country filled apace. But the people early experienced the dreadful
effects of arbitrary power. Major _Andros_ the governor of _New-York_,
imposed 10 per cent. on all goods imported at the _Hoar-kill_,[33] and
demanded 5 percent. of the settlers at arrival or afterwards, though
neither _West-Jersey_, nor the _Hoar-kill_, was legally under his
jurisdiction. They complained of the hardship from the first, but bore
it patiently, till about 1680, when application was made to the duke of
York, who referred the matter to the council, where it rested for a
considerable time, and then was reported in their favour, and the duty
ordered to be discontinued. Among the arguments used by Messrs. _William
Penn_, _George Hutchinson_ and others, chiefly if not all quakers, in
the paper presented to the duke’s commissioners, were these, “Powers of
government are expressly granted, in the cenveyance lord Berkely made
us; for that only could have induced us to buy it; and the reason is
plain, because to all prudent men, the government of any place is more
inviting than the soil: for what is good land without good laws; the
better, the worse. And if we could not assume people of an easy and
free, and safe government, both with respect to their spiritual and
worldly property, that is an uninterrupted liberty of conscience and an
inviolable possession of their civil rights and freedoms, by a just and
wise government, a mere wilderness would be no encouragement; for it
were a madness to leave a free, good and improved country, to plant in a
wilderness, and there adventure many thousands of pounds, to give an
absolute title to another person to tax us at will and pleasure.”
Natural right and human prudence oppose such doctrine all the world
over, as says, “that people free by law, under their prince at home, are
at his mercy in the plantations abroad.” The King’s grant to the duke of
York, is plainly restrictive to the laws and government of England. Now,
we humbly conceive, it is made a fundamental in our constitution, and
government, that the king of England cannot justly take his subjects
goods without their consent: this needs no more to be proved than a
principal; ’tis _jus indigene_, and home-bore right, declared to be law
by divers statutes; as in the great charter, ch. 29 and 34. Ed. III. ch.
2; again 25 Ed. ch. 7.[34] To give up the power of making laws is to
change the government, to sell or rather resign ourselves to the will of
another; and that for nothing; for we buy nothing of the duke, if not
the right of an undisturbed colonizing, with no diminution, but
expectation of some increase of these freedoms and privileges enjoyed in
our own country. We humbly say, that we have not lost any part of our
liberty, by leaving our country; but we transplant to a place with
express limitation to erect no policy contrary to the established
government (of England) but as near as may be to it; and this variation
is allowed but for the sake of emergencies; and that latitude bounded
with these words, _for the good of the adventurer and planter_. This tax
is not to be found in the duke’s conveyances, but is an after business.
Had the planters foreseen it, they would sooner have taken up in any
other plantation in America—[a plain intimation that no such tax was
imposed in any other American plantation.] Beside, there is no end of
this power; for since we are by this precedent assessed without any law,
and thereby excluded our English right of common assent to taxes; what
security have we of any thing we possess? We can call nothing our own,
but are tenants at will not only for the soil, but for all our personal
estates; we endure penury, and the sweat of our brows, to improve them
at our own hazard only. This is to transplant from good to bad. _This
sort of conduct has destroyed government, but never raised one to any
true greatness._[35]
The paper presented to the duke’s commissioners, evidently proves, that
it was the opinion of these gentlemen, who were quakers, that no tax
could be justly imposed upon the inhabitants, without their own consent
first had, and by the authority of their own general assembly. The
report of the council in favour of the aggrieved, and the relief that
followed, were virtual concessions to the same purport. This will not be
judged wholly unprecedented by those who are acquainted with what
happened relative to the county-palatine and city of _Chester_, in the
35th year of the reign of _Henry_ VIII. [1543.] The inhabitants
complained in a petition to the king, that for want of knights and
burgesses in the court of parliament, they sustained manifold damages,
not only in their lands, goods, and bodies, but in the civil and politic
governance and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said county; and
that while they had been always bound by the acts and statutes of the
said court of parliament, the same as other counties, cities, and
boroughs, that had knights and burgesses in said court, they had often
been touched, and grieved with acts and statutes made within the said
court, as well derogatory unto the most ancient jurisdictions,
liberties, and privileges of the said court-palatine, as prejudicial
unto the commonwealth, quietness, and peace of his majesty’s subjects.
They proposed to the king, as a remedy, that it would please his
highness, that it be enacted, with the assent of the lords spiritual and
temporal, and by the commons in parliament assembled, that from the end
of the session, the county-palatine shall have two knights for the said
county, and likewise two citizens to be burgesses for the city of
Chester. The complaint and remedy were thought to be so just and
reasonable, that the relief for which they prayed was granted, and they
were admitted to send representatives to parliament, to guard their
interests and to secure their liberties and privileges.
The reasons for my passing from the Jerseys to Virginia will soon be
obvious.
_Virginia_ was the original name for all the English North-American
continental claims, given in honor to the virgin queen, Elizabeth. King
James, being applied to, granted letters patent to a body of gentlemen
on the 6th of April, 1606, with powers to divide themselves into two
distinct companies, the one consisting of London adventurers, called the
first or southern colony of Virginia; the second or northern colony,
composed of merchants belonging to Bristol, Plymouth and Exeter. The
territory granted to the first or southern colony, was generally called
_Virginia_ without any distinguishing epithet; and retained that name
after the second or northern colony obtained the name of New-England, in
1614.
The London company applied their attention immediately to the forming of
a settlement, and sent off a hundred and ten emigrants, who arrived on
the coast of Virginia, April 29th, 1607: a party landed on the
promontory, called, in honor of the prince of Wales, _Cape-Henry_;
afterward proceeded to and took possession of a peninsula in
James-river, and began a settement at _James-town_. The instructions
given by the company of proprietors, when they sent out their second
supply the following year, show that the most active projectors in
England had for their chief objects discovery and gain, rather than
colonization.
[1609.] A new charter was obtained: many of the first nobility and
gentry were added to the former proprietors, and were incorporared by
the name of “The Treasurer and Company of Adventurers, of the city of
London, for the first colony of Virginia.” To them was granted in
absolute property the lands extending from Cape Comfort along the
sea-coast southward 200 miles, from the same promontory 200 miles
northward, and from the Atlantic westward to the South-sea. The company
was empowered to make ordinances for the colony, and for those on the
seas going thither. There was granted to the treasurer and company and
their assigns, a freedom from all subsidies in Virginia for 21 years,
and from all impositions on importations and exportations to and from
England, or any other of the king’s dominions, “except only the five
pounds in the hundred due for customs.” Little was conceded to the
emigrants by the charter; and much conferred on the corporation. The
colonists were to be governed by the ordinances of a corporation
residing in England, in which they were not represented, and over the
deliberations of which they had no control. The powers of the
corporation were indeed controlable, as it was subject to the
superintendance of the courts of justice within the realm, which could
compel it to act agreeable as well to the grant, as to the laws of the
state.
The adventurers, warmed with golden dreams of great riches, soon fitted
out nine ships, with 500 emigrants, and every necessary for the
establishment of a permanent colony, excepting suitable encouragement to
the settlers. Lord Delaware was appointed captain-general for life. Only
seven vessels arrived safe.
When Mr. Smith, who had governed the colony, departed for England, he
left behind him 500 persons, of whom, what with bad management,
dissensions, attacks from the Indians, waste of provisions, which
occasioned a famine, &c. there remained only sixty of all ages and
sexes, at the expiration of six months. When Sir _Thomas Gates_, the
lieutenant-governor arrived in May, 1610, and saw the calamitous
situation of affairs, he concluded on embarking the colonists and
sailing for England: but before he could proceed to sea, Lord _Delaware_
arrived with three ships, bringing abundant supplies, and carried back
with him to James-town the feeble remains of the colony. He soon
re-established matters; but his health obliging him, he sailed for
England the beginning of the subsequent year, [1611.] leaving about 200
colonists, possessed of health, plenty, and peace with their neighbours.
After his departure they relapsed; but his successor, Sir _Thomas Dale_,
arriving in May with more emigrants, cattle, and provision for a year,
things were again restored. This same year the adventurers obtained a
new charter, by which the two former were confirmed, and they had also
granted to them all the islands situated in the ocean, within 300
leagues of any part of the Virginia coast. The corporation was now
considerably new modelled, and, in order to promote the effectual
settlement of the plantation, licence was given to open lotteries in any
part of England. The lotteries alone, which were the first ever granted
in England, brought 29,000l. into The campany’s treasury. At length
being considered as a national evil, they attracted the notice of
parliament, were presented by the commons as a grievance, and in March,
1620, suspended by an order of council.
Sir _Thomas Gates_ was dispatched with six large ships, carrying 300
colonists, 100 cattle, and useful supplies. He arrived in August: and
parties were sent out from James-town to form distant settlements. He
returned the beginning of 1614, and the administration devolved once
more on Sir _Thomas Dale_, to whom the Virginians owe the introduction
of landed property. In 1615, fifty acres of land were granted to every
emigrant and his heirs, and the same quantity to every person imported
by others. Dale sailed for England in the beginning of 1616, giving up
the trust to Sir _George Yeardley_, as deputy governor, and in this year
the cultivation of tobacco was introduced. It was originally carried
from Tobago to England. Mr. _Argal_, a new deputy, arrived in May, 1617.
He published a variety of edicts, and was guilty of those wrongs and
oppressions, that the treasurer and council appointed _Yeardly_
captain-general, and empowered him to examine into and redress
grievances. Sir George arrived April, 1619, bringing with him several
instructions favourable to freedom, and soon declared his intention of
calling a general assembly, which gave the greatest joy to men, who had
been hitherto subjected to the arbitrary orders of their prince, to the
interested ordinances of an English corporation, or to the edicts of a
haughty governor; and who enjoyed none of those liberties which
Englishmen claim as their birth-right.
In June, Yeardley, pursuant to his instructions from the company, issued
writs for the election of delegates, called burgesses. The colony had
been divided into seven hundreds or distinct settlements, which seemed
to enjoy some of the privileges of boroughs, and from this circumstance
the democratic branch of the assembly has been called to this day the
house of burgesses, though composed almost entirely of the
representatives of counties. The assembly, formed of the governor and
council of state, who were appointed by the treasurer and company, and
of the burgesses chosen by the people, met together in one apartment,
and transacted affairs like the parliament of Scotland of old, which
mode continued till after the restoration of Charles II. Thus convened,
and thus composed, the legislature “debated all matters thought
expedient for the good of the whole.” The laws were transmitted to
England, for the approbation of the treasurer and company, without whose
confirmation they were of no validity. The introduction of an assembly
was attended with the happiest effects. The emigrants, for the first
time, resolved to settle themselves, and to perpetuate the plantation.
The assembly thanked the company for their favour, and begged them “to
reduce into a compendious form, with his majesty’s approbation, the laws
of England proper for Virginia, with suitable additions;” giving as a
reason, “that it was not fit that his subjects should be governed by any
other rules, than such as received their influence from him.” This year
the treasurer and council received a letter, “commanding them to send a
hundred dissolute persons (convicts) to Virginia.” They were accordingly
transported; and were at that period very acceptable to the colonies,”
though the unlimited practice of emptying the English jails on the
American continent has of late years been complained of as a nuisance.
[1602.] The subsequent year must, on account of the introduction of
_African slaves_ into the colonies, be stigmatized as a much viler
æra.—The Hollanders were not then precluded by any law from trading with
the colonies. A Dutch vessel carried to Virginia a cargo of negroes, and
the Virginians, who had themselves just emerged from a state of slavery,
became chargeable with reducing their fellow men to the condition of
brutes.
[1621.] In July, the treasurer and company carried into execution a
resolution formerly taken, for establishing a proper constitution for
the colony. The ordinance they passed, declared that there should be two
supreme councils in Virginia, the one to be called the council of state,
to be appointed and displaced by the treasurer and company, and which
was to advise the governor in governmental affairs; the other was to be
denominated the general assembly, and to consist of the governor and
council, and of two burgesses, to be chosen, for the present, by the
inhabitants of every town, hundred, and settlement in the colony. The
assembly was to determine by the majority of the voices then present,
and to enact general laws for the colony, reserving to the governor a
negative voice. They were to imitate the laws and customs, and judicial
proceedings used in England. “No acts were to be in force till confirmed
by the general court in England: on the other hand, no order of the
general court was to bind the colony, till assented to by the assembly.”
The company having offered territory to those who should either emigrate
themselves, or engage to transport people to the colony, found this
policy so successful, that upward of 3500 persons emigrated to Virginia
during this and the two preceding years.
[1622.] This year was remarkable for a massacre of the colonists by the
_Indians_, which was executed with the utmost subtilty, and without any
regard to age, sex, or dignity. A well concerted attack on all the
settlements, destroyed, in one hour, and almost at the same instant, 347
persons, who were defenceless and incapable of making resistance. The
emigrants, notwithstanding the orders they had received, had never been
solicitous to cultivate the good-will of the natives, and had neither
asked permission when they occupied their country, nor given a price for
their valuable property, which was violently taken away. The miseries of
famine were soon superadded to the horrors of massacre. Of eighty
plantations, which were filling apace, only eight remained; and of the
numbers which had been transported thither, no more than about 1800
survived those manifold disasters.
Frequent complaints having been made to king James of the oppressions of
the treasurer and company, and the before-mentioned calamities being
attributed to their misconduct or neglect, it was determined that a
commission should issue to enquire into the affairs of Virginia and the
Somer-isles, from the earliest settlement of each. Upon the report of
the commissioners, the king concluded on giving a new charter, and
required of the company the surrender of former grants, which being
refused, a writ of _quo warranto_ issued in November, 1623, against the
patents of the corporation; and judgment was given by the court of
king’s-bench against the treasurer and company, in Trinity-term, 1624.
These proceedings “were so conformable to the general strain of the
arbitrary administration of that reign, that they made little impression
at the time, though the Virginia company was composed of persons of the
first quality, wealth, and consequence in the nation.” The company
probably would not have exercised so tame and submissive a spirit, had
they not been wholly disappointed in their visionary prospects, and met
with considerable losses, instead of acquiring enormous profits. They
had obtained from individuals, who sported in their lotteries from the
hope of sudden riches, £. 29,000. but the transportation of more than
9000 English subjects, had cost them £.150,000. They did not, however,
abandon the colony in its distress, while they continued a corporation.
Timely supplies were sent from England to the Virginia settlers, which
so animated them, that they carried on an offensive war against the
Indians, pursued them into their fastnesses, and drove them from the
neighbourhood of those rivers where they had fixed their own
plantations.
As to king _James_, he “assuredly considered the colonies as acquired by
conquest; and that they ought to be holden of his person, independent of
his crown or political capacity; and might be ruled according to his
good will, by prerogative; and he endeavored, agreeable to the strange
œconomy of his reign, to convert them into a mere private estate,
descendable to his personal heirs.”[36]
The Virginia company being dissolved, James took the colony under his
immediate dependence, which occasioned much confusion. Upon his death,
king _Charles_ [1625.] being of the same judgment with his father as to
the government of Virginia, determined to tread in the same steps. In
May he named a new governor and council for Virginia, and invested them
with an authority fully legislative and arbitrary. They were empowered
to make and execute laws, to impose taxes, and enforce payment. Neither
the commission nor instructions mentioned expressly, or even alluded to
an assembly, to the laws of England, or to the acts of the provincial
legislature, as a rule of government. They were required to transport
colonists into England, to be punished there for crimes committed in
Virginia. This system increased the colonial dissatisfaction, which
continued for years, till the Virginians received a letter containing
the royal assurance, that “all their estates, trade, freedom, and
privileges, should be enjoyed by them in as extensive a manner as they
enjoyed them before the recalling of the company’s patent.” On this they
were reconciled, and began again to exert themselves in making
improvements.[37]
Being left for some years in a manner to themselves, they increased
beyond expectation. They remained under the administration of their
governors and other officers, who respected their privileges because
they loved the colony. The governor whom Charles had been anxious to
appoint, had no opportunity of exercising those illegal and
extraordinary powers with which he had been invested. His death in 1627,
put an end to his authority, and prevented the colony’s feeling its full
extent. His successor, _John Harvey_, esq. was nominated in March 1629;
and his commission and instructions were precisely the same with those
of the former. He departed soon after for Virginia. The spirit of his
administration was an exact counterpart of what had too long prevailed
in England. He was severe in his extortions, proud in his councils,
unjust and arbitrary in every department of his government. The
_Virginians_, roused almost to madness by oppression, seized and sent
him prisoner to England, accompanied with two deputies, to represent
their grievances and his misconduct. His behaviour was so thought of,
that he was honored with a new commission which confirmed former powers,
and he was sent back to Virginia in April, 1637. After that, his
government was so excessively oppressive and cruel, that the complaints
of the colonists became at length too loud to be longer neglected, and
his commission was revoked in January, 16389—. During his ten years
administration, the Virginians were ruled rather as the vassels of an
eastern despot, than as subjects entitled to English liberties; but it
is to their credit, that, having tasted the sweets of a simple
government, they opposed with a firm spirit, during the reign of
Charles, the attempts of those who endeavoured to revive the patents,
and to restore the corporation.
Sir _William Berkely_ was appointed governor the beginning of 1639. His
instructions evidenced a prodigious change in colonial policy, which
must be partly ascribed to the then state of affairs in England. He was
directed to summon all the burgesses of the plantations; who with the
governor and council were to constitute the grand assembly, with power
to make acts for the government of the colony, as near as might be to
the laws of England—to cause speedy justice to be administered to all,
according to English forms—and to forbid all trade with foreign vessels
except upon necessity. Thus were the Virginians restored to that system
of freedom which they had derived from the Virginia company, and which
the writ of _quo warranto_ had involved in the same ruin with the
corporation itself.
Civil dissentions however took place, which were embittered by religious
differences, and inflamed by acts made to prohibit the preaching of the
doctrines of the puritans. The discontented party presented a petition
to the house of commons, in the name of the assembly, “praying for the
restoration of the antient patents and corporation government.” But the
governor, council and burgesses, no sooner heard of the transaction,
than they transmitted an explicit disavowal of it. They sent also an
address to king _Charles_ acknowledging his bounty and favor toward
them, and earnestly desiring to continue under his immediate protection.
In 1642, they declared in the form of an act, “that they were born under
monarchy, and would never degenerate from the condition of their births,
by being subjects to any other government.” Nothing could be more
acceptable than this act, which being presented to the king at _York_,
drew from him an answer, in which he gave them the fullest assurances,
that they always should be immediately dependent upon the crown, and
that the form of government should never be changed.
They remained unalterably attached to the cause of their sovereign. But
when the commons of England had triumphed over their European opponents,
their attention was turned to the plantations; and an ordinance was
passed in October, 1650, “for prohibiting trade with _Barbadoes_,
_Virginia_, _Bermuda_, and _Antego_.” It recited, that “in Virginia, and
other places in America, their are colonies, which were planted at the
cost, and settled by the people, and by the authority of this nation,
which ought to be subordinate to, and depend upon England—that they ever
had been, and ought to be subject to such laws and regulations, as are,
or shall be made by the parliament—that divers acts of rebellion have
been committed by many persons inhabiting Virginia, whereby they have
set up themselves in opposition to the commonwealth” It therefore
declared them “notorious robbers and traitors.” Persons in power
generally reason alike against those who oppose their authority, and
dispute the legality or equity of their measures, whatever might be
their own sentiments when in a lower station, and while aggrieved by
superiors. The ordinance authorised the council of state to send a fleet
thither, and to grant commissions to proper persons to enforce to
obedience all such as stood opposed to the authority of parliament. In
consequence hereof commissioners were appointed, and a powerful fleet
and army detached, to reduce all their enemies to submission. They were
to use their endeavors, by granting pardons and by other peaceful arts,
to induce the colonists to obey the state of England; but, if these
means should prove ineffectual, then they were to employ every act of
hostility; to free those servants and slaves of masters opposing the
government, that would serve as soldiers to subdue them; and to cause
the acts of parliament to be executed, and justice to be administered,
in the name of the commonwealth. After the arrival of the commissioners
with the naval and military force, the Virginians refused to submit,
till articles of surrender had been agreed upon, by which it was
stipulated, “The plantation of Virginia, and all the inhabitants
thereof, shall enjoy such freedoms and privileges as belong to the free
people of England. The general assembly, as formerly, shall convene and
transact the affairs of the colony. The people of Virginia shall have a
free trade, as the people of England, to all places, and with all
nations.” Virginia shall be free from all taxes, customs, and
impositions whatsoever; and none shall be imposed on them without
consent of the general assembly; and neither forts nor castles shall be
erected, nor garrisons maintained without their consent.”[38]
The hardships the _Virginians_ experienced from restrictions on their
trade under _Oliver Cromwell_, together with their attachment to the
royal family, induced them to seize the occasion of the death of the
protector’s governor, for applying to Sir _William Berkely_, who had
lived privately during the revolutions of the day, to resume the
government of the colony, to which he consented, on their solemnly
promising to venture their lives and fortunes with him for Charles II.
Before they had heard of the death of Cromwell, _Charles_ was proclaimed
by them king of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia. During the
distresses to which the royalists were exposed in England prior to this
event, they resorted to that colony, so that Virginia contained about
30,000 persons at the restoration. Sir William Berkely, in his answer to
the enquiries of the lords of the committee of the colonies, writes,
June 20, 1671, “there are 40,000 persons, men, women, and children, 2000
black slaves, and 6000 christian servants for a short time.” You will
not have your good opinion heightened of him for his adding—“I thank God
there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have
them these hundred years. For learning has brought disobedience, and
heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and
libels against the government. God keep us from both!”[39]
You will remark, that, however zealous the Virginians were to honor the
Charles’s with their loyalty, they boldly declined complimenting king,
commonwealth, and protector with their liberties.
_Maryland_ comes now to be considered.
Sir _George Calvert_ was one of the original associates in the great
Virginia company, and continued a member of that corporation during its
existance: and, as secretary of state, he acted as one of the committee
of council for the affairs of the plantations while James I. lived. Sir
George in his reign, having thought proper to alter his religious
sentiments and embrace popery, ingenuously avowed the change. The king
pleased with his sincerity, granted him a part of _Newfoundland_, which
the French at length obliged him to abandon. His majesty further
testified his regard, by creating him Lord Baltimore of Ireland. King
_Charles_, to compensate for his loss of the Newfoundland territory,
gave him a grant of the country on the north side of the
_Chesapeak-bay_.
His Lordship died April 15, 1632, before the patent was made out; on
which his son Cecil took it out in his own name the June following.
Charles, in honor to his royal consort Henrietta Maria, named the colony
Maryland; and, being desirous of gratifying the proprietary all in his
power invested him with as much sovereignty as could well consist with
an immediate subjection to the crown of England. His Lordship, with the
assent of the freemen, or their delegates, whom he was required to
assemble for that purpose, might make laws of what kind soever for the
province, so that they were not repugnant, but agreeable to the
jurisprudence and rights of the realm of England; and he was authorised
to execute the acts of the assembly. There was no clause in the charter
obliging him to transmit their acts to the king for approbation or
dissent: nor any saving of the royal interference in the government of
the colony. Charles reserved to himself and his heirs forever, imposts,
duties, and customs, which the colonies were bound to pay; but declared
in the same charter, “We, our heirs and successors, shall at no time set
and make, or cause to be set, any imposition, custom, or taxation on the
inhabitants of the province, for their lands, goods, tenements, or
chattels whithin the said province.” By this clause the king covenanted
for himself, heirs and successors, that having reserved for ever the
imposts, duties, and customs, he would not contribute toward setting
upon the inhabitants any imposition, custom, or taxation, for their
lands, goods, tenaments, or chattels, within the said province; and
therein bound both himself and them, not to assent to any bill
subjecting the inhabitants to an internal taxation by an external
legislation.
The first emigration consisted of two hundred gentlemen of considerable
fortune and rank, with their adherents, chiefly Roman Catholics, who
hoped to enjoy liberty of conscience, under a proprietary of their own
profession. They sailed from England in November, and landed in Maryland
the beginning of 1633. Governor _Colvert_, brother to lord Baltimore,
very wisely and justly purchased, by presents of various goods, the
rights of the Indians, and with their free consent took possession of
their town, which he called St. Mary’s. The country was settled with so
much ease, and furnished with so many conveniences, that emigrants
repaired thither in such numbers, that the colony soon became popular
and flourishing. A third assembly of freemen was held at St. John’s in
February, 1638–9, when an act was passed “for establishing the house of
assembly.” It inacted that those who shall be elected pursuant to writs
issued, shall be called burgesses, and shall supply the place of the
freemen who chose them—that the gentlemen summoned by the special writ
of the proprietary, and those freemen who shall not have voted at any of
the elections, together with the governor and secretary, shall be called
“the house of assembly”—that all acts assented to by that body, shall be
deemed of the same force, as if the proprietary and freemen had been
personly present. Slavery seems to have gained an early establishment in
Maryland, for an act of this assembly describes “the people” to consist
of all christian inhabitants “slaves only excepted.” The persecuting
laws which were passed by the Viginians, soon after this period against
the puritans, made the latter emigrate in considerable numbers to
Maryland, that they might enjoy, under a popish proprietary, that
liberty of conscience, of which they were deprived by fellow
protestants.
In 1642, the burgesses “desired that they might be separated, and sit by
themselves, and have a negative,”—such was their progress in
entertaining just conceptions of their own democratic rights. The
governor did not grant their request; but they were afterwards more
successful. The assembly of 1649, was assuredly divided into two parts,
and transacted business in the form of an upper and lower house. That
assembly, which convened in April, enacted, that no persons professing
to believe in Jesus Christ, shall be molested in respect of their
religion, or in the exercise thereof, or be compelled to the belief or
exercise of any other religion against their consent, so that they be
not unfaithful to the proprietary, or conspire against the civil
government—that those reproaching any with opprobrious names of
religious distinction, shall forfeit ten shillings to the persons
injured—that any one speaking reproachfully against the blessed Virgin,
or the Apostles, shall forfeit five pounds—but blasphemy against God,
shall be punished with death.
In 1650, a law was passed “for settling this present assembly.” It
enacted, that those who were called by special writ shall form the upper
house—that those who were chosen by the hundreds shall compose the lower
house—and that all bills which shall be assented to by the two branches
of the legislature thus established, and assented to by the governor,
shall be deemed the laws of the province, and have the same effect as if
the freemen were personally present. There was also passed “an act
against raising money without the consent of the assembly.” It
mentioned, “That no taxes shall be assessed or levied on the freemen of
the province, without their own consent, or that of their deputies,
first declared in a general assembly. The printed words and early date
of this Maryland act demand particular notice. The act of the general
assembly and governor were of the same force in their own province, as
acts of parliament in England; and could not be repealed without the
concurring assent of the proprietary, or his deputy, with the other two
estates.
_Carolina_ follows Maryland in the order of existence.
A few adventurers emigrated from the Massachusetts, and settled round
_Cape Fear_, about the time of the restoration. They considered mere
occupancy, with a transfer from the natives, without any grant from the
king, as a good title to the lands which they possessed. They deemed
themselves entitled to the same “civil privileges” as those of the
country from whence they had emigrated. For years they experienced the
complicated miseries of want. They solicited the aid of their
countrymen; and the general court, with an attention and humanity which
did it the greatest honor, ordered an extensive contribution for their
relief. But the final settlement of the province was effected equally
through the rapacity of the courtiers of Charles the II. and his own
facility in rewarding those to whom he was greatly indebted, with a
liberality that cost him little. The pretence which had been used on
former occasions, of a pious zeal for the propagation of the gospel
among the Indians, was successfully employed to procure a grant of the
immense region lying between the 36° of north latitude and the river St.
Matheo, under the 31°. March 24, 1663, this territory was erected into a
province, by the name of _Carolina_, and conferred on lord _Clarendon_,
the duke of _Albemarle_, lord _Craven_, lord _Berkely_, lord _Ashley_,
Sir _George Carteret_, Sir _John Colleton_, and Sir _William Berkely_,
as absolute lords proprietaris for ever, saving the sovereign allegience
due to the crown. The charter seems to have been copied from that of
Maryland, so extensive in its powers, and so noble in its privileges.
The noblemen held their first meeting in May; and at the desire of the
New-England people abovementioned, published proposals to all that would
plant in Carolina. They declared, that all persons settling on Charles
River, to the southward of Cape Fear, should have power to fortify its
banks, taking the oath of allegiance to the king, and submitting to the
government of the proprietaries—that the emigrants might present to them
thirteen persons, in order that they might appoint a governor and a
council of six for three years—that an assembly, composed of the
governor, the council, and delegates of the freemen, should be called as
soon as circumstances would allow, with power to make laws, not contrary
to those of England, nor of any validity after the publication of the
dissent of the proprietaries—that every one should enjoy the most
perfect freedom in religion—that during five years, every freeman should
be allowed one hundred acres of land, and fifty for every servant,
paying only an half-penny an acre—and that the same freedom from customs
which had been confirmed by the royal charter, should be allowed to
every one.
The proprietaries appointed Sir _William Berkely_, then governor of
Virginia, general superintendant of the affairs of the county of
Albemarle, within the boundaries of which, a small plantation, of the
New-Englanders probably, had been established for some years, on the
north eastern shores of the river Chowan. Sir William Berkely repaired
to the county, confirmed and granted lands on the conditions
beforementioned, appointed Mr. Drummond the first governor, and likewise
other officers, and then returned to Virginia.
The assembly of 1666, being dissatisfied with the tenures by which they
held their lands, petitioned the proprietaries, that the people of
Albemarle might hold their possessions on the same terms on which the
Virginians enjoyed theirs, and were gratified.
[1665.] The proprietaries appointed _John Yeamans_, a respectable
planter of Barbadoes, commander in chief of Clarendon county, stretching
from Cape Fear to the river St. Matheo; and he was at the same time
created a baronet. To secure its prosperity, the same powers were
conferred, and the same constitution established, as those which had
made Albemarle happy.
A settlement was also now projected to the southward of Cape Romain,
which acquired the name of Carteret. Thus a variety of separate and
independent colonies, each of which had its own government, its own
assembly, its own customs and laws, were established in Carolina.
In June, 1665, the proprietaries obtained a second charter which recited
and confirmed the former. They were enabled to make laws for the
province, with the consent of the freemen or their delegates: and
likewise to grant titles of honor by creation of a nobility. No one
prerogative of the crown was reserved, except the sovereign dominion.
Samuel Stevens, esq. was appointed governor of Albemarle in October,
1667, and was commanded to act agreeable to the advice of a council of
twelve, the one half of which he was to appoint, the other was to be
chosen by the assembly. The assembly was to be composed of the governor,
the council, and twelve delegates chosen annually by the freeholders.
Various regulations provided for the security of property: and no taxes
were to be imposed without the consent of the assembly. The
proprietaries might mean no more, than that neither they, nor the
governor and council, shall impose taxes without the consent of the
assembly: but the mode of expression tended to confirm the people at
large in the opinion of their being exempted from all taxes which had
not the consent of their own assembly. The settlers had their land
confirmed, and granted to be now held by the free tenure of soccage,
expressing a certain rent and independence. All men were declared
entitled to equal privileges on taking the oath of allegiance to the
king, and of fidelity to the proprietaries.
It was not till 1669 that an assembly constituted as abovementioned was
convened: when it was enacted—“none shall be sued, during five years,
for any cause of action arising out of the country—and none shall accept
a power of attorney, to receive debts contracted abroad.” Hence this
colony was long considered as the refuge of the criminal, and the asylum
of the fugitive debtor.
The proprietaries, at length dissatisfied with every system which they
had hitherto divised for the government of their province, signed in
July, a body of _fundamental constitutions_ compiled by the celebrated
_Locke_, giving as a reason, “That we may establish a government
agreeable to the monarchy of which Carolina is a part, and may avoid
making too numerous a democracy.”
By this edict a palatine was to be chosen from among the proprietaries
for life; who was to act as president of the palatine court, composed of
the whole; which was intrusted with the exection of the powers of the
charter. A body of hereditary nobility was created, and denominated
landgraves and caciques; the former were to be invested with four
baronies, each consisting of 12,000 acres; the latter to have two,
containing one half of that quantity: and those estates were to descend
with the dignities inseparably. There were to be as many landgraves as
counties; and twice as many caciques, but no more. Two fifths of the
counties, stiled signiories and baronies, were to be possessed by the
nobility; the other three fifths, called The colonies, were to be left
among the people.
The provincial legislature, dignified with the name of parliament, was
to be biennial, and to consist of the proprietaries, alias landgraves,
or the deputy of each, of the cacique nobility, of the representatives
of the freeholders of every district, who were to meet in one
appartment, and every member to enjoy an equal vote: but no business was
to be proposed till it had been debated in the grand council, whose duty
it was to prepare bills for the parliamentary consideration. The grand
council was to be composed of the governor, the nobility, and the
deputies of the proprietaries, these being absent; and was invested with
the executive of the province. The church of England alone was to be
allowed a public maintenance by parliament; but every congragation might
tax its own members for the support of its own ministers; and to every
one was allowed perfect freedom in religion. However the most degrading
slavery was introduced by investing in every man the property of his
negro.[40]
These constitutions, consisting of 120 articles, and containing a great
variety of perplexing regulations, were declared to be the sacred and
unalterable rule of government in Carolina for ever; and yet they were
never altogether adopted. The parties engaged in this act of legislation
should have reflected, that the inhabitants had settled no conditions,
which it was no longer in their power to abrogate; and that in the forms
of government which had been actually established, the people had
acquired an interest which could not be taken away without their
consent.
[1670.] A number of emigrants were sent in January, under _William
Sayle_, esq. appointed governor of that part of the coast which lies
south-westward of Cape Carteret, to form a colony at Port-Royal. They
arrived safe; and as it was found impracticable to conform to the
constitutions, it was determined to keep as close to them as possible.
Sayle dying, Sir _John Yeamans_ had his command extended to and over
this colony in August, 1671. This year planters resorted from Clarendon
on the north, and Port-Royal on the south, to the banks of Ashley river,
for the convenience of pasture and tillage; and laid on the first high
land the foundation of old Charles-Town. The proprietaries promulgated
temporary laws, till through a sufficient number of inhabitants,
government could be administered according to the fundamental
constitutions. The temporary laws were of no long duration, being
derided by a people without whose consent they had been established.
In May, 1674, _Joseph West_, esq. was appointed governor of the southern
colony, in the room of Sir John Yeamans, with whose conduct the
proprietaries were dissatisfied. But the difficulty of establishing the
colony was not overcome for years; not till the people repaired to it at
their own expence, and men of estate ventured thither under the firm
persuasion of being fairly treated. In expectation of such treatment,
the dissenters, being harrassed by persecutions in England, and dreading
a popish successor, emigrated to Carolina in great numbers, and made a
considerable part of the inhabitants. They acquired the honor of
introducing religion into the province, while they strengthened it also
by their personal accessions. But the promising appearances of the
country inviting many over of a very different stamp, after a while
disturbances followed.
The planters being informed that the _Oyster-Point_, so delightfully
formed by the confluence of the rivers Ashley and Cooper, was more
convenient than what was fixed upon eight years before, and the
proprietaries encouraging their inclination, they began to remove, and
in the subsequent year laid the foundation of the present Charles-Town,
and built 30 houses [1680.] It was instantly declared the _port_ for the
purposes of traffic, and the _capital_ for the administration of
government. It was long unhealthy; but the adjacent country being now
cleared and cultivated, it is allowed to enjoy the most salubrious air
of Carolina.
Though the province had been formed into manors and baronies, it was not
till 1682, that it was divided into three counties. In the autumn of
this year, governor West held a parliament; and afterwards immediately
resigned his administration to Mr. Joseph Moreton. Thence commenced a
reiterated change of governors. Cyrle, West, Kuerry, Moreton, were
successively appointed. There was a similar change of every public
officer. These changes produced turbulency and faction.
But prior to this period, an insurrection broke out in the colony of
Albemarle, in December, 1677. At the end of two years succesful revolt,
Culpepper, who was deeply concered in the business, was dispatched with
another person to England with a promise of submission to the
proprietaries, on certain conditions. When about to return after
executing his trust, he was impeached by the commissioners of the
customs, for acting as collector without their authority, and embezzling
the king’s revenue in Carolina. He was seized on board a vessel in the
Downs, brought back, and in Trinity-term, 1680, tried by virtue of the
statute of _Henry_ VIII. on an indictment of high treason committed
without the realm. The famous Lord Shaftesbury, then in the zenith of
his popularity, appeared on his behalf, and represented, contrary to the
most undoubted facts, “That there never had been any regular government
in Albemarle, that its disorders were only feuds between the planters,
which could only amount to a riot.” On this _Culpepper_ was acquitted.
He is the first colonist who appears to have been regularly tried in the
court of King’s-bench upon that statute:[41] but he was not transported
from America in order to trial. His acquittal induced the proprietaries
to resolve upon governing, in future, according to the portion of
obedience which the insurgents should be disposed to yield. They
recommended, however, an healing disposition. But the persons bearing
the chief sway, being actuated too much by a vindictive spirit,
proseeded against their opponents by imprisonment, fine, and banishment
The seenes of anarchy produced by these measures were not changed, nor
the condition of the colony mended by the arrival of governor _Seth
Sothel_, in 1683, who was sent in hopes of quieting the disorders by his
authority, as he had purchased Lord Clarendon’s share of the province.
He was guilty of that bribery, extortion, injustice, rapacity, breach of
trust, and disobedience of orders, for five years, that the inhabitants,
driven almost to dispair, seized him with a view of sending him to
England to answer to their complaints: but upon his intreaties, and
offering to submit to their mutual accusations to the next assmbly, they
accepted his proposal. The assembly gave judgment against him in all the
above-mentioned particulars, and compelled him to abjure the country for
twelve months, and the government for ever.
_Charles-town_ having been made the principal port, the first collector
was established there in 1685. The governor and council were at the same
time ordered, not to fail to shew their forwardness in assisting the
collection of the duty on tobacco transported to other colonies, and in
seizing ships that presumed to trade contarary to the acts of
navigation. Little regard was paid to orders so contrary to the views of
every one. An illicit trade was not only practised, but justified under
the clause of the patent, _which the people believed to be of superior
force to the law_.—Though the royal grant of 1665 was passed subsequent
to the act of navigation, the present exemption was insisted upon, with
the same spirit that it was contended during this reign, that a king of
England may dispense with the law. The principle of the Carolinians, and
the doctrine so fashionable at the court of James, were therefore
exactly the same.
_James Colleton_, esq. a proprietary, was appointed governor, in August.
The next year he called an assembly, in which he and his party took upon
them to pass such laws as lost him the affections of the people. During
the ferments that followed, Seth Sothel, whom we have seen banished from
Albemarle, suddenly arrived at Charles-town. Countenanced by a powerful
party, and presuming on his powers as a proprietary, he seized the reins
of government in 1690, notwithstanding the opposition of governar and
council. A general return of member was procured, who readily sanctioned
by their votes whatever was dictated by those that had thus acquired
power. Colleton, whose conduct had been far from blameless, was
instantly impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors, disabled from
holding any office, and banished. Others were fined, imprisoned, and
expelled the province. The proprietaries appointed a new governor; and
the next year, [1692] upon the requisitions of the Carolinians,
abrogated Mr. Locke’s system of laws, _the fundamental constitutions_,
which far from having answered their end introduced only dissatisfaction
and disorders, that were not cured till the final dissolation of the
proprietary government.[42] The operation and fate of Mr. Locke’s system
may convince us of this truth, that a person “may defend the principles
of liberty and the rights of mankind, with great abilities and success;
and yet after all, when called upon to produce a plan of legislation, he
may astonish the world with a signal absurdity.”[43]
Governor _Archdale_ arrived at Carolinia in August, 1695. He managed
with great prudence, and succeeded so well, that the assembly voted him
an address of thanks. He was succeeded by _Joseph Blake_, esq. whose
sentiments were so liberal, that, though a dissenter, he prevailed with
the assembly to settle £ 150 _per annum_ upon the episcopal minister of
Charles-town for ever, and likewise to furnish him with a good house, a
glebe, and two servants. A very different spirit wrought in the earl of
Bath, when he succeeded to the power of palatine [1701.] and became
eldest proprietary. Being a zealot for the church of England, he was
ambitious of establishing its worship, and of excluding
non-episcopalians from a share in the government of Carolina; a similar
principle was at that time too prevalent in England. His views were
seconded by the pliableness of governor _Moor_, who was after a while
succeeded by Sir _Nathaniel Johnson_. Then the assembly being convened,
a bill was brought in for the more effectual preservation of the
government, by requiring all persons chosen members of the assembly, to
conform to religious worship, and receive the sacrament of the Lord’s
supper, according to the usage of the church of England. By this act,
all dissenters were disqualified from sitting in the assembly, though
legally elected, and the candidate who had the greatest number of
voices, after the disqualified dissenter, was to be admitted. The
passing of this act was unconstitutional and oppressive. Another bill
was passed for establishing religious worship in the province, according
to the church of England, and also for the erecting of churches, the
maintenance of ministers, and the building of convenient parsonages.
Both these acts were afterwards signed and settled by John lord
Granville, then palatine, for himself and the other proprietors. In
consequence of the last act, many oppressions were committed by the
government against the dissenters, who laboured under these and other
grievances, till the matter at length was brought before the house of
lords, who having fully weighed the same, addressed the queen in favour
of the Carolinians; and the laws complained of [1706.] were declared
null and void.
An Indian war having broken out in Carolina, and the proprietaries
finding themselves unable to maintain it against the Indians, while
these were supported by the French and Spaniards, [1728.] resolved to
surrender their charter to the crown. One-eighth of the province
belonged to lord Carteret. The proprietors of the other seven-eighths
were to receive for their cession £ 17,500 together with £ 5000 more,
due to them from the province on account of outstanding debts. The
surrender and payment was confirmed by a British act of parliament,
wherein was a clause, reserving always to John lord Carteret, his heirs,
executors, administrators, and assigns, all such estate, right, and
title to one-eighth part of the share of the said provinces or
territories, and to one-eighth part of all arrears as was his due. After
passing the act, the British government applied itself in earnest to
encourage this colony, and _Robert Johnson_, esq. was appointed
governor, and continued such till he died in 1735; in which year
Carolina was divided into two Colonies, North and South, and each placed
under a separate governor.[44]
_Pennsylvania_ and the _Delaware Counties_ next demand our attention.
Mr. _William Penn_, one of the joint purchasers of the western part of
the Jerseys, having received the most exact information of the country
to the westward of the Deleware, while engaged in the administration of
the joint purchase, became desirous of acquiring a separate estate.
He presented a petition to _Charles_ II. in June 1680, stating not only
his relationship to the late admiral; but that he was deprived of a debt
due from the crown, when the exchequer was shut. He prayed for a grant
of land, lying to the northward of Maryland, and westward of the
Delaware; and added, that by his interest he should be able to settle a
province which might, in time, repay his claims. Having the prospect of
success, he copied from the charter of Maryland the sketch of a patent
which in November was laid before the attorney-general for his opinion.
Penn had the same object in view as lord Baltimore had, the guarding
against the exertions of prerogative, which experience had taught both
were very inconvenient. The attorney-general declared the clause of
exemption from taxation illegal: and chief justice North, being of the
same opinion, and observing its tendency, added the saving of the
authority of the English parliament, so that it was stipulated by the
king, for himself and his successors, “that no customs or other
contribution shall be laid on the inhabitants or their estates, unless
by the consent of the porprietary, or governor and assembly, or _by act
of parliament in England_.”
The next year [1681] the patent was granted, in consideration of “the
merits of the father, and the good purposes of the son, in order to
extend the English empire, and to promote useful commodities.” It was
provided by fit clauses, that the sovereignty of the king should be
preserved; and that acts of parliament, concerning trade and navigation
and the customs, be duly observed. Penn was empowered to assemble the
freemen, or their delegates, in such form as he should think proper, for
raising money for the uses of the colony, and for making useful laws,
not contrary to those of England, or the rights of the kingdom. A
duplicate of the acts of the assembly was to be transmitted within five
year to the king in council, and the acts might be declared void within
six months, if not approved.
The novel introduction of the clause subjecting the inhabitants of
Pennsylvania to taxation by act of parliament, might afford an argument
against being so taxed, to all the colonies whose charters contained no
such clause. Dr. Franklin being asked, when examined by the house of
commons, in the time of the stamp act, “Seeing their is in the
Pennsylvania charter, an express reservation of the right of parliament
to lay taxes there, how could the assembly assert, that laying a tax on
them by the stamp act was an infringement on their rights? answered,
“They understand it thus—by the same charter and otherwise they are
entitled to all the privileges and liberties of Englishmen. They find in
the great charters and the petition and declaration of rights, that one
of the privileges of English subjects is, that they are not to be taxed
but by their own consent: they have therefore relied upon it, from the
first settlement, that the parliament never would or could, by colour of
that clause, tax them till it had qualified itself for the exercise of
such right, by admitting representatives from the people to be taxed.”
You will recollect governor Nicholson’s writing in 1698, “a great many
people in all the colonies, especially in those under proprietaries,
think that no law of England ought to be binding to them without their
own consent: for they foolishly say, they have no representatives sent
from themselves to the parliament of England.” [p. 39.]
The Pennsylvanians, it may be noted, were not declared by the patent to
be English subjects. There was no express stipulation, as had been
inserted in all the other colonial patents, “that the Pennsylvanians and
their descendants should be considered as subjects born within the
realm;” for the lawyers who revised it, considered such declaratious as
nugatory, since they were inferred by law.[45] If the right of the
English parliament to tax the colonies could also have been inferred by
law, why was not the express reservation of that right considered
likewise as nugatory.
In May, Penn detached Mr. Markham, his kinsman, with a small emigration,
in order to take possession of the country, and prepare it for a more
numerous colony. Care was taken to order an humane attention to the
rights of the Indians.
[1628] The frame of government for Pennsylvania was published in April.
It was forced from the proprietary by friends, who would not have
settled his country, unless gratified in whatever they demanded. It
underwent a similar fate with the constitutions of Locke; and after a
variety of alterations, was at length wholly laid aside, and a simpler
form established. As a supplement to the frame, there was published, in
the subsequent May, a body of laws agreed upon in England by the
adventurers, which was intended as a great charter, and does honor to
their wisdom as statesmen, to their morals as men, and to their spirit
as colonists.
Mr. _Penn_, desirous of carrying his religion southward to the
Chesapeak, was continually soliciting the duke of York, for a grant of
the _Delaware colony_. The prince at length wearied out, conveyed, in
August, the town of Newcastle, with a territory of twelve miles round;
as also that tract of land extending southward from it upon the Delaware
to Cape-Henlopen. It was known to both parties, that the title of what
was now granted was extremely exceptionable, as the duke could transfer
no other right than mere occupancy in opposition to the legal claim, of
lord Baltimore. Penn, however, who was intent on his own interest in
those parts, immediately assumed the powers of jurisdiction.
When, for the first time, he arrived on the banks of the Delaware,
October the 24th, he found them inhabited by 3,000 persons, composed of
Swedes, Dutch, Finlanders and English. Not only his own colonists, but
the rest, received him with joy and respect. He was accompanied thither
by about 2,000 emigrants, who being either quakers or other dissenters,
wished to enjoy their peculiarities and religion, in a country that
offered a peaceful asylum to the persecuted. Mr. Penn immediately
entered into a treaty with the Indians, and, agreeable to the bishop of
London’s counsel, purchased from them as much of the soil as the
circumstances of the colony required, for a price that gave them
satisfaction: he also settled with them a very kind correspondence. In
December, he convened the first assembly at Chester, consiting of
seventy-two delegates from the six counties, into which they had divided
Pennsylvania and the Delaware colony, soon after denominated the
_territories_. The inhabitants proposed that the deputies might serve
both for the provincial council and general assembly; three out of every
county for the former, and nine for the latter. Their proposals were
passed by the assembly without hesitation into an act of settlement. The
persons returned were declared to be the legal council and assembly, and
every county was empowered to send the same number in future, which in
the same manner should constitute the legislature; and after the
addition of a few other explanations, the modified frame of government
was solemnly recognized and accepted. Then an act was passed, annexing
the territories to the province, and communicating to the one the same
privileges, government, and laws, as the other already enjoyed. Every
foreigner who promised allegience to the king, and obedience to the
proprietary, was at the same time declared to be a freeman, and entitled
to his rights. By the legislative regulation, established as
fundamentals by this assembly, factors who wronged their employers were
to make satisfaction and one-third over—not only the goods, but the
lands of the debtor were subjected to the payment of debts—every thing
which excited the people to rudeness, cruelty, and irreligion, was to be
discouraged and severely punished—no person acknowledging one God, and
living peaceably in society, was to be molested for his opinions or
practice, or to be compelled to frequent or maintain any ministry
whatsoever. It was a principle of the great charter, “that children
shall be taught some useful trade, to the end that none may be idle, but
the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become poor may not
want.”
Penn, dissatisfied with the act of settlement, without difficulty
created a second frame, agreeing partly with the first, modified
according to the act of settlement in certain particulars, and in some
measure essentially different from both; to which he procured the assent
of the next assembly, in 1683; but which in time shared the fate of the
former.
[1684.] He departed for England. The most violent dissensions followed
almost instantly upon it, the provincial council and the assembly
contending eagerly with regard to their mutual privileges and powers.
Tranquility was not restored by the duputy governor Blackwell, who
entered upon his government in December, 1688.
[1685.] Toward the close of this year Mr. Penn obtained a new grant to
the Delaware colony, which he had been soliciting for some time.
[1688.] The Pennsylvanians and their rulers, when Blackwell entered upon
his administration, were so much engaged in their own contests and
pursuits, and so actuated by the principles of their superior, [the
proprietary whose attachments to James II. during those days are well
known] that they seem to have disregarded that signal revolution which
transferred their allegience and Pennsylvania to the prince and princess
of Orange: for the very laws and government of the province were
administered in the name of the abdicated monarch, long after William
and Mary had been formally proclaimed in other colonies.
It is a singularity in the history of this province, that neither its
various systems, nor its fundamental laws, were communicated to the king
for dissent or approbation, though strongly enforced.[46]
Penn’s adherence to James carried him to such lengths, that he was
considered as an inveterate enemy to the protestant establishment, and
was for some time excepted out of the acts of grace published by William
and Mary; who appointed colonel _Fletcher_, by the same commission,
governor both of New-York and Pennsylvania. In the commission no manner
of regard seems to have been had to the original charter. But when the
assembly met, though sixteen short in number to what had been before
usual, through the change made in the writs, they passed a vote, _nem.
con._ “That the laws of this province, which were in force and practice
before the arrival of this present governor, are still in force; and
that the assembly have a right humbly to move the governor for a
continuation or confirmation of the same.” That and subsequent
assemblies shewed such a fixed determination to secure their rights,
that neither governor nor lieutenant governor could bring them to bend
to their wishes.
In 1696 Penn had so well managed matters at the court of England, that
he was restored to his right of naming a governor; and in the beginning
of 1700 he went to Pennsylvania in person. After the meeting of several
assemblies, he convened one in September, 1701, and informed them of the
indispensable necessity he was under of going to England, to obviate
some ill offices done by his and their enemies with the government
there; but offered to do every thing that was in his power to secure to
them their privileges and properties. The assmbly, in their answer,
expressed their dissatisfaction at the state of both, and required
farther security; to which he gave evasive answers, but offered to leave
the nomination of the deputy governor to themselves; they declined it,
and went upon a new charter of privileges.
This introduced a breach between the members of the province and those
of the territories; the latter insisting upon some particular
privileges, which, when refused by the others, made them withdraw from
the meeting, and it required all the authority and address of the
proprietary to make up the breach. At last, after great heart-burnings
on both parts, just when Mr. Penn was about to embark, a charter of
privileges was presented to him and being ratified by him, became the
rule of government in Pennsylvania. By this important charter liberty of
conscience is granted; and all christians, of whatever denomination,
taking the proper oaths of allegiance and fidelity, are enabled to serve
the government, either legislatively or executively. The exclusion of
all persons from the legislative and executive branches, however
eminently qualified, and well behaved as members of civil society,
unless they are christians, does not accord with that general liberty
which ought to prevail in national communities, now that the existance
of all theocracy is ended by the introduction of the kingdom of Christ.
The piety of the theorist, and the subtilty of the politician, desirous
of securing the support of christians, may introduce the exclusion into
written or printed agreements, but cannot establish a practical
exclusion of persons opposed to christianity. He must be both simple and
uninformed, who will not admit, that many deists have served the
Pennsylvania and other excluding governments, either legislatively or
executively.
By the second article of the charter it is provided, that an assembly
shall be yearly chosen by the freemen, to consist of four persons out of
each county, or of a greater number, if the governor and assembly shall
so agree, on the 1st of October for ever, and shall sit on the 14th
following, with power to choose a speaker and other their officers, and
be judges of the qualifications and elections of their own members;
shall sit upon their own adjournments, prepare bills, impeach criminals,
and redress grievances; and shall possess all other powers and
privileges of an assembly, according to the rights of the free-born
subjects of England, and the customs observed in any of the king’s
plantations in America. If any county or counties shall neglect to send
deputies, those who meet, provided they are not fewer in number than two
thirds of the whole, shall be considered as the legal representatives of
the province.
By the eighth article, in cases of suicide, all property is to descend
to the next heirs, as if the deceased had died a natural death: nor is
the governor to be entitled to any forfeiture, if a person shall be
killed by causualty or accident. The same article provides, that no act,
law, or ordinance whatsoever, shall at any time hereafter be made, to
alter or diminish the form or effect of this charter, or of any part of
it, without the consent of the governor for the time being, and six
parts in seven of the assembly met—that the first article, relating to
liberty of conscience, shall be kept without any alteration inviolably
for ever—and that William Penn, for himself, _&c._ does solemnly
declare, that neither he, _&c._ shall do any thing whereby the
liberties, in this charter contained, nor any part thereof, shall be
infringed; and that if any thing shall be done by any person contrary
thereto, it shall be held of no effect.
This new constitution differed greatly from the original.—The governor
might nominate his own council, and he was left single in the executive
part of the government, and had liberty to restrain the legislative, by
refusing his assent to their bills.—The assembly, on the other hand,
acquired the important privilege of propounding laws, as well as of
amending or rejecting them; but though this new constitution was
thankfully accepted by the province, it was unanimously rejected by the
territories; and affairs stood in this untoward state when the
proprietary sailed for England. The representatives of the province and
those of the territories divided, and acted as two distinct bodies; and
the attempts to unite them proved ineffectual.
The _territories_ consisted of the three counties, _Newcastle_, _Kent_,
and _Sussex_, on the Delaware, and are commonly known by the name of the
three _Lower Counties on the Delaware_.
Notwithstanding Mr. Penn is celebrated as the wisest of legislators, the
assembly, about the year 1704, unanimously came to nine resolutions, in
which they complain with great grief of him, “for undermining his own
foundations; and by a subtle contrivance, laid deeper than the
capacities of some could fathom, finding a way to lay aside the act of
settlement, and dissove his second charter.”[47] He was likewise charged
with having extorted from the province great sums of money. They
complained also of the abuses of surveyors, the clerks of the courts,
and justices of the peace, who, they said, were all put in by the
proprietary, so that he became his own judge in his own cause.—These and
other matters were the heads of a representation, or rather
remonstrance, drawn up and sent to Mr. Penn, then in England, in which
he is represented as an oppressor, and as falsifying his word in almost
every respect, with the provincials.[48]
The disputes which subsisted in Pennsylvania were greatly augmented by
the intemperance of the quakers themselves, who, notwithstanding all
their zeal for liberty of conscience, persecuted about or soon after
1694, George Keith (who had been one of their most famous preachers)
upon his conforming to the church of England; and went so far as to
throw him into prison. They apologized for their conduct by pleading,
that they did not punish him for his religious principles, but for
having insulted the civil government.[49] If this was a good plea, the
New-Englanders might gain great advantages from it, in vindicating
themselves as to many of the severities they practised upon the quakers,
who insulted their civil governments, beyond what will be easily
credited by those who have not had the opportunity of knowing the
transactions of that period, or are not acquainted with the abusive
language of some of the then leaders of that denomination—language which
the body of modern quakers will not vindicate.
It only remains to give a concise account of the settlement of
_Georgia_.
In 1732 a number of gentlemen, considering the vast benefit that might
arise from the tract of land lying between the Savannah and the river
Altamahat petitioned the king for a charter, which was accordingly
granted on the ninth of June. They meant that the country should be made
a bulwark for the southern colonies against the Spaniards; and should
give employment to numbers of people who were burthensome at home to
their friends and parishes. The charter constituted them a corporation,
by the name of trustees for establishing a colony, by the name of
Georgia, including the country from the most northern stream of the
Savannah, to the most southern stream of the Altamaha. The corporation
was to subsist for 21 years; and after the expiration of that term, the
governor and all officers were to be appointed by the crown.
Toward the end of August, Sir William Heathcote recommended in the
strongest terms, to the directors of the bank, the interests of the
colony. His speech had the desired effect, and the members of the court,
after his example, contributed largely toward the undertaking, as did
great numbers of the nobility, gentry, clergy, and others; and the
parliament granted £.10,000. By the beginning of November, about a
hundred and sixteen colonists presented themselves, most of them
labouring people; and were furnished with working tools of all kinds,
stores, and small arms. Mr. _Oglethorpe_, one of the trustees,
generously attended the first set of emigrants to Carolina, where they
arrived in good health on the 15th of January 1733. The Carolinians made
them a present of 100 breeding cattle, besides hogs, and twenty barrels
of rice; and furnished them with a party of horse and with scout boats,
by the help of which they reached the Savannah, where Mr. Oglethorpe,
ten miles up the river, pitched upon a spot for a town; and on February
the 9th, the building of the first house commenced. The colonists were
most generously assisted by the Carolinians and their governor,
cololonel Bull, not only with their purses, but their labour, in raising
the new town, named Savannah, from the river.
Mr. Oglethorpe was waited upon by a numerous deputation from the Lower
Creek Nation, with whom he concluded a treaty; and soon after set out
for Charles-Town, on his return to England, where he arrived in 1734,
bringing with him several Indian chiefs and a war captain. But before
the end of March this year, more emigrants, to the amount of six
hundred, were either sent over by charity, or went at their own expence.
On the 30th of October the Indians embarked for their own country,
having had an allowance while in London of £.20 a week, of which they
spent little, as they commonly ate and drank at the tables of persons of
the highest distinction. They moreover received presents to a very
considerable amount. They embarked at Gravesend, in a ship which carried
over a number of Saltzburghers, being German protestants, who, with
others of their countrymen that followed, settled on the Savannah, a
town they called Ebenezer, and which by their habits of industry and
sobriety soon became considerable. The Georgians made a surprising
progress in clearing their lands and building their houses: and, as an
encouragement, the British parliament granted them a supply of £.26,000
which, with very great private donations, was expended upon
strengthening the south part of Georgia. This being a necessary service
for the colony, the trustees pitched upon the highlanders of Scotland,
160 of whom went over in 1735, settled themselves upon Altamaha river,
and gave the name of Darien to a fort they built there, to which they
afterwards added a small town called New Inverness.
In February, 1736, Mr. Oglethorpe, with about 300 passengers on board
two ships, anchored in the road of Savannah. He soon began building
another town, named Frederica.
[1737.] A misunderstanding subsisting between the courts of London and
Madrid, and advice being sent from South-Carolina to Britain, that the
Spaniards at St. Augustine and the Havannah, were making preparations
for attacking Georgia, the government, at the request of the trustees,
sent thither a regiment of 600 men, any of whom at the end of seven
years might have a regular discharge, and be entitled to a grant of
twenty acres of land. The parliament this year granted the colony
another supply of £.20,000 which enabled the trustees to send over a
fresh embarkation, of persecuted protestants.
On the breaking out of the war between England and Spain, Mr.
Oglethorpe, being invested with a general’s command, proceeded with a
body of troops to attack St. Augustine in 1740, but the expedition
proved unfortunate.
In 1742 Georgia was invaded by about 5000 Spaniards and Indians from St.
Augustine, in about fifty vessels of various kinds, who were repulsed by
the general at the head of the English forces, and a small body of
Indians. Had the Spanish descent proved successful, the Carolinians must
have been in imminent danger: but the general’s good conduct secured
them, and he received congratulatory letters of thanks from several of
the American governors, for his great and important services.[50]
On the review of what you have read, you will note, that the colonists
were very early in declaring, that they ought not to be taxed but by
their own general courts, and that they considered subjection to the
acts of a parliament in which they had no representatives from
themselves, as a hardship—that like true born Englishmen, when
grievously oppressed by governors or others, they resisted, deposed, and
banished; and would not be quieted till grievances complained of were
redressed—and that not a colony, Georgia excepted, was settled at the
expence of government. Toward the settlement of the last, parliament
granted £.56,000 at three different periods.