CONNECTICUT; RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATION; NEW HAVEN; MAINE;
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The early history of the group of colonies which is now to engage the
attention is less interesting than that of either Virginia or
Massachusetts. There is not the glamour of a first colony as in the case
of Virginia; the men were not Pilgrim Fathers in the true sense as in
Plymouth; the prosperity of Massachusetts, the rivalries of Maryland,
and the Spanish danger in the Carolinas, are all wanting in this portion
of New England. There is therefore not only a lack of romance, but there
is too a pettiness in the quarrels which continually occurred in these
colonies.
The New England Company, when once it had started an active existence,
made every effort to extract some advantage from the land which had been
granted to it. In 1631 Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Brooke and others
obtained from the Company a tract of land in the rich valley of the
Connecticut River. Very little, however, came of this scheme; and the
first true settlement was made against the strenuous opposition of the
Dutch, by a party from New Plymouth. A fresh influx of settlers came
from the already rising colony of Massachusetts, for they had found
that the land was somewhat sterile, at any rate not sufficiently fertile
to support them all. The settlers on the Connecticut came from the town
of Dorchester, and planted themselves at Windsor, to the disgust of the
New Plymouth settlers, who were at last forced to retire. This proved,
as often enough in future years, that the unscrupulous and overbearing
temper of the men of Massachusetts earned for them a reward which they
did not deserve. The patentees, seeing their rights invaded by these
Dorchester filibusters, sent out a small party to establish their
privileges, but these in turn were routed, and the men of Massachusetts
were left in possession, though contrary to the wishes of their
mother-settlement. When, however, the versatile John Winthrop, son of
the more statesmanlike Governor, arrived with a commission as Governor
of the new colony on behalf of the patentees, Massachusetts ceased to
complain, and allowed the secession to become complete. Within two years
the new colony of Connecticut had a population of eight hundred men,
women and children, grouped in three towns, Hartford, Wethersfield, and
Windsor. The freemen of these towns declared in 1638 that their
constitution was the same as that of Massachusetts; but there was one
great dissimilarity, for no religious test was imposed. This
constitution occupies a famous place in the world's history, for not
only was it the first written constitution that actually created a
government, but it has also been characterised as "the oldest political
constitution in America."[141] By means of this important document,
issued in January 1639, all possible claims to sovereignty on the part
of Massachusetts were placed on one side for ever; or was there any
reference to the sovereignty of Charles I. or the home parliament. The
document was merely an agreement amongst the colonists themselves, and
by abstaining from any religious tests, or intolerance, they earned the
gratitude and admiration of mankind, and throughout the whole colonial
period bravely sustained this liberal spirit which had distinguished
them so early in their history.
Before accomplishing this great work the colonists had a hard fight for
existence against the Pequod Indians. As early as 1633 a Virginian
ship's captain, Stone, was killed by this tribe near the mouth of the
Connecticut River; two years later John Oldham, a trader, was also
murdered by a party of Narragansetts inhabiting Block Island. It was
evident that the redskins must be taught a severe lesson if Englishmen
were to live in peace. Endecott, with a small force from Massachusetts,
was despatched to punish the Narragansetts, but he utterly failed in his
attack upon the island tribe. In retaliation the settlers in Connecticut
were surrounded by the murderous Pequods, and cut off from the sea;
fortunately, Roger Williams, having the confidence and goodwill of the
redskins, managed, at this time of trial, to obtain the neutrality of
the Narragansetts. This was a great advantage, as Massachusetts deserted
the new settlement, leaving it to fight its own battles. Leaders with
plenty of courage were not wanting, and Captains Mason and Underhill,
with ninety men, marched against the Pequods. Two hundred of these
tribesmen had attacked Wethersfield, and "having put poles in their
Conoos, as we put Masts in our boats, and upon them hung our English
mens and womens shirts and smocks in stead of sayles, and in way of
bravado came along in sight of us as we stood upon Seybrooke Fort."[142]
Captain John Mason was not the man to be discouraged by such warlike
displays, and with considerable strategy attacked them on the flank and
assaulted their chief stronghold. The action was a hot one, for although
only two Englishmen were slain, many were wounded, and six hundred
Pequods are reported to have fallen. The men of Connecticut were
desperate, and fighting for their lives. They were determined to
annihilate the Pequod tribe once for all, and to establish peace by
means of a sanguinary slaughter. Their actions may appear brutal, but
they were necessary as Captain John Underhill took care to explain.
"Great and dolefull was the bloudy sight to the view of young souldiers
that never had beene in Warre, to see so many soules lie gasping on the
ground so thicke in some places, that you could hardly passe along. It
may be demanded, Why should you be so furious (as some have said),
should not christians have more mercy and compassion? But I would refer
you to David's warre, when a people is growne to such a height of bloud
and sinne against God and man, and all confederates in the action, there
hee hath no respect to persons, but harrowes them and sawes them and
puts them to the sword."[143] This massacre and total destruction of the
Pequods had the important effect of reversing the territorial relations
between the English and the Indians; direct communication between the
mouth of the Connecticut and Boston was now made possible, and some form
of union could only be a matter of time.
As has already been shown Connecticut did join in such an union when it
entered into the Confederation of New England in 1643, and it was as a
member of that group that it passed through the period of the civil
wars. With the Restoration the ambitions of the settlers increased, and
in 1661 John Winthrop went to England to obtain a charter which would
define the boundaries of the colony, and include within it the smaller
settlement of New Haven, the members of which protested in vain. The
patent of incorporation was granted in 1662, and the document concludes
with the words which illustrate the interesting but absurd legal fiction
under which the King granted land in America. The Governor and Company
of the English colonists of Connecticut are to hold "the same of his
Majesty, his heirs and successors as of the manor of East Greenwich in
free and common soccage, yielding the fifth part of all gold or silver
ore."[144] So ridiculous was this fiction that the colonists were
actually supposed to be represented in the home parliament by the member
of the borough containing the manor of East Greenwich. It is not
surprising that even as early as this period these rigid Presbyterians
felt that if the actions of the home government endangered their welfare
they would be justified in ignoring that authority, and relying only
upon the common weal as supreme law in the colony. But though they
regarded with jealousy any attempt to limit their rights, they were too
weak, owing to internal dissension, to throw off the yoke of the home
authorities. They had in no way added to their strength by the
incorporation of New Haven, but rather increased their weakness. This
unstable condition is illustrated in particular, first by the
emigration of the people of the town of Branford, who, armed with their
civil and ecclesiastical records, preferred to occupy lands near the
Delaware rather than stay under the jurisdiction of Connecticut; and
secondly by the description of Connecticut itself, as recorded by the
Governor, William Leete, in 1680. He shows that for the last seven years
the popularity of the colony had evidently declined in England, for only
one or two settlers had come from the home country each year. The
population had certainly increased by about five hundred in eight years;
from 2050 in 1671 to 2507 in 1679; but there was very little unity of
feeling or purpose owing to the religious sects being peculiarly mixed,
some being Presbyterians, some "strict congregational men," some "more
large congregational men," some Quakers, and four or five are classified
by the Governor as "seven-day men."[145]
For twenty-three years the people of Connecticut imagined that they
enjoyed the benefits of the charter gained by Winthrop in 1662, "ye
advantages and priviledges whereof made us indeed a very happy people;
and by ye blessing of God upon our endeavours we have made a
considerable improvement of your dominions here, which with ye defense
of ourselves from ye force of both forraign and intestine enemies has
cost us much expence of treasure & blood."[146] James II., however,
cared for none of these things; the charter was forfeited in 1685; and
like Massachusetts, Connecticut felt the heavy hand of the too zealous
Sir Edmund Andros. Being "commissionated by his Majesty,"[147] Andros
appeared with sixty grenadiers in 1687 at Hartford, and took over the
government. On his capture, as already recorded, the people of
Connecticut in May 1689 joyfully fell back upon their old form of
government under the late charter, the forfeiture of which had been
declared illegal in England.
Owing to King William's War, Connecticut was within an ace of losing its
government, and for purposes of defence being united, in 1690, with its
stronger neighbour New York; the proposals fell through, and the fears
of the citizens were set at rest by a legal confirmation of their
constitution. The colony from this time undoubtedly advanced. Its system
of government was active and vigorous; each township controlled its own
affairs, and in the early years of the eighteenth century local
government lay entirely in the hands of the Select-men, to the exclusion
of English officials. At the same time education was encouraged; a
college was established by the clergy in 1698, which found its final
home at Newhaven in 1717. Before this printing had been undertaken, the
first press being erected in 1709 at New London; the immediate work done
was not of a first-rate character, but it was the beginning of better
things. At the same time it is only fair to point out that the colony
was cursed by the presence of turbulent and quarrelsome negro and
mulatto slaves; it was regarded with suspicion by the English governors
as a protector of pirates; and it certainly must be blamed for its
niggardly contributions of both men and money in the great expeditions
against the French.
Connecticut was not the only settlement that was partly formed by a
secession from the parent colony of Massachusetts; nor was it an
isolated example of colonial establishments, for during the same period
several other colonies grew up along the Eastern seaboard. The Reverend
Roger Williams, after his banishment from Massachusetts in October 1635,
purchased land from the Indians, and with twelve other householders
settled at Providence, by the advice of Mr Winslow, the Governor of New
Plymouth. Thus Williams was able to describe himself many years later as
"by God's mercy the first beginner of the mother town of Providence and
of the Colony of Rhode Island."[148] Williams' settlers immediately
started a simple form of government, by which all freemen were to hold
quarterly meetings and settle judicial questions, while five Select-men
were to transact all executive business. Following Williams' example,
Mrs Anne Hutchinson, as another refugee from the intolerance of
Massachusetts, came to much the same district in 1637. She purchased
from the Indians the island of Aquedneck, or, as it was afterwards
known, Rhode Island. Her heretical followers soon founded the town of
Portsmouth, and here the government was carried on by William Coddington
as judge. Mrs Hutchinson, having now time for inventing new heresies,
almost immediately caused a fresh secession, and some of her hitherto
ardent admirers, finding her new doctrines intolerable, left Portsmouth,
and under Coddington established themselves at Newport. The colonies
were reunited in 1640, with Coddington as Governor, and a regular
government was instituted composed of two "assistants" from each
township.
Providence and Rhode Island were regarded with dislike and suspicion by
all the other colonies, being classified as the asylum for sectaries,
the hot-bed of anarchy, and the true home of extreme democracy. This
attitude is not surprising when it is remembered that both colonies owed
their existence to parties of religious outcasts. Rhode Island
nevertheless prospered, although throughout the first few years of its
existence it was the centre of disorder, bickerings, and factious
quarrels. At the bottom of most of the trouble was Samuel Gorton, a
contentious and troublesome man, leader of a band of fanatics, who had
forced themselves upon a party of Williams' settlers at Pawtuxet. The
settlers appealed to Massachusetts to remove him as "a proud and
pestilent seducer";[149] and had indeed placed themselves under the
jurisdiction of that colony for this very purpose. In 1643, Gorton, of
"insolent and riotous carriage," with nine of his followers, was
imprisoned for some months at Boston, for blasphemy. The quarrel,
however, did not end here. It was carried by Gorton to England, where he
appealed to the Parliamentary Commissioners, who commanded the General
Court to allow Gorton and his band to dwell in peace. This, at last, the
Massachusetts' government consented to do with contemptuous
indifference, but when Gorton pleaded for their protection against the
Indians he pleaded in vain.
In the same year as the conclusion of the Gorton controversy,
Providence, Portsmouth and Newport, combined into a properly constituted
community. This was the outcome of a visit paid to England in 1643 by
Roger Williams, who asked for a definite charter of incorporation. In
1647, therefore, a general assembly of freemen, governor and assistants,
with a court of commissioners, was established for the "Colony of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantation." At first the assembly met in the
different towns by rotation, and the method of voting was most
complicated and non-progressive; every matter had to be voted on in each
town, and was to be considered as lost unless it was carried by a
majority in every town. So complex a system proved inadequate, and in
1664 an ordinary representative assembly was created. What was equally
important and showed Rhode Island to be more enlightened than most of
the other colonies, was the clear announcement of the doctrine of
freedom of conscience to all who "live civilly." To the annoyance of
Massachusetts the Rhode Island authorities consistently adhered to this
doctrine, and refused to join in the barbarous persecutions of the
Quakers.
The settlers expressly thanked Charles II. for sending Commissioners,
and made great demonstration of their loyalty and obedience in 1665.
Such actions are rather surprising in a Puritan colony, but they may
have been due to the King's grant of a charter, two years before, in
which they obtained a definition of their boundaries. The colony of this
period was described with some minuteness by the Commissioners, who
called attention to the fact that Quakers and Generalists were admitted,
and that owing to the variety of sects there were no places for the
worship of God, "but they sometimes associate in one house, and
sometimes in another."[150] The colony certainly did not advance with
the strides that had been made by Massachusetts, and the people were
still extremely unpopular with the other colonists, being denounced on
one occasion as "scum and dregs." Nevertheless under the government of
Peleg Sandford in 1680, Rhode Island was a small, happy, self-sufficing
colony. The chief town was Newport, built almost entirely of timber. As
to exterior commerce it seems to have been non-existent; "wee have no
shippinge belonginge to our Colloney, but only a few sloopes," and "as
for Merchants wee have none, but the most of our Colloney live
comfortably by improvinge the wildernesse."[151]
This happy state of affairs was somewhat rudely disturbed by James II.'s
action in depriving Rhode Island and Providence Plantation of that
charter of which they were so proud, and which gave "full liberty of
conscience provided that the pretence of liberty extend not to
licentiousnesse."[152] James' harsh treatment did not last for long, and
to the joy of the inhabitants after the Revolution the action of the
Papist King was declared illegal. A time of peace and prosperity now
followed. From 1696 to 1726 Rhode Island increased in wealth and
population, under the annually elected Governor, Samuel Cranston, who,
during these thirty years of office, proved himself a firm, popular, and
successful administrator.
During the year in which Rhode Island was established, another colony,
New Haven, was founded to the South. In 1637 Theophilus Eaton, a leader
in the Baltic Company, and "of great esteem for religion,"[153]
together with a party of settlers who were wealthier men than most
colonists, settled at the mouth of the Quinipiac River, facing Long
Island. The religious beliefs of the settlers were of the most bigoted
kind; their freemen were strictly limited to Church members; and their
minister, "the reverend, judicious and godly Mr John Davenport,"[154]
asserted that the scripture was sufficient guide for all civil affairs.
They soon found "a fit place to erect a Toune, which they built in very
little time, and with very faire houses and compleat streets; but in a
little time they over-stockt it with Chattell, although many of them did
follow merchandizing and Maritime affairs, but their remoteness from
Mattachusets Bay, where the chiefe traffique lay, hindered them
much."[155] Ten years after its foundation, the colony was seen to be
commercially on the decline, although other towns had grown up such as
Guildford, Milford, and Stamford. They were all governed as one town
without representation, and the executive was placed in the hands of an
elected Governor and four assistants. The commercial depression did not
last for long; trade began to increase again, and Newhaven became a
flourishing state, the inhabitants of which were noted for the
magnificence of their buildings and their astonishing opulence.
After the Restoration the colony fell under the displeasure of the
Crown. Two of the regicides, William Goffe and Edward Whalley had,
first, come to Boston, then to Connecticut, and finally to New Haven.
The home government ordered their arrest, and Winthrop was very active
in sending these orders to the Governors of the different colonies,
including the Governor of New Haven, who knew that these men had come
within his rights of jurisdiction but took no steps to effect their
arrest. For some time the King had had strong doubts as to the loyalty
of New England as a whole; here, in any case, was a colony that needed
watching; and so, in 1662, as has already been shown, New Haven was
absorbed by Connecticut. There can be no doubt that Charles had now
struck two hearty blows against the much vaunted New England
Confederation. His refusal to allow the ill-treatment of the Quakers,
and his punishment of New Haven, were sufficient to make the
Confederation nothing more important than a triennial meeting of federal
commissioners, who sat till 1684, but whose powers were nil, whose
mutual beliefs were non-existent, and who were only in complete concord
in resistance to the Indian raids.
Maine was yet another colony of New England, which had a purely
independent foundation, but which was destined to be absorbed by its
more prosperous neighbour. As early as 1623, Levitt established a
settlement on Casco Bay;[156] while at the same time, Sir Ferdinando
Gorges, "the Father of English Colonisation in North America,"[157] made
a plantation at Saco. He followed this up by the formation of a company
in 1631, but four years later the whole territory then called New
Somersetshire was granted to Gorges. Five years later he received from
Charles I. a charter granting to him "all that part and portion of New
England lying and between the River Pascataway ... to Kenebeck even as
far as the head thereof."[158] Sir Ferdinando very soon drew up a most
grotesque constitution for his colony, creating almost more officials
than there were citizens, and whose titles were very magnificent, but
quite meaningless. In exactly the same district the New England Company
claimed to have proprietary rights, and it was not long before many
semi-independent settlements were made in the neighbourhood of Gorges
Colony.
The Civil War having broken out in 1642 Sir Ferdinando Gorges was too
much engaged at home to pay any attention to Maine, "for when he was
between three and four score years of age did personally engage in our
Royal Martyr's service; and particularly in the siege of Bristow, and
was plundered and imprisoned several times, by reason whereof he was
discountenanced by the pretended Commissioners for foreign
plantations."[159] Soon after his exploits at Bristol, Gorges died after
proving himself a man of resolute purpose, but endowed with narrow
ideas. He had certainly taken an active part in the struggle for gain
and position amongst a large number of the most worthless and servile
courtiers, but still around him and his memory there is a halo of
grandeur, borrowed perhaps from the generation to which he really
belonged, nevertheless reflecting upon his person something of that
glory that ought to belong to him who was the last figure of that grand
procession of giants which numbered amongst its train, Gilbert and
Drake, Smith and Raleigh.
No sooner had Gorges passed away than Edward Rigby claimed the whole of
Maine under a grant from the New England Company. Against this the
heirs of Sir Ferdinando put in a strong counter-claim; the decision
between the disputants was left to the authorities in Massachusetts, who
divided the towns into equal halves, three being allotted to Rigby, and
three to the Gorges claimant. The inhabitants of the colony were not
consulted, and in 1649 they took the matter into their own hands and
declared themselves a body politic with an elective governor and
council. But this was not to last. In the early days of the settlement
the colonists showed no signs of religious bigotry or of any religious
views at all, but gradually they came to sympathise with both the
religion and the political opinions of Massachusetts, so that between
1651 and 1658 the townships of Maine readily accepted the authority of
the greater colony.
Soon after the Restoration, Ferdinando Gorges, the grandson of the
original patentee, sought to assert his authority over Maine, but his
exertions were not supported by the Crown, and he was unsuccessful. In
1665 the home authorities set up a provisional government in the colony,
but concerning its history very little is known. According to the
Commissioners of that year the inhabitants themselves petitioned that
they might continue under his Majesty's immediate government. They
expressed their gratitude to Charles II. for his "fatherly care of them
after so long a death inflicted on their minds and fortunes by the
usurpation of the Massachusetts power,"[160] and they ask that the
insults of others towards them may be prevented for the future by the
appointment of Sir Robert Carr as their governor. But this statement
seems very improbable and can hardly have expressed the general wishes
of the people.
It is not surprising that Sir Robert Carr was anxious to obtain the
government of the colony, as from contemporary descriptions it appears
to have been a fertile and productive territory. "In these Provinces are
great store of wild ducks, geese, and deer, strawberries, raspberries,
gooseberries, barberries, bilberries, several sorts of oaks and pines,
chestnuts and walnuts, sometimes four or five miles together; the more
northerly the country, the better the timber is accounted."[161] The
true value of Maine was realised by William Dyre, who pointed out to
Charles II. the manifold advantages that he would gain if he purchased
Maine for himself. By such an action the King would have absolute
dominion over those seas and might settle a duty on all fisheries there;
at the same time he might very easily reduce the turbulent spirits in
Massachusetts "to a ready subjection," while enriching himself with
masts, tar, timber, etc., and thus "conduce to the safety of his
maritime affairs."[162] There were, however, other very different views
on Maine, and John Josselyn, an Englishman of good family, does not
speak well of either the country or its inhabitants, but there are
reasons for supposing that he may have been maliciously inclined. The
people of Maine in 1675 "may be divided," he writes, "into Magistrates,
Husbandmen or Planters, and fishermen; of the magistrates some be
Royalists, the rest perverse Spirits, the like are the planters and
fishers.... The planters are or should be restless pains takers,
providing for their Cattle, planting and sowing of Corn ... but if they
be of a droanish disposition as some are, they become wretchedly poor
and miserable.... They have a custom of taking Tobacco, sleeping at
noon, sitting long at meals sometimes four times in a day, and now and
then drinking a dram of the bottle extraordinarily."[163]
The people of Maine may have been all that Josselyn said, but it is far
from likely. They were sufficiently alert to resent the government of
the Crown, and in 1668 the majority of the settlers acquiesced in the
reassertion of authority by Massachusetts. For ten years the quarrel
between Ferdinando Gorges and Massachusetts continued, but in 1678,
although his grandfather is reported to have spent £20,000 on the
colony, the grandson's claims were extinguished by the purchase of his
rights for £1250. From this moment Maine ceased to exist as a separate
colony, and continued incorporated with Massachusetts for many years.
The last of this early group of colonies was New Hampshire, which, in
turn, like its weaker brethren, became amalgamated with the colony of
Massachusetts. Early in the reign of Charles I., Captain John Mason,
with Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others, formed for colonial purposes the
Laconia Company. When Gorges was granted rights in Maine in 1635,
Captain John Mason also received a grant of territory to the south,
where a settlement was formed, and though by no means a true political
community, was called New Hampshire. Mason died soon after the naming of
his colony and received no benefits from his grant, which had embraced
two earlier settlements: the first founded by David Thompson near the
Piscataqua; the second fifteen miles up the Cocheco, founded by Bristol
and Shrewsbury merchants, who had transferred their rights to Lord Saye
and Sele and Lord Brooke. It was in this latter stretch of territory
that purely independent settlements were made, such as Dover, Exeter,
and Hampton. The latter town, realising its weakness as an independent
community, soon chose to be regarded as within the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts.
The authorities of Massachusetts undoubtedly suffered from "earth
hunger," and the transfer of Hampton was merely the first of a series of
aggressions, for between 1642 and 1643 the other towns of New Hampshire
were swallowed within the greedy maw of the stronger colony. No
remonstrance came from England, for the people of the home country had
enough difficulties to contend with; while the Mason family appear to
have made no serious attempts to recover their rights. After the
Restoration, however, following the example of Ferdinando Gorges, the
heirs of Mason petitioned the Privy Council to restore to them the
rights and privileges contained in the grant of 1635. The law officers
of the Crown took the matter into serious consideration, and although
their verdict was against the Mason family, they declared at the same
time that the colony of New Hampshire was outside the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts, which had annexed it and wrongfully renamed it Norfolk.
This was one more blow for the New England Confederation and for
Massachusetts in particular. The King and his ministers were only too
pleased to have had such an opportunity, for the Royal Commissioners had
but recently accused Massachusetts of disloyalty. They had, in fact,
declared that unless the King punished the authorities, the
well-affected inhabitants would never dare to own themselves loyal
subjects. To better effect the total subjugation of the colony, one of
the Commissioners, Sir Robert Carr, proposed that he should be made
governor of New Hampshire, a proposal which shows only too clearly the
selfish aims of the Crown officials. The actual state of New Hampshire
did not seem to trouble the Commissioners, and whilst the bickering
between the home country and Massachusetts continued, the unfortunate
inhabitants of New Hampshire were suffering all the horrors of the
already mentioned King Philip's Indian war. For this reason the settlers
took the matter into their own hands and turned to the more powerful
colony of Massachusetts for assistance and protection. In 1678 the
inhabitants of Portsmouth and Dover supplicated the Crown to be kept
under the jurisdiction of the stronger colony. The petition from Dover
is particularly noteworthy because of its tawdry character. The
petitioners speak of the favour of his Majesty, "which like the sweet
influences of superior or heavenly bodies to the tender plants have
cherished us in our weaker beginnings, having been continued through
your special grace, under your Majesty's protection and government of
the Massachusetts, to which we voluntarily subjected ourselves many
years ago, yet not without some necessity in part felt for want of
government and in part feared upon the account of protection."[164] In
spite of this petition the Crown created New Hampshire a separate
province, with a council and representative assembly. The first governor
selected was John Cutts, "a very just and honest but ancient and infirm
man,"[165] and with his appointment the people of Massachusetts revoked
all former commissions.
The colony did not forget its old guardian, and looked upon it always
with loyal affection, a feeling which was intensified during the
tyrannical governorship of Edward Cranfield. From 1682 to 1685 this
man's disgraceful conduct was tolerated, but at last the men of New
Hampshire could bear his despotism no longer, broke into open rebellion,
and Cranfield fled for refuge to the West Indies. The desired result was
immediately obtained, for New Hampshire was reunited to Massachusetts.
This, however, was not to last for long, for after the Revolution in
England the proprietorship of New Hampshire was again debated. Samuel
Allen had purchased from the heirs of Captain Mason any rights which
they continued to imagine they possessed; and by the corrupt connivance
of an English official, Allen succeeded in obtaining a proprietary
governorship with a council partly nominated by the Crown and partly by
himself. It is a remarkable fact that, unlike the other colonies at this
time, New Hampshire obtained no charter. The only freedom allowed to its
inhabitants was the exercise of a few independent rights by means of the
representative assembly elected by the freeholders.
The acceptance of the Revolution in America marks an epoch of American
history. All the New England colonies had been established, and had
either proved themselves sturdy enough to stand alone, or had been
forced to find shelter beneath the wing of the more powerful Connecticut
or Massachusetts. The New England Confederation had been tried and
found wanting. The time for union was evidently not ripe, but this
embryo of the United States ceased to exist at identically the hour it
was most wanted. A union of all the colonies was what might have been
expected when French aggression and Canadian pluck taxed all the
resources of the colonists; the scheme of union, however, failed, and
the French had to be met in that haphazard and unprepared way in which,
it would appear from history, Englishmen are accustomed not only to meet
supreme danger, but to come through it with success.
FOOTNOTES:
[141] Bryce, _American Commonwealth_.
[142] Underhill, _Newes from America_ (1638).
[143] _Ibid._
[144] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 88.
[145] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 577.
[146] _Ibid._
[147] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1685-1688, p. 472.
[148] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1677-1680, p. 398.
[149] Quoted by Doyle, _Puritan Colonies_ (1887), vol. i. p. 249.
[150] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 343.
[151] Arnold, _History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations_ (1859).
[152] _Ibid._
[153] Winthrop, _History of New England_ (1853), vol. i. p. 226.
[154] Johnson, _A History of New England_, etc. (1654).
[155] _Ibid._
[156] _Mass. Hist. Col._, Series iii., vol. viii. p. 171.
[157] _American Historical Review_, vol. iv, No. 4, p. 683.
[158] Josselyn, _An Account of Two Voyages to New England_ (1675).
[159] _Ibid._
[160] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 315.
[161] _Calendar of State Papers_, Colonial, 1661-1668, p. 348.
[162] _Ibid._, 1669-1674, p. 579.
[163] Josselyn, _ut supra._
[164] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1677-1680, p. 211.
[165] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1677-1680, p. 488.