his grasp, he tried to perpetuate this policy by having it enacted in a statute. This celebrated act provided that no person "professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested or discountenanced, for or in respect of his or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof." This was a long stride towards religious liberty, although Jews and infidels were not included. The Puritan America In the settlement of Virginia rivalry with Spain, commercial gain, and the spirit of novelty and adventure were the dominant motives. The religious impulse was present, but it played a subordinate part. Mary- migration to land was founded in part as a place of refuge for Catholics, but the majority of the settlers seem to have come there for other reasons. New England, on the other hand, was born of the spiritual unrest of the seventeenth century, and religious motives dominated all others. The conditions that led to the great Puritan migration to America were the outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation. The separation of the English church from Rome took place in the reign of Henry VIII and the reform in doctrine began under Edward VI. Then followed the Catholic reaction under Mary, when hundreds of English Protestants sought refuge in Switzerland and in Germany. When Elizabeth came to the throne she undertook to reëstablish the national church on a basis broad enough to include all her subjects, and Parliament passed the acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. But this policy did not please everybody. On the one hand there remained a substantial body of English Catholics who clung steadfastly to their allegiance to the Pope, and on the other hand there were the returned refugees, imbued with the teachings of Calvin, who protested against the pomp and ritual of the Anglican church and set to work to purify it of all survivals of Romanism. This was the beginning of the Puritan party, which was soon further differentiated from other parties by austerity in morals and strict Sabbath observance. Although merely a party within the church many of the Puritans refused to observe the prescribed forms of worship and became known as Nonconformists. In course of time some of the more extreme withdrew and formed separate congregations, from which they were known as "Separatists," later Independents or Congregationalists. Before the close of Elizabeth's reign many of these people had been forced by persecution to flee from England and seek refuge in Holland. When James I came to the throne the Puritans hoped that his Presbyterian rearing would incline him to their side, but such hopes were short-lived. He declared in answer to their petitions: "I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse," a decision fraught with mighty consequences for the new world. In 1607 a little congregation of Separatists at Scrooby in eastern England resolved to go to Amsterdam, where a English Separatists seek refuge in Holland, 1607 London congregation had found refuge several years before. Within a year or two numbers of them had succeeded in making the move. But schism quickly breeds schism, and the two congregations soon found that they were not of the same way of thinking. As the result of doctrinal differences the Scrooby congregation moved to Leyden, where they were soon joined by exiles from other parts of England. In a few years this little group of Englishmen grew discouraged and hearing favorable reports from Virginia, turned their eyes toward America. Permission was obtained from the London Company under a land patent to settle in its territory. Sir Edwin Sandys, who befriended them, tried to persuade the king to grant them a charter recognizing their religious rights, but the most he could obtain was the promise that "he would connive at them and not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably." London merchants furnished £7000 for the enterprise under a joint stock arrangement, by which shares were to be paid for in money at £10 each or by personal service. Carver, Bradford, and Brewster were put in charge of the Pilgrims. John Robinson with the larger part of the Leyden congregation remained behind intending to follow The coming later. The emigrants left Delft Haven in the of the PilSpeedwell in July, 1620, and proceeded to South- grims, 1620 ampton, where the Mayflower, a larger vessel, was waiting to join them with a party of emigrants from England. When they put to sea again it was soon found that the Speedwell was too leaky to make the voyage, so they had to put back, and it was not until September 6 that the Mayflower finally started on her memorable voyage alone, with one hundred and two passengers. They intended to settle at some point south of the Hudson, but the weather was too bad for accurate observations and when they sighted land they were off Cape Cod. They started southward but were driven back by roaring breakers and sought shelter in the harbor now known as Provincetown. The site of Plymouth across the bay was finally selected as a suitable place for a settlement and here the Pilgrims landed December 20, 1620. Before disembarking they signed a compact aboard the Mayflower constituting themselves a "civill body politick," and agreeing to be bound by such laws and Years of ordinances as should from time to time be hardship adopted for the general good of the colony. John Carver was chosen governor. When his death occurred a few months later, the office was conferred on William Bradford, who held it almost continuously until his death in 1657. The first few years were years of intense suffering. More than half of those who came over in the Mayflower perished during the first winter. In the autumn of 1621 a ship arrived with thirty-five new settlers and a land patent from the Council for New England allowing one hundred acres for every settler. Henceforth the little colony had to shift for itself, for it received little aid from its London partners. A few years later it bought out their interests and became A selfgoverning in fact a self-governing community. The community governor and assistants were elected by a primary assembly of all freemen, called the "General Court," which also passed laws. In 1638 the representative system was adopted and henceforth laws were enacted by a body composed of the governor and assistants, and delegates from the towns, four from Plymouth and two from each of the other towns. The founding of Massachusetts (1628-1630) and its remarkable growth completely overshadowed Plymouth, and the details of its subsequent history are not of much importance. We have gone into its early history at length because it was the second step in the founding of the United States and paved the way for the rapid development of New England. Furthermore Plymouth exercised a profound influence on the moral and religious life of Massachusetts, notably in determining the Congregational form of church government. The settlement of The first step in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay colony was taken in March, 1628, when John Endicott and five associates secured from the Council for New England a patent conveying to them a strip of Massachu- territory lying between the Charles and the setts Bay Merrimac and extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. In June a party of colonists was sent out with John Endicott as governor. They arrived September 6 at Naumkeag, where Roger Conant and a few followers had settled two years before. The "Old Planters" were at first not disposed to recognize the claims of the newcomers, but they soon came to terms, and to commemorate this peaceful adjustment, changed the name of the place to Salem. There were several other settlements along the Massachusetts coast which fell within the new grant, over which Endicott soon asserted his authority. On March 4, 1629, the friends of the new enterprise received from the king a charter which constituted them a body corporate under the title of "The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England." The management of the Company was placed in the hands of a governor, a deputy, and eighteen assistants, who were to be elected annually by the freemen, or members of the corporation. The Company was given full power to make laws and regulations for the government of the colony, provided they were not contrary to the laws of England. Puritans in The year 1629 was the beginning of a dark period in the history of England, - the personal government of Charles I. For the next eleven years Parliament held Dark outno meetings and the king ruled arbitrarily look for through the Court of Star Chamber and the High Commission. With Eliot and other leaders of the opposition languishing in the Tower and the administration of affairs falling into the hands of Strafford and Laud, leaders of the high church party, the outlook for Puritanism was dark indeed. Under these circumstances the members of the Massachusetts Company conceived the bold idea of migrating in a body to New England and taking their charter with them. As the charter did not specify any particular place for holding the meetings of the Company, there appeared to be no legal obstacle in the way of the transfer. A new set of officers was, therefore, elected so as to place the control of the Company in the hands of those who were willing to migrate, and John Winthrop, a wealthy gentleman of Suffolk, was chosen governor. |