[Half-title]

THE AMERICAN COLONIES

IN THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

THE AMERICAN COLONIES

IN THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

HERBERT L. OSGOOD, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

VOLUME I

THE CHARTERED COLONIES. BEGINNINGS OF
SELF-GOVERNMENT

>New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.

1904

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up, electrotyped, and published May, 1904.

iii

PREFACE

This work has a double purpose. It is intended to exhibit in outline the early development of English colonization on its political and administrative side. At the same time it is a study of the origin of English-American political institutions. Because of this double object attention has been almost exclusively devoted to the continental colonies. Had the commercial and economic aspects of colonization been the subject of the work, the picture must needs have been painted on a larger canvas.

The two volumes which are now published are concerned wholly with the American side of the subject. But they do not tell the whole of the story, even so far as it relates to the seventeenth century. Another volume will follow, the subject of which will be the beginnings of imperial administration and control. In that volume the British side of the problem will be discussed. The entire work, while serving as an introduction to American institutional history, will at the same time, it is hoped, illustrate the principles of British colonization, so far as those were revealed in the early relations between the home government and its colonies on the North American continent.

The author is fully aware that the attempt to analyze and compare the institutions of fifteen colonies, and to trace their political history, even in part, during a period of half a century or more, is a work of some complexity. In his effort to do this he has limited himself, in nearly all instances, to the seventeenth century and to the material which was accessible for that period of time. This it was necessary to do in order to show what the governmental system was before the transition from the chartered colonies to the system of royal provinces occurred.

As a result of pursuing this course the author, in the case of some colonies, has found himself hampered by the fragmentariness of accessible material. But that is a condition which confronts every student of origins. Notwithstanding this defect, it is believed that sufficient evidence has been brought together to reveal the essential features of American institutions as they were at the beginning. That evidence, as it has been classified in this work, will, it is hoped, furnish a background from which the later colonial period and the Revolution will become more intelligible. If the critic seeks other explanations of defects, they will probably be found to result from the personal equation—for every book must have an author—and from the fact that this is a pioneer work in the domain of early American institutional history.

The inquiries, of which this work is a result, were under-taken, years ago, at the suggestion of Professor John W. Burgess. Special thanks are also due to Professor Franklin H. Giddings, who has read the work in manuscript, and to Dr. W. Roy Smith, of Bryn Mawr College, who has assisted in reading the proofs. The index has been prepared by Dr. Newton D. Mereness, of Cornell University.

Columbia University
March, 1904.

INTRODUCTION

	page
The purpose and character of the work	xxv
An institutional history of the British-American colonies in the seventeenth century	xxv
Suggestions as to classification of colonial government	xxvii
Main subdivisions of the work	xxvii

PART FIRST

THE PROPRIETARY PROVINCE IN ITS EARLIEST FORM

CHAPTER I

CHARTERS OF DISCOVERY. EXPERIMENTS OF GILBERT AND RALEIGH

Share of private enterprise in originating the chartered colonies	3
The charters of discovery	4
Charters of the Cabots and other early explorers	4
Revival of interest in colonization in age of Elizabeth due to conflict with Spain	5
Charter and voyages of Gilbert. Northwest passage, 1578, 1582	6
Earliest sketch of large proprietary grants	9
The Southampton adventurers with Gilbert	9
Charter of Raleigh, 1584. Earliest suggestion of province of Virginia	14
Lane and Grenville on the outward voyage	16
Governor Lane and the colonists at Roanoke	18
Settlement, officials, Indian relations, food supply. First abandonment of Roanoke	18
Second voyage of Grenville	20
Renewal of efforts by Raleigh. Governor and assistants of city of Raleigh	20
Governor White and second attempt to settle at Roanoke	21
Activity of White’s council	21
White returns to England. Disappearance of the colonists and final abandonment of Roanoke, 1590	22

CHAPTER II

VIRGINIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE. EXPERIMENTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF 1606

	page
Discovery continued in form of private enterprises under James I	23
Voyages of Gosnold, Weymouth, and others. Ferdinando Gorges becomes interested	24
Suggestions also of initiative and control by the government	24
An early written argument in favor of state-aided colonization	25
Outline of charter of 1606. More precise definition of Virginia	26
Private or proprietary element. Provisions relating to the patentees. Two joint companies	26
Royal element. Provision relating to king’s council for Virginia and to local councils	27
Mixed and therefore transitional character of the system	29
The problem which confronted the patentees of 1606. Agricultural colonies	29
Two colonies planted, at Sagadahoc and Jamestown. Their patrons	32
An “instruction by way of advice”	32
The settlements at Sagadahoc and Jamestown were of the proprietary and plantation type	34
Natural and social aspects of settlements at Sagadahoc and Jamestown	34
Their location described and compared	35
The forts and the buildings which they contained	36
Time of landing and the consequences which followed	38
How the labor force was first employed	39
Beginning of trade with the Indians, especially at Jamestown. John Smith as an Indian trader	39
The “supplies.” Their economic and political functions	41
Sickness and the death rate	43
Government at Sagadahoc and Jamestown. An experiment in conciliar government	44
Dissensions at Jamestown; aggravated by sickness and by loose administrative methods. President Wingfield deposed. Gradual elimination of councillors till one autocratic president—Smith—is left	45
This process checked, but not defeated, by visits of Newport	49
Attitude of Smith toward colonists and patentees	52

CHAPTER III

VIRGINIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE. ADMINISTRATION OF SIR THOMAS SMITH

Defects in system of 1606 lead the London patentees to apply for new charter. Enterprise greatly enlarged	56
Royal charters of 1609 and 1612	57
Patentees fully incorporated. The general court of the company	57
Disappearance of the royal council for Virginia	57

vii

	page
Triumph of the proprietary element	58
The treasurer and the quarter courts. Sir Thomas Smith, treasurer	60
Transition in Virginia from system of 1606 to that of 1609	61
The third supply and its disaster	64
Close of Smith’s presidency in Virginia	65
The “starving time” of 1609-1610. Indian war	67
Appointment of first governor of Virginia—Lord Delaware	68
Arrival of Gates and Delaware at Jamestown. Rescue of the colony	68
System of rigid discipline instituted under Governor Dale	69
Origin and provisions of the “Lawes Divine and Martiall”	69
Dale’s ideal of colonial life	69
Peace with the Indians. Indian trade	72
Considerable influx of settlers. Gradual decline of death rate	73
Expansion of settlement begins under Dale	73
Founding of Henrico and neighboring settlements	74
Private gardens to settlers	75
Earliest suggestion of a system of head rights	76
Yeardley in 1617 slightly extends private grants	77
Reaction under Argall	77
Waste of resources of the company	77
Progress of colony retarded	79

CHAPTER IV

VIRGINIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE. ADMINISTRATIONS OF SANDYS AND THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON

Change in administration of company. Sir Edwin Sandys elected treasurer in place of Sir Thomas Smith	80
Attempt to settle Smith’s accounts	81
Earl of Warwick favors the change, but soon returns to alliance with Smith	81
Sandys and Southampton pursue liberalized policy toward Virginia	81
Great activity in despatching colonists, cattle, and supplies to Virginia	81
Attempt to diversify industry in the colony	82
System of reserves for company, college, and ministers	83
Grant of private plantations. Their place in the beginnings of local government in Virginia	84
Disappearance of joint trading system	89
Plantations, corporations, hundreds, boroughs, cities	90
Distinction between towns and province appears	91
Grant of a House of Burgesses to Virginia	92
The Assembly of 1619	92
Action of the company on the by-laws of the assembly	94
The assemblies of 1621 and 1624. The instruction of 1621	96
Steps taken to perfect the organization of provincial and local government in Virginia	96

viii

CHAPTER V

THE NEW ENGLAND COUNCIL

	page
Fishing voyages of the Plymouth patentees till 1620	98
Origin of Charter of 1620	98
Opposition by London company to its grant	99
Opposition carried into parliament in 1621	100
Gorges examined in reference to the monopolistic features of the grant	100
Provisions of Charter of 1620. Organization of the New England council	102
The council unsuccessful from the first	103
To encourage its work Gorges publishes his Briefe Relation, 1622.	103
Gorges’s plan of a proprietary province	103
Early negotiations between the Leyden Congregation of Separatists and the London company	105
The Wincob patent	105
The Separatists negotiate with Thomas Weston for assistance	106
Lack of agreement between Weston, the adventurer, and the Leyden Congregation	107
The articles of agreement not signed	109
The Mayflower sails without instructions, though loaded with supplies by the joint action of adventurers and colonists	109
Founding of colony and town of Plymouth within the grant to the New England council	109
The town located and laid out	109
System of joint labor with separate homesteads	110
The town as seen by De Rasieres in 1627	110
Sickness during the first winter	111
Journeys of discovery and opening of relations with the Indians	112
The “supplies” at Plymouth. The Fortune, the Anne, the Little James	112
Arrival of the “perticulers” in 1623	113
Differences between the colonists and the adventurers	114
Weston’s colony at Wessagussett	114
The New England council grants a patent to John Pierce and associates in 1621	115
Grant of a second patent to John Pierce as sole proprietor in 1622	116
Pierce forced to assign his second patent to associates	116
In 1627 the colonists buy out the claims of the adventurers to the land	117
Land and cattle divided. System of individual property introduced	117
The “undertakers,” however, manage the trade of the colony in joint stock till 1642	118
The proprietary element in the organization of Plymouth disappears	118
Efforts of New England council to uphold its monopoly and found a colony	119

	page
The royal proclamation of 1622	119
Grant to Robert Gorges and his appointment as Lieutenant-General of New England	119
Efforts to procure subscriptions and awaken interest within the council	120
Drawing of lots for shares, June, 1623	121
Robert Gorges spends winter of 1623-1624 in New England	121
Relations between Robert Gorges and Weston	122
Return of Gorges to England and collapse of plan to found a great province	122
New England council limits its efforts to the granting of territory along its northern coasts	122
John Mason shares prominently with Gorges in these grants	123
Partial list of the grants	123
Grants made according to two models, one for public and another for private plantations	126
The Laconia company	127
The indenture of 1628 to the Massachusetts patentees	128
The Dorchester fishing adventure at Cape Ann	128
Expansion of Dorchester adventurers into Massachusetts patentees	130
Formation of the Massachusetts company and the royal charter of 1629	131
Internal organization of the company	131
Massachusetts founded as a proprietary province	132
Instructions to its officials at Salem	132
Policy of the colony at Salem as to land and government	135

PART SECOND

THE CORPORATE COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND

CHAPTER I

THE TRANSFER OF GOVERNMENT INTO MASSACHUSETTS. THE GENERAL COURT

Distinction between the early proprietary provinces and the corporate colonies	141
The London company chosen as a model by the Massachusetts patentees	142
But the form of the colony was radically changed by the removal of the Massachusetts company to New England	142
The removal	144
Occasion of the removal	144
Steps preliminary to removal	145
Final action of the general court	146
Adjustment of business relations in England	147

	page
Effects of the removal on the land system and system of trade of the colony	149
Its effect on the character of the freemen. Winthrop’s “Modell”	152
The early development of the general court in Massachusetts	153
Its chartered powers reaffirmed	154
The freeman’s oath	155
Addition of the deputies	155
Opposition to the exclusive claims of the magistrates continued	157
General court divided into two houses, 1644	157
Legislative equality of deputies with magistrates affirmed in 1636	158
Form and procedure of the two houses	158
Both houses elective	158
The court of election	158
Cases of disputed elections in towns	159
Employment of committees	159
Initiation of measures through petitions	160
Position of governor in general court	161
Controversies between the two houses	163
These due to connection between civil and ecclesiastical power in colony	163
Position of magistrates as quorum in general court	164
Question of the negative voice, 1634-1636	164
Question of the negative voice, 1642-1644. Case of Sherman vs. Keayne	165
Contention of magistrates and clergy prevails	166

CHAPTER II

THE EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN MASSACHUSETTS

Massachusetts was governed by an executive board	167
Its members were closely united	167
They were steadily reelected for annual terms	167
Because of nature of board’s function and dearth of records, it is difficult to follow its history	168
Position of the governor in relation to the assistants	169
Early history and powers of the board of assistants	170
General court of October, 1630, gives them the right to legislate and elect officers	171
Court of May, 1631, withdraws powers to elect governor and deputy, but does not forbid them to legislate	171
At a meeting of the board in 1631 Winthrop explains the nature of the Massachusetts government	172
Controversies between Winthrop and Dudley in 1632	173
In 1634 the general court assumes full legislative power	176
In 1637, under influence of the clergy, the magistrates assume an attitude of greater dignity and severity toward offenders	177

	page
Discussion of life tenure for magistrates. Experiment with a council for life, 1636. Its failure	178
Controversy over executive discretion, 1635-1644	180
Leads to further exposition of the nature of Massachusetts government	181
Views of the magistrates and clergy prevail	182
Assumption of judicial powers by the government of Massachusetts	182
Judicial functions of the general court	183
Opinion of Winthrop and the elders in 1644 in relation to this	184
The assistants were the stated judicial court of the colony	184
Variety of cases which early came before them	185
No idea of separation of powers	185
Quarterly sessions at Boston begin in 1636	186
Procedure before this tribunal. Character of the administration of justice in general	186
The local courts of Massachusetts	190
The county courts and their jurisdiction	190
The courts for the trial of small causes	191
Controversy over the judicial discretion of the magistrates, 1636-1645	193
Deputies attempt to limit it, but Winthrop and the elders maintain that only maximum and minimum penalties shall be prescribed by law	193
Subject brought up again by the “Hingham Case”	196
Winthrop’s trial	197
View of magistrates and elders prevails. The “little speech”	199

CHAPTER III

RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCH AND COMMONWEALTH IN MASSACHUSETTS

The importance of religious motive in determining the form and policy of government in Massachusetts	200
Calvin’s view of the nature of government and of the relations between church and state	201
This was substantially adopted by the Puritans	203
Attitude of the Massachusetts leaders toward the Established Church when they left England	203
The utterance of Rev. Francis Higginson	203
The affair of the Browns at Salem	204
The founding of the church at Salem	204
The “Humble Request”	205
But by force of circumstances, as well as by choice, the Puritans of New England became Separatists	206
Their churches were based on covenant	206
English orders were practically ignored	206

xii

	page
Though professions of loyalty to the Mother Church were for a time continued, communion with her soon ceased	207
Position of the clergy in Massachusetts	208
They were the only learned and professional class	208
They were the expounders and defenders of the church-state system	209
Their view of the relation between church and state	210
The relations between church and commonwealth as fixed by law	212
The religious test, 1631, 1664. Its effect	212
The consent of the magistrates required in founding of churches	213
All inhabitants taxed for support of the clergy	213
Conditions under which churches must be founded were prescribed by law	213
Relations of the general court to councils and synods	213
Declarations of the Cambridge Platform of Discipline	214
Sabbath legislation	216
Legislation concerning heresy	215
Attendance at church made compulsory	216
No one could preach in the colony who was disapproved by the magistrates or general court	216
Preaching of the truth to be directly encouraged and enforced by government	217
The clergy support the magistrates in the capacity of an extra-legal board of referees	217
No room for religious dissent in Massachusetts	218
The closest possible union of church and commonwealth	218
The conditions which led to this	221

CHAPTER IV

THE WORKING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SYSTEM AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE CONTROVERSIES WITH ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE ANTINOMIANS

The controversy with Roger Williams	224
The high estimate placed by the Puritans on their charter	224
The attack of Williams on their claim to land, which was derived through the charter	225
Williams proclaims himself a Separatist and a believer in religious freedom	226
First effort of the magistrates to prevent the Salem church from calling Williams as its teacher	226
Williams on his return from Plymouth assumes a submissive attitude	226
After he resumed preaching at Salem Williams begins again to attack land titles derived from the charter and to proclaim his Separatist views	227
Admonition begins	227
Williams protests against oaths	228

xiii

	page
He is summoned before the magistrates, but at the same time is called to pastorate of Salem church	228
This action of Salem church condemned by magistrates and clergy	229
Character of the questions involved and the order of their importance	229
General court rejects petition of Salem for land on Marblehead Neck	231
Williams and his church appeal to churches of the colony against the members of the general court	231
Williams’s followers detached from him	232
Town of Salem forced into submission	232
Williams tried and banished	233
The merits of the case	234
The Antinomian controversy	236
The leaders of the two parties to that controversy	236
Mrs. Hutchinson’s conventicles	236
The Antinomian doctrine	237
Attitude of the body of the clergy toward this .	237
Attitude of the Boston church toward it. Rev. John Wilson	238
The proposal to call Rev. John Wheelwright to the pulpit of the Boston church	238
Attitude of Governor Vane toward the controversy	238
The ministers labor with him, with Mrs. Hutchinson, and with Cotton	239
Wheelwright’s Fast Day sermon	241
Attack on the Antinomians begun	242
Trial of Wheelwright. He was found guilty of sedition and contempt	242
Court of election at Newtown, May, 1637. Defeat of the Antinomians. Election of Winthrop as governor	244
Vane returns to England	246
The synod at Newtown, September, 1637. Cotton falls into line. Formal condemnation of Antinomian doctrines	246
General court made more intensely conservative by another elec tion. Meets in November	247
Exclusion of members from Boston because of its previous petitions	247
Wheelwright sentenced to banishment	248
Punishment of Coggshall and Aspinwall	249
Trial of Mrs. Hutchinson. She is sentenced to banishment	250
Proceedings against other supporters of the Antinomian cause in Boston and elsewhere	253
The Boston church, now purged of its heretics, excommunicates Mrs. Hutchinson	253
Effect of the triumph of Puritan orthodoxy	264

xiv

CHAPTER V

THE WORKING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SYSTEM AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE CONTROVERSIES WITH THE PRESBYTERIANS, THE BAPTISTS AND THE QUAKERS

	page
The controversy with the Presbyterians	256
The triumph of the Presbyterians in England in 1646 reacts upon Massachusetts	256
Dr. Child and his associates petition general court for larger indulgence. This a protest of the unenfranchised against the divergence of Massachusetts law from that of England	257
Reply of the general court. Defence of its policy	260
The petitioners declare their intention to appeal to England	261
This draws from the magistrates and clergy a denial of the right of appeal and of the binding force of English law within the colony	261
The petition is sent to England in spite of strenuous efforts on part of the magistrates to prevent it	263
No result, however, follows	264
The controversy with the Baptists	264
Puritan feeling toward Baptists colored by their horror of the excesses of Münster	264
The essential Puritanism of the Baptists	264
The two points upon which they differed from the Puritans	264
Early proceedings against Baptists. Act of 1644	265
The case of John Clarke and Obadiah Holmes	206
The Baptists secure a foothold in Massachusetts after the Restoration	269
The struggle with the Quakers	269
The religious characteristics of Quakers were intensely offensive to Puritans	269
The Puritans charged the Quakers with wrongfully forcing their way into the colonies	272
There was no law which required Massachusetts to receive the Quakers or forbade their exclusion	274
Their advent seemed like the inroad of wild animals or of a contagious disease	277
The measures adopted to meet the successive arrivals of Quakers	277
Mary Fisher and Anne Austin	277
Quaker books to be seized; Quakers to be imprisoned till they could be sent out of the colony, 1656	278
Act of October, 1656. Whipping of Quakers begins. Imprisonment and banishment continued	278
Cases of Anne Burden, Mary Clarke, Christopher Holder, John Copeland, and others	279
Sympathy shown for Quakers. Quakerism begins to spread in Massachusetts	280
Harris, Leddra, Brend, and Norton	280
Quaker meetings forbidden, May, 1658	282
Death threatened against those who returned after banishment, October, 1658	282

	page
Severity in the treatment of Quakers constantly increases	283
Execution of Robinson and Stevenson, 1659	283
Execution Of Mary Dyer and Leddra, 1660, 1661	284
Adoption of a milder policy	285
This due in part to intervention of the king	285
Increase of Quaker activity	286
Continuance of repressive measures until attention was diverted from the Quakers by Philip’s war and controversy with the home government	287
Relations between the other New England colonies and the Quakers	287

CHAPTER VI

PLYMOUTH AS A CORPORATE COLONY

Reasons for the appearance and the disappearance of a proprietary element in this colony	290
The organs of government within Plymouth	290
The general court originated in the Mayflower compact	290
Early duties of governor, assistant, and captain	291
Informal character of government at the beginning	292
General assumption of powers	295
Differentiation of the town from the colony	297
Evolution of counties	298
Plymouth conforms in all respects to the model of the corporate colony	299

CHAPTER VII

CONNECTICUT AS A CORPORATE COLONY

The colony of the River Towns	301
Reasons for the removal from Massachusetts	301
Government established under authority from Massachusetts	303
Town and colony government develop at the same time	305
Discretion of the magistrates limited from the first in the River Towns	305
The Fundamental Orders of 1639	309
The essential identity between them and earlier legislation in Massachusetts and Plymouth	309
Development of the general court and of the executive	312
Relations between church and civil power	314
The River Towns a genuine corporate and Puritan colony	316
The Warwick patent and colony at Saybrook	319
Purchase of Saybrook by River Towns	320
The founding of New Haven colony	321
Beginnings of town and colony government	322
The religious test	322

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	page
The “combination” of 1643. Development of colony government completed	324
The Connecticut charter of 1662	327
Its provisions relating to government	328
Its provisions relating to boundary	329
Controversy between Connecticut and New Haven	329
Final submission of New Haven	331
The enlarged Connecticut	331

CHAPTER VIII

RHODE ISLAND AS A CORPORATE COLONY

Rhode Island was formed by the union of towns	332
The relation of Roger Williams to its founding	332
The founding of Providence	334
Location of the town site	334
The “Providence purchase” and the “Pawtuxet purchase”	335
The plantation covenant	336
Issue of the “initial deed”	337
Agreement of October 8, 1638	338
Efforts of Harris and associates to enlarge bounds of the town and develop a board of proprietors	338
Plan of 1640 for arbitration	340
Gorton at Providence	340
The settlement of Portsmouth and Newport	341
The original plantation covenant	341
The settlement at Pocasset	342
Removal to Newport, and its town compact	343
Removal from Pocasset to Portsmouth and another plantation covenant	344
Union of Portsmouth and Newport into the colony of Rhode Island	345
The settlement of Warwick	345
Character and early history of Samuel Gorton	345
Gorton at Plymouth and Newport	347
Gorton and his associates purchase Shawomet	348
William Arnold and associates of Pawtuxet put themselves under protection of Massachusetts	348
Conflict between the Gortonists and Massachusetts	350
The Gortonists, after release from imprisonment in Massachusetts, appeal to England and induce Narragansetts to put themselves under English protection	351
Peril from outside compels the Narragansett settlements to unite	352
Williams procures charter of 1644	354
Massachusetts attempts to secure a patent for the entire country about Narragansett bay	354
Terms of the charter of 1644	354

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	page
Institution of government under the charter of 1644	366
Court of election of May, 1647, at Portsmouth	355
Charter accepted by this body	356
Rhode Island takes the lead in organizing government	357
The general court of commissioners	358
Position of the towns in reference to the colony government	358
Colony officials and court of trials	359
Employment of committees by the general court	361
William Coddington attempts to separate the island from the mainland towns	362
They remain separate from November, 1651, till May, 1654	363
The colony further disturbed by the Dutch war	364
Failure of Coddington’s scheme	364
Government under the charter of 1644 reestablished	364
Boundary disputes relating to the Narragansett country	365
The Shawomet grant	367
The settlement of Richard Smith	367
The Pettiquamscutt Purchase	367
The encroachments of Massachusetts through the Atherton company	367
The Westerly Purchase. Conflict between its settlers and those of Massachusetts at Southertown	368
Pretensions of Massachusetts excluded by grant of Connecticut charter, 1662	369
Issue of the Royal Charter of 1664 to Rhode Island	369
The Pawcatuck river designated as the western boundary of the colony	369
Complete religious liberty guarantied by this charter	370

CHAPTER IX

THE NORTHWARD EXPANSION OF MASSACHUSETTS

The settlements on the Piscataqua	371
Their condition after the collapse of the early plans of Gorges and Mason	371
The Anglican settlement at Strawberry Bank	371
The settlement at Hilton’s Point. Patent of 1630	372
This patent located north of Little bay	372
Bristol merchants become interested in it	373
The Piscataqua grant to Laconia company	373
Thomas Wiggin induces Lord Say and Sele and other Puritan noblemen to buy Hilton’s Point from the Bristol merchants	373
Hilton’s Point becomes the Puritan settlement of Dover	374
Plantation covenant of Dover, 1640	374
Conflicts at Dover between Puritans and Anglicans	374
Exeter, another Puritan town, founded by Rev. John Wheelwright and associates	375
Settlement of Hampton	376

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Extension of the sway of Massachusetts over the Piscataqua towns	376
The northern boundary of Massachusetts	376
Arguments in favor of annexing the Piscataqua towns	377
The Squamscot patent and the submission of Dover, 1641	378
Exeter submits in 1643	380
Jurisdiction of Massachusetts fully extended over the Piscataqua towns	380
Subsequent protests of Mason’s agents	381
The Maine settlements	382
Government under Gorges maintained at Saco and York	383
Trelawny’s settlement on Richmond’s island	383
Cleeve and Tucker secure grants on the adjacent mainland	383
Trelawny’s agent, Winter, disputes the claim of Cleeve and Tucker to a part of their grant	384
Case is heard before court of Governor Thomas Gorges at Saco	386
Cleeve induces the Puritan, Alexander Rigby, to buy the Lygonia patent. Its extent	386
Cleeve appointed governor of Lygonia	386
Controversy over jurisdiction between Cleeve and the representatives of Gorges at Saco	387
Appeal to Massachusetts, 1646. No decision	387
Rigby’s patent confirmed by Commissioners of Plantations	387
Gorges’ control now restricted to settlements between Kennebunk and Piscataqua	388
Those towns submit to Massachusetts, 1653	389
The settlements under Cleeve submit in 1658.	389
Massachusetts extends its county system over all the northern settlements and grants them representation in the general court	390

CHAPTER X

INTERCOLONIAL RELATIONS. THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY

Relations among New England colonies which demanded joint action	392
Murder of Hocking on the Kennebec river	392
Controversy between settlers on the Connecticut	393
Controversy over northern boundary of Plymouth	394
Dispute over Springfield	394
Relations with Dutch, French, and Indians	395
Common feeling among New Englanders	397
The formation of the confederacy	397
Early suggestion from Massachusetts and Connecticut	397
The drafting of the articles in 1643	399
Provisions of the articles	399
It was a union between unequals	402
Questions of interpretation	403
Right to interpret rested finally with general courts	403
Controversy of 1653. Decided by Massachusetts	404

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Relations with the Dutch	406
The commissioners correspond with Kieft:
About the Dutch at Good Hope	406
About the seizure of Westerhouse’s ship	406
About duties at Manhattan	406
Peter Stuyvesant and the Treaty of Hartford, 1650	406
Relations with the French	409
D’Aunay on the Penobscot and La Tour in Acadia	410
Friendly dealings between Massachusetts and La Tour	411
D’Aunay claims to represent the French government	411
Filibustering expedition of Gibbons and Hawkins against D’Aunay	411
Warnerton of Piscataqua attacks D’Aunay	412
Strong protest in Massachusetts against aiding La Tour	412
D’Aunay proves rightfulness of his claims	414
La Tour is abandoned and peace concluded with D’Aunay	414
The affair before the commissioners	414
Relations with the Indians	414
Commissioners labor to keep the peace among the Indians and between the Indians and the English	414
Feud between Mohegans and Narragansetts	415
Treaty of 1645. Efforts to secure its execution	415
The commissioners and the controversy relating to Springfield	416
Attitude of Massachusetts in that controversy	417
Labors of the commissioners in the interest of schools, the churches, and missionary work	419
They recommend contributions for Harvard College	420
They aid the churches in maintaining the purity of the faith	420
They urge strong measures against the Quakers	421
They encourage missionary work among the Indians	422
Their connection with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England	422

CHAPTER XI

THE LAND SYSTEM IN THE CORPORATE COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND

The system of group settlement	424
How it originated in New England	425
The groups were democratically organized	425
The towns, which they settled, were manors with the monarchical element left out	426
Territorial administration in Massachusetts	427
No land office or system of rents	428
Superintendence of founding of towns by colony government	429
Instances of this from the history of various Massachusetts towns	429
Boundaries, common fields, admission of freemen, town herds, to an extent regulated by legislation	433

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The land system of the other corporate colonies	434
In all important particulars it was the same as that of Massachusetts	434
In all colonies of this type the management of land was left chiefly to the towns	436
Comparison of the territorial arrangement of New England towns	436
The lay-out of towns. Varied topography of towns	436
Many of the oldest towns founded by spontaneous act of their settlers	438
Laying out of village plot and assignment of home lots	438
Allotments of arable land and meadow	439
The lay-out of towns illustrated in the case of Salem and of many other typical New England towns	440
Result of this was that the estate of each individual consisted of a number of small tracts scattered over the town plot	449
Tendency to consolidation of tracts	451
Common fields and fences	451
Their regulation illustrated from the records of Salem and of many other towns	451
Common herds and herdsmen	454
Similarly illustrated	455
Rule of proportionality in the allotment of land	456
Use of town rate for the purpose	457
Equalization of allotments	458
Boards of commoners or proprietors	461
Origin of these boards	461
Proprietors of special tracts	462
Original identity of proprietors with town-meeting	462
This fact illustrated in case of Plymouth and many other towns	462
But there were always residents who were not proprietors	464
This body kept increasing, while the proprietors remained fixed	465
This led in many towns to struggles between non-commoners and commoners	466

CHAPTER XII

THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE CORPORATE COLONIES

Taxable property and taxes in the corporate colonies	468
Payment of taxes in kind	469
Direct taxes	470
A development from assessments on stockholders	470
The “rate”	470
The rate was a general property tax	471
Upon what it was levied	471
With the rate was combined a poll tax and sometimes a form of income tax	472

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	page
Levies on incomes appear in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven	472
Levy of the country rate by quotas on towns	472
In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven it became a penny in the pound	473
In this form it became approximately a fixed sum	473
Multiples and fractions of rates	474
The poll tax changed accordingly	474
System of assessing and collecting rates	474
County rates	476
Indirect taxes	477
Export duties of slight importance except in Plymouth	477
A tonnage or powder duty was levied in Massachusetts	477
Import duties by far the most important	477
Levied on liquors and general merchandise	478
Excise on retailing of liquors	478
Levies on mackerel fishery and on drift whales at Cape Cod	478
Indirect taxes in Connecticut and Rhode Island	479
Administration of the customs	480
The collector in Massachusetts and his duties	480
Customs officers in Connecticut	481
Expenditures	481
Chief object of expenditure was defence	481
This involved payment for soldiers, officers, forts, and supplies	481
Heavy expenditures in connection with Philip’s war	482
Pension system in Massachusetts and Plymouth	483
Development of a system of salaries for officials	483
Gratuities and special grants for public service	483
Entries relating to gratuities and salaries in Plymouth	487
Payment of colonial agents	488
Support of ministry, churches, and schools	489
Miscellaneous expenditures	490
Appropriations and payments from the public chest	491
Degree to which appropriation acts were specific	491
Development of the office of colony treasurer	491
Accounting by the treasurers	493
Legislative committees of audit	493
Office of auditor general in Massachusetts, 1645-1657	494
Act for auditing accounts in Rhode Island, 1670	494

CHAPTER XIII

THE SYSTEM OF DEFENCE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

General conditions affecting defence	496
Provisions of the Massachusetts charter	496
Assumption of similar powers by the other colonies	496
The militant spirit of the Puritans	497

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	page
Subordination of the military to the civil power	497
Lack of genuine military training and experience among the colonists	498
The militia system	499
Based on the assize of arms	499
Regulations for keeping of arms, armor, and ammunition	499
The pike retained till Philip’s war	501
The matchlock and firelock muskets	501
Trained bands or militia companies of the towns	502
The clerk of the band	503
Troopers and their equipment.	504
Trainings, their frequency	505
Classes which were liable to trainings and exempt from trainings	506
Regimental trainings for horse and foot	507
Regulations for trainings in each of the respective colonies	507
Constables’ watches in the towns	509
Regulations for giving alarms	509
Regimenting of the militia in Massachusetts	510
The council of war	511
The sergeant-major and shire lieutenant.	512
The sergeant-major general	512
The surveyor-general of arms	513
No permanently organized commissariat.	514
During the seventeenth century in no corporate colony except Massachusetts was the militia regimented	515
Forts, stockades, and garrison houses	516
The distribution of forts among the towns	516
The “barricade” in Boston	517
Early history of the defences on Castle island	518
Garrison houses	520
Their increase and distribution during Philip’s war	520
Stockades vs. garrison houses	521
Military administration	521
Regulated by acts of the general court	521
Controlled by the governor, assistants, and special councils and commissions	521
Special councils of war	522
In Massachusetts	522
In Plymouth	523
In Connecticut	524
Method of filling military offices	524
Permanence of tenure	526

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CHAPTER XIV

INDIAN RELATIONS, PHILIP’S WAR

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Indian relations in general	527
Indian policy had to be worked out immediately and on the spot	527
Origin and location of Indian tribes	527
Method of extinguishing Indian titles to land	529
Regulations of trade with the Indians	530
Trade in arms, ammunition, and liquors	530
Watchfulness in relation to feuds and danger of Indian attacks	532
Development of a protectorate over the Indians	533
A result in part of the Pequot war and of the alliance of Uncas with the English	533
Formation of a Pequot reservation in Connecticut	536
The Golden Hill reservation	536
In Massachusetts a similar development was caused by the missionary work of Eliot	536
Reservations of praying Indians in Massachusetts	537
Similar reservations in Plymouth	539
Missionary efforts in Connecticut	539
Conditions which occasioned Philip’s war	540
Effect of the advance of English settlements	540
Early dealings between Philip and Plymouth	540
Massachusetts and the other colonies interpose	541
Philip fights to avoid a protectorate	542
This is a war between whites and unassisted natives	542
The New England frontier	543
Numerical strength of the Indians	543
Conditions under which joint action of the colonies was possible	544
Character of military operations	545
First phase of the war	546
Local conflict near Mount Hope	546
Armed negotiation with the Narragansetts	548
Second phase of the war	549
Flight of Philip from Pocasset	549
Uprising of the Nipmucks of central Massachusetts	550
Encounter near Brookfield	550
Extension of the war to the Connecticut valley	551
Connecticut drawn into the conflict	551
Relations between authorities at Hartford and the Massachusetts valley towns	551
Encounters at Northfield and Deerfield	554
Policy of expeditions vs. garrisons	554
Attack on Springfield. Retirement of Pynchon from command	556
Appleton succeeds. His policy of defence	556
Relations between Appleton and the Connecticut authorities	558
Operations in eastern Massachusetts	560

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	page
Third phase of the war: uprising of Narragansetts	560
The joint expedition of December, 1675	560
The “swamp fight”	562
Active alliance between Narragansetts and Nipmucks	564
The “hungry march” of January, 1676	565
Desolating attacks on many towns of central Massachusetts	566
Continued operations in the Connecticut valley, Turner’s Falls	566
Capture and death of Canonchet	567
Measures of defence in Plymouth colony	568
Operations in central Massachusetts	569
Raids through the Narragansett country	570
Collapse of Indian resources. Death of Philip	571
Fourth phase of the war	572
Early attacks on the northeastern settlements	572
Narragansetts and Nipmucks join northern Indians, summer of 1676	573
Stratagem of Major Waldron	573
Prolongation of hostilities till Treaty of Casco, 1678. Peace	574
The war greatly strengthened English control over the Indians	574
Plymouth law of 1682	574
Treatment of the praying Indians by Massachusetts during the war	575
The praying Indians after the war	676
Connecticut extends policy of reservations after the war	576

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INTRODUCTION

It is the purpose of the author of the work, of which these volumes form a part, to trace the growth of the British-American colonies as institutions of government and as parts of a great colonial system. The beginnings of that system, in one of its phases, will be passed in review.

In order properly to accomplish this task a discriminating use must be made of much known material. The political and social sciences have now reached such development that it is impossible to present in a single view all known aspects of any period of history. A choice must be made between those which are distinctly political and those that are social, and upon the one or the other the emphasis must be laid. This should be done not in a narrow or exclusive spirit, but with a due regard to the fact that political events and forms of government are very largely the product of social causes, while institutions in their turn are the avenues through which social forces act. In this work attention will be specially directed to forms of government and to the forces and events from which their development has sprung. Material of a social or economic nature will be utilized not directly for its own sake, but for a light which it may throw on political growth. In other words, an attempt will be made to interpret early American history in the terms of public law. The treatment of material will be subordinated to that end.

In this fact will be found a leading justification for the existence of the book itself. General histories of the period we have, and additions to their number are not infrequently made. Constitutional histories of the United States have been written, but no one has hitherto undertaken to produce an institutional history of the American colonies.

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To all serious students, however, it must be clear that without research in that direction the period can never be properly understood. A correct view of forms of colonial government, of the relations between the church and the civil power in the colonies, of the legal relations between the colonies and the mother country, and of other, but similar, questions, is absolutely fundamental. The time has come when we must know in some connected way how the Atlantic, so to speak, was institutionally bridged; in other words, we must know under what forms English institutions were reproduced on the American continent, and how, if at all, they were modified by the influence of kindred European peoples who settled near or among the English colonists. Their slow unfolding and change must be traced and an effort must be made to ascertain how far this was due to internal causes, and to what degree it was produced by pressure from the home government. The origin of American institutions is not to be found wholly in those documents and principles which originated in the second half of the eighteenth century, but as well in certain earlier forms which had undergone steady development for a century and a half before the date of independence. These forms in their growth illustrate and reveal at the same time one of the most important phases of British colonization.

This fact suggests a further distinction which must be observed in the treatment of the subject. Colonization, at least in modern times, means the reproduction of dependencies. In the study of the process of colonization attention must be fixed not only upon the colony or dependency itself, but on the relations which it bears to the parent community or state whence it sprang. The nature of colonies themselves, and of the historical process which gives rise to them, suggests the two main divisions of the subject. The earlier writers on the period, with one or two exceptions, have concerned themselves almost wholly with the colonies, and have failed to give a clear or continuous account of their relations with the home government. No systematic attempt has been made to ascertain what the constitutional law and practice of the old British colonial

xxvii

empire was, or to set it forth in its historical development. In no book can a satisfactory description be found of the organs of the British government which were employed in colonial administration, or of the functions which they performed. The principles of British policy have never been adequately discussed. In a word, the history of British colonial administration, so far as it affected the American colonies, has yet to be written; one might almost say that the materials for it have yet to be collected. But it is evident that the neglect of this side of our development during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is a defect almost as serious as would be the omission of federal relations in United States history. One side of the story is left untold or is referred to as something foreign and inimical to the colonies. In fact, it is the very essence of the colonial relation, and without it the meaning of the period is to a large extent lost. An attempt will be made in this work to bring out into something like their proper relief both the colonies with their institutions and policies, and the system of imperial control which was exercised over them.

The main outline of the subject, the key to the history of the period as a whole, is furnished by the thought just expressed—the colonies as they were in themselves and in their relation to the sovereign power from which their existence sprang. The student of colonial institutions is concerned with only those two subjects; they are all-inclusive. Under the one or the other will fall every other minor topic which he will find it necessary to discuss. He will classify the colonies not according to their location or to their social characteristics, but according to the forms of government which existed within them. This he will find to be determined by the form of their executives and by the constitutional relations which existed between the executives and the legislatures, as the legislature developed in each colony. The main divisions of his subject will be suggested by the relations in which the colonies stood to the home government. The tendencies of historical development during the period he will find in the changes which came about in those relations and also in the internal organization of the

xxviii

colonies themselves. From this point of view the unfolding relations between sovereignty and liberty will be duly illustrated.

Institutionally considered, the history of the American colonies falls into two phases or periods. The two phases appear in the system of chartered colonies and the system of royal provinces, with the transition from one to the other. This comprises all there is in the constitutional history of that period. The meaning of the period, its unity and diversity, the character of the colonies as special jurisdictions, as well as their relations with the sovereign imperial power, will become sufficiently clear if these subjects are properly treated. The fundamental trend of events during the period will also become evident.

By the chartered colonies is meant the corporate colonies of New England and the proprietary provinces. The term “chartered” signifies nothing as to the internal organization of the dependencies to which it is applied, but relates only to the method of their origin. They all originated in grants from the English crown, the privileges being conveyed through royal charters. Permissions to undertake voyages of discovery were issued in this form. All the colonies were founded under grants of this nature, and their development embodied the results contributed by private and local enterprise to the general movement. Their founders and settlers bore the risks, hardships, and losses which were incident to the beginnings of colonization. Their efforts, under authority from the English government, gave rise to a group of colonies which possessed variety of internal organization and enjoyed a large degree of independence. They were emphatically special jurisdictions, and their founders and inhabitants exhibited all the love for corporate liberty which characterizes the history of such jurisdictions. The corporate colonies of New England were practically commonwealths and developed with scarcely any recognition of the sovereignty of England. Their ecclesiastical polity differed from that of England. Their land system and the relations between their executives and legislatures were peculiar to themselves. They founded a confederation without

xxix

the consent of the home government, taking advantage of the civil troubles in England for the purpose.

Of the proprietary provinces, the earliest were founded by trading companies resident in England, and at the outset joint management of land and trade were prominent characteristics of their policy. This, however, soon passed away and left a body of free tenants. The later proprietary provinces were founded by individuals or boards of proprietors, through whom political rights passed to the inhabitants. In some of these provinces the proprietors and their appointees retained at the beginning large powers in their own hands, and only gradually did these come to be shared by the people through their representatives in the lower house of the legislature. In others the proprietors at the beginning admitted the representatives of the colonists to a large, or even the largest, share of power. Thus varieties of a common type appear prominently in this class of provinces; institutions shade off into one another.

Before the close of the seventeenth century, however, all the colonies of this type had suffered temporary eclipse, and nearly all of them had disappeared. Royal provinces had taken their place. This was the most important and significant transition in American history previous to the colonial revolt. It was effected in part by causes operative in the colonies themselves and in part by pressure from the home government. Internal changes were chiefly active in the proprietary provinces, and least so in the corporate colonies. The latter attained at the outset an organization which suited their needs and temper. Under it for nearly half a century they enjoyed de facto self-government, and they were under no temptation to change it for anything different. In the proprietary provinces the conditions were by no means stable. The inefficient administration of many of the proprietors, the narrow pseudo-dynastic policy of others, the confusion which sometimes resulted from doubt as to the governmental or territorial rights of proprietors, not infrequently led the ^co^lonists to prefer government by the crown. Against not a few phases of proprietary government, when at its best, the people were always protesting, with the result that gradually

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the powers of the proprietor were limited, and that thereby the institutions and political life of the province were broadened and strengthened.

But the most important cause of the disappearance of the chartered colonies, whether they were corporations or provinces, was pressure from the home government. The treatment of this subject leads necessarily to the discussion of the powers and functions of the British government so far as they were exercised in colonial administration, the policy which the imperial government adopted toward its dependencies, and the relation which it bore to the chartered colonies in particular. From the point of view of administrative organization the fact of chief importance connected with the system of chartered colonies is this, that under that system no provision was made for an imperial executive resident in the colonies. For. this reason, when the home government adopted a comprehensive policy for the colonies, it found itself hampered in the execution of it by the lack of officials of its own who were resident in America, the place where, as things then were, much of the most important administrative work must be done. In many ways the chartered colonies obstructed, by a course of passive resistance, the enforcement of the policy which the home government thought it wise to support. When viewed from the imperialist standpoint, looseness and inefficiency seemed to characterize much that was done by the chartered colonies. Their tendencies toward an independent course, it was thought, should be checked. Greater regard for general interests, it was held, should be secured in the spheres of commercial relations, imperial defence, and the administration of justice, while in New England the pride and exclusiveness of the Puritans should be curbed to such an extent that a foothold might be obtained for representatives of the English Church.

Of the fact that, toward the close of the seventeenth century, this was the view of substantially all Englishmen who were largely concerned in colonial administration, there can be no doubt. Whether it was a statesmanlike view of the case, this is not the place to inquire. It is sufficient for

xxxi

present purposes to know that, under the circumstances, it was a natural conclusion of the administrative mind. Its adoption, moreover, was the signal for an attack on the chartered colonies individually and as a system. Such an attack had begun as early as 1624, when Virginia became a royal province, and would have continued, had it not been for the temporary overthrow of the Stuarts. Toward the close of the reign of Charles II it was resumed and was persisted in for a generation. In combination with other causes which were operative exclusively within the colonies themselves or among their proprietors, it temporarily substituted royal provinces for all, and permanently for all except four, of the chartered colonies. The four that remained—Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, together with Georgia, which was settled in 1732 and continued for twenty years as a proprietary province—it subjected in part to the system of administrative routine which developed in England during the early years of the eighteenth century. Thus the transition from the system of chartered colonies to that of royal provinces was effected.

From the beginning of the eighteenth century until the war for independence the royal province was altogether the prevailing form of colonial government. It differed from the proprietary province in the fact that the king was its proprietor, while a royal executive and judicial system existed within it. Its existence was closely bound up with the system of colonial administration in general. The relation between the crown and its legislature and officials was immediate. It was not a special jurisdiction in the extreme sense which attached to that term when it was applied to the chartered colonies. In short, the advent of the royal provinces as a system was an important step toward imperial unity, and at the same time toward uniformity in the internal organization of the colonies themselves. For these reasons the royal provinces cannot be discussed apart from the system of imperial control, as is the case with the chartered colonies; but the two are parts or aspects of the same whole. As the nature of the royal province has not until recently

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been understood, and as, until lately, no systematic attention has been paid to the period of our history when it was the leading form of colonial government, the treatment of that subject must be almost entirely original. But it is in some respects the more important phase of our colonial development, and a knowledge of the precedents which were slowly established within the royal provinces is indispensable to an understanding of the Revolution. The constitutional questions which were at issue during that crisis originated largely within the royal provinces and concerned their structure and workings. Amid the action and reaction of provincial assemblies and executives, the executives being guided by the acts of parliament and the royal commissions and instructions to which they were subject, and all feeling more or less keenly the pressure of the long commercial and military struggle with France, the colonies and mother country slowly approached the point when claims and policies, which from the outset had been divergent, clashed, and it was found impossible to harmonize them.

American colonial history, especially when studied from the institutional standpoint, is not limited or narrow in its bearings. Its outlook is broad, and the issues with which it is connected affect deeply the history of the world at large. Viewed in one connection, it is the record of the beginnings of English-American institutions. Looked at from another point of view, it fills an important place in the history of British colonization. It leads outward in two directions, toward the history of the greatest of federal republics, and toward the later and freer development of the greatest of commercial empires. If the colonial and the imperial forces which were operating can be fully traced and clearly revealed, the significance of the period in its two-fold connection will be made apparent.

Table of Contents Vol. I, Pt. I, Ch. I →

Author:	Osgood, Herbert L.
Title:	The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century.
Citation:	New York: Columbia University Press, 1904.
Subdivision:	Volume I. Front Matter.
	HTML by Dinsmore Documentation * Added February 10, 2004
	Table of Contents Vol. I, Pt. I, Ch. I →

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

PREFACE

CONTENTS