WHEN the first popular assembly convened at St. Mary, for legislative purposes, on the 8th of March, 1635,' Maryland had then its colonial birth. Its sturdy growth began when, in 1639, the more convenient form of representative government was established. It was crude, but it possessed the elements of republicanism. The freemen chose as many representatives as they pleased, and others were appointed by the proprietor. These, with the governor and secretary, composed the legislature. At this first session a Declaration of Rights was adopted, the powers of the governor were defined, and all the privileges enjoyed by English subjects were guarantied to the colonists."

Very soon the Indians in the vicinity, becoming jealous of the increasing strength of the white people, began to evince hostility. Frequent collisions occurred; and in 1642, a general Indian war commenced in the region between the Potomac and the Chesapeake. It was terminated in 1645, but the quiet of the province was soon disturbed again. Clayborne had returned from England' [1645], and speedily fanned the embers of discontent into a flame of open rebellion. He became too powerful for the local authorities, and Governor Calvert' was obliged to flee to Virginia. During a year and a half, the insurgents held the reins of government, and the horrors of civil war brooded over the colony. The rebellion was suppressed in the summer of 1646, and in August, Calvert resumed his office.

In the year 1649, a very important law, known as The Toleration Act, was passed by the Assembly. Religious freedom was guarantied by the charter," yet, as much animosity existed between the Protestants" and Roman Catholics, the Assembly' thought proper to give the principle the solemn sanction of law. By that act every professed believer in Jesus Christ and the Trinity, was allowed free exercise of his religious opinions, and no man was permitted to reproach another on account of his peculiar doctrines, except under the penalty of a fine, to be paid to the person so insulted. Thither persecuted Churchmen of New England, and oppressed Puritans of Virginia, fled and found an asylum. This act, short of full toleration as it was (for it placed Unitarians beyond the pale of its defense), is the pride and glory of the early legislature of Maryland; yet it was not the first instance in America, as is often alleged, when religious toleration received the sanction of law." Rhode Island has that honor.

7

Bozman, in his History of Maryland (II. 350—356), maintains that the majority of the members of the Assembly of 1649, were Protestants.

In May, 1647, the General Assembly of Rhode Island, convened at Portsmouth, adopted a code of laws which closed with the declaration that "all men might walk as their consciences persuaded them, without molestation-every one in the name of his God." This was broader toleration than the Maryland act contemplated, for it did not restrict men to a belief in Jesus Christ.

Being favored by events in the mother country, republicanism grew steadily in the new State. Royalty was abolished in England [1649], and for more than ten years the democratic idea was prevalent throughout the realm. Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland, professed republicanism on the death of the king, but he had been too recently a royalist to secure the confidence of Parliament. Stone, his lieutenant, was removed from office [April 16, 1651] by commissioners (of whom Clayborne was one), who were sent to administer the government of the colony. He was soon afterward [July 8] restored. On the dissolution of the Long Parliament [1653]' Cromwell restored full power to the proprietor, but the commissioners, who withdrew to Virginia, returned soon afterward, and compelled Stone to surrender the government into their hands. The colonial government had been re-organized in the mean while. The legislative body was divided into an Upper and Lower House in 1650; the former consisting of the governor and his council, appointed by the proprietor, and the latter of representatives chosen by the people. At the same session a law was passed prohibiting all taxes, unless levied with the consent of the freePolitical questions were freely discussed by the people; and soon the two chief religious sects were marshaled in opposition, as prime elements of political parties. So great had been the influx of Protestants, that they now [1654] outnumbered the Roman Catholics as voters and in the Assembly. They acknowledged the authority of Cromwell, and boldly questioned the rights and privileges of an hereditary proprietor. The Roman Catholics adhered to Lord Baltimore, and bitter religious hatred was fostered. The Protestants finally disfranchised their opponents, excluded them from the Assembly, and in November, 1654, passed an act declaring Roman Catholics not entitled to the protection of the laws of Maryland.

men.

This unchristian and unwise act of the Protestant party, was a great wrong as well as a great mistake. Civil war ensued. Stone returned to St. Mary,' organized an armed force composed chiefly of Roman Catholics, seized the colonial records, and assumed the office of governor. Skirmishes followed, and finally a severe battle was fought [April 4, 1655] not far from the site of Annapolis, in which Stone's party was defeated, with a loss of about fifty men, killed and wounded. Stone was made prisoner, but his life was spared. Four other leading supporters of the proprietor were tried for treason and executed. Anarchy prevailed in the province for many months, when the discordant elements were brought into comparative order by the appointment of Josiah Fendall [July 20, 1656] as governor. He was suspected of favoring the Roman Catholics, and was soon arrested by order of the Protestant Assembly. For two years bitter strife continued between the people and the agents of the

'When Charles the First was beheaded [note 3, page 108], the Parliament assumed supreme authority, and remained in permanent session. Cromwell, with an army at his back, entered that assembly in the autumn of 1653, ordered them to disperse, and assumed supreme power himself, under the title of Lord Protector. That British legislature is known in history as the Long Parlia

ment.

2

According to the original charter, the heirs and successors of Lord Baltimore were to be proprietors forever. Page 82.

3

proprietor, when, after concessions by the latter, Fendall was acknowledged governor, on the 3d of April, 1658. His prudence secured the confidence of the people, but the death of Cromwell, in September, 1658, presaging a change in the English government, gave them uneasiness. After long deliberation, the Assembly determined to avoid all further trouble with the proprietor, by asserting the supreme authority of the people. They accordingly dissolved the Upper House [March 24, 1660],' and assumed the whole legislative power of the State. They then gave Fendall a commission as governor for the people.

The restoration of monarchy in England took place in June, 1660,' and the original order of things was re-established in Maryland. Lord Baltimore, having assured the new king that his republican professions were only temporary expedients, was restored to all his proprietary rights, by Charles. Fendall was tried, and found guilty of treason, because he accepted a commission from the rebellious Assembly. Baltimore, however, wisely proclaimed a general pardon for all political offenders in Maryland; and for almost thirty years afterward, the province enjoyed repose. A law, which established absolute political equality among professed Christians, was enacted; and after the death of the second Lord Baltimore [Dec. 10, 1675], his son and successor confirmed it. Under that new proprietor, Charles Calvert, Maryland was governed mildly and prudently, and the people were prospering in their political quietude, when the Revolution in England' shook the colonies. The deputy governor of Maryland hesitated to proclaim William and Mary,' and this was made a pretense, by a restless spirit, named Coode, for exciting the people. He gave currency to the absurd report that the local magistrates and the Roman Catholics had leagued with the Indians for the destruction of all the Protestants in the colony. A similar actual coalition of Jesuits and savages on the New England frontiers' gave a coloring of truth to the story, and the old religious feud instantly burned again intensely. The Protestants formed an armed association [Sept., 1689], and led on by Coode, they took forcible possession of St. Mary, and by capitulation, received the provincial records and assumed the government. They called a Convention, and invested it with legislative powers. Its first acts were to depose the third Lord Baltimore, and to re-assert the sovereign majesty of the people.

6

Public affairs were managed by the Convention until 1691, when the king unjustly deprived Baltimore of all his political privileges as proprietor [June 11], and made Maryland a royal province." Lionel Copley was appointed the first royal governor, in 1692. New laws were instituted-religious toleration

2 Note 2, page 109.

3 Page 152.

Page 113.

1 Page 152. Note 7, page 113. 5 Coode had been a confederate in a former insurrection, but escaped conviction. 7 A treaty with the Indians had just been renewed, and the customary presents distributed among them. These things Coode falsely adduced as evidences of a coalition with the savages. *Note 5, page 130.

10

9 Page 130. King William had an exalted idea of royal prerogatives, and was as much disposed as the Stuarts (the kings of England from James the First to James the Second) to suppress democracy in the colonies. He repeatedly vetoed (refused his assent) to Bills of Rights enacted by the colonial Assemblies; refused his assent to local laws of the deepest interest to the colonists; and instructed his governors to prohibit printing in the colonies. Note 7, page 112.

was abolished-the Church of England was made the established religion, to be supported by a tax on the people; and in the State founded by Roman Catholics, the members of that denomination were cruelly disfranchised, with the consent of their sovereign. A few years later [1716], the proprietary rights of Lord Baltimore (now deceased) were restored to his infant heir, and the original form of government was re-established. Such continued to be the political complexion of the colony, until the storm of the Revolution in 1776, swept away every remnant of royalty and feudalism, and the State of Maryland was established.

CHAPTER V.

CONNECTICUT. [1639.]

THE CONNECTICUT COLONY' formed a political Constitution on the 24th of January, 1639, and in June following, the NEW HAVEN COLONY performed the same important act. The religious element was supreme in the new organization; and, in imitation of the Constitution of the Plymouth settlers, none but church members were allowed the privileges of freemen' at New Haven. They first appointed a committee of twelve men, who selected seven of their members to be "pillars" in the new State. These had power to admit as many others, as confederate legislators, as they pleased. Theophilus Eaton was chosen governor, and the Bible was made the grand statute-book of the colony. Many of the New Haven settlers being merchants, they sought to found a commercial colony, but heavy losses by the wreck of vessels' discouraged them, and they turned their special attention to agriculture. Prudence marked the course of the magistrates of the several colonies in the Connecticut valley, and they were blessed with prosperity. But difficulties with the Dutch respecting territorial boundaries,' and menaces of the neighboring Indians, gave them uneasiness, and made them readily join the New England confederation in 1643. The following year the little independent colony at Saybrook' purchased the land of one of the proprietors of Connecticut," and became permanently annexed to that at Hartford."

6

The future appeared serene and promising. The treaty made with Governor Stuyvesant, at Hartford, in 1650," gave token of future tranquillity. But the repose was soon broken by international war. England and Holland drew the sword against each other in 1652; and because it was reported that Ninigret, the wily sachem of the Narragansetts," had spent several weeks at New

1

Page 89.
Note 5, page 118.

2

Page

89. The people assembled in a barn to form a new Constitution.

He was annually chosen to fill the office, until his death, which occurred in 1657. In 1647, a new ship belonging to the colony foundered at sea. It was laden with a valuable cargo, and the passengers belonged to some of the leading families in the colony.

Page 86.

10 Page 85.

8

Page 85, and note 2, page 142.

Page 121.

9

Page 86.

11 Page 88.

12 Note 2, page 142.

13 Note 7, page 141.

Amsterdamn in the winter of 1652-31 the belief prevailed in New England, as we have already observed, that Stuyvesant was leaguing with the Indians for the destruction of the English. Great excitement ensued, and a majority of the commissioners decided, in 1653, upon war with the Dutch. Immediate hostilities were prevented by the refusal of Massachusetts to furnish its quota of supplies. The Connecticut colonies (who were more exposed to blows from the Dutch than any other) applied to Cromwell for aid, and he sent four ships of war for the purpose. Before their arrival,* a treaty of peace was concluded between the two nations, and blood and treasure were saved. The Assembly at Hartford took possession of all property then claimed by the Dutch; and after that the latter abandoned all claims to possessions in the Connecticut valley.

On the restoration of Charles the Second, in 1660, the Connecticut colony expressed its loyalty, and obtained a charter. At first, Charles was disposed to refuse the application of Winthrop, the agent of the colony, for he had heard of the sturdy republicanism of the petitioners. But when Winthrop presented his majesty with a ring which Charles the First had given to his father, the heart of the king was touched, and he granted a charter [May 30, 1662] which not only confirmed the popular Constitution of the colony, but contained more liberal provisions than any yet issued from the royal hand." It defined the eastern boundary of the province to be Narraganset Bay, and the western, the Pacific Ocean. It thus included a portion of Rhode Island, and the whole New Haven Colony. The latter gave a reluctant consent to the union in 1665, but Rhode Island positively refused the alliance. A charter given to the latter the year after one was given to Connecticut [1663], covered a portion of the Connecticut grant in Narraganset Bay. Concerning this boundary the two colonies disputed for more than sixty years.

The colony of Connecticut suffered but little during KING PHILIP'S WAR,' which broke out in 1675, with the exception of some settlements high up on the fresh water river." Yet it furnished its full quota of men and supplies, and its soldiers bore a conspicuous part in giving the vigorous blows which broke the power of the New England Indians." At the same time, the colonists were obliged to defend their liberties against the attempted usurpations of Edmund Andros, then governor of New York." IIe claimed jurisdiction to the

This report was set afloat by Uncas, the mischievous Mohegan sachem [page 87], who hated the Narragansetts. It had no foundation in truth. See, also, page 21. • Page 121.

* Page 141.

Roger Williams, then in England, managed to delay the sailing of the fleet, and thus, again, that eminent peace-maker prevented bloodshed. Page 87.

John Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts. He was chosen governor of Connecticut in 1657, and held the office several years. Such was his station when he appeared in England to ask a charter of the king. Hopkins (who was one of the founders of the New Haven colony) was chosen the first governor of the Connecticut colony, and for several years he and Haynes were alternately chosen chief magistrates.

This original charter is now [1856] in the office of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut. It contains a portrait of Charles the Second, handsomely drawn in India ink, and forming part of an initial letter. This was the instrument afterward hidden in the great oak mentioned on the next page. Page 88. Thus the several settlements were united under the general name of Connecticut. Page 156.

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0

Page 124.

10

Page 85.

"Page 22.

12

Page 147.