vii; Fisher's Colonial Era; Earle's Child Life.
Home Readings.--Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe; Franklin's Autobiography; Brooks's In Leisler's Times; Coffin's Old Times in the Colonies; Cooper's Last of the Mohicans; Scudder's Men and Manners One Hundred Years Ago.
CHAPTER 8
THE COLONIES UNDER CHARLES II
[Sidenote: The Puritan in England. Higginson and Channing, English History for Americans, 182-195.]
[Sidenote: The Colonies, 1649-60.]
65. The Puritans and the Colonists, 1649-60.--In 1649 Charles I was executed, and for eleven years the Puritans were supreme in England.
During this time the New England colonists governed themselves, and paid little heed to the wishes and orders of England's rulers. After some hesitation, the Virginians accepted the authority of Cromwell and the Puritans. In return they were allowed to govern themselves. In Maryland the Puritans overturned Baltimore's governor and ruled the province for some years.
[Sidenote: The Restoration, 1660. English History for Americans, 196.]
[Sidenote: The Navigation Laws.]
66. Colonial Policy of Charles II.--In 1660 Charles II became king of England or was "restored" to the throne, as people said at the time.
Almost at once there was a great revival of interest in colonization, and the new government interfered vigorously in colonial affairs. In 1651 the Puritans had begun the system of giving the English trade only to English merchants and shipowners. This system was now extended, and the more important colonial products could be carried only to English ports.
[Sidenote: Charles II and Massachusetts.]
[Sidenote: Massachusetts and the Quakers. Higginson, 80-81.]
67. Attacks on Massachusetts.--The new government was especially displeased by the independent spirit shown by Massachusetts. Only good Puritans could vote in that colony, and members of the Church of England could not even worship as they wished. The Massachusetts people paid no heed whatever to the navigation laws and asserted that acts of Parliament had no force in the colony. It chanced that at this time Massachusetts had placed herself clearly in the wrong by hanging four persons for no other reason than that they were Quakers. The English government thought that now the time had come to assert its power. It ordered the Massachusetts rulers to send other Quakers to England for trial. But, when this order reached Massachusetts, there were no Quakers in prison awaiting trial, and none were ever sent to England.
[Sidenote: Charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 1662-63.]
[Sidenote: New Haven absorbed by Connecticut.]
68. Connecticut and Rhode Island.--While the English government was attacking Massachusetts it was giving most liberal charters to Connecticut and to Rhode Island. Indeed, these charters were so liberal that they remained the constitutions of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island until long after the American Revolution. The Connecticut charter included New Haven within the limits of the larger colony and thus put an end to the separate existence of New Haven.
[Illustration: THE OLDEST CHURCH SOUTH OF THE POTOMAC.]
[Sidenote: The English conquest of New Netherland, 1664. Higginson.
97-98.]
69. Conquest of New Netherland, 1664.--The English government now determined to conquer New Netherland. An English fleet sailed to New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant thumped up and down on his wooden leg. But he was almost the only man in New Amsterdam who wanted to fight. He soon surrendered, and New Netherland became an English colony. The Dutch later recaptured it and held it for a time; but in 1674 they finally handed it over to England.
[Sidenote: New Netherland given to the Duke of York and Albany.]
70. New York.--Even before the colony was seized in 1664, Charles II gave it away to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, who afterward became king as James II. The name of New Netherland was therefore changed to New York, and the principal towns were also named in his honor, New York and Albany. Little else was changed in the colony. The Dutch were allowed to live very nearly as they had lived before, and soon became even happier and more contented than they had been under Dutch rule. Many English settlers now came in. The colony became rich and prosperous, but the people had little to do with their own government.
[Sidenote: Origin of New Jersey, 1664.]
[Sidenote: Settlement of New Jersey.]
71. New Jersey.--No sooner had James received New Netherland from his brother than he hastened to give some of the best portions of it to two faithful friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. Their territory extended from New York harbor to the Delaware River, and was named New Jersey in honor of Carteret's defense of the island of Jersey against the Puritans. Colonists at once began coming to the new province and settled at Elizabethtown.
[Sidenote: East and West Jersey.]
[Sidenote: Prosperity.]
72. Later New Jersey.--Soon New Jersey was divided into two parts, East Jersey and West Jersey. West Jersey belonged to Lord Berkeley and he sold it to the Quakers. Not very many years later the Quakers also bought East Jersey. The New Jersey colonists were always getting into disputes with one another, so they asked Queen Anne to take charge of the government of the province. This she did by telling the governor of New York to govern New Jersey also. This was not what the Jersey people had expected. But they had their own legislature. In time also they secured a governor all to themselves and became a royal province entirely separate from New York. Pennsylvania and New York protected the Jersey people from the French and the Indians, and provided markets for the products of the Jersey farms. The colonists were industrious and their soil was fertile. They were very religious and paid great attention to education. New Jersey became very prosperous and so continued until the Revolution.
[Sidenote: Founding of Carolina, 1663. Higginson, 124-127.]
73. The Founding of Carolina.--The planting of New Jersey was not the only colonial venture of Carteret and Berkeley. With Lord Chancellor Clarendon and other noblemen they obtained from Charles land in southern Virginia extending southward into Spanish Florida. This great territory was named Carolina.
[Sidenote: Northern Carolina.]
[Sidenote: Southern Carolina.]
74. The Carolina Colonists.--In 1663, when the Carolina charter was granted, there were a few settlers living in the northern part of the colony. Other colonists came from outside mainly from the Barbadoes and settled on the Cape Fear River. In this way was formed a colony in northern Carolina. But the most important settlement was in the southern part of the province at Charleston. Southern Carolina at once became prosperous. This was due to the fact that the soil and climate of that region were well suited to the cultivation of rice. The rice swamps brought riches to the planters, they also compelled the employment of large numbers of negro slaves. Before long, indeed, there were more negroes than whites in southern Carolina. In this way there grew up two distinct centers of colonial life in the province.
[Illustration: Southern Carolina.]
[Sidenote: Indian war.]
[Sidenote: Bacon's Rebellion, 1676.]
75. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676.--By this time the Virginians had become very discontented. There had been no election to the colonial assembly since 1660 and Governor Berkeley was very tyrannical. The Virginians also wanted more churches and more schools. To add to these causes of discontent the Indians now attacked the settlers, and Berkeley seemed to take very little interest in protecting the Virginians. Led by Nathaniel Bacon the colonists marched to Jamestown and demanded authority to go against the Indians. Berkeley gave Bacon a commission.
But, as soon as Bacon left Jamestown on his expedition, Berkeley declared that he was a rebel. Bacon returned, and Berkeley fled. Bacon marched against the Indians again, and Berkeley came back, and so the rebellion went on until Bacon died. Berkeley then captured the other leaders one after another and hanged them. But when he returned to England, Charles II turned his back to him, saying, "The old fool has killed more men in Virginia
than I for the murder of my father."
[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH NATHANIEL BACON DIED. From an original sketch.]
[Sidenote: Greedy Governors.]
[Sidenote: Founding of William and Mary College, 1691.]
76. Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion.--The Virginians were now handed over to a set of greedy governors. Some of them came to America to make their fortunes. But some of them were governors whom the people of other colonies would not have. The only event of importance in the history of the colony during the next twenty-five years was the founding of William and Mary College (1691) at Williamsburg. It was the second oldest college in the English colonies.
[Illustration: THE OPENING LINES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CHARTER SHOWING ORNAMENTAL BORDER AND PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II.]
[Sidenote: King Philip's War, 1675-76. Higginson, 137-138; Eggleston, 81-89.]
77. King Philip's War, 1675-76.--It was not only in Virginia and Maryland that the Indians were restless at this time. In New England also they attacked the whites. They were led by Massasoit's son, King Philip, an able and far-seeing man. He saw with dismay how rapidly the whites were driving the Indians away from their hunting-grounds. The Indians burned the English villages on the frontier and killed hundreds of the settlers. The strongest chief to join Philip was Canonchet of the Narragansetts. The colonial soldiers stormed his fort and killed a thousand Indian warriors. Before long King Philip himself was killed, and the war slowly came to an end.
[Sidenote: William Penn.]
[Sidenote: The Pennsylvania Charter, 1681.]
78. William Penn.--Among the greatest Englishmen of that time was William Penn. He was a Quaker and was also a friend of Charles II and James, Duke of York. He wished to found a colony in which he and the Quakers could work out their ideas in religious and civil matters. It chanced that Charles owed Penn a large sum of money. As Charles seldom had any money, he was very glad to give Penn instead a large tract of land in America. In this way Penn obtained Pennsylvania. James, for his part, gave him Delaware.
[Sidenote: Settlement of Pennsylvania, 1682. Higginson, 101-105; Eggleston, 57-60; Source-Book, 67-69.]
79. Founding of Pennsylvania, 1682.--William Penn had a great reputation for honesty and fair dealing among the English Quakers and among the Quakers on the continent of Europe as well. As soon as it was known that he was to found a colony, great numbers of persons came to Pennsylvania from England and from Germany. In a very short time the colony became strong and prosperous. In the first place, the soil of Pennsylvania was rich and productive while its climate was well suited to the growth of grain. In the second place, Penn was very liberal to his colonists. He gave them a large share in the government of the province and he allowed no religious persecution. He also insisted on fair and honest dealing with the Indians.
[Sidenote: Mason and Dixon's line.]
[Sidenote: Its importance in history.]
80. Mason and Dixon's Line.--In the seventeenth century the geography of America was very little understood in Europe--and the persons who drew up colonial charters understood it least of all.
Charter lines frequently overlapped and were often very indistinct. This was particularly true of the Maryland and Pennsylvania boundaries. Penn and Baltimore tried to come to an agreement; but they never could agree.
Years afterward, when they were both dead, their heirs agreed to have a line drawn without much regard to the charters. This line was finally surveyed by two English engineers, Mason and Dixon, and is always called after their names. It is the present boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. In colonial days it separated the colonies where slavery was the rule from those where labor was generally free. In the first half of the nineteenth century it separated the free states from the slave states. Mason and Dixon's line, therefore, has been a famous line in the history of the United States.
CHAPTER 9
COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1688-1760
[Sidenote: New policy of the Stuarts.]
[Sidenote: Reasons for the new policy.]
81. The Stuart Tyranny.--Instead of admiring the growth of the colonies in strength and in liberty, Charles and James saw it with dismay. The colonies were becoming too strong and too free. They determined to reduce all the colonies to royal provinces, like Virginia--with the exception of Pennsylvania which belonged to their friend, William Penn. There was a good deal to be said in favor of this plan, for the colonists were so jealous of each other that they would not unite against the French or the Indians. If the governments were all in the hands of the king, the whole strength of the British colonies could be used against any enemy of England.
[Sidenote: End of the Massachusetts Company, 1684.]
[Sidenote: Governor Andros of New England, 1688.]
82. The Stuart Tyranny in New England.--The Massachusetts charter was now taken away, and Sir Edmund Andros was sent over to govern the colony. He was ordered to make laws and to tax the people without asking their consent. He did as he was ordered to do. He set up the Church of England. He taxed the people. He even took their lands from them, on the ground that the grants from the old Massachusetts government were of no value. When one man pointed to the magistrates' signatures to his grant, Andros told him that their names were worth no more than a scratch with a bear's paw. He also enforced the navigation laws and took possession of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Plymouth. At the same time he was also governor of New Hampshire and of New York.
[Illustration: A PROCLAMATION OF 1690 FORBIDDING THE PRINTING OF NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
[Sidenote: Flight of James II.]
[Sidenote: Rebellion against Andros, 1689.]
83. The "Glorious Revolution" in America, 1689.--By this time Charles was dead, and James was King of England. The English people did not like James any better than the New Englanders liked Andros. In 1688 they rebelled and made William of Orange and his wife Mary, James's eldest daughter, King and Queen of England. On their part, the Massachusetts colonists seized Andros and his followers and shut them up in prison (April 18, 1689). The people of Connecticut and Rhode Island turned out Andros's agents and set up their old governments. In New York also Andros's deputy governor was expelled, and the people took control of affairs until the king and queen should send out a governor.
Indeed, all the colonies, except Maryland, declared for William and Mary.
[Sidenote: Policy of William and Mary.]
[Sidenote: The Massachusetts Province charter, 1691.]
84. The New Arrangements.--For a year or two William was very busy in Ireland and on the continent. At length he had time to attend to colonial affairs. He appointed royal governors for both Pennsylvania and Maryland. William Penn soon had his colony given back to him; but the Baltimores had to wait many years before they recovered Maryland. In New York there was a dreadful tragedy. For the new governor, Slaughter, was persuaded to order the execution of the leaders in the rising against Andros. Massachusetts did not get her old charter back, but she got another charter. This provided that the king should appoint the governor, but the people should elect a House of Representatives. The most important result of this new arrangement was a series of disputes between the king's governor and the people's representatives. Maine and New Plymouth were included in Massachusetts under the new charter. But New Hampshire remained a royal province.
[Sidenote: Prosperity of the colonies, 1700-60.]
85. The Colonies, 1700-60.--During these years immigrants thronged to America, and the colonies became constantly stronger. Commerce everywhere developed, and many manufactures were established.
Throughout the colonies the people everywhere gained power, and had it not been for the French and Indian wars they would have been happy.
Aside from these wars the most important events of these years were the overthrow of the Carolina proprietors and the founding of Georgia.
[Illustration: Carolina Rice Fields.]
[Sidenote: Bad government of the
Carolina proprietors.]
[Sidenote: Rebellion in Carolina, 1719.]
[Sidenote: North and South Carolina.]
86. North and South Carolina.--The Carolina proprietors and their colonists had never got on well together. They now got on worse than ever. The greater part of the colonists were not members of the Established Church; but the proprietors tried to take away the right to vote from all persons who were not of that faith. They also interfered in elections, and tried to prevent the formation of a true representative assembly. They could not protect the people against the pirates who blockaded Charleston for weeks at a time. In 1719 the people of Charleston rebelled. The king then interfered, and appointed a royal governor. Later he bought out the rights of the proprietors. In this way Carolina became a royal province. It was soon divided into two provinces, North Carolina and South Carolina. But there had always been two separate colonies in Carolina (p. 52).
[Sidenote: General Oglethorpe.]
[Sidenote: Grant of Georgia, 1732.]
87. Founding of Georgia, 1732.--In those days it was the custom in England to send persons who could not pay their debts to prison. Of course many of these poor debtors were really industrious persons whom misfortune or sickness had driven into debt. General Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament, looked into the prison management. He was greatly affected by the sad fate of these poor debtors, and determined to do something for them. With a number of charitable persons he obtained a part of South Carolina for a colony, and named it Georgia for George II, who gave the land. Parliament also gave money. For the government thought it very desirable to have a colony between the rich plantations of Carolina and the Spanish settlements in Florida.
[Sidenote: Settlement of Georgia, 1733. Higginson, 127-130; Eggleston, 62-65; Source-Book, 71-73.]
[Sidenote: Progress of the colony.]
88. Georgia, 1733-52.--Naturally Oglethorpe had no difficulty in getting colonists. For the poor debtors and other oppressed persons were very glad to have a new start in life. Savannah was founded in 1733. The Spaniards, however, were not at all glad to have an English colony planted so near Florida. They attacked the Georgians, and Oglethorpe spent years in fighting them. The Georgia colonists found it very difficult to compete with the Carolina planters. For the Carolinians had slaves to work for them, and the proprietors of Georgia would not let the Georgians own slaves. Finally they gave way and permitted the colonists to own slaves. But this so disheartened the Georgia proprietors that they gave up the enterprise and handed the colony over to the king. In this way Georgia became a royal province.
A Short History of the United States by Channing Page 5