FOUNDING OF MASSACHUSETTS
(1630-1642)
Winthrop's government superseded Endicott's; but Winthrop, not liking
the appearance of the country around Salem, repaired to Charlestown
with most of the new-comers. Here, as elsewhere, there was much
sickness and death. Owing to the dearth of provisions it was found
necessary to free all the servants sent over within the last two years
at a cost of £16 or £20 each. The discouragement was reflected in the
return to England within a few months of more than a hundred persons
in the ships that brought them over.
The gloom of his surroundings caused Winthrop to set apart July 30 as
a day of prayer, and on that day Rev. John Wilson, after the manner of
proceeding the year before at Salem, entered into a church covenant
with Winthrop, Dudley, and Isaac Johnson, one of the assistants. Two
days later they associated with themselves five others; and more being
presently added, this third congregational church established in New
England, elected, August 27, John Wilson to be their teacher and
Increase Nowell to be ruling elder.[1]
Still the guise of loyalty to the church of England was for some time
maintained. In a letter to the countess of Lincoln, March 28, 1631,
the deputy governor, Thomas Dudley, one of the warmest of the
Puritans, repelled "the false and scandalous report," which those who
returned "the last year" had spread in England that "we are Brownists
in religion and ill affected to our state at home"; "and for our
further cleareinge," he said, "I truely affirme that I know noe one
person who came over with us the last yeare to be altered in his
judgment and affection eyther in ecclesiasticall or civill respects
since our comeinge hither."[2]
Winthrop and his assistants held their first formal session at
Charlestown, August 23, 1630, and took vigorous measures to
demonstrate their authority. Morton challenged attention on account
not only of his religious views and his friendship for Gorges, but of
his defiant attitude to the colony, and an order was issued that
"Morton, of Mount Wolliston, should presently be sent for by process."
Two weeks later his trial was had, and he was ordered "to be set into
the bilboes," and afterwards sent prisoner to England. To defray the
charges of his transportation, his goods were seized, and "for the
many wrongs he had done the Indians" his house was burned to the
ground,[3] a sentence which, according to Morton, caused the Indians
to say that "God would not love them that burned this good man's
house."[4]
Death was still playing havoc with the immigrants at Charlestown.
Several hundred men, women, and children were crowded together in a
narrow space, and had no better protection than tents, wigwams,
booths, and log-cabins. By December two hundred of the late arrivals
had perished, and among the dead were Francis Higginson, who had taken
a leading part in establishing the church at Salem, the first in
Massachusetts.[5] The severity of the diseases was ascribed to the
lack of good water at Charlestown, and, accordingly, the settlers
there broke up into small parties and sought out different places of
settlement.
On the other side of the Charles River was a peninsula occupied by
William Blackstone, one of the companions of Robert Gorges at
Wessagusset in 1626. It was blessed with a sweet and pleasant spring,
and was one of the places now selected as a settlement. September 7,
1630, the court of assistants gave this place the name of Boston; and
at the same court Dorchester and Watertown began their career under
legislative sanction.[6] Before winter the towns scattered through
Massachusetts were eight in number--Salem, Charlestown, Dorchester,
Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Lynn.[7]
October 19, 1630, a general court, the first in New England, was held
in Boston. The membership consisted of the governor, deputy, eight
assistants, and one or two others, for these were all at that time in
Massachusetts possessing the franchise of the company.[8] The former
officers were re-elected, and a resolution was adopted that "the
freemen should have the power to choose assistants when they are to be
chosen, and the assistants to choose from among themselves the
governor and his deputy." The rule implied a strong reluctance to
leave out of the board any person once elected magistrate.
From the last week in December to the middle of February, 1631, the
suffering in the colony was very great, especially among the poorer
classes, and many died. Were it not for the abundance of clams,
mussels, and fish gathered from the bay there might have been a
"starving time," like that of Jamestown in 1609. Winthrop appointed a
fast to be kept February 22, 1631; but February 5 the _Lyon_ arrived
with supplies, and a public thanksgiving was substituted for a public
fasting.[9]
From this time the colony may be said to have secured a permanent
footing. The court of assistants, who had suspended their sessions
during the winter, now began to meet again, and made many orders with
reference to the economic and social affairs of the colonists. There
were few natives in the neighborhood of the settlement, and
Chickatabot, their sachem, anxious to secure the protection of the
English against the Taratines, of Maine, visited Boston in April and
established friendly communications.[10] At the courts of elections of
1631, 1632, and 1633 Winthrop was re-elected governor. His conduct was
not deemed harsh enough by some people, and in 1634 Thomas Dudley
succeeded him. In 1635 Jonn Haynes became governor, and in 1636 Henry
Vane, known in English history as Sir Harry Vane, after which time the
governorship was restored to Winthrop.
Puritanism entered the warp and woof of the Massachusetts colony, and
a combination of circumstances tended to build up a theocracy which
dominated affairs. The ministers who came over were among the most
learned men of the age, and the influence which their talents and
character gave them was greatly increased by the sufferings and the
isolation of the church members, who were thus brought to confide all
the more in those who, under such conditions, dispensed religious
consolation. Moreover, the few who had at first the direction of civil
matters were strongly religious men, and inclined to promote the unity
of the church by all the means at hand.
We have noticed the turn of affairs given by Endicott at Salem, and
how Winthrop followed his example on his arrival at Charlestown. After
the court of assistants resumed their meetings in March, 1631, the
upbuilding of the theocracy was rapidly pushed. Various people deemed
inimical to the accepted state of affairs were punished with
banishment from the colony, and in some cases the penalties of
whipping, cropping of ears, and confiscation of estate were added. In
some cases, as that of Sir Christopher Gardiner, a secret agent of Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, there was reason for parting with these people; but
in other cases the principle of punishment was persecution and not
justice. There is a record of an order for reshipping to England six
persons of whose offence nothing more is recorded than "that they were
persons unmeet to inhabit here."[11]
The most decided enlargement of the power of the theocracy was made in
the general court which met at Boston in May, 1631, when it was
resolved that the assistants need not be chosen afresh every year, but
might keep their seats until removed by a special vote of the
freemen.[12] The company was enlarged by the addition of one hundred
and eighteen "freemen"; but "to the end that the body of the commons
may be preserved of honest and good men," it was ordered that "for the
time to come no man should be admitted to the freedom of this body
politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the
limits of the same."
These proceedings practically vested all the judicial and legislative
powers in the court of assistants, whose tenure was permanent, and
left to the freemen in the general court little else than the power of
admitting freemen. Not only was citizenship based on
church-membership, but the Bible was the only law-book recognized by
the court of assistants. Of this book the ministers were naturally
thought the best interpreters, and it thus became the custom for the
magistrates to consult them on all questions of importance. Offenders
were not merely law-breakers, but sinners, and their offences ranged
from such as wore long hair to such as dealt in witchcraft and
sorcery.
Fortunately, this system did not long continue without some
modification. In February, 1632, the court of assistants assessed a
tax upon the towns for the erection of a fortification at Newtown,
subsequently Cambridge. The inhabitants of Watertown grumbled about
paying their proportion of this tax, and at the third general court,
May 9, 1632, it was ordered that hereafter the governor and assistants
in laying taxes should be guided by the advice of a board composed of
two delegates from every town; and that the governor and other
magistrates should be elected by the whole body of the freemen
assembled as the charter required.
Two years later a general court consisting of the governor,
assistants, and two "committees," or delegates, elected by the freemen
resident in each town, assembled and assumed the powers of
legislation.[13] This change, which brought about a popular
representative body--second in point of time only to Virginia--was a
natural extension of the proceedings of 1632. In 1644 the assistants
and delegates quarrelled over an appeal in a lawsuit, and as a result
the division of the court into two co-ordinate branches occurred.[14]
Nevertheless, the authority of the court of assistants, for several
reasons, continued to be very great. In the first place, unlike the
Council of Virginia, which could only amend or reject the action of
the lower house, the assistants had the right of originating laws.
Then the custom at the annual elections of first putting the names of
the incumbents to the vote made the tenure of its members a pretty
constant affair. Next, as a court, it exercised for years a vast
amount of discretionary power. Not till 1641 was the first code,
called the _Body of Liberties_, adopted, and this code itself
permitted the assistants to supply any defect in the law by the "word
of God," a phrase which to the followers of Calvin had especial
reference to the fierce legislation of the Old Testament.
The course of the colonial authorities speedily jeopardized the
charter which they obtained so readily from the king. Upon the arrival
in England, in 1631, of Morton, Gardiner, and other victims of the
court of assistants, they communicated with Gorges (now powerfully
assisted by John Mason); and he gladly seized upon their complaints to
accuse the ministers and people of Massachusetts of railing against
the state and church of England, and of an evident purpose of casting
off their allegiance at the first favorable opportunity. The complaint
was referred, in December, 1632, to a committee of the council,[15]
before whom the friends of the company in London--Cradock,
Saltonstall, and Humphrey--filed a written answer. Affairs bore a bad
appearance for the colonists, but the unexpected happened. Powerful
influences at court were brought to bear upon the members of the
committee, and to the astonishment of every one they reported, January
19, 1633, against any interference until "further inquiry" could be
made.[16] King Charles not only approved this report, but volunteered
the remark that "he would have them severely punished who did abuse
his governor and the plantation."[17]
Though the danger for the present was avoided, it was not wholly
removed. In August, 1633, Laud was made archbishop of Canterbury, and
his accession to authority was distinguished by a more rigorous
enforcement of the laws against Nonconformists. The effect was to
cause the lagging emigration to New England to assume immense volume.
There was no longer concealment of the purposes of the emigrants, for
the Puritan preachers began everywhere to speak openly of the
corruptions of the English church.[18] In September, 1633, the
theocracy of Massachusetts were reinforced by three eminent ministers,
John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Thomas Shepard; and so many other
persons accompanied and followed them that by the end of 1634 the
population was not far short of four thousand. The clergy, now
thirteen or fourteen in number, were nearly all graduates of Oxford or
Cambridge.
This exodus of so many of the best, "both ministers and
Christians,"[19] aroused the king and Archbishop Laud to the danger
threatened by the Massachusetts colony. Gorges, Mason, and the rest
renewed the attack, and in February, 1634, an order was obtained from
the Privy Council for the detention of ten vessels bound for
Massachusetts. At the same time Cradock, the ex-governor of the
company, was commanded by the Privy Council to hand in the
Massachusetts charter.[20] Soon after, the king announced his
intention of "giving order for a general governor" for New England;
and in April, 1634, he appointed a new commission for the government
of the colonies, called "The Commission for Foreign Plantations," with
William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, at the head. Mr. Cradock
transmitted a copy of the order of council, requiring a production of
the charter, to Boston, where it was received by Governor Dudley in
July, 1634.
This was a momentous crisis in the history of the colony. The governor
and assistants made answer to Mr. Cradock that the charter could not
be returned except by command of the general court, not then in
session. At the same time orders were given for fortifying Castle
Island, Dorchester, and Charlestown. In this moment of excitement the
figure of Endicott again dramatically crosses the stage of history.
Conceiving an intense dislike to the cross in the English flag, he
denounced it as antichrist, and cut it out with his own hands from the
ensign borne by the company at Salem. Endicott was censured by the
general court for the act, but soon the cross was left out of all the
flags except that of the fort at Castle Island, in Boston Harbor.[21]
Massachusetts, while taking these bold measures at home, did not
neglect the protection of her interests in England. The government of
Plymouth, in July, 1634, sent Edward Winslow to England, and Governor
Dudley and his council engaged him to present an humble petition in
their behalf.[22] Winslow was a shrewd diplomat, but was so far from
succeeding with his suit that upon his appearance before the lords
commissioners in 1635 he was, through Laud's "vehement importunity,"
committed to Fleet Prison, where he lay seventeen weeks.[23]
Gorges and Mason lost no time in improving their victory. February 3,
1635, they secured a redivision of the coast of New England by the
Council for New England, into twelve parts, which were assigned to as
many persons. Sir William Alexander received the country from the
river St. Croix to Pemaquid; Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the province of
Maine from Penobscot to Piscataqua; Captain John Mason, New Hampshire
and part of Massachusetts as far as Cape Ann, while the coast from
Cape Ann to Narragansett Bay fell to Lord Edward Gorges, and the
portion from Narragansett Bay to the Connecticut River to the marquis
of Hamilton.[24]
April 25, 1635, the Council for New England issued a formal
declaration of their reasons for resigning the great charter to the
king, chief among which was their inability to rectify the complaints
of their servants in America against the Massachusetts Company, who
had "surreptitiously" obtained a charter for lands "justly passed to
Captain Robert Gorges long before."[25] June 7 the charter was
surrendered to the king, who appointed Sir Ferdinando Gorges "general
governor." The expiring company further appointed Thomas Morton as
their lawyer to ask for a _quo warranto_ against the charter of the
Massachusetts Company.
In September, 1635, judgment was given in Westminster Hall that "the
franchises of the Massachusetts Company be taken and seized into the
king's hands."[26] But, as Winthrop said, the Lord "frustrated their
designs." King Charles was trying to rule without a Parliament, and
had no money to spend against New England. Therefore, the cost of
carrying out the orders of the government devolved upon Mason and
Gorges, who set to work to build a ship to convey the latter to
America, but it fell and broke in the launching,[27] and about
November, 1635, Captain John Mason died.
After this, though the king in council, in July, 1637, named Gorges
again as "general governor,"[28] and the Lords Commissioners for
Plantations, in April, 1638, demanded the charter anew,[29] the
Massachusetts general court would not recognize either order. Gorges
could not raise the necessary funds to compel obedience, and the
attention of the king and his archbishop was occupied with forcing
episcopacy upon Scotland. In 1642 war began in England between
Parliament and king, and Massachusetts was left free to shape her own
destinies. It was now her turn to become aggressive. Construing her
charter to mean that her territory extended to a due east line three
miles north of the most northerly branch of Merrimac River, she
possessed herself, in 1641, of New Hampshire, the territory of the
heirs of John Mason; and in 1653-1658, of Maine, the province of
Gorges.
When the Long Parliament met, in 1641, the Puritans in England found
enough occupation at home, and emigration greatly diminished. In 1643
Massachusetts became a member of the New England confederation, and
her population was then about fifteen thousand; but nearly as many
more had come over and were distributed among three new
colonies--Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven.
[Footnote 1: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 332; Winthrop, _New
England_, I., 36.]
[Footnote 2: Force, _Tracts_, II., No. iv., 15.]
[Footnote 3: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 75.]
[Footnote 4: Morton, _New English Canaan_ (Force, _Tracts_, II., No.
v.), 109.]
[Footnote 5: Dudley's letter (ibid., No. iv.).]
[Footnote 6: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 75, 77.]
[Footnote 7: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 323, 324]
[Footnote 8: Ibid., 323.]
[Footnote 9: Hubbard, _New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_,
2d series, V.), 138, 139; Winthrop, _New England_, I., 52.]
[Footnote 10: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 64.]
[Footnote 11: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 82.]
[Footnote 12: Ibid., 87.]
[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 84, 90, 152.]
[Footnote 14: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 58, 59; Winthrop, _New
England_, II., 115-118, 193.]
[Footnote 15: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._ 1574-1660, p. 158.]
[Footnote 16: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 356.]
[Footnote 17: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 122, 123.]
[Footnote 18: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 174.]
[Footnote 19: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 161.]
[Footnote 20: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 341.]
[Footnote 21: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 161, 163, 166, 186, 188,
224.]
[Footnote 22: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 163.]
[Footnote 23: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 393.]
[Footnote 24: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII.,
183-188.]
[Footnote 25: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 200, 204.]
[Footnote 26: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 423-425.]
[Footnote 27: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 12.]
[Footnote 28: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 256.]
[Footnote 29: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 432.]