in New York. + +In 1700 the Dutch were still the largest landowners in New York. The +English and other nationalities, jealously excluded from the landed class +as far as possible, were to be mainly found in the large towns in the +southern portion of the province, engaged in trade. The Dutch adhered to +old dress and customs with remarkable tenacity. Their farm-houses were +usually of wood, with the second story overhanging; the great rafters +showed in the ceilings; the fireplaces were ornamented with pictured tiles, +and above were rows of great wooden and pewter dishes, and racks of long +tobacco-pipes; the floors were daily scrubbed and sanded, and evidences of +neatness and thrift were distinguishing features. In the little hamlets, as +well as on the farms, there was plenty of good plain living; but the +people, while thrifty, sober, contented, and industrious, were +superstitious, ignorant, grasping, and slow. Life with them was narrow and +monotonous. The wealthy landed proprietors lived on their estates up the +Hudson in summer, and moved to New York city in winter; their manor-houses +were large and richly furnished, they had trains of servants, black and +white, and maintained a degree of splendor scarcely equalled elsewhere in +the colonies. The Dutch women, rich and poor, were noted for their +excellence as housekeepers, their unaffected piety, and their love of +flowers. + + Sidenote: Elsewhere in the middle colonies. + +In Pennsylvania and Delaware there was a wide difference between the +condition of the dwellers in the long-settled portions, where there was +intelligent progress, sobriety, and neatness, and that of the western +borderers, who were a rude, turbulent people, living amid wretched economic +and sanitary conditions. The better class of farmers in the eastern section +were prosperous but simple; men and women alike worked in the fields, and a +patriarchal system of family life prevailed. The soberly attired Quakers +still exercised a large influence on society, which was pervaded by a +healthy moral tone; tradesmen had a particularly keen sense of business +honesty. New Jersey was also a well-to-do colony; but her farms and +villages long had the reputation of presenting an untidy appearance. + + Sidenote: Social intercourse. + +Although life among the middle-colony folk was sober and filled with toil, +there were the customary rough and simple popular diversions of the +period,--for the farmers corn-huskings, spinning-bees, house-raisings, and +dancing-parties, at which hard drinking was not infrequent; for the +townsfolk horse-racing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, tavern-parties, balls, +and picnics. The people were, as a whole, of a more social temperament than +their New England neighbors. There was little luxury within their reach, +but they appear to have been as a rule satisfied in their condition, and +above want. + + Sidenote: Town life. + +The principal town was New York. Society there was more gay than in Boston, +and more fashionable than in any other American city, except perhaps +Charleston. The wealthy landed proprietors spent money freely during the +winter season, and the latest London styles were eagerly sought and +followed. A social polish was aimed at, clubs were fostered, and pride was +taken in the fact that no other American city was so cosmopolitan in +tone,--a result of its being the centre of a far-reaching foreign trade. +There was much that was English in New York, yet even here the Dutch +influence was strong. Visitors speak of the wide, pleasant streets lined +with trees, the low brick and stone houses, with their projecting eaves and +their gables to the street,--a fashion general in the colonies,--and the +insignificant character of the few public buildings. Albany was the centre +of the northern fur-trade, and purely Dutch in composition and +architecture. + +Philadelphia was the Quaker capital. Laid out like a checker-board, with +architecture of severe simplicity, its best residences were surrounded by +gardens and orchards. The town was substantial, neat, and had the +appearance of prosperity. Germantown, near by, settled by the Germans +(1683), was largely given over to small manufactures. Newcastle was +ill-built and unattractive. The New Jersey towns were rather comely, but +insignificant; Trenton was chiefly supported by travellers along the great +highway between New York and Philadelphia. + + Sidenote: Roads and travel. + +There was little intercommunication, except between the larger towns, and +the facilities for travel were meagre. Rude farm-wagons, two-wheeled +chaises, and saddle-horses were the chief means of conveyance over the +rough, stony roads; and on the many and far-reaching rivers, travellers and +traders proceeded leisurely by slow-moving craft. New Jersey was traversed +by the highways between New York and Philadelphia, over which post-boys +rode weekly with the mail in saddlebags. Taverns were in every town in New +York and Pennsylvania, and were favorite meeting-places for the village and +country folk; but in New Jersey it required legislation to induce villages +to maintain "ordinaries" for wayfarers. + + + 96. Intellectual and Moral Conditions. + + Sidenote: Education. + +Under the Dutch domination common schools flourished in New York, each town +supporting them by public aid. The English, however, jealous of educational +enterprises under charge of a nonconforming church, suffered them to fall +into neglect. Thus at the close of the seventeenth century education was +neither general nor of good quality. The English Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel established an excellent Church of England school +in New York city (1704), but the Dutch did not take kindly to it; they long +clung to their mother-tongue and the few rude schools of their own +ordering. In Pennsylvania but little attempt was made by the English in the +direction of popular education outside of the capital, where was opened +(1698) the now famous Penn Charter School, destined for fifty years to be +the only public school in the province. The Germans and Moravians +maintained some good private schools in the larger Pennsylvania and New +Jersey towns, but educational facilities in the rural places were generally +wretched, where there were any at all. + + Sidenote: Religion. + +The Church of England was nominally established in all except Pennsylvania; +but it was managed with great lack of discretion, and aroused popular +hostility against it and the mother-country. On Long Island and in New +Jersey the Puritans exerted a powerful influence on manners and thought. +Everywhere the laws against excesses in amusement and Sabbath-breaking were +very severe, but only in the Puritan communities were they strictly +enforced, although a strong sentiment of piety was general among all +respectable classes of the people. Except in New York, towards the close of +the seventeenth century there was toleration for all Protestant sects, but +in Pennsylvania alone were Roman Catholics entitled to equal consideration; +the New York laws against "Jesuits and Popish priests" were harsh, and +founded on the false notion that they incited the Indians to acts of +violence. In New York the Church of England endeavored for a time +(commencing in 1692), by violent persecution, to repress all forms of +dissent; but the sectaries flourished despite official opposition. The +leading denominations were the Dutch Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, English +Independent, and English Presbyterian. The Scotch Presbyterians and New +England Congregationalists were most numerous in New Jersey. In +Pennsylvania and Delaware, next to the Quakers stood the Lutherans and +Scotch Presbyterians, and the preachers of the latter church were vigorous +proselyters, especially successful among the western borderers. The +Germans, brought over, at first, largely through Penn's efforts, included a +number of persecuted groups,--Quakers, Palatines, Ridge Hermits, Dunkards, +and Pietists. All Christian forms and creeds were liberally represented in +Pennsylvania, where there was as genuine religious freedom as exists +anywhere in the United States to-day. + + Sidenote: Crime and pauperism. + +In none of the middle colonies was crime so prevalent as to be a +troublesome question, with the one exception of piracy,--the most common +and widely demoralizing of all the dangers to which the colonists were +subjected. Public officials often corruptly connived at the practice, and +popular sentiment was not strongly against a set of men who brought wealth +to the seaport towns and spent it lavishly. Hangings and whippings were not +infrequent public spectacles in the colonies, and the pillory was much in +use. In the Long Island towns the New Englanders, who were dominant there, +faithfully reproduced their native customs in the punishment of crime as in +most other particulars. The Quakers were, on the whole, the most lenient in +their treatment of evil-doers, up to 1718, when the second generation of +colonists abandoned the old theory of criminal legislation and adopted +measures of harsh repression similar to those in vogue in other colonies. +There was little pauperism, but perhaps more in Pennsylvania than +elsewhere. In the treatment of this evil the Quakers were also wise, and in +Philadelphia they established the first hospital for the insane, on the +continent. + + + 97. Political Conditions and Conclusion. + + Sidenote: Political spirit in the Jerseys, + +New Jersey having no foreign trade and but little manufacturing, her people +were without experience of the harshness of the English Acts of Navigation +and Trade (page 104, § 44). Since there was not much to complain of +regarding treatment by the mother-country, they were generally loyal. Taxes +were light, public salaries small, and the colony, with Pennsylvania and +New York as buffers, was in no danger from Indians. + + Sidenote: in New York, + +On the other hand, New York was constantly subjected to border warfare, +which proved a serious financial burden; taxation, levied by duties on +slaves and imports, and on real and personal property, was clumsy and +oppressive, and the government corrupt and expensive. English officials and +wealthy Dutch were loyal because it was their interest to be so; but the +mass of the people, rich and poor, favored liberal candidates to the +assembly. The men from New England exerted a strong influence on the +general trend of political thought. Elections excited great bitterness and +often rioting, and they were made an excuse for the usual holiday excesses. +There was a strong feeling of resentment against the home government, +growing out of the Navigation Laws and the impressment of seamen. + + Sidenote: and in Pennsylvania. + +In Pennsylvania there prevailed a similar attitude of opposition to +England; the Quakers were, however, conservative, and slow in action, and +their dislike to bear arms made the colony a drag upon all attempts at +continental union for common defence. As in New York, local politics ran in +extremely narrow channels, and election riots were not uncommon. + + Sidenote: Summary. + +Taking a general view of the middle colonies, we find that the fur-traffic, +the fertile soil, a mixed system of agriculture, and an enterprising +commercial spirit, were the chief sources of their material prosperity. +There was prevalent a broader spirit of religious toleration; there was, +perhaps, on the whole, a more democratic spirit among all classes of the +people, than in New England or the South; except in the case of the Dutch +patroons, aristocracy did not flourish among them; the state of popular +education was pitiable; the population was more mixed than anywhere else in +America. The continental nationalities gave a more cheerful tone to society +than existed in New England and the South; the several communities varied +greatly in speech, customs, and thought, according to their origin, +although we find, as the eighteenth century opens, that the English +Puritans from New England were coming more and more to exercise a +considerable influence in political, social, and religious affairs. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + OTHER ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES (1605-1750). + + + 98. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Larned, _Literature of American History_, 430-438, +458-462; Winsor, VIII. 65-80, 175-177, 188-190, 270-291. + +Historical Maps.--Nos. 2, 3, and 4, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, Nos. 2, 3, +4); Winsor, MacCoun, and school histories already cited. + +General Accounts.--H. Fox-Bourne, _Story of our Colonies_, chs. i.-xi.; +Egerton, _British Colonial Policy_; Morris, _History of Colonization_; E. +Payne, _European Colonies_; Cotton and Payne, _Colonies and Dependencies_. + +Special Histories.--West Indies: Lucas, _Historical Geography_, II., secs. +i., ii.; C. Eden, _West Indies_; J. Froude, _English in West Indies_ +(answered by J. Thomas, _Froudacity_); A. Kennedy, _Story of West Indies_; +J. Rodway, _West Indies and Spanish Main_; J. Lefroy, _Discovery and Early +Settlement of Bermudas_; J. Esquemeling, _Buccaneers of America_ (and +similar books by Archenholtz, Burney, and Pyle); J. Masefield, _On the +Spanish Main_.--Newfoundland: D. Prowse, _Newfoundland_; also histories of +the island by Hatton and Harvey, Smith, and Pedley; S. Dawson, _Canada and +Newfoundland_; W. Greswell, _Geography of Canada and Newfoundland_.--Nova +Scotia: J. Bourinot, _Builders of Nova Scotia_; T. Haliburton, _Nova +Scotia_; B. Murdoch, _Nova Scotia_; E. Richard, _Acadia_.--Canada: see § +107.--Hudson's Bay Company: G. Bryce, _Remarkable History of Hudson's Bay +Company_; L. Burpee, _Search for the Western Sea_; A. Laut, _Conquest of +Great Northwest_; B. Willson, _Great Company_. Consult also publications of +Royal Society of Canada, and provincial historical and antiquarian +societies. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Whitbourne, _Discourse and Discovery of +Newfoundland_ (1620); Mason, _Brief Discourse of Newfoundland_ (1620); Du +Tertre, _Histoire Générale des Antilles_ (1654); Denys, _Description and +Natural History of Arcadia_ (1672); Labat, _Nouveau Voyage aux Isles +d'Amérique_ (1724); Oldmixon, _British Empire in America_ (1741); Dobbs, +_Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay_ (1744); Ellis, _Voyage to Hudson Bay_ +(1748); Hakluyt, _Voyages_. Reprints in publications of historical and +antiquarian societies. + + + 99. Outlying English Colonies. + + Sidenote: Differences between the thirteen colonies and their English + neighbors to the south and north. + +It is usual to think and speak of the English colonies in North America as +though they included only the thirteen which, in 1775, revolted against the +mother-country. In the eyes of the home government, however, and of the +colonists themselves, the relations between the mother-land and the English +West India Islands, the Bermudas, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, +and, after 1763, Canada, were much the same as between it and Virginia or +New Hampshire or Pennsylvania. The chief differences between the colonies +were of race and occupation. Nova Scotia had, before the Revolution, but a +few thousand English inhabitants; the West Indies were almost exclusively +sugar-producing colonies. Both on the north and on the southeast the +English colonies touched elbows with the French in active commercial and +territorial competition. The West Indies were the emporium for sugar and +slaves, and an extensive traffic was had in both commodities with the +continental colonies. This important commerce has already been frequently +referred to, particularly in the treatment of New England (page 185, § 77), +whose vessels did the bulk of the colonial carrying trade. + + Sidenote: Why those neighbors did not revolt against England. + +Various causes conspired to prevent Englishmen in these outlying +plantations from joining their brethren of New England, the middle +colonies, and the South, in the movement for independence. The West India +planters were largely aided by English capital, and in England, where many +of them had summer residences, they enjoyed a profitable and exclusive +market for sugar, cotton, and other tropical products. It was considered +good policy by English statesmen to favor the island colonies as against +the continental, for the products of the former did not compete with those +of Great Britain; so that while the Navigation Acts (page 104, § 44), +restricting all colonial trade to British ports, at first bore heavily on +the island planters, they were compensated in part by numerous +discriminations in their favor. Many of these planters were the sons of +Cavaliers who had fled to the islands of the Caribbean Sea to escape from +the rule of the Commonwealth; or wealthy men who had, in times of popular +disturbance, been made to feel uncomfortable in their old homes on the +American mainland. In Nova Scotia and Newfoundland the ports were filled +with English traders and officers; and a great belt of untraversed forest +separated them from the New Englanders, with whom they had little in +common. But perhaps above all was the fact that His Majesty's fleet easily +commanded these outlying colonies, and revolt was not to be thought of +within the reach of the guns of ships. + +It is worth our while briefly to review the history of these British +American dependencies which for one reason or another did not enter the +struggle that was soon to rend the empire in twain at the moment it had +reached its greatest extent. + + + 100. Windward and Leeward Islands (1605-1814). + + Sidenote: Settlement of Barbados. + +_Barbados_, the easternmost of the Windward Islands, was first visited by a +party of English adventurers in 1605, since which time it has been an +English possession. But it was not until 1625 that a colony was planted on +the island. Its plan of government was much the same as that of the +mainland colonies. + + Sidenote: Refuge for loyalists. + +During the Puritan uprising in England, Barbados was a place of refuge for +loyalists, who were disposed, till the appearance of a parliamentary force +(1651), to hold the island for the king. Under Cromwell's rule many +prisoners of war were sent to the island, thus increasing the royalist +population. The Restoration was promptly proclaimed. + + Sidenote: Warfare. + +The colony made rapid progress, although now and then checked by the fact +that its exposed position made it in time of war a favorite point of attack +by enemies of England. The numerous harbors along the coast were, in such +troublous periods, infested by privateers, who seriously interfered with +the commerce of the island. In the war between Great Britain and France, +commencing in 1756, the West Indies was the theatre of a prolonged +conflict, into which the Barbadians entered with zeal, supplying money and +troops to the English side, and oftentimes suffering from reverses. + + Sidenote: Commerce. + +Before the Navigation Acts (page 104, § 44), by which England sought to +compel all her colonists to trade with her alone, the Dutch were good +customers for Barbados sugar; after that, English merchants having a +monopoly of the traffic, the planters had much reason to complain. +Nevertheless, the majority were stanch Tories, and remained so throughout +the Revolutionary war. Many Barbadians settled from time to time upon the +mainland, particularly in the Carolinas. We have seen that Sir John +Yeamans, a Barbados planter, led several hundred of his fellow-islanders +thither (1664), and founded a town on Cape Fear river (page 89, § 36). + + Sidenote: St. Vincent. + +_St. Vincent_, a hundred miles west of Barbados, although discovered by +Columbus in 1498 was unclaimed until 1627, when it was granted to the Earl +of Carlisle by Charles I., along with others of the Windward group. In +1722, the Duke of Montagu came into possession of it; and then immigrants +were introduced, who exported sugar, rum, molasses, and arrowroot. + + Sidenote: Other Windward islands. + +_St. Lucia_ was settled by the English in 1639; its ownership was long +passed back and forth by France and England, but in 1794 the latter secured +permanent possession. The English flag was raised over _Tobago_ in 1580, +but the island was alternately held by English and Dutch until 1814, since +which date the proprietorship of the former has been undisputed. _Grenada_ +and the _Grenadines_, colonized by the French, first came into English +possession under the treaty of 1763. _Trinidad_, the southernmost of the +chain of islands and one of the most valuable, was occupied by the Spanish +until 1797, when it was yielded up to Great Britain, under show of force; +to-day it is one of the most progressive of the smaller English +dependencies. + + Sidenotes: Early settlement. + + Changes in ownership. + +Upon the Leeward, or northern, islands of the Caribbean group are the +colonies of Antigua, Montserrat, St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, +Dominica, and the Virgin Islands. _Antigua_, the seat of the present +colonial government, is the most important. English families settled there +in 1632, and again in 1663. Ravaged by France three years later (1666), it +was soon after restored to the English under the treaty of Breda. +_Montserrat_, the healthiest island in the West Indies, was also colonized +by the English in 1632, and remained in their possession except for two +brief terms (1664-1668 and 1782-1784), when the French were in control. +_St. Christopher_ and _Nevis_ form a united English colony which traces its +history back to 1628. Dutch buccaneers intrenched themselves on the rocky +islets of the _Virgin_ group as early as 1648, but were driven out by +English pirates in 1666, since which date the archipelago has been the +property of Great Britain; a better class of settlers came in with the +eighteenth century. _Dominica_, the largest of the Leeward Isles, was +included in Carlisle's patent (1627); but the French were already in +possession, living on friendly terms with the native Caribs, just as their +compatriots in New France were with the more warlike Algonkins. Ceded by +France to England in 1763, Dominica was several times recaptured, and not +finally relinquished to the latter until 1814. + + + 101. Bermudas (1609-1750) and Bahamas (1522-1783). + + Sidenote: Early settlement. + +The fertile Bermudas, or Somers's Islands,--"still vex'd Bermoothes" of +Shakespeare,--lie about six hundred miles east of South Carolina. They bear +the names of two navigators who were cast away upon them,--Juan Bermudez, a +Spaniard (1522), and an Englishman, Sir George Somers (1609); the latter +being on his way to Virginia to administer the affairs of that colony. +Somers founded the first settlement. + + Sidenote: In the possession of Virginia. + +Under the third patent to the Virginia Company in 1612 (page 72, § 30), the +Bermudas and all islands within three hundred leagues of the Virginia shore +were ceded to that corporation. Except Nova Scotia, therefore, the Bermudas +are the only present English colony which ever formed an integral part of +any of the present States or Territories of the United States. The Virginia +Company afterwards (1616) parted with its right to the Bermuda Company, +which carried thither a considerable company of Virginians. During the +Commonwealth, the Bermudas, like Barbados, were a refuge for royalists from +England. Representative government, similar to that of the mainland +colonies, was established in 1620, and has been ever since maintained. +Tobacco was the staple of the colony until about 1707, when a salt-making +industry sprang up and soon became the chief interest. + + Sidenote: Strategic importance. + +The Bermudas were from the earliest times recognized as an important marine +station. During the Revolutionary war Washington wrote: "Let us annex the +Bermudas, and thus possess a nest of hornets to annoy the British trade." +But the place was undisturbed, and remained loyal to the king. + + Sidenote: The landfall of Columbus. + +The first American soil trod by Columbus was an island in the fruitful +Bahama group. "This country," he wrote, "excels all others as far as the +day surpasses the night in splendor." The natives were numerous; "their +conversation is the sweetest imaginable; their faces always smiling; and so +gentle and so affectionate are they that I swear to your highness there is +not a better people in the world." Yet (commencing in 1509) the Spaniards +almost depopulated the islands; forty thousand of these innocent aborigines +were carried away to a wretched death in the mines of Cuba. + + Sidenote: Spanish and French opposition to English settlement. + +In 1629, an English colony was planted on New Providence, in the then +deserted archipelago. But the French and Spanish persisted in harrying the +settlement, which was frequently the scene of stormy conflicts. At last, in +1718, the English government drove out the pirates who had come to resort +there in great numbers, resettled the islands, and an era of progress +opened. + + Sidenote: Americans capture the colony. + +During the Revolutionary war many wealthy Tories went from the continental +colonies to the Bahamas and opened up large plantations, with slave labor. +The colony was captured by the Americans (1776),--the only conquest of +British territory during the Revolution, except the Canadian campaign of +1775 and the occupation of the Northwest by Virginia troops in 1778. The +Spanish took it in 1782, but it was soon retaken by the English (1783). +Three quarters of a century later the islands became famous as the point of +departure for blockade-runners bound into Confederate ports. + + + 102. Jamaica (1655-1750). + + Sidenote: England captures the island. + +Jamaica was under Spanish control until 1655, when an English fleet under +Admirals Penn and Venables--the former, father of the founder of +Pennsylvania--compelled the surrender of the island to the Commonwealth. +The opposition of the Spanish planters and their negro slaves--the latter +were called Maroons--long made English government difficult; the Spaniards +were finally driven off, but the Maroons, fleeing to the mountains, were +troublesome until the close of the eighteenth century. Much annoyance was +also suffered in the seventeenth century from the buccaneers, who infested +the Jamaica coast and preyed indiscriminately on all West Indian commerce; +they were suppressed with great difficulty. In 1728, English laws and +statutes became applicable to the island. + + Sidenote: The Tory element. + +Like other islands in the West Indies, Jamaica was resorted to by many Tory +planters from the continental colonies, and apparently had no sympathy with +the struggle of the latter for independence. It was a colony having a large +slave population, and after the separation of the continental colonies +became, to some degree, a competitor with them. The abolition of slavery in +the island (1830-1837) had a great influence on the slavery conflict in the +United States. + + + 103. British Honduras (1600-1798). + + Sidenote: Lawless character of English settlers. + +Belize, or British Honduras, on the eastern shore of the Yucatan peninsula, +was not occupied by Englishmen until after the suppression of freebooting +in the Spanish main,--about the opening of the eighteenth century. At that +time parties of English dyewood and mahogany cutters, many of whom had been +pirates, established themselves at Belize. Their holdings were frequently +beset by rival Spanish logging companies, but in 1798 the latter were +expelled. + + Sidenote: English rights questioned. + +Since that day Belize has existed as a prosperous Crown colony, although +England's legal right to the country is still questioned by some +authorities, and in 1846 this fact gave rise to serious diplomatic +difficulties with the United States. + + + 104. Newfoundland (1497-1783). + + Sidenote: Early settlements. + +Newfoundland is the oldest of the colonial possessions of Great Britain. We +have seen (page 25, § 8) that John Cabot discovered it in 1497, that +Cortereal was there for the Portuguese in 1500, and that by 1504 fishermen +from Normandy, Brittany, and the Basque provinces were regularly engaged on +its shores. It was the nucleus for both French and English occupation of +the mainland, and from the first an important fishery station. + +Not until 1583 did the English take formal possession, and it was much +later before any of their numerous colonizing schemes attained any great +measure of success. + + Sidenote: Growth of the colony. + +By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) Newfoundland was acknowledged as English +territory, but the French were given fishing privileges on the western and +northern coasts. This led to diplomatic contentions, not yet ended; +nevertheless settlement at once increased, and a satisfactory growth has +since been maintained. In 1728, a form of civil government was for the +first time established. + + Sidenote: Loyalty to England. + +During the American Revolution Newfoundland had sufficient inducement to +remain loyal; since French and American competitors in the fisheries were +kept out by British fleets, her merchants had a monopoly of the European +markets, and were enabled to maintain high prices. + + + 105. Nova Scotia, Acadia. (1497-1755). + + Sidenote: French and English rivalry. + +First visited by the Cabots in 1497, it was not until 1604 that European +colonization was attempted in Nova Scotia, under the Frenchman De Monts +(page 35, § 13). In 1613, the Virginia privateer, Argall, basing his excuse +on Cabot's previous discovery, swooped down on the French settlements, +demolished the cabins, and expelled the inhabitants. A grant of the +peninsula--called Acadia by the French, but in this document styled Nova +Scotia by the king--was made by James I. to Sir William Alexander; the +latter was, however, prevented by the French (1623) from carrying out his +colonizing scheme. Nevertheless, several Englishmen and Scotchmen came into +the country and mingled with the French, who were slowly re-populating it. + + Sidenote: New England captures the country. + +Recaptured by an English force in 1654, Nova Scotia was, thirteen years +later (1667), ceded to France. But the ease of communication by water made +the colony an uncomfortably close neighbor for the English colonies farther +south. In 1710 the Massachusetts men captured Port Royal; and in 1713 +France relinquished possession to England by the treaty of Utrecht. Again +in 1745, Massachusetts volunteers captured Louisbourg on Cape Breton (§§ +111, 112). + + Sidenote: Deportation of the Acadians. + +England paid little attention to Nova Scotia until 1749, when four thousand +emigrants were sent over to found Halifax. The French settlers, known as +Acadians, had meanwhile become numerous, and greatly abused their +privileges as neutrals by fostering and joining Indian war-parties against +the New England settlers. In 1755, the Acadians were easily reduced by +General Monkton, and seven thousand transported to the British provinces +southward, many of them finally drifting to the French settlement at the +mouth of the Mississippi. + + Sidenote: An asylum for Tories. + +A colonial constitution of the regulation English pattern was granted to +Nova Scotia in 1758, and France formally released her claim by the treaty +of 1763. At the same time Cape Breton, which had been a second time +captured (1758), was added. The Englishmen in Nova Scotia were largely of +the official and trading class, having little in common with their +neighbors of the more southern colonies. In the Revolution several thousand +loyalist refugees found an asylum in the peninsula. + +For the remaining French colony, Canada, special treatment will be +necessary. + + + 106. Hudson's Bay Company. + + Sidenote: Similarity to the Massachusetts Bay Company. + +The Hudson's Bay Company, from the time it was chartered by Charles II. +(1670) until its lands were sold to the British Government (1869), was a +joint-stock association, with exclusive commercial and political +privileges, very similar to the Company of Massachusetts Bay. To-day it +trades as a private corporation; its former territory--the lands draining +into Hudson's Bay--is now open to all on equal terms. + + Sidenote: French opposition. + +Fur-trade factories, protected by strong forts, were early planted by the +company at the mouths of several sub-arctic rivers, such as the Rupert, +Moore, Albany, Nelson, and Churchill, the only inhabitants being the small +garrisons and the company's trading servants. Several expeditions were +successively made to Hudson's Bay by French war vessels; much devastation +was wrought and blood spilled, until in 1697 the treaty of Ryswick put an +end to the trouble, and left the company in undisputed possession. It had +lost more than £200,000 in this predatory warfare, but soon regained its +position, through the profits of the fur-trade. + + Sidenote: American rivals. + +After the fall of New France (1763), the Hudson's Bay Company met +formidable rivals in the enterprising Northwest and American organizations; +the story of the fierce competition which ensued, with its effect on +American settlement and international boundaries, belongs to the period +covered by other volumes of this series. + + Sidenote: Summary. + +From the foregoing sketch it will be seen that for all the American +colonies to the south of Georgia the English were obliged to fight a +changeful battle with the Spaniards and the French. It was not till after +the Revolutionary war that the permanent ownership of the islands was +assured to Great Britain. A similar struggle, though briefer and sooner +concluded, went on for the possession of the colonies north of Maine. But +twelve years before the Revolution the last of them had been yielded to the +British. In Nova Scotia, and later in Canada, English residents were not +numerous till the beginning of the nineteenth century. In Newfoundland and +Hudson's Bay, in colonial times, the settlers were English, but in numbers +they were few. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE (1608-1750). + + + 107. References. + + +Bibliographies.--Thwaites, _Jesuit Relations_, LXXI. 219-365, and _France +in America_, ch. xix.; H. Biggar, _Early Trading Companies_, 171-296; +Larned, _Literature of American History_, 395-421; Avery, II. 403-408, III. +436, 437; P. Gagnon, _Essai de bibliographie canadienne_; H. Harrisse, +_Notes pour servir à l'histoire du Canada_. Consult also Wrong and Langton, +_Review of Historical Publications relating to Canada_ (published +annually). + +Historical Maps.--No. 4, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, No. 4); also maps in +Parkman, Thwaites, Winsor, and MacCoun. + +General Accounts.--Lucas, _Historical Geography_, V. The standard English +history of Canada is by W. Kingsford. The principal French historians are +M. Faillon, J. Ferland, F. Garnier (English translation by Bell), and B. +Sulte. The prime authority for New France is Parkman's series (12 vols., +condensed into one by P. Edgar, 1902), _France and England in North +America_. Briefer and more recent treatment of New France will be found in +Works by Bourinot, Douglas, Greswell, Laut, Roberts, Thwaites, and Tracy. + +Special Histories.--Winsor, _Cartier to Frontenac_, and _Mississippi +Basin_; Biggar, as above; Doughty and Dionne, _Quebec under Two Flags_; G. +Parker, _Old Quebec_; Laut, _Pathfinders of the West_; F. Ogg, _Opening of +the Mississippi_; C. Moore, _Northwest under Two Flags_; W. Munro, +_Seignorial System in Canada_; Bourinot, _Local Government in +Canada_.--French and Indian War: Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_; A. Bradley, +_Fight with France for North America_; W. Wood, _Fight for Canada_; A. +Doughty, _Siege of Quebec_.--French in Northwest: Hinsdale, _Old +Northwest_, chs. iii.-v.; Thwaites, _Wisconsin_ (Commonwealths).--Manners +and customs: C. Colby, _Canadian Types of the Old Regime (1608-1698)_; +Dunn's _Indiana_ (Commonwealths), chs. ii., iii. for the Northwest; M. +Pepper, _Maids and Matrons of New France_; Machar and Marquis, _Stories of +New France_. See also biographies of prominent men. + +Contemporary Accounts.--For detailed list, consult Thwaites, _France in +America_, 298-303. Numerous publications of Canadian and American +historical and antiquarian societies (especially the Champlain Society) +contain useful material. Relative to the Northwest, see _Wisconsin +Historical Collections_, XVI-XVIII. + + + 108. Settlement of Canada (1608-1629). + +The story of early French efforts at colonization in North America, from +Cartier's visit (1534) to Champlain's foundation of Quebec (1608), the +first permanent French colony in Canada, has already been told (Chapter +II.). + + Sidenote: Effect of Iroquois opposition. + +It was unfortunate for New France that Champlain incurred at the outset the +hostility of the Iroquois (page 196, § 83); the French and the Algonquians +with whom they maintained friendly relations were long after sorely +afflicted by them. Had it not been for the Iroquois wall interposed between +Champlain and the South, the French would doubtless have preceded the +English upon the Atlantic plain. The presence of this opposition led the +founder of New France, in his attempts to extend the sphere of French +influence, to explore along the line of least resistance, to the north and +west. + + Sidenote: Champlain on Lake Huron. + +In 1611, Montreal was planted at the first rapids in the St. Lawrence, and +near the mouths of the Ottawa and Richelieu. Four years later (1615), +Champlain reached Lake Huron by the way of the Ottawa. There were easier +highways to the Northwest, but the French were compelled for many years +thereafter to take this path, because of its greater security from the +all-devouring Iroquois. + + Sidenote: Explorers and _coureurs de bois_. + +To extend the sphere of French influence and the Catholic religion, as well +as to induce the savages to patronize French commerce, were objects which +inspired both lay and clerical followers of Champlain. Their wonderful zeal +illumined the history of New France with a poetic glamour such as is cast +over no other part of America north of Mexico. Under Champlain's guidance +and inspired by his example, traders and priests soon penetrated to the far +west,--the former bent on trafficking for peltries, and the latter on +saving souls. Another large class of rovers, styled _coureurs de bois_, or +wood-rangers, wandered far and wide, visiting and fraternizing with remote +tribes of Indians; they were attracted by the love of lawless adventure, +and conducted an extensive but illicit fur-trade. Many of these explorers +left no record of their journeys, hence it is now impossible to say who +first made some of the most important geographical discoveries. + + + 109. Exploration of the Northwest (1629-1699). + + Sidenote: Early discoveries in the Northwest. + +We know that by 1629, the year before the planting of the Massachusetts Bay +colony, Champlain saw an ingot of copper obtained by barter with Indians +from the shores of Lake Superior. In 1634, Jean Nicolet, another emissary +from Champlain, penetrated to central Wisconsin, by way of the Fox River, +and thence went overland to the Illinois country, making trading agreements +with the savage tribes along his path. Seven years afterwards (1641), +Jesuit priests said mass before two thousand naked savages at Sault Ste. +Marie. In the winter of 1658-1659, two French fur-traders, Radisson and +Grosseilliers, imbued with a desire "to travell and see countreys" and "to +be knowne with the remotest people," visited Wisconsin, probably saw the +Mississippi, and built a log fort on Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. +During 1662 they discovered James's Bay to the far northeast, and became +impressed with the fur-trading capabilities of the Hudson's Bay region. Not +receiving French support in their enterprise, they sold their services to +England. On the strength of their discoveries, the Hudson's Bay Company was +organized (1670). Saint-Lusson took formal possession of the Northwest for +the French king, at Sault Ste. Marie, in 1671. Two years later (1673), +Joliet and Marquette made their now famous trip over the Fox-Wisconsin +waterway and rediscovered the Mississippi. + + Sidenote: La Salle. + +Champlain died at Quebec in 1635, having extended the trade and domination +of France westward to Wisconsin, by the Ottawa highway. It remained for the +fur-trader, La Salle, one of the most brilliant of American explorers, to +add the Mississippi valley to French territory (1679-1682), his route being +up the Great Lakes and _via_ the Chicago-Illinois portage. It was 1699 +before a French settlement was planted in Louisiana (Old Biloxi), and 1718 +before New Orleans was founded. + +The central geographical fact to be remembered in connection with the +history of New France is, that the St. Lawrence and the chain of Great +Lakes which serve as its feeders furnish a natural highway to the heart of +the continent (page 4, § 2). + + Sidenote: Early explorations on the Great Lakes. + +It has been shown that the hostility of the Iroquois forced the French, in +their earliest explorations westward, to take the northern, or indirect, +route of the Ottawa River, and caused Huron to be the first great lake +discovered; Ontario, Superior, and Michigan being next unveiled, in the +order named. Erie, the last to be seen by whites, was known as early as +1640, but owing to Iroquois warriors blocking the way, was not navigated +until 1669, except by _coureurs de bois_ seeking the New York fur-markets. +Thus Frenchmen were familiar with the sites of Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, +Ashland, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, and Chicago before they had visited +the site of Detroit (1669). But that place came to be recognized after its +settlement (1701) as the most important strategic point in the western +possessions of New France. + + Sidenote: Differences between French and English colonists. + +The difference between the character of the English and French colonies in +North America was great. Englishmen were content to sow and reap in a +plodding fashion, extending their territorial bounds no faster than their +settlements needed room for growth. Their acquaintance with the Indians did +not, with the exception of the New York and Southern fur-traders, extend +beyond the tribes which touched their borders. They were possessed of +remarkable vitality and a strong sense of political and commercial +independence. + + + 110. Social and Political Conditions. + + Sidenote: _Coureur de bois versus_ farmer. + +The rigor of the Canadian winter, the shortness of the summer season, and +persistent annoyance from the Iroquois, who at times had carried their +warfare to the very walls of the settlements, combined to 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 +farmhold 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. Unlicensed +traffic, such as was carried on by the _coureurs de bois_, was looked upon +as akin to smuggling, and harsh laws were promulgated against it. +Nevertheless the forests, far into the continental interior, were +penetrated by gay adventurers conducting illicit barter with the red +barbarians, while the agriculture 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. + + Sidenote: French treatment of the Indians. + +Iroquois interests were bound up with the Dutch, and after them with the +English. The better to improve their own position and to keep up prices, +the Iroquois sought to prevent Algonquians of the upper lakes from trading +with the Canadians. But French influence in the Northwest was nevertheless +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. + + Sidenote: Paternal policy of France. + +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 evidence of its general colonial policy. The colony on the St. +Lawrence was made continually 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. + + Sidenote: The administration of New France. + +The country was governed much like a province in France. It was divided: +(1) for judicial purposes, into districts, with a judge at the head of +each, 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 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 curé and the captain of militia were the +chief personages. The only public 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 themselves, and they did not covet the privilege. Without political +training, they had no notion of what the English call political rights. + + Sidenote: Causes of weakness. + +Had King Louis XIV. been a wise monarch, paternalism might not have been a +disadvantage for a population of this sort. But the royal patronage of +colonial enterprises was spasmodic, sometimes breaking out into extravagant +aid, again remarkable for its penuriousness. There were several in the long +roll of colonial governors who were men of commanding ability, 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 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 circumstances. 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 English 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). + + Sidenote: The struggle between French and English postponed. + +In Champlain's time, while France was busy in crushing Protestant revolts +at home, the settlements of Port Royal and Quebec, then wretched hamlets of +a few dozen huts each, fell an easy prey to small 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 between France and England +before this conquest, the former received back all its possessions, +including Acadia (Nova Scotia) and the island of Cape Breton. The +inevitable struggle for the mastery of the continent was postponed, and +Frenchmen held Canada for four generations 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. + + Sidenote: English jealousy of the expansion of New France. + +The French were not exploring and occupying the western country unwatched. +English colonial statesmen understood from the first the import of the +movement, and their alarm was frequently expressed in communications to the +home government. While Charles II. was a pensioner of Louis XIV., the royal +intendant in Canada expressed the situation clearly when he urged Louis +(1666) to purchase New York, "whereby he would have two entrances to +Canada, 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." + + Sidenote: Extent of French settlement. + +With the accession of Protestant William and Mary (1689), the Palatinate +war broke out between England and France, and at once spread to America, +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 of 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 Mississippi, 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 overpowering resources of her southern neighbors. + + Sidenote: King William's War. + +King William's (or Frontenac's) War was costly to the colonists, and +resulted in no material advantage to either side. The French, under +Governor Frontenac, conducted their operations with vigor. Three winter +expeditions, composed almost entirely of Indians, were sent out (1690) +against the English frontier line, furiously attacking it at widely +separated points,--New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. In consequence of +the alarm created by these raids, the first colonial congress was held at +New York (1690). A fleet commanded by Sir William Phipps (page 177, § 73), +with eighteen hundred New England militiamen on board, captured Acadia and +Port Royal that summer, but Acadia 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 without 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). + + Sidenote: Outbreak of Queen Anne's War. + +After the treaty of Ryswick (1697) there was peace between England and +France for five years. Then broke out what is known in America as Queen +Anne's War (1702-1713), and in Europe as the War of the Spanish Succession. +The war originated in Europe; but one of England's objects in the struggle +was to prevent the French from obtaining too firm a foothold in America. +Much the same military operations as in King William's War were undertaken +by both of the American opponents. + + Sidenote: Continuation of border warfare. + +Three attempts were made by New England troops to recapture Acadia (1704, +1707, and 1710), the last being successful. The peace of Utrecht (1713) +recognized England's right to Acadia, "with its ancient boundaries," but it +brought only nominal peace to the New York and New England colonists. +Unfortunately the northern and western boundaries of Acadia were not +therein fixed, and the country between 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 inciting 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. + + Sidenote: King George's War; capture of Louisbourg. + +The irregular War of the Austrian Succession when it extended to America +was known as King George's War (1744-1748). The principal event was the +capture (1744) by New England troops of the strong fortress of Louisbourg, +on the island of Cape 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. Disappointment was openly expressed, and tended still +further to strain the relations between the colonies and the mother-land. + + + 113. Territorial Claims. + + Sidenote: Boundary disputes. + +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 emptying +into the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi. This allowed, +the narrow strip of the Atlantic coast would alone have been left to +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 confederacy, 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 commissioners quarrelled at Paris over these +conflicting claims; but the dispute was irreconcilable; the only +arbitrament possible was by the sword. + + Sidenote: The French line of frontier forts. + +Meanwhile both sides were preparing to occupy and hold the contested +fields. New France already had a weak chain of water-side forts and +commercial stations, the rendezvous of priests, fur-traders, travellers, +and friendly Indians, extending, with long intervening stretches of +savage-haunted wilderness, through the heart of the continent,--chiefly on +the shores of the Great Lakes, and the banks of the principal river +highways,--from Lower Canada to her outlying 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 to a large +extent half-breed. They were a happy, contented people, without ambition +beyond the day's enjoyment, combining with the light-heartedness of the +French the improvidence of the savage. + + Sidenote: The French covet the Ohio. + +From 1700 on, the conflict seemed inevitable. The French realized that they +could not keep up connection between New Orleans and their settlements on +the St. Lawrence if not permitted to hold the valley of the Ohio. Governor +La Jonquière (1749-1752) understood the situation, and pleaded for the +shipment of ten thousand French peasants 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. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of New France. + +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 reaching. New France will always be +renowned for the immense area held by a small European population. She was +from the first hampered by serious drawbacks,--centralization, 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, § 20). +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. + + + + + 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; Lodge, _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_; lives of Oglethorpe by Bruce, +Cooper, Harris, and Wright. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Oglethorpe, _Account_ (1732); Martyn, _Reasons for +Establishing Georgia_ (1733); _Account Showing 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). + + Sidenote: Unsettled territory. + +The southern boundary of South Carolina was practically the Savannah River; +but the English claimed as far south as the St. John's. Just below the St. +John's, and one hundred and seventy miles south of the Savannah, lay the +old Spanish colony of St. Augustine, founded (page 34, § 12) in 1565. The +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. + + Sidenote: Formation of the Georgia Company. + +James Oglethorpe had been an army officer; he was a member of parliament, +and was prominent in various efforts at domestic reform, particularly in +the improvement of the condition of debtors' prisons. Stirred by the +terrible revelations of his inquiry, he engaged other wealthy and +benevolent men with him, and formed a company (1732) for the settlement 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 southern 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. + + Sidenote: The charter. + +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 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 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 imported, and that the +colonists were to practise military drill. + + Sidenotes: Savannah founded. + + Other settlements. + +In November, 1732, Oglethorpe,--appointed governor and general, without +pay,--set out from England with thirty-five selected families, and in +February (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 consideration. The +second year (1734) there arrived a number of German Protestants, persecuted +exiles from Salzburg, 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 town of Ebenezer; in the same year Augusta was 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 mouth of the Altamaha, on the +Spanish frontier. + + Sidenote: The fur-trade. + +Augusta, which in 1741 numbered but forty-seven permanent inhabitants, in +addition to a small garrison, was the chief seat of the Georgia and South +Carolina fur-traffic. It was the eastern key to the Creek, Chickasaw, and +Cherokee hunting-grounds. In 1741, it was estimated that about one hundred +and twenty-five white men--traders, pack-horse men, servants, 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 climbing the mountain wall. + + + 117. Slow development of Georgia (1735-1755). + + Sidenote: Dissatisfaction of the colonists. + +The trustees perceived at last that men who had failed at home were not +likely to be successful as colonists, and they sent over a party of Scotch +Highlanders and yet more German Protestants. The colony now proved a +success. Savannah was well built, courts were established, the land-system +was well arranged, and Salzburgers, Moravians, and Highlanders 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 of them, finding their complaints unheeded, fled to the +Carolinas or to join the rough borderers. Among the settlers 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, +§ 79.) + + Sidenote: Expedition against Spanish Florida. + +In 1736, Oglethorpe made an expedition to the south as far as the English +claim extended, and planted several forts. At the same time he made a +treaty with the Chickasaws, and thus strengthened 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. Augustine, 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. + + Sidenote: The Spaniards unsuccessfully retaliate. + +Up to this time the Spaniards had been obliged to stand on the defensive; +Cuba was threatened by a large English squadron,--but the attack there +proved a failure, and opportunity was given for concentrating 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 enemy's fleet was frightened off +by the arrival of English vessels, and Georgia was henceforth free from +Spanish invasion. + + Sidenote: A change of policy. + +Oglethorpe returned to England the following year (1743), never to return +to the colony. The trustees now placed the government in charge of a +president and four assistants. But after the departure of its gallant 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 +Highlanders and Germans remained satisfied. + + Sidenote: A royal province. + +In 1752, the charter was surrendered by the disappointed proprietors, and +Georgia became a royal province, with a government similar to that of South +Carolina. The change wrought improvement in many ways. + + Sidenote: Characteristics of Georgia. + +Georgia was the last of the thirteen colonies to be founded, and remained +one of the weakest until long after the Revolution. Its history is a proof +that the robust growth of a colony depends, not upon the character and aims +of its founders, but upon the slow accretion of public sentiment and public +spirit. + + + + + 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. Bancroft, 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.--Political: L. Kellogg, _Colonial Charter_; Channing, +_Town and County Government_; A. Cross, _Anglican 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_.--Nationalities: L. Fosdick, _French Blood in America_; J. +Rosengarten, _French Colonists and Exiles_; S. Cobb, _Palatines_; F. +Diffenderfer, _German Immigration_; L. Bittinger, _Germans in Colonial +Times_, and _German 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 Connecticut_.--Press: L. Schuyler, _Liberty of +Press_; L. Rutherford, _Zenger_.--See also F. Dexter, _Population in +Colonies_, and state histories. + +Contemporary Accounts.--Hutchinson, _History of Massachusetts Bay_; +Falckner, _Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania_ (1702); Madam Knight, +_Journal_ (1704); Fontaine, _Diary_ (1710-1716); Mittelberger, _Journey to +Pennsylvania_ (1750-1754); Franklin, _Autobiography_; Woolman, _Journal_. + + + 119. Population (1700-1750). + + Sidenote: Phases of common development. + +Up to 1700 the history of each colony is the history of a unit; the impulse +of colonization came in successive waves, but each little commonwealth had +its 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 +continued, there were perceptible certain great phases of common +development, which will be briefly outlined. + + Sidenote: Growth of population. + +Although disturbed by wars with the French and Indians, by domestic +political quarrels, and by disputes with the mother country regarding the +regulation of 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 religious 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 +thousand, 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 Pennsylvania after 1730, +increased to three hundred and fifty-five thousand, of which New York +contained ninety thousand, New Jersey eighty thousand, and Pennsylvania and +Delaware one hundred and eighty-five thousand. In the Southern group there +was a population of eighty-nine thousand in 1700, which had grown to six +hundred and twenty-five thousand in 1763, not counting Georgia, settled in +1733, 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 admixture of Germans and people of other nationalities. +Virginia had nearly three hundred thousand, of whom the blacks were now in +the majority. North Carolina, important 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 (1701-1749). + + Sidenote: Attack on the New England charters. + +For many years the New England charters were in imminent danger of +annulment, the purpose apparently being to place the colonies under a +viceregal government. Those of Connecticut and Rhode 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 occasion the astute diplomacy of the colonial agents in England +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 1715, at a time when it +was proposed to annex Rhode Island and Connecticut to the unchartered royal +province of New Hampshire, Dummer issued his now famous Defence of the +American Charters, in which he forcibly argued,--(1) That the colonies +"have a good and undoubted right to their respective charters," inasmuch as +they had been irrevocably granted by the sovereign "as premiums for +services 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 unanswerable, and was +largely instrumental in causing an ultimate abandonment of the ministerial +attack on the New England charters. + + Sidenote: The Carolinas become royal provinces. + +In 1728, as a consequence of popular disturbances in the Carolinas, a writ +of _quo warranto_ was issued against the charter, and the proprietors sold +their interests to the Crown. A royal governor was now 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). + + Sidenote: Boundary disputes. + +Boundary disputes were a constant source of intercolonial irritation. There +were long and vexatious boundary wrangles between Connecticut and her +neighbors, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts. In 1683 an agreement +reached between Connecticut and New York was the basis of the present line, +surveyed in 1878-1879; it was 1826 before the final survey between +Connecticut and Massachusetts; the quarrel between Connecticut and Rhode +Island was protracted and heated, the line between them not being +definitively established until 1840. Wentworth, the first royal governor of +New Hampshire (1740-1767), made large land-grants, which overlapped +territory claimed by New York, and thus brought on a protracted boundary +controversy between 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 organized 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 unacknowledged government of +Vermont was formed. A settlement 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 commission adopted the present line between Massachusetts +and New Hampshire. The same commission established the present western +boundary of Maine. In a contest 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 families long wrangled +over the boundaries between Pennsylvania and Maryland. An agreement was +reached in 1732, and ratified by a convention in 1760: under its terms, +Charles Mason and Jeremiah 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 +between Spain and England occasion was taken by Oglethorpe (1740), governor +of Georgia, to invade Spanish territory (page 262, § 117). + + Sidenote: Spotswood's enterprising spirit. + +No man of his time was more energetic in pushing the confines of settlement +and encouraging development than Governor Spotswood of Virginia +(1710-1722), a stalwart soldier who had fought under Marlborough. 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 topographical knowledge of Virginia by fostering +exploration. + + Sidenote: The mountain borderers. + +The Shenandoah valley, opened to settlement by Spotswood, became, after +1730, a notable home for Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, driven by English +persecution from their home in Ulster. They were by this time coming over +to America in two steady streams, one pouring in at Philadelphia, and the +other at Charleston, S. C. Those arriving at Philadelphia 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 proceeded a generation later, led by such daring spirits as +Boone, Sevier, and Robertson. + + + 122. Schemes of Colonial Union (1690-1754). + + Sidenote: Governmental plans. + +Schemes for a union of the colonies, to provide for the common defence and +settle intercolonial differences, were numerous enough, after the example +set by the New England Confederacy (Chapter VII.). They emanated almost +entirely, however, from the government party, and chiefly for this reason +were 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, § 86). In 1697 William Penn laid +before the Board of Trade a plan providing for a high commissioner, +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. + + Sidenote: Neighborhood congresses. + +While the Board of Trade, distracted by doubts whether the colonies could +be more firmly held as separate governments or under a viceregal union, was +engaged in considering the various propositions submitted to it, several +neighborhood congresses 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. + + Sidenotes: The second colonial congress. + + Its plan of union rejected. + +In 1754 the Lords of Trade recommended a second general congress of the +colonies, to treat with the Iroquois again; they also favored "articles of +union and confederation with each other for the mutual defence of his +Majesty's subjects and interests 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 +York, 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 colonial assemblies. Franklin himself +wrote: "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 people themselves, as the result of oppression on the part of the +mother-country. + + + 123. Quarrels with Royal Governors (1700-1750). + + Sidenote: Quarrels between governors and assemblies. + +The history of the English continental colonies during the first half of +the seventeenth century was largely made up of petty bickerings between the +popular assemblies and the royal governors. The salary question was the +most prominent feature of 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 persistently 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 government 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 disturbing to all material +interests, but it served as a most valuable constitutional training school +for the Revolution. + + Sidenote: The salary question in Massachusetts. + +At times, in Boston, excitement over this perennial quarrel ran to a high +pitch, and now and then it looked as though the assembly would be obliged +to yield; but the men of Massachusetts were of stubborn clay, and never +displayed more bravery than when the governor, backed by writs from +England, threatened them the loudest. In 1728, the assembly, defended +itself, saying it was "the undoubted right of all Englishmen, by Magna +Charta, to raise and dispose of money for the public service of their own +free accord, without compulsion." The Privy Council at last yielded the +point (1735), and left the Massachusetts governor free to receive 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 +standstill. + + + 124. Governors of Southern Colonies. + + Sidenotes: Other differences. + + South Carolina's experience. + +Other differences between the governors and their assemblies hinged on +claims of prerogative, fees for issuing land-titles, issues of paper money, +official attempts 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 of the provinces. In South Carolina +(1704-1706), the proprietors attempted to exclude all but Church of England +men from the assembly. This led to a bitter controversy, in which the +dissenters 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 1719 the meddlesome +executive policy of the proprietors resulted in a popular uprising, in +which the governor was deposed. Later, the authorities (1754-1765) +attempted to resist the issue of paper money, and also to reduce +representation in the 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. + + Sidenote: North Carolina. + +In North Carolina the scattered colonists maintained a vigorous resistance +to arbitrary authority; the tone of official life was low; corruption in +office was common; contests over questions of public policy 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 Spotswood of +Virginia in 1718--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 (1710) and sent prisoner to England. + + Sidenote: Virginia. + +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 wrangling commenced, the assembly was master +of the situation. The burgesses refused to vote money for public defence +until the governors yielded their claims of prerogative, and land-title +fees. + + + 125. Governors of Middle Colonies. + + Sidenote: Pennsylvania. + +Nowhere was the weary disagreement between governor 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 +proprietors, resisted the proposed inclusion of their lands in tax levies +for the conduct of military operations, while the assembly for many years +would vote no money for such purposes or pay the governor'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 prerogative of +establishing courts, and proprietary opposition 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 Germans, 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 +settlements. 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 heart-rending appeals +for aid: yet the assembly long maintained its obstinate course, now and +then grudgingly voting insufficient issues of depreciated bills of credit. + + Sidenote: New York. + +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 interests, winning especial hatred +through his petty persecution of dissenters from the Church of England. He +was recalled in 1708, in response to general denunciation of his course. +His successors were in continuous and often acrimonious controversy with +their assemblies, but generally succeeded in inducing the deputies to +contribute with more or less liberality to the conduct of expeditions +against the French and Indians. + + Sidenote: New Jersey. + +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 understood how to handle +an assembly. By an obliging temper 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. + + Sidenote: Phipps's difficulties in Massachusetts. + +The brief term of Sir William Phipps (1692-1695), as governor of +Massachusetts,--a province then extending all the way from Rhode Island to +New Brunswick, with the exception of New Hampshire,--was filled with +bitterness and disappointment. At the outset of his career and the +inauguration of the new charter (page 176, § 73), 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 governor 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, § 80) had +stirred the colony to its centre, and Phipps gained no friends from his +attitude in that affair; he angered Boston and crippled its political +influence by securing the passage of a law (1694) that deputies to the +assembly must be residents of the districts 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. + + Sidenote: The Earl of Bellomont, and Massachusetts. + +The Earl of Bellomont came over in 1698 as governor of New York, New +Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In November the General Court of +Massachusetts invited him to visit Boston "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 (1701) brought the notorious Kidd to the +gallows. Bellomont's conciliatory attitude towards Massachusetts did not +please the English Board of Trade, which sent him warning that the +colonists had "a thirst for independency," as was particularly exemplified +in their "denial of appeals." + + Sidenote: Connecticut and Rhode Island free from disputes. + +Connecticut and Rhode Island were left with their old charters and their +popularly elected governors, and thus were happily spared those quarrels +over salaries, prerogatives, and fees which elsewhere in the colonies +aroused so much ill-feeling. Governor Fletcher of New York was commissioned +to take military control of Connecticut. He went to Hartford (1693) to +assert his right; but meeting with rude treatment, felt impelled to return +home, and little more was heard from him. Like Massachusetts, Connecticut +was successful in preventing legal appeals to England. + + Sidenote: The Mason claim in New Hampshire. + +In New Hampshire--which was separated from Massachusetts in 1741 and became +a royal province--there had been more than a century of dispute between the +settlers and the proprietors respecting the 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). + + Sidenote: War with French and Indians. + +The aggressions of the French and their policy of inciting the northern and +western Indians to murderous attacks on the slowly advancing English +frontier, kept the colonies which abutted on New France in an almost +constant state of excitement. Those provinces which had no Indian frontier, +such as Maryland, 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 Germans 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 (1702-1713), the French +made an unavailing attack on Charleston, South Carolina. In the capture of +Port Royal (1710), New England men chiefly participated, and they were +otherwise prominent throughout 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. Louisburg was captured in 1745 by New +England troops, who were highly elated at their brilliant conquest. +England, too busy with her own affairs, could not well send protection the +following year, when a French fleet threatened New England; a curious +chapter of marine disasters alone saved the Americans from being severely +punished in retaliation. This doubtless unavoidable neglect on the part of +the mother-country, and the final surrender 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. + + Sidenote: Vernon's expedition to the West Indies. + +Admiral Vernon's expedition against the French in the West Indies in 1740 +was participated in by men from nearly all the English colonies, island and +continental. A campaign against the Spanish settlements in Florida was +undertaken by Oglethorpe during the same year (page 262, § 117). The +Carolinas gave somewhat tardy aid to Georgia in this daring enterprise. + + + 128. Economic Conditions. + + Sidenote: Paper money and finance. + +Massachusetts was the first of the colonies to issue paper money. This was +in 1690, to aid in fitting out an expedition against Canada. The other +provinces 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 £1100 in +New England to £180 in Pennsylvania. The royal governors in all the +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 +interruption 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 +banking 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 +expenses 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), provincial bills of credit were made receivable as +legal tender at the treasuries of the colonies emitting them. The +controversy between the colonies and the home government over these issues +of a cheap circulating medium developed 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. + + Sidenote: Acts of Navigation and Trade. + +Another constant source of irritation were the parliamentary Acts of +Navigation and Trade (page 104, § 44). In the continental colonies there +was no popular sentiment against smuggling or other interference 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 England, and +had a right, therefore, to all the privileges which the people of England +enjoyed." + + + 129. Political and Social Conditions (1700-1750). + + Sidenote: Virginia ideas _versus_ New England ideas. + +In the colonies, as afterwards in the States, there was a continual contest +for supremacy between Virginia, where political power was lodged in the +aristocratic class, and New England, where there was a 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. + + Sidenote: Political affairs in the South; + +The governing class in Virginia were of strong English stock, and when +occasion for political action offered, were ready for it, proving +themselves good soldiers and statesmen, and furnishing 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 bickerings with the home government over +the Navigation Acts (page 104, § 44) and the impressment of seamen, +furnished schooling in constitutional agitation. By the middle of the +eighteenth century the majority of Virginians 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 the breach. North Carolina continued to be distinguished 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 +perception of their rights, were eager enough in the patriot cause; but +there was a large Tory party, and consequently fierce internal dissensions +characterized the history 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 leaders of ability,--the colony +ranking second only to Virginia, 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 +lawlessness. The community was immature, and had not yet learned the art of +self-government. + + Sidenote: in the Middle Colonies; + +The Navigation Acts and the impressment of seamen bore hard on +Pennsylvania, and there was no lack of complaint against other forms of +ministerial interference with colonial rights. But the Quakers, who were +chiefly of the shopkeeping and trading 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 material sacrifices for the sake of political sentiment. +Thus Pennsylvania was an uncertain factor in the 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 everything 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 minority were +nowhere more active or determined than in New York. + + Sidenote: and in New England. + +The New Englanders were pure in race, simple and frugal in habit, +enterprising, vigorous, intelligent, and with a high average of education. +They were small freeholders, possessed of a democratic system which had +powers of indefinite expansion, and were trained in a political school well +calculated to produce 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 resulted. 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. + + +130. Results of the Half-Century (1700-1750). + + Sidenote: The colonial spirit. + +Although the period 1700-1750 has not the interest of the previous half +century of colonization, it has great constitutional importance. The rugged +individuality of the founders of the colonies,--New England, middle, and +southern,--was beginning to give way to a distinctly American character. +The colonies lived separate lives; there was little intercommunication, but +their interests were much the same, their relations with the mother-country +were the same, and in the intercolonial 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 anywhere 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 1700-1750 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. + + Sidenote: The English Ohio Company. + +As the year 1750 approached, there came upon the colonies 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 +hunted and made land-claims in Kentucky and Tennessee. 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 company 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 conflict; and troops were not long in following, on +both sides. + + Sidenote: New colonial policy. + +At the same time the home government was awaking to the fact that the +colonies were not under strict control. In 1750 the Administration began to +consider means of stopping unlawful trade. Before the plan could be +perfected the French and Indian 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. + + + Acadia, united to Massachusetts, 176. _See_ Nova Scotia. + + Africa, supposed migrations from, to America, 21; + European explorations of coast of, 24. + + Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 255, 278. + + Alaska, Asiatic migration to, 2; + aborigines of, 12. + + Albany, founded, 196; + as Fort Nassau, 197; + as Fort Orange, 198, 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 partition, 24, 36, 196. + + Algonquian Indians, status, 9-12; + as allies of the French, 206, 246, 250; + uprising in New York, 200. + + Alleghany mountains. _See_ Appalachian. + + 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. + + Annapolis, Md., founded, 87, 98. + + --, Nova Scotia. _See_ Port Royal. + + Antigua, Leeward Islands, 237. + + Antinomian theory, held by Anne Hutchinson, 133, 134. + + Appalachian mountains, extent of, 3,4, 6, 7; + early explorations, 4, 269; + characteristics, 5, 6, 97, 179, 219; + aborigines, 11; + early Scotch settlements in, 269. + + Argall, Samuel, governor of Virginia, 73; + destroys French settlements in Acadia, 242. + + Arizona, aborigines of, 8; + early Spanish explorations, 28-30; + Spanish missions, 31. + + Armada, the Spanish, interrupts American colonization, 40; + defeat of, 48, 52. + + Asia, possible emigration from, to America, 2, 3; + distance from America, 5; + relation to American exploration, 25-27; + early European commerce in, 23, 24. + + Assemblies, hampered by commercial companies and royal and proprietary + interference, 58; + hold the purse-strings, 59; + origin of bicameral system, 61; + representative system, 62, 63; + in the South generally, 97, 109, 110; + 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; + in Rhode Island, 147, 148; + in Massachusetts, 123, 126, 128; + quarrels with the royal governors (1700-1750), 271-279. + + Association for the defence of the Protestant religion in Maryland, 87. + + Atlantic slope, natural entrance of North America, 3, 5; + rivers, 3, 4; + three grand natural divisions, 5, 6; + mining, 6; + soil and climate, 6, 97; + aborigines of, 9, 10; + early fur-trade on, 18; + early European explorations, 25-28; + early English colonies on, 47. + + Aztecs. _See_ Mexico. + + + Bacon, Nathaniel, rebellion of, 78, 79, 80. + + Bahamas, the, discovered by Columbus, 23; + claimed by English, 44; + included in Carolina, 90; + send settlers to Carolina, 93, 97; + historical sketch, 239, 240. + + Balboa, Vasco Nuñez 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 Virginia, 93; + Quakers at, 165; + historical 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 William, governor of Virginia, 75, 77, 78, 79, 84; + one of the Carolina proprietors, 89; + on education in Virginia, 107, 108; + interest in New Jersey colonization, 205, 211, 212. + + Bermudas, claimed by English, 44; + annexed to Virginia, 72; + send settlers to Carolina, 90; + intercolonial relations, 234; + historical sketch, 238, 239. + + Biloxi (Old), Miss., founded, 248. + + Blackbeard, a noted pirate, 273. + + Blommaert, Samuel, Dutch patroon, 199, 207, 208. + + Blue Laws, fabricated by Peters, 146. + + Body of Liberties, 138, 139. + + Boston, founded, 127; + the Anne Hutchinson episode, 133-136; + New Haven colonists in, 144; + formation of New England Confederation, 156; + Gortonites at, 160; + expeditions against New Netherlands, 163, 164, 168; + levies intercolonial duties, 164; + repression of the Quakers, 165, 166; + arrival of royal commissioners, 168; + Indian missionary efforts, 170; + evasion of Navigation Acts, 173; + the rule of Andros, 175, 176; + slavery, 182; + commerce, 186; + condition in 1700, 186; + Tory element, 189; + Sewall's repentance, 191, 192; + characteristics, 228; + disputes with Phipps, 275, 276; + Bellomont's visit, 276. + + Boundary disputes between the Jerseys, 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 Newfoundland, 26, 33, 241. + + Brook, Lord, attempt to introduce hereditary rank in Massachusetts, 59, + 129; + Connecticut land grant, 141. + + Brownists, a branch of the Independents, 115. + + Bubble Act, passed by Parliament, 279. + + + Cabot, John, discovery of North America, 25, 36, 52, 241, 242. + + --, Sebastian, on the American coast, 25. + + California, gulf of, aborigines, 8, 12; + early Spanish explorations, 28, 29, 31; + Spanish missions, 31. + + Calvert, Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, 82, 83, 85, 86. + + --, Charles, as governor of Maryland, 86; + as third Lord Baltimore, 86, 87. + + --, George, first Lord Baltimore, 76, 77, 81, 82, 208. + + --, Leonard, governor of Maryland, 77, 82, 83, 84. + + Calvin, John, influence of his teachings, 115. + + Calvinists, De Monts' colony of, 35, 36. + + Cambridge, Mass., founded, 127; + fortifications at, 128; + meeting of General Court, 135, 136; + establishment of Harvard College, 130, 158, 188; + emigration to Connecticut, 140; + the "bishop's palace," 189. + + Cambridge platform adopted, 162. + + Canada. _See_ New France. + + Cape Breton island, discovered by Cabot, 25; + in early struggles between 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 missionary efforts, 170; + character of, 179. + + Caribs, the, 8, 9, 236, 239. + + Carolina, named after Charles IX., 33; + causes of failure of early colonies, 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; + population, 97; + character of colonists, 97; + agriculture, 102; + commerce, 104. + _See_ 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. Lawrence River, 32, 246. + + Catholics, in England, 115; + in Virginia, 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 explorations, 26, 35; + founds Quebec, 36, 246; + fights the Iroquois, 196; + on Lake Huron, 246, 247; + as governor of New France, 251, 252; + death, 248. + + Charles I., king of England, interest in Virginia, 75; + interest in Maryland, 82, 84; + interest in Carolina, 88; + attitude towards the Puritans, 125, 127; + annuls Massachusetts charter, 131; + grants Windward Islands to Carlisle, 237; + execution, 76. + + Charles II., king of England, reception of Berkeley, 79; + proclaimed in Massachusetts, 159; + attitude towards Quakers, 166; + displeased with New Englanders, 166-168, 174; + treatment of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 168, 169; + claims New Netherlands, 202, 203; + interest in New Jersey, 212; + charter to Penn, 215; + charters Hudson's Bay Company, 243; + attitude towards New France, 252; + death, 175. + + Charleston, S.C., founded, 92, 93, 98; + churchmen in, 109; + characteristics, 228; + arrival of Scotch, 269; + attacked by French, 278. + + Charlestown, Mass., founded, 122, 127; + fortified, 131; + hanging of a witch, 190. + + Charters, commercial privileges of, 104, 105; + of Virginia, 60, 66-69, 72, 74, 113; + of Maryland, 81, 82; + of the 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, 168, 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; + relations with Georgians, 259, 261. + + Chesapeake Bay, Cabot at, 25; + reached by Lane, 39; + reached by Jamestown colonists, 70; + arrival of royal commissioners, 76; + Claiborne's operations, 77, 83; + geography, 218, 219. + + Chickasaw Indians, status, 11; + relations 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, 280; + in the South generally, 102, 111; + in New York, 229, 230, 274; + in Massachusetts, 122, 130-132, 173, 175, 189; + in New Hampshire, 152; + in Maine, 150, 151; + a source of dispute between governors and assemblies, 272. + + Cibola, Seven Cities of, visited by Spaniards, 29-31. + + Clarendon, a district in Carolina, 89, 90, 93. + + Claiborne, William, his quarrel with Maryland, 76-78, 83-85. + + Cliff-Dwellers, status, 8. + + Colleges, Harvard, 80, 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, 51; + Portuguese policy, 48; + Dutch policy, 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 emigrants, 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 Europe with India, 23, 24, 27, 42; + fur-trade of early European explorers, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53; + French commercial companies, 35; + of Spain, in West Indies, 38, 39; + as a motive of colonization, 46; + Spanish 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 company, 114; + Massachusetts Bay Company, 125-127; + economic effect on England, 65; + intercolonial, 102-107, 130; + colonial, with England, 103, 104, 130, 169; + the Navigation Acts, 104-106. + _See_ Fur-trade. + + Communal proprietorship, in Virginia, 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; + government, 142-144; + early Dutch settlers, 136, 198, 199; + conflicts between Dutch and English, 163, 202; + New Haven founded and absorbed, 144-146, 168; + characteristics 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 charter, 168, 175, 177, 266, 267, 276, 277; + litigation, 182, 183; + iron mining, 184; + agriculture, 186; + colonization schemes on the Delaware, 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, Gaspar, explores American coast, 25, 241. + + Cortez, Hernando, conquest of Mexico, 8, 27-29. + + Council for New England. _See_ Plymouth Company. + + County, the, in England, 55; in the South, 56; + in middle colonies, 57; + in New York, 204; + in Pennsylvania, 216. + + _Coureurs de bois_, their characteristics, 247, 249, 250; + explorations of, 248, 253. + + Creek Indians, status, 11; + relations with Georgians, 260, 261. + + Cromwell, Oliver, accepted in Virginia, 76, 78; + in Maryland, 85; + friendship for New England, 159; + expedition against New Netherlands, 163, 164, 202; + sends prisoners to Barbados, 236. + + Cuba, slavery in, 239; + threatened by English, 262. + + Culpeper, Thomas, Lord, governor of Virginia, 78-80. + + Cumberland Gap, a highway for exploration, 4. + + + Dakotah Indians, status, 11, 12 + + 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, 208; + fall of New Sweden, 209; + annexed to Pennsylvania, 210, 216, 217; + a separate colony, 61, 210, 217; + geography, 218, 219; + social classes, 222-224; + occupations, 224, 225; + trade and commerce, 225, 226; + life and manners, 227; + religion, 230; + general characteristics, 210; + Indian affairs, 277; + influence of Virginian 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, 11, 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. + + Dudley, Joseph, president of Andros's council, 175, 176. + + --, Thomas, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, 127, 135, 175; + governor, 129. + + "Duke's laws," the, in New York, 203, 204. + + Dummer, Jeremiah, "Defence of the American Charters," 266, 267. + + Dunkards, in Pennsylvania, 230. + + Dutch, the, early claims in America, 44; + colonial policy, 50, 51; + as ocean carriers, 103, 104; + plant New Netherlands, 196-198; + patroon 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, 168, 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, chartered, 197; + patroon system, 198-200, 223; + plan of government, 203; + Delaware settlements, 207, 209; + pacific policy towards New England, 163. + + + East India Company, 66. + + East Indies, Dutch in the, 50. + + East New Jersey, as a separate province, 212-214; + population (1700), 221. + + Eaton, Theophilus, heads New Haven colony, 144, 145. + + Edward VI., king of England, 36. + + Edwards, Jonathan, character, 183; + revival work, 190. + + Eliot, John, the Indian missionary, 170, 189. + + Elizabeth, queen of England, interest 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 Newfoundland, 26; + early exploration and settlements in America, 36-44; + becomes a great power, 48; + reasons for final colonization of America, 65, 66; + character of her colonists, 53-55; + her colonial policy, 51-53; + the institutions in which her colonists were trained, 53-58; + Quaker repression, 165. + + Endicott, John, heads the Massachusetts colony, 125, 126. + + Eskimos, possible Asiatic origin of, 2, 3; + status, 12. + + Exeter, N. H., founded, 152. + + + Finns, in Delaware and Pennsylvania, 221. + + 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 occupation, 33, 34, 44, 49, 88; + French expelled by Spanish, 48; + Oglethorpe's expedition, 262, 278. + + Fort Casimir, Del., 209. + + Fort Christina, 208, 215. _See_ Wilmington, 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; + attacked by Spanish, 262. + + "Freeman," term defined, 62. + + French, the, colonies in Florida, 33, 34, 44, 49, 88; + causes of failure of early colonies, 43, 44; + early attempts 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; + influence on English colonization in America, 57; + opposition to English settlement, 47, 206, 207; + in New Amsterdam, 201; + in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 221; + conflicts 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 American 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 Maryland, 104; + of Pennsylvania, 225, 226; + of New Amsterdam, 118; + of New Sweden, 208, 209; + of New York, 198, 202, 221, 225, 226, 228; + in middle colonies generally, 232; + of Connecticut, 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. + + + Gama, 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; + becomes a royal province, 263; + population (1750), 266; + political spirit, 281. + + Germans, in Georgia, 269, 261, 263; + in North Carolina, 97; + in Virginia, 269; + in Maryland, 266; + in Pennsylvania 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 interest in American colonization, 41, 66, + 150; + member of Plymouth Company, 113, 114; + lord proprietor of Maine, 150-152, 158; + allied with Mason in colonizing New Hampshire, 125, 152. + + --, 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, 161, 164. + + Gosnold, Bartholomew, voyages to America, 41, 65, 66, 69, 71. + + Green Bay, Wis., Nicolet at, 12, 248. + + Green Mountain Boys, 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 Sweden, interest in American colonization, 51, + 208. + + Guzman, Nuño Beltran de, founds Culiacan, 28, 29; + expedition to Cibola, 29. + + + Hadley, Mass., shelters the regicides, 167. + + Hakluyt, Richard, early English chronicler, 37; + interest in American 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 Confederation, 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 colonial policy, 35. + + Henry VII., king of England, rewards 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. + _See_ Dutch. + + Hooker, Thomas, supports Anne Hutchinson, 134; + assists in settling Connecticut, 141; + as a constitution-maker, 143; + character, 183. + + Hopi Indians, Spanish with, 29, 30. + + Howard of Effingham, Lord, Governor of Virginia, 79. + + Hudson Bay, exploration of, 4; + aborigines of, 9, 12; + early French visits, 247, 248. + + Hudson, Hendrik, discovers Hudson River, 44, 50, 125, 196. + + -- River, discovered by Hudson, 50, 125, 196; + early Dutch trade on, 118; + as a highway for trade, exploration, and Indian war-parties, 4, 5, 8, + 155, 202, 219, 220, 255; + 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, 248; + intercolonial relations, 234; + historical sketch, 243, 244. + + Huguenots, in Florida, 31-34, 49; + De Monts' colony, 35, 36; + in Brazil, 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 agitator in Massachusetts, 133-136; + in Rhode Island, 146, 147; + her adherents in New Hampshire, 152. + + + Iceland, early settlements in, 21, 22. + + Illinois, canoe portages in, 4; + aborigines 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 exploration, 26, 27, 50; + search for water passage to, 42, 196. + + Indian Territory, Southern Indians in, 11; + early Spanish exploration in, 28. + + Indians, their origin, 2, 3; + philological divisions, 9-12; + characteristics, 13-16; + relations with English colonists in general, 17-19, 36, 38-43; + Pequod War, 136, 137; + Philip's War, 14, 170-172, 188; + relations with the Spaniards, 27-32, 42, 43, 47, 238, 239; + with the Portuguese, 48; + with the French, 34, 35, 49, 246-258; + with the Dutch, 163; + with Georgia, 259-261; + with Carolina, 88, 89, 277; + with Virginia, 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, 172; + 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; + hostility 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; + 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; + Huguenot settlement on, 81. + + Jamestown, Va., settlement of, 70-72, 113; + early iron smelting at, 6; + introduction 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, 42. + + Jesuits, in New France, 36, 253; + in Maryland, 83; + in New York, 230; + explorations in the Northwest, 247. + + Jolliet, Louis, discovery of Mississippi River, 26, 248. + + + Kansas, crossed by Coronado, 30. + + Kent island, occupied by Claiborne, 77, 83-85. + + Kentucky, early exploration, 4; + aborigines of, 9; + early white settlements, 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 William'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 exploration, 4. + + Lake Huron, reached by Champlain, 246, 248. + + Lake Michigan, discovered, 12, 248. + + Lake Ontario, aborigines on, 10, 11; + drainage system, 219, 220; + discovered, 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. + + Léry, Baron de, colonizing attempt of, 35. + + Locke, John, his constitution for the Carolinas, 58, 90, 91, 93, 95. + + London Company, chartered, 66, 113; + settles Virginia, 69-74, 81; + criticised by James I., 74; + grant to the Pilgrims, 116, 117; + charter annulled, 74. + + Long Island, Block's visit, 196; + Walloon settlement, 198; + conflicts between 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; + relation to Massachusetts, 132. + + Louis XIV., king of France, his colonial policy, 49, 251-253. + + Louisburg, captured by the English, 255, 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 exploration of, 28, 29, 31. + + + Maine, De Monts' colony, 36; + visited by Gosnold and Pring, 41; + Gorges' proprietorship, 150, 151, 173; + characteristics, 150; + not in the New England Confederation, 157, 158; + absorbed by Massachusetts, 152, 173, 174; + Indian uprising, 172, 188; + rule of Andros, 175; + 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 Ferret de, on the Pacific coast, 28. + + Manhattan Island, Block's visit, 196; + early settlement, 197, 198. + _See_ New York City. + + Marquette, Father Jacques, on Mississippi River, 26, 248. + + Martha's Vineyard, Indian missionary efforts at, 170. + + Maryland, origin of name, 82; + settlement, 76, 81-84; + landed estates, 58; + judiciary, 60; + during English Revolution, 84, 85; + development, 86, 87; + becomes a royal province, 61, 87; + Claiborne's quarrel, 76, 77; + geography, 96; + character of colonists, 97; + its capital, 98; + occupations, 102; + religion, 102, 108; + commerce, 103, 104; + tobacco-raising, 103; + William and Mary's College, 103; + witchcraft trials, 192; + boundary disputes, 209, 217, 268; + settlers patronize Pennsylvania mills, 225; + represented in colonial congress, 270; + Indian affairs, 83, 86, 277; + influence of Virginia ideas on, 280; + political spirit, 280; + population (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; + Harvard College founded, 80; + internal dissensions, 129-132; + religious troubles, 132-136, 146, 152; + interest 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 Hampshire, 152, 153, 173; + absorbs Plymouth, 124, 176; + annexes land in Connecticut and Maine, 173; + influence in the Confederation, 155-157, 164; + independent attitude towards England, 158, 159, 161; + jealousy of King Charles, 173; + under the royal commissioners, 167, 168; + charter annulled, 131, 132, 169, 174, 175; + becomes a royal province, 175; + rule of Andros, 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, 176, 177; + population, (1700) 180, (1754) 265; + slavery, 182, 272, 275; + iron mining, 184; + manufactures, 184; + fisheries, 184; + shipbuilding and commerce, 185; + agriculture, 186; + witchcraft delusion, 190-192; + boundary disputes, 267, 268; + represented in second colonial congress, 270; + Phipps's term, 275, 276; + Bellomont's term, 207, 276; + loses New Hampshire, 277; + paper money, 278, 279. + + Massachusetts Bay, visited by Roberval, 33; + early settlements on, 122, 124, 127. + + -- Company, chartered, 125; + removes to America, 126, 127; + charter annulled, 131, 132, 169, 174, 175. + + Massasoit, head-chief of Pokanokets, 121, 170. + + Mather, Cotton, in witchcraft trials, 191, 192. + + --, Increase, influence in Massachusetts politics, 176, 177. + + Maverick, Samuel, early Massachusetts settler, 122, 150; + royal commissioner, 167. + + "Mayflower," voyage of, 36, 117, 118, 142, 197. + + Melendez de Aviles, Pedro, his massacre 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, 9, 11; + Spanish 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 Amsterdam, 198; + in employ of the Swedes, 201, 208. + + Mississippi River, portage-routes, 4; + geography of basin, 6, 7; + aborigines of valley of, 9-12; + discovered by De Soto, 31, 44; + French reaching 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, 11. + + Mohican Indians, status, 9, 10. + + Montreal, Cartier at, 32; + Champlain'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. + + + Nantasket, Mass., founded, 122. + + 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, 11, 28, 30, 47. + + Natchez Indians, 9. + + Navigation Acts, historical sketch of, 104-106; + effect in South Carolina, 94; + in Virginia, 78, 80, 280; + in Maryland, 86; + in Pennsylvania, 281; + in the Jerseys, 231; + in New York, 232; + in Massachusetts, 173, 279, 280; + in New England generally, 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; + Stuyvesant'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; + population,(1690) 253, (1700) 180, 181, (1700-1750) 265; + social distinctions, 58, 181, 182; + slavery, 182; + occupations, 182-184; + manufactures, 184; + fisheries and shipbuilding, 185; + commerce, 77, 164, 185, 186, 234, 235; + towns, 186; + education, 188; + crime, 188; + religion, 189, 190, 194; + witchcraft delusion, 190-192; + life and manners, 187; + political conditions, 192-194, 282; + repression of Quakers, 165, 166; + formation of the confederation, 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, chartered, 60. + + Newfoundland, Spaniards at, 28; + early European fishermen at, 36, 37, 49, 52; + early French visits, 32, 33; + claimed by England, 44; + Baltimore's colony, 81; + intercolonial relations, 234, 235; + in King William'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 colonizing efforts, 152, 153; + soil, 179; + manufactures, 184; + agriculture, 186; + characteristics, 153; + population (1700), 180, (1754) 265; + annexed by Massachusetts, 61, 153, 173; + becomes a royal province, 61, 153, 174, 277; + reunited to Massachusetts, 153, 174; + rule of Andros, 175; + under William and Mary, 177; + in King William's War, 254; + Bellomont's term, 276; + boundary disputes, 268; + represented in second 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; + absorbed by Connecticut, 146, 168, 169; + condition in 1700, 186; + Yale College founded, 188; + Tory element 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; + geography, 219; + social distinctions, 222-224; + occupations, 224, 225; + trade and commerce, 225, 226; + life and manners, 227-229; + education, 229; + religion, 230; + political conditions, 231, 282; + Bellomont's term, 276; + Indian affairs, 277, 282; + population(1700), 221, (1750), 265. + + New Mexico, aborigines of, 8; + Spanish explorations, 28-30; + Spanish colonies, 31, 32. + + New Netherland, settlement of, 196-198; + progress, 198-202; + Puritan encroachments, 162-164; + settlements 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 Portsmouth, 148; + chartered, 149. + + New Spain. _See_ Mexico. + + New Sweden, its rise and fall, 201, 202, 208, 209. + _See_ Swedes. + + New York, early mining, 6; + geography, 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, 231; + political conditions, 231, 232, 282; + Indian affairs, 277; + the Dutch régime, 196-202; + captured by English, 202, 203; + the "duke's laws," 204; + recaptured by Dutch, 205; + England again in possession, 205; + the 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; + colonial congress, 270, 271; + boundary disputes, 267, 268; + 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; + named in London Company's charter, 66; + origin of, 88, 90; + first settlements, 92, 93; + Culpeper rebellion, 92; + character of colonists, 97; + their turbulent spirit, 273, 280, 281; + occupations, 102; + agriculture, 103; + religion, 108, 109; + mountains of, 179; + becomes a royal province, 267; + boundary established, 268; + Indian affairs, 277; + Oglethorpe's expedition, 278; + influence of Virginian ideas, 280; + population (1763), 266. + + North Virgina Company. _See_ Plymouth Company. + + Norwegians, in Iceland, 21. + + Nova Scotia, early French settlement, 35, 36; + Claiborne's trade with, 77; + intercolonial relations, 234, 235; + French-English struggles, 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 colony on, 38. + + Oglethorpe, James, character, 259; + founds Georgia, 259, 260; + campaign against Florida Spaniards, 262, 269, 278. + + Ohio Company, its colonization efforts, 283. + + Oneida Indians, 10, 11. + + Onondaga Indians, 10, 11. + + Oregon, aborigines of, 12. + + + Pacific ocean, crossed by prehistoric vessels, 2; + effect on American exploration, 26, 27, 70; + discovery by Balboa, 26. + + -- slope, north-shore flora, 2; + difficulties of colonizing, 3; + geography, 3, 4, 6, 7; + early Spanish explorations, 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 disputes 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 taxation 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, 231; + political conditions, 232, 280, 281; + annexation of Delaware, 210, 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 Virgina ideas, 280; + population (1700), 221, 222, (1750) 265, 266. + + Pequod Indians, uprising of, 136, 137, 140-142. + + Philadelphia, first medical school, 184; + commerce, 185, 226; + first insane hospital, 231; + arrival of Scotch, 269; + characteristics, 228. + + Philip II., king of Spain, 34. + + Philip's War, in New England, 169-172, 188. + + Phipps, Sir William, governor of Massachusetts, 177, 275, 276; + captures Port Royal, 254. + + Pilgrims, their staying qualities, 43; + in Holland, 115-117; + voyage of "Mayflower," 117, 118; + settlement of Plymouth, 118-120; + land-grant on the Hudson, 197. + + Piracy, English, on Spanish commerce, 94; + in New York, 206, 207; + in the West Indies, 239, 240; + in Virginia, 273; + in Rhode Island, 276. + + Plantation, as a political unit, 56, 73. + + Plymouth, England, seat of Plymouth Company, 41, 66, 113, 150, 152. + + Plymouth Colony, settled, 116-120, 144; + development, 120-124; + characteristics, 123, 124, 139; + marriages in, 132; + Williams at, 132; + fur-trade on the Connecticut, 140; + in the Gorton case, 160; + treatment of Quakers, 166; + receives royal commissioners, 169; + Indian affairs, 170-172; + joins the confederation, 156; + rule of Andros, 175; + shipbuilding, 185; + merged in Massachusetts, 124, 176; + lesson of the colony, 53. + + Plymouth Company, chartered, 66; + Baltimore a councillor, 81; + southern boundary, 82; + relations with New Englanders, 120, 122, 124; + sends out Popham colony, 113; + reorganizes, 114; + grant to Massachusetts Bay Company, 125; + grant to Brook and Say and Sele, 141; + surrenders its charter, 131, 150, 152. + + Pokanoket Indians, relations with Plymouth, 121, 170. + + Poor whites, genesis of, 74, 100, 110. + + Popham, George, heads the Popham colony, 113. + + --, Sir John, interest in American colonization, 66, 113. + + Population, of Indian tribes, 9-11, 15; + excess of, in Europe, 50, 53, 65; + of Virginia (1650-1670), 76, (1697) 81; + of the South generally (1688), 97; + of Pennsylvania and Delaware (1700), 221, 222; + of the Jerseys (1700), 221; + of New York (1674), 205, (1690) 253, (1700) 220, 221; + of Connecticut (1636), 141; + of Rhode Island (1638), 147; + of Plymouth (1643), 121; + of Massachusetts (1634), 129; + of New England generally (1690), 253, (1700) 180; + of the English colonies generally (1700-1750), 265, 266; + of New France (1690), 253. + + Portage paths, situation and importance of, 4; + Indian villages on, 13. + + Port Royal, Nova Scotia, founded, 36, 48; + captured by English, 242, 243, 252, 254, 278. + + --, S. C., founded by Huguenots, 33, 93; + destroyed by Spanish, 93, 94. + + Portsmouth, N. H., founded, 152, 153; + Tory element at, 189. + + --, R. I., founded, 147; + declaration, 147, 148; + chartered, 149. + + Portuguese, early explorations of, 24, 25, 27; + Alexander's bull of partition and the, 24; + fishing colony at Newfoundland, 26, 37, 241; + South American colonies of the, 44; + colonial policy of, 48; + over-population, 50; + trade with New England, 185. + + Presbyterians, in England, 115; + in Scotland, 115, 132, 161; + on the Continent, 115; + in Virginia, 108; + in Massachusetts, 161, 162; + in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 221; + in middle colonies generally, 230; + in the Shenandoah valley, 269. + + Providence, R. I., founded, 133, 146; + religious disturbances at, 148, 159; + union with Rhode Island, 147; + the compact, 147; + chartered, 148, 149; + population (1638), 147. + + --, Md., former name for Annapolis, 98. + + Pueblo Indians, status, 8; + visited by Spaniards, 29, 30; + Spanish missions among, 31, 32. + + Puritans, definition of term, 115; + in Holland, 115, 117; + motive of emigration to America, 46; + settle New England, 116-140; + gain ascendency over Massachusetts Presbyterians, 162; + rise to power in England, 169; + in Virginia, 75-78, 108; + in South Carolina, 109; + in Maryland, 84-87; + in middle colonies, 230. + + + Quakers, in Carolina, 89, 91, 95; + in Virginia, 108; + in Maryland, 86; + in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 210, 215-217, 221-225, 227, 230-232, 274, + 277, 281; + in the Jerseys, 212, 213, 221; + in New England, 165, 166, 169. + + Quebec, Cartier at, 32; + founded by Champlain, 36, 48, 155, 246; + capital of New France, 251; + captured by English, 252. + + Queen Anne's War, 254, 255, 277, 278. + + + Radisson, Sieur, early French explorer, 247, 248. + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, interest in American colonization, 37-40, 52, 65, + 68, 88; + resists the Armada, 40. + + Randolph, Edward, collector at Boston, 173, 174. + + Representation, colonial practice of, 62; + in Virginia, 73; + in Maryland, 83, 84; + in Pennsylvania, 216; + in New Jersey, 211, 212, 214; + in New Netherlands, 200, 201, 223; + in New York, 204 206; + in Connecticut, 143, 145; + in Plymouth, 123; + in Massachusetts, 62, 128, 129; + the Watertown case, 128. + + Rhode Island, founded, 133, 135, 146-150; + chartered, 61, 168; + religious disturbances, 148, 149, 159-161, 189, 190, 194; + Mrs. Hutchinson in, 135; + treatment of Quakers, 165, 166; + litigation, 182; + trade, 186; + education, 188; + union of colonies as Providence Plantations, 148; + not permitted to join the confederation, 157; + charter troubles, 175, 177, 266, 267; + boundary disputes, 267, 268; + represented in second colonial congress, 270; + Bellomont's visit, 276; + Indian affairs, 277; + population (1700), 180; + characteristics, 49, 50. + + Ridge Hermits, in Pennsylvania, 230. + + Rensselaerswyck, N. Y., founded, 199. + + Roanoke Island, Raleigh's colony on, 38-40, 88, 119. + + Roberval, Jean François de, attempt at French colonization, 32, 33. + + Rocky Mountains, a barrier to colonization, 3; + exploration of, 4; + geography of, 6, 7; + aborigines of, 8, 9, 12. + + Ryswick, treaty of, 244, 254. + + + Sable, Isle of, early French colonies on, 35. + + Saint-Lusson, Sieur de, early French explorer, 248. + + Salem, Mass., founded, 125, 126; + divides, 127; + Williams at, 132, 133; + witchcraft delusion at, 190-192. + + Salzburgers, in Georgia, 260, 261. + + San Francisco, harbor of, 3; + founded, 31. + + Santa Fé, N. Mex., founded, 31, 32. + + Sault Ste. Marie, early French visits to, 247, 248; + French settlement at, 253. + + Savannah, Ga., founded, 258. + + Say and Sele, Lord, attempts to introduce hereditary rank, 59, 129; + Connecticut land-grant to, 141. + + Saybrook, Conn., founded, 136, 137, 141, 164; + raided by Indians, 137. + + Scandinavians, pre-Columbian discoveries of, 21-23; + on the Delaware, 51. + + Schenectady, N. Y., sacked by French and Indians, 206. + + Schuylkill River, conflicts between Dutch and English on, 200-202. + + Scotch, in Carolina, 93; + in the Jerseys, 211, 213, 221. + + Scotch-Irish, in Georgia, 261, 263; + in North Carolina, 97; + in Virginia, 108; + in Shenandoah valley, 269; + in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 221, 222; + in New England, 180; + in Nova Scotia, 242. + + Seminoles, status of, 11. + + Seneca Indians, status of, 10, 11. + + Sewall, Samuel, denounces slavery, 182; + in witchcraft trials, 191, 192. + + Shenandoah valley, a home for Scotch Presbyterians, 269. + + Shipbuilding in New England, 146, 185; + Block's vessel, 196; + in Pennsylvania, 226. + + Shrewsbury, N. J., founded, 211. + + Sioux Indians. _See_ Dakotahs. + + Six Nations. _See_ Iroquois. + + Slavery, in Georgia, 260, 263; + in South Carolina, 99; + in Virginia, 74, 81, 99; + in the South generally, 98, 99, 103, 110; + in the middle colonies, 223, 224; + in New England, 58, 139, 182, 185; + in Illinois, 192; + in the West Indies, 234, 239-241. + + Smith, Capt. John, attempts to reach the Pacific, 26; + member of the London Company, 66; + experiences at Jamestown, 70-72; + voyage to New England, 113, 114, 150. + + Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, work in South Carolina, 102; + in New York, 229; + in Georgia, 260. + + Somers, Sir George, member of London Company, 66, 69, 72; + at Bermudas, 238. + + Somers's Islands. _See_ Bermudas. + + Sothel, Seth, governor of North Carolina, 92, 93; + of South Carolina, 94. + + South Carolina as Chicora, 27; + settlement of, 90; + landed estates in, 58; + occupations, 102; + religion, 102, 109; + trade, 102, 261; + social life, 107; + becomes a royal province, 267; + boundary established, 268; + Indian affairs, 277; + Oglethorpe's expedition, 278; + influence of Virginia ideas, 280; + political condition, 281; + population (1763), 266. + + Southern Indians, status of, 9, 11. + + Southold, L. I., founded, 145. + + Spaniards, conquest of Mexico and Peru, 8, 11; + treatment of Indians, 17; + early American discoveries, 23, 24; + the bull of partition, 24, 36; + fishermen at Newfoundland, 25, 37; + exploration of American interior, 27-31; + their American colonies, 26, 31, 32, 88; + character of those colonies, 42, 43; + conflicts with France, 32, 34, 93, 94; + influence on English court, 36; + conflicts with English, 38, 39, 237, 239-241, 244; + war with Holland, 196; + the Armada, 40; + their colonial policy, 47, 48; + over-population in Spain, 50; + causes of failure of North American colonies, 42-44; + trade with New England, 185; + conflicts with Georgia, 259-262, 278. + + St. Augustine, Fla., founded, 32, 34, 94; + in Oglethorpe's campaign, 259, 261. + + St. Christopher, Leeward Islands, 237, 238. + + St. John's, Newfoundland, early fisheries at, 37. + + St. Lawrence River, gateway to continental interior, 4, 248; + explored by Cartier, 32; + by Champlain, 35, 36; + French claims on, 43, 255, 256; + settlements on, 246, 249, 250, 253. + + St. Lucia, Windward Islands, 237. + + St. Mary's, Md., founded, 82, 83; + as the capital, 84, 87, 98. + + St. Vincent, in Windward Islands, 237. + + Stamford, Conn., founded, 145. + + Stoughton, William, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, 181; + in witchcraft trials, 191. + + Stuyvesant, Peter, governor of New Netherlands, 163, 200, 201, 202, 203, + 209. + + Suffrage in judicial elections, 59; + general qualifications, 61, 62; + in Maryland, 86; + in New Jersey, 213, 214; + in New Netherlands, 200; + in New York, 204, 205; + in Connecticut, 143; + in Massachusetts, 128, 167, 173, 176; + in New England generally, 193. + + "Susan Constant," the, carries colonists to Virginia, 69. + + Swedes, colonial policy of the, 51; + career of New Sweden, 201, 202, 208, 209; + in Pennsylvania and Delaware, 208-210, 215, 217, 221, 222; + in New Jersey, 211, 221. + + Swiss, in North Carolina, 97. + + + Tarratine Indians, uprising in Maine, 188. + + Tennessee, character of early settlers, 269, 283. + + Texas, early Spanish exploration of, 28. + + Tinicum, island of, seat of Swedish government in America, 208, 215. + + Tobago, Windward Islands, 237. + + Town, the, in England, 55; + in New England, 57, 62, 139, 140, 192, 193; + in the middle colonies, 57, 204, 216. + + Trenton, N. J., characteristics, 228. + + Trinidad, Windward Islands, 237. + + Tuscarora Indians, join the Five Nations, 11. + + + Underhill, John, in Pequod War, 137. + + Union, schemes for colonial, New England Confederation, 155-158; + first colonial congress, 80, 206, 270; + governmental plans, 267, 270; + second congress, 270, 271. + + Usselinx, Willem, founds South Company of Sweden, 208. + + Utah, aborigines of, 12. + + Utrecht, treaty of, 241-243, 255, 256. + + + Vaca, Cabeza de, in Narvaez's expedition, 28, 29. + + Vane, Sir Henry, governor of Massachusetts, 129, 134, 135. + + Van Rensselaer family, 199, 223. + + Vermont, soil, 179; + becomes a State, 268. + + Verrazano, John, on the American coast, 32, 41. + + Virginia, named by Raleigh, 38; + Raleigh's land grants, 40; + causes of early failures in colonizing, 41-44; + geography, 96; + settlement, 69-75; + character of colonists, 97, 114; + landed estates, 58; + judiciary, 60; + suffrage, 61, 62; + first assembly, 62; + first charter, 66-69, 70, 113; + second charter, 72; + development, 75-81; + becomes a royal province, 74; + Bacon's rebellion, 78, 79, 90; + occupations, 102; + commerce, 103, 104; + education, 107, 108; + religion, 108; + witch-ducking, 192; + conflicts with Dutch, 197, 200; + Walloons rejected, 198; + piracy, 273; + Spotswood's term, 269; + Nicholson's term, 273; + includes 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 Netherlands, 198, 201; + in Delaware, 207, 208. + + Warwick, Earl of, interest in American 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 Pennsylvania and Delaware, 217, 221. + + Wesley, Charles, in Georgia, 262. + + --, John, in Georgia, 262. + + West Indies, aborigines of, 8; + Spanish conquest of, 43, 47; + Spanish commerce, 39; + piracy, 34; + Portuguese in, 48; + Dutch in, 50; + trade with Southern colonies, 102, 104; + trade with New England, 185; + trade with middle colonies, 226; + intercolonial relations, 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 III., king of England, 206, 253. + + -- and Mary, sovereigns of England, proclaimed in the colonies, 87, 176. + + William and Mary college, chartered, 80, 81, 103. + + Williams, Roger, character, 132; + at Salem, 132, 133; + founds Providence, 133, 146, 147, 149, 160; + services 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, 136, 137, 140, 141. + + Windward Islands, English colonies, 236, 237. + + Wingfield, Edward Maria, member of London Company, 66; + president 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 Massachusetts, 127, 129, 135, 138, 156; + expression of colonial independence, 161. + + --, John, Jr., founds Saybrook, 136, 141; + governor of Connecticut, 143; + London agent of Connecticut, 168. + + Wisconsin, canoe portages in, 4; + aborigines of, 12; + discovered by Nicolet, 26; + early French explorations in, 247, 248. + + Witchcraft delusion, at Salem, 190-192, 275; + elsewhere, 190, 192. + + Wocoken, island of, English colony on, 38, 88. + + + Yale College, founded, 80, 188. + + Yeamans, Sir John, leads colony to Carolina, 89, 237; + governor of South Carolina, 93. + + York, Duke of, proprietor of New York, 203, 210-212; + becomes James II., 205, 206, 213; + grants Delaware to Pennsylvania, 216. + + + Zuñi Indians, visited by Spaniards, 29, 30. + + + + +Illustration: EPOCH MAP II + + NORTH AMERICA 1650. + SHOWING CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF EXPLORATION AND OCCUPANCY. + +Illustration: EPOCH MAP III + + ENGLISH COLONIES 1700. + Showing Extent of Actual Jurisdiction. + +Illustration: EPOCH MAP IV + + NORTH AMERICA 1750. + SHOWING CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF EXPLORATION AND OCCUPANCY. + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +Punctuation was standardized. Missing punctuation was added, where +appropriate. William Claiborne's name is also spelled 'Clayborne.' Both +were left as printed. The index entry for Augusta, GA, is out of order in +the original and was not amended. Archaic and obsolete spellings were left +unchanged. Text in italics is surrounded by underscores, _like this_. +Superscripted letters are surrounded by braces, for example, Gov{r}. +Sidenotes were moved to precede the paragraph to which each refers. + +Within the text of the book, where there are references to the book's +page numbers, the section in which that page appears has been added. For +example, "(page 41)" was altered to appear as "(page 41, § 15)," so that +the reader may more easily locate the referenced text. + +The following spelling corrections were made: + + 'da Leon' to 'de Leon' sidenote, Chapter II, § 9 + 'Greene' to 'Green' sidenote, Chapter VI, § 36 + 'Roberth' to 'Robert' Chapter VI, § 36 + 'browbreat' to 'browbeat' Chapter IV, § 38 + 'circumtances' to 'circumstances' Chapter XII, § 110 + 'beween' to 'between' Chapter XIV, § 121 + 'king Charles' to 'King Charles' index entry for Massachusetts + 'Phillip's War' to 'Philip's War' twice, in the index only + +The following hyphenated words were changed for consistency within the text: + + 'brow-beat' to 'browbeat' Chapter IV, § 31 + 'fire-places' to 'fireplaces' Chapter V, § 45 + 'foot-hold' to 'foothold' Chapter XII, § 112 + 'free-men' to 'freemen' Chapter IX, § 89 + 'heartrending' to 'heart-rending' Chapter XIV, § 125 + 'Jersey-men' to 'Jerseymen' Chapter X, § 92 + 'long-shore' to 'longshore' Chapter X, § 94 + 'overpopulation' to 'over-population' index, Portuguese; + and index, Spaniards + 're-affirm' to 'reaffirm' Chapter IV, § 34 + 'Ship-building' to 'Shipbuilding' Chapter VII, § 77; + index, Massachusetts; and + index, Shipbuilding + 'vice-regal' to 'viceregal' Chapter XIV, § 120 + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Colonies 1492-1750, by Reuben Gold Thwaites + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42701 *** |