the people. The judicial system was above that of most of the colonies. The bar was exceptionally good, and the medical profession was marked by education, and was highly respected. With one trifling exception, religious freedom was enjoyed from the beginning. The Swedish Lutherans in Delaware formed the earliest churches, but the Quakers were for a long time the prevailing denomination.

In 1750 Philadelphia was second only to Boston in size and importance, and at the Revolution it was the first city in America in population. The social and political system of the southern colonies was unknown in Pennsylvania, and though the descendants of Penn's followers were long the leading men, they could hardly be deemed an aristocracy. African slaves were never numerous, but there were many indented white servants and redemptioners, and still more of transported convicts, who finally became so numerous and troublesome that laws were passed forbidding their importation. Crimes were no more common than in the other colonies, but pauperism abounded, for the liberal spirit of the founders drew many of a low class who brought crime and poverty with them.

The curse of pirates and smugglers, who infested the American coasts, fell heavily on Pennsylvania. Murder at first was the only capital offence, and every form of immorality was forbidden, but in the second generation morals had become so relaxed that in 1738 criminal legislation was made more severe, work-houses and jails were established, and the number of capital offences was increased from one to fourteen. Every felony except larceny was made capital on a second offence, and the pillory and whipping-post were punishments for most smaller offences. In Philadelphia was the only lunatic asylum in the colonies; and a hospital, a reform school, a soldiers' home, and many societies for the care of the poor, and aged, and infirm, as well as a watchful regard for the health and morals of the people, show that Pennsylvania had made greater progress in social improvement than any of the colonies.

The manners and habits of the people and their modes of life differed greatly. In the outlying country districts their log houses were small, their clothing of the plainest kind, and their amusements as rude as their means of comfort. The farming class was one of great prosperity. The houses were good and well furnished. Luxury was unknown, but solid comfort abounded in all their dwellings. Weddings and funerals, which at first were attended with feasting and drinking, gradually became more quiet and simple in their observances. The amusements and relaxations of the people were found at seed time and harvest, in corn-husking and cider-pressing, in house-raising, shooting matches, and Christmas sports, all of which were times or occasions of social gatherings, and were enjoyed to the full. The inns were poor, but their deficiencies were made up by the hospitality of the people, at whose homes every traveller was sure of a welcome.

In the rural districts, the condition of education was wretched, only the barest rudiments being taught, and those badly and for small fees. There was little learning, less order, and much whipping in the schools everywhere. In the towns the case was somewhat better, and in Philadelphia a public school was opened in 1689; and in 1749 a plan for extended education was adopted, and charity schools were opened. In 1755 a college was added, which was well attended and became the foundation of the great university of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia also, greatly through the influence of Franklin, became noted for literature, arts, and sciences, and was a center of more literary activity than any place except Boston. Newspapers were published, and the city had

two public libraries; a post office was early established, and here originated the postal system of Franklin. The style of living from the first was plain, but in every way most comfortable, but at a later date luxury in dress and habits appeared as prosperity and wealth increased. The general intelligence and force of character which marked the leading colonists of Virginia and Massachusetts were lacking in Pennsylvania, as they were in the middle provinces. The people, as a whole, were conservative and slow in action, and were not prompt to come forward in the work of the Revolution.

THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS.

New Jersey, with its low, flat country, and shut in by the great provinces of New York and Pennsylvania, had, from the outset, little to check its growth. Its population, which was about 100,000 at the Revolution, with but few negroes, was mainly of English stock, with some Quakers and Scotch Presbyterians. The chief occupation was farming. Social life was simple, and the modes of living plain. Paupers and criminals were few, and thefts and robberies uncommon. Except in the case of some wealthy and gentlemen farmers, the houses were plain, the poorest farmers living well and their children finding ready employment. There were few amusements, the Puritan views having great influence. The professions, though their numbers were small, were respectable, and their members active and influential. The Church of England had a nominal but no real establishment. Its members were but a fraction of the population. The energetic and powerful sects were the Scotch Presbyterians and the New England Congregationalists, their ministers being active and earnest, and many of them men of learning.

Through these two denominations the interests of education were greatly advanced, the towns taxing themselves for the support of teachers, and a college being founded in 1746 which grew to be the present university at Princeton, The professions of law and medicince included men of character and ability. The early system of courts was simple, one of the early governors, it is said, sitting on a stump in the meadow while he gave his decisions; but afterwards, courts of various grades were established, and the administration of justice became more dignified as well as efficient. The government, at first proprietary, and then transferred to the crown, was much like that of the ordinary royal government in the colonies, and there was the usual jealousy of the governor which was common to all the colonies. As a whole the people were conservative, thrifty and peaceable, being saved by their situation from the evils of the Indian and French wars. They were pure in race, and partook socially and politically of the traits and qualities which marked New England and Pennsylvania.

New York was founded by the Dutch only for trade. At the time of the Revolution the population of the province was about 170,000, of whom 20,000 were negroes. The whites were mostly descendants of the original settlers, but many New Englanders had come in, and a large number of French Huguenots had, in 1652, added greatly to the numbers in the city of New York. The chief staples of the colony were farm products, and the trade in furs with the Indians was extensive and profitable. The annual imports and exports were nearly a million pounds in value, and employed some five hundred vessels. There were few manufactures, but with its rich soil and the extensive and growing trade the province was greatly prospered. The French war brought heavy debt and burdensome taxation.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the condition of both the bench and bar was very bad, the chief justice having little knowledge of law, and the lawyers being often of scandalous character; and even at the Revolution matters were little better, trained lawyers being very few. The profession of medicine was even worse than that of law, but in 1776 a medical school was founded, and the profession began to attract men

of character and ability. The clergy stood far higher in character and influence than the men in either of the other professions, and were for a long time the only learned men in the colony. The general policy under the Dutch rule was one of toleration, to which the Quakers and Roman Catholics were the only exception; but when the English came into power, the Episcopal was made the established church, taxing all for its support, though

A DUTCH HOUSEHOLD.

it had but a small part of the population. At the Revolution the negroes were about a sixth of the population. They were mostly employed as domestic servants, and were properly clothed and fed. Crimes were rare, capital offences few, and for lesser offences there were the stocks, the pillory, and the whipping-post. Of pauperism there was even less than of crime, and the few paupers in town were sold at auction to those who would support them for their labor. Education was as general and as good as in the other middle provinces, and