THE ENGLISH COLONIES DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD (1640-1660)
POLITICS, ADMINISTRATION, AND EXPANSION
Attitude of the colonies during the Puritan Revolution.--The personal
rule of Charles I came to an end in 1641 and for eight years England was
convulsed with civil war. During the struggle both Royalists and
Parliamentarians claimed jurisdiction over the colonies, but neither was
able to exert authority, and each colony followed its own course. The
New England settlements were largely Puritan and naturally sided with
parliament. In Maryland two factions formed, one Protestant, the other
in favor of the Catholic proprietor. Virginia and the West Indies were
almost entirely on the king's side. Incapable of rendering assistance,
they attempted to maintain neutrality until the contest in England was
decided.
The Bermudas and expansion in the West Indies.--In the Bermudas the
colonists were divided, but the company leaders were Puritans. In 1643
the Independents seceded from the established Church, and two years
later parliament granted freedom of worship in the islands. Religious
feeling in the Bermudas led to a migration to a new asylum. In 1646
Captain William Sayle, who had been governor, led a colony to Segatoo,
one of the Bahamas, which he now called Eleutheria, in allusion to the
aim of the project. Later on Bermudans conducted extensive salt works in
the Turks Islands in spite of frequent attacks by the Spaniards.
The Commonwealth, 1649-1653.--The military party, dominated by Cromwell,
drove from parliament all those who hesitated to execute the king, the
remnant being known as the Rump Parliament. It named a Council of State
which was to carry on the executive work. The Commonwealth proceeded at
once to overthrow its enemies outside of England. Rebellions in Ireland
and Scotland were ruthlessly put down; the navy was greatly
strengthened, and Admiral Sir George Ayscue was sent to the West Indies
and Virginia to overthrow the Royalists. Friction with the Dutch had
been growing for some time, due mainly to rivalry for the commerce of
the East and West Indies and the growing trade of the Dutch along the
Atlantic seaboard. Navigation laws were passed in 1650 and 1651 which
were intended to deprive the Dutch of the trade of England and her
possessions. War followed in 1652 and lasted for two years with varying
success.
Colonial administration during the Commonwealth.--Colonial
administration was carried on by various committees of parliament or of
the Council of State. On March 2, 1650, the Council of State ordered
that the entire council or any five of the members, should be a
Committee for Trade and Plantations. In 1652 the Council of State
appointed a standing committee of Trade, Plantations, and Foreign
Affairs of which Cromwell and Vane were members. Special committees were
also appointed from time to time to handle special colonial business or
committees already in existence discussed matters referred to them.
Acquisition of Jamaica.--In December, 1653, Cromwell was made Lord
Protector for life and in 1654 the war with the Dutch was brought to a
close. To divert attention from home affairs Cromwell desired a foreign
war. West Indian expansion had brought England into close contact with
Spain. The aggressive acts of the latter against the Providence Island
Company and the intercepting of English ships, gave a ready excuse for
reprisals. Admiral Penn sailed from England on Christmas Day, 1654, in
command of a large fleet to attack the Spanish. An attempt to gain a
footing in Espanola was a complete failure, but Jamaica proved to be an
easy prize and became a permanent English possession.
Colonial administration during the Protectorate.--The Council of State
lost most of its powers and became simply the advisory council of
Cromwell. The committee system of the council was continued. In 1655 a
special committee for Jamaica was appointed, and about the same time a
Committee for Foreign Plantations. The Protector also obtained the
assistance of a body of officers and merchants to advise regarding
colonial affairs.
NEW ENGLAND DEVELOPMENT
The period from 1640 to 1660 was one of practical independence for the
New England colonies. This neglect and freedom from interference gave
rise to three distinct developments: the formulation of provincial codes
of law, the confederation of the colonies and of settlements within
colonies, and territorial expansion.
[Illustration: Settled areas in New England, about 1660.]
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties.--The first of the colonial codes to
be formulated was the Massachusetts Body of Liberties adopted by the
general court in 1641. It provided for the protection of the private and
political rights of the individual, methods of judicial procedure,
rights of women, children, servants, foreigners, and strangers, the
protection of animals, and the rights of the churches. Death penalties
were specified, the capital crimes being the worshiping of false gods,
witchcraft, blasphemy, murder, manslaughter, kidnaping, bearing false
witness, and treason. Provision was also made for trial by jury. The
code was amended from time to time, arson, cursing or smiting of
parents, burglary, and highway robbery being added to the fist of
capital crimes. The Massachusetts code became the basis of the
Connecticut code of 1650 and the New Haven code of 1656.
Causes of federation.--The development of self-government was fostered
not only by neglect on the part of England, but also by the necessity of
protection. Being hedged in on the north by the French and on the west
by the Dutch, and with hostile Indian tribes encircling the English
frontiers, the various groups of settlements were in danger.
Massachusetts was strong enough to protect herself, but the settlements
in the Connecticut Valley and on Long Island were menaced by the Dutch
and Indians.
One of the fruitful causes of dispute between New England and the Dutch
was the fur-trade. The choicest hunting grounds to the west were
possessed by the Dutch and Swedes. To obtain a foothold on the Delaware,
the upper Connecticut, and the Hudson became a settled economic policy
of several of the New England colonies and was a potent factor in the
formation of the New England Confederation. To exploit the Delaware
River trade a company was formed at New Haven and in 1641 a settlement
was made at Varkens Kill on the site of modern Salem, New Jersey, and
later another post was established at the mouth of the Schuylkill, above
the Dutch and Swedish forts. The Dutch, probably assisted by the Swedes,
destroyed the Schuylkill fort, and the settlement at Varkens Kill did
not prosper, most of the settlers dying or removing to New Haven.
Massachusetts also attempted to obtain a share in the Delaware trade. In
1644 prominent merchants of Boston formed a company, but when their
pinnace appeared in the Delaware, it was turned back by the Dutch, and
shortly afterwards a small group of Boston traders were severely handled
by the Indians.
The New England Confederation.--For several years plans for a
confederation had been discussed, but the Dutch war against the Indians
in 1642 and the struggle between De la Tour and D'Aulnay in Acadia
brought matters to a head. At the general court which met at Boston on
May 10, 1643, commissioners from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut,
and New Haven signed a compact, Rhode Island and the settlements in
Maine being excluded. The government of the confederation was placed in
the hands of two commissioners from each of the four colonies. Internal
affairs were not to be interfered with, but the confederation was to
determine matters of war and foreign relations. Expenses were to be
assessed on the colonies according to population. A vote of six
commissioners was necessary to determine matters, the three small
colonies thus being able to override Massachusetts. The confederation
contained two serious defects which eventually led to its abandonment.
The central government had no authority over individuals, and the equal
vote of each colony violated the principle of representative government,
Massachusetts having no more power then her weaker neighbors.
Work of the Confederation.--No incident occurred to require action on
the part of the confederation until 1645, when the Narragansetts
attacked the Mohegans. A force of three hundred men was raised by the
confederation, an action which brought the Narragansetts to terms
without hostilities. When a society for the propagation of the faith was
incorporated in England to assist the missionary efforts of John Eliot
and Thomas Mayhew, the commissioners handled the funds. When questions
of boundaries and customs arose, they were settled by the commissioners.
When Massachusetts assisted De la Tour against D'Aulnay, the
commissioners exerted their influence to keep the colony from
interfering in French affairs. In 1650 a treaty was made between
Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, and the commissioners, with the result
that the Dutch retained their fort at Hartford, but were otherwise
excluded from the Connecticut Valley and the eastern part of Long
Island. The English were granted the right of colonization on the
Delaware, but when New Haven men attempted to found a settlement, they
were turned back by the Dutch and the confederation failed to take
action. When hostilities broke out between the Dutch and English in
1651, the three smaller colonies desired war, but the Massachusetts
general court refused, and when Cromwell's fleet appeared at Boston in
1654 on its way to attack the Dutch settlements, Massachusetts continued
her opposition. Possible complications were averted by the treaty of
peace. The action of Massachusetts in the relations with the Dutch so
weakened the confederation that it soon ceased to be an important factor
in New England history.
The Puritan movement into New Hampshire.--Massachusetts took advantage
of the disturbed conditions in England to absorb the territory to the
northward. In 1629 Mason had obtained a second patent for a tract
extending sixty miles inland and lying between the Merrimac and
Piscataqua rivers, which he named New Hampshire, and Mason and Gorges
obtained title to lands between the Merrimac and Kennebec. In 1631 the
two patentees and others obtained a tract of twenty thousand acres which
included the Portsmouth settlement. In 1633 the English merchants who
had founded Dover sold their shares in the settlement to Lord Saye and
Sele, Lord Brooke, and others, a transaction which was followed by a
Puritan migration. The same noblemen also obtained title to the
Portsmouth settlement. During the Hutchinsonian controversy, Wheelwright
and others found refuge at Dover, but shortly afterward established
themselves at Exeter. Massachusetts claimed that the New Hampshire
settlements fell within her boundaries, and in 1641, upon the suggestion
of Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke, extended her jurisdiction over
Portsmouth and Dover. In 1643 Exeter also came under the protection of
Massachusetts.
The incorporation of Maine with Massachusetts.--Several conflicting
patents to lands in Maine were issued between 1630 and 1645. Few
settlers came, the only new group of importance being the three towns of
Georgiana (York), Welles, and Kittery on the Piscataqua. Massachusetts
claimed that her charter entitled her to the Maine region, and in 1639
took the first step toward ownership by purchasing a tract on the
Androscoggin River. When the region about Saco and Casco bays became a
matter of dispute between rival patentees in 1644, the case was referred
to the Massachusetts general court, but no decision was reached. When
referred to the English commissioners for plantations, the Gorges
estate lost most of its property, being left only the settled region
near the Piscataqua. In 1647 Gorges died and the settlers were left
without guidance. Two years later the three towns declared themselves a
body politic. In 1651 Massachusetts asserted her claim to the Maine
region, and the Royalists there found themselves powerless. The
following year the Massachusetts authorities ordered the survey of the
Merrimac and established civil government at York. In 1653 all the
settlements in southern Maine accepted the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts. The settlements about Casco Bay refused to submit until
1658, when they also acknowledged the authority of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts hopes to obtain the trade on the Hudson.--In 1657 the
general court of Massachusetts declared that the fur-trade ought to be
controlled by the commonwealth and in the following year a report was
made which showed that fur-trading privileges at Springfield, Concord,
Sudbury, Lancaster, Groton, Marlborough, and Cambridge were farmed out
to various individuals. In 1659 a company was formed whose main purpose
was to obtain access to the fur-trade of the upper Hudson, but it failed
to carry out the project.
Connecticut.--In the Connecticut colony the period from 1640 to 1660 was
one of expansion and consolidation. Southampton and East Hampton on Long
Island, and on the mainland Farmington, Saybrook, New London, and
Norwalk were brought under the jurisdiction of the colony.
New Haven.--In the New Haven colony the danger from the Dutch and
Indians in 1643 brought about a union of the isolated units. A
constitution was adopted which restricted the suffrage to church
membership. Minor cases were to be judged in each town, and a governor,
deputy-governor, and three associates were to judge the more important
cases. No provision for trial by jury was made. The general court,
consisting of the magistrates and two deputies from each of the towns,
was to meet at New Haven twice a year to enact laws. In 1649 Southold on
Long Island, in 1651 Bradford, and in 1656 Greenwich were added to the
New Haven confederation.
Rhode Island.--Admission to the New England Confederation was denied to
the Narragansett Bay settlements. Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport
had all been founded by outcasts from Massachusetts, and a fourth
settlement of a similar nature was founded at Shawomet, now Warwick, in
1643 by Samuel Gorton. The danger from powerful and grasping neighbors
caused Williams to seek a patent to the lands about Narragansett Bay,
and on March 14, 1644, a patent was granted which allowed the
inhabitants of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport to form their own
government. The Warwick settlers were asked to join the others.
In 1647 a code remarkable for its mildness was adopted, and by 1650 the
government had been formed. The legislative powers were vested in a
general court composed of six representatives from each town, the
presiding officer of which was called a president. In executive matters
he was to be aided by an assistant from each town. Provision was also
made for a treasurer, sergeant, general recorder, attorney-general, and
solicitor-general. The president and assistants acted as a court for
important cases, which were to be tried by jury. The legislative body
and the court made the circuit of the towns. The initiative and
referendum were introduced, each settlement having the right to propose
legislation, and acts of the general court were referred to the towns
for ratification or rejection. Membership in a particular church was not
made the basis of citizenship as in the other New England colonies. The
disturbing element in Rhode Island at this time was Coddington. In 1651
he obtained from the Council of State a commission as governor of the
islands in Narragansett Bay, but his power was short-lived, for the
following year Williams obtained a revocation of the Coddington patent
and in 1654 was elected president of the confederation.
VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, 1640-1660
Virginia Loyalists.--During the civil war Virginia remained loyal to the
king. The large plantation owners, who were almost all members of the
Established Church, were in control of the house of burgesses. The small
landowners made up the minority. In this class were a few Puritans and
many freemen who had formerly been indented servants. Their sympathies
were on the side of parliament. Sir William Berkeley, who was appointed
in 1642, was a staunch supporter of the king. His administration seems
to have been tempered with justice, and he showed little of the
arbitrary attitude which appeared in his later career.
Opechancanough's War.--The chief event in Berkeley's administration was
the Indian war of 1644. The plantations had gradually spread up the
James and Rappahannock, encroaching upon the Indian lands. The chief
Opechancanough planned to massacre the whites. On April 18 the outlying
settlements were attacked and five hundred people were massacred. The
governor led several expeditions against the Indians, their crops and
villages were destroyed, and their chief became a captive. While in
captivity he was foully murdered. The Indians sued for peace, and in a
treaty acknowledged the rights of the white man to all the lands between
the York and the James as far as the falls.
Berkeley's struggle with the Commonwealth.--When the news of the death
of Charles I reached Virginia, Berkeley proclaimed Charles II as king
and the assembly declared it high treason to question his right to
Virginia. Parliament decided to punish the colony by blockading it.
Berkeley, nowise daunted, delivered a defiant address to the assembly,
which warmly supported him. The blockade proved a failure, for Dutch
traders sailed unmolested into Chesapeake Bay. A group of Virginia
parliamentarians visited England and demanded that Berkeley be
overthrown. The Council of State responded by sending out a fleet to
subdue both Barbados and Virginia. Commissioners were also sent to
Virginia to persuade the colony to submit peaceably. In the spring of
1652 when the fleet appeared in the James River, it found the governor
prepared for resistance. The commissioners intervened, and by offering
lenient terms, bloodshed was avoided. It was agreed that the colony
should "voluntarily" acknowledge the authority of the Commonwealth, that
the Virginians should have as free trade as the people of England, and
that taxation was to be in the hands of the house of burgesses. Neither
Berkeley nor his councilors were to be compelled to take the oath of
allegiance for a year, and the use of the Book of Common Prayer was
permitted for a similar length of time. Berkeley retired from the
governorship but remained in the colony.
[Illustration: Settled Areas in Virginia and Maryland, 1660.]
Government under the commonwealth.--The burgesses and commissioners
proceeded to remodel the government. The house of burgesses was made
the chief governing body, with unlimited powers except the veto of the
English government. It was to elect the governor and council, specify
their duties and remove them if they proved unsatisfactory. All
officials were also appointed by the burgesses.
A period of prosperity.--The kingless period was one of prosperity for
Virginia. In 1649 the colony contained about 15,000 people; in 1666 the
population was estimated at 40,000. This great migration was recruited
from various classes: Cavaliers who sought refuge after the death of the
king, people who fled from the horrors of civil war, prisoners who were
sent as indented servants, gentlemen, tradesmen, and laborers, all found
room in the abundant lands of tide-water Virginia.
Maryland during the civil war.--During the first part of the civil war,
Lord Baltimore leaned toward the royalist side, but in the colony there
was a strong Protestant element, augmented by this time by Puritans from
Virginia. In 1645 they got control and expelled the Jesuits. The
following year Governor Calvert, who had been in England, returned and
reestablished his authority, but his rule was shortlived, for he died in
1647.
Puritan rule in Maryland.--Fearing that he would be deprived of
Maryland, Baltimore veered to the parliamentary side and appointed as
governor William Stone, a prominent Virginia planter, and invited
Virginia Puritans to settle in his territory. This was followed by a
religious toleration act passed by the Maryland assembly in 1649.
Baltimore's trimming, however, did not save him from trouble, for in
1650, when the Commonwealth expedition was sent out, the commissioners
were instructed to reduce all the Chesapeake Bay plantations. For a time
Stone was left in authority, but in 1654 he was deposed and the
government was placed in the hands of a council, at the head of which
was a Puritan, William Fuller. In the ensuing assembly the Royalists and
Catholics were barred. Baltimore ordered Stone to recover his authority
by force, but he was defeated and imprisoned by the forces of Fuller,
and four of his followers executed. Baltimore appears to have
ingratiated himself with Cromwell, for in 1657 he was restored to
power.
READINGS
NEW ENGLAND
Channing, Edward, _History of the United States_, I, 414-420; Doyle,
J.A., _The Puritan Colonies_, I, 220-319; Frothingham, Richard, _The
Rise of the Republic_, 33-71; James, B.B., _The Colonization of New
England_, 119-157; Mathews, L.K., _The Expansion of New England_, 31-34;
Osgood, H.L., _The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_, I,
392-423; Palfrey, J.G., _A Compendious History of New England_, I,
247-268; Tyler, L.G., _England in America_, 266-281, 297-317.
VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND
Beer, G.L., _The Origins of the British Colonial System_, 340-424;
Browne, W.H., _Maryland_, 72-104; Channing, Edward, _History of the
United States_, I, 485-507; Doyle, J.A., _Virginia, Maryland, and the
Carolinas_, 207-228, 314-327; Hamilton, P.J., _The Colonization of the
South,_ 118-122; Mereness, M.D., _Maryland as a Proprietary Province_;
Osgood, H.L., _The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_, II,
58-87; Tyler, L.G., _England in America_, 105-117, 140-148; Wertenbaker,
T.J., _Virginia under the Stuarts_, 85-114.