Newfoundland along the coast of North America, he arrived in the great bay of Virginia, up which he sailed to its uppermost parts, and found this fine country which he named Maryland after his queen. Returning to England he obtained a charter of the northerly parts of America, inexclusively, although the Hollanders had discovered and began to settle New Netherland. With this he came back to America and took possession of his Maryland, where present his son, as governor, resides. at Since the time of Queen Elizabeth, settlers have preferred the lowest parts of the great bay and the large rivers which empty into it, either on account of proximity to the sea, and the convenience of the streams, or because the uppermost country smacked somewhat of the one from whom it derived its name and of its government. . . . a site for a kers was a wine-racker by trade; Sluyter later bishop and director of became a Labadist settlement in New York. For the authors, see Contemporaries, I, Nos. 58,146, 172.Maryland was the first of the proprietary colo nies, given to an individual as a kind of great estate. temporaries, I, ch. xi. -See Con Baltimore was not the coverer. Maria Anna of Charles I. As to the present government of Maryland, it remains firm upon the old footing, and is confined within the limits before mentioned. All of Maryland that we have seen, is high land, with few or no meadows, but possessing such a rich and fertile soil, as persons living there assured me, that they had raised tobacco off the same piece of land for thirty consecutive years. The inhabitants who are generally first disEnglish, are mostly engaged in this production. It is their chief staple, and the means with which they must purchase was consort every thing they require, which is brought to them from other English possessions in Europe, Africa and America. There is, nevertheless, sometimes a great want of these necessaries, owing to the tobacco market being low, or the shipments being prevented by some change of affairs in some quarter, particularly in Europe, or to both causes, as was the case at this time, when a great scarcity of such articles existed there, as we saw. So large a quantity of tobacco is raised in Maryland and Virginia, that it is one of the greatest sources of revenue to the crown by reason of the taxes which it yields. Servants and negroes are employed in the culture E = The "great bay": Chesapeake. This practice ultimately exhausted Maryland was what the soil of and Virginia. See below, No. 43, and ries, I, Nos. 83, 88. Indented servants: the name comes from the practice of tearing the contract into two halves, with jagged edges; the master kept one and the servant the other. of tobacco, who are brought from other places to be sold to the highest bidders, the servants for a term of years only, but the negroes forever, and may be sold by their masters to other planters as many times as their masters choose, that is, the servants until their term is fulfilled, and the negroes for life. These men, one with another, each make, when they are able to work, from 2,500 pounds to 3,000 pounds, and even 3,500 pounds of tobacco a year, and some of the masters and their wives who pass their lives here in wretchedness, do the same. The servants and negroes after they have worn themselves down the whole day, and gone home to rest, have yet to grind and pound the grain, which is generally maize, for their masters and all their families as well as themselves, and all the negroes, to eat. Tobacco is Nos. 35, 124, the only production in which the planters employ themselves, as if there were nothing else in the world to plant but that, and while the land is capable of yielding all the productions that can be raised anywhere, so far as the climate of the place allows. As to articles of food, the only bread they have is that made of Turkish wheat or maize, and that is miserable. .. For slavery, see below, and 'chs. xv, xvii. Indian corn. Later the Church of England was established, the province divided into The lives of the planters in Maryland and Virginia are very godless and profane. They listen neither to God nor his commandments, and have neither church nor cloister. Sometimes there is some one who is called a minister, who does not as elsewhere, serve in one place, for in all Virginia and Maryland there is not a city or a village - but travels for profit, and for that purpose visits the plantations through parishes, and the country, and there addresses the people; but I know of no public assemblages being held in these places; you hear often that these ministers are worse than anybody else, yea, are an abomination. . . . each voter assessed for the support of a minister. An act tolerating all Christians was passed It remains to be mentioned that those persons who profess the Roman Catholic religion, have great, indeed, all freedom in Maryland, because the governor makes profession cause of its passage is still a moot point. For the text, see Contempora of that faith, and consequently there are priests and other in 1649. The Jaspar Dankers and Peter Sluyter, Journal of a Voyage to New ries, I, No. 84. 19. Foundation of Government in Con- This is an T necticut (1638) 'EXT: Deut. i.: 13. "Take you wise men, understanding, and known among your tribes, I will make them rulers over you." Captains thousands, and captains over hundreds tens, &c. abstract of a sermon by REVEREND THOMAS HOOKER (1586-1647), made by HENRY and and over over fifties over WOLCOTT, JR., one of the original settlers of Windsor. Doctrine. I. That the choice of public magistrates be- Hooker was longs unto the people, by God's own allowance. II. The privilege of election, which belongs to the people, therefore must not be exercised according to their humours, but according to the blessed will and law of God. III. They who have power to appoint officers and istrates, it is in their power, also, to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place unto which they call them. mag Reasons. 1. Because the foundation of authority is laid, firstly, in the free consent of the people. leader of the party which came from Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1636, to found Connecticut. The sermon probably inspired the adoption of the Fundamental Constitutions, described in Contempora 2. Because, by a free choice, the hearts of the people ries, I, 415. will be more inclined to the love of the persons [chosen] and more ready to yield [obedience]. It is an excellent example of the Puritan Hooker's doctrine probably came from John Calvin. See Contemporaries, I, Nos. 93, 94. § III is a statement of the power to make a constitution. 3. Because, of that duty and engagement of the people. Uses. The lesson taught is threefold: Ist. There is matter of thankful acknowledgment, in the [appreciation] of God's faithfulness toward us, and the permission of these measures that God doth command and vouchsafe. 2dly. Of reproof to dash the conceits of all those that shall oppose it. 3dly. Of exhortation—to persuade us, as God hath given us liberty, to take it. And lastly as God hath spared our lives, and given us them in liberty, so to seek the guidance of God, and to choose in God and for God. Connecticut Historical Society, Collections (Hartford, 1860), I, 20-21. By SECRETARY NATHANIEL MORTON (1613-1685), who was brought up in the family of Bradford, becoming later secretary of the court of Plymouth. His New England's Memorial, 20. Foundation of Rhode Island (1636) IN N the year 1634. Mr. Roger Williams removed from Plimouth to Salem: he had lived about three years at Plimouth, where he was well accepted as an assistant in the Ministry to Mr. Ralph Smith, then Pastor of the Church there, but by degrees venting of divers of his own singular opinions, and seeking to impose them upon others, he not finding such a concurrence as he expected, he desired his dismission to the Church of Salem, which though some were unwilling to, yet through the prudent counsel of Mr. Brewster (the ruling Elder there) fearing that his continuance amongst them might cause divisions, and [thinking that] there being then many able men in the Bay, they would better deal with him then [than] themselves could . . . the Church of Plimouth consented to his dismission, and such as did adhere to him were also dismissed, and removed with him, early history or not long after him to Salem. . . but he having in one published at the request of sioners of the the commis four united tant author- - For the of Rhode Island, see Old South Leaflets, No. 54; Contemporaries, I, For Williams, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xvii. No. 115. years time, filled that place with principles of rigid separa- of Plymouth. tion, and tending to Anabaptistry, the prudent Magistrates settlement of the Massachusets Jurisdiction, sent to the Church of Salem, desiring them to forbear calling him to office, which they not hearkening to, was a cause of much disturbance; for Mr. Williams had begun, and then being in office, he proceeded more vigorously to vent many dangerous opinions, as amongst many others these were some; That it is not lawful for an unregenerate man to pray, nor to take an Oath, and in special, not the Oath of Fidelity to the Civil Government; nor was it lawful for a godly man to have communion either in Family Prayer, or in an Oath with such as they judged unregenerate: and therefore he himself refused the Oath of Fidelity, and taught others so to do: also, That it was not lawful so much as to hear the godly Ministers of England, when any occasionally went thither; & therefore he admonished any Church-members that had done so, as for hainous sin: also he spake dangerous words against the Patent, which was the foundation of the Government of the Massachusets Colony: also he affirmed, That the Magistrates had nothing to do in matters of the first Table [of the commandments], but only the second; and that there should be a general and unlimited Toleration of all Religions, and for any man to be punished for any matters of his Conscience, was persecution. . . . he not Williams only persisted, but grew more violent in his way, insomuch as he staying at home in his own house, sent a Letter, which was delivered and read in the publick Church assembly, the scope of which was to give them notice, That if the Church of Salem would not separate not only from the Churches of Old-England, but the Churches of New-England too, he would separate from them: the more prudent and sober part of the Church being amazed at his way, could not yield unto him: whereupon he never came to the Church Assembly more, professing separation from them as was not banished so much for his religious opinions as for the fact disturber that he was a of the peace. |