The Colonization Of North America Part 17

THE CAROLINAS

The Carolina coast.--From the James River region to the Spanish settlements in Florida, stretched a vast territory, which, with the single exception of a settlement on the Chowan River, was unoccupied by white men when Charles II came to the throne. After Raleigh's ill-starred venture it had received little attention until 1629, when Sir Robert Heath obtained a patent to lands between 31 and 36 north lat.i.tude, but he did nothing to improve the territory. The coasts were occasionally visited by mariners, but there is no definite knowledge of any settlement until 1653, when colonists from Virginia appear to have started a settlement at Albemarle on the Chowan River. About 1660 some New Englanders inspected the Cape Fear River mouth but departed soon afterward.

The charters.--In 1660 Sir John Colleton, a prominent resident of Barbados, went to England where he became a member of the Council for Foreign Plantations. He soon interested Anthony Ashley Cooper, later known as Lord Ashley, in the Carolinas. In 1663 a charter was granted to eight proprietors, Cooper, Clarendon, Craven, Albemarle, Carteret, Lord Berkeley, Colleton, and Sir William Berkeley. The territory granted extended from the thirty-sixth to the thirty-first parallel and from sea to sea. Over this region the proprietors were given practically the same rights as Baltimore possessed in Maryland. In 1665 a second patent was granted to the proprietors, extending the boundaries to 36 30' on the north and to 29 on the south.

The fundamental const.i.tutions.--The philosopher, John Locke, drew up a const.i.tution for the province. It provided for a high official called the palatine, and minor officials designated as admiral, chamberlain, chancellor, constable chief justice, steward, and treasurer. The province was to be divided into counties, and each county into seigniories, baronies, and precincts. On these divisions were to be based the ranks of the n.o.bility to be designated as land-graves, caciques, and lords of manors. An elaborate system of courts was provided; also a grand council and a parliament. This archaic feudal doc.u.ment is of interest mainly as a study in the political philosophy of the time, but it was of little real importance as it was totally unsuited to the needs of a frontier community. It was never put in force except in certain minor particulars, the settlers themselves soon solving their problems of government in their own way.

Beginnings of settlement.--In 1663-1664 an expedition from Barbados examined the Carolina coast, and in 1665 Sir John Yeamans conducted a group of settlers to the mouth of Cape Fear River. Yeamans soon returned to Barbados and the settlers, left to their own devices, in 1667 abandoned the settlement, most of them going to Albemarle, Virginia, and Boston. In 1669 vessels carrying ninety-two colonists sailed from England to Barbados, where Sir John Yeamans, who had been appointed governor, joined them. They then proceeded to the Bermudas, where Yeamans handed over the authority to William Sayle and abandoned the expedition. The colonists under Sayle then went to Port Royal, but finally settled on the Ashley River, where they laid out old Charles Town (1670). Political strife soon developed, owing mainly to the incompetence of the aged executive. In 1671 he died and Joseph West was chosen governor by the people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Southern Colonies, 1607-1735. (From Johnston, _Pioneers of the Old South_, in the Series, "The Chronicles of America,"

Yale University Press).]

Plans of the proprietors.--In 1670 the proprietors obtained a grant of the Bahamas and planned to build up trade between the island and mainland settlements. They also planned to improve the Charles Town settlement and in 1671 secured settlers from Barbados. Yeamans came over and claimed the governors.h.i.+p, but West succeeded in keeping the office for several months. In 1672 Yeamans was again appointed governor, but he managed things so badly that in 1674 West was reappointed and remained governor for eight years.

Development of the Charles Town region.--Colonists came in considerable numbers; in 1672 there were about four hundred people in the colony, and by 1685 the population had increased to about twenty-five hundred. Among the immigrants were a hundred French Protestants, and a colony of Scots who settled at Port Royal in 1683. Other colonists came from Barbados and many from western England. In 1680 the seat of government was moved from old Charles Town to the junction of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.

After 1680 settlements began to expand into the back country. This soon brought on the inevitable Indian war, which continued intermittently for three years. In 1685 the Spaniards raided the settlements, burning many houses, and the following year destroyed the Scotch settlement at Port Royal.

Unrest at Charleston.--During West's administration the colony was not greatly disturbed by political difficulties, the proprietors making little attempt to enforce the Locke const.i.tution. The colony was governed by a popularly elected "parliament," which chose a council of five men. The chief executive was the governor commissioned by the proprietors. From 1682 to 1689 proprietary interference increased, bringing the colony to the verge of rebellion. The colonial parliament had steadily refused to confirm the const.i.tution. During 1682 it was revised by the proprietors, more power being placed in the hands of the people, but still the colonists refused to confirm it. This irritated the proprietors, who retaliated by introducing a new form of land tenure, which required the colonists to pay a cash quit-rent. When James II came to the throne, Governor Morton demanded that they swear allegiance to the king and accept the const.i.tution, whereupon twelve members of the parliament refused and were excluded. The colonists also took with ill grace the attempt to collect the customs. In 1688 the governor and council found themselves at complete loggerheads with parliament, and legislation stopped. James Colleton, the governor, proclaimed martial law. This led to an open rebellion, and in 1691 Colleton was expelled, but the proprietary power was soon restored.

The Albemarle colony.--During these troublous times the Albemarle settlement was slowly developing. The colony was mainly recruited from Virginia, but there was also a considerable influx of Quakers. In 1682 the Albemarle settlement contained about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. When an attempt was made in 1677 to collect the customs and to shut off the New England trade, about a hundred colonists led by John Culpeper rebelled and imprisoned Miller, who was the collector of customs and acting governor. They also arrested the president of the a.s.sembly and all but one of the deputies. The proprietors removed Miller from office and appointed Seth Soth.e.l.l governor, but the people soon drove him from the colony. The turbulence did not quiet down until the appointment of Governor Ludwell, who from 1691 resided at Charleston, Albemarle being governed henceforth by a deputy.

WESTERN TRADE AND EXPLORATION

By now English explorers and fur traders had crossed the Alleghanies. As early as 1648 Governor Berkeley was preparing an expedition to the southwest, where red capped Spaniards riding "long eared beasts," came to trade with the natives. Twenty-five years later (1673) two Virginians, James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, reached the Cherokees on the Upper Tennessee. To these mountain dwellers on the "western waters"

the Englishmen were a novel sight, but they had long been acquainted with the Spaniards and possessed "some sixty Spanish flintlocks," and among them lived Spanish mulatto women. Before the end of the century South Carolina traders had established the "Chickasaw Trail" through the Creek and Chickasaw country, and had crossed the Mississippi. In 1699-1700 Carolinians ascended the Savannah, descended the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas. Frontiersmen had gone northwest as well as southwest, and before the end of the century had begun to make their way among the Indians on both sides of the upper Ohio River.

HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

Continued search for the Northwest Pa.s.sage.--Some of the same men who represented the Carolinas now extended English enterprises to the region of Hudson Bay. The English search for the Northwest Pa.s.sage had not ended with the sixteenth century. Henry Hudson, who in 1609 had explored Hudson River in an attempt to find the pa.s.sage, made further attempts in the following year. Finding his way in the _Discovery_ through Hudson Strait, he wintered at the southern extremity of James Bay. He paid dearly for his discoveries, for he was cast adrift by mutinous followers and perished. In Hudson's wake went numerous explorers, backed by syndicates of merchants and sometimes with royal support, still seeking the pa.s.sage. In 1612 b.u.t.ton crossed Hudson Bay and entered the mouth of Nelson River. At the same time a company was formed to seek the pa.s.sage.

In 1616 Bylot and Baffin discovered Baffin Bay, and in 1631 Foxe made new discoveries in Fox Channel. Denmark also entered the field of northwestern discovery and in 1619-1620 Jens Munck explored Hudson Bay, wintering at Churchill Harbor.

Radisson, Groseilliers, and Gillam.--The primary purpose of the foregoing voyages had been to find a pa.s.sage to the Far East. They were followed, after an interval, by trading enterprises. The operations of the French fur traders. Radisson and Groseilliers, have been mentioned previously. Having been imprisoned and fined for illicit trading, they left Canada, went to New England, and got up an expedition to Hudson Bay to gather furs. Sailing in 1664 with Captain Zachariah Gillam, they reached Hudson Strait but not the bay. After another failure in 1665, they met Sir George Carteret whom they interested in their project.

Going to England, through Carteret's influence they organized a company among whose stockholders were the Duke of York, Prince Rupert, Carteret, the Duke of Albemarle, and the Earls of Craven, Arlington, and Shaftesbury, several of whom were already influential in colonial enterprises. In 1668 the company again sent Gillam to Hudson Bay, where he built Charles Fort on Rupert's River, and traded profitably in furs.

The part played by Radisson and Groseilliers in this enterprise became a basis for French claims to the Hudson Bay region.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Hudson's Bay Company Posts.]

Hudson's Bay Company.--The return of Gillam to London in 1669 was followed by the formation of a new Company. On May 2, 1670, Charles II issued a royal charter to "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay." The Company was made absolute proprietor with a complete monopoly of all trade of the Hudson Bay basin. The government was centered in a governor, deputy-governor, and committee of seven, who were empowered to make laws and were given judicial and military authority. They lost no time in establis.h.i.+ng posts, and by 1685 there were trading houses at Albany River, Hayes Island, Rupert's River, Port Nelson, Moose River, and New Severn.

Trading methods.--s.h.i.+ps were fitted out annually in London with merchandise, and brought back rich cargoes of furs. In contrast with the French traders and with the English of the Atlantic seaboard colonies, the Hudson's Bay Company did not penetrate the interior, but depended upon the natives to bring their peltry to the posts on the Bay. In the spring, therefore, after the break-up of the ice, Crees, Chipewyans, and Eskimos came down the rivers in fleets of canoes laden with furs, traded them for merchandise, and returned for another season's hunt. In London the furs were sold at auction at the Company's headquarters, where the annual fair took on the nature of a social function. Gradually the markets widened, agents being sent to establish trade with Holland, Russia, and other parts of Northern Europe. Profits were large, the dividend in 1690 being seventy-five per cent. of the original stock.

French Rivalry.--The success of the English aroused the jealousy of the French traders in the St. Lawrence Valley, and there ensued a rivalry which const.i.tuted one of the important episodes of the intercolonial wars which now occurred. In the contest Radisson, who had aided in the formation of the Company, played fast and loose between the English and the French. Before the end of the century French rivalry in the interior, beyond Lake Superior, did much to shake the "H.B.C." from its exclusive, seaboard policy. By 1691 Henry Kelsey, an employe of the Company, had made an expedition to the Winnipeg district.

READINGS

NEW YORK

Andrews, C.M., _Colonial Self-Government_, 74-100, 273-287; Andrews, C.M., ed., _Narratives of the Insurrections_, 315-401; Brodhead, J.R., _History of New York_, II; Channing, Edward, _History of the United States_, II, 31-60, 203-209; Doyle, J.A., _The Middle Colonies_, 78-223; Fiske, John, _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_, II, 1-98, 168-208; New York Historical Society, _Collections_, 1st Series, I, 307-428; Osgood, H.L., _The English Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_, II, 119-168; Winsor, Justin, _Narrative and Critical History_, III, 385-411.

THE JERSEYS AND PENNSYLVANIA

Andrews, C.M., _Colonial Self-Government_, 101-128, 162-201; Channing, Edward, _History of the United States_, II, 31-62, 94-130; Clarkson, Thomas, _Memoirs of Pennsylvania_; Doyle, J.A., _The Middle Colonies_, 287-350, 379-410; Fiske, John, _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_, II, 115-194; Fisher, Sidney, _The Quaker Colonies_; Hodgkin, Thomas, _George Fox_; Holder, C.F., _The Quakers in Great Britain and America_, 169-217; Janney, S.M., _Life of Penn_; Jones, R.M., _The Quakers in the American Colonies_, 357-371, 417-436; MacDonald, William, _Select Charters_, 139-149, 171-204; Osgood, H.L., _The English Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_, II, 169-197, 252-276; Sharpless, Isaac, _A Quaker Experiment in Government; Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History_, 17-77; Smith, Samuel, _The History of the Colony of Nova-Caesaria or New Jersey_, 35-207; Tanner, E.P., _The Province of New Jersey_, 1-147; Whitehead, W.A., _East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments_.

THE CAROLINAS

Andrews, C.M., _Colonial Self-Government_, 129-161; Andrews, C.M., ed., _Narratives of the Insurrections_, 143-164; Ashe, S.A., _North Carolina_, I; Channing, Edward, _History of the United States_, II, 13-25; Hamilton, P.J., _Colonization of the South_, 133-135; McCrady, Edward, _The History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government_, I, 1-209; Osgood, H.L., _The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_, II, 200-225; Ramsay, David, _South Carolina_.

HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

Burpee, Laurence J., _The Search for the Western Sea_, 64-95; Bryce, George, _The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company_, 1-55; Laut, Agnes, _The Conquest of the Great Northwest_, I, 1-255; Laut, Agnes, _The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay_; Willson, Beckles, _The Great Company_, 1-181; Winsor, J., _Narrative and Critical History_, VIII, 1-34.

WESTERN EXPLORATION

Alvord and Bidgood, _First Explorations of the Trans-Alleghany Region ... 1650-1674_; Crane, V.W., "The Tennessee River as the Road to Carolina," in _Miss. Valley Hist. Rev._, III, 3-18.

CHAPTER XII

THE ENGLISH MAINLAND COLONIES AT THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

At the close of the Stuart period the English mainland colonies stretched along the Atlantic coast from Pemaquid to Port Royal. The settlements nestled close to the coasts, in the tide-water region, or along the lower waters of the navigable streams. The total population probably did not exceed 225,000, one-half of whom were in Ma.s.sachusetts and Virginia. At the same period Barbados alone contained over 50,000 white settlers and more than 100,000 slaves.

NEW ENGLAND

Population.--New England contained some 80,000 white inhabitants. About 5,000 were in New Hamps.h.i.+re; Ma.s.sachusetts, including the Maine and Plymouth settlements, contained about 55,000; Rhode Island probably 5,000, and Connecticut about 17,000. By far the larger part were of English stock, although there were a few Huguenots, Scotch, Irish, and Jews. The settled area extended from the Pemaquid region along the coast in an almost unbroken line to the New York border. In Maine the settled region seldom extended more than ten miles back from the coast, and between Casco and Saco bays there were large unsettled tracts. In New Hamps.h.i.+re the frontier line ran back from the coast fifteen to thirty miles and eastern Ma.s.sachusetts was settled fifty miles inland. All of Rhode Island except some tracts in the southern part had been occupied.

Portions of northeastern and northwestern Connecticut were wilderness, but in the Connecticut Valley the settlers had begun to occupy the valley lands just to the north of the Ma.s.sachusetts line.

Agriculture.--The ma.s.s of the population was agricultural. The clearing of the land and the securing of a food supply were the natural pursuits of the new communities. The small farm was the prevailing type, as neither climate, crops, nor soil were suitable for the large plantation.

Corn, wheat, fruits, and vegetables were the princ.i.p.al agricultural products, and cattle, swine, sheep, and poultry were raised for domestic use.

Furs and fish.--The forests and the sea were the princ.i.p.al sources of New England prosperity. In the early part of the century the fur trade was an important factor, but by the end of the century it had considerably decreased. As it declined the fis.h.i.+ng business increased.

On the Newfoundland banks the boats of the New Englanders were the most numerous. The catch of cod and mackerel was dried and salted, and became a leading export.

Lumbering and s.h.i.+p-building.--The uncleared back country was a continual source of profit. Logging became a regular winter pursuit. From the felled timber were produced lumber, staves, s.h.i.+ngles, masts, and spars.

The fis.h.i.+ng business conducted close to a lumbering region led to s.h.i.+p-building, and almost every seacoast town engaged in the industry.

Most of the boats were small, swift-sailing craft, used in the fisheries or in the coasting and West Indian trade. So well-built were they that the New Englander found a ready market in the West Indies for vessel as well as cargo.

Commerce.--Fish, furs, and lumber were the princ.i.p.al products which the New Englanders produced for outside consumption. Most of the carrying business was conducted by Ma.s.sachusetts men, although Rhode Island also handled a considerable trade. The navigation laws were intended to keep commerce in the hands of English merchants, but in spite of them colonial vessels kept up a coast-wise trade, and s.h.i.+pped fish, lumber, and staves to the West Indies and Madeira. Return vessels brought wine, rum, mola.s.ses, sugar, cotton, and wool. The greater part of New England commerce was handled through Boston, although Salem and Newport were rivals. Newport traders carried on a large slave traffic from Guinea and Madagascar, but most of their cargoes were sold in the West Indies.

Manufactures.--In Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut manufacturing for the home market developed at an early date. Grist and saw-mills, tanneries, gla.s.s and pottery works, brick yards, and salt works were commonly found in the tide-water region, and at least two iron works were in operation in Ma.s.sachusetts before 1700. Every village had its cobbler and blacksmith, and the housewives did the spinning and weaving. Most of the people wore homespun, but finer fabrics were also in demand, and at an early date the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods on a more elaborate scale was undertaken in Ma.s.sachusetts.