SECTION 11. Settlement of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, and North and South Carolina. 1. IN 1636, Roger Williams was banished from Salem; and, accompanied by many of his hearers, the exile went south, purchased a tract of land of the natives, to which he gave he name of Providence; and a Mr. Coddington, with seventysix others, exiled from Boston, bought a fertile island on Narraganset Bay, that acquired the naine of Rhode Island. Mr. Coddington embraced the sentiments of the Quakers, or Friends; he received a charter from the British parliament, in which it was ordered, that " none were ever to be molested for any difference of opinion in religious matters:" yet, the very first assembly convened under this authority, excluded Roman Catholics from voting at elections, and from every office in the government! 2. To similar causes the state of Connecticut is indebted for its origin. Mr. Hooker, a favorite minister of Massachusetts, with about one hundred families, after a fatiguing march, settled on the western side of the river Connecticut, and laid the foundation of Hartford, Springfield, and Weathers field. Their right to this territory was disputed by the Dutch, who had settled at the mouth of the Hudson, and by the lords Say-and-Seal and Brook. The Dutch were soon expelled; and the others uniting with the colony, all were incorporated by a royal charter. 3. New Hampshire was first settled in the spring of 1623, under the patronage of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Captain John Mason, and several others, who sent over David Thompson, a Scot, Edward and William Hilton, and a number of people, furnished with the requisite supplies. One company landed at a place called Little Harbor; the others settled at Dover. Mr. Wheelwright, a clergyman, banished from Massachusetts, founded Exeter in 1633. 4. Maine was not permanently settled until 1635. Gorges obtained a grant of this territory, which remained under its own government until 1652, when its soil and jurisdiction, as far as the middle of Casco Bay, was claimed by Massa chusetts. 5. The mutual hostility of the English and Indians commenced with the first settlement; but it was not until the year 1637, that a systematic warfare was begun. The Pe quods, who brought into the field more than a thousand war riors, were exterminated in a few months by the combined troops of Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the night, the Pequods were attacked, near the head of Mistic, by the Connecticut troops and Narraganset Indians, commanded by Captain Mason: in a few moments, five or six hundred lay gasping in their blood, or were silent in the arms of death. The darkness of the forest," observes a New England author, "the blaze of the dwellings, the ghastly looks of the dead, the groans of the dying the shrieks of the women and children, and the yells of the friendly savages, presented a scene of sublimity and terror indescribably dreadful." 6. In 1643, an alliance for mutual defense was formed between the New England colonies, excepting Rhode Island, which Massachusetts was unwilling to admit. This alliance continued until the charters were annulled by James the Second. 7. Up to 1638, twenty-one thousand British subjects had settled in New England; and the country had begun to extend the fisheries, and to export corn and lumber to the West Indies. In 1656, the persecution of the Quakers was at its height. A number of these inoffensive people having arrived in the Massachusetts colony, from England and Barbadoes, and given offense to the clergy of the established church by the novelty of their religion, were imprisoned, and by the first opportunity sent away, 8. A law was passed, which prohibited masters of ships from bringing Quakers into Massachusetts, and themselves from coming there, under a graduated penalty, rising, in case of a return from banishment to death. In consequence, several were hanged! These proceedings are still the more reprehensible and remarkable, when contrasted with a previous declaration of their government, which tendered “hospitality and succor to all christian strangers, flying from wars, famine, or the tyranny of persecution." The Anabaptists were also persecuted; many were disfranchised, and some were banished. 9. On the accession of James II., several of the New England colonies were deprived of their charters; but these, with various unimportant modifications, were restored after the revolution. Sir William Phipps, a native of Maine, who rose to wealth and power in a manner the most extraordinary, was the first governor of Massachusetts under the new charter. With a force of seven hundred men, he wrested from the French, L'Acadie, now called Nova Scotia. He afterwards made an unsuccessful attempt on Quebec, with the loss of one thousand men. 10. The new charter, whilst it curtailed the liberties, extended the territory of Massachusetts; to it were now annexed New Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia, with all the country between the latter and the river St. Lawrence; also Elizabeth Islands, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. The people, however, had just reason to complain that they no longer chose their governor, under whose control was the militia, and who levied taxes without their consent, and tried capital offenses. 11. About this time the pillars of society were shaken to the foundation, in and about Salem, by imaginary witchcraft. The delusion commenced in Salem village, now Danvers, in the family of Rev. Samuel Paris. Two young girls, one a daughter of Mr. Paris, aged 9, the other a niece, aged 11, were affected with singular nervous disorders, which, as they baffled the skill of the physician, were thought to proceed from an "evil hand." The children were believed by the neighbors to be bewitched, and the belief, sanctioned by the opinion of the physician, became general throughout the vicinity. 12. The more the girls were noticed and pitied, the more singular and extravagant was their conduct. Upon the advice of the neighboring ministers, two or three private fasts were first kept; afterwards a public one in the village and other congregations; and finally, the general court appointed a fast through the colony. This course gave the occurrences a solemn aspect, and probably contributed to the public credulity, till the supposed witchcraft had extended throughout a great part of the county of Essex. The infatuation prevailed from March to October, 1692, during which time twenty persons, men and women, were executed. It was then that suspicion roused from its lethargy; condemnation ceased; the accusers were silent; those under sentence were reprieved, and afterwards pardoned. 13. In the years 1627,38, '63, and '70, New England experienced violent earthquakes. In the year 1638, Harvard College, near Boston, the oldest seminary of learning in the United States, was founded. Four hundred pounds were voted to it by the general court; and this sum was nearly doubled by a bequest from Mr. John Harvard, a minister of Charlestown. This institution is now the most richly en dowed of all the American colleges. 14. Yale College, at New Haven, was founded in 1701, ten years after that of William and Mary, in Virginia; and Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, was founded in 1769. The first printing press established in the British colonies was in 1639, at Cambridge, superintended by Stephen Daye; but erected chiefly at the expense of Mr. Glover, an English clergyman, who died on his passage to America. 15. Maryland, the first colony that, from its beginning, was directly governed as a province of the British empire, was founded by Sir George Calvert, baron of Baltimore in Ireland, a Roman Catholic nobleman, born in England. He first went to Virginia; but meeting an unwelcome reception there, on account of his religion, he fixed his attention to the lands north of the Potomac, and obtained a grant of them from Charles I. This country was called Maryland, in honor of the queen, Henrietta Maria. 16. The religious toleration established by the charter, the first draft of which is said to have been written by Sir George himself, is honorable to his memory. The grant was given to his eldest son, Cecilius, who succeeded to his titles; but Leonard Calvert, brother to Cecilius, was the first governor, and made the first stand, at an island in the Potomac, which he named St. Clement's, in 1633. He made several purchases of the Indians, with whom he cultivated a constant friendship, as well on the Potomac as on both shores of the Chesapeake. 17. Never did any people enjoy more happiness than the inhabitants of Maryland. Whilst Virginia harassed all who dissented from the English church, and the northern colonies all who dissented from the puritans, the Roman Catholics of Maryland, a sect who in the old world never professed the doctrine of toleration, received and protected their brethren of every christian church, and its population was rapidly increased. 18. About the middle of the seventeenth century, some emigrants, chiefly from Virginia, began a settlement in the county of Albemarle; and soon afterwards, another establishment was commenced at Cape Fear, by adventurers from Massachusetts. These were held together by the laws of nature without any written code, for some time. But Charles II. compelled the colonists to become subservient to his rule, and granted to Lord Clarendon and others the tract of land which now composes North and South Carolina; perfect freedom in religion was granted in the charter. 19. The first settlement was placed under the command of Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, who assigned his authority to Mr. Drummond. In 1671, the proprietors extended their settlements to the banks of Ashley and Cooper rivers, where Charlestown now stands; and eventually this became the separate state of South Carolina. The culture of cotton commenced here in 1700, and that of indigo in 1748. QUESTIONS. What led to the first settlement of Rhode Island and Providence plantations ? Who laid the foundation of Hartford, Springfield, and Weathersfield? When and by whom was New Hampshire first settled? When did a systematic warfare commence between the English and Indians? What number of British subjects had settled in New England up to 1638 ? What instances of religious persecution took place in Massachusetts about the middle of the 17th century Where and what were the particulars of the Salem witchcraft? When was Harvard college founded? From whom did Maryland derive its name, and by whom was it first settled? SECTION IV. Settlement of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia. 1. NEW YORK was first settled by the Dutch, and was by them held for about half a century. It was however claimed by England as the first discoverer. Peter Stuyvesant, the third and last Dutch governor, began his administration in 1647, and was distinguished no less for his fidelity than his vigilance. In 1664 the colony surrendered to the English; and the whole territory now comprising New York, New Jersey, together with Pennsylvania, Delaware, and a part of Connecticut, was assigned by Charles II. to his brother the Duke of York. The Dutch inhabitants remained; Stuyvesant retained his estate, and died in the colony. The country was governed by the duke's officers until 1688; when representatives of the people were allowed a voice in the legislature. 2. In 1664, the Duke of York sold that part of his grant now called New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. It had previously been settled by Hollanders, Swedes, and Danes. The county of Bergen was the first inhabited; and very soon the towns of Elizabeth, Newark, Middletown, and Shrewsbury, were settled. The college, originally established at Newark, was, in 1748, finally fixed at Princeton: its chief benefactor was Governor Belcher. Among the governors of New Jersey was the celebrated Barclay, author of the Apology for the Quakers, of which sect a large number had established themselves there. 3. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, son of a distinguished admiral of the same name. From principle this excellent man joined the Quakers, then an obscure and persecuted sect. As one of the members, and a preacher, Penn was repeatedly imprisoned; but he pleaded his own cause with great boldness, and procured his own acquittal |