The settlement had its birth in 1620, the date of the charter granted
by James I. to "the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New
England." The first policy of the company was to attract families of
good birth, position, education, and fortune, to take up considerable
portions of land, introduce the best agriculture known, and facilitate
the settling of the country. Hence the tone of manners, the social
organization, and the prevalence of the military spirit, which the
subsequent decline in the spirit of the community made it difficult for
careless thinkers to understand. Not only did the wealth of this class
of early settlers supply the district with roads and bridges, and clear
the forest; it set up the pursuit of agriculture in the highest place,
and encouraged intellectual pursuits, refined intercourse, and a loftier
spirit of colonizing enterprise than can be looked for among immigrants
whose energies are engrossed by the needs of the day. The mode of dress
of the gentry of this class shows us something of their aspect in their
new country, when prowling Indians were infesting the woods a stone's
throw from their fences, and when the rulers of the community took it
in turn with all their neighbors to act as scouts against the savages.
George Corwin was thus dressed:
"A wrought flowing neckcloth, a sash covered with lace, a coat with
short cuffs and reaching halfway between the wrist and elbow; the skirts
in plaits below; an octagon ring and cane. The last two articles are
still preserved. His inventory mentions 'a silver-laced cloth coat, a
velvet ditto, a satin waistcoat embroidered with gold, a trooping scarf
and silver hat-band, golden-topped and embroidered, and a silver-headed
cane.'" (Vol. i. p. 98.)
This aristocratic element was in large proportion to the total number
of settlers. It lifted up the next class to a position inferior only
to its own by its connection with land. The farmers formed an order by
themselves--not by having peculiar institutions, but through the dignity
ascribed to agriculture. The yeomanry of Massachusetts hold their heads
high to this day, and their fathers spoke proudly of themselves as "the
farmers." They penetrated the forest in all directions, sat down beside
the streams, and plowed up such level tracts as they found open to
the sunshine; so that in a few years "the Salem Farms" constituted a
well-defined territory, thinly peopled, but entirely appropriated. In
due course parishes were formed round the outskirts of "Salem Farms,"
encroaching more or less in all directions, and reducing the area to
that which was ultimately known as "Salem Village," in which some few
of the original grants of five hundred acres or less remained complete,
while others were divided among families or sold. Long before the date
of the Salem Tragedy, the strifes which follow upon the acquisition of
land had become common, and there was much ill-blood within the bounds
of the City of Peace. The independence, the mode of life, and the pride
of the yeomen made them excellent citizens, however, when war broke out
with the Indians or with any other foe; and the military spirit of the
aristocracy was well sustained by that of the farmers.
The dignity of the town had been early secured by the wisdom of the
Company at home, which had committed to the people the government of the
district in which they were placed; and every citizen felt himself, in
his degree, concerned in the rule and good order of the society in which
he lived; but the holders of land recognized no real equality between
themselves and men of other callings, while the artisans and laborers
were ambitious to obtain a place in the higher class. Artisans of every
calling needed in a new society had been sent out from England by the
Company; and when all the most energetic had acquired as much land as
could be had in recompense for special services to the community--as so
many acres for plowing up a meadow, so many for discovering minerals, so
many for foiling an Indian raid,--and when the original grants had been
broken up, and finally parceled out among sons and daughters, leaving
no scope for new purchasers, the most ambitious of the adventurers
applied for tracts in Maine, where they might play their part of First
Families in a new settlement. The weaker, the more envious, the more
ill-conditioned thus remained behind, to cavil at their prosperous
neighbors, and spite them if they could. Here was an evident preparation
for social disturbance, when opportunity for gratifying bad passions
should arise.