Haven was taking root on the north shore of Long Island Sound. In 1638 a small band of Puritans under the leadership of John Davenport, a preacher, and Theophilus Eaton, a merchant, settled at Quinnipiac, afterward called New Haven. The New New Haven settlers met in a barn and drew up a covenant, pledging themselves to be guided by the precepts of the Scriptures, and for many years the colony was governed like Judea of old by the rules of the Mosaic law. In 1662 Charles II issued a charter which united New Haven to the Connecticut colony and thus ended the existence of the "Bible Commonwealth," as New Haven was called. Roger While Hooker was planting his colony in the Connecticut valley another offshoot of Massachusetts was springing up on the shores of Narragansett Bay. This new colony was Rhode Island. The founder of Rhode Island was Roger Williams, a brilliant minister who by the character of his preaching became williams a source of great annoyance to the authorities of Massachusetts. Williams contended that government should exercise no control in respect to religious matters. This doctrine brought upon the preacher's head the displeasure of the rulers of Massachusetts. He was ordered to depart from the colony. Fleeing from the wrath of the magistrates, he made his way to a spot where the city of Providence now stands. Here, having been joined by several persons, he "began to build and plant." In 1637 the householders of his settlement entered into the following compact: "We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit the town of Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in obedience to all such orders as shall be made for the public good by the major consent of the present inhabitants and others whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things." In this compact we see the great idea for which Williams stood, Separanamely, the separation of church matters from state matters. In Providence the government was to have authority only in "civil things"; in respect to religious affairs it was to have no power whatever. The colony founded by Williams attracted other religious exiles. In 1638, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a gifted and earnest tion of Church and State Rhode Provi tions Planta dence woman who had been banished from Massachusetts for defam hands and Newport. In 1644 the Narragansett settlements were united Island and ing the ministers and their methods, went with some followers to Rhode Island and founded the towns of Pocasset and own officers and making ilege of electing their granted them the privso much desired, and it ious freedom which they Rhode Island the religgave the colonists of charter. This instrument dence Plantations a new Rhode Island and Provi(1663) to the Colony of Later Charles II granted the English government. Williams secured from under a charter that New King Charles the First. Warrant to Execute King Charles the First. A.D. 1648. At the high sort of Justice for the tryings and judgings of Charles Whereas Charles Stewart King of England, is and standosh convicted attayuted and condemned of high Eosafon and other the good people tory, Gorges taking they divided their terriand Vermont. In 1629 Maine, New Hampshire ed in the three States of land that is now includ prietors of nearly all the two men were made pro nando Gorges. These Mason and Sir Ferdicharter held by John Dover in 1623, under a colony was made at first settlement of this New Hampshire. The of Massachusetts was Still another offshoot their own laws. Maine for his share and Mason taking New Hampshire. Both Maine and New Hampshire were settled largely by Puritans from Massachusetts, and both at times were claimed and held by her. Thus Puritanism spread itself over the whole of New England. While the expansion was taking place great events were happening abroad. In 1642 the storm that had been gathering in England (p. 24) for half a century broke, and there was war between the king and Parliament. The king was defeated and (in 1649) was beheaded. Then came the rule of Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament, which lasted until 1660, when Charles II was restored to the throne. The Growth of Inde New During the years of civil strife the English government, whether it was the king or the Parliament that was ruling, was so busy with affairs at home that it could give but little attention to what was going on in the colonies. As a result of this freedom from control there grew up in the colonies a spirit of independence and a disposition to manage colonial affairs pirit in without regard to the wishes of England. This independent England spirit was strongest in Massachusetts, where the rulers ceased to issue writs in the king's name, dropped the English oath of allegiance, and adopted a new oath in which public officers and the people swore allegiance, not to England, but to Massachusetts. Thus early was the authority of the mother-country flouted. EXERCISES AND REFERENCES 1. English claims to North America: Hart, I, 164-167. 2. The Virginia pioneers: Greene, 45-66. 3. New England pioneers: Greene, 87-1II. 4. France in the seventeenth century: Cheyney, 114-120. 5. The Founding of Quebec: Parkman, 88-95. 6. New Hampshire and Maine: Tyler, 266-281. 7. Rhode Island: Hart, I, 407-409. 8. The conquest of the Pequots: Hitchcock, 32-42. 9. Connecticut: Greene, 120-123. 10. Dates for the chronological table: 1607, 1620. 11. Prepare a summary of this chapter. 12. Hints for special reading: Justin Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac; Alexander Johnston, Connecticut; O. S. Straus, Roger Williams; S. G. Arnold, History of Rhode Island; James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England. Cavaliers Cromwell and the Virginians VI THE PLANTING OF THE COLONIES (Continued) A LOYAL PROVINCE Our story now takes us from the New England coast to the region where we left the Virginians pushing their settlements up into the lands watered by the rivers and creeks that flow into Chesapeake Bay. The Old Dominion-as the Virginian colony in time came to be called-grew very rapidly after the outbreak of war between Charles I and Parliament. Large numbers of the adherents of the king-generally known as Cavaliers-finding life in England extremely unpleasant, sought homes in Virginia, where the Royalist sentiment was strong. Among these Cavaliers were many of England's leading men: nobles, gentlemen, and clergy. In the year of the king's execution (1649) seven ship-loads of Cavaliers set sail for Virginia. When Oliver Cromwell, a plain English citizen, was chosen as the ruler to succeed Charles I (p. 41), the Cavalier element in Virginia was so strong for monarchy that the Assembly refused to recognize anybody but the son of a king (Charles II) as the "naturall sovereigne." But Cromwell was in fact the master. He sent a fleet to Virginia and demanded the surrender of Jamestown. The Virginians at first planned for resistance, but the governor, Sir William Berkeley, gave the government into the hands of the commissioners whom Cromwell had sent to take charge of the colony's affairs. In 1660 the rule of the Cromwellians came to an end, and Charles II was restored to the throne. The restoration was a pleasing event to the Virginians. Repenting of their submission to Cromwell, they desired that "their sorrows might expiate their crime and that their tears might wash away their guilt." Charles II appreciated this loyalty, yet his dealings with Virginia caused irritation and discontent. He appointed as gov Berkeley Rebellion ernor, Sir William Berkeley, the man who had been dislodged by Governor Cromwell. Berkeley was an, able man, but he was of a most tyrannical disposition and was inclined to give more attention to his private affairs than to his duties as governor. When in 1676 Virginia was attacked in the dead of night by the Indians, and about forty white persons were murdered, Berkeley, who was carrying on a profitable fur-trade with the redmen, allowed the outrage to go unpunished. This inactivity caused a revolt. Nathaniel Bacon, in defiance of the governor's wishes, gathered Bacon's a body of fighting men and inflicted upon the Indians the punishment they deserved. This brought on a conflict that ended in the burning of Jamestown and in the expulsion of Berkeley from the colony. Bacon was now master of Virginia, but he died just as he was at the height of his power. Berkeley returned to Virginia and wreaked upon the followers of Bacon a terrible vengeance. Twenty-three persons were put to death. "That old fool," said Charles II, "has taken away more lives. in that naked country than I did here for the death of my father." The king in disgust deprived Berkeley of his office. Another cause of discontent in Virginia was the Navigation The Laws. In 1651 Parliament had enacted that no European Navigagoods could be brought to England, or to her colonies except in English-built and English-manned vessels. The purpose of the act was to build up English shipping and at the same time cripple the shipping of Holland, the country which had recently pushed to the front and become the great rival of England in matters of trade. Most of England's carrying trade was done in Dutch vessels. In 1663 Parliament, wishing the English to carry their own goods in their own vessels, took still another step and virtually prohibited the colonies from receiving any commodities that were not laden and shipped in Great Britain. These laws bore heavily upon Virginia, for they compelled the tobacco-growers to deal only with English merchants, who fixed the price to be paid for tobacco and the price to be paid for goods brought into the colony. But despite unpopular governors and restrictive Navigation. Laws the Old Dominion prospered and became more and more tion Laws |