Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

3

Amsterdam 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." He 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 141.

2

3

Page 121.

4 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.

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Page 85.

[blocks in formation]

mouth of the Connecticut River, and in July, 1675, he proceeded to Saybrook with a small naval force, to assert his authority. He was permitted to land; but when he ordered the garrison in the fort to surrender, and began to read his commission to the people, Captain Bull, the commander, ordered him to be silent. Perceiving the strength and determination of his adversary, Andros wisely withdrew, and greatly irritated, returned to New York.

During the next dozen years, very little occurred to disturb the quiet and prosperity of Connecticut. Then a most exciting scene took place at Hartford, in which the libertics of the colony were periled. Edmund Andros again appeared as a usurper of authority. He had been appointed governor of New England in 1686,' and on his arrival he demanded a surrender of the charters of all the provinces. They all complied, except Connecticut. She steadily refused to give up the guaranty of her political rights; and finally Andros proceeded to Hartford with sixty armed men, to enforce obedience. The Assembly were in session when he arrived [Nov. 10, 1687], and received him courteously. He demanded the surrender of the charter, and declared the colonial government dissolved. Already a plan had been arranged for securing the safety of that precious instrument, and at the same time to preserve an appearance of loyalty. The debates were purposely protracted until the candles were lighted, at evening, when the charter was brought in and laid upon the table. Just as Andros stepped forward to take it, the candles were suddenly extinguished. charter was seized by Captain Wadsworth, of the militia, and under cover of the night it was effectually concealed in the hollow trunk of a huge oak, standing not far from the Assembly chamber. When the candles were relighted, the members were in perfect order, but the charter could not be found. Andros was highly incensed at being thus foiled, but he wisely restrained his passion, assumed the government, and with his own hand wrote the word FINIS after the last record of the Charter Assembly. The government was administered in his own name until he was driven from Boston in 1689, when the charter was taken from the oak [May 19, 1689], a popular Assembly was convened, Robert Treat was chosen governor, and Connecticut again assumed her position as an independent colony.

[graphic]

THE CHARTER OAK.

The

Petty tyrants continued to molest. A little more than four years later, the Connecticut people were again compelled to assert their chartered liberties. Colonel Fletcher, then governor of New York, held a commission which gave him command of the militia of Connecticut. As that power was reserved to

1 Page 129.

"That tree remained vigorous until ten minutes before one o'clock in the morning, August 21, 1856, when it was prostrated during a heavy storm, and nothing but a stump remains. It stood on the south side of Charter-street, a few rods from Main-street, in the city of Hartford. The cavity in which the charter was concealed, had become partially closed. • Page 147. The declared object of this commission was to enable Fletcher to call forth the Connecticut militia when proper, to repel an expected invasion of Northern New York, by the French and Indians.

9 Page 130.

the colony by the charter, the Legislature refused to acknowledge Fletcher's authority. In November, 1693, he repaired to Hartford, and, notwithstanding the Legislature was in session, and again promptly denied his jurisdiction, he ordered the militia to assemble. The Hartford companies, under Captain Wadsworth,' were drawn up in line; but the moment Fletcher attempted to read his commission, the drums were beaten. His angry order of "Silence!" was obeyed for a moment; but when he repeated it, Wadsworth boldly stepped in front of him, and said, "Sir, if they are again interrupted, I'll make the sun shine through you in a moment." Fletcher perceived the futility of a parley, or further assumption of authority; and, pocketing his commission, he and his attendants returned to New York, greatly chagrined and irritated. The matter was compromised when referred to the king, who gave the governor of Connecticut militia jurisdiction in time of peace, but in the event of war, Colonel Fletcher should have the command of a certain portion of the troops of that colony.

And now, in the year 1700, Connecticut had a population of about thirty thousand, which rapidly increased during the remainder of her colonial career. During Queen Anne's War, and the stirring events in America from that time until the commencement of the French and Indian War,' when her people numbered one hundred thousand, Connecticut went hand in hand with her sister colonies for mutual welfare; and her history is too closely interwoven with theirs to require further separate notice.

CHAPTER VI.

RHODE ISLAND. [16 4 4.]

WHEN the Providence and Rhode Island plantations were united under the same government in 1644, the colony of Rhode Island commenced its independent career. That charter was confirmed by the Long Parliament in October, 1652, and this put an end to the persevering efforts of Massachusetts to absorb "Williams's Narraganset Plantation." That colony had always coveted the beautiful Aquiday," and feared the reaction of Williams's tolerant principles upon the people from whose bosom he had been cruelly expelled.' A dispute concerning the eastern boundary of Rhode Island was productive of much ill feeling during the progress of a century, when, in 1741, commissioners decided the present line to be the proper division, and wrangling ceased.

* Page 135.

1 Page 156. Page 179. • Page 91. A general assembly of deputies from the several towns, met at Portsmouth on the 29th of May, 1647, and organized the new government by the election of a president and other offiAt that time a code of laws was adopted, which declared the government to be a democracy, and that "all men might walk as their conscience persuaded them." Page 151.

cers.

[ocr errors]

Note 1, page 150.

6 Note 5, page 91.

* Page 91.

Nor was Rhode Island free from those internal commotions, growing out of religious disputes and personal ambition, which disturbed the repose of other colonies. These were quieted toward the close of 1653, when Roger Williams was chosen president. Cromwell confirmed the royal charter on the 22d of May, 1655, and during his administration the colony prospered. On the accession of Charles the Second,' Rhode Island applied for and obtained a new charter [July 8, 1663], highly democratic in its general features, and similar, in every respect, to the one granted to Connecticut. The first governor elected under this instrument, was Benedict Arnold; and by a colonial law, enacted during his first administration, the privileges of freemen were granted only to freeholders and their eldest sons.

Bowing to the mandates of royal authority, Rhode Island yielded to Andros, in January, 1687; but the moment intelligence reached the people of the accession of William and Mary' [May 11, 1689], and the imprisonment of the petty tyrant at Boston,' they assembled at Newport, resumed their old charter, and re-adopted their seal-an anchor, with Hope for a motto. Under this charter, Rhode Island continued to be governed for one hundred and fifty-seven years. when the people, in representative convention, in 1842, adopted a constitution.* Newport soon became a thriving commercial town; and when, in 1732, John Franklin established there the first newspaper in the colony, it contained five thousand inhabitants, and the whole province about eighteen thousand. Near Newport the celebrated Dean Berkeley purchased lands in 1729; and with him came John Smibert, an artist, who introduced portrait painting into America. Notwithstanding Rhode Island was excluded from the New England confederacy,' it always bore its share in defensive efforts; and its history is identified with that of New England in general, from the commencement of King William's War."

1 Page 109.

Page 154. This charter guarantied free toleration in religious matters, and the legislature of the colony re-asserted the principle, so as to give it the popular force of law. The assertion, made by some, that Roman Catholics were excluded from voting, and that Quakers were outlawed, is

erroneous.

He was governor several times, serving in that office, altogether, about eleven years. He was chief magistrate of the colony when he died, in 1678. Page 130. Page 477.

Page 130.

Of these, about one thousand were Indians, and more than sixteen hundred were negroes. Berkeley preached occasionally in a small Episcopal church at Newport, and presented the congregation with an organ, the first ever heard in America. Smibert was a Scotchman, and married and settled at Boston. His picture of Berkeley and his family is still preserved at Yale College [page 178], in New Haven. Berkeley (afterward made bishop of a diocese in Ireland) made great efforts toward the establishment of the Arts and Learning, in America. Failing in his project of founding a new University, he became one of the most liberal benefactors of Yale College. In view of the future progress of the colonies, he wrote that prophetic poem, the last verse of which contains the oft-quoted line

"Westward the course of Empire takes its way."

9 Page 121.

19 Page 130.

[blocks in formation]

THE settlements in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, we have considered together in the same chapter,' as constituting a series of events having intimate relations with each other. The history of the colonial organization of the first two, is separate and distinct. Delaware was never an independent colony or State, until after the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. The founding of the New Jersey colony occurred when, in 1664, the Duke of York sold the territory to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret,' and the new proprietors began the work of erecting a State. They published a form of agreement which they called "Concessions," in which liberal offers were made to emigrants who might settle within the territory. Among other provisions, the people were to be exempt from the payment of quit-rents and other burdens, for the space of five years. Allured by the liberality of the "Concessions,” as well as by the salubrity of the climate and the fertility of the soil, many families came from Long Island in 1664, and settled at Elizabethtown; and in August, the following year, Philip Carteret (brother of one of the proprietors) was appointed governor, and arrived at Elizabethtown with a number of settlers. At first all was peaceable. Nothing disturbed the repose of the colony during the five years' exemption from rents; but when, in 1670, the specified halfpenny, for the use of each acre of land, was required, murmurs of discontent were loud and universal. Those who had purchased land from the Indians, denied the right of the proprietors to demand rent from them; and some of the towns had even denied the authority of the Assembly, at its first sitting, in 1668. The whole people combined in resisting the payment of quit-rents; and after disputing with the proprietors almost two years, they revolted, called a new Assembly, appointed a dissolute, illegitimate son of Sir George Carteret, governor, in May, 1672, and in July following, compelled Philip Carteret to leave the province. Preparations were in progress to coerce the people into submission, when New Jersey, and all other portions of the territory claimed by the Duke of York, fell into the hands of the Dutch,' in August, 1673. On the restoration of the territory to the English," in November, 1674, the Duke of York procured a new charter,' and then, regardless of the rights of Berkeley and Carteret, he appointed Edmund Andros, "the tyrant of New England,"

1

Page 92.

" Page 94.

[ocr errors]

The province was called New Jersey, in honor of Carteret, who was governor of the island of Jersey, in the British Channel, during the civil war. He was a staunch royalist, and was the last commander to lower the royal flag, when the Parliament had triumphed.

This was a sort of constitution, which provided for a government to be composed of a governor and council appointed by the proprietors, and an Assembly chosen by the freeholders of the prov ince. The legislative power resided in the Assembly; the executive in the governor. The Council and the Assembly were each restricted to twelve members.

So called, in honor of Elizabeth, wife of Sir George Carteret.

[ocr errors]

Page 147.

[ocr errors]

Page 147.

[blocks in formation]

Page 130.

« ZurückWeiter »