The Greater Republic Part 4

Shortly afterward, Anne Hutchinson boldly preached the doctrine of Antinomianism, which declares that a man is not saved by the help of good works, but by divine grace alone. In other words, no matter how wickedly he lives, his salvation is wholly independent of it. She went to Rhode Island and afterward to New Netherland, where she was killed in one of the attacks of the Indians upon the Dutch settlements.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROGER WILLIAMS IN BANISHMENT.]

The Quakers greatly annoyed the New England colonists. They persisted in rising in the Puritan meetings and disputing with ministers. Many were fined, whipped, imprisoned, and banished, but in the face of warnings they returned. As a consequence, four were put to death. Then a reaction set in and the persecution ceased.

The most formidable war in which the early colonies of New England were involved was with King Philip, who was the son of Ma.s.sasoit, a firm friend of the settlers until his death. Philip was one of the great Indians of history. Like many of his people he saw with anger the growth of the white men, who in time would drive him and his warriors from their hunting grounds. Realizing the magnitude of the work of exterminating all the settlers, he visited the different tribes and used every effort to unite them in a war against the invaders. He was partly successful, and, with the allies secured, King Philip began the war by attacking a party of settlers at Swansea, on Sunday, June 24, 1675, while they were on their way to church. Several whites were killed, when the Indians hurried off to the Connecticut Valley to continue their dreadful work.

All understood their peril, and flew to arms. Every man carried his musket to church, and they were stacked outside the door, while a sentinel paced up and down. More than once the long sermon was interrupted by the crack of the red men's guns and their wild whoops, as they swarmed out of the woods. Springing down from the pulpit, the minister was among the foremost in beating the heathen back, and, when quiet was restored, probably he resumed and finished his sermon.

The war was prosecuted furiously on both sides. In the depth of winter, when the snow lay several feet on the ground, John Winslow led 1,500 men against the Narragansett stronghold, which was in the heart of a great swamp, and was one of the most powerful fortifications ever erected by the red men on this continent. In the terrible fight, 200 white men and nearly 1,000 Indians were killed. Finally, Philip was run down in a swamp near his old home on Mount Hope, not far from the present city of Bristol, Rhode Island. While stealing out of his hiding-place, he was confronted by a white soldier and a friendly Indian. The gun of the former missed fire, whereupon the Indian leveled his musket and shot the Wampanoag leader dead. The war ended a few months later. During its continuance, six hundred white men were killed and many more wounded; thirteen towns were destroyed and five hundred buildings burned, but the Indian power in southern New England was shattered forever.

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION.

One of the most fearful delusions recorded in history is that of the general belief in witchcraft which prevailed in Europe down to the seventeenth century. Its baleful shadow all too soon fell upon New England. Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut made laws against witchcraft and hanged a number of persons on the charge of being witches. In 1692 the town of Salem went crazy over the belief that the diabolical spirits were at work among them. Two little girls, who were simpletons that ought to have been spanked and put to bed, declared with bulging eyes that different persons had taken the form of a black cat and pinched, scratched, and bitten them. The people, including the great preacher Cotton Mather, believed this stuff, and the supposed wizards and witches were punished with fearful severity. Suspicion in many cases meant death; evil men disposed of their creditors and enemies by charging them with witchcraft; families were divided and the gentlest and most irreproachable of women suffered disgraceful death. Everybody, including ministers and judges, lost their wits. The magistrates crowded the jails, until twenty had been put to death and fifty-five tortured before the craze subsided. Then it became clear that no one, no matter what his station, was safe, and the delusion, which forms one of the blackest pages in New England, pa.s.sed away.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GALLUP'S RECAPTURE OF OLDHAM'S BOAT

Which had been taken by the Indians from the Puritan exiles in 1636.

"Steer straight for the vessel," cried Gallup, and stationing himself at the bow he opened fire on the Indians. Every time his gun flashed some one was. .h.i.t. This incident was the beginning of the Pequot War.]

SETTLEMENT OF MAINE AND NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE.

New Hamps.h.i.+re was the name of John Mason's share of a territory granted to him and Sir Fernando Gorges by the Council of Plymouth in 1622. This grant included all the land between the Merrimac and Kennebec Rivers.

The first settlement was made in 1623, at New and at Little Harbor, near Portsmouth. In 1629 the proprietors divided their grants, the country west of the Piscataqua being taken by Mason, who named it New Hamps.h.i.+re, while Gorges, who owned the eastern section, called it Maine.

The settlements were weak and their growth tardy. In 1641 New Hamps.h.i.+re placed itself under the protection of Ma.s.sachusetts, but the king separated them in 1679, and made New Hamps.h.i.+re a royal colony. In 1688 it again joined Ma.s.sachusetts, and three years later was set off once more by the king, after which it remained a royal colony until the Revolution.

THE CONNECTICUT COLONY.

The Connecticut colony included all of the present State of Connecticut, excepting a few towns.h.i.+ps on the sh.o.r.e of Long Island Sound. It came into the possession of the Earl of Warwick in 1630, and the following year he transferred it to Lords Say, Brooke, and others. The Dutch claimed the territory and erected a fort on the Connecticut River to keep out the English. The latter, however, paid no attention to them, and a number of Ma.s.sachusetts traders settled at Windsor in 1633.

Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut, was settled in 1635. A great many emigrants came from Ma.s.sachusetts in 1636, the princ.i.p.al leader being Thomas Hooker. They founded Weathersfield, Windsor, and Hartford, and in 1639 adopted the name of the Connecticut colony and drew up a written const.i.tution, the first ever framed by a body of men for their own government. Other settlements were made and Saybrook united with them.

The most eventful incident in the history of Connecticut was the war with the Pequot Indians, who were a powerful tribe in the eastern part of the State. They tried to persuade the Narragansetts to join them, but Roger Williams, who lived among them, persuaded Canonicus, their chief, to refuse. Then the Pequots committed the fatal mistake of going to war alone. The settlers, fully roused to their danger, a.s.sailed the Pequot stronghold with fury, one summer morning in 1637, and killed all their enemies, sparing neither women nor children. Thus a leading tribe of Indians were blotted out in one day.

THE NEW HAVEN COLONY.

The New Haven colony comprised the towns.h.i.+ps already referred to as lying on Long Island Sound. It was settled in 1638 by a company of English immigrants, who were sufficiently wise and just to buy the lands of the Indians. Other towns were settled, and in 1639 the group took the name of the New Haven colony. Neither of the colonies had a charter, and there was much rivalry in the efforts to absorb the towns as they were settled. The majority preferred to join the Connecticut colony, for the other, like Ma.s.sachusetts, would permit no one not a member of church to vote or hold office.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRIMITIVE MODE OF GRINDING CORN.]

THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT.

What is known in the history of England as the Commonwealth, established by Cromwell, came to an end in 1660. Charles II. ascended the throne, and Winthrop, governor of the Connecticut colony, which had now grown to be the stronger of the two, went to England to secure a charter. It was granted to him in 1662, and covered the territory occupied by both colonies, who were permitted to elect their a.s.sembly, their governor, and to rule themselves. New Haven, after deliberating over the question, reluctantly accepted the charter, and in 1665 the two were united under the name of the Colony of Connecticut.

Everything was going along smoothly, when, in 1687, Governor Andros came down with a company of soldiers from Boston and ordered the people to surrender their charter. He was acting under the orders of the king, who did not fancy the independence with which the colony was conducting matters. Andros confronted the a.s.sembly, which were called together in Hartford. They begged that he would not enforce his demands. He consented to listen to their arguments, though there was not the slightest probability of it producing any effect upon him.

THE CHARTER OAK.

The talk continued until dark, when the candles were lighted. Suddenly, at a signal, all were blown out. When they were re-lighted, the charter, which had been lying on the table in plain sight, was nowhere to be found. Captain Wadsworth had slipped out during the interval of darkness and hidden the paper in the hollow of an oak. Then he returned and took his place among the members, looking the most innocent of all. Andros fumed and raved and informed the a.s.sembly that their trick would avail them nothing, since their charter government was at an end. He went back to Boston, to be turned out of office two years later, when the precious charter was brought from its hiding-place.

No effort was spared to preserve the historical "Charter Oak," that had thus been made famous. It was supported and propped in every part that showed signs of weakness, and held up its head until 1856, when a terrific storm brought it to the ground, shattered to fragments, all of which were carefully gathered and preserved by those fortunate enough to obtain them.

The early division of the colonies was long marked by the fact that Hartford and New Haven served as the two capitals of the State until 1873, when Hartford became the sole capital.

SETTLEMENT OF RHODE ISLAND.

It has been stated that when Roger Williams was banished from Ma.s.sachusetts he took refuge among the Narragansett Indians, who occupied the country at the head of Narragansett Bay. Canonicus, the chief, held the good man in high esteem, and presented him with a large tract of land, which the devout Williams named "Providence" in remembrance of the manner in which he believed G.o.d had directed him thither. Settlers from Ma.s.sachusetts followed him, and all were hospitably received and kindly treated. The fullest religious liberty was allowed, and even when Anne Hutchinson visited Williams, he treated her like a sister. Williams obtained a charter in 1644 from the Parliament and it was confirmed in 1654. The new one granted by Charles II. in 1663 united all the colonies into one, under the name Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. This is still the legal name of the State, which retains its two capitals, Providence and Newport, the Legislature meeting alternately in each. The charter of Charles II.

suited the people so well that it remained in force until 1842, when Thomas Dorr headed a rebellion, as related hereafter, which resulted in the establishment of a new charter.

The existence of Rhode Island was threatened by the claim of Connecticut to all the land on the west to the sh.o.r.e of Narragansett Bay, while Plymouth insisted that the land on the east to the sh.o.r.e of the same bay belonged to her. Rhode Island stoutly resisted, and succeeded in 1741 and 1752 in fixing her boundaries as they are to-day, which make her the smallest State in the Union.

SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK.

It has been shown that Holland was more anxious to secure trade than territory. Soon after the discovery of the Hudson, by Captain Henry Hudson, the Dutch traders sent vessels to Manhattan Island, now const.i.tuting the city of New York, and began bartering with the Indians.

In 1621 Holland granted the territory from Delaware Bay to the Connecticut River to the Dutch West India Company. The name given to the territory was New Netherland, while the settlement, which grew in time into the metropolis of America, was called New Amsterdam. The whole island was bought from the Indians for sixty guilders, equal to about twenty-four dollars, a price which is considerably less than would be demanded to-day for the site of Greater New York.

New Netherland was governed successively by Peter Minuet, Walter Van Twiller, William Kieft, and Peter Stuyvesant, who were sent out by the Dutch West India Company, and whose rule extended from 1626 to 1664. Of these, Stuyvesant was by far the ablest, and he made a strong impression on the social and political life of New Netherland. He was severe and stubborn, however, and many of the Dutchmen found his rule so onerous that they were rather pleased than otherwise, when the English, in 1664, claimed the territory by right of discovery and sent out a fleet which compelled Stuyvesant to surrender the town. The doughty old governor stamped about New Amsterdam with his wooden leg, calling upon his countrymen to rally and drive back the rascals, but little or no heed was paid to his appeals.

Charles II. had granted the territory to his brother the Duke of York, who soon after ascended the throne, thus making the colony, which included that of New Jersey, a royal one. The Connecticut people had settled a large part of Rhode Island, which they claimed, but the duke was too powerful to be resisted, and Long Island became a part of New York, as the city and province were named.

In 1673, while at war with England, Holland sent a fleet which recaptured New York, but it was given back to England, upon the signing of a treaty in 1674. The manner in which New Netherland was settled by the Dutch was quite different from that of New England. Wealthy men, termed "patroons," were granted immense tracts of laud and brought over settlers, whose situation was much like that of the serfs of Russia.

Traces of the patroon system remained long after the Revolution, and, in 1846, caused the "Anti-Rent War," which resulted in the death of a number of people.

The province of New York suffered greatly from misrule. The people were not permitted to elect their own a.s.sembly until 1683, and two years later, when the Duke of York became king, he took away the privilege.

William and Mary, however, restored it in 1691, and it remained to the Revolution.

As a proof of the bad governors.h.i.+p of New York, it may be said that there is good reason to believe that one of its rulers was interested with the pirates who infested the coast, while another, who refused to sign the death-warrant of two persons who had committed no serious crime, was made drunk and then persuaded to sign the fatal paper. When he became sober, he was horrified to find that both had been executed.

WILLIAM KIDD, THE PIRATE.

The piracy alluded to became such a scandalous blight that strenuous measures were taken to crush it. In 1697 Captain William Kidd, a New York s.h.i.+pmaster and a brave and skillful navigator, was sent to a.s.sist in the work. After he had cruised for a while in distant waters, he turned pirate himself. He had the effrontery to return home three years later, believing his friends would protect him; but, though they would have been willing enough to do so, they dared not. He was arrested, tried in England, convicted, and hanged. Piracy was finally driven from the American waters in 1720.

In 1740 New York was thrown into a panic by the report that the negroes had formed a plot to burn the town. It is scarcely possible that any such plot existed, but before the scare had pa.s.sed away four whites and eighteen negroes were hanged, and, dreadful as it may sound, fourteen negroes were burned at the stake. In addition, nearly a hundred were driven out of the colony.

The fine harbor and n.o.ble river emptying into it gave New York such advantages that, by 1750, it had become one of the most important cities on the coast, though its population was less than that of Philadelphia. At the time named, its inhabitants numbered about 12,000, which was less than that of Philadelphia. The province itself contained 90,000 inhabitants. The chief towns were New York, Albany, and Kingston.

Brooklyn, which attained vast proportions within the following century, was merely a ferry station.

SETTLEMENT OF NEW JERSEY.

New Jersey, as has been stated, was originally a part of New Netherland.