and Goffe, who had aided in putting his father to death.
The people of Massachusetts had waited fifteen months
before proclaiming Charles king, and in 1661 they issued
a Declaration of Rights which displeased the king, and he
determined to revoke their charter.
Massachusetts loses her Charter. On various grounds
the king attacked the colony and in 1684 that noble char-
ter which John Winthrop
had brought from Eng-
land and which had em-
bedded itself deeply in
the hearts of the people
had to be given up. The
next year the king died ;
his brother who became
king, as James II, proved
himself still more a tyrant
than Charles had been.
Coming of Andros.
Massachusetts was now a
royal colony and its former
independence was gone.
In 1686 James sent
Andros to govern all New
England and also New
York and New Jersey. This new governor had no respect
for the rights of the people. He abolished the legisla-
ture, taxed the people as he chose, sent innocent men
to jail, and even attacked the titles to the land. He
brought Rhode Island under his sway, and went to Hart-
ford and demanded the charter of Connecticut. While
he was parleying with the assembly about the charter, the
NEW MASSACHUSETTS CHARTER 87
lights were suddenly put out, so tradition informs us, when
Captain Wadsworth seized the charter and ran out and hid
it in the hollow of an oak tree, which was ever after known
as the Charter Oak. 1
Delivered from a Tyrant. The people of New Eng-
land were not subdued. Their half-century of self-gov-
ernment had filled them with the spirit of liberty which
could not be crushed. They only waited their opportunity,
and it soon came. In 1688 James II was driven from the
throne of England, and William of Orange became king.
When the news reached New England, the shout of glad-
ness from the people echoed from hill to hill. They seized
Andros and sent him a prisoner to England.
New Massachusetts Charter, 1691. The old charters
of Connecticut and Rhode Island were declared restored
and these two colonies were soon as independent as
before. Massachusetts did not receive back her old char-
ter, but was granted a new one. By this second charter
her boundaries were enlarged by the addition of Maine,
Nova Scotia, and Plymouth. But her old independence
was not restored. The governor must henceforth be
chosen by the king, and though the people still elected
the legislature, the laws had to be sent to England for
the approval of the king.
Farewell to Plymouth. Regretfully we take leave of
Plymouth, the land of the Mayflower Pilgrims. This was
the oldest of all the New England colonies. For seventy-
one years it had sailed its little boat through storm and
sunshine ; but from this time on it must be part of the
greater colony of Massachusetts. Of the band of Pil-
grims that came in the Mayflower only three remained
1 This precious tree was blown down in 1856, and a monument now marks
the spot where it stood.
88 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
alive, John Cooke, Mary Cushman, and Peregrine White,
the last being the child born on the Mayflower.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ENGLAND
The subject of education, occupations, manners and
customs, peculiar laws, and local government, of all the
colonies will be treated in a future chapter on " Colonial
Life." Here we shall notice briefly the growth and
development of the New England settlements.
The Plymouth Colony. The colony of Pilgrims had a
very slow growth, from two causes, i. They were Sepa-
ratists ; that is, they had separated entirely from the
Episcopal Church, and even the Puritans disliked the Sepa-
ratists. 2. The Pilgrims borrowed money from English
merchants, practically mortgaging themselves, in order to
embark for America. This debt .was so heavy that it took
them many years to pay it. From these causes the colony
attracted few other settlers and when ten years had passed
(1630), there were but 300 people in Plymouth. Ten
years later, however, the colony numbered 3000, and in
1670 about 8000.
Massachusetts. We have noticed that many of the
early settlers of Massachusetts were men of fortune and
standing and that the growth of the colony was very
rapid, reaching 20,000 in ten years. Nearly all the settlers
were Puritans, who were at first unfriendly to the Sepa-
ratists of Plymouth. But after reaching America the Puri-
tans themselves became Separatists. They never had any
further connection with the Church of England, and the
Puritan Church of that day has grown into the Congrega-
tional Church of the present. Puritanism became gradu-
ally softened, and in the second charter (1691) the right to
THE OTHER NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 89
vote was extended to non-church-members. At the coming
of the Revolution Massachusetts contained about 300,000
people and was second in population among the colonies,
Virginia coming first.
The Other New England Colonies were all swarms from
this mother hive, Massachusetts, none of them being settled
directly from England. The Connecticut Valley was the
only portion of New England of which the soil was fer-
tile and well suited to farming. This fact caused a rapid
growth of Connecticut, the population of which reached
some 200,000 at the coming of independence. At the
same time the population of New Hampshire was about
75,000, and of Rhode Island about 50,000.
Vermont was first known as the " New Hampshire
Grants," and the territory was claimed by both New
Hampshire and New York. In 1765 the king decided
the contest in favor of New York ; but when the gov-
ernor of New York ordered the settlers to repurchase
their lands, they rose in rebellion.' They called them-
selves the " Green Mountain Boys," and, led by Ethan
Allen and Seth Warner, they demanded that the " New
Hampshire Grants " be made a separate state under the
name of Vermont. This was at the beginning of the Revo-
lution, and the domestic quarrel was hushed in the presence
of the foreign foe. After that war New York and New
Hampshire were again ready to fight over the territory ;
but it was decided to compromise, and Vermont entered
the Union in 1791, as the first state aside from the original
thirteen.
SUMMARY
The New England Confederacy was formed in 1643 and continued
till 1684. Four colonies were in the union Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, New Hampshire, and Plymouth. It was a model for later union.
90 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
was effective in defending the people against the Dutch, and in carrying
on the war with King Philip.
King Philip's War (1675-1678). The war was disastrous to New
England. A thousand men perished and many towns were destroyed.
The power of the Indians was destroyed.
Edmund Andros was sent by King James II to unite New England
with New York and New Jersey and to govern all (1686). Massachu-
setts had lost her charter in 1684. On the fall of James, Andros was
sent a prisoner to England ; Connecticut and Rhode Island continued
under their old charters ; Massachusetts was granted a new one (1691),
and with her Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia were united.
Growth of New England. Plymouth grew slowly, for two reasons :
the fact that the colonists were Separatists, and they had a heavy debt.
Massachusetts grew rapidly, there being about three hundred thousand
people at the coming of the Revolution. Puritanism became softened
and non-church-members were given the right to vote. Connecticut,
Rhode Island, and New Hampshire were all settled by people from
Massachusetts. Connecticut grew rapidly because of her fertile soil.
Vermont was first called the " New Hampshire Grants, 1 ' and the terri-
tory was claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. In the end
Vermont became a separate state.
REFERENCES
In addition to the general histories hitherto mentioned, Fiske's
" Beginnings of New England" is specially recommended. This is not
a juvenile work, but the style is clear and simple and not beyond the
comprehension of the pupils of the Grammar Schools. The volumes in
the American Commonwealth Series. that cover New England states
should be added, and also biographies, such as Wendell's "Cotton
Mather," Straus's "Roger Williams," and Twitchell's "John Winthrop."
CHAPTER VI
THE MIDDLE COLONIES
THE thirteen original colonies are usually mentioned
as divided into three groups ; and we give them in this
form, because they are thus more easily remembered than
when given in the order of their founding, and because the
character and habits of the people warrant this division.
We have noticed two of these groups : first, the five
Southern Colonies Virginia, Maryland, the two Caro-
linas, and Georgia ; second, the four New England Colo-
nies Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
New Hampshire. The four yet to be noticed are known
as the Middle Colonies New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, and Delaware. The first of these four, now the
most populous state in the Union, was New York.
NEW YORK, 1623
The thirteen colonies were all founded by English people,
except New York and Delaware. New York, first called
New Amsterdam, was settled and controlled for forty
years by the Dutch. Dutch sailors at the beginning of the
seventeenth century were among the boldest in the world,
and no power, except England, was so great on the sea as
Holland.
Henry Hudson. A Dutch company, desiring to find a
shorter route to the Orient, sent Henry Hudson, an English
navigator, in the ship Half Moon in search of a passage.
91
92 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
The northern part of North America was still believed
to be an open sea, and the object of Hudson was the
same that had brought Columbus across the Sea of
Darkness a hundred and seventeen years before. Hudson
THE "HALF MOON" IN THE HUDSON RIVER
did not find a northwest passage, but he discovered the
beautiful river that bears his name, in September, 1609.
He sailed up the river to the site of Albany, and the
grandeur of the scenery the palisades, the majestic hills,
and the autumnal beauty of the forests led him to write
NEW NETHERLAND
93
that it was " as fair a land as was ever trodden by the foot
of man." 1
New Netherland. Hudson also sailed into the Dela-
ware, which was called the South River, while the Hudson
was called the North River. The country between them was
called New Netherland. In 1621 a great company was
chartered in Holland, the Dutch West India Company,
and was granted the right to make settlements in New
Netherland. In 1623 (three years after the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth) about thirty families, chiefly Walloons,
(Dutch word for strangers} Protestants from Belgium, en-
tered the Hudson, some settling at Manhattan and some
at Albany. 2
Other Dutch settlements were made, on the Delaware,
on the Connecticut, and on Long Island, and, indeed, the
Dutch claimed all the territory between the Chesapeake
Bay and the Connecticut River.
The Four Dutch Governors. The first of the four Dutch
governors was Peter Minuit, who arrived at Manhattan
Island in 1626. He purchased the entire island from the
Indians about twenty-two thousand acres for about
twenty-four dollars' worth of beads and ribbons. No other
equal area in the world is now worth so vast a sum of
money as Manhattan Island. Minuit built a fort and
1 Hudson was not the first to discover the Hudson River. This had been
done by Verrazano eighty-five years before. At the time Hudson was explor-
ing the Hudson River, Champlain was exploring the lake that bears his name,
and John Smith was bartering with the Indians in the wilderness of Virginia.
The next year (1610) Hudson made a voyage in an English ship, and while
in the great bay that was afterward called by his name, his crew became muti-
nous, and set him with his son and a few others adrift in an open boat. The
crew, on returning to England was sent to jail, and an expedition sent to
search for Hudson. But the great navigator was never found.
2 A few traders had come as early as 1614.
94
SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
started a town on the island and gave them the name
of New Amsterdam.
After six years Minuit was recalled and Wouter van
Twiller became his successor, and he, in turn, was suc-
ceeded five years later by William Kieft. Kieft was
energetic, but he was a tyrant and wanting in tact. He
quarreled with the Swedes on the Delaware, with the Eng-
lish on the Connecticut, and with the Indians on all sides.
The people protested against his methods and he answered,
" In this country I am my own master and may do as I
please." After ten
years of turbulence
and misrule Kieft
was recalled. He
sailed for Holland,
but the vessel was
wrecked at sea and
the fallen governor
was among the lost.
Peter Stuy vesant
was the last and
most famous of the
Dutch governors.
Stuyvesant was an
old soldier and had
lost a leg in battle.
He was a man of
iron will, had no
sympathy with the
people, and no
power to read public opinion; but he was a great im-
provement over Van Twiller and Kieft.
Growth of New Netherland. Settlers came at first in very
PETER STUYVESANT
95
small numbers. The fact that the settlements existed only
to enrich the West India Company was repelling to home
seekers. Five years after the first settlement was made
scarcely three hundred people lived on Manhattan Island.
Then the patroon system was established. By this system
any one who would bring or send fifty settlers was granted
a tract of land of sixteen miles' frontage on a river or bay,
or eight miles on each side of a river. It was not long
until the Hudson Valley was dotted with these great estates
of the patroons. Most of them became rich men by col-
lecting rents from the people who occupied their estates.
About the time that Kieft became governor the patroon
system was restricted and much land, as well as the Indian
fur trade, was thrown open to independent home seekers.
The effect was magical. People came from the English
colonies, and from nearly every country of Europe. It
was said that in 1643 no less than eighteen languages
were spoken in New Amsterdam. In 1664 about ten thou-
sand people lived in New Netherland.
Government of New Netherland. The government of
the various settlements was at first entirely in the hands
of the governor and a council of five men, appointed by the
company in Holland. It was very similar to the govern-
ment of Virginia before the first house of burgesses was
elected. But the people were discontented in having no
voice in making their own laws, especially so when they
compared their own condition with that of the self-govern-
ing English colonies about them. They demanded a share
in the government. Governor Kieft granted them an as-
sembly of twelve men, but managed to keep all the power
in his own hands. At length, when Stuyvesant was gov-
ernor, the people again became clamorous for an assembly
and he granted their request. But when the assembly met,
96 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
the cross old governor would sit in the hall with them, and
the loud stamping of his wooden leg on the floor warned
them when matters were not going to please him.
In 1655 Stuyvesant, with a fleet of seven ships, sailed
into the Delaware Bay and conquered New Sweden, as we
shall notice again when we treat of the colony of Dela-
NEW AMSTERDAM
ware. On his return he found his people in trouble with
the Indians. A farmer had shot a squaw for stealing
peaches from his orchard. This brought on a war, which
continued at intervals for several years. When forty-one
years had passed after the settling of New Amsterdam, and
Stuyvesant had been governor for seventeen years, Dutch
rule in America came to an end and New Netherland
ceased to exist.
Conquest of New Netherland. England laid claim to all
of New Netherland and decided for two reasons to con-
CONQUEST OF NEW NETHERLAND 97
quer and possess it. i. The Dutch settlements divided
New England from the other colonies and threatened
British dominion in America. 2. The Dutch evaded the
navigation laws and carried large quantities of produce
from the English colonies to Holland without paying a
duty.
Colonel Richard Nicolls, with a British fleet, sailed into
the mouth of the Hudson in 1664 and demanded the sur-
render of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant refused ; " he
fumed and fretted and stamped his wooden leg." But the
people refused to come to his support. They were tired
of his tyrannical rule and were glad to welcome the Eng-
lish. The irate old governor had to yield. New Amster-
dam surrendered and became New York, so named after
the Duke of York (afterward King James II) to whom
King Charles granted a charter (1664) for all the land
between the Connecticut and the Delaware. 1
Nicolls became the first English governor of New York.
He was wise and tactful, and he retained the government
very much as it had been under the Dutch. He framed
a code of laws, known as the Duke's Laws, which were
borrowed largely from the laws in New England, except
that the people had no part in the government.
The people, however, especially the English settlers among
them, demanded an assembly. This was granted in 1683 ;
but two years later Charles II died and the proprietor of
1 Peter Stuyvesant, after making a tour to Holland, returned and spent the
rest of his life in New York. Here on his farm known as "The Bowery" he
spent a few happy years, dying in 1672. He was buried at the little country
church near his home, now in the heart of the vast metropolis whose popula-
tion is ten times greater than that of all the American colonies of that day.
Nine years after the Nicolls conquest England and Holland were again at
war and a Dutch fleet recaptured New York ; but it was ceded back to the
English at the coming of peace the following year.
98 SCHOOL HISTORY OF. THE UNITED STATES
New York, the Duke of York, became king as James II,
and New York became a royal colony. King James
was greatly opposed to popular government and he united
New York to New England and sent Edmund Andros to be
governor, with headquarters in Boston, as we have seen.
But when James was driven from the British throne, the
rule of Andros came to an end, and New York secured the
self-government for which she had longed for many years.
Jacob Leisler. The fall of Andros left New York with-
out an official head, and Jacob Leisler, an impetuous German
merchant, took control. Leisler was doubtless a man of
honorable intentions, but by his reckless methods he made
bitter enemies. When the governor appointed by the king
arrived, Leisler was imprisoned and his enemies were deter-
mined to have him executed. The governor hesitated to
sign his death warrant, but was induced to do so while
drunk. By the time the governor had recovered his senses
Leisler had been hanged.
Growth of New York. The growth of New York was
steady and substantial. The Hudson Valley was very rich
in farm lands and was inhabited chiefly by Dutch farmers,
who retained their customs and language for many years.
The two great industries, farming and the fur trade, engaged
the great majority of the people. The population of the
colony had reached about twenty-five thousand by the year
1 700. It is supposed that there were about eighty thousand
inhabitants in 1750 and more than twice that number at the
opening of the Revolution.
NEW JERSEY, 1664
The present state of New Jersey was a part of New
Netherland as claimed by the Dutch. It was also included
in the very extensive grant of Charles II to his brother
NEW JERSEY DIVIDED
99
James in 1664. James conveyed it to two of his friends,
Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The latter had
been governor of the island of Jersey in the English Chan-
nel, and the new colony was called New Jersey. The first
settlement was made at Elizabeth, being called after the
name of Lady Carteret. Newark was founded by people
from New Haven. Carteret issued a form of government
called the " Concessions," which was very liberal and
attracted many settlers.
New Jersey Divided. Within a few years Berkeley sold
his interests to some Quakers, one of whom was William
Penn. In 1676 New Jersey was divided into East Jersey
and West Jersey, the latter being the property of the
Quakers. On the death of George Carteret in 1680 East
Jersey also passed into the hands of the Quakers. The
Quaker rule was mild in the extreme and many settlers
were attracted to the colony.
When James became king of England, he demanded that
100 SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
the Jersey charter be given up, and sent Andros to govern
the colony. At the downfall of Andros the colony was
left practically without a government, and after ten years
of disorder New Jersey was surrendered to the crown
(1702) and became a royal colony. Queen Anne, who was
then the sovereign of England, extended the authority of
New York's governor over New Jersey. This arrangement
continued for thirty-six years when, in 1738, the two were
finally separated.
Rural Life in Jersey. New Jersey in colonial days was
a land of farmers. The numerous towns were little else
than centers of farming communities. The people were
happy and contented, and even when there was so much
trouble about the government, many of the farmers con-
tinued raising their crops and enjoying life, giving little
heed to affairs of government. The colony was singu-
larly free from Indian wars. In 1760 about seventy-five
thousand people lived in New Jersey.
DELAWARE, 1638
The soil of this little state was claimed by the Dutch,
through the discoveries of Hudson ; by the Swedes, who
made the first permanent settlement ; and later it came into
possession of the English.
First Settlements in Delaware. As early as 1631 the
Dutch made a small settlement on the western shore of the
Delaware Bay ; but the settlers were massacred to the last
man by the Indians.
Even before this the great Swedish king, Gustavus
Adolphus, was planning to colonize the western bank of
the Delaware. He was deeply interested in the project
and pronounced the country "the jewel of his kingdom."
NEW SWEDEN CONQUERED BY THE DUTCH ioi
Gustavus was killed at the battle of Lutzen, in the Thirty
Years' War, in 1632, and his plan to plant a colony in
America was checked, but not abandoned.
At length the Swedes secured the services of Peter
Minuit, who had been governor of New Amsterdam, and
in two vessels he brought over a company of settlers in 1638.
They called the land New Sweden. 1 On the site of Wil-
mington they made a settlement and named it Christina,
after the child queen of their native land. They purchased
land of the Indians on the western side of the Delaware as
far up as a point opposite Trenton, founded a town on the
site of Philadelphia, built churches, and were soon a most
happy and prosperous community.
New Sweden conquered by the Dutch. By 1655 at least
seven hundred Swedes were scattered along the Delaware,
when Peter Stuyvesant came with his fleet and demanded
the surrender of the colony. The Swedes were in no con-
dition to make a defense and they yielded without a struggle.
New Sweden, which had continued seventeen years, now
ceased to exist as a separate colony ; but the people were
permitted to retain their farms and they continued to
prosper under the new government. The conquest of New
Netherland by the English in 1664 included Delaware,
which now became the property of the Duke of York.
In 1682, the year of the founding of Pennsylvania, the
Duke of York sold Delaware to William Penn and it was
annexed to Pennsylvania. In 1702 Penn granted Delaware
a separate legislature, but the two colonies had the same
governor, and the history of Delaware from that time to
the coming of the Revolution was identified with that of
its great neighbor on the north.
1 The only right the Swedes could claim to the land was based on the as-
sumption that unoccupied lands were common property.
IO2
SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
PENNSYLVANIA, 1682
The Quakers, owing to their peculiar form of religion,
were a persecuted people in England and America. They
refused to recognize social rank or to pay taxes to carry
on wars. The British Parliament pronounced them a
"mischievous and dangerous people." Their reception
in Massachusetts we have seen.
The founder of the sect was George Fox, an English-
man of great magnetism and religious fervor. His con-
__ i verts were chiefly from
among the poor, and
they were greatly elated
when the young son of
Admiral Penn, one of