Читать книгу A Short History of the United States for School Use - Edward Channing - Страница 39

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The English Puritans.

Non-Conformists.

Separatists.

42. The Puritans.--The New England colonies were founded by English Puritans who left England because they could not do as they wished in the home land. All Puritans were agreed in wishing for a freer government than they had in England under the Stuart kings and in state matters were really the Liberals of their time. In religious matters, however, they were not all of one mind. Some of them wished to make only a few changes in the Church. These were called Non-Conformists. Others wished to make so many changes in religion that they could not stay in the English State Church. These were called Separatists. The settlers of Plymouth were Separatists; the settlers of Boston and neighboring towns were Non-Conformists.

The Scrooby Puritans. Higginson, 55–56; Eggleston, 34. They flee to Holland. They decide to emigrate to America.

43. The Pilgrims.--Of all the groups of Separatists scattered over England none became so famous as those who met at Elder Brewster's house at Scrooby. King James decided to make all Puritans conform to the State Church or to hunt them out of the land. The Scrooby people soon felt the weight of persecution. After suffering great hardships and cruel treatment they fled away to Holland. But there they found it very difficult to make a living. They suffered so terribly that many of their English friends preferred to go to prison in England rather than lead such a life of slavery in Holland. So the Pilgrims determined to found a colony in America. They reasoned that they could not be worse off in America, because that would be impossible. At all events, their children would not grow up as Dutchmen, but would still be Englishmen. They had entire religious freedom in Holland; but they thought they would have the same in America.

BREWSTER'S HOUSE AT SCROOBY. The Pilgrims held their services in the building on the left, now used as a cow-house.

The voyage of the Mayflower, 1620. The Mayflower at Cape Cod.

44. The Voyage across the Atlantic.--Brewster's old friend, Sir Edwin Sandys, was now at the head of the Virginia Company. He easily procured land for the Pilgrims in northern Virginia, near the Dutch settlements (p. 41). Some London merchants lent them money. But they lent it on such harsh conditions that the Pilgrims' early life in America was nearly as hard as their life had been in Holland. They had a dreadful voyage across the Atlantic in the Mayflower. At one time it seemed as if the ship would surely go down. But the Pilgrims helped the sailors to place a heavy piece of wood under one of the deck beams and saved the vessel from going to pieces. On November 19, 1620, they sighted land off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to sail around the cape to the southward, but storms drove them back, and they anchored in Provincetown harbor.

The Pilgrims Compact, 1620.

45. The Mayflower Compact, 1620.--All the passengers on the Mayflower were not Pilgrims. Some of them were servants sent out by the London merchants to work for them. These men said that as they were outside of Virginia, the leaders of the expedition would have no power over them as soon as they got on land. This was true enough, so the Pilgrims drew up and signed a compact which obliged the signers to obey whatever was decided to be for the public good. It gave the chosen leaders power to make the unruly obey their commands.

The Pilgrims explore the coast. Explorers, 319–328. Plymouth settled. Higginson,58–60; Eggleston, 35–38; Source-Book, 39–41. Sickness and death.

46. The First Winter at Plymouth.--For nearly a month the Pilgrims explored the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Finally, on December 21, 1620, a boat party landed on the mainland inside of Plymouth harbor. They decided to found their colony on the shore at that place. About a week later the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth harbor. For months the Pilgrims lived on the ship while working parties built the necessary huts on shore. It was in the midst of a cold New England winter. The work was hard and food and clothing were not well suited to the worker's needs. Before the Mayflower sailed away in the spring one-half of the little band was dead.

The Pilgrims and the Indians. Explorers, 333–337. Success of the colony. New Plymouth colony.

47. New Plymouth Colony.--Of all the Indians who once had lived near Plymouth only one remained. His name was Squanto. He came to the Pilgrims in the spring. He taught them to grow corn and to dig clams, and thus saved them from starvation. The Pilgrims cared for him most kindly as long as he lived. Another and more important Indian also came to Plymouth. He was Massasoit, chief of the strongest Indian tribe near Plymouth. With him the Pilgrims made a treaty which both parties obeyed for more than fifty years. Before long the Pilgrims' life became somewhat easier. They worked hard to raise food for themselves, they fished off the coasts, and bought furs from the Indians. In these ways they got together enough money to pay back the London merchants. Many of their friends joined them. Other towns were settled near by, and Plymouth became the capital of the colony of New Plymouth. But the colony was never very prosperous, and in the end was added to Massachusetts.

Founders of Massachusetts.

Explorers 341–361; Source-book 45–48, 74–76. Settlement of Massachusetts, 1630. Higginson, 60–64; Eggleston, 39–41.

48. The Founding of Massachusetts, 1629–30.--Unlike the poor and humble Pilgrims were the founders of Massachusetts. They were men of wealth and social position, as for instance, John Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. They left comfortable homes in England to found a Puritan state in America. They got a great tract of land extending from the Merrimac to the Charles, and westward across the continent. Hundreds of colonists came over in the years 1629–30. They settled Boston, Salem, and neighboring towns. In the next ten years thousands more joined them. From the beginning Massachusetts was strong and prosperous. Among so many people there were some who did not get on happily with the rulers of the colony.

Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts. Higginson, 68–70. He founds Providence, 1636. Source-book, 52–54.

49. Roger Williams and Religious Liberty.--Among the newcomers was Roger Williams, a Puritan minister. He disagreed with the Massachusetts leaders on several points. For instance, he thought that the Massachusetts people had no right to their lands, and he insisted that the rulers had no power in religious matters--as enforcing the laws as to Sunday. He insisted on these points so strongly that the Massachusetts government expelled him from the colony. In the spring of 1636; with four companions he founded the town of Providence. There he decided that every one should be free to worship God as he or she saw fit.

Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends.

They settle Rhode Island, 1637.

50. The Rhode Island Towns.--Soon another band of exiles came from Massachusetts. These were Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers. Mrs. Hutchinson was a brilliant Puritan woman who had come to Boston from England to enjoy the ministry of John Cotton, one of the Boston ministers. She soon began to find fault with the other ministers of the colony. Naturally, they did not like this. Their friends were more numerous than were Mrs. Hutchinson's friends, and the latter had to leave Massachusetts. They settled on the island of Rhode Island (1637).

The Connecticut colonists.

Founding of Connecticut, 1635–36. Higginson, 71–72.

51. The Connecticut Colony.--Besides those Puritans whom the Massachusetts people drove from their colony there were other settlers who left Massachusetts of their own free will. Among these were the founders of Connecticut. The Massachusetts people would gladly have had them remain, but they were discontented and insisted on going away. They settled the towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Weathersfield, on the Connecticut River. At about the same time John Winthrop, Jr., led a colony to Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. Up to this time the Dutch had seemed to have the best chance to settle the Connecticut Valley. But the control of that region was now definitely in the hands of the English.

Destruction of the Pequods, 1637.

52. The Pequod War, 1637.--The Pequod Indians were not so ready as the Dutch to admit that resistance was hopeless. They attacked Wethersfield. They killed several colonists, and carried others away into captivity. Captain John Mason of Connecticut and Captain John Underhill of Massachusetts went against them with about one hundred men. They surprised the Indians in their fort. They set fire to the fort, and shot down the Indians as they strove to escape from their burning wigwams. In a short time the Pequod tribe was destroyed.

[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP, JR.]

The Connecticut Orders of 1638–39.

53. The First American Constitution, 1638–39.--The Connecticut colonists had leisure now to settle the form of their government. Massachusetts had such a liberal charter that nothing more seemed to be necessary in that colony. The Mayflower Compact did well enough for the Pilgrims. The Connecticut people had no charter, and they wanted something more definite than a vague compact. So in the winter of 1638–39 they met at Hartford and set down on paper a complete set of rules for their guidance. This was the first time in the history of the English race that any people had tried to do this. The Connecticut constitution of 1638–39 is therefore looked upon as "the first truly political written constitution in history." The government thus established was very much the same as that of Massachusetts with the exception that in Connecticut there was no religious condition for the right to vote as there was in Massachusetts.

The New Haven settlers.

New Haven founded, 1638. Higginson, 72–73.

54. New Haven, 1638.--The settlers of New Haven went even farther than the Massachusetts rulers and held that the State should really be a part of the Church. Massachusetts was not entirely to their tastes. They passed only one winter there and then moved away and settled New Haven. But this colony was not well situated for commerce, and was too near the Dutch settlements (p. 41). It was never as prosperous as Connecticut and was finally joined to that colony.

Reasons for union.

Articles of Confederation, 1643.

New England towns. Higginson, 47–79.

55. The New England Confederation, 1643.--Besides the settlements that have already been described there were colonists living in New Hampshire and in Maine. Massachusetts included the New Hampshire towns within her government, for some of those towns were within her limits. In 1640 the Long Parliament met in England, and in 1645 Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans destroyed the royal army in the battle of Naseby. In these troubled times England could do little to protect the New England colonists, and could do nothing to punish them for acting independently. The New England colonists were surrounded by foreigners. There were the French on the north and the east, and the Dutch on the west. The Indians, too, were living in their midst and might at any time turn on the whites and kill them. Thinking all these things over, the four leading colonies decided to join together for protection. They formed the New England Confederation, and drew up a constitution. The colonists living in Rhode Island and in Maine did not belong to the Confederation, but they enjoyed many of the benefits flowing from it; for it was quite certain that the Indians and the French and the Dutch would think twice before attacking any of the New England settlements.

[Illustration: A CHILD'S HIGH CHAIR, ABOUT 1650.]

Education.

56. Social Conditions.--The New England colonies were all settled on the town system, for there were no industries which demanded large plantations--as tobacco-planting. The New Englanders were small farmers, mechanics, ship-builders, and fishermen. There were few servants in New England and almost no negro slaves. Most of the laborers were free men and worked for wages as laborers now do. Above all, the New Englanders were very zealous in the matter of education. Harvard College was founded in 1636. A few years later a law was passed compelling every town to provide schools for all the children in the town.