A history of the United States

Preface

The aim of this work is to give the main facts of the history of the United States clearly, accurately, and impartially. In the belief that the importance of the events which have occurred since the adoption of the Constitution is becoming more and more recognized, much the greater part of the book is devotad to the era beginning with 1789. The period of discovery and colonization, however, is treated with sufficient fulness to show clearly the origins of the people and of their institutions.

Throughout, special attention is given to the political, social, and economic development of the nation. While the details of battles are omitted, the importance of war periods is not underestimated, but the stress is laid upon causes and results.

The portraits are taken from authentic sources, and the other illustrations are nearly all reproductions from contemj)orary prints. The courtesy of F. D. Stone of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, of Henry T. Coates, and of The Magazine of American History Company, has permitted the reproduction of some of these. To the kindness of Townsend MacCoun the author is indebted for two of the maps. In-

Vi PREFACE.

debtedness to Professor A. B. Hart's excellent series of "Epoch Maps," published by Longmans & Company, should also be acknowledged.

The author is under obligations for valuable assistance to a number of teachers and others, among them Watson W, Dewees of Westtown School, Pennsylvania, and Sidney S, Rider of Providence, Rhode Island. To L. H. Jones, Superintendent of Schools of Indianapolis, Indiana, and W. A. Mowr}^, Superintendent of Schools, Salem, Massachusetts, who read the work in manuscript, special acknowledgments should be made.

Haverford, Pennsylvania, December, 1893.

Preface To The Revised Edition

The chief feature of the present edition is a new chapter bringing the narrative to the close of the year 1899. The book has been carefully revised, errors, so far as discovered, have been corrected, and some changes have been made in the text for the sake of greater clearness and fulness. The bibliography in Appendix XII. has been thoroughly revised and enlarged.

January, 1900.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I, Discovery . 1

II. Colonization . . . . . . , , , .11

Chapter II. Colonization

REFERENCES.

General. — G. Bancroft, History of the United States, i. 84-613 ; ii. 3-85, 192-291; K. Hildretli, History of the United States, i. Chaps, iv.-xv.; ii. Chaps, xvi.-xvii., xix.-xxv. ; Bryant and Gay, Popular History of the United States, vols, i., ii. ; T. W. Higginson, Larger History of the United States, pp. 75-168 ; J. A. Doyle, History of the United States, Chaps, ii.-xiv., also his larger work, The English Colonies in America (three volumes published) ; H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies in America; R. G. Thwaites, The Colonies (Epochs of American History), pp. 45-232 ; G. P. Fisher, The Colonial Era (American History Series), Chaps, iv.-xxi. ; John Fiske, The Beginnings of New England ; J. M. Ludlow, The War of American Independence (Epoch Series), pp. 1-55.

Biographies. — William Gammell, Roger Williams, Sparks\s American Biography, 2d Series ; O. S. Straus,* Roger Williams ; John Winthrop, Francis Higginson, Thomas Hooker, George and Cecilius Calvert, Peter Stuyvesant, and James Edward Oglethorpe, in the Makers of America Series.

Special. — For the several colonies see Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Connecticut, in the American Commonwealth Series (these must be used with care, some of them, Maryland and Connecticut in particular, needing correction in matters of detail and inference) ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, vols, iii., iv., v., particularly the monographs on The Carolinas, Maryland, New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania ; G. W. Greene, History of Rhode Island ; C. F. Adams, Three Episodes in Massachusetts History ; James Grant Wilson, The Memorial History of New York City. For William Penn consult S. M. Janney, Life of William Penn, pp. 163-274, 394-563 ; J. Stoughton, Life of William Penn. For the Pilgrims and Puritans see British Quarterly Review, January, 1883 ; Bancroft, History of the United States, i. 177-214 ; Bacon's Rebellion, Century Magazine, xl. 418 ; Old South Leaflets, No. 7, Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629 ; No. 8, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut; No. 21, Eliot's Brief Narrative. Consult list of American History Leaflets, and of Old South Leaflets.

9. English Success ; Captain John Smith. (1606-1609.) — It

was in 1606 that the first successful English colony was planted. During this year James I. granted a charter to two companies: one the London, the other the Plymouth company. To the former was granted the coast between 34° and 38° north latitude, and to the latter the coast between 41° and 45° north latitude. .The intervening country was to be common to both, but no settlements of the respective companies were to be within one hundred miles of each other. The interior limit for both companies was to be one hundred miles from the coast. A plan of government for the colonies was provided, and the London Company began operations by sending out a party of settlers to Virginia, and the first permanent settlement was made in 1607 at Jamestown, on the James Kiver, not far from the present town of that name. Among the colonists who went to Virginia was Captain John Smith. He had already seen many adventures on the continent of Europe ; but in spite of his love for marvellous stories, he appears to have been the ablest and clearestheaded of the motley party. He 'relates that at one time he was taken prisoner by the Indians, that his head was already on the block upon which his brains were to be beaten out, when Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the chief, rushed up to her father and begged the life of the prisoner. As the Indian princess was only twelve years old when the incident is said to have occurred, and the account did not appear in the first edition of Smith's book, but was added while the heroine was in England, many modern students disbelieve the whole story. Pocahontas, however, was a real character; she married John Rolfe, an Englishman, visited England, and died there. Many Virginians are proud to trace then- descent from this Indian woman. Smith was chosen president of the council, and thus became the real governor

VIRGINIA COLONY; SLAVES.

of the settlement His rule was just, being based on the principle that those who did not work should not eat ; but this style of government did not suit the colonists, and in 1609 Captain Smith returned to England, his departure being made necessary, as he said, on account of a severe accident which had befallen him. Some modern investigators are of the opinion that the accident was by no means so severe as Smith reported, and that it was used by him as a pretext to escape from a trying and unprofitable position. While in Virginia Captain Smith explored Chesapeake Bay and published a careful map of it. This map is almost too accurate a one to have been made with the rude instruments and inefficient means at Smith's command.

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH.

10. Virginia Colony ; Slaves. (1609-1619.) — The colony suffered much, and very nearl}" came to a melancholy end. In 1609 the company received a new charter extending the limits north and south, and also from sea to sea, west and northwest. In these charters was the provision that the colonists and their children " shall have and enjoy all the liberties, franchises, and immunities of free denizens and natural subjects within any of our other dominions, to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and born within this our realm of England, or in any other of our dominions." It was largely upon this clause, and other similar ones repeated in later charters, that the American colonists rightly based their complaints of unjust treatment by the mother country.

In 1619 the Virginia colonists, who had been granted a ' partly representative government, elected a House of Burgesses, the first representative bod}^ that met in America. The same year in which this step towards free government was taken, a Dutch ship brought the first cargo of negro slaves to the colony.

11. Dutch Colonies; New Netherland. (1609-1626.) — Swedish Colonies. (1638.) — Holland was at this time a strong naval power, and in 1609 Henry Hudson, an Englishman in her service, discovered and sailed up the river wliich bears his name. He also explored the New Jersey coast to Delaware Bay. A small trading post was established in 1613 on Manhattan Island, and in 1614, at Fort Nassau, near where Albany now is. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was organized, and under its auspices Fort Amsterdam, afterwards the city of New York, was established in 1626, the island of Manhattan, upon whicli it stood, having been purchased of the Indians the same year for about twenty-four dollars. The Dutch bought the land from the natives, whom they generally treated well ; but owing to the obstinac}^ and want of tact of Governor Kieft, there was a terrible war with the Algonkin Indians (1648-1645). Fortunately for the Dutch, the Iroquois were not involved in this war. Anne Hutchinson (Sect. 19) was massacred in this war.

Sweden, which had become a great power under Gustavus Adolphus, determined also to send out colonists, and in 1638 established a settlement at Christina, near the site of Wilmington, Delaware, and later, other settlements along the Delaware River, as far as the site of Philadelphia, where the ''Old Swedes' Church" still tells of their former presence. Thrust in as they were between the Dutch and the English settlements, the Swedish colonies amounted to but little.

I

PLYMOUTH COMPANY.

12. Plymouth Company. (1607.) — The Plymouth Company had attempted to place a colony near the mouth of the Kennebec River in 1607, but the colony, like so many other similar attempts, was a failure. In 1620 a new company, under the name of '' The Council of Plymouth for the governing of New England," was organized, and to this company was granted the land between the parallels of 40"^ and 48° north latitude, and westward to the south seas, but it sent out no expedition on its own account.

Captain John Smith (sect. 9), who had remained quietly in England since his return from Virginia, left England again in the year 1614, and sailed along the Atlantic coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod in search of fish and furs, and in his account of the voyage, which he published on his return, he gave the name of New England to the country. Previously it had been called Norumbega.

13. The Pilgrims. (1620.) — It is an interesting and instructive circumstance that much of the territory of the present United States was settled by men who sought in a new world that liberty to worship God in their own way which was denied them at home. Outward conformity to a state church was one of the cardinal doctrines of the seventeenth century, and, to escape this, some men and women who did not agree with the practices of the Church of England, had emigrated to Holland to gain that liberty of worship refused to them in their English home. First at Amsterdam, and afterward at Leyden also, these refugees found safety. But not willing that their children should

A PURITAN GENTLE- MAN, 1620.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

grow up among strangers speaking a different language, and for other reasons, also, wishing to change their abode, they made application to the Virginia Company for land in America on which to settle. All arrangements having been completed, one hundred and two Pilgrims, as they are now called, set sail from Plymouth in England on the Mayfloiver for the new home. The voyage was a stormy one, and driven from their course, they reached Cape Cod instead of the coast belonging to the Virginia Company. They, however, decided to remain where they were. It seemed wise to provide for some government in the colony, and, before landing, there was drawn up in the cabin of their little ship the celebrated '-^Mayflower Compact," which was signed by all the men.

In it they agreed to combine themselves into a " body politic," and to submit to such " just and equal laws" as might be framed for the general good of the colony. Appendix I.

14. Landing of the Pilgrims ; Trials of the Colonists. (1620- 1627.) — After examining the shore of Cape Cod, the Pilgrims chose a spot for their future home, and landed on Plymouth rock December 21, 1620.1

The colonists had a desperate struggle with the keenness of a New England winter; they suffered from ill health, and afterwards were at great disadvantage from the poverty of

1 Owing to a miscalculation, the 22d has been usually celebrated as the anniversary of the landing, but it is clear that the day was December the 11th, old style ; and as in the seventeenth century there was a difference of ten days between the old and new mode of reckoning, the 21st is the correct date 9,ccording to the new style.

A CITIZEN, 1620.

THE PILGRIMS.

the soil, from fewness of number, and from the payment of an exorbitant rate of interest (45 per cent) to the merchants who had provided the means for fitting out the expedition. Notwithstanding all these discouragements the band persevered. Unlike the colonists in Virginia, these Pilgrims had come to make their home in the new world, and we hear of no disputes like those in the southern colony, while their privations were borne with an heroic spirit. Among the company was Captain Myles Standish, not a member of their religious communion, and his presence illustrates the freedom which prevailed. He proved himself of the greatest assistance to the suffering little band, particularly during the first trying winter, when half the little company died from disease and exposure. John Carver, the governor, was one of those who thus perished. William Bradford was chosen to succeed him, and so acceptable was his administration that he was re-elected annually for thirty years except when by " importunity he got off." In 1627 the colonists bought out the merchants' interest, and the colony became commercially, as it was politically, free. From this time the colony continued to advance, though but slowly.

15. Massachusetts Bay Colony. (1629.) — In 1629 a charter was given to "the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," granting them land from

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

three miles south of the Charles River to three miles north of the Merrimac River and extending east and west from ocean to ocean. Like the other colonies, Massachusetts had many disputes in regard to territory and boundaries. Some

JOHN ENDICOTT of tliese differences were of long standing; that Avith New York was not finally adjusted until 1855.

John Endicott was the leader of the Massachusetts emigrants, and in the year 1628 had come over to Naumkeag (Salem) with about one hundred emigrants. John Endicott

MASSACHUSETTS.

was a typical Puritan, "a fit instrument to begin this wilderness-work, of courage bold, undaunted, yet sociable and of a cheerful spirit, loving and austere, applying himself to either as occasion served." Salem, as Naumkeag was now called, in anticipation of the peace which the colonists hoped to obtain, became the chief of the Massachusetts Bay settlements, and remained so for some time.

In the same year, 1(329, the

16. Peculiarities of the Massachusetts Colony. (1629-1640.)

— In 1629 five vessels, among which was the Mayflower^ brought a large reinforcement, step Avas taken of carrjdng the charter itself to the colony, which was equivalent to transferring the government to the colonists themselves. Heretofore, at least the nominal power over all the colonists remained in the mother country. That the Plymouth colony was governed in accordance with the Mayfloive7' agreement is really an exception, but it was so small a colony as to attract little attention. 1

The number of colonists rapidly increased, and b}^ 1640 twenty thousand had sought homes in the new colony of Massachusetts Bay. There were important differences between this colony and others. (1) It was undertaken by men of position and means, on their own account, and in their own person.

1 The legal right of the Massachusetts Bay Company to transfer the charter has often been questioned. It is evident that the grantors had not thought of such transferrence.

SHIP OF 1630.

(2) nominally a commercial enterprise it was really an attempt to found a new political state. (3) Those who took part were not at first separatists from the Church of England, like the Pilgrims, but were Puritans who desired a reformation Avithin the church. (4) The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay persecuted, which the Pilgrims did not do, at least during the earliest years of the colony.

17. Growth of Political Freedom in Massachusetts. (1629-1670.)— John Winthrop was chosen governor before the charter was taken to the colony, and he held the office for four years and was several times re-elected. The colonists had almost entire control of their own affairs. For some time the governor, his deputy, and his council (called the " Assistants ") met with the, freemen to make the laws, and decide upon all pub-

A COUNTRYWOMAN, 1620. t ,, a .1 ^ c r

lie matters. As the number oi freemen increased such an arrangement became very inconvenient, and to meet this difficulty nearly all the power was given to the governor and his council. It was not long, however, before the people of one of the townships rebelled against the amount of a tax levied upon them, and the result of their protest was that a House of Representatives was established to meet with the governor and council. To this body each township sent two representatives. The colonists thus early objected to "taxation without representation."

Gradually it came about that the representatives sat apart from the governor and the council, and a legislature with two houses grew up.

ROGER WILLIAMS.

The colony was carried on in many respects more after the Hebrew laws of the Old Testament than after English laws. Church and State were closely united ; indeed they were, in the early colonial days, considered as one. The freemen met in the church building or " meeting-house " whenever they had occasion to come together. The ministers were magistrates, and only church members were allowed to have a voice in the government, and for forty years perhaps three-fourths of the men had no vote.

18. Puritans ; Roger Williams. (1635.) — It has often been said that the Puritans came to establish religious liberty ; but such was not the case. They had no idea of founding a colony where different forms of worship could exist side by side ; they believed in uniformity. Like most men of the age in which they lived they did not believe in religious toleration, and in this they differed from the Pilgrims. Very soon after the beginning of the settlement the question of toleration had to be determined. In 1631 a young man about twenty-four years of age, a minister, whose name was Roger Williams, arrived in one of the vessels. At once he caused much trouble, for he did not hesitate to express his views, which were far too liberal for the

A PURITAN GENTLE- MAN, 1646.

authorities. He believed that the civil power should have no control over a man's conscience, and that no one should be forced to support public worship. For these and other liberal opinions he was, in 1635, sentenced to be banished. Intending to settle on the shores of Narragansett Bay, he was making preparation to go thither with some friends, when he heard of a plot to seize him and send him to England. At once he fled into the wilderness, though it was the depth of winter, to Massasoit, an Indian chief, at Sowams (Warren, Rhode Island), near which place he remained for a number of weeks, "not knoAving what bread or bed did mean."

19. Founding of Providence and Rhode Island. (1636-1644.)

— In June, 1636, he chose a place which he called Providence, at the head of Narragansett Bay, for a new settlement. A large tract of land was given him by the Indians, or bought from them, which in course of time he sold or gave away to settlers. He made his refuge "a shelter for persons distressed for conscience," and it was not long before many such came to him, among them Anne Hutchinson, who, having been banished from Massachusetts, came to Rhode Island in 1638. She was a yerj able woman and upheld the right of women to preach and to take part in the church government : she also taught other opinions much in opposition to Puritan doctrines. After a trial in which she defended herself ably, she was banished like Roger Williams. It must be said that however excellent were the views of Roger Williams in regard to religious toleration, on political matters they were such as to strike at the very root of government as then understood, and it was not unnatural that he should be looked upon as a dangerous person. He was far in advance of his contemporaries in respect to political and religious matters. In 1638 Portsmouth, and in 1639 Newport, both on the island of Rhode Island, were settled by refugees from Massachusetts. At first these colonies were independent and governed themselves in a democratic way; but Roger Williams went to England and succeeded in getting a patent from Parliament in 1644, under whicli all the various colonies in what is now the state of Rhode Island were united under the name of

BOSTON; CONNECTICUT. 23

" The Incorporation of Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay in New-England." On the restoration of Charles II. to the English throne, it was found necessary to procure a new charter, Avhich was granted by the king in 1663.1 This charter was so liberal that it was continued in force until 1843 2 (sect. 251).

In this colony alone was perfect religious liberty allowed, and " Papists, Protestants, Jews, or Turks " were to be protected in their religion. This great liberty attracted many persons who wished for license, and there was much trouble in the colony from such.

20. Settlement of Boston ; and Connecticut. (1630-1638.) —

Salem was not attractive to all, and as the number of colonists was large, some moved to Watertown, some to Newtown (Cambridge), and some to other jjlaces: Boston, at first Trimountain from its three hills, was founded in 1630. In 1635 and 1636 parties left the old settlements and going out into the wilderness founded Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor, on the Connecticut River. These villages were far from others, and in 1637 they took the rule into their own hands, and in 1638 (old style) formed a written constitution for themselves. This was the first written constitution in America, and one of the first in history. No higher power than the people themselves was recognized, and all men were freemen who, admitted as such by the freemen of the town, should take the oath of allegiance. No one except the governor was required to be a church member. This agreement is known as " The Fundamental Orders of Connecti-

1 In this charter the title Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is used. Rhode Island alone of the states retains two capitals, one being Newport, the other Providence, thus perpetuating the local pride of colonial days.

■^ The new constitution was ratified by popular vote in 1842, and went into operation May 1, 184o.

cut." A charter was obtained from Charles II. in 1662, and was so liberal that it continued in force till 1818. Quinnipiack, afterwards New Haven, was founded in 1638, by Londoners, wiio distrusted Massachusetts. Other colonies were elsewhere founded from time to time, until in 1664 all these settlements were united under the name of Connecticut.

21. Maine ; New Hampshire. (1627-1677.) — Maine was part of the territory of tlie Plymouth Company, and there had been several attempts to colonize it, but all had resulted in failure except the Pemaquid colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River in 1627. In 1635 the Plymouth Company resigned its charter to the British crown, but previously the members had divided the unsettled country between themselves. Sir Ferdinando Gorges obtained most of what is now Maine ; Captain John Mason received as his part the land west of the Piscataqua River, which tract, he called, after his own county in England, New Hampshire. Neither Gorges nor Mason had much to do with these lands, and the settlers were thus allowed great liberty. New Hampshire, though several times attached to Massachusetts, finally, in 1741, became independent of it. The settlers in Maine during 1652 and 1658 submitted themselves to Massachusetts, and in 1677 Massachusetts bought all Gorges' rights in the province. Vermont was claimed both by New York and New Hampshire, and the question Avas not settled until Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791.

22. Lord Baltimore ; Maryland. (1632.) — The Plymouth Company surrendered its charter in 1635. The London Company had already given up its charter in 1624, so all the territory, according to the belief of that day, was in the hands of the king to do with it as he wished. Accordingly in

MARYLAND.

1632 Charles I. granted to Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, lands east of the Potomac River, including both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. This tract, to which the name Maryland was given, in memory of the English queen, Henrietta Maria, was within the bounds of the original London Company, and Virginia had already taken some steps to colonize parts of it. Before the written agreement was perfected Lord Baltimore died, but the patent was given to his son Cecilius Calvert. Both were Roman Catholics.^

CECILIUS CALVERT.

The grant was a liberal one, nothing but allegiance to the crown, the yearly tribute of two Lidian arrows, and one fifth part of all the gold and silver mined, being required. Baltimore was given the powers of a Palatinate, which

1 The boundaries of the grant were remarkably precise for that day, being, the Potomac from its source to its mouth, thence across the Chesapeake Bay to Watkins Point, thence to the ocean, which with the Delaware Bay was the eastern boundary. The northern boundary was the fortieth parallel of north latitude to the meridian of the south fountain of the Potomac. It will be seen that these boundaries included the state of Delaware and a considerable part of Pennsylvania.

were almost regal.^ His title was Proprietaiy, and he was really a monarch, though subordinate to the king. At the same time the freemen were to take part in the making of the laws : they were to have freedom of trade, and to possess the rights of native-born Englishmen. Religious toleration was proclaimed by Lord Baltimore. In this respect Maryland and Rhode Island stand alone in the early annals of the country, though the latter was the more liberal, as Maryland required a belief in Jesus Christ, while Rhode Island made no stipulation. The character of the religious toleration granted in Maryland has been the subject of much controversy. Little is said about toleration in the charter, and that very vaguely ; but there was probably a private understanding between the king and Baltimore that Roman Catholics and Protestants should be treated alike. Unless this had been so there is no probability that he could have obtained the charter, or that any great number of emigrants would have gone out. Contrary to a very common impression, it seems that Roman Catholics were always in a minority in the colony, even from the very first shipload. In 1676 the proprietary himself said that more than three fourths of the inhabitants were Protestants.

23. Maryland continued; Toleration Act; Troubles. (1633- 1692.) — In 1633 Leonard Calvert, a younger brother of the proprietary, sailed with about two hundred emigrants, and buying from the Indians a small village near the mouth of the Potomac, founded, March, 1634, the town of St. Mary's. Before issuing the patent to Baltimore, the king had given a license for trading, and also the ownership of the land on the Chesapeake Bay, to a settler, William Clayborne, who refused

1 The charter was modelled on the Palatinate system as then existing in the county of Durham, England, which liad been established by William the Conqueror.

C kj f

EUROPEAN COLOMES— ABOUT, 1650, to acknowledge the proprietary and gave the colonists much annoyance. It was an instance of conflicting claims which were very common in the early history of America.

The Maryland Assembly passed in 1649 the " Toleration Act," which was confirmed in the following year by the proprietary. It is praiseworthy as being among the first legislative acts in favor of anything like toleration. It was restricted toleration, however, not religious freedom, for severe penalties were prescribed against all persons guilty of blasphemy, or denying the divinity of Christ, or using reproachful words against the Virgin Mary or the Apostles ; but it does not appear that these punishments were ever inflicted. This act simply changed what had been a custom into a law.

The colony had little trouble from the Indians except when they were stirred up by the white men, and Maryland prospered greatly and increased rapidly in population. The liberal policy of the proprietary attracted settlers, and he himself invited men from all quarters, even Puritans from England. The new comers had not the spirit of toleration, and as soon as they and their sympathizers were in the majority, they made Maryland an Episcopal colony, disfranchised the Roman Catholics, and the Friends or Quakers, and taxed everyone to support the Church of England, which was made the established church in 1692. By the English revolution of 1688 Lord Baltimore lost his province, because he had sided with the fallen Stuarts, and Maryland became a royal colony, the king aj^pointing the governors ; but in 1715 the nominal proprietary having become Protestant, the colony was restored to the Baltimore family, with Avhom it remained until the Revolution.