Читать книгу A New History of the United States - Charles Morris - Страница 42

Table of Contents

Virginia—Founding of Jamestown—Captain John Smith—Introduction of African Slavery—Indian Wars—Bacon's Rebellion—Forms of Government—Prosperity—Education—New England—Plymouth—Massachusetts Bay Colony—Union of the Colonies—Religious Persecution—King Philip's War—The Witchcraft Delusion—New Hampshire—The Connecticut Colony—The New Haven Colony—Union of the Colonies—Indian Wars—The Charter Oak—Rhode Island—Different Forms of Government—New York—The Dutch and English Settlers—New Jersey—Delaware—Pennsylvania—Maryland—Mason and Dixon's Line—The Carolinas—Georgia.

At the opening of the seventeenth century there was not a single English settlement on this side of the Atlantic. It has been shown that the French succeeded in planting colonies in Canada, that of De Monts, in 1605, in Acadia (the French name of Nova Scotia), proving successful, while Champlain founded Quebec three years later. St. Augustine, Florida, was founded by the Spanish in 1565, but it has played an insignificant part in our history. England was the mother of the colonies, from which the original thirteen States sprang, and we are vastly more indebted to her than to all other nations combined.

THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.

In the year 1606, when James I. was king of England, he gave a charter or patent to a number of gentlemen, which made them the owners of all that part of America lying between the thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth degrees of north latitude. The men who received this gift associated themselves together under the name of the London Company, and in the same year sent out three vessels, carrying 105 men, but no women or children. A storm drove them out of their course, and, in the month of May, they entered the mouth of a broad river, which they named the James in honor of their king. They sailed up stream for fifty miles, and, on the 13th of May, 1607, began the settlement of Jamestown, which was the first English colony successfully planted in America. Everything looked promising, but the trouble was that the men did not wish to work, and, instead of cultivating the soil, spent their time in hunting for gold which did not exist anywhere near them. They were careless in their manner of living and a great many fell ill and died. They must have perished before long had they not been wise enough to elect Captain John Smith president or ruler of the colony.

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND HIS ADVENTURES.

This man is one of the most interesting characters in the early history of our country. He was a great boaster, and most of his associates did not like him. He had been a wanderer in many parts of the world, and had any number of stories to tell of his wonderful adventures. Probably some of those stories were true and many fiction. Be that as it may, he was an energetic and brave man, and the very one to save the perishing settlers. He made every man work, and none wrought harder than himself. As a consequence matters began to mend at once.

Obeying his orders in London, Captain Smith, when it seemed prudent to do so, spent much of his time in exploring the streams that flowed into the James. It must not be forgotten that it was still believed in Europe that America formed a part of Asia, and that no one needed to penetrate far into the interior to reach that country.

On one of these voyages Captain Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians, who led him before their chief Powhatan. The chief decided that he must be put to death, and, with his hands tied together, he was placed on the ground, with his head resting on two big stones. Then one of the warriors stepped forward to dash out his brains with a club. At that moment Pocahontas, the young daughter of the chief, ran forward, and, throwing her arms around the head of Smith, begged her father to spare his life. The chief consented, and the prisoner was set free and returned to Jamestown. Such is the story which Captain Smith told after the death of Pocahontas in England, which she had visited with her husband, an Englishman named Rolfe, and it can never be known whether the incident was true or not. Some years later Smith was so badly injured by the explosion of gunpowder that he had to return to England for treatment. There he died in 1631. His invaluable services in this country have led historians to regard him as the saviour of the Virginia colony.

POCAHONTAS SAVING THE LIFE OF JOHN SMITH.

The most woeful blow that was struck the American colonies was in August, 1619, when a Dutch ship sailed up the James and sold twenty negroes, kidnapped in Africa, to the colonists as slaves. It was thus that African slavery was introduced into this country, bringing in its train more sorrow, suffering, desolation, and death than pen can describe or imagination conceive. The institution became legal in all the colonies, and the ships of New England, as well as those of old England, were actively engaged for many years in the slave trade.

THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS.

WARS WITH THE INDIANS.

The marriage of Pocahontas to one of the settlers made her father a firm friend of the whites as long as he lived. At his death, his brother Opechankano succeeded him. He hated intensely the invaders of the hunting grounds, and began plotting to exterminate them. On the 22d of March, 1622, he made such a sudden and furious assault upon the plantations, as the farms were called, along the James that 400 people were killed in one day. The settlers rallied, slew many of the Indians and drove the remainder far back in the woods, but by the time this was accomplished half of the 4,000 settlers were dead and the eighty plantations were reduced to eight.

Opechankano was not crushed, and for more than twenty years he busied himself in perfecting his plans for a greater and more frightful massacre. It was in April, 1644, that he struck his second blow, killing between three and four hundred of the settlers. Once more the Virginians renewed the war of extermination, and pressed it mercilessly until the Indians sued for peace, gave a large tract of land to their conquerors, and retired still further into the wilderness. It is worth noting that at the time of this last massacre Opechankano was nearly a hundred years old.

BACON'S REBELLION.

Sir William Berkeley was the most bigoted ruler Virginia ever had. In one of his messages, he thanked God that there were no free schools or printing in his province. He was very tyrannous, and, having friends in the assembly, they prevented the election of any new members from 1666 to 1676. The taxes became intolerable, and trade fell into the hands of a few individuals. Not only that, but the governor disbanded the troops which had gathered for protection against the Indians, who renewed their attacks on the exposed plantations.

This was more than the people could stand, and they rose in rebellion under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, a popular young planter, who had lost several members of his family through the attacks of the Indians. Berkeley was cowed for a time, but the arrival of some ships from England enabled him to take the field against Bacon. During the civil war, Jamestown was burned to the ground and never rebuilt. Bacon pressed his resistance so vigorously that his success seemed certain, when unfortunately he fell ill and died. Left without a leader, the rebellion crumbled to pieces. The exultant Berkeley punished the leading rebels without mercy. He hanged twenty-two, and was so ferocious that the king lost patience and ordered him to return to England. "The old fool!" he exclaimed; "he has taken away more lives in that naked country than I did for the murder of my father."

PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY.

Colonial Virginia underwent several changes in its form of government. A "Great Charter" was granted to it in 1613 by the London Company. This permitted the settlers to make their own laws. The House of Burgesses, which was called together at Jamestown by Governor Yeardley, July 30, 1619, was the first legislative body that ever met in this country. King James was dissatisfied with the tendency of things, and in 1624 he took away the charter and granted a new one, which allowed the colony to elect the members of the House of Burgesses, while the king appointed the council and their governor. This made Virginia a royal province, which she remained until the Revolution.

ARMOR WORN BY THE

PILGRIMS IN 1620.

Virginia became very prosperous. Immense quantities of tobacco were raised and sent to England and Holland, where it became widely popular. Its cultivation was so profitable in the colony that for a time little else was cultivated. It was planted even along the streets of Jamestown and became the money of the province. Everything was paid for in so many pounds of tobacco. The population steadily increased, and in 1715 was 95,000, which was the same as that of Massachusetts. A half-century later, Virginia was the richest and most important of the thirteen colonies. The people lived mostly on large plantations, for land was plentiful and the Indians gave no further trouble. Most of the inhabitants were members of the Church of England, and their assemblies passed severe laws against the entrance of people of other religious beliefs into the colony. It required the furnace blasts of the Revolution to purify Virginia and some other provinces of this spirit of intolerance.

Education was neglected or confined to the rich who could send their children to England to be educated. Some of the early schools were destroyed by Indians, but William and Mary College, founded in 1692, was the second college in the United States. It was never a very strong institution.

THE "OLD DOMINION."

It is worth recording how Virginia received the name of the "Old Dominion." She remained loyal to Charles I. throughout the civil war in England which ended in the beheading of the king. She was true also to Charles II. when he was a fugitive and declared an outlaw. While in exile, he sent Governor Berkeley his commission as Governor of Virginia, and that ruler was immensely pleased. The king, to show his appreciation of the loyalty of his colony, made public declaration that Virginia added a fifth country to his kingdom, making it consist of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Virginia, and he devised as an addition to the motto of the English coat of arms, "En dat Virginia quintam" ("Lo! Virginia gives the fifth"). While Cromwell was turning things topsy-turvy in England, a great many of the best families among the Royalists emigrated to Virginia, where they were received with open arms by Governor Berkeley and the owners of the plantations. From this arose the name "Old Dominion," which is often applied to Virginia.

THE PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH.

During the early days of Virginia there was bitter persecution in England of those whose religious views differed from the Church of England. This cruelty drove many people to other countries, and because of their wanderings they were called "Pilgrims." Those who remained members of the English church and used their efforts to purify it of what they believed to be loose and pernicious doctrines were nicknamed "Puritans." Those who withdrew from the membership of the church were termed "Separatists" or "Independents." This distinction is often confounded by writers and readers.

One hundred and two Pilgrims, all Separatists, who had fled to Holland, did not like the country, and decided to make their homes in the New World, where they could worship God as their consciences dictated. They sailed in the Mayflower, and, after a long and stormy passage, landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 21, 1620, in the midst of a blinding snowstorm.

The Pilgrims were hardy, industrious, and God-fearing, and were prepared to face every kind of danger and suffering without murmur. They were severely austere in their morals and conduct, and, when writhing in the pangs of starvation, maintained their faith unshaken in the wisdom and goodness of their Heavenly Father. All these admirable qualities were needed during the awful winter, which was one of the severest ever known in New England. They built log-houses, using oiled paper instead of glass for the windows, and in the spring were able to buy corn of the Indians, who pitied their sufferings, for in the space of a few weeks one-half of the Pilgrims had died. At one time there were but seven well persons in the colony. Among those who passed away was John Carver, the first governor.

LANDING OF MYLES STANDISH.

The survivors held their ground with grim heroism, and by-and-by other immigrants arrived, and the growth and prosperity, though slow, was certain. It had no charter, but was governed by an agreement which had been drawn up and signed in the cabin of the Mayflower, about the time the bleak coast of New England was sighted. For sixty years after the settlement of Plymouth, its history was uneventful. It was never very large, but the real work which it accomplished was in bringing thousands of other colonists to follow it to New England, who were opponents of the Established Church, and who gave to that section of our country a distinctive character of its own.

MYLES STANDISH.

It is an interesting coincidence that while Virginia had her Captain John Smith, Plymouth possessed a character quite similar in the person of Captain Myles Standish. He was the military leader of the colony, with a courage that was absolutely fearless. He has been described as a very small man, with a "long, yellow beard," and a temper as inflammable as gunpowder. Nothing would rouse his anger sooner than to hear any slur upon his stature. A big, hulking Indian, belonging to a party much larger than Standish's, once looked down upon the diminutive Englishman, and, with a curl of his lip, referred to him as too small to fight. The next day, in a fight that arose with the chiefs, Standish killed the insulting Indian with his own knife. All readers are familiar with the beautiful poem of Longfellow, which tells how Standish employed John Alden to woo Priscilla, the "loveliest maid of Plymouth," for him, and he did it with such success that Alden won her for himself.

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony included the part of the present State of Massachusetts from the neighborhood of Boston northward. It was founded by Puritans, who, it will be remembered, had not separated wholly from the Church of England, but opposed many of its ceremonies. In the civil war with England they sided with the Parliament and were subjected to the same persecution as the Separatists. In 1628 a number of wealthy Puritans bought the territory from the Council of Plymouth, and, receiving a charter the following year from Charles I., sent small colonies across the Atlantic. Then the company itself followed, taking with it the charter and officers, thus gaining a colony in America that was wholly independent of England. Salem and some other small settlements had previously been made.

The colony was one of the most important that ever settled in this country. Its leaders were not only of the best character, but were wealthy, wise, and far-seeing. A large number arrived in 1630, and founded Boston, Cambridge, Lynn, and other towns. Although they suffered many privations, they were not so harsh as those of Plymouth, and the colony prospered. During the ten years succeeding 1630, 20,000 people settled in Massachusetts, and in 1692 the two colonies united under the name of Massachusetts.

It would seem that since these people had fled to America to escape religious persecution, they would have been tolerant of the views of those among them, but such unhappily was not the case. The most important part of their work was the building of churches and the establishment of religious instruction. The minister was the most important man in the colony, and no one was allowed to vote unless a member of the church. A reproof in church was considered the most disgraceful penalty that could be visited upon a wrong-doer. The sermons were two, three, and sometimes four hours long, and the business of one of the officers was to watch those overcome by drowsiness and wake them up, sometimes quite sharply.

KING PHILIP'S WAR—DEATH OF THE KING.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.

ROGER WILLIAMS IN BANISHMENT.

Roger Williams, a Baptist preacher, told the Puritans, as the people came generally to be called, that they did wrong to take the land from the Indians without paying for it, and that a person was answerable to God alone for his belief. These charges were answered by the banishment of Williams from the colony. All the Baptists were expelled in 1635. Shortly afterward, Anne Hutchinson boldly preached the doctrine of Antinomianism, which declares that a man is not saved by the help of good works, but by divine grace alone. In other words, no matter how wickedly he lives, his salvation is wholly independent of it. She went to Rhode Island and afterward to New Netherland, where she was killed in one of the attacks of the Indians upon the Dutch settlements.

The Quakers greatly annoyed the New England colonists. They persisted in rising in the Puritan meetings and disputing with ministers. Many were fined, whipped, imprisoned, and banished, but in the face of warnings they returned. As a consequence, four were put to death. Then a reaction set in and the persecution ceased.

The most formidable war in which the early colonies of New England were involved was with King Philip, who was the son of Massasoit, a firm friend of the settlers until his death. Philip was one of the great Indians of history. Like many of his people he saw with anger the growth of the white men, who in time would drive him and his warriors from their hunting grounds. Realizing the magnitude of the work of exterminating all the settlers, he visited the different tribes and used every effort to unite them in a war against the invaders. He was partly successful, and, with the allies secured, King Philip began the war by attacking a party of settlers at Swansea, on Sunday, June 24, 1675, while they were on their way to church. Several whites were killed, when the Indians hurried off to the Connecticut Valley to continue their dreadful work.

All understood their peril, and flew to arms. Every man carried his musket to church, and they were stacked outside the door, while a sentinel paced up and down. More than once the long sermon was interrupted by the crack of the red men's guns and their wild whoops, as they swarmed out of the woods. Springing down from the pulpit, the minister was among the foremost in beating the heathen back, and, when quiet was restored, probably he resumed and finished his sermon.

The war was prosecuted furiously on both sides. In the depth of winter, when the snow lay several feet on the ground, John Winslow led 1,500 men against the Narragansett stronghold, which was in the heart of a great swamp, and was one of the most powerful fortifications ever erected by the red men on this continent. In the terrible fight, 200 white men and nearly 1,000 Indians were killed. Finally, Philip was run down in a swamp near his old home on Mount Hope, not far from the present city of Bristol, Rhode Island. While stealing out of his hiding-place, he was confronted by a white soldier and a friendly Indian. The gun of the former missed fire, whereupon the Indian leveled his musket and shot the Wampanoag leader dead. The war ended a few months later. During its continuance, six hundred white men were killed and many more wounded; thirteen towns were destroyed and five hundred buildings burned, but the Indian power in southern New England was shattered forever.

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION.

One of the most fearful delusions recorded in history is that of the general belief in witchcraft which prevailed in Europe down to the seventeenth century. Its baleful shadow all too soon fell upon New England. Massachusetts and Connecticut made laws against witchcraft and hanged a number of persons on the charge of being witches. In 1692 the town of Salem went crazy over the belief that the diabolical spirits were at work among them. Two little girls, who were simpletons that ought to have been spanked and put to bed, declared with bulging eyes that different persons had taken the form of a black cat and pinched, scratched, and bitten them. The people, including the great preacher Cotton Mather, believed this stuff, and the supposed wizards and witches were punished with fearful severity. Suspicion in many cases meant death; evil men disposed of their creditors and enemies by charging them with witchcraft; families were divided and the gentlest and most irreproachable of women suffered disgraceful death. Everybody, including ministers and judges, lost their wits. The magistrates crowded the jails, until twenty had been put to death and fifty-five tortured before the craze subsided. Then it became clear that no one, no matter what his station, was safe, and the delusion, which forms one of the blackest pages in New England, passed away.