The Beginner's American History Part 7

[Footnote 16: Boston, England; see map in paragraph 62.]

[Footnote 17: Ma.s.sachusetts Bay; see map in paragraph 84.]

[Footnote 18: Colony: here a company of settlers who came to America from England, and who were subject to the king of England, as all the English settlers of America were until the Revolution.]

74. How other New England colonies grew up; the Revolution.--By the time Governor Winthrop arrived, English settlements had been made in Maine, New Hampshire, and later (1724), in the country which afterward became the state of Vermont. Connecticut and Rhode Island were first settled by emigrants who went from Ma.s.sachusetts.

When the Revolution broke out, the people throughout New England took up arms in defence of their rights. The first blood of the war was shed on the soil of Ma.s.sachusetts, near Boston.

75. Summary.--The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, New England, in 1620.

One of the chief men who came with them was Captain Myles Standish.

Had it not been for his help, the Indians might have destroyed the settlement. In 1630, Governor John Winthrop, with a large company of emigrants from England, settled Boston. Near Boston the first battle of the Revolution was fought.

Why did some Englishmen in Holland call themselves Pilgrims? Why had they left England? Why did they now wish to go to America? Who was Myles Standish? From what place in England, and in what ship, did the Pilgrims sail? What land did they first see in America? What did they do at Cape Cod Harbor? What did the Pilgrims do on the Cape?

Where did they land on December 21st, 1620? What happened during the winter? What is said of Samoset? What about Squanto? What about Ma.s.sasoit? What did Ma.s.sasoit and Governor Carver do? What about the first Thanksgiving? What is said about Canonicus and Governor Bradford? What did the Pilgrims build to protect them from the Indians? What is said about Weymouth? What did Myles Standish do there? What else did Myles Standish do besides fight? What is said of his death? What did Governor John Winthrop do? What did the people of New England do in the Revolution? Where was the first blood shed?

LORD BALTIMORE (1580-1632).

76. Lord Baltimore's settlement in Newfoundland; how Catholics were then treated in England.--While Captain Myles Standish was helping build up Plymouth, Lord Baltimore, an English n.o.bleman, was trying to make a settlement on the cold, foggy island of Newfoundland.

Lord Baltimore had been brought up a Protestant, but had become a Catholic. At that time, Catholics were treated very cruelly in England. They were ordered by law to attend the Church of England.

They did not like that church any better than the Pilgrims did; but if they failed to attend it, they had to take their choice between paying a large sum of money or going to prison.

Lord Baltimore hoped to make a home for himself and for other English Catholics in the wilderness of Newfoundland, where there would be no one to trouble them. But the unfortunate settlers were fairly frozen out. They had winter a good share of the year, and fog all of it. They could raise nothing, because, as one man said, the soil was either rock or swamp: the rock was as hard as iron; the swamp was so deep that you could not touch bottom with a ten-foot pole.

77. The king of England gives Lord Baltimore part of Virginia, and names it Maryland; what Lord Baltimore paid for it.--King Charles the First of England was a good friend to Lord Baltimore; and when the settlement in Newfoundland was given up, he made him a present of an immense three-cornered piece of land in America. This piece was cut out of Virginia, north of the Potomac[1] River.

The king's wife, who was called Queen Mary, was a French Catholic.

In her honor, Charles named the country he had given Lord Baltimore, Mary Land, or Maryland. He could not have chosen a better name, because Maryland was to be a shelter for many English people who believed in the same religion that the queen did.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO INDIAN ARROWS.]

All that Lord Baltimore was to pay for Maryland, with its twelve thousand square miles of land and water, was two Indian arrows. These he agreed to send every spring to the royal palace of Windsor[2]

Castle, near London.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PART OF WINDSOR CASTLE.]

The arrows would be worth nothing whatever to the king; but they were sent as a kind of yearly rent. They showed that, though Lord Baltimore had the use of Maryland, and could do pretty much as he pleased with it, still the king did not give up all control of it. In Virginia and in New England the king had granted all land to companies of persons, and he had been particular to tell them just what they must or must not do; but he gave Maryland to one man only. More than this, he promised to let Lord Baltimore have his own way in everything, so long as he made no laws in Maryland which should be contrary to the laws of England. So Lord Baltimore had greater privileges than any other holder of land in America at that time.

[Footnote 1: Potomac (Po-to'mak): see map, paragraph 140.]

[Footnote 2: Windsor (Win'zor).]

78. Lord Baltimore dies; his son sends emigrants to Maryland; the landing; the Indians; St. Mary's.--Lord Baltimore died before he could get ready to come to America. His eldest son then became Lord Baltimore. He sent over a number of emigrants; part of them were Catholics, and part were Protestants: all of them were to have equal rights in Maryland. In the spring of 1634, these people landed on a little island near the mouth of the Potomac River. There they cut down a tree, and made a large cross of it; then, kneeling round that cross, they all joined in prayer to G.o.d for their safe journey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LANDING IN MARYLAND.]

A little later, they landed on the sh.o.r.e of the river. There they met Indians. Under a huge mulberry-tree they bargained with the Indians for a place to build a town, and paid for the land in hatchets, knives, and beads.

The Indians were greatly astonished at the size of the ship in which the white men came. They thought that it was made like their canoes, out of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, and they wondered where the English could have found a tree big enough to make it.

The emigrants named their settlement St. Mary's, because they had landed on a day kept sacred to the Virgin Mary.[3] The Indians gave up one of their largest wigwams to Father White, one of the priests who had come over, and he made a church of it. It was the first English Catholic Church which was opened in America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of Maryland and Virginia.]

The Indians and the settlers lived and worked together side by side.

The red men showed the emigrants how to hunt in the forest, and the Indian women taught the white women how to make hominy, and to bake johnny-cake before the open fire.

[Footnote 3: March 25th: Annunciation or Lady Day.]

79. Maryland the home of religious liberty.--Maryland was different from the other English colonies in America, because there, and there only, every Christian, whether Catholic or Protestant, had the right to worship G.o.d in his own way. In that humble little village of St.

Mary's, made up of thirty or forty log huts and wigwams in the woods, "religious liberty had its only home in the wide world."

But more than this, Lord Baltimore generously invited people who had been driven out of the other settlements on account of their religion to come and live in Maryland. He gave a hearty welcome to all, whether they thought as he did or not. Thus he showed that he was a n.o.ble man by nature as well as a n.o.bleman by name.

80. Maryland falls into trouble; the city of Baltimore built.--But this happy state of things did not last long. Some of the people of Virginia were very angry because the king had given Lord Baltimore part of what they thought was their land. They quarrelled with the new settlers and made them a great deal of trouble.

Then worse things happened. Men went to Maryland and undertook to drive out the Catholics. In some cases they acted in a very shameful manner toward Lord Baltimore and his friends; among other things, they put Father White in irons and sent him back to England as a prisoner. Lord Baltimore had spent a great deal of money in building up the settlement, but his right to the land was taken away from him for a time, and all who dared to defend him were badly treated.

St. Mary's never grew to be much of a place, but not quite a hundred years after the English landed there a new and beautiful city was begun (1729) in Maryland. It was named Baltimore, in honor of that Lord Baltimore who sent out the first emigrants. When the Revolutionary War broke out, the citizens of Baltimore showed that they were not a bit behind the other colonies of America in their spirit of independence.

81. Summary.--King Charles the First of England gave Lord Baltimore, an English Catholic, a part of Virginia and named it Maryland, in honor of his wife, Queen Mary. A company of emigrants came out to Maryland in 1634. It was the first settlement in America in which all Christian people had entire liberty to worship G.o.d in whatever way they thought right. That liberty they owed to Lord Baltimore.

Who was Lord Baltimore, and what did he try to do in Newfoundland?

How were Catholics then treated in England? What did the king of England give Lord Baltimore in America? What did the king name the country? What was Lord Baltimore to pay for Maryland? What did the king promise Lord Baltimore? What did Lord Baltimore's son do? When and where did the emigrants land? What did they call the place? What is said about the Indians? Of what was Maryland the home? Why did some of the people of Virginia trouble them? What is said of the city of Baltimore? What is said of the Revolution?

ROGER WILLIAMS (1600-1684).

82. Roger Williams comes to Boston; he preaches in Salem and in Plymouth; his friendship for the Indians.--Shortly after Governor John Winthrop and his company settled Boston,[1] a young minister named Roger Williams came over from England to join them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHURCH IN WHICH ROGER WILLIAMS PREACHED IN SALEM.

IT IS STILL STANDING.]