In 1607 the Plymouth Company made an unsuccessful attempt on the
Kennebec; but, though baffled and hindered, the purpose of colonization
was not abandoned. In 1609 Captain Smith, injured by an accident, and
disheartened by the unhappy state of the colony at Jamestown, returned to
London to interest others in the settlement of America. Time was needed
to make the preparation; and in 1614 he came in command of two ships to
the coast of lower Maine, explored the country, and drew maps of the
whole coast line from the Penobscot to Cape Cod, and called the region
New England.
No colony was then planted. Months and years were consumed fruitlessly in
making and unmaking plans that proved impracticable, or at best failed
in the execution; till in 1617 the Plymouth Company was superseded by
the Council of Plymouth, consisting of forty of the most wealthy and
influential men of the kingdom. They planned magnificently, and made many
fair promises; but the spirit of the enterprise was intensely secular if
not selfish, and the hopes cherished were again disappointed. The actual
settlement of New England was begun by men of more earnest spirit and
loftier aim, to whom conscience and the love of liberty were a higher law.
The Pilgrims, a class of deeply conscientious non-conformists, who,
because of the persecutions endured, had in the land of their birth no
certain abiding place, and many of whom for ten years found an asylum in
Holland, had now, by some mysterious influence, turned their thoughts and
hopes to the New World. They had known the bitterness of leaving home
and country for conscience sake, had in their voluntary exile cultivated
habits of industry, gained strength of character by the things they
suffered, and were now ready to encounter any difficulty to find a home,
though in the far-off American wilderness.
With no charter or grant of land from the king they could only obtain
consent of the Company to occupy some uninhabited part of that vast and
rather indefinite tract then known as Virginia, and between 34° and
45° north latitude. After much difficulty they obtained two vessels,
the “Speedwell” and “May-Flower.” The former, being found unseaworthy,
returned to Plymouth, and the “May-Flower” proceeded with one hundred
and one colonists. Encountering fierce storms it was a long, perilous
passage of sixty-three days; and being compelled to land outside the
limits of the Virginia Company’s jurisdiction, and so without any
government, they proceeded at once to form one. All the men of the
company, forty-one in number, signed the constitution before leaving
the ship. It was brief but comprehensive, and, with an honest avowal
of allegiance to the crown, democratic in the most explicit sense. On
Monday, the 11th of December, 1620, the Pilgrims landed on the Rock of
Plymouth, on the western shore of Cape Cod. It was late in the season,
and though all possible efforts were made to provide themselves shelter,
and some means of defense in case of attack, there was much sickness,
suffering and death during the winter. An early spring brought relief
to those who survived; and, from year to year, their decimated ranks
were recruited by new arrivals. Treaties of peace were made with the
Indians; the fields and forests furnished food, and in a short time the
colony numbered thousands. Other settlements were made, and in ten years
spread over the country from Cape Ann to Plymouth. Before the end of the
next decade some fifty towns and villages dotted the country, and the
signs of thrift were most encouraging. W. Stevens, a ship builder, had
already launched an American vessel of four hundred tons burden; and two
hundred and ninety-three immigrant ships had anchored in Massachusetts
Bay, and more than 20,000 Europeans had found homes as the outcome of the
humble beginning at Plymouth. But the good men who had suffered much for
conscience’ sake, and that they might enjoy liberty, were not themselves
free from the bigotry they spurned and became cruelly intolerant of those
who dared differ from them.
But that narrowness was soon overcome, and measures unworthy of them
overruled for good. The banishment of the eloquent Roger Williams and
others who pleaded for complete religious toleration, and declared that
the consciences of men are in no way bound by the authority of the
magistrate, so far from quenching the spirit of freedom that burned in
his manly words, gave it wider scope and richer fruitage. The exile,
finding favor with the Indians, whose rights he had so nobly defended,
soon became, by purchase, the owner of Rhode Island. He founded the city
of Providence and established a little republic, in whose constitution
freedom of conscience was guaranteed, and persecution for opinion’s sake
forbidden. Moreover, his influence in Massachusetts was scarcely less
than it would have been had he remained.
The seed was sown, and the fruit very soon appeared. The aristocracy
that was growing up in spite of all disclaimers was overthrown, a
representative government established, and the good Puritans, without
compromising their orthodoxy, became more tolerant toward such as
“followed not with them.”
The colonies of Rhode Island, Maryland and Pennsylvania were the first
civil communities in which free toleration in religion was granted, but
the leaven was working. A nation was fast growing up in the wilderness,
whose resources were rapidly developing. But the scattered communities
were much exposed, and, for mutual defense, the colonies of Plymouth,
Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and New Haven united in 1643, forming
the “United Colonies of New England.” The union lasted forty years,
and foreshadowed the union of the United States. In union they found
strength, and increased still more rapidly in all the resources of a
prosperous community. They had council chambers, churches, school houses,
and printing presses, with probably as large a proportion of educated and
highly cultured people as are found in any new settlement. That many were
strangely superstitious, bigoted and intolerant; that lives, otherwise
noble and praiseworthy, were stained with acts of injustice and cruelty,
is confessed with sorrow; but it only proves them men with the weaknesses
and faults that belong to our common humanity. Their virtues alone are
worthy of imitation.
While rapid progress was made in the east, and popular government was
becoming securely established, the work of colonization was pushed
vigorously in other sections, and, in less than fifty years, there had
been planted fifteen colonies, most of which prospered greatly. In 1636
Providence united with Rhode Island, in 1677 Maine with Massachusetts,
and in 1682 New Haven with Connecticut. Of those eventually forming the
“Empire” and “Keystone” states mention will be made hereafter.
[C] Abridged from “People’s History.”
[End of Required Reading for March.]
* * * * *
A correspondent asks: “What is the meaning of ‘Creole?’ To whom is it
applied, and why?” The word is French—the Spanish being nearly the same.
It means primarily to create, but also to nourish, educate, bring up.
It was first applied to children of French and Spanish parentage born
in the West Indies or in Louisiana, because they were brought up in the
country to which their parents came as colonists. The name is honorable.
The influence of climate and other circumstances made these children of
European parentage differ somewhat in appearance from their ancestors.
They were less hardy and robust, but more beautiful. The term “Creoles”
is sometimes applied to all born in tropical climates, as they have some
common characteristics.