A Short History of the United States Part 8

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 Ma.s.sachusetts.]

[Sidenote: Ma.s.sachusetts and the Quakers. _Higginson_, 80-81.]

67. Attacks on Ma.s.sachusetts.--The new government was especially displeased by the independent spirit shown by Ma.s.sachusetts. Only good Puritans could vote in that colony, and members of the Church of England could not even worship as they wished. The Ma.s.sachusetts people paid no heed whatever to the navigation laws and a.s.serted that acts of Parliament had no force in the colony. It chanced that at this time Ma.s.sachusetts 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 a.s.sert its power. It ordered the Ma.s.sachusetts rulers to send other Quakers to England for trial. But, when this order reached Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 Ma.s.sachusetts it was giving most liberal charters to Connecticut and to Rhode Island. Indeed, these charters were so liberal that they remained the const.i.tutions 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 princ.i.p.al 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 n.o.blemen 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sembly 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Ma.s.sasoit'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