The American nation, a history : from original sources by associated scholars

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THE AMERICAN NATION
A HISTORY

FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES BY ASSOCIATED SCHOLARS

EDITED BY

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D.

PROPBSSOR OP HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVBRSITT

ADVISED BY
VARIOUS HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

THE AMERICAN NATION

A HISTORY

LIST OF AUTHORS AND TITLES

Group I

Foundations of the Nation

Vol. I European Background of American
History, by Edward Potts Cheyney,
A.M., Prof. European Hist., Univ. of
Pa.

" 2 Basis of American History, by Liv-
ingston Farrand, LL.D., President
Univ. of Colo.

" 3 Spain in America, by the late Ed-
ward Gaylord Bourne, Ph.D., for-
merly Prof. Hist., Yale Univ.

" 4 England in America, by Lvon Gar-
diner Tyler, LL.D., President Will-
iam and Mary College.

" 5 Colonial Self - Government, by
Charles McLean Andrews, Ph.D.,
Prof. Am. History, Yale University.

Group II

Transformation into a Nation

Vol. 6 Provincial America, by Evarts Bou-
tell Greene, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and
Dean of College, Univ. of 111.
" 7 France in America, by the late
Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D., for-
merly Sec. Wisconsin State Hist. Soc.

Vol. 8 Preliminaries of the Revolution,
by George Elliott Howard, Ph.D.,
Prof. Polit. Science Univ. of Neb.

'* 9 The American Revolution, by
Claude Halstead Van Tyne, Ph.D.,
Head Prof. Hist. Univ. of Michigan.

" lo The Confederation and the Consti-
tution, by Andrew Cunningham
McLaughlin, A.M., Head Prof,
Hist., Univ. of Chicago.

Group III

Development of the Nation

V)l II The Federalist System, by John
Spencer Bassett, Ph.D., Prof. Am.
Hist., Smith College.

" 12 The Jeffersonian System, by Ed-
ward Channing, Ph.D., Prof. An-
cient and Modem Hist., Harvard
Univ.

" 13 Rise of American Nationality, by
Kendric Charles Babcock, Ph.D.,
Dean Col. Arts and Sciences, Univ.
of IlUnois.

" 14 Rise of the New West, by Frederick
Jackson Turner, Ph.D., Prof. Hist.,
Harvard University.

" 15 Jacksonian Democracy, by William
MacDonald, LL.D., Prof. Govern-
ment, Univ. of California.

Group IV

Trial of Nationality

Vol. 16 Slavery and Abolition, by Albert
Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Prof. Gov-
ernment, Harvard Univ.

Vol. 17 Westward Extension, by the late
George Pierce Garrison, Ph.D., for-
merly Prof. Hist., Univ. of Texas.

" 18 Parties and Slavery, by Theodore
Clarke Smith, Ph.D., Prof. Am.
Hist., Williams College.

" 19 Causes of the Civil War, by Rear-
Admiral French Ensor Chadwick,
U.S.N., retired former Pres. of
Naval War College.

** 20 The Appeal to Arms, by James
Kendall Hosmer, LL.D., formerly
Librarian Minneapolis Pub. Lib.

" 21 Outcome of the Civil War, by
James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D.

Group V

National Expansion

Vol. 22 Reconstruction, Political and Eco-
nomic, by WilUam Archibald Dun-
ning, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and Politi-
cal Philosophy, Columbia Univ.

" 23 National Development, by Edwin
Erie Sparks, Ph.D., Pres. Pa. State
College.

" 24 National Problems, by Davis R.
Dewey, Ph.D., Professor of Eco-
nomics, Mass. Inst, of Technology.

" 25 America as a World Power, by John
H. Latane, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist.,
John Hopkins University.

" 26 National Ideals Historically Traced,
byAlbertBushnellHart, LL.D., Prof.
Government, Harvard University.

" 27 National Progress — 1907-1917, by
Frederic Austin Ogg, Ph.D., Prof.
Political Science, Univ. of Wisconsin.

" 28 Index to the Series, by David May-
dole Matteson, A.M., Harvard
College Library.

COMMITTEES APPOINTED TO ADVISE AND
CONSULT WITH THE EDITOR

The Massachusetts Historical Society

Charles Francis Adams, LL.D., President
Samuel A. Green, M.D., Vice-President
James Ford Rhodes, LL.D., ad Vice-President
Edward Channing, Ph.D., Prof. History Harvard

Univ.
Worthington C. Ford, Chief of Division of MSB.

Library of Congress

The Wisconsin Historical Society

Reuben G. Thwaites, LL.D., Secretary and Super-
intendent

Frederick J. Turner, Ph.D., Prof, of American His-
tory Wisconsin University

James D. Butler, LL.D., formerly Prof. Wisconsin
University

William W. Wight, President

Henry E. Legler, Curator

The Virginia Historical Society

William Gordon McCabe, Litt.D., President

Lyon G. Tyler, LL.D., Pres. of William and Mary

College
Judge David C. Richardson
J. A. C. Chandler, Professor Richmond College
Edward Wilson James

The Texas Historical Society

Judge John Henninger Reagan, President
George P. Garrison, Ph.D., Proi. ot History uni-
versity of Texas
Judge C. W. Raines
Judge Zachary T. Fullmore

BEN]AMIN FRANKLIN

THE AMERICAN NATION : A HISTORY

*' I VOLUME 6

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

1 690- 1 740

BY

EVARTS BOUTELL GREENE, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN ILLINOIS STATE UNIVBRSITY

WITH MAPS

9,'

NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

Vi,^

Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers.
Printed in the United States of America

TO

M. J. G. AND D. C. G.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PA6B

Editor's Introduction xv

Author's Preface xix

I. England and the Colonies (1689) .... 3

II. Provincial Reorganization (1689-1692) . . 17

III. Extension of Imperial Control (1689-1713) 30

IV. Administrative Control of the Provinces

(1689-1713) 43

V. Constitutional Tendencies in the Colonies

(1689-1713; 6s

VI. Puritans AND Anglicans (1689-17 14) ... 83

VII. French and English Interests in America

(1689) 106

VIII. King William's War (1689-1701) .... 119

IX. Queen Anne's War (i 700-1 709) 136

X. Acadia and the Peace of Utrecht (1709-

1713) 154

XI. Imperial Policy and Administration (1714-

1742) 166

XII. Provincial Politics (1714-1740) 190

XIII. Provincial Leaders (1714-1740) 208

XIV. Immigration and Expansion (1690-1740) . . 228

XV. Founding of Georgia (1732-1754) .... 249

XVI. Provincial Industry (1690-1740) .... 270

xiii

XIV

CONTENTS

CHAP,

XVII

Provincial Commerce (i 690-1 740).
jxviii. Provincial Culture (1690-1740) .
XIX. Critical Essay on Authorities .

PAGB
283
301

MAPS

North America, Showing European Claims,
Occupation, and Settlements (1689) {in
colors) facing 6

Types of Colonial Governments (1682-

1730) (*^ colors) " 66

Intercolonial Wars (1689-17 17) .... ** 122

Frontier Warfare of New England (1689-

1713) " 156

Eastern North America (17 15) (in colors) '* 168
Part of North America, Simplified from

Popple's Map (1733) ** 230

Settlement of Georgia (i 7.^2-1763) ... ** 252

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

TO the period between 1689 and 1740 has been
applied the term *'The Forgotten Half -Cen-
tury." Most of the writers on colonial history in
detail give special attention to the seventeenth
century, the period of upbuilding; and the general
historians like Bancroft and Hildreth sweep rather
lightly over the epoch between the English Revolu-
tion and the forerunnings of the American Revo-
lution. In distributing the parts of The American
Nation, this period has been selected for especial
treatment, because within it are to be found the
roots of many later institutions and experiences.
The external side of provincial history, especially
in its relations with France, has been reserved for
Thwaites's France in America (vol. VII. of this se-
ries), except so far as it affected the internal devel-
opment of the colonies previous to 17 13. Space is
thus available for a constitutional treatment which
shall bring out the general imperial system of
Great Britain, the organs and methods of colonial
control, and the principles of domestic government
in America; and to put the subject in a proper rela-
tion wtth the economic and social life of the time.

vol. VI.— a Yv

xvi EDITOR*S INTRODUCTION

The book begins with an account of imperial
conditions in 1689 (chap, i.); the next four chap-
ters are devoted to various phases of colonial gov-
ernment, and bring into relief the disposition of
the English authorities to tighten the reins of co-
lonial control. The establishment of the English
Church in some of the colonies and the attempt to
bring the colonies into the English ** system," ec-
clesiastically as well as politically, is the theme of
chapter vi.

Chapters vii. to x. summarize the military strug-
gle in the colonies brought on by the world ri-
valry between France and England; but this war
is treated in its relations with American colonial
history, leaving out the extensions of Canada and
Louisiana beyond the reach of the colonists, and
also avoiding the European side of the story.

Chapters xi. to xiii. develop the changes in im-
perial and local government during the first third
of the eighteenth century, and also deal with the
important subject of the beginnings of political
organization in America.

Chapters xiv. to xviii. are devoted to the social and
economic development of the Continental colonies,
including the movement of new masses and new
race elements across the ocean; the filling-in of the
settled area; and the pushing backward to the
mountains, and southward to the southern boundary,
of the new colony of Georgia. Special stress is
laid upon the extension of the Navigation Acts to

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xvii

the West India and to over-sea trade, thus supple-
menting the treatment of that subject in Andrews's
Colonial Self -Government (vol. V., chap. i.). Within
the last chapter of text the author deals with the
intellectual and literary life of the people. The
Critical Essay on Authorities ranges in order the
most valuable part of the confusing literature of
the period.

The service of the book to the series is to build
a bridge between the founding of the colonies, de-
scribed in the fourth and fifth volumes of The
American Nation, and the separation of the colonies,
which is the subject of Howard's Preliminaries of
the Revolution (vol. VIII.). Its theme is the es-
sential difficulty of reconciling imperial control with
the degree of local responsibility which had to be
accorded to the colonists.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

THE half-century of American history which fol-
lows the English revolution of 1689 presents
peculiar difficulties of treatment. The historian must
deal with the experience of thirteen different colo-
nies which were, however, ultimately to become one
nation, and which even then possessed important
elements of unity. Within the limits of a single
volume it is obviously impossible to tell the story
of each individual colony, and at the same time to
discuss the general movements of the time. It is
the author's conviction that the most instructive
method for the student of this period is to empha-
size the general movements.

The history of this provincial era is comparative-
ly deficient in dramatic incidents; and the interest
lies rather in the aggregate of small transactions,
constituting what are called general tendencies,
which gradually and obscurely prepare the way for
the more striking but not necessarily more impor-
tant periods of decisive conflict and revolution.

First of all, this was a time of marked expansion:
the seventeenth century stocks were reinforced by
large numbers of immigrants; the areas of settle-

xix

XX AUTHOR'S PREFACE

ment were extended ; and there was also an impor-
tant development of industry and commerce. This
material expansion led up gradually to the struggle
for the mastery of the continent, which will be
described in the next volume.

A second important feature of the time is the
interaction of imperial and provincial interests.
After the violent and radical movements of the
years from 1684 to 1689, there was worked out for
the first time a fairly complete system of imperial
control. In the efforts of the colonists to preserve
within that system the largest possible measure of
self-government, principles were involved which
were brought to more radical issues in the revolu-
tionary era. In the political conflicts of this period
such men as Thomas Hutchinson and Benjamin
Franklin were trained for the larger posts assigned
to them in later years.

Finally, with all due allowance for divisive forces,
there was a growing unity in provincial life. Ma-
terial expansion was gradually filling the wilderness
spaces which divided the colonies ; a broader, though
still provincial, culture was increasing the points of
intellectual contact ; under various forms of govern-
ment, the Americans of that time cherished com-
mon ideals of personal liberty and local autonomy.

Scholars generally agree that the subject-matter
of this volume has never been adequately treated
as a whole, though there are some good mono-
graphs and an almost bewildering mass of local and

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xxi

antiquarian publications. It is hardly possible
even now to write a history which can be called
in any sense definitive; certainly, no such claim is
made for the present work. In the main, the
author's purpose has been to state fairly, and to
correlate, conclusions already familiar to special
students in this field.

Mr. David M. Matteson prepared the preliminary
sketches for the maps in this volume. The author
desires also to express his more than usual obliga-
tions to the editor for helpful suggestions both as
to matter and form.

EVARTS BOUTELL GrEENE.

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

CHAPTER I

ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES
(1689)

THE revolution of 1689 was, in the first instance,
a revolution of the English people. Through
their representatives in the great convention they
defended the Protestant establishment of the church,
asserted the sovereignty of Parliament, defined
certain fundamental rights of the individual, and,
finally, placed these ancient rights under the pro-
tection of their new sovereigns, William and Mary.
A few weeks later a similar convention in Scotland
took similar action ; and during the next two years
the military campaigns of William and his officers
re-established in the dependent principality of Ire-
land the authority of the English crown and the
English church. These events, however, did not
establish the "United Kingdom" of to-day. For
a century longer Ireland maintained her separate
though dependent Parliament; and the legislative

3

4 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

union of Scotland and England was not accom-
plished for nearly twenty years. From the stand-
point of British law and administration, Scotchmen
and Irishmen were still in large measure alien peo-
ples, both in England and in the colonies.

These political movements in the British Isles
were followed with close interest by large numbers
of English subjects in the American hemisphere.
They produced or made possible similar movements
there, and radically changed the internal organiza-
tion of the colonies as well as their relation to each
other and to the mother-country. Notwithstanding
the close causal connection between the revolution-
ary movements in the mother-country and in the
colonies, there were important differences between
them, due to peculiar conditions prevailing either
in the colonies as a whole or in particular colo-
nies or groups of colonies. The American move-
ments cannot, therefore, be understood without
some analysis of those conditions.^

The main body of the English colonists in 1689
occupied a narrow strip of territory stretching along
the seaboard from the Kennebec River in Maine to
the Ashley in South Carolina. Beyond the strug-
gling English settlements in Maine, to the north and
east, was a region in which English and French
claims overlapped. In the south the Carolinas
had been settled in defiance of the prior Spanish

* Compare the following discussion with Andrews, Colonial
Self -Government {Am. Nation, V.), chaps, xviii, xix.

1 689] CONDITIONS 5

claims, and the new settlement of Charleston, in
particular, was jealously watched by the Spanish
garrison at St. Augustine. Everywhere the frontier
line was drawn close to the sea. Here and there
were interior posts in the wilderness, like the
Massachusetts towns in the Connecticut Valley,
and Schenectady on the Mohawk, but even towns
within a few miles of Boston were still subject to
Indian forays.

North of these permanent settlements on the
main-land, were several remote trading-posts on
the shores of Hudson Bay, maintained by the Hud-
son's Bay Company. A few small fishing settle-
ments also existed on the eastern shore of New-
foundland, but the English claim to the island was
challenged by a French fort on Placentia Bay.

To the south, England had already acquired a
series of insular possessions, beginning with the
Bermudas, and including in succession the Baha-
mas, the Leeward Islands, Barbadoes, and Jamaica.
Commercial and social relations of considerable im-
portance existed between the insular colonies and
those of the mainland, and their political tendencies
were in some respects much alike.

The population of these colonies can only be
roughly estimated. New England, not counting
Indians, may have numbered about eighty thou-
sand, of whom about two-thirds were included in
1 69 1 under the political jurisdiction of Massachu-
setts. New York, New Jersey, and Penn's colonies

6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

on the Delaware had together a population probably
somewhat less than that of Massachusetts. Virginia
was then the largest of the colonies, and the two
Chesapeake provinces combined probably had a
population slightly larger than that of New Eng-
land. In the isolated Carolina settlements, there
may have been in all five thousand people, including
negroes/

In these British dominions there was already a
considerable variety of racial elements. The New
England colonists were almost exclusively of Eng-
lish stock, and so for the most part were the white
settlers of the south, though there was already a
small French Huguenot colony in South Carolina.
New York was a comparatively recent conquest,
with the Dutch considerably outnimibering the Eng-
lish element and a smaller representation of other
European stocks. In Pennsylvania the generous
policy of Penn and his liberal advertisements in
continental Europe had attracted some non-Eng-
lish immigrants to reinforce the early Swedish and
Dutch settlers and the English Quakers. African
and, to a lesser extent, Indian slavery existed
throughout the continental colonies as well as in
the islands; though in the former it was only be-
ginning to assume an important position. In South
Carolina, however, by the close of the century, the
negroes outnumbered the whites.

The American colonists differed from each other

* Dexter, Estimates of Population in the American Colonies.

XORTH AMERICA

SHOWING EUROPEAN CLAIMS,

OCCUPATIONS, AND SETTLE3IENTS

1689

] English \ \ French [

] Spanish

_ — Limit of English Claims

- ^^ - — Limit of French Claims

X X X X Limit of Spanish Claims

Frontier of English Settlements

The solid coloring indicates Possessions or Claims not actively disputed.
The stripes of different colors indicate Rival Claims.

SCALE OF MILES

120

110°

100° Longitude

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i689] CONDITIONS 7

not merely in racial distinctions, but sometimes
even more decisively in religion. New England as
a whole was still dominated by the religious ideals
of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts Bay. Dis-
senters could not, however, be absolutely excluded,
as the Antinomians and the early Quakers had
been in the days of Winthrop and Endicott. Rhode
Island, with her ideal of religious toleration, still
stood in marked antagonism to the old Puritan
ecclesiasticism ; and the royal government of the
Andros regime had given the Episcopal church a
foothold in Massachusetts. In the closing years of
the seventeenth century the Anglican clergy and
laymen of New England constituted a small but
energetic minority which had to be reckoned with
as a real political force.

The racial differences of the middle colonies were
reflected in the field of religion. In New York,
Calvinism was not so strongly intrenched nor so
aggressive as in New England. Its adherents were
in a decided majority, but were themselves divided
into rival organizations, of which the most impor-
tant were the old Dutch Reformed church, lately
the established church of New Netherland, and the
more loosely associated Congregational churches
which had their strongholds on Long Island, thus
bringing into New York politics the militant spirit
of New England Puritanism. The Lutherans were
also represented in the colony, and the Church 01
England had a bare foothold. Between these van-

8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

ous Protestant bodies, the early English governors
had maintained on the whole a fairly even balance.
The few Catholics of the province, protected from
persecution during the supremacy of James, the
Catholic proprietor and king, became in the revolu-
tion of 1689 the chief objects of popular hatred, and
were afterwards subjected to severe penalties. In
Pennsylvania the strongest influence was, of course,
that of the Quakers, but there were also Anglicans,
Lutherans, and other Protestants. In none of the
middle colonies was there a true state church, and
it is in them that the student finds the nearest ap-
proach to the freedom and diversity of our modem
American life.

Virginia, notwithstanding some jealousies be-
tween clergy and laity, held strongly to the Angli-
can establishment. In Maryland the Catholic pro-
prietor had striven to keep the peace between
Catholics, Puritans, and Anglicans, but the violent
anti-Catholic spirit of the English revolution as-
serted itself here as in New York. Provincial poli-
ticians used this religious antagonism to overthrow
for a time the government of the proprietor, and
when the revolution was over the Anglican party
reaped the fruits of the Protestant victory in the
legal establishment of their own church. In the
Carolinas the early policy of the proprietors gave
rise to a religious diversity similar to that in the
middle colonies. The Anglicans were the strong-
est element among the early settlers of Charleston,

1689] CONDITIONS 9

but there were also French Huguenots, Scotch and
Irish Presbyterians, and New England Puritans.
The obscure settlements of North Carolina could
hardly be said at this time to have any definite re-
ligious complexion. The Quaker missionaries ex-
erted a considerable influence, but the general at-
mosphere was one of religious indifference.

The economic occupations and interests of the
colonies at the close of the seventeenth century
have been carefully examined in the preceding
volume of this series and require only a brief re-
view here. In all the colonies agricultural interests
were predominant, but the specific character of
these interests varied widely. In Maryland and
Virginia the large plantation was becoming the
characteristic economic unit, and there were no
considerable centres of trade. Negro slavery had
gained a firm foothold, and the planters were al-
most wholly absorbed in the production of tobacco
for export. South Carolina was developing along
West Indian lines the plantation system in its
most extreme form; and she differed from the
Chesapeake colonies in possessing a commercial and
social centre at Charleston, which completely domi-
nated also the political life of the colony throughout
its history.

In the middle colonies economic conditions were
more varied, and flourishing trading centres had
grown up at Philadelphia and New York, over-
shadowing others of less importance. The large

lo PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

planfeation existed here also to a limited extent,
notably among the Hudson River people, but the
small farmer was also an important factor through-
out this region. The organization of agriculture
in New England differed more sharply from that
of the south. Here the farmers gathered in towns
within easy reach of the meeting-house. Their out-
lying farms were small as compared with Virginia
plantations, negro slavery was an almost negligible
factor, and there were no great agricultural staples
comparable with tobacco. Agriculture was supple-
mented by the important fishing industry and the
Indian fur trade. The timber resources of New
England had been used for ship-building on a con-
siderable scale, and her vessels were engaged in a
constantly widening intercolonial and foreign trade.

This developing industrial life of the colonies
Parliament was now attempting to guide in certain
legally established channels; but the navigation
acts, with their restrictions on colonial shipping,
imports, and exports, were imperfectly obeyed.
For their really efficient enforcement a different
governmental organization was necessary; and the
attempt to secure such a system became one of the
most important factors in the constitutional history
of the later colonial era.

The governments of the American colonies were,
at the close of the Stuart period, in a state of de-
cidedly unstable equilibrium, due to the adoption
by the English crown of a new and aggressive colo-

1689] CONDITIONS II

nial policy. These new measures, however, cannot
be appreciated without recalling certain leading
principles of English colonial policy in its earlier
phases.

The first is the leaving of responsibility, not
merely for the economic development but for the
government of new colonies, to private individuals,
private associations, or corporations, acting either
under the authority of royal charters, or, as some-
times happened in New England, simply by the
sufferance of the crown. No one of the main-land
colonies began its career under a royal or provincial
government, and until 1684 only two were definitely
so organized: Virginia, which became a royal gov-
ernment in 1624, after the charter of the Virginia
Company had been annulled; and New Hampshire,
which, after a varied experience at first imder the
nominal rule of a proprietor, and then as a part of
Massachusetts, was finally, in 1679, organized as a
separate royal province.*

Secondly, the tendency was, instead of concen-
trating governmental responsibility in a few hands,
to authorize, or to permit, a large number of small
governments. By 1684 there were on the main-
land twelve distinct colonial governments: New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Rhode Isl-
and, Connecticut, New York, East New Jersey,
West New Jersey, Pennsylvania with the " lower

* Compare on this subject, Tyler, England in America, passim;
Andrews, Colonial Self -Govaxument,ch&o ii (/Im. Nation, IV., V.).

12 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

counties,'* Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina, having,
for the most part, no political connection with each
other except their common subjection, slight and
intangible as that often was, to the English crown
and Parliament.

The greatest variety appeared in the character of
these governments, both as to the nature of their
relations with the home government and as to
their internal organization. In Virginia the con-
stitution was in the main embodied in the royal
commission and instructions issued to each suc-
ceeding governor. In the more recently organized
proprietary governments the proprietor, though
given considerable freedom of action, was held in
check by such requirements as the allowing of ap-
peals to the Privy Council or the submission of
colonial laws for the approval of the crown. There
were also quasi-independent governments like* those
of Maryland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, where
the crown had no effective check on colonial law and
administration. Under the royal charters, New
England had become the home of practically repub-
lican governments, where judges and executive offi-
cers as well as law-makers were chosen by the people
or their representatives. The Maryland proprietary
government may be described as a constitutional
monarchy of the conservative type, while Penn*s
constitution was much more liberal. These govern-
ments, however, had one thing in common : the prin-
ciple of popular representation had in some form or

1689] CONDITIONS 13

other been conceded in all of them, sometimes freely,
as in Pennsylvania, and sometimes tardily, or only
temporarily, as in New York. Often, however, the
privileges of these representative bodies were im-
perfectly defined and held • on a somewhat pre-
carious tenure.

A third striking characteristic of early colonial
policy was the almost entire absence of parlia-
mentary control. The English territories in Ameri-
ca, whether acquired by discovery or by conquest,
were the domains of the crown. The king deter-
mined the conditions under which they should be
occupied, their trade carried on, and their govern-
ments organized. Not until the period of the
Commonwealth did Parliament begin to concern it-
self actively in the affairs of the colonies; and at
first its work was mainly confined to the assertion
of principles, without providing adequate machinery
for their enforcement.

During the second half of the seventeenth cen-
tury there was in England greater interest in the
problem of colonial government. The material re-
sources and the industry of the colonies were to be
exploited and made factors in the development of
national power. By the navigation acts of the
Commonwealth and Restoration governments, Par-
liament undertook to regulate the course of colonial
enterprise. The trade of the colonies must be car-
ried on in English ships and by English seamen.
Many of their staple articles of export might be

14 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

sent to Europe only through English ports, and
their imports from Europe must come only by way
of England. The acts which asserted these general
principles were naturally followed by others which
were needed to settle doubtful questions of con-
struction, and to secure a more effective enforce-
ment.*

The primary motive of this legislation was finan-
cial or economic, but it had also important constitu-
tional results. Since the existing colonial govern-
ments could not be relied upon to enforce thoroughly
the requirements of the navigation acts, a special
official service was organized in the colonies, charged
with this specific duty. Consequently, there soon
appeared side by side with the local governments
of individual colonies, whether provincial, pro-
prietary, or republican, the surveyor-general and
the collectors of customs, as the representatives of
a new imperial control. These new officials in
turn were supervised and controlled by the Privy
Cotmcil with its Committee of Trade and Planta-
tions.

Even these measures, however, were inadequate.
The thorough enforcement of the law required the
cordial co-operation of the colonial governor with
the royal agent, but instead of this there was
mutual suspicion and dislike. The governor was
influenced by the local sentiment of the colony or

*Cf. Andrews, Colonial Self - Government {Am, Nation, V.),
chaps, i., ii.

i689] CONDITIONS ' 15

the personal interests of the proprietor, which were
often at variance with those of the crown. It was
natural enough, therefore, that such men as Ed-
ward Randolph, who looked at the problem from
the point of view of a royal official, should demand
a reorganization of the colonial governments them-
selves, in order to make them more effective agents
of imperial control. These general considerations,
with others of a more local character, gradually led
the English government to adopt new principles of
colonial administration.

The changed attitude of the crown towards the
proprietary governments was illustrated in the New
York patent of 1664, and still more in Penn's
charter of 1 68 1 . In both these provinces the right of
appeal to the Privy Council was expressly reserved
by the crown, and in Pennsylvania this check upon
provincial independence was reinforced by a num-
ber of new provisions, including a royal veto on
colonial laws. In 1684 came the revocation of the
Massachusetts charter, followed during the next
four years by the gradual incorporation in a single
province of eight hitherto distinct jurisdictions, in-
cluding, besides all of New England, New York and
the Jerseys, all of which were covered by the royal
commission to Andros in 1688. Legal proceedings
were also ordered for the purpose of annulling the
proprietary authority in Delaware, Maryland, and
the Carc;linas. It seems probable that if this policy
had not been interrupted by the revolution of 1689,

i6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

direct control by the crown would have been secured
in all, or nearly all, of the colonies.

Thus the later policy of the Stuarts embodied
these two leading principles: the substitution of
royal for proprietary or elective governments ; and
the consolidation of numerous petty jurisdictions
into a smaller number of strong provinces. Such
a policy would probably in any case have provoked
sharp antagonism from the colonists, and from the
various proprietary interests which were thus as-
sailed. It was still further weakened by being as-
sociated with another form of restriction with which
it had no necessary connection: the colonies which
were successively incorporated in the " greater New
England" of 1688 were left without any general
representative assembly to take the place of the
various local bodies which had been superseded.
The extension of imperial control and the consoli-
dation of governments may be regarded in some
aspects at least as measures of progress; the denial
of popular representation was distinctly reaction-
ary.

CHAPTER II

PROVINCIAL REORGANIZATION
(1689-1692)

WHEN the English revolution of 1689 opened
the way for similar movements in America, the
opposition gathered strength from various sources.
The chartered colonies of New England desired their
old local independence ; their religious prejudices also
were stirred by the support which the Andros re-
gime had given to the Anglican church, and by its
toleration of what seemed to them a looser morality.
The Catholicism of James and some of his agents
was a prime factor in enabling the revolutionists of
New York to discredit his authority in the province.
There and in New England stanch Anglicans were
suspected as possible tools of a ** Popish** conspir-
acy. In Maryland, however, this religious antag-
onism had precisely the opposite effect, and con-
tributed towards the temporary overthrow of the
proprietor and the extension of royal control.

One of the first acts of William III. was the ap-
pointment, in February, 1689, of a new Committee
of the Privy Council on Trade and Plantations, in-
cluding the leading ministers of state, both Whig

17

i8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

and Tory. In the early months of 1689 the gen-
eral principles of colonial policy were discussed with
some care, and the new committee accepted, in
large measure, the policy of its predecessors. Thus,
in April, 1689, before the uprising in New England
was known, the committee recommended the or-
ganization of such a government in New England,
New York, and the Jerseys, as would enable the
people to oppose the French with their united forces.
Here the military motive appears to reinforce the
commercial argument for closer control. In May of
the same year the committee suggested as a proper
subject for consideration by Parliament whether
Maryland, the Carolinas, and Pennsylvania should
not be brought into closer dependence upon the
crown. Pending the settlement of a definite policy,
the existing political arrangements in the colonies
were, in general, to be continued.*

In the mean time the colonists were taking mat-
ters into their own hands. Revolutionary move-
ments in Massachusetts and New York overthrew
the Andros administration ; the New England colo-
nies resumed their chartered constitutions, and
in New York Leisler set up his revolutionary
government. In Maryland the agitators of the
Protestant Association took advantage of religious
prejudices against the Catholic proprietor to over-
throw his authority and organize a new govern-
ment in the name of William and Mary. Even in

* Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 6, 34, 39.

1689] REORGANIZATION 19

Virginia and the West Indian Islands considerable
uneasiness resulted from the political changes at
home.^ The confusion was seriously increased in
many colonies by the outbreak of war with France
and by Indian incursions on the northern frontiers.
With these various and perplexing problems to be
dealt with, it is not surprising that the king and
his ministers were not able at once to restore order
and carry out a consistent policy; and it is a mark
of statesmanship that during the next two years
a fair solution of the problem was worked out in
most of the colonies.

The basis of this settlement was compromise.
Though the colonial policy of James II. was main-
tained in many of its essential features, it was con-
siderably modified, and on one point was definitely
abandoned. The privilege of a representative as-
sembly could hardly be denied by a government in-
stituted for the protection of representative in-
stitutions in the mother-country; and it was now
restored in all the colonies.

The question still remained of restoring the old
charters, especially in New England. The colonists,
represented by skilful agents, and supported by in-
fluential politicians in England, claimed to stand
in defence of ancient privileges arbitrarily taken
from them by the now discredited government of
James II. The Puritan party had played an im-

*Cf. Andrews, Colonial Self -Government {Am. Nation, V.),
chap. xvii.

ao PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

portant part in bringing about the English revolu-
tion also, and might reasonably claim some con-
sideration for Puritan interests in America. Against
these claims, however, were enlisted some powerful
influences. Many of the new king's counsellors
had had an active part in the administrations of the
last two Stuart kings, and were hardly prepared to
abandon altogether the old policy. The revolution
also strengthened rather than weakened the in-
fluence of the merchants in the government; de-
siring, as they did, a strict observance of the navi-
gation acts, and a steady assertion of British as
against distinctively colonial interests, it was clearly
their interest to extend the administrative control
of the mother-country.

Lastly, the outbreak of war both in Europe and
America served to emphasize the military point of
view. It was urged again and again in the colonial
correspondence that the ravages of the Indians on
the frontier were largely the result of the political
disintegration which followed the revolution. So
long as the colonies were divided into petty inde-
pendent jurisdictions, each pursuing selfishly its own
immediate interests, there could be no effective co-
operation for the defence of the empire as a whole.

The adjustment of colonial governments from 1689
to 1 69 1 was a fair compromise between the an-
tagonistic views which have just been described.
The idea of a consolidated New England was aban-
doned; Connecticut and Rhode Island were allowed

1691J REORGANIZATION 21

to resiime their rights of government under the old
charters which had never been definitely surren-
dered ; and New Hampshire was to be governed, as
before, as a separate royal province, though the pro-
prietor of the soil, Samuel Allen, was given a gov-
ernor's commission. The tendency towards con-
solidation appears, however, in the new charter of
Massachusetts, which organized under a single royal
government Massachusetts, Maine, and the old
colony of Plymouth. The charter also included
Acadia, recently conquered by Sir William Phips;
but this clause was deprived of importance through
the French reconquest of Port Royal in 1691.^

The Massachusetts charter was in itself a com-
promise. The interests of the crown were to be
protected by a royal governor with a limited ap-
pointing power and the right of veto upon acts of
the general court or assembly; there was also an
ultimate royal veto on colonial statutes, and an
express right of appeal from colonial courts to the
Privy Cotmcil. These were serious deductions from
the old colonial independence, but enough remained
to give Massachusetts until the eve of the Ameri-
can Revolution several marked advantages among
the royal provinces: the royal veto had to be ex-
ercised within a specified time; the executive
council, which served also as the upper house of
the legislature, was here alone an elective body,

^Cal. of State Pap., Col., passim; cf. Andrews, Colonial Self-
Government {Am. Nation, V.) chap. xvii.

22 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

annually chosen by joint ballot of the council and
the house of representatives, though subject to the
governor's veto. The guarantee of annual elections,
the right to exercise a considerable part of the ap-
pointing power, and the semi-popular character of
the legislative upper house gave to the assembly a
freedom of action and an influence in administration
not to be foimd in any other royal province/

In New York the revolutionary leaders had in-
volved themselves in unnecessary antagonism with
the new government in England and were set aside
in the final settlement. The province received a
separate royal government of the ordinary type, but
the representative principle was definitely recognized.

The problems of the proprietary governments
were not settled in any consistent or logical fashion,
but were largely affected by personal considerations.
The pending proceedings against the proprietors of
the Jerseys and of the Carolinas were not pushed,
in spite of the disorderly conditions in those colonies.
On the other hand, the proprietors of Pennsylvania
and Maryland were prejudiced by their associations.
The fact that Lord Baltimore was a Catholic had
been emphasized by the unfortunate delay of his
government in proclaiming the new sovereign, and
was taken advantage of by the discontented ele-
ments within the province. The friction between
proprietary and royal officers during the preceding

* The Massachusetts charter, in Massachiisetts Bay, Acts and
Resolves, I., 1-20.

1691] REORGANIZATION 23

years injured him with the statesmen of the new
government as well as with their predecessors.
The result was a somewhat peculiar compromise ;
Baltimore remained technically in possession of his
charter, and enjoyed certain rights as proprietor of
the soil; while the king appointed the governor
and council, and in general exercised the same
political authority as in the normal royal province.

Penn's position was particularly vulnerable: his
legal title to the lower counties was questioned; his
officers were charged with laxity in the adminis-
tration of the navigation laws ; his intimacy with the
late king made him an object of suspicion ; and there
was sharp criticism of the Quaker attitude towards
imperial defence. In this crisis, however, Penn
and his friends in the province showed a marked
capacity for diplomacy and passive resistance. Ex-
cept for a brief interruption in 1 692-1 694, during
which Governor Fletcher, of New York, imdertook
to administer the province under a royal commission,
Penn was able to hold his ground.

By the close of the year 1691, the two royal
governments on the continent had been increased
to five : New Hampshire ; the three leading colonies
of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maryland ; and New
York, which occupied a position of pre-eminent
strategic importance in the coming struggle with
France. Taken together, the royal provinces now
had perhaps two-thirds of the total population of
the continental colonies. Thus the net result of

24 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

the decade which began with Penn's charter in
1 68 1 and ended with the second Massachusetts
charter of 1691 was a marked extension of imperial
control.

Though the Stuart policy had been modified in
some respects, the Stuart traditions were still
strong at the court. Provincial officials who had
begun American service under Charles and James,
and were closely associated with the carrying out of
their policy, were retained in the service with every
indication of royal confidence. The charges against
Andros were dismissed, and he received afterwards
an appointment to the royal government of Vir-
ginia, the most important on the continent. How-
ard of Effingham, in spite of the vigorous opposition
in Virginia, was at first reappointed titular governor
of the province, with Francis Nicholson, Andros's
former associate in New York, as his lieutenant on
the groimd. Usher, the new lieutenant-governor in
New Hampshire, belonged to the same party. Above
all, Edward Randolph, the unsparing critic of the
chartered governments, continued his colonial career
as surveyor-general of customs. From these and
others like them correspondence on colonial affairs
was constantly coming in to the secretaries of state
and the committee of trade, and impressing upon
them the desirability of pushing to its legitimate
conclusions the policy of imperial control.^

^ Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1 689-1 692, passim; cf. Andrews,
Colonial Self-Government {Am. Nation, V.), chap. xvii.

1692] REORGANIZATION 2$

In Massachusetts the final establishment of even
a modified provincial system was peculiarly painful,
and it was associated with another event which
gave to this constitutional change something of
tragic dignity.

It is now well understood that the witchcraft de-
lusion in Massachusetts was no unique incident in
human history or in the Christian world of that
time. The basis of the witchcraft idea was the be-
lief in a personal devil who, through his agents, the
witches, was constantly conspiring against the wel-
fare of mankind. This dogma was almost univer-
sally held by the Christian church in its various
branches for two centuries after the Protestant revo-
lution, and was definitely recognized by the law of
the land. In the Massachusetts Body of Liberties
of 1 64 1 witchcraft was made a capital offence, and
in 1692 the general court enacted a law, taken al-
most verbatim from a statute of James I., imposing
the same penalty for witchcraft in its more serious
forms. During the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies many thousands of persons were executed as
witches in England, and methods of procedure in
such cases were carefully set forth in the legal trea-
tises of the day.^

Before 1692 there were a few sporadic cases oi
conviction and execution for witchcraft. About ten
years before the Salem outbreak, the ministers of

* Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, I., 55, 56, 90; i James
I., chap. xii. ; Body of Liberties, in MacDonald, Select Charters, 87.

26 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [i688

Boston and vicinity undertook a serious investiga-
tion of the history of witchcraft in New England,
and soon after Increase Mather described, in his Il-
lustrious Providences, witchcraft and kindred phe-
nomena. In 1688 the children of John Goodwin, of
Boston, were supposed to have been bewitched by
an Irish laundress, who was tried and executed.
Cotton Mather, the son of Increase Mather, inter-
ested himself in this case, and applied to it his
theory that the malign influences of the Evil One
might be overcome by fasting and prayer. In the
following year he published a book in which he
insisted on the reality of devils and witches, and
sharply criticised the sceptics. Richard Baxter, the
famous English dissenter, thought the book so con-
vincing ** that he must be a very obdurate Sadducee
that will not believe it." Both the Mathers recom-
mended cautious methods of procedure in the trial
of supposed witches, but probably their publica-
tions helped to develop a morbid interest in super-
natural phenomena.^

In the mean time the colonists had been abnor-
mally excited by experiences of other kinds. Their
old charter had been taken from them, and serious
men were anxious about the possibility of main-
taining the old ideals under the changed conditions.
Then, for several years, a peculiarly shocking war-
fare had been going on on the frontier with a savage
people, whom it was easy to think of as fiendish
* Poole, in Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston, II., chap. iv.

'1692] REORGANIZATION 27

allies of the Evil One. Thus, when the tales of
witchcraft at Salem village began to come in, they
foimd a more ready response than might have been
given in calmer times.

The disturbance began with the strange actions
of some young girls at Salem village (now Danvers).
Friends and professional advisers were called in,
and when they agreed that the girls had been be-
witched there was great alarm, and public fasts
were kept, not only in the immediate neighborhood,
but in other parts of the colony. When questioned
about the cause of their troubles, the ** afflicted per-
sons" named at first three women by whom they
claimed to have been bewitched ; then from time to
time they made similar charges against other persons.
In this way a large number of men and women,
not only in Salem village but in neighboring towns,
were examined and imprisoned, until finally, in
May, 1692, the new governor. Sir William Phips,
and his council organized a special court to try the
witchcraft cases. During the following summer
this court sat at Salem, and imder its authority
nineteen persons in all were convicted of witch-
craft and executed. The majority of them were
women, but one, George Burroughs, was a graduate
of Harvard College and a prominent minister of
the province. One man, Giles Corey, under a strict
application of the old English law, was pressed to
death for refusing to plead. Many others, over-
wrought by the cruel examinations which they had

28 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1692

to undergo, and in order to save their own lives,
made confessions implicating innocent persons.

These convictions were brought about in large
measure by the acceptance of what was called
"spectral" testimony. It was assumed by the
court in accordance with some English precedents
that the devil could not assume the form of an
innocent person. When, therefore, the "afflicted
persons" professed that they had been bewitched by
the devil in the form of certain individuals whom
they named, this was taken as conclusive evidence
of guilt. The leading ministers, however, including
the Mathers, condemned the use of spectral testi-
mony, and insisted that the devil might assume the
form of an innocent person. Finally, when an in-
creasing number of people of high character and
social standing, including Lady Phips, began to be
accused, there was a strong revulsion of feeling. In
the winter of 1 692-1 693 the special court was super-
seded by the newly organized superior court, which
held a special session at Salem in January, 1693.
About fifty persons were then tried ; but only three
were convicted, and they were reprieved by Gov-
ernor Phips, who now ordered that the prosecutions
should be stopped.*

Before many years had passed, the people of

* Upham, Witchcraft in Salem Village, II., passim ; Hutchin-
son, Hist, of Mass. Bay, II., 22 et seq.; Woodward, Records
of Salem Witchcraft, passim; Cal. of State Pap., CoL, 1689-1692,
p. 720, 1 693-1 696, pp. 29, 30; Mather, Magnolia Christi (ed
of 1853), I., 207-210, IL, 471-479.

1697] REORGANIZATION 29

Massachusetts generally were convinced that great
wrong had been done to innocent people, and the
general court set apart a day of fasting and prayer
in recognition of the errors committed in the witch-
craft proceedings. At that time Cotton Mather
expressed in his diary his anxiety lest the divine
displeasure might overtake his family "for my not
appearing with vigor enough to stop the proceed-
ings of the judges when the inextricable storm
from the Invisible World assaulted the country."
A more memorable and impressive declaration is
that of Samuel Sewall, a councillor and a member
of the witchcraft court, in a paper which he caused
to be publicly read in his presence at church in
1697. He manfully took upon himself a large share
of the "Guilt contracted" in the Salem proceedings,
"Asking pardon of men. And especially desiring
prayers that God, who has an Unlimited Authority,
would pardon that sin and all other his sins; . . .
and . . . Not Visit the sin of him, or of any other,
upon himself or any of his, nor upon the Land." *

* Extracts from Mather's diary, in Wendell, Cotton Mather,
122; Sewall, Diary, I., 445.

CHAPTER III

EXTENSION OF IMPERIAL CONTROL
(1689-1713)

IN the constitutional adjustments which took
place in the colonies after the revolution of
1689, there had been a compromise between two
contending forces, the spirit of particularism and
colonial autonomy on the one side and the policy
of consolidation and control on the other. This
constitutional compromise was, however, satisfac-
tory to neither party and could not be regarded
as final. From the home government there came
a series of measures, partly legislative and partly
administrative, which limited the field of local au-
tonomy. On the other hand, certain constitutional
tendencies appeared in the colonies which were de-
nounced as leading towards substantial indepen-
dence.

The demand for closer imperial control was em-
phasized by the intercolonial wars, which showed
clearly the need of concerted action, of having some
authority in the colonies capable of directing mili-
tary operations as a whole. Commercial considera-
tions, too, were given a new emphasis during this

so

i689] IMPERIAL CONTROL 3^

period. The heavy burden of the continental wars
hastened the development in England of a new and
more complex financial system, including the be-
ginnings of the national debt and the Bank of Eng-
land. In these new departures the government
needed more than ever the co-operation of the mer-
cantile interests, and the strength of their influence
is shown by the prominence of commercial con-
siderations in foreign politics. When a great war,
like that of the Spanish Succession, was fought
largely in the interest of English trade, it was nat-
ural that the same interest should assert itself more
strongly than ever in the field of colonial policy.

The war also brought out various irregularities
in colonial trade which seemed to demand more
effective control. There were frequent complaints
of illicit trade with the enemy, and of privateering
that passed easily into piracy. These, with the old
charge of lax enforcement of the navigation acts,
made up a formidable indictment, which was pressed
with special vigor against the chartered govern-
ments, whether proprietary or elective.

Imperial control as a remedy for colonial ills
was advocated, not merely by interested merchants
and zealous officials in England ; it was also urged
by a small but energetic party in America, includ-
ing certain officers of the British customs service.
Edward Randolph, for instance, was again busily
engaged in writing reports on the violation of the
navigation acts in various colonies, and occasionally

32 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

quarrelling with less zealous officials. Another im-
portant representative of the same class was Robert
Quarry, for a time councillor and acting governor
of South Carolina, afterwards an admiralty judge
in the middle colonies, and finally surveyor-general
of customs for North America. Quarry made him-
self particularly obnoxious to William Penn by his
incessant complaints of misgovernment in Penn-
sylvania.^

Some of the royal governors also were conspicu-
ous for their defence of imperial interests. Among
them was Francis Nicholson, who, during the reigns
of William and Anne, serving successively as lieu-
tenant-governor of Virginia, governor of Maryland,
governor of Virginia, and governor of Nova Scotia,
showed a strong sense of the royal prerogative and
a keen scent for irregularities of every kind, es-
pecially in the chartered colonies. Another was
Richard, Earl of Bellomont, who, during the clos-
ing years of the seventeenth century, was at the
same time governor of Massachusetts, New Hamp-
shire, and New York. During the reign of Anne
the most aggressive of the royal governors were
Dudley of Massachusetts and New Hampshire,
Hunter of New York, and Spotswood of Virginia.
These men and others like them were constantly
pointing out the evils of the existing situation,
and urging upon their superiors at home a more

^Randolph Papers, -passim.; Ames, Pa. and the English Goi/t,,
passim.

1696] IMPERIAL CONTROL 33

vigorous assertion of parliamentary or royal au-
thority.

The imperialistic party in the colonies was not
exclusively composed of royal governors and cus-
toms collectors. In the chartered colonies dis-
satisfied elements of various kinds saw their ad-
vantage in the extension of royal control. This
was the case, for instance, with the comparatively
small group of Church of England men in New
England and Pennsylvania. In New Jersey and the
Carolinas the inefficient or illiberal government of
the proprietors led many of the colonists, at various
times, to seek protection from the crown.

From all these various elements came complaints
and proposals of reorganization which were reflect-
ed in "representations" by the Lords of Trade, in
orders of the Privy Council, in resolutions of the
House of Lords or the House of Commons, and
sometimes even in acts of Parliament. Indeed, one
of the striking features of colonial politics during
this period is the constant suggestion of parlia-'
mentary action as the only means of dealing thor-
oughly with colonial problems.

The colonial statutes of William and Anne were ^
intended first to secure a more effective enforce-
ment of the system inaugurated by the navigation
acts of Charles II., and, secondly, to enlarge the
field in which its principles should be applied.

The first object is best illustrated by the naviga-
tion act of 1696, which was based clearly upon

34 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1696

official experience of the defects of existing ad-
ministration. The negligence of the governors,
especially in the chartered colonies, led to the
strengthening of the oath hitherto required of royal
governors, which was now made unequivocally ap-
plicable to all governors of English colonies: any
governor who failed either to take the oath or to
perform the duties required by it was made liable to
removal from office and to the forfeiture of ;£iooo.
Furthermore, the choice of governor in the char-
tered colonies was made subject to veto by the
crown, although practically this clause was apphed
only in the proprietary governments. The naval
officers appointed by colonial governors had also
been found negligent, and were required, hence-
forth, to give security to the commissioner of cus-
toms in England. Complaints having been made
of the unsatisfactory sureties accepted in the colo-
nies, all sureties were thereafter to be persons of
good financial standing, resident in the colonies.
Randolph's correspondence had laid special stress
upon the part taken by Scotchmen in the illegal
trade: they were said to have used forged certifi-
cates, and to have escaped punishment for illegal
acts through the sympathy of fellow-countrymen
on the trial juries. More stringent measures were
therefore adopted for the suppression of Scotch
and other alien traders, and it was provided that
jury service in cases arising under the trade and
revenue laws should be limited to natives of Eng-

1696] IMPERIAL CONTROL 35

land and Wales, Ireland, and the plantations. A
few years later, however, the act of union placed
Scotchmen on the same footing with Englishmen/

The leading principle which underlies the various
provisions of the act of 1696 is the bringing of
colonial administration, so far as it affected the
navigation acts, into harmony with the system of
the mother-country. This principle was asserted as
regards colonial legislation by the formal declaration
that all colonial laws at variance with the naviga-
tion acts were null and void. Vessels in the colo-
nies were subjected to the regulations, as to searches
and seizures, which were already in force at home;
and all vessels were to be identified by a uniform
system of registration.^

The act of 1696 was thus mainly an administra-
tive measure intended to make more effective the
principles of previous legislation; but it also de-
termined one important point of construction. The
question had been raised whether the exporter of
enumerated articles, who paid the prescribed duties
at a colonial port, was then free to take his goods
wherever he pleased. It was now definitely settled
that a bond must in all cases be given not to take
the enumerated articles elsewhere than to England,
Wales, or Berwick-upon-Tweed, or to some other
English colony. There was also one important

*7 and 8 William III., chap, xxii.; 6 Anne, chap, xi., § 4;
Cal of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 656-660.
'7 and 8 William III., chap. xxii.. §§ s, 8, 16.

36 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1696

addition to the limitations imposed on colonial ex-
ports: the colonists were now forbidden to send
even the non-enimierated articles to Ireland or
Scotland, except after the payment of duties in
England.^

In later statutes of William and Anne there was
a real development of the commercial policy in prin-
ciple as well as in administration. This is shown
first by additions to the list of enumerated articles,
especially in 1705, when three important classes
of colonial products were first enumerated: rice,
which had become one of the staple exports of
South Carolina; molasses from the West Indies;
and naval stores of various kinds, including ship
timber, could now be shipped only to English ports. ^

Another restrictive measure showed the growing
jealousy of colonial manufactures, which was, of
course, a logical result of the mercantilist system.
In order to preserve colonial markets for English
merchants, it was not enough to prevent the colo-
nists from buying manufactured articles in foreign
countries, they must also be prevented from supply-
ing them to each other. During King William's
War this subject was frequently referred to in
the colonial correspondence ; for instance. Governor
Nicholson of Virginia pointed out the danger, that
the continued interruption of trade by war would

^ 7 and 8 William III., §§7, 13; cf. Beer, Commercial Policy of
England, 40,

' 3 and 4 Anne, chap, iii., § 14, chap, ix., § 6.

1705] IMPERIAL CONTROL 37

compel the colonists to make their own clothing, as
the New-Englanders were already doing to a con-
siderable extent. The British point of view has
hardly been better expressed than in the preamble
of the woollens act of 1698, in which wool and its
various manufactures were called "the greatest
and most profitable Commodities of this Kingdom
on which the Value of Lands and the Trade of the
Nation do Chiefly depend," The development of
this trade in Ireland and the colonies was tending,
it was thought, "to sink the Value of Lands" and
*' to the mine of the Trade and the Woollen Manu-
factures of this Realme, ' ' and hence the colonists were
forbidden to carry wool or manufactures of wool
from any one colony into any other.*

Not all commercial legislation of this period was
restrictive. Colonial officials were constantly trying
to find means of diverting the colonists from in-
dustrial enterprises injurious to the mother-coun-
try by encouraging others which were thought to
be beneficial. Thus a statute of Queen Anne en-
couraged colonial shipping by exempting colonial
seamen from impressment in the royal navy.* The
industry, however, which the English government
most desired to encourage was the production of
naval stores, including hemp, pitch, tar, and masts;

^Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 568, 569; Weeden,
Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 303-307, 387-394; 10
William III., chap. xvi.

' Commission to Board of Trade, in A^. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col
Hist., IV., 145-148; 6 Anne, chap. Ixiv., § 9.

38 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1700

and this interest was stimulated by the wars of
William and Anne, in which the sea power was so
important a factor. Hitherto, the Baltic countries
had been the important source of supply for naval
stores, but this trade was now being conducted on
unfavorable terms and was at best precarious. The
resources of the colonies were therefore carefully in-
quired into; and finally, after a long period of
discussion, Parliament took definite action in the
statute of 1705. This act, as has been noted, re-
stricted the export of naval stores by listing them
among the enumerated articles; it also reserved
trees of a certain size for the royal navy, with
severe penalties for cutting by unauthorized per-
sons. These restrictions were offset, however, by
boimties on the importation of naval stores pro-
duced in the colonies, and this encouragement of
colonial industry became a settled part of British
policy.*

The measures already noted may all be regarded
as logical developments from the earlier acts of
trade; a few others deserve attention because they
show the broadening scope of parliamentary legis-
lation for the colonies — especially the piracy act
of 1700, the currency act of 1707, and the post-
office act of 1 7 10.

The piracy act was an attempt to remedy a
serious evil which it was felt had not been prop-

*3 and 4 Anne, chap, ix.; Lord, Industrial Experiments in
tht Engl. Cols., pt. ii.

1707J IMPERIAL CONTROL 39

erly dealt with by the colonies, and for which the
old statute of Henry VIII. was no longer found
adequate. The colonial governments, especiall}/
those which still retained their charters, were criti-
cised for failure to enact suitable legislation and
for their toleration of pirates within their juris-
diction. Under these circumstances, the act of
1700 provided that in the future piracy and other
felonies on the high seas might be tried in the colo-
nies by special courts constituted by commissions
from the crown. If any governor refused to com-
ply with the provisions of this act, such a refusal
was to constitute a forfeiture of the chartered rights
of the government to which he belonged.^

The conditions which gave rise to the currency
act of 1707 can be only briefly considered here.
During the reign of William III. the problems of
coinage and currency were conspicuous in the poli-
tics both of the mother-country and the colonies.
The colonial situation was especially difficult, for
coin of any kind was scarce, and English sterling
money was hardly current at all. The most com-
mon coins in the colonies were the Spanish ** pieces
of eight," which have been called "the original of
the American ' dollar.' " The "piece of eight" was
not, however, a fixed standard either in weight or
commercial value as measured in sterling money

^ Cal.of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 674; 1693-1696, p. 114;
Report of Board of Trade, in Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 380;
II William III., chap. vii.

40 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1700

One of the charges made against the chartered
colonies was that by raising and lowering the value
of coins, as well as by various other methods, they
tended *' greatly to the tindermining the trade of the
other plantations." William Penn, in his Sugges-
tions Respecting the Plantations, presented to the
home government in 1700, said that the value of
pieces of eight varied from 4s. 6d., in Maryland,
to 75. Sd., in the neighboring colony of Pennsyl-
vania, and he urged the desirability of a single fixed
standard.^

Such a standard was attempted in 1704 through
a proclamation of Queen Anne, which fixed within
certain limits the ratio between standard foreign
coins and sterling. This royal order proved ineffec-
tive, and in 1707 Parliament gave to the proclama-
tion the force of a statute, imposing penalties on
persons who took foreign coins at a rate exceeding
the legal ratio; and this act was specifically de-
clared applicable to the chartered colonies as well
as to the royal governments.^

In the case of the post-office also, there was, first,
a period of separate colonial action, followed by the
exercise of prerogative, and finally by the inter-
vention of Parliament. Before the revolution of
1689 postal arrangements in the colonies had been
left to the colonists themselves, and the results

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 383-387;
Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 380; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col.
Hist., IV., 757. '6 Anne, chap. Ivii.

i7io] IMPERIAL CONTROL 41

were meagre. In 1692, Thomas Neale received
from William and Mary a patent authorizing him
to establish post-offices in the American colonies;
and he proceeded to appoint Andrew Hamilton, a
New Jersey colonist, as his deputy in America.
Hamilton then secured the co-operation of several
of the colonial assemblies, which passed laws regu-
lating the rates of postage. His patent, however,
was to expire in twenty-one years, and by that time
Parliament was ready to take action. The act of
1 7 10 provided for "Chief Offices" in New York
and elsewhere ; fixed the rates of postage within the
colonies, as well as in the mother-country ; and, with
a few exceptions, limited the carrying of mails to the
postmaster - general and his deputies. Under the
operation of this law postal facilities were gradual-
ly extended from New England and the middk
colonies into the south.*

One of the declared purposes of the new law waa
to raise a war revenue, and it was therefore enacted
that a weekly payment of £'joo should be turned into
the royal treasury. The New-Englanders seem to
have made no public objection to the revenue feat-
ure of the law, and though some Virginians at first
objected on the ground that Parliament could not
tax them without the consent of the general assem-
bly, the opposition soon died away,^

* Woolley, Early Hist, of the Col. Post-Ofjice; 9 Anne, chap. xi.
'Palfrey, New England, IV., 327-332; Spotswood, Official
Letters, IL, 280.

VOL. VI. — S

42 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

The constitutional significance of the colonial
statutes of William and Anne may easily be over-
Looked if they are considered individually. In the
main, they took the form of restrictions upon colo-
nial enterprise, but sometimes, as in the bounties
on naval stores, they aimed to stimulate it when
directed along acceptable lines. Taken as a whole,
they mark the increasing importance in colonial life
of the political control exercised by the mother-
country.

CHAPTER IV

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF THE PROVINCES
(1689-1713)

EVERY step in the extension of legislative con-
trol increased the importance of administra-
tive organization. Existing agencies were strength-
ened and new ones developed, until, finally, a radical
reorganization of the colonial constitutions was de-
manded, which could only be accomplished by the
action of Parliament itself.

In the shaping of administrative policy the per-
sonal action of King William and Queen Anne
seems, on the whole, a factor of minor importance.
William III. was much absorbed in the politics of
continental Europe, and had little time for colonial
affairs, though his influence was in general exerted
to uphold the royal prerogative. He consented re-
luctantly to triennial parliaments at home, and he
opposed the triennial election of assemblies in
America. In one instance, when Parliament at-
tempted to organize a council of trade under its
own control, the king exerted himself to defeat the
project/ Queen Anne's policy was still more large-

* Chalmers, Revolt, I., 294, n.; Cobbett, Parliamentary His-
tory, v., 977.

43

44 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

ly that of her ministers, though her colonial ap-
pointments were sometimes influenced by personal
preferences. William Penn was a man of experi-
ence in such matters, and he wrote to his secretary
in 1703 warning him not to submit even to royal
orders when at variance with law, adding, " Queens
never read, as well as Kings, what they sign; they
are signed upon the credit of committees or secre-
taries." *

In general, then, the colonial policy of the crown
was the policy of its official advisers. Matters of
importance were determined by the Privy Coimcil,
composed, for practical purposes, of the king's
ministers of state. Details were managed by in-
dividual ministers, by subordinate officials, or by
administrative committees or boards. Government
by homogeneous party ministries was not yet es-
tablished, and the ministries were usually com-
posite, including both Whigs and Tories, so that
one of the secretaries of state might be a Tory
and the other a Whig. Generally, one party or the
other had a preponderance, but sometimes the at-
tempt was made to keep an even balance. In the
minds of party politicians colonial politics took a
subordinate place, and it could rarely be said that
any particular ministry had its own distinctive
colonial policy. In the main, the ministries of this
period seem to have accepted the traditions of
colonial administration as they found them.
^ Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 247, 248.

1 713] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 45

The ministers most steadily concerned with co-
lonial affairs were the two secretaries of state, with
whom the colonial governors were expected to cor-
respond. At first there was no definite assignment
of colonial business to either one of them, but dur-
ing the reign of William III. one secretary usually,
at any given time, gave special attention to colonial
correspondence. Two of these secretaries were the
Duke of Shrewsbury, a Whig, and the Earl of Not-
tingham, a Tory, both statesmen of great promi-
nence and influence.

During the reign of Anne, and afterwards, Ameri-
can affairs were regularly transacted by the sec-
retary of state for the southern department, an
office held, during by far the larger part of that
reign, by prominent Tories. Harley, Earl of Ox-
ford, served for three years, and St. John, Viscount
Bolingbroke, during his service of about four years,
took a considerable interest in American affairs.
None of these ministers can, however, be credited
with such an influence in the development of co-
lonial policy as has been ascribed to Clarendon and
Shaftesbury during the reign of Charles II.

The most important work in colonial adminis-
tration was done by executive boards, some of
which were restricted to specific departments of
colonial administration: thus the commissioners of
customs were specially charged with the enforce-
ment of the navigation acts ; and the commissioners
of admiralty transacted a considerable amount of

46 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

colonial business, especially in time of war. Much
the most important executive boards, however,
were the Committee of the Privy Council on Trade
and Plantations, and its successor, the Board of
Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, or, more
briefly, the Board of Trade.

In 1689 the old Committee of Trade and Planta-
tions, instituted during the reign of Charles II., was
reorganized by a new commission, still composed
of the leading ministers of state, many of whom had
been in the service of Charles II., and who were, in
general, disposed to adhere to the colonial policies
of that reign. This committee shaped in large meas-
ure the constitutional adjustments in the colonies
after the revolution; and the navigation act of 1696
was in full harmony with their views. Among the
merchants, however, there was a strong feeling that
the government was not adequately protecting their
interests, and in the parliamentary session of 1695-
1 696 it was proposed to organize a new board whose
members should be nominated by Parliament. The
attempt failed, and in May, 1696, the king himself
organized the Board of Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations. The new board was not a mere
committee of the Privy Council, for, though the
chief ministers of state were ex officio members,
they were not expected to give regular attendance;
the real work was generally done, as was intended,
by a small group of non-ministerial members. In
the first commission the number of such members

17 13] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 47

was eight, including John Locke, who had been long
and prominently associated with colonial affairs,
and William Blathwayte, who had been secretary
of the Committee of Trade during the later years of
its history/

The work of the new board was similar to that
of the old committee ; they were expected first of all
to guard the commercial interests of the mother-
country; colonial trade and government were to be
closely investigated, and means were to be devised
for guiding colonial enterprise in channels beneficial
to the mother-country. During the earlier years of
its history the Board of Trade carried on investiga-
tions with energy, reporting from time to time to
the king, and occasionally also to the houses of
Parliament; their reports or ** representations " con-
tained statements of fact, and also proposed new
lines of policy, legislative as well as administrative.
They draughted the instructions to the royal govern-
ors, suggesting from time to time desirable changes ;
they made nominations to fill vacancies in the co-
lonial service, and were entitled to receive regular
reports from the various royal governments. Colo-
nial legislation and the administration of justice
and finance were also carefully supervised. In per-
forming their functions they were entitled to the

* Commission in N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist. IV., 145-14S;
Chalmers, Revolt, I., chap, xviii; Cobbett, Parliamentary His-
tory, 977; cf. Andrews, Colonial Self - Government {Am. Nation,
v.), chaps, ii., xvii.

48 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

legal advice of the king's counsel, and could compel
the attendance of witnesses.

Their actual authority, however, was compara-
tively slight. In matters of real importance, they
could make ''representations," not final decisions;
they could nominate officers, but not appoint them;
they could remonstrate with delinquent governors,
but could not finally remove or control them.
Under these circumstances, the real influence of
the board depended on maintaining vital relations
with the leading ministers, especially the secretaries
of state. During the period of William and Anne,
the board undoubtedly influenced to a considera-
ble extent the policy of the government, but even
then many important recommendations were not
carried out.^

Some administrative supervision was also exer-
cised by the House of Commons and the House of
Lords through formal inquiries, and by recommenda-
tions to the executive authorities. Two instances of
intervention by the House of Lords during this
period are noteworthy. After the passage of the
navigation act of 1696, courts of admiralty were
established in the colonies by the king soon after
they had been recommended by the House of Lords.
In 1706 the peers called upon the queen to pro-
tect the dissenters of South CaroHna from a pro-
vincial law requiring an ecclesiastical test for mem-

»Egerton, Short Hist, of Col. Policy, 116; Report of Board
of Trade (1721), in N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 627-630.

1713] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 49

bership in the assembly, and a royal order was
issued accordingly. The revolution of 1689 had
greatly strengthened the parliamentary element in
the constitution, and the proposed formation of a
council of commerce to be nominated by Parlia-
ment shows a tendency to encroach even upon the
field of naturally executive functions/

An important method of control during this
period was the supervision of colonial legislation.
In the royal governments the right of the crown
to disallow provincial laws had been recognized
from the outset; but fifty years elapsed after the
revocation of the Virginia charter before another
royal province was fully organized on the continent.
In the mean time a large number of charters had
been issued to proprietary and self-governing colonies
without any provision for a royal veto; but in 1681
the Pennsylvania charter showed the development
of an imperialistic conception by requiring even
that proprietary province to submit its legislation
for royal approval. During the reign of James II.,)
imperial control of legislation was carried to a vio-(
lent extreme by the aboHtion of assemblies in the 1
new royal provinces, and it was not until after the (
revolution that the royal veto became a normal
factor in the colonial system. By 1692 the right
of disallowance existed in the five royal provinces
of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York,
Maryland, and Virginia, and in the proprietary

* Chalmers, Revolt, I., 273; A^. C. Col. Records, I., 642.

50 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1692

province of Pennsylvania. In 1702 New Jersey
became a royal government and was subjected to
the same restriction. Attempts were made to apply
the principle in other colonies also : Rhode Island
laws were sent over for examination; in 1705 a
Connecticut law banishing Quakers was disallowed;
and in 1706 a royal order in council annulled two
South Carolina statutes. The legality of the royal
orders in these cases was doubtful, and the right
to veto Connecticut laws was subsequently dis-
claimed by the law-officers of the crown; but the
earlier action is important as showing the general
trend of colonial policy.^

The rules regarding the exercise of the royal
veto were not the same in all the colonies. Under
the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania charters, the
action of the crown had to be declared within a
limited period. In the royal provinces, generally,
it might be declared at any time. Colonial lawiS
sent over by the governors were examined by the
Board of Trade, which frequently took the advice
of the attorney and solicitor general. Acts dis-
approved by the board were ordinarily repealed by
the Privy Council.^

During the decade immediately following the
English revolution the prerogative of disallowance
was vigorously exercised. In Massachusetts an

»R. /. Records, III., 388; Conn. Col. Records, IV., 546;Chal*
mers, Opinions (ed. of 1858), 339.

' Cf. Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, I., passim.

i7o6] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 51

elective assembly found itself obliged for the first
time to accept the constitutional limitations of a
royal province. Public sentiment in the colony
demanded the retention, so far as possible, of usages
which had developed during the era of self-govern-
ment. On the other hand, the home government
desired to limit closely the concessions granted in
the new charter, and to bring colonial institu-
tions into harmony with imperial policy and Eng-
lish law. This conflict is well illustrated by the
action of the home government on the legislation
of 1692, the first enacted under the new charter,
including a number of what may be called funda-
mental statutes. One was a law continuing in gen-
eral terms the local laws of the colony ; another pro-
vided for the organization of a judicial system ; and
a third took the form of a bill of rights. These and
twelve others were disallowed by the crown in
1695, sometimes for lack of definiteness and some-
times because of supposed encroachment on the
rights of the crown or conflict with the laws of
England. During the next five years the struggle
continued. The general court made some unsuc-
cessful efforts to adjust their measures to the views
of the Board of Trade, but there was no year of
legislation from 1692 to 1699 in which one or more
acts were not ultimately disallowed. In the end,
a practical adjustment seems to have been reached
and disallowance became less frequent.*

* Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, I., passim.

52 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1691

The treatment of New York was somewhat like
that of Massachusetts, but less drastic. The first
assembly passed, in 1691, a general declaration of
constitutional rights and privileges, which was dis-
allowed in 1697 on the recommendation of the
Board of Trade, one reason being that undue privi-
leges were given to the assembly. In the first year
of Queen Anne, six New York acts were disallowed
almost immediately after their passage, and several
others were vetoed during the later years of the
reign. ^

In Pennsylvania the proprietary government was
severely criticised for its failure to transmit laws
for approval, but during the early years of Queen
Anne a large number of acts were received by the
Board of Trade. About fifty of these, covering a
wide range of subjects, were disallowed by order in
council in 1706, though Penn congratulated him-
self that many others had received the royal ap-
proval. In Virginia and Maryland, also, a number
of acts were disallowed.^

The reasons assigned for disallowance vary widely.'
In general, however, the prerogative was used to
keep the legislation of the colony in harmony with
somewhat conservative views of the royal preroga-
tive ; with the English common law ; with the stat-

^ N. Y. Colonial Laws, I., 244, 476; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col.
Hist., IV., 263.

' Pa., Statutes at Large, II., passim; Penn-Logan Correspondence ^
II., no; Cat. of State Pap., Col., 1693-1696, pp. 31, 38; Hening,
Statutes, III., 344, 404, 502.

i7o6] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 53

utes applicable to the colonies; and, lastly, with
British economic interests. To a certain extent
the right of disallowance was evaded, as, for exam-
ple, by the passage of temporary laws, but this
practice was forbidden by royal instructions. In-
deed, one striking result of the experience of the
Board of Trade with objectionable statutes was the
gradual increase, in the governor's instructions, of
articles forbidding his approval of certain kinds of
laws. Some acts could only be passed with a so-
called suspendmg clause postponing enforcement
imtil the law had been approved by the crown.^

The harmony of English and colonial law de-
pended very much in practice on the maintenance
of some system of judicial control. During the
reign of William III. this control was extended
partly by the creation of new courts in America,
acting under royal commissions and including
within their jurisdiction chartered colonies as well
as the royal governments. The piracy courts or-
ganized under the act of 1700 have already been
noted. Soon after the passage of the navigation
act of 1696 courts of admiralty were instituted in
order to secure a stricter enforcement of the laws
of trade than could be expected from the colonial
courts and juries. Admiralty judges were ap-
pointed for various colonies or groups of colonies,

^ Instructions to Hunter (N. Y., 1709), in A^. Y. Docs. Rel. to
Col. Hist., v., 124-143; cf. with instructions to Sloughter (1690),
ibid., III., 685-691.

54 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1664

some of whom were men of strongly imperial views,
notably Robert Quarry, one of the first appointed
in the middle colonies. The new courts were ex-
ceedingly unpopular; their trial of cases without
juries was offensive, and they were also charged
with encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the com-
mon-law courts. Notwithstanding the colonial op-
position, the new policy was maintained.^

The home government also sought to control the
administration of justice by securing to individuals
in the colonies the right of appeal to the Privy
Council. This right was not specifically provided
for in the earlier charters, but it appears in the Duke
of York's patent of 1664 and in Penn's charter of
1 68 1. Like the royal veto, it first assumed impor-
tance in the closing years of the seventeenth century.^
The instructions to the royal governors insisted
upon the allowance of appeals to the Privy Council,
and the proprietary colonies were sharply criticised
for refusing to permit them. The right was as-
serted even in colonies where it was not specifically
secured by charter. During the reign of William
III., the Privy Council, after being informed that
their right of appeal had been denied by a Con-
necticut court, declared that it was "the inherent
right" of the crown **to receive and determine ap-

^ Chalmers, Revolt, I., 273, 284-288; Palfrey, New England,
IV., 163; Penn-Logan Correspondence, L, 35, 66; Smith, South
Carolina, 147-156; ChoXraGrs, Opinions (ed. of 1858), 500-502.

' Cf . Osgood, Am. Cols, in the Seventeenth Century, II., 10,
293.

1699] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 55

peals" from all the colonies in America. In later
years several Rhode Island and Connecticut cases
were heard on appeal by the Privy Council. There
was some difficulty in enforcing this right even in
the royal provinces, and some provincial statutes
were disallowed for failure to secure it fully.*

During this period special provision was made for
the trial of governors guilty of misconduct in office.
In 1699 an act of Parliament was passed, declaring
that colonial governors who had hitherto considered
themselves legally accountable neither in their
provinces nor at home, might be tried in the Court
of King's Bench.^

These measures of administrative control brought
out more sharply the abnormal position of the char-
tered colonies. Their legal exemption from control in
most matters made it difficult for the crown to
exercise even that authority to which it was fairly
entitled. Especially was this true in the self-gov-
erning colonies, where every department of gov-
ernment was controlled by the people themselves.
Governors chosen from year to year served more
zealously the people who elected them than a dis-
tant authority whose control was somewhat fitful.
It was thought also that the irregularities and ex-

^N. Y. Docs. Rel to Col. Hist., III., 688; Penn-Logan Corre-
spondence, I., 25, 379; Hazel tine, Appeals from Colonial Courts
(Am. Hist. Assoc., Report, 1894, pp. 299-350); N. C. Col.
Records, II., 161 et seq.; Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves,
I., 144. '11 William III., chap. xii.

56 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

ceptional privileges of the chartered colonies tended
to demoralize the people of the royal governments.
There was consequently almost constant agitation
on the part of the official party in America and
England for the resumption or regulation of the
charters/

During King William's War special emphasis was
laid upon consolidation for military purposes. The
royal governors of Massachusetts and New York
were authorized to command the militia in Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and the Jerseys, but these com-
missions were vigorously resisted; and the crown
finally accepted a compromise which asserted in sub-
stance simply the right to exact certain quotas of
men when needed for the common defence, author-
izing command of the militia as a whole only in
case of threatened invasion. In 1696 the Board of
Trade recommended the appointment of a captain-
general with the right to command the militia of all
the colonies ; but the war ended without the project
being carried fully into effect, though a step was
taken in that direction by the commission to the Earl
of Bellomont in 1697. Bellomont was made gov-
ernor in each of the three royal provinces of Massa-
chusetts, New Hampshire, and New York, and was
also given the command of the militia in Connecticut
and Rhode Island. This was not, however, a real
consolidation of provinces, for each province retained
its distinct administration, and there were still three

* Letter of Quarry, in Ames, Pa. and the English Govt., 8-14.

i697] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 57

assemblies to be reckoned with. The combination
proved unwieldy and soon fell apart, but the policy-
was not wholly abandoned. During the first third
of the eighteenth century the two royal govern-
ments of New England had the same governor; and
the governors of New York also held commissions
for New Jersey.^

The need of consolidation and union was recog-
nized by many serious students of colonial problems.
William Penn submitted, about 1697, his famous
proposal for a colonial congress consisting of repre-
sentatives from each province; and a little later
Robert Livingston, of New York, proposed the con-
solidation of the colonies into three provinces, and
a meeting of commissioners from each province at
Albany to provide for the common defence. For
projects of this kind, however, the colonists iix
general were not yet ready. ^

During this period royal control of the proprietary
governors was somewhat strengthened. The navi-
gation act of 1696 required that proprietary govern-
ors should be approved by the crown, and after
some delay the rule was enforced. The Board of
Trade also insisted that security should be given
for their observance of the navigation acts. Thus
the proprietary governors became in a measure royal
officers. Such regulations could not, however, be

*Ar. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 29-31, 69-73, 106, 227-
230, 266; R. I. Col. Records, 111., 288-292.
^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 296, 874.

VOL. VI. — 6

58 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

[1 enforced upon the annually elected governors of

' Connecticut and Rhode Island/

The most ardent advocates of imperial control
could be content only with the final overthrow of

\all the chartered governments. In 1691 Governor
Nicholson expressed his hope that "their Majesties
will send their own Governors to all the col-
onies," and royal agents like Randolph and Quar-
ry made similar recommendations. Finally, the
policy was definitely adopted by the Board of
Trade.^

Of all the proprietary colonies, the most vulnerable
were the Jerseys, in which the rights of government
had never any foundation in strict law.^ On the
eve of the revolution the proprietors agreed to sur-
render them to the crown, and the Jerseys were in-
cluded in the "greater New England" of 1688.
After the revolution the proprietors of East and
West Jersey resumed their governments, but they
were weakened, not merely by the hostile criticism
of royal officers, but by dissatisfaction among the
colonists. In 1702 the rights of government were
again surrendered; the transfer was now accepted,
and in the same year Governor Combury, of New

* Rivers, South Carolina, 443; Randolph Papers, 284; Penn^
Logan Correspondence, I., 25, 270; N. C. Col. Records, I., 476, 557.

2 Cal of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, p. 568; Randolph Papers,
v., 263-273; Ames, Pa. and the English Govt.; Penn-Logan Cor-
respondence, I,, 380.

' Of. Osgood, Am. Cols, in the Seventeenth Century, II., 169-
173.

1702] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 59

York, received his commission as the first royal
governor of the reunited province of New Jer-
sey.^

Elsewhere chartered privileges were more vigor-
ously defended. During the early years of William
III. there was some uncertainty as to the right of
the crown to appoint governors in chartered colo-
nies without a judicial abrogation of the charter.
Chief -Justice Holt gave his opinion, in 1690, that
the king might do so in case of "necessity," and a
royal government was accordingly inaugurated in
Maryland.^ A similar course was taken in 1692
when Governor Fletcher received a royal commis-
sion as governor of Pennsylvania, but Penn was
determined not to submit to action which seemed
to him illegal. He sent his warning to Fletcher,
and encouraged his followers in the province to
keep up a kind of passive resistance. The result was
his restoration, in 1694, to the exercise of his pro-
prietary rights, although the attacks on his govern-
ment continued. Rhode Island and Connecticut
were severely criticised by the royal governors for
tolerating irregularities of various kinds, and it was
proposed during Queen Anne's reign to send royal
governors to each of these colonies, at least during
the war; but though the attorney-general and the

^ N. J. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., I., 26, 369-373, 398-403, 448,
452-461, 489; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., III., 537.

' Chalmers, Opinions (ed. of 1858), 65; A/". F. Docs. Rel. to CoL
Hwt.,111.,856; IV., 33, no.

6o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1701

solicitor-general gave a favorable opinion, the prop-
osition came to nothing/

The same lawyers declared, in 1706, that two
recent acts of the South Carolina assembly, if defi-
nitely approved by the proprietors, constituted a
forfeiture of the charter, which might be annulled
by judicial proceedings. Though the acts were an-
nulled, the attack on the charter was dropped, part-
ly because some of the proprietors were peers of
the realm, whose privileges had to be cautiously
handled.^

After several years of discussion, the Board of
Trade having become convinced that legislation was
necessary, prepared, in 1701, careful reports to the
king and the House of Commons, reciting all the
familiar charges against the chartered governments,
and recommending that all the charters "should
be resumed to the Crown." They added their be-
lief that "this cannot otherwise be well effected
than by the legislative power of this kingdom."
A bill was accordingly introduced into the House
of Lords for the revocation of the colonial charters
and the institution of royal governments in their
place; but the bill, though read twice, was never
passed. Immediately after the accession of Queen
Anne the proposal was renewed by the board, but
without result. In 1706 a bill was introduced in
the House of Commons " for the better Regulation "

»/?. 7. Col. Records, III., 385-388; IV., 12-16.
^N. C. Col. Records, I., 642-644.

i7ic] ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 6i

of the charter governments, and after the Tory
ministry came into power, in 1710, the problem was
again seriously considered, especially by St. John, as
secretary for the southern department/

It is difficult to explain wholly the failure of
these attempts in the face of such vigorous recom-
mendations from the Board of Trade. In some in-
stances, the demands of other public business seem
to have prevented action; apparently even among
English ministers there was some scepticism as to
the desirability of the policy. The colonists them-
selves, through their agents, vigorously resisted the
proposed measures, and were able to bring some
strong influences to bear against them. This was
particularly true of Penn, who for a time also acted
as agent for Rhode Island. In the winter of 1704-
1705, he wrote that by his interest alone he had been
able to prevent " a scheme drawn to new model the
colonies." The high spirit which characterized him
at his best, comes out in another letter urging his
secretary, Logan, to defend the rights of the prov-
ince against encroachments: "I desire you to pluck
up that Enghsh and Christian courage, to not suffer
yourselves to be thus treated and put upon."

Yet Penn himself was so much harassed by op-
position in the province and by his financial troubles

* Ames, Pa. and the English Govt., 21,; Penn-Logan Correspond
ence, I., 78, 87, 3S0; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., V., 255; N. C.
Col. Records, I., 552-554; Kellogg, Am. Colonial Charter (Am
Hist. Assoc, Report^ 1903. L), chap. iv.

62 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1712

that he was prepared to surrender his government
on condition of obtaining satisfactory compensa-
tion for himself and some safeguards for his fellow-
Quakers in the colony. In February, 17 12, the
Board of Trade recommended the acceptance of
such an offer, and a bill for that purpose was intro-
duced in the House of Commons. The bill failed,
however, and Penn's heirs finally determined to
hold the government.*

The net result of twenty years' warfare on the
colonial charters was, therefore, comparatively
slight. The royal province of New Jersey had taken
the place of two proprietary governments, but those
of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Carolinas re-
mained, together with the self-governing colonies of
Connecticut and Rhode Island.
f Notwithstanding the limitations and failures of
the imperialist movement, important results were
accomplished: the legislative control of Parliament
over the colonies was largely extended; provincial
legislation was subjected to serious restraints; a
system of appeals to the crown was organized ; and
new courts were instituted independent of local
control. Thus the great majority of the American
colonists were brought under the control of a pro-
vincial system which thirty years before had been
distinctly exceptional.

* Chalmers, Revolt, I., 380; Penn-Logan Correspondence, I.,
73, 112, 248, 354; /?. /. Col. Records, IV., 64; Shepherd, Propri-
etary Government in Pa., 540-544.

CHAPTER V

CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES IN THE COLONIES
(1689-1713)

AMERICAN colonial life at the close of the
L seventeenth century shows a striking ten-
dency towards uniformity in political thought and
action. In the earlier period two strong influences
had been at work to produce variation rather than
uniformity; the first was the policy of proprietary
or chartered colonization, which gave to each pro-
prietor and each group of self-governing colonists
the opportunity to modify the common English
tradition according to their special needs and ideals ;
the second was the geographical isolation of the
various groups of settlers, which checked their inter-
change of ideas and experiences with each other
and with the mother - country. Great differences
had resulted in institutions and in political issues.
The practical politics of Massachusetts under its
theocratic-republican constitution had little in com-
mon with that of Virginia under the rule of Gov-
ernor Berkeley or that of Maryland under the pro-
prietary system.

Gradually, however, the extension of imperial con-

63

64 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

trol limited the opportunity for political experiment.
The provincial system was established in half of
the colonies and the proprietary governors them-
selves were held to a stricter accountability to the
crown. Only the two small governments of Con-
necticut and Rhode Island remained wholly out-
side of the provincial system, and even they were
troubled with appeals to the crown and acts of
Parliament restraining their trade. The physical
obstacles to colonial intercourse were still serious,
but even these had been lessened. New settle-
ments were gradually filling the intervening spaces,
intercolonial trade was developing, and an inter-
colonial postal system had been begun. The com-
mon dangers of border warfare also forced the
colonies into a rather grudging co-operation, and
brought their leaders into more frequent contact
with one another. Thus there arose a degree of imi-
formity which makes it possible to speak, not mere-
ly of the politics of Massachusetts or Virginia, but
of certain common tendencies which appear in the
political life of the colonies as a whole, or at least
of that large majority of them which had been
brought under the provincial system.

These general principles of colonial politics can-
not be understood without a study of the provincial
constitution, using the term in its broadest sense
to include proprietary as well as royal governments.
The essential feature of this system was a governor
appointed either by the king or by a proprietor,

I7I3] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 65

except in those comparatively rare cases in which
the proprietor governed the province in person. In
any case, the governor represented the principle of
external control, an authority outside of the com-
munity itself. His powers and duties were defined
by his commission and instructions, issued by this
same external authority and revocable at will. By
his side stood the councillors, who, except in Mas-
sachusetts, derived their powers from the king or
proprietor, and thus like him represented the prin-
ciple of external control. Generally speaking, the
home government took the governor's advice in the
appointment and dismissal of councillors, so that he
could depend upon their political support. There
were, however, frequent exceptions, and often, as in
Virginia, the councillors belonged to a kind of local
aristocracy whose point of view differed from that
of the governor.

The only royal province in which councillors
were not appointed by the crown was Massachusetts.
There they were annually chosen by joint ballot of
the representatives and councillors, but the gov-
ernor had the right of veto, which was frequently
exercised during the first twenty years of royal gov-
ernment. Aggressive leaders of the popular party
were thus kept out of the council, and members
once elected were disposed to conciliate the gov-
ernor.

The governor, either independently or with the
coimcil, was intrusted with the ordinary executive

66 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

powers of appointment, military command, finan-
cial control, and, with some limitations, that of
pardon. The governor and councillors also influ-
enced the administration of justice through their
appointment of judges and the direct exercise of
certain judicial functions. These functions were
not the same in all the provinces, but in the ordi-
nary royal governments the governor and council
served as a court of appeal in civil cases. Generally
speaking, then, the executive and judicial powers
were intrusted to representatives of external au-
thority.

In the legislative department alone was the prin-
ciple of popular representation generally recog-
nized by the authorities in England. By the close
of the seventeenth century every province had its
representative assembly, known by different names
in different colonies. In Virginia, it was the house
of burgesses ; in South Carolina, the commons house
of assembly; and in Massachusetts, the house of
representatives. These different names, however,
stood for essentially the same thing, an assem-
bly of representatives, not of the whole people,
but of the owners of property. The policy of the
crown was to restrict representation to freeholders,
as in the EngHsh coimties, but this was not gener-
ally done.^

After a long period of controversy, two rights
had been finally conceded to these representative
* Bishop, Elections in the Colonies, 69 et seq.

TYPES OF
[AL. GOVERNMEXTS
1682-1730

•ter Colonies Electing their
own Governors

.rietary (provernments
il Governments

SCALE OF MILES
100 200 300 400

trora 75 Greenwich

I7I3] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 67

bodies. They had a right, shared with the council,
to initiate legislation; and no taxes could be laid
by any other department of the provincial gov-
ernment without their consent. The legislative
power of the representatives was, however, seriously
limited by at least two checks : in all the provinces
(except Pennsylvania after 1701) measures enacted
by the representatives required the consent of the
council acting as an upper house; in proprietary
provinces acts had to be further approved by the
proprietors or their representatives. In the royal
governments acts without a suspending clause be-
came law on the approval of the governor, though
still subject to disallowance by the crown, a con-
dition which, as already observed, was also required
in Pennsylvania.

The fundamental fact of provincial politics after
the revolution of 1689 is the conflict between the
provincial governor and the representative assem-
bly. The governor represented, first, the monarch-
ical idea of prerogative, and, secondly, the prin-
ciple of imperial control, whether exercised by
king or Parliament. The assembly, on the other
hand, stood not merely for the representative prin-
ciple in government, but also for distinctly local
interests. The policy of the colonial assemblies at
its worst expressed a narrow and particularistic
spirit, disregarding sound considerations of national
or imperial policy ; at its best it stood for the vital
principle of local self-government, and for the pro-

68 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

tection of legitimate American interests as against
a narrow British policy.

The popular party in America was stimulated by
the course of politics in the mother - country. In
1689 the representative principle triumphed over
prerogative,, and the transfer of the crown was fol-
lowed by the enactment of great fundamental stat-
utes like the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settle-
ment, which secured more completely than ever
before the privileges of Parliament and the personal
liberty of the subject. Among other measures at
first rejected by William III., but finally forced
upon him, were the triennial election of parliaments
and the exclusion of office-holders from the House
of Commons. The Commons also asserted more
strictly their control of the national finances at the
expense both of the king and the House of Lords.
Large sums were given for the conduct of the for-
eign war, but the objects of expenditure were de-
fined in detail ; and, as already noted, an unsuccess-
ful effort was made to establish a parliamentary
council of trade. On the whole, the reigns of
William and Anne show a clear though uneven ad-
vance towards the modem system of cabinet gov-
ernment, which practically enables a committee of
the House of Commons to exercise the most im-
portant powers of the crown.

The provincial governments reproduced on a
smaller scale the constitution of the mother-coimtry.
As the governor felt the responsibility of maintain-

I7I3] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 69

ing within the province the prerogative of the
crown, so the assembly found support for its privi-
leges and encoiiragement for its aspirations in the
example of the English House of Commons. The
colonial journals reproduce in surprising detail the
parliamentary conflicts of the mother - country.
Nevertheless, these ambitions of the ^colonial as-
sembHes met with little sympathy from British
statesmen of either school ; the colonial prerogatives
of the crown were identified with the political su-
premacy of England, and therefore had the sup-
port of English Whigs as well as Enghsh Tories.

Another influence favorable to the popular party
in America was the experience of the chartered
colonies: where, as in Massachusetts, a royal govern-
ment was established over colonists who had been
accustomed to almost complete independence, the
freer practice of the earlier days established prece-
dents which the crown could not wholly disregard.
In provinces without exceptional privileges of self-
government, the example of the chartered colonies
exerted a strong and, from the royalist point of
view, a demoralizing influence. In the surviving
proprietary colonies the active hostility of the
home government contributed to weaken the au-
thority of the governors as against the popular
party. This was notably the case in South Caro-
lina, where the colonists appealed successfully to
the crown against obnoxious measures of the pro-
prietors. In 1702 the secretary of Pennsylvania

70 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

wrote that the surrender of the Jerseys, taken to-
gether with other difficulties, had made "this gov-
ernment too precarious to be called one." From
such governments it was comparatively easy for
the assemblies to extort concessions. Nowhere was
the spirit of self-government so strongly intrenched
as in New England and Pennsylvania, and during
the eighteenth century their example was especially
dreaded by the prerogative party. Thus the dis-
tinctly American traditions of the self-governing
colonies combined with the parliamentary usages of
the mother-country to strengthen the representa-
tive element in the provincial constitution.*

Among the most interesting illustrations of the
similarity of English and colonial politics after the
revolution are the statutes or charters proposed in
the principal royal governments. Thus, in 1691,
the Virginia assembly instructed its agent in Eng-
land to secure, if possible, a new charter confirm-
ing that of Charles II. and all previous charters
of liberties and privileges. The burgesses asked,
among other things, specific recognition of the ex-
clusive right of the assembly to levy taxes, and of
the "ancient method" of allowing appeals from the
general judicial court to the general assembly. In
the same year the New York assembly passed an act
stating '* the Rights and Priviledges of their Majes-
ties Subjects inhabiting within their Province of New
York." This act set forth certain privileges of the
* Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 121.

1696] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 71

representative assembly and certain securities for
personal and property rights/ A year later, the first
provincial assembly of Massachusetts passed an act
" setting forth general privileges ;" and in 1694 a sup-
plementary act with special reference to the consti-
tutional privileges of the house of representatives.
Under these acts the people of the province were
declared exempt from all taxes except those levied
by the general court, and the house of represent-
atives was declared to have "an imdoubted right
to all the liberties and priviledges of an English
assembly." The Maryland assembly took a some-
what similar course by inserting in the church act
of 1696 a clause asserting that the people of the
province ** shall enjoy all their Rights and Liberties
according to the Laws and Statutes of the King-
dom of England" on all points on which there was
no provision in provincial statutes. Besides these
general declarations, a ntmiber of acts were passed
in the colonies affirming particular rights of the
subject. Thus Massachusetts and South Carolina
specifically asserted the privileges of the writ of
habeas corpus.^

The attitude of the home government towards
these colonial imitations of the English Bill of
Rights is remarkable. All of the acts which have

^ Cal of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 453, 454; N. Y
Colonial Laws, I., 244.

^Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, I., 40, 95-99, 170;
Mereness, Maryland, 438; McCrady, South Carolina under Pro-
prietary Government , 247.

72 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

been mentioned were disallowed. In one instance,
there was a minor and somewhat technical defect;
in another, the act was declared unnecessary; and
in another, the objections were not clearly stated.
Two disallowances were particularly noteworthy:
the New York act of 1691 was similar to that of
1683, which had been disallowed by James 11. , and
the reasons given in the two cases were much alike.
The later act was condemned by the Board of
Trade, because it gave to the representatives ''too
great and unreasonable privileges"; because the
exemption from the quartering of soldiers contained
"several large and doubtful expressions." The
Massachusetts act for the prevention of illegal im-
prisonment was set aside on the ground that the
privileges of the habeas corpus act of Charles II.
had not as yet been granted in any of his majesty's
plantations.

The colonial assemblies resembled the English
House of Commons in desiring greater freedom
from executive control and influence, and hence
measures resembling the acts for triennial parlia-
ments and the exclusion of office-holders from the
Commons were more or less successfully advocated
in the colonies. In Massachusetts the charter of
1 69 1 permitted annual elections; Penn granted the
same privilege to his colonists in his "charter" of
1701 ; and in both the Carolinas acts were passed
for holding biennial elections ; the Virginia assembly
asked that assemblies might be held at least once

1713] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 73

in two years; and in New Jersey, which under the
proprietors had been accustomed to frequent elec-
tions, the king was urged, though without success,
to provide for triennial assemblies. So far as such
acts were passed, they limited the power which the
provincial governors generally possessed of simimon-
ing, proroguing, and dissolving assemblies.

Another parliamentary privilege jealously guard-
ed by the colonists w^as that of judging elections;
the Virginia burgesses declared, in 1692, that the
house was the sole judge of the capacity or inca-
pacity of its members; sheriffs who attempted to
determine such questions were declared guilty of a
breach of privilege, and two of them were ordered
imder arrest.^

The assemblies were not, however, content with
securing their freedom in the exercise of legislative
privileges. They desired also to strengthen their
control over the provincial executive, and their chief
instrument for this purpose was the power to grant
or withhold taxes. Of all the royal provinces, the
most aggressive in this respect was Massachusetts,
where the colonists under the old charter had been
accustomed to almost entire independence. Even
the new charter allowed them privileges unusual in
a royal province, including the right to appoint
many administrative officers. There was, more-

* Poore, Charters and Constitutions, II., 1536; Cooper, Statutes
ofS.C, II., 79; N. C. Col. Records, II., 213; Cal. of State Pap.,
Col.t 1689-1692, pp. 454, 617; Chalmers, Revolt, I., 294, n.

VOL. VI — 7

74 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

over, in the province a strong radical party under
the leadership of Elisha Cooke, one of the most
aggressive members of the radical party which had
been unwilling to accept the compromise charter
of 1 69 1. Cooke was repeatedly elected to the coun-
cil, though several times excluded by the vetoes of
Governor Phips and Governor Dudley. It appears
to have been his policy to secure for the colony the
largest measure of independence possible imder the
new charter.^

The programme of the popular party in Massa-
chusetts is partially set forth in an act passed by
the general court in 1694, but soon after disal-
lowed by the crown, claiming for the assembly the
right to appoint all civil officers not particularly
designated in the charter, besides a complete control
of public expenditures. All official salaries were
to be fixed by the assembly ; whenever revenue was
to be raised, the house should be apprised of the
purpose for which it was to be used ; and no money
was to be expended except for the objects speci-
fied by law. Except in the case of contingent
charges, every warrant must indicate the specific
service for which the money was used and the law
by which it had been authorized. The disallowance
of the act did not prevent the assembly from car-
rying out substantially the policy here indicated;
for in the fa.ce of constant protests from royal gov-
ernors and the home government, the assembly

* Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 7o» ^25, 137.

17 13] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 75

steadily refused to make permanent provision for
the civil list. The governor's salary was voted
from year to year, expenditures were controlled by
detailed appropriations, and the province treasurer
was appointed by act of assembly/

This radical programme was not fully carried out
in the other provinces, but nearly every feature of
it may be found in one or more of the royal or pro-
prietary governments. In Virginia, where the as-
sembly had granted a standing appropriation before
the revolution, a fixed salary was secured to the
governor; but permanent grants were refused in
nearly all of the other colonies. There was also a
growing tendency to appropriate money in detail
and for limited periods of time, a method particular-
ly objectionable to the home government because
it enabled the assembly to exert pressure upon the
governor for the purpose of carrying distinctively
popular measures.

The claim of the assembly to control the finances
came more and more to mean control by the repre-
sentative house. Even before the English revo-
lution, the Virginia burgesses refused to allow the
council to act with them in laying the levy; and
elsewhere the council was denied the right to
amend money bills. This claim of the represent-
ative was resisted by the home government and
was not always made good, though it was in

* Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, I., 170, 174, 188, 394,
437; VII., 24, 376, passim.

76 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

accordance with the usage of the House of Com-
mons/

In one respect the constitutional development of
the colonies outstripped that of the mother-country.
In England the formal appointment of ministers of
state has remained to the present time in the hands
of the crown, and, until the accession of the Han-
overians, Parliament had only an imperfect control.
On the other hand, the appointment of administra-
tive officers by the provincial assemblies became
common soon after the English revolution, as a
natural result of their theory of financial control.
The money raised by public taxation belonged to
the people, and their representatives had, therefore,
the right to determine how it should be spent, and
to provide the necessary safeguards for such ex-
penditure.

The most important application of this theory
was the appointment of the province treasurer by
the assembly. In 1691 the governor of Barbadoes
complained that the treasurer was appointed by act
of assembly, and that the lower house claimed the
nomination as "absolutely its own." In 1693 the
Virginia council refused to accept a bill from the
burgesses for appointing a treasurer; but after
1704 the treasurer of that province was regularly
appointed by act of assembly. In New York the
same poHcy was adopted during the early years of

^ Cf. Osgood, Am. Cols, in the Seventeenth Century, chap, xiv.;
Greene, Provincial Governor, 121-124, 169-174.

1715] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 77

the eighteenth century, after the passage of reso-
lutions referring to previous misappHcation of funds ;
and in 171 5 the governor was convinced that re-
sistance to that method of appointment was no
longer practicable. Similar appointments by the
assembly were made in the proprietary govern-
ments of Pennsylvania, the Jerseys, and South
Carolina, and for a time at least in the temporary
royal province of Maryland. In South Carolina
the public receiver or treasurer had been appointed
by act of assembly at least as early as 1691, and in
1707 the governor approved an act which gave the
exclusive right of nomination to the ''House of
Compions." ^ Thus, by the close of Queen Anne's
reign, the colonial assemblies were, with few ex-
ceptions, enforcing their claim not merely to lay
taxes and determine expenditures, but also to ap-
point the chief financial officer of the province.

Royal officers in the colonies and the Board of
Trade in England often pointed out the marked
tendency towards autonomy in provincial adminis-
tration and sought to check it. In 1703 the board
attempted to make a stand upon the salary ques-
tion, and Governor Dudley urged repeatedly upon
the Massachusetts assembly the establishment of a
fixed salary; but the house answered his arguments

^ Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 371, 373, 405, 1693-
1696, p. 66; Greene, Provincial Governor, 182-186; Chalmers,
Opinions, 179; Smith, South Carolina, 15-17; cf. Osgood, Am.
Cols, in the Seventeenth Century, II., 372-374.

78 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

by insisting on "the native right and privilege" of
English subjects, "from time to time to raise and
dispose such sum and sums of money as the pres-
ent exigency of affairs calls for." Hunter, in New
York, was equally aggressive, but the best he could
do was to secure a civil list for a fixed term of
years. In 1711 the Board of Trade suggested that
the New-Yorkers might be brought to terms by
threatening the intervention of Parliament ; but the
ministry, as a whole, was not then ready for such
thorough-going measures.*

While engaged in these constitutional contro-
versies, the colonists came to appreciate the neces-
sity of having their interests guarded by agents in
the mother-country. Until the latter part of the
seventeenth century such agents, though occasion-
ally appointed, were intended to meet special emer-
gencies of some kind. After the revolution it
gradually became the general custom to maintain
standing agencies in London, in charge of the in-
terests of the particular province. At first these
agents were usually appointed by act of assembly,
requiring the consent of the governor, council, and
representatives ; but sometimes, as in Massachusetts,
the choice was practically that of the house ; they were
also instructed from time to time by the assembly.*

* Address of council and representatives, quoted in Palfrey,
New England, IV., 297, «.; A^. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., V., 191,

* Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 453, 458, 632, 710;
Sewall, Diary, XL, 284; Tanner, " Colonial Agencies," in Political
Science Quarterly, XVI., 24-49.

171 1] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 79

Through these agencies, and by various other
methods, the colonists came to have considerable
influence in London. Money was used to some ex-
tent to promote colonial interests, and there was an
impression in the colonies that men of influence
might be won by the use of it. In 1693, Governor
Fletcher represented some of the colonists as think-
ing that " anything may be Effected at Whitehall for
mony."^ A few years later William Penn, after a
considerable experience in English politics, was try-
ing to secure the attorney-general's approval of the
Pennsylvania laws. He noted some objection which
the latter had made, but added his opinion that " a
good fee would go a great way to clear the scruple,
if I had it to give him."^ The history of this colo-
nial diplomacy in London has not yet been ade-
quately studied; such a study should throw new
light on the failure of the Board of Trade to repress
the independent tendencies in colonial politics.

The preceding survey seems to show that the
practical effect of the imperialistic movement was
counteracted by strong independent tendencies
within the colonies, so that it is hard to avoid the
paradoxical conclusion that a period characterized
by the extension of imperial control was also one
of growing independence on the part of the colonies.
The explanation may be stated briefly thus : whereas,

» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 73; cf. Bassett, Writings of
Colonel William Byrd, chaps, xxiv., xxv.
' Pznn-Logan Correspondence, I., 297.

8o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

during the larger part of the seventeenth centiuy,
the colonists were left almost wholly to themselves
or their proprietary governors, a measure of im-
perial control was, thereafter, gradually extended
over them, and a majority were brought under the
influence of the provincial system. When, how-
ever, that new status was extended over communi-
ties hitherto accustomed to freer action, important
concessions became necessary; and as the colonies
were brought into closer relations with each other,
modifications of that system which had been found
necessary in one colony tended to become general.
The influence of English precedents also contributed
to this result. The provincial constitution was
modelled closely on that of England, without its
strong aristocratic upper house; and the colonial
assemblies shared the aspirations of the Mother of
Parliaments. Thus we have, at the same time, an
extension of the provincial system and a vigorous
development within that system of the self-govern-
ing spirit.

By some contemporary observers the colonists
were charged with cherishing the ideal of ultimate
independence, and much was made of their violation
of acts of Parliament, especially those relating to
trade. Here and there, particularly in New Eng-
land, men were said to dispute the validity of par-
liamentary statutes. Zealous royal officials were
easily led to identify opposition to their own au-
thority with disloyalty to the crown, and that

1713] CONSTITUTIONAL TENDENCIES 81

charge was most frequently and naturally brought
against New England, where the old independent
Puritan ideals clashed most sharply with the pre-
vailing English system in church and state. This
charge of disloyalty to the mother -country was,
however, vigorously repelled by the New-England-
ers, who pointed to their sacrifices in the inter-
colonial wars and emphasized important elements
of common feeling underlying their political and
ecclesiastical differences . *

Yet the charges of British officials had undoubt-
edly a certain basis. The political horizon of the
colonists was hemmed in by the physical barriers
which separated them from their fellow-subjects,
so that they often displayed a lack of that broader
loyalty which leads men to make sacrifices for ob-
jects not directly affecting their own interests or
safety. It is true also that with this lack of in-
terest in matters of more than pure y local concern,
there existed an intense desire to manage their
provincial interests in their own way. This in-
sistence on local autonomy was not peculiar to any
group of colonies. It attracted most attention in
New England ; but it may be found also among the
Quakers of Pennsylvania, the tobacco planters of
Virginia, and the little slave-holding oligarchies of
Barbadoes and South Carolina. Royal governors

* Chalmers, i?^o/^ I., 225, 315-317, 369; Penhallow, Wars of
New England, 72-74; Dummer, Defence of the New England
Charters; see also below, p. 188.

82 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

like Hunter pointed out the inherent inconsistency
between this spirit of autonomy and the authority
of the mother-country as understood by colonial
administrators in England. The danger of inde-
pendence which they sought to avert, though not
immediate, was not altogether imaginary/

»Cf. N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 330, 340.

CHAPTER VI

PURITANS AND ANGLICANS
(1689-1714)

FOR a quarter - century after the revolution of
1689 English and colonial politics were largely
influenced by the conflict of ecclesiastical parties.
In England, and at one time or another in most of
her colonies, church and state were united, and
religion and politics were constantly reacting upon
each other. In the ecclesiastical politics of the
colonies during this period three phases are of
prime historical mportance: first, the gradual re-
laxation of the Puritan system in New England,
particularly in Massachusetts; secondly, the effort
of the aggressive Anglican party to extend over the
colonies the ecclesiastical system of the mother-
country, with its financial support of the established
church and its discrimination against dissenters;
and, finally, the conflict between clergy and laity
within the ranks of the established church.

At the close of the seventeenth century the old
Puritan order was still strongly intrenched in New
England. Except in Rhode Island, the Congrega-
tional churches were generally recognized as en-

83

84 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

titled to public support; churches were built and
ministers paid by taxes which were exacted from
dissenters as well as from adherents or members.
The church-membership qualification for voters had,
indeed, been superseded by property qualifications,
but the Puritan clergy still exerted a strong in-
fluence on the conduct of public affairs. Their ad-
vice was still asked on questions of policy; and the
law, both in its making and in its administration,
still expressed in large measure the opinions and
ideals of the Puritan founders.

These general propositions are well illustrated in
the history of Massachusetts in the years immediate-
ly following the revolution. The most important
agent in securing the new charter and in determin-
ing the personnel of the new government was In-
crease Mather, a Congregational minister in active
service. Phips, the first governor, had been re-
cently received into a Congregational church. The
lieutenant-governor, Stoughton, and most of his
associates in the cotmcil, were thorough-going Puri-
tans, who, after the recall of Phips, were charged
for several years with the administration of the
provincial government. The next governor, Bello-
mont, though himself an Anglican, thought it wise
to attend one service weekly in a Congregational
church. The Church of England had gained a foot-
hold; but, from the Puritan point of view, it was
still a peculiarly odious, dissenting sect.

One of the most marked characteristics of the

1099] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 85

old Puritan life was its strong belief in the presence
and concrete manifestation in human affairs of
supernatural forces. This intense super naturalism
was, of course, not peculiar to the Puritan; it was
equally characteristic of the mediaeval church, and
in seventeenth - century Europe the convention-
al acceptance of supernatural theories was almost
imiversal. Yet among the English Protestants of
that day it was the Puritan sects with whom the
conventional dogma was most likely to become a
vital factor in the conduct of life. It was the per-
sistence of this conviction which, at the beginning
of the provincial era, made possible that great
tragedy of New England histor)-^ the Salem witch-
craft.^

It is not easy to determine the effect which this
tragedy and the part taken in it by the conservative
leaders may have had upon the religious thought
of New England. Yet it is certain that while Mas-
sachusetts was being brought into closer commercial
and political relations with the outside world the
exclusive supremacy of Puritan ideals was being seri-
ously shaken. This can be seen first in lax or lib-
eral movements within the church itself. The condi-
tions of church-membership were relaxed so that the
church could be entered without that thorough
spiritual examination which the fathers had thought
necessary. In Boston the new Brattle Street Church,
organized in 1699, though accepting the substance
* See above, chap. ii.

86 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

of the old theology, adopted certain usages which
the conservatives regarded as highly objectionable.
The Scriptures might be read in the Anglican fashion,
without comment; members might be admitted
without any public statement of their experiences;
and persons who were not full members of the
church might be allowed to vote in the choice of a
new minister. There was a long controversy be-
tween the leaders of this new movement and the
conservatives represented by Increase and Cotton
Mather.

Both parties were anxious to control the govern-
ment of Harvard College, and Cotton Mather, find-
ing that the liberals had gained the upper hand,
began to interest himself in the new Connecticut
college. Such men as Sewall and the Mathers fre-
quently expressed misgivings regarding religious
and social tendencies at variance with the old
Puritan standards. In his Magnalia Christi, Cotton
Mather recorded his opinion that, "The old spirit
of New England hath been sensibly going out of
the world, as the old saints in whom it was have
gone; and instead thereof the spirit of the world,
with a lamentable neglect of strict piety, has crept
in upon the rising generation." '

In those times of declining spiritual vigor the
established churches of New England had to meet
the growing activity of the dissenting bodies. Of

^Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston, II., chap, vi.; Mather,
Magnalia Christi (ed. of 1853), II., 334; cf. below, chap, xviii.

17 14] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 87

these the most important were the Quakers, the
Baptists, and the Anglicans. By the close of the
seventeenth century each of these denominations
was represented by a regularly organized church in
Boston. In Rhode Island the Quakers and Bap-
tists were probably the strongest bodies. Else-
where in New England their numbers were rela-
tively small, and they had to contend with strong
prejudices. During the reign of Queen Anne, both
the Connecticut and Massachusetts governments
were complained of for unfriendly treatment of the
Quakers. When, in 1708, the Quakers of Boston
petitioned for leave to build a wooden meeting-
house, Sewall opposed it, saying that he *' would
not have a hand in setting up their Devil Worship." ^
Sewall and his contemporaries watched with par-
ticular anxiety the growth of the Anglican congre-
gation worshipping at King's Chapel. This church
had gained a foothold in Boston after the over-
throw of the first charter; and after the revolution
it grew pretty steadily, until during the first quarter
of the eighteenth century it came to number several
hundred adherents and a second church became
necessary. Some of the rectors of King's Chapel
were prominent figures in Boston life, and it gained
some prestige from the special patronage of the
crown. Lord Bellomont was a member of this con-
gregation; and his successor, Dudley, though main-
taining some relationship with the Congregation-

* Sewall, Diary, II.. -»'»-

88 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

alists, also frequented the Anglican services, and
for a time at least was thought to be in special
sympathy with them. From time to time there
were funerals of prominent social personages, at
which Puritan sensibilities were disturbed by the
use of the EngHsh burial service. The religious
observance of Christmas was another Anglican
usage against which Sewall repeatedly recorded his
protest. In Rhode Island, especially in Newport,
the Episcopal church gained considerable strength,
and Connecticut had a small but aggressive Epis-
copal element, especially in the western counties.

One of the most dramatic incidents in the long-
drawn-out struggle between Puritans and Anglicans
in New England was the libel case of John Check-
ley, an Anglican bookseller in Boston, who in 1724
was tried by the superior court of Massachusetts,
convicted of seditious libel, and sentenced to pay
a heavy fine for an argumentative publication as-
serting the exclusive Episcopal authority as against
Congregational ordination. This seems to have
been the last attempt to check dissenting publica-
tions by legal process.

The most serious practical grievance of the dis-
senters in New England was the obligation imposed
upon them of paying the town taxes for the sup-
port of the Congregational worship. This was the
general rule outside of Rhode Island at the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century; but some conces-
sions had been made by Massachusetts. In the

1724] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 89

town of Swansea, annexed to Massachusetts in
1 69 1 with other towns of the Plymouth Colony,
the Baptists were in control and continued as be-
fore to appropriate their church taxes to the sup-
port of their own minister: this course was, how-
ever, distinctly exceptional. During Queen Anne's
reign efforts were made by Anglicans to secure
exemption from this obligation to support another
communion, and they seem to have had some en-
couragement from Governor Dudley. In 17 13 one
of the Puritan ministers of Boston spoke "very
fiercely against the Govr. and Council's meddling with
suspension of Laws, respecting Church of England
men not paying Taxes to the dissenting Ministers."
In this particular instance, an Episcopal resident
of Braintree had refused to pay his church tax,
and the matter ended by the levy of an execution
on his property. The Quakers also presented re-
peated complaints of the injustice done them in
New England by "priest's rates." In 1723 the
Privy Council took action upon a case in which
Quaker town officers had been imprisoned because
of their refusal to collect taxes for a Congregational
minister ; the decision of the Massachusetts authori-
ties was reversed, and it was ordered that the tax
should be remitted and the assessors released.^
During this decade a number of events contributed

* Backus, New England, I., chaps, x., xi.; Sewall, Diary, I.,
430, 493; IL. 58. 59. 233, 337, 379, 387; Slafter, John Checkley,
passim, especially the Memoir (Prince Society, Publications).

VOL. VI. — 8

90 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1722

to enhance the prestige of the Anglican party. In
1722, Timothy Cutler, president of Yale College,
and some other prominent Congregational ministers
of Connecticut, annoimced their conversion to the
Church of England, and soon after Cutler became
the rector of one of the Episcopal churches in Bos-
ton. In 1725, when the Massachusetts Congre-
gationalists proposed to hold a synod, they met
with a protest from the Anglican party, which was
sustained by the bishop of London and by the law-
officers of the crown. By the close of the decade
special acts were passed, both in Massachusetts and
Connecticut, partially relieving the Anglicans, Qua-
kers, and Baptists from the necessity of contribut-
ing to the Congregational churches. The obligation
still continued for Anglicans who had no local
church of their own ; but wherever an Episcopal
church had been organized those who attended its
services were entitled to reclaim for their minister
their share of the local church taxes. The separa-
tion of church and state and the equal rights of
all religious bodies did not receive complete recog-
nition imtil long after the War of Independence,
but the old Puritan ideal of a single church impos-
ing its fixed standards upon the community had
been hopelessly broken down.^

Once fairly established, the Anglican clergy and

* Massachusetts Bay, Acts and Resolves, II., 461, 494, 619,
783, 1022; Talcott Papers, I., 53, 65; cf. Cobb, Religious Liberty
in America, 269-271.

1725] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 91

laity became an important factor in New England
politics. In Connecticut and Massachusetts they
formed a small but aggressive loyalist group, who,
as members of the state Church of England, valued
also their political connection with the mother-
country. When hard pressed by the dominant
church of their new home, they looked for encour-
agement and support to the crown and its offi-
cial representatives in America, with whom they
felt it their duty to stand for order in church and
state. In 1724 the Anglicans of Newport united
in a declaration to the king which, though perhaps
too extreme to be wholly representative, 4oes fairly
illustrate the political tendencies of their fellow-
churchmen in New England. They assured the
king that, ''The religious and loyal principles of
obedience and non-resistance are upon all suitable
occasions strongly asserted and inculcated upon
your Majesty's good subjects of this Church." ^

Nowhere except in New England did the estab-
lished Church of England have to struggle for bare
tolerance or equal rights at the hands of a rival
church supported by colonial law. Elsewhere the
Anglicans were more ambitious in their demands;
their ideal was the legal establishment of their
church in the various provinces, and, ultimately,
the close adjustment of this provincial church to
the English diocesan system.

Before 1689 the Church of England was not defi-
» Memorial quoted in Palfrey, New England, IV., 470.

92 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1685

nitely established by law in any of the continental
colonies, except Virginia, though there were some
Anglican churches in Maryland and a strong An-
glican element in South Carolina. In North Caro-
lina and the northern proprietary provinces, the
field was almost exclusively occupied by various
sects of Protestant dissenters. During the next
twenty-five years, however, there was a marked ex-
tension of Anglican influence in all of these colonies.
One of the important leaders in this movement
was Henry Compton, who was bishop of London
for nearly forty years, beginning his official career
under Charles 11. and dying near the close of Queen
Anne's reign. At his accession to office there was
a well-recognized tradition that the colonies were
under the special guardianship of the bishop of
London, and in the royal province of Virginia no
minister could be preferred to any benefice without
his certificate. This responsibility for the colonies
was expressly asserted by Compton soon after his
accession; and in 1685 he secured a modification of
the instructions to the royal governors by which his
episcopal authority was to take effect "as far as
conveniently may be," reserving to the governor the
rights of collation to benefices, issuing of marriage
licenses, and the probate of wills. Henceforth, also,
no school-master coming from England was to keep
a school without the bishop's license.*

* Cross, Anglican Episcopate and the Ant. Cols., chaps, i., ii.;
Anderson, Church of England in the Cols., II., 341.

1693] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 93

During the reign of James II., Compton's inde-
pendent course in English affairs led to his sus-
pension; but after the revolution he resumed his
office and at once became a member of the Com-
mittee of Trade and Plantations. In the same
year he inaugurated an important new policy by
appointing James Blair as his representative or
commissary in Virginia. The commissary had a
small part of the episcopal authority; he was to
act as counsellor for the clergy of the province and
to hold visitations or inquiries into the conduct of
ministers, and in rare instances he might suspend
a delinquent clergyman. Blair was an aggressive
Scotchman of some ability and learning, who had
already been in Virginia for several years. He took
an active interest in politics as well as in religion,
and quarrelled with the successive governors of the
province. Yet he undoubtedly advanced the in-
terests of the church by working for reform in
the manners of the clergy, though he was conserva-
tive in the exercise of disciplinary authority, mak-
ing only two suspensions in thirty-five years. Under
his influence the supply of ministers was increased
also, so that vacancies became much less common.
Blair's greatest work was the founding, in 1693, of
William and Mary College, which he looked upon
as an important agency for the religious as well as
the intellectual welfare of the province.'

* Motley, Commissary James Blair (Johns Hopkins University
Studies, XIX., No. 10).

94 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

A more important figure than Blair in the annals
of the colonial church was Thomas Bray, appointed
by Compton as commissary for Maryland on the
request of the provincial clergy. Before assuming
the duties of this office Bray interested himself in
the establishment of parochial libraries for the
colonies, and though he made only a short visit to
Maryland he had an important influence in secur-
ing the legal establishment of the Church of Eng-
land in that province.^

During the eighteenth century commissaries were
sent to several of the colonies, but none of them
deserve to rank with these first two holders of that
office. They frequently became involved in serious
conflicts with the civil authorities, and were rarely
able to maintain an effective discipline over the
clergy.

Probably the most important and best -known
single agency for promoting the interests of the
Anglican church in America was the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
This organization came into existence largely
through the efforts of Dr. Bray, who had previously
been interested in a similar organization known as
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, often
called the Venerable Society, was chartered in 1701,
with the patronage and active co-operation of the
bishop of London and other prominent prelates.
* Mereness, Maryland, 438.

1704] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 95

The new organization entered at once upon active
missionary work in America. During the years
1702-1704 two of its agents, George Keith, a
former Quaker, and John Talbot, made a long tour
of the colonies, beginning at Boston and going as
far south as North Carolina. The missionaries sent
out by the society varied greatly in character and
efficiency. Some of them were lacking in tact, and
some brought scandal upon the church by gross
personal misconduct, as, for instance, in North Caro-
lina. Others were men of marked ability and fine
Christian spirit.*

Another important influence at work for the
Church of England in the colonies was that of the
provincial governors and other ro^^al officers in the
colonies. The aggressive royal governors of this
period — such men as Nicholson, Fletcher, Bello-
mont, and Spotswood — were also strong church-
men. Nicholson in particular was widely known as
a zealous and disinterested friend of the church, to
which he contributed considerable sums of money.
The same thing was true of such royal agents as
Randolph and Quarry. Conversely, the aggressive
churchmen were usually advocates of closer im-
perial control.

Under these favoring circumstances, there was
naturally a decided increase in the number of

* Anderson, Church of England in the Cols., II., 550-578, III.,
24-76, 220-234; Prot. Episc. Hist. Soc, Collections, I., especially
Keith, Journal.

96 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1692

Anglican churches and adherents in nearly all the
colonies. For the first time there appeared reg-
ularly organized Episcopal churches in New York
and New Jersey. In 1695 the first Episcopal
church was built in Philadelphia, and soon assumed
an important place in the life of the Quaker colony.
In North Carolina there had been no Episcopal
ministers or churches before 1700, but in the next
decade the Anglican party was able for a time to
shape the ecclesiastical policy of the province.^

With increased numbers and a growing sense of
power, there came in several colonies a strong move-
ment for the legal establishment of the English
church. The movement was least successful in the
middle colonies where the dissenting Protestant
sects were in a large majority. In New York,
however, Governor Fletcher secured from the as-
sembly an act under which a few Episcopal churches
were supported by public taxation.^

In the south the new movement towards es-
tablishment was general and in form at least success-
ful. The first to act was Maryland. Here the
proprietary governments had before the revolution
been called upon to provide a tax for the support
of the Anglican clergy. In reply the proprietor
declared that at least three-fourths of the popula-

* Anderson, Church of England in the Cols., II., 434-441;
Weeks, Religious Development in N. C. {Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Studies, X., Nos. 5,6).

' Ecclesiastical Records, New York, 11. , 107 3- 1079; N.Y. Docs.
Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 334.

I702] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 97

tion were Protestant dissenters of various sects and
that a tax on them for the support of another
worship would be unfair. The first assembly under
the royal government took a different view. By
a statute of 1692 the Church of England was es-
tablished and the vestries were authorized to levy
taxes for the support of their ministers. Another act
of 1696, which superseded the earlier legislation,
having been opposed by the Quakers and Catholics,
was disallowed by the crown, ostensibly because it
contained some irrelevant matter. During his short
visit to the province in 1700, Bray secured the
passage of a new establishment act, which, however,
contained an extreme clause requiring the use of the
common prayer in every place of public worship.
This act also was antagonized by the Quakers and
Catholics; in anticipation of another royal veto, a
new bill, without the objectionable clauses, was ac-
cepted by the Maryland assembly and became law
in 1702. Under this law the Anglican church re-
tained its position as an establishment tmtil the
American Revolution.^

The Anglicans of North Carolina had been almost
entirely passive until 1699, when Henderson Walker
took office as deputy governor of the province.
Walker was an aggressive churchman, and under his
leadership the church party, by "a great deal of
care and management," secured control of the
assembly. In 1701 an act was passed establishing
* Mereness, Maryland, 130,436-441.

98 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

the church and authorizing the levy of a poll-tax
for the support of the clergy, and under its pro-
visions three churches were built; but the next
assembly was controlled by the Quakers and their
allies, and shortly afterwards the establishment act
was disallowed by the proprietors. For the next
twelve years there was a constant conflict between
churchmen and dissenters, culminating in the petty
civil war known as the Gary rebellion. The vestry
act of 1 7 1 5 settled the issue nominally in favor of the
establishment; but the results attained were small,
and many years later a governor of the province
complained to the assembly that there were "but
two places where divine service is regtdarly per-
formed."^

In South Carolina the Anglican influence was
stronger than in the northern colony, and as early
as 1698 provision was made by the assembly for
the support of an Episcopal minister in Charleston.
In 1702, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, a former governor of
the Leeward Islands, who on the accession of William
and Mary had proved his loyalty to the Stuarts
by resigning his post, was appointed governor by
the proprietors. Like most high Tories of that day,
whether in England or America, Johnson was also an
extreme churchman, and under his leadership a
church act was passed in 1704 which divided the

* Weeks, Religious Development in N. C, and his Church and
State in N. C. (Johns Hopkins University Studies, X., Nos. 5,6,
andXL.Nos. 5,6).

1715] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 99

province into six parishes, and allowed the minister
of each parish a salary oi £^0 out of the public
treasury. A provision of this act regarding the
discipline of the clergy was objectionable to the
bishop of London, and in 1706 it was annulled by
the crown; but in the same year a new estab-
lishment act was passed without the obnoxious
clause and became the permanent law of the prov-
ince.^

The simple establishment of the Anglican church
was not enough to satisfy its more zealous ad-
herents. In some instances they followed the
example of the English Tories and demanded
legislation still further discriminating against the
dissenters. Even in the revolution settlement of
1689 the English dissenters had only been granted
a bare toleration, and they were still excluded from
public offices, except so far as they chose to qualify
themselves by occasionally receiving the sacrament
according to the Anglican rites. During the reign
of Queen Anne the high - church party was par-
ticularly aggressive, and after some unsuccessful
attempts finally carried, in 171 1, the Occasional
Conformity Act, imposing heavy penalties on dissent-
ers who attempted to evade the legal tests. Three
years later the so-called Schism Act was passed, im-
posing severe penalties upon any one, with a few
clearly defined exceptions, who should keep a school

»McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government,
chaps, xiv., xviii., xix.

lOO PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1699

or engage in teaching without a bishop's license and
an agreement to conform to the Church of England.^

With this intolerant spirit prevailing in the
church at home, it is not strange that similar
measures were attempted in the colonies. In 1707,
Governor Cornbury, of New York, imdertook to
pimish two Presbyterian ministers for preaching
without a license ; but in this case the ministers were
protected by the jury.^ The unsuccessful attempt
of the Maryland assembly to compel the use of the
English prayer-book has already been noted.

The controversy in the Carolinas took on a much
more serious character, and nearly resulted in the
overthrow of the proprietary government. In the
same year, 1704, in which the first general church
act was passed for South Carolina, the high-church
party obtained a law providing that no one should
sit in the assembly without having received the
sacrament according to the Anglican rite. This
measure was conceived in the same spirit as the
religious tests at home, and it was brought forward
in America just at the time when the occasional
conformity bill was being urged in Parliament.
It is at least possible that a similar measure was
enacted in North Carolina, though the evidence is
incomplete. At any rate, the dissenters in both
the Carolinas were now thoroughly aroused, agents
were sent to England, and through the influence of

^ 10 Anne, chaps, v., vi.; 13 Anne, chap. vii.
» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 1186.

1707] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS loi

the House of Lords, where the extreme churchmen
were still in the minority, the law was annulled.*

In the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania the church
party was not in a position to secure an establish-
ment and it remained always in a small minority.
Yet at times this minority was a decidedly aggressive
and important element in provincial politics. At
the beginning of the eighteenth century its leaders
were hostile to the proprietary government, and did
what they could to discredit it by bringing out
sharply two points which caused special embarrass-
ment to the responsible Quaker leaders : one was the
unwilHngness of the Quakers to provide adequate
measures for defence; the other was their refusal
either to take or administer oaths. Harassed by
these attacks, moderate Quakers were even ready
to consider the possible advantage of leaving the
government in the hands of moderate churchmen.
Penn himself held the bishop of London largely
responsible for the agitation on the question of
oaths, and referred to him as "the great blower-up
of these coals." Thus in the middle as well as in
the southern colonies the antagonism of churchmen
and dissenters became an important phase of
provincial politics.^

The adherents of the Anglican church were by no
means free from dissensions within their own ranks.
In church as well as in state the spirit of local

* See above, p. 60.

' Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 278, 282; IL, 276, 420.

I02 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

antagonism asserted itself against external au-
thority, and the Old-World jealousy between laity
and clergy appeared also in the American provinces,
especially in the colonies where the Church of
England was established. Sometimes, on the ques-
tion of financial support for the clergy, indifferent
Anglicans would even join hands with the dissent-
ers. Two of the most practical of these subjects of
controversy were the method of engaging ministers
and the maintenance of discipline over the clergy.

The general rule in an Anglican province like
Virginia was that the parishioners had the right of
selecting or presenting a minister, who should then
be formally inducted into his office. A clergyman
once presented and inducted was established for
life and could not be removed by his parishioners.
This arrangement was unsatisfactory to the people,
who preferred to keep the matter under their con-
trol; and therefore, instead of regularly presenting
a minister, they preferred to enter into yearly
agreements with him regarding his service and his
compensation. By the end of the seventeenth
century this usage had developed into a serious
abuse, at least from the clerical point of view.^

The question of ecclesiastical discipline, especially
in the case of ministers regularly inducted, was
peculiarly difficult in the colonies, because there was
no resident bishop and the disciplinary authority

* Perry, Papers Relating to the Church in Virginia, 127, 132;
cf. Jones, Present State of Virginia, 104.

17 14] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 103

of the commissaries was generally ineffective. This
led to various efforts on the part of the laity to take
the matter into their own hands. Thus, in Virginia,
the governor and council were constituted a court
for the trial of ecclesiastical offences. Generally,
however, proposals of this kind were vigorously and
successfully resisted by the clergy. In Maryland
there were serious complaints of the immorality
of the clergy; and during Queen Anne's reign the
assembly passed a bill establishing a lay court for
the trial of delinquent ministers, who, in case of
conviction, could be removed from office. The bill
was condemned by the clergy as tending to the
"Presbyterian form of ministers and lay elders,"
and the governor withheld his consent. The project
was not, however, abandoned: in 17 14 the governor
refused the request of the vestries to discipline a
delinquent clergyman; a bill to recognize the au-
thority of the bishop's commissaries was then de-
feated, and a few years later another bill was
introduced for the organization of a lay court.
Again, however, the clerical influence prevailed, and
no real settlement of the question was reached until
near the close of the colonial era. Reference has
been made to a similar attempt in South Carolina
at the very height of the high - church movement,
which was defeated by the opposition of the bishop
of London.^

*Hening, Statutes, III., 289; Mereness, Maryland, 441 et seq.;
cf. Cross, Anglican Episcopate and the Am. Cols., 71 et seq.

I04 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1705

By the beginning of the eighteenth century the
opinion was widely held both in England and
America that the true solution for the problem of
the colonial church would be found in the appoint-
ment of resident American bishops. There are a
few earlier references to the subject, but the most
earnest advocates of the plan were the members
and missionaries of the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, including Thomas Bray. In 1705 a
petition from Burlington, New Jersey, signed by
fourteen clergymen asked for the appointment of a
stiffragan bishop, and this proposal was approved by
Bishop Compton. Governor Hunter, of New York,
was interested in the project, and in 1 7 1 2 the Society
went so far as to provide a house for a bishop of
Burlington. At about this time an effort was made
to gauge colonial sentiment on the subject. Bishop
Kennett, for instance, wrote to Colman, a Congre-
gational minister in Massachusetts, expressing the
hope that ''your Churches would not be jealous,'*
" they being out of our Line, and therefore beyond
the Cognizance of any Overseers to be sent from
hence."

At the close of Queen Anne's reign there seemed
some reason to expect that the project might be
carried out. The queen expressed her approval, and
shortly before her death a bill was draughted for the
organization of a colonial episcopate. The new
king, George I., was soon asked by the Venerable
Society to establish four colonial dioceses, two for

1714] PURITANS AND ANGLICANS 105

the islands and two for the continental colonies,
the seats of the latter to be respectively at Burling-
ton, in New Jersey, and Williamsburg, in Virginia.
Nothing came of the proposal, though the general
idea of a colonial episcopate was discussed at in-
tervals during the remainder of the colonial era.
In the later stages of this discussion, on the eve of
the Revolution, there was some anxiety, especially
in New England, lest a colonial bishop might not
content himself with a purely spiritual jurisdiction
over the churches of his own communion. This
ecclesiastical controversy became finally one of the
minor factors in the alienation of the American
colonists from the mother-country.*

Thus the period of William and Anne shows, on
the whole, a marked relaxation of the old Puritan
system in Massachusetts and a general advance on
the part of the Anglicans. Nevertheless, the self-
governing instinct of the colonists showed itself in
the conduct of the church as well as of the state,
and the attempt to organize an effective episcopal
jurisdiction in America failed, partly, perhaps, be-
cause of colonial jealous}^, but more probably be-
cause of the apathy of the home government.

^ Cross, Anglican Episcopate and the Am. Cols., chap, iv.;
N. Y. Docs. Ret. to Col. Hist., V., 310, 316, 473; Anderson,
Church, of England in the Cols., III., 74; Jones, Present State of
Virginia (ed, of 1865), no; cf. Howard, Preliminaries of the
Revolution {Am. Nation, VIIL), chap. xii.

CHAPTER VII

FRENCH AND ENGLISH INTERESTS IN AMERICA

(1689)

THE revolution of 1689 was not merely an im-
portant event in the constitutional history of
the British Isles and of the English colonies; it
also exerted a decisive influence on their inter-
national relations. Under the later Stuarts the
foreign policy of the English government had been
shifting and uncertain. The aggressive measures of
Louis XIV. had awakened anxiety for the balance
of power in Europe, and his harsh treatment of his
Huguenot subjects was resented by the strongly
Protestant spirit of the English nation ; the spirit of
commercial rivalry was also growing. These con-
siderations would naturally have led to an English
alliance with the Hapsburg monarchies of Spain and
Austria on the one side, and the northern Protestant
states on the other, against the expanding and men-
acing power of France ; and such a policy seemed to
be indicated by the Triple Alliance of 1668, when
England combined with Holland and Sweden to
defend the Spanish Netherlands against French
aggression.

106

1689] FRENCH AND ENGLISH 107

The consistent carrying out of this policy was
prevented chiefly by two considerations: the first
was the commercial jealousy between England and
Holland, which still interfered somewhat with their
political co-operation; the second was the peculiar
relation which existed between the last two Stuarts
and the king of France. Charles and James were
both Catholics, and both desired for the old faith —
first, toleration, and after that, if possible, the su-
premacy in England. Politically in accord with
the traditions of their family, they desired also
to secure for themselves, not perhaps absolute
power, but at least greater freedom from parlia-
mentary restraints. Both in their political and in
their ecclesiastical policies they counted upon the
support of Louis XIV.; and the influence of these
sympathies was shown in the secret treaty of Dover
in 1670 and the English co-operation with France
against the Dutch in 1672.

The accession of William and Mary to the Eng-
lish throne brought a decided change of foreign pol-
icy. William III. was the head of the European alli-
ance against Louis XIV. in the new continental war ;
and though the English people were less interested
than their king in the continental question of the
balance of power, Louis XIV. virtually forced
them to join the alliance when he championed the
cause of their exiled king. The substitution of
William and Mary for James II., intended to secure
parliamentary liberties and the Protestant faith,

lo8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1686

was now challenged by a foreign king, who repre-
sented precisely those tendencies in religion and
politics which the nation had rejected. Not only
was Louis XIV. the most striking embodiment of
absolute monarchy, but he was also regarded since
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes as the arch-
enemy of the Protestant cause. He now con-
tributed his money, his fleets, and his soldiers to
bring about the restoration to the English throne of
the Catholic Stuart king. The eight years of war
which followed meant, therefore, a real struggle
for national independence against foreign inter-
ference.

The breach between England and France in the
Old World brought into direct conflict their subjects
in America. During the previous decade the rival
colonies had attempted local wars, from which they
had been held back by the conservative influence
of their respective governments at home. James
II. was sincerely desirous of defending English in-
terests in the New World, but opposed to aggressive
measures which might disturb his friendly relations
with Louis XIV. Nevertheless, Englishmen and
Frenchmen had already come to blows, and each
suspected the other of instigating Indian attacks
upon the frontiers. Thus the American war, though
partly a result of the European conflict, was also
in large measure the natural outgrowth of American
conditions. A brief survey of these conditions is
therefore essential.

1689] FRENCH AND ENGLISH 109

The French and the English came into contact
and competition at a large number of widely scat-
tered points. To the far north the rights of the
British Hudson's Bay Company were disputed by
the French; and in 1686, three years before the
formal declaration of war, a French party captured
three of the British posts. In Newfoundland the
settlements of English fishermen had an offset in
the French post of Placentia. Similar close con-
tacts were to be found in the West Indies: among
the small islands of the Leeward group, Nevis,
Antigua, and Montserrat were British, and St.
Christopher partly French and partly English; in
the Windward group, Barbadoes was British and
Martinique French; and the new British colony of
Jamaica was exposed to the attacks of French
marauders from the neighboring islands. The
French islands were few and small, but they be-
came important centres for privateering and pirati-
cal enterprise.^

For the present-day student of the American
nation, the chief interest of these international
rivalries lies in the contest for supremacy on the
continent of North America, which, in the closing
years of the seventeenth century, took place chiefly
on the frontiers of New England and New York.

^ Parkman, Frontenac (ed. of 1878), 132-134; N. Y. Docs. Rel.
to Col. Hist., IX., 801; Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, p. 108;
for a discussion of this subject from the point of view of French
colonization, see Thwaites, France in America {Ant. Nation,
VII.), chaps, iii., vi.

no PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1673

The boundary between Acadia and New England
had never been accurately defined. The English
establishments in 1688 extended eastward a little
beyond the Kennebec to the frontier fort of Pema-
quid; but a few miles away, at the mouth of the
Penobscot, was the half -savage establishment of the
French Baron de St. Castin. Farther to the north
and east were French trading-posts and settlements
on the St. John's River and the Bay of Fundy.
The competition here was quite as much for Indian
trade as for territory. Each party tried to con-
ciliate the tribes who occupied the upper courses of
the rivers. On the whole, the French were more
successful, chiefly through their political agents the
Jesuit missionaries, although they owed something
also to the blimders of their English rivals.

At the outbreak of the revolution of 1689, these
Abenakis, or ''Eastern Indians," were bitterly hos-
tile to the English, and had already made a number
of raids on the frontier. Such an Indian war was
particularly dangerous to the northern villages of
Maine and New Hampshire, but there were few
places even in the old Massachusetts Bay colony
which could count themselves entirely safe. Since
the Indian raids were thought to be largely in-
stigated by French missionaries, no permanent solu-
tion seemed possible without the expulsion of the
French from Acadia and Canada.*

» Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 45-47; Sewall, Diary,
I., 223-227.

i689] FRENCH AND ENGLISH m

On the New York frontier the situation was
quite different. Though Dutch and EngHsh set-
tlements had spread beyond Albany to Schenec-
tady on the Mohawk, they were still distinctly out-
posts at a long distance from any other consider,
able places. North of Albany the EngHsh were
separated from the French by a great expanse of
wilderness extending to the St. Lawrence. The
chief difficulty here arose from the western am-
bitions of the two nations, and especially theii
competition for the fur trade. From the begin-
ning of French colonization in America the west-
Ward movement had been one of its most marked
characteristics; French missionaries and traders
early made their way by the Ottawa River to the
Great Lakes, and established trading-posts and mis-
sions at the Straits of Mackinac and on the Illinois
River. In 1673 Fort Frontenac was built at the
outlet of Lake Ontario to strengthen the French
interest in the west, especially as against the Iro-
quois.^

Before the English conquest of the Hudson val-
ley, what the French had to fear in this quarter
was not so much European rivalry as the hostility
of the Iroquois, who lived in the Mohawk valhy
and in the region south of the lower lakes. Alienated

* Schuyler, Colonial New York, I., 426-428; N. Y. Docs. Rel.
to Col. Hist., IX., 95-114; cf. Tyler, England in America, chap,
xviii., and Thwaites, France in America, chap. iv. (Am. Nation,
IV. and VII.).

112 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1683

from the French as early as 1609, they soon formed
an alliance with the Dutch, with whom they carried
on an important trade, especially in fire-arms. With
these European weapons the Iroquois soon became
the most formidable of the Indian tribes ; they nearly
exterminated some of their neighbors, and extended
their ravages among the tribes of the upper lakes
and the Mississippi valley, many of whom were the
allies of the French.

The hostile attitude of the Iroquois blocked ef-
fectually French movement south of the lower lakes,
and disturbed trade with the western Indians; vig-
orous efforts were therefore made to conciliate or
overawe these formidable antagonists. Here, as in
Acadia, their most effective political agents were
Jesuit missionaries, by whose efforts some of the
Iroquois were converted to the Catholic faith and
placed in settlements on the St. Lawrence under
French protection. From time to time mihtary ex-
peditions were undertaken to punish and overawe
the hostile members of the league, but they failed
to produce permanent results.^

In November, 1686, the kings of France and
England agreed to the so-called treaty of neutral-
ity for America, and the governors on both sides
were exhorted to refrain from hostile measures.
Commissioners were appointed to adjust the pend-
ing boundary disputes, but no final agreement was
reached. Even James II., with all his desire for
*Parkman, Frontenac, passim.

i688] FRENCH AND ENGLISH 113

friendly relations with France, insisted that the
Five Nations were British subjects and entitled to
his protection.*

Hence the English governors of New York made
active efforts to maintain and strengthen their hold
upon the Iroquois, especially the aggressive Gov-
ernor Thomas Dongan, the Irish Catholic repre-
sentative of the Duke of York from 1683 to 1688.
Some of the Iroquois had been induced to acknowl-
edge themselves as under the protection of the Duke
of York and King Charles, and the Five Nations as
a whole were claimed as British subjects. The Eng-
lish tried also to develop their trade with the western
Indians, and with so much prospect of success that
the French were thoroughly alarmed. An angry
correspondence took place on these subjects between
the rival governors, and in 1687 two trading parties
sent out by Dongan were attacked and captured by
the commandant of the French fort at Mackinac.
In the same year Denonville commanded a Cana-
dian expedition against the Senecas, which was de-
nounced by Dongan as an invasion of British juris-
diction. Some Indian villages were destroyed, but
the chief practical result was to provoke the Iroquois
to measures of savage retaliation.^

Such in brief was the situation in America when

^A^. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., III., 503; IX., 330, 416;
Memoir es des Commissaires {Paris, 1755), II., 81-89.

'Parkman, Frontenac (ed. of 1878), 92; Colden, Five Indian
Nations, pt. i., chap, iii., .V. Y . Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., III.,

347. 363. 436, 520, IX., 318, 336, 357-369. 405-

114 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

in April, 1689, the formal outbreak of war in Europe
closed the unsatisfactory chapter of diplomatic con-
troversy and brought the rival nations to the trial
of arms. In the war of the Grand Alliance, France
stood almost alone against a formidable combina-
tion, including not merely the Protestant states of
England, Holland, and Germany, but also the Haps-
burg monarchies of Spain and Austria. Two of Eng-
land's allies, the Dutch and the Spaniards, had also
possessions in America. There was little practical
co-operation between them in the American war,
but it was worth something to the Carolina settlers
to be relieved from the fear of Spanish invasions.

The great resources of France enabled Louis XIV.
to meet the allies on equal terms; and indeed the
military advantages at the outset were on his side,
for during the first two years of the war the English
government was handicapped by disturbances in
Scotland and Ireland. The first important naval
engagement, the battle of Beachy Head in 1690,
seemed also to indicate the superiority of the French
on the sea, even against a combination of Dutch
and English fleets. It was not until 1692 that the
English naval victory at La Hogue turned the
scales in favor of England, and even then the Eng-
lish preponderance was not decisive. The long-
continued wars also imposed upon the English peo-
ple unaccustomed financial burdens and strained
their resources to the utmost.

The pressure of the European war seriously

i689] FRENCH AND ENGLISH 115

limited England's efficiency in defence of its Ameri-
can interests. British fleets were, indeed, sent to the
West Indies, to co-operate in their protection and
in offensive operations against the French, but they
accomplished little of real importance. A few Brit-
ish regulars were stationed in the West Indies and
in New York, and from time to time money and
military supplies were sent. On the whole, how-
ever, the action of the British government upon
the military situation in America was ineffective
and of subordinate importance. The most impor-
tant enterprise of the war in North America, the
attack on Quebec in 1690, was imdertaken by in-
experienced colonists without assistance from the
home government.

A comparison of the resources of the rival colonies
themselves seems at first sight to show a decisive
advantage on the side of the English. In popula-
tion and in wealth they far exceeded their French
competitors. Even if we include only the colonies
of New England and New York, which were most
directly affected by the war, the English still had
a decided preponderance. The comparatively large
proportion of regular soldiers sent to Canada did
not offset the English advantage in population.

Yet on some points the French showed decided
superiority: they had better trained and more effi-
cient leaders, a more effective because more cen-
tralized political administration, and more capacity
for co-operation with their Indian allies. On the

ii6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

outbreak of the war the French government again
sent out, to replace Denonville in the government
of Canada, the famous Count Front enac, a trained
soldier and a daring commander, yet not reckless of
his military resources. His previous service gave
him a good knowledge of Canadian conditions, and
he was remarkably effective in his dealings with the
Indians. The increased prestige with which he
now assumed office made him somewhat more in-
dependent of local antagonisms and more nearly
master of the situation. No British representative
on the continent could be compared with him for
a moment in the essential qualities of leadership.
He had also some able subordinates, such as his
successor, Calli^res, then governor of Montreal, and
such effective partisan leaders as Villieu and Iber-
ville. To oppose this chieftain and his lieuten-
ants the English had plenty of daring and ener-
getic men, but no able general, and few officers
really trained to lead in the serious enterprises of
war.^

Even if a leader like Frontenac had appeared on
the English side, he would have been seriously ham-
pered by the loose political organization of the
colonies. During the first two years of the war,
New England and New York, which had to bear
the brunt of the French attack, were without defi-
nitely settled governments, and suffered from the
confusion incident to radical changes in govem-
^ Parkman, Frontenac; Lorin, Le Comte de Frontenac.

i693] FRENCH AND ENGLISH 117

merit. In New York the situation was particularly
serious ; at Albany the local civil and military offi-
cers organized themselves in a convention which for
several months maintained its independence of the
Leisler government at New York.*

After the new constitutional arrangements of
1 68 9-1 69 2 were worked out, there was still no effec-
tive concentration of military authority, though
some efforts were made in that direction. Sir Will-
iam Phips received a commission, not only as gov-
ernor of Massachusetts, but as commander-in-chief
of all the New England militia; and Governor
Fletcher, of New York, was given a similar author-
ity in Connecticut and the Jerseys, besides holding
for two years the king's commission as governor
of Pennsylvania. Both governors met with resist-
ance in the colonies and were unable to enforce the
authority thus conferred. At different times during
the war other methods of securing co-operation were
attempted. In 1 690 a convention of the northern col-
onies was held in New York and plans were made for
what proved to be an unsuccessful movement against
Canada. In 1693, Governor Fletcher called a meet-
ing of commissioners from the different colonies to
meet at New York, but it was poorly attended. It
called upon the various colonial governments to
contribute definite sums of money or quotas of
militia. A few contributions were received ; but the
final results were unsatisfactory and Fletcher de-
^Doc. Hist, of N. y., n., 80, 147.

ii8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

clared that the English colonies were as badly divided
as Christian and Turk/

Under these conditions decisive operations were
hardly to be expected on either side. The resources
of Canada, though on the whole efficiently organ-
ized, were insiifficient for large offensive operations,
and the English failed to use effectively their ad-
vantages in population and wealth. A few large
operations were planned on both sides, some of
which were seriously attempted, only to end in
humiliating failure; others were abandoned almost
at the outset as impracticable. The military en-
terprises of this war were, therefore, generally on
a small scale, taking the form of mere raids on the
enemy's frontier, with the help usually of Indian
allies.

^Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, p. 572, 1693-1696, pp.
28, 63; N. Y.Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., III., 855-860; IV., 29-227,
passim; Doc. Hist, of N. Y., II., 239.

CHAPTER VIII

KING WILLIAM'S WAR
(1689-1701)

WAR was formally declared between England
and France in April, 1689, but in some of the
colonies it was not proclaimed until several months
later, and the most important operations of that
year were in the West Indies. There the advantage
was temporarily with the French, and in the simimer
of 1689 they seized the English part of St. Christo-
pher. Urgent appeals were made by the islanders
for an English fleet, but none could be sent out
until the following year. Fortunately, the new
governor of the Leeward Islands, Sir Christopher
Codrington, a man of unusual ability, made an
energetic defence, and no further losses followed.*

On the North American main-land the chief feat-
ure of the year was a series of Indian raids on the
New England frontier, where, during the previous
winter, Andros had sent an expedition against the
Maine Indians. He established a number of fron-
tier posts extending as far north as Pemaquid; but
on the fall of his government these garrisons were

^ Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 21, iii, 118-123.

:2p

I20 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

either recalled altogether or reduced, and the Ind-
ians were encouraged to renew their raids. In
June they attacked and ruined the village of Cocheco,
near Dover, New Hampshire, killing or capturing
a large number of the inhabitants. In August an
Indian party, led by the French Baron de St. Castin,
captured the fort at Pemaquid and massacred the
inhabitants of the adjacent village. These disasters
aroused the government of Massachusetts. A con-
siderable force was raised and sent to the frontier,
Casco (Portland) was relieved from a siege by the
Indians, and an unsuccessful retaliating expedition
was undertaken by the well-known Indian fighter
Benjamin Church.*

The French also suffered seriously from Indian
attacks. The Iroquois, thoroughly exasperated by
Denonville's attacks, made a succession of raids on
the French settlements of the upper St. Lawrence.
At Lachine, m the immediate vicinity of Montreal,
several hundred persons were butchered by the Ind-
ians or carried into captivity. When Frontenac
arrived in the province, two months later, he re-
ported that the colonists were still terrified and de-
jected by the blow. Meanwhile, Calli^res, the gov-
ernor of Montreal, proposed an elaborate plan for
the conquest of New York by a land expedition
from Montreal co-operating with a naval force sent

^ Drake, Border Wars of New England, chaps, ii.-v.; Andros
Tracts, III., 21-38; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 440;
Church, History of the Eastern Expeditions (ed. of 1 867) , 1-3 7 .

i69o] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 121

out from France. This plan, though accepted in sub-
stance by the king and embodied in instructions to
Frontenac, was found impracticable at that time.

Frontenac now undertook to bring the Iroquois
to terms by a vigorous show of force, and to check
the English offensive thi'ough a series of border
raids. In the winter and spring of 1690 three war
parties were sent out against the EngHsh frontier,
each composed of Canadians and Indians and led
by French officers. The first blow fell on Schenec-
tady in February, 1690, and the capture of the post
was followed by a wholesale butchery of the in-
habitants. The sense of horror which this outrage
produced in the neighboring town of Albany was
strongly expressed a few days later by Mayor Peter
Schuyler: *' The Cruelties committed at said Place
no Penn can write nor Tongue expresse : the women
bigg with Childe rip'd up and the Children alive
throwne into the flames, and there heads dash'd in
pieces against the Doors and windows." The two
other parties attacked and destroyed the village of
Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, and the fort and
village at Casco (Portland) on the Maine coast.
From various points on the long, exposed frontier
news of similar disasters were sent to the govern-
ment at Boston.^

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 408-435, 466-473; An-
dros Tracts, 111., 114; Sevrall, Diary, I., 311-321; Cal. of State
Pap., Col., 1689-1692., p. 240; on this war, see also Thwaites,
France in America (Am. Nation, VII.), chaps, ii., vi.

122 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

These losses by land, accompanied by others on
the sea, suffered by New England merchantmen at
the hands of French privateers, soon made evident
the necessity of more aggressive measures. The
first important offensive movement on the English
side was undertaken by the New-Englanders. Dur-
ing the winter and early spring of 1690 they had
been preparing an expedition against Port Royal,
which was a base for French privateering opera-
tions as well as for raids against the English frontier.
For this purpose a fleet of about seven vessels was
collected and an infantry force of about four hun-
dred and fifty men. The command was given to
Sir William Phips, himself a native of the Maine
frontier, a daring and adventurous sea-captain, but
without special fitness for military command. The
fleet sailed from Boston, April 28, entered Port
Royal harbor about ten days later, and the French
commander yielded almost at once. The settlement
was plundered, and the Puritan feeling showed it-
self in some wanton destruction of Catholic church
property. The inhabitants of Port Royal and the
surrounding country were then compelled to take
the oath of allegiance to William and Mary.^

This conquest of Acadia was a comparatively
simple matter, but before Phips 's return to Boston
the colonists had planned the far more serious en-

^ Parkman, Frontenac (ed. of 1878), 236-243; N. Y. Docs. Rel.
to Col. Hist., IX., 474; Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689- 169 2, pp.
240,275.

33HMAY iL-aa:

^mK^/^^ LoDgituJe^West,-, - Sp

from^Ureeuwioii SO

INTKKCOLOXIAL. AVARS
1689-1713

Dates show the year of an attack.
For details for New England section,
see Map No. 7.

^SCALE OF MILES

0 60 100 300 300 400

i69ol KING WILLIAM'S WAR 123

terprise of taking Quebec and completely expelling
the French from Canada. At the congress in New-
York in the spring of 1690 representatives of New
York, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut
arranged for a land force to move northward by way
of Lake Champlain against Montreal. To the pro-
posed movement by sea, the Massachusetts dele-
gates would not pledge their colony; but after the
capture of Port Royal it was determined to carry
out that part of the plan also.

Definite quotas for the land expedition were as-
signed to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth,
Maryland, and to New York, which was held respon-
sible for about half of the total. After considerable
disagreement, Fitz-John Winthrop, of Connecticut,
was appointed by Leisler to command the expedi-
tion. When, however, the time came for the ad-
vance, it was found that the quotas had not been
filled ; the Iroquois allies also failed to perform their
part; and the main expedition was finally aban-
doned, though a small volunteer force, under John
Schuyler, gave some annoyance to Frontenac by
attacking the French settlement of La Prairie, op-
posite Montreal.^

In the mean time preparations had been going
forward at Boston for the expedition against Que-
bec, and Phips's easy success at Port Royal led to
his selection for this larger responsibility. The re-

^Doc. Hist, of N. y., XL, 237-288; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col,
Hist., IV., 193-196.

124 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

sources of the colony were strained to provide the
necessary men and supplies. The fleet was com-
posed of merchantmen and fishing- vessels, and the
officers were generally untrained men. An unsuc-
cessful effort was made to secure the co-operation of
the home government, and finally, after numerous
delays, the fleet left Boston harbor on August 9,
1690. No pilot had been provided for the St.
Lawrence, and there was another long delay in the
river, so that the fleet did not appear before Quebec
until the middle of October. Phips at once sent a
demand for immediate surrender, but the golden
moment had passed.*

Less than a week earlier Frontenac had received,
at Montreal, his first intimation of a possible Eng-
lish attack on Quebec. Acting with a promptness
and decision which appear in marked contrast with
the conduct of the enemy, he hastened to Quebec,
giving orders for the despatch of reinforcements.
The defences of the city were strengthened, and
when the messengers from Phips arrived, Frontenac
treated the summ^ons with studied contempt. In
accordance with their plan for a joint attack, the
English then landed about twelve hundred men a
little below the city, but the expected co-operation
of the fleet was not given ; and in the mean time the
garrison of Quebec was strengthened by the arrival

1 Parkman, Frontenac, chap, xii.; Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass.
Bay, I., App.; Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 240, 385,
415-

1690] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 125

of several hundred men from MontreaL After some
indecisive skirmishing on land and an ineffective
bombardment by the fleet, the landing force re-
turned in confusion to the ships. After some hesi-
tation it was decided to abandon the siege and re-
turn to Boston. The losses in action had been small
on both sides, but the New - Englanders suffered
severely from disease.^

The expedition had involved Massachusetts in
heavy loss, both of men and money, and the chief
officers were severely criticised. Major Walley, the
commander of the land forces, prepared a brief de-
fence, naming the following reasons for the disap-
pointment: **The land army's failing, the enemy's
too timely intelligence, lyeing 3 weeks within 3
days' sail of the place, by reason whereof they
had the opportunity to bring in the whole strength
of their country, the shortness of our ammunition,
our late setting out, our long passidge, and many
sick in the army." ^

Frontenac appealed to his king for more aggres-
sive measures. He suggested the employment of
the royal navy in "punishing the insolence of these
veritable and old parliamentarians of Boston; in
storming them, as well as those of Manath [New
York] in their dens, and conquering these two
towns whereby would be secured the entire coast."

* Parkman, Frontenac, chap. xiii. ; Cal. of State Pap., Col. , 1689-
1692, pp. 377, 385, 415; A^. Y. Docs.Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 4$$-
461. ^Journal, in Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay., I., App.

126 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

For large enterprises of this kind, however, Louis
XIV. was not then prepared/

While preparations were being made in Boston
for the unsuccessful expedition against Quebec, the
British had won a substantial success in the West
Indies. With the help of an English fleet St.
Christopher was retaken, in 1690, and the French
driven altogether from the island. The colonists
hoped for the complete expulsion of the French
from the West Indies, but the later years of the
war were almost wholly lacking in events of de-
cisive importance.^

On the New England frontier the war consisted
mainly of French and Indian raids like those of
1689 and 1690, and some rather ineffective retalia-
tory expeditions by the New-Englanders. In 1691
a new French governor, Villebon, was sent to Acadia ;
he easily recovered Port Royal and established him-
self at Naxouat, on the St. John's River. With the
help of the Jesuits the Abenaki Indians were again
aroused and led against the Maine frontier. York
was destroyed in February, 1692, and a determined
but unsuccessful attack was made upon Wells.
There was also a series of small raids on the towns
of central Massachusetts.^

' N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 461, 494.

' Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 186-195, 278, 291-
294, 303. 712, 1693-1696, pp. 39-43. 79. 86, 92.

^ Ibid., 1689-1692, 560; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX.,
526; Parkman, Frontenac, 347-356; Drake, Border Wars of New
England, chaps, viii., ix.

1696] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 127

In 1692, Phips returned from England with a
commission under the new chartei as governor of
the enlarged province of Massachusetts. For the
kind of military service now required he was better
fitted than for the larger enterprise of 1690. Act-
ing under royal instructions, he rebuilt the fort of
Pemaquid, and in 1693 made a treaty there with
representatives of the Abenaki Indians. Never-
theless, through the efforts of the daring French
officer VilHeu and the Jesuit missionary Thury,
the warlike faction among the Indians regained the
ascendency and the war began again. The Oyster
River settlement, in New Hampshire, was destroyed
in 1694, and a raid on Groton, about thirty miles
from Boston, brought the war still nearer home to
the people of Massachusetts.

In 1696, after a few minor raids on the Maine
and New Hampshire borders, a French expedition
commanded by Le Moyne d' Iberville again de-
stroyed Pemaquid, and the New England fisheries
were seriously depressed by Iberville's destruction
of the English settlements on the eastern shore
of Newfoundland. English attempts at retaliation
were only partially successful: an expedition un-
der Church plundered and burned the French set-
tlement of Beaubassin at the head of the Bay of
Fundy, but a subsequent attack on the French
at Naxouat was repulsed. Massachusetts was so
much discouraged by the situation in Acadia that
the general court asked that the province be re-

128 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1693

lieved from further expense in defence of Port
Royal or the St. John's River. The closing months
of the war were marked by murderous forays on the
interior towns of Massachusetts. In March, 1697,
occurred the Haverhill raid, made famous in colo-
nial annals by the capture of Hannah Dustin
and her subsequent escape by the kilHng of her
captors. In February, 1698, several months after
peace had been proclaimed in London, the Ind-
ians made another raid as far south as Ando-
ver. Taken individually, these French and Indian
forays seem unimportant, but in the aggregate
they constituted a serious check on the expan-
sion of the colonies beyond the older settled
areas. ^

From time to time more ambitious enterprises
were discussed on both sides. Phips was not dis-
couraged by his failure at Quebec, and continued
to urge the conquest of Canada. In the summer of
1693 a fleet under Sir Francis Wheeler arrived at Bos-
ton from the West Indies, under orders to co-operate
with the Massachusetts government in another at-
tack on Quebec, but its effective force had been
much reduced by disease, and Phips argued that
it was now too late to prepare for an attack that
year. The plan was therefore abandoned, and

* Sewall, Diary, I., 391; Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1693-1696,
pp. 149, 157; Drake, Border Wars of New England, chaps., xi.-
xiv.; Parkman, Frontenac, 361-391; Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass.
Bay (ed. of 1795), IL, 88-104; A^. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist.,
IX., 664.

1698] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 129

during the remaining years of the war Quebec was
not seriously threatened.^

On the French side, the idea of a naval attack
on Boston and New York repeatedly appears in
the official correspondence, but without definite ac-
tion, until the last year of the war, when a detailed
plan was worked out for a strong fleet from France,
under the command of the Marquis de Nesmond,
to be joined on the Maine coast by a force of Ind-
ians and fifteen himdred troops from Canada. It
was thought that Boston could be easily captured,
and it was proposed afterwards to destroy the lead-
ing towns to the northward. The fleet actually set
sail from France, but arrived too late to accom-
plish its purpose.^

On the New York frontiers the contest was quite
as much diplomatic as military. The English
wished to keep the Iroquois aggressively on their
side and to enforce their view that these tribes
were dependent on the English crown. On the
other hand, the French were constantly seeking to
detach the Iroquois from the English alliance and
compel them to a separate peace. The western
Indians, especially those of the lake region, also
formed a factor in the problem. Their trade was
essential to the prosperity of Quebec, and the French

* Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1693-1696, pp. 13, 31, 124.

' Charlevoix, History of New France (Shea's trans.), V., 69-
73; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 659-661; Parkman, Fron-
ienac, 382-384.

I30 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

therefore desired not only to protect them against
Iroquois attacks, but also to prevent their reaching
an understanding with the Five Nations which
might result in the diversion of the western trade
to the English.

In this peculiar contest of diplomacy and Indian
warfare, the chief figure on the French side was, of
course, Frontenac. He found on his return to
Canada that the French prestige, even among the
western Indians, had been seriously impaired. Just
before his arrival the danger from the Iroquois had
been emphasized by the fearful massacre of La-
chine, and the western trade was almost cut off.
Frontenac first undertook to secure peace by ne-
gotiations with the Five Nations; and when that
failed, to revive French prestige by striking a series
of severe blows against the English and their Iro-
quois allies. Until the Iroquois could be forced to
terms, the breach between them and the western
Indians was, if possible, to be kept open.^

The chief representatives of the English interest
in New York were the successive governors of the
province, especially Fletcher, and an able Dutch-
man, Peter Schuyler. Fletcher was afterwards
severely censured for misconduct in other matters;^
but in the management of French and Indian affairs
he showed considerable energy, and made, for a
time at least, a favorable impression upon the Iro-

* Lorin, he Comte de Frontenac, pt. ii,, chap, iv., pt. iii., chap. i.
» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., IV., 479-486.

1697] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 131

quois. It is difficult to say what he would have
accomplished with larger resources within his own
province and heartier co-operation from the neigh-
boring colonies. The most important work on the
frontier was done by a little group of Dutch colonists
at Albany, of whom the most conspicuous was Peter
Schuyler, who began his official career under Gov-
ernor Dongan. He became the first mayor of Albany,
and chainnan of the board of commissioners of Ind-
ian affairs. Under the Leisler government he was
out of favor, but in the later years of the war the
value of his services was recognized by making
him a councillor in the provincial government and
its chief agent and adviser on the northern frontier.*

After the fiasco of 1690 the New York govern-
ment undertook no serious military movement,
though the desirability of an attack on Canada was
strongly urged by the Iroquois and was recognized
by Governor Fletcher. The resources of the prov-
ince were considered inadequate to such an under-
taking without the effective co-operation of the
home government and the neighboring colonies, and
such co-operation was not to be had. During the
last six years of the war the burden fell almost
wholly on the Iroquois.^

While the English remained comparatively in-
active, the Five Nations were being gradually weak-
ened by the aggressive measures of Frontenac. In

* Schuyler, Colonial New York, I., 302 et seq.
» A^. y. Docs. Rel. to CoL Hist., IV., 23, 32, 74.

132 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1693

1693 a force of several hundred French and Indians
attacked and destroyed three Mohawk villages. In
the same year an expedition to Mackinac strength-
ened the French influence among the western Ind-
ians and revived their trade with Montreal. These
reverses and the inactivity of the English seriously
weakened the Iroquois alliance. In 1694, confer-
ences were held by some of the Iroquois with the
French, but Frontenac refused to accept any peace
which did not include his Indian allies, and insisted
that the English should not be considered in the
negotiations. The English influence was still strong
enough to prevent a peace on these terms, and the
war continued.^

In 1696 the French prestige in the west was
strengthened by two aggressive measures. One was
the re-establishment of Fort Frontenac, which had
been abandoned by Denonville, but which Frontenac
considered of great importance for the defence of
French interests in the west. The other was a
formidable expedition against the Iroquois, com-
posed of French regiilars, Canadian miHtia, and sev-
eral hundred Indians, with Frontenac himself in
command. The Onondagas, who were the special
object of attack, retired before this superior force,
so that the French had to content themselves with
the destruction of food and of the growing crops.
Though this expedition, standing by itself, was in-

^N. y. Docs., Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 118, IX., 550-555, 577-
584; cf. Parkman, Frontenac, chap. xiv.

i697] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 133

decisive, the long continuance of the war had so
seriously impaired the fighting strength of the Five
Nations that, according to an official report made
in 1698 by order of the English governor, the num-
ber of their men had been reduced by one-half/

The operations of the American war were, on
the whole, indecisive, though the French could coimt
some considerable strokes against the enemy during
the closing months. In the west, French prestige
was notably higher than at the beginning of hos-
tilities. On the seaboard, Pemaquid had been taken
and the fishing interests of New England had been
seriously depressed by Iberville's operations in New-
foimdland. Finally, the French had gained an im-
portant advantage in the Hudson Bay region
through Iberville's capture of Fort Nelson in 1697.'
These military operations were, nevertheless, too
small to affect negotiations for peace, and the
American provisions of the treaty of Ryswick were
only minor incidents in the general European set-
tlement between Louis XIV. and the allies.

In America, as in Europe, the treaty of Ryswick,
in 1697, brought no real settlement of the questions
at issue. It was agreed that the two contending
parties should retain the possessions which they
held at the beginning of the war ; but the botmdary
disputes then existing were not adjusted, although

^N, Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 337, IX., 640-659.
2 Parkman, Frontenac, 391-394; Lorin, Le Comte de Frontenac,
464-467.

134 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1697

commissioners were to be appointed by the two
governments/

Before peace could be definitely established in
America, both sides were obliged to negotiate with
the Indians. On the New England border the war
was closed by a treaty between the government of
Massachusetts and the Abenaki Indians at Casco
Bay in January, 1699.^ The position of the Iro-
quois was quite different from that of the eastern
Indians, for the English assumed that the Five
Nations were dependent upon the English crown,
and hence included in the peace between France and
England. Acting on this assumption, the Earl of
Bellomont, the new governor of New York and
Massachusetts, demanded of Frontenac the sur-
render of all prisoners in his hands, including the
Iroquois as well as the English, promising in return
the release of French prisoners held by the Iroquois.
Frontenac rejected the theory of English sover-
eignty over the Iroquois, and insisted upon separate
negotiations with them. There was an angry cor-
respondence between the two governors, and when
Frontenac died, in 1698, the controversy was still
unsettled. The English used all their efforts to
prevent the Iroquois from conferring with the
French; but they suffered a serious diplomatic de-
feat when, in 1701, imder the auspices of the French

* Treaty in MSmoires des Commissaires (Paris ,1755), II. ,92-1 08.
'Drake, Border Wars of New England, chap, xiv.; Hutchin-
son, Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795) , II., 104.

i7oi] KING WILLIAM'S WAR 135

governor Calli^res, a general peace was concluded
between the French and their Indian allies on the
one side and the Iroquois on the other. ^

* Parkman, Frontenac, 423-426, 438-452; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to
Col. Hist., IV., passim., esp. 564-573, IX., 690-695, 715-725.

CHAPTER IX

QUEEN ANNE'S WAR
(i 700-1 709)

THE treaty of Ryswick failed to bring, either
in Europe or America, a settlement of the es-
sential issues. The problem, of the Spanish suc-
cession, which had troubled the statesmen of Europe
for a generation, remained unsolved. Charles II.,
the reigning king of Spain, was an invalid and
childless, and the succession was contested by the
two leading dynasties of continental Europe; both
the Austrian Hapsburgs and the Bourbons of France
had claims based upon intermarriage with Spanish
princesses. The complete triumph of either would
have produced a political combination more serious
than any in Europe since the days of Charles V.,
but the union of France and Spain seemed partic-
ularly dangerous to those who wished to defend
the balance of power.

The treaty of Ryswick was followed by prolonged
negotiations in which Louis XIV., William III., and
the Hapsburg emperor were the chief participants.
A compromise which gave the Spanish crown to a
minor personage, the electoral prince of Bavaria, and

136

i7oi] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 137

allowed certain concessions of territory to the French
and Austrian claimants, was soon nullified by the
death of the young Bavarian prince. Renewed
negotiations between the English and Dutch gov-
ernments on the one side, and Louis XIV. on the
other, resulted in the second partition treaty of
1700, by which Spain, with the Spanish Nether-
lands and the colonies, was assigned to an Austrian
prince and the important possessions in Italy to
the French Dauphin. Again, however, the work
of diplomacy was undone; for in the same year
Charles II. died, leaving by will all the Spanish
dominions to Philip of Anjou, a yotmger grandson
of Louis XIV. Louis accepted the will, and with
his support Philip established himself on the Spanish
throne.^

This Bourbon succession was at once contested
by the Austrians, but it was at first doubtful whether
they would receive general support. To William
III. the desirability of resistance was clear, but his
English subjects were not yet convinced that their
own interests were at stake. Again, as in 1689,
this conviction was forced on them by the French
king himself. Their anxiety was first aroused by
his occupation of border fortresses in the Spanish
Netherlands, previously secured by Dutch garrisons.
In September, 1701, there came news of French
edicts excluding British manufactures. The French
seemed also to be reaching after a monopoly of the
1 Von Noorden, Spanische Erbfolge-Krieg, I., 97-118.

138 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1701

Spanish- American trade, to the serious detriment
of English interests. Finally, in the same year,
Louis XIV. again challenged the national spirit of
the English people by acknowledging, on the death
of James II., his son, "the Pretender," as James
III., king of England. There was soon a decided
change of feeling in England, and the newly elected
Parliament gave its cordial support to the king's
war policy. Before war was actually declared,
King William died, but the accession of Anne and
the choice of new ministers brought no change in
the foreign policy of the government. Under the
leadership of Marlborough, England became more
than ever the predominant partner in the coalition
against France.^

Aside from the sentiment of national indepen-
dence challenged by Louis' acknowledgment of
the Pretender, the primary interest of England in
the War of the Spanish Succession was to prevent
the close union of France and Spain which seemed
likely if Philip V. were allowed to keep his crown.
This was not merely a question of continental
European politics, but even more largely one of
commercial competition. During the later years of
the Spanish Hapsburgs the English and the Dutch
had, lawfully or unlawfully, secured for themselves
an important part of the Spanish trade, including

*Von Noorden, Spanische Erbfolge-Krieg, I., 11 9-1 21, 125—
139, 172-179; Stanhope, England, lyoi-jyij (ed. of 1870), 11;
Grimblot, Letters of William III. and Louis XIV., II., 477-479.

i7ii] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 139

that of the American colonies. There was reason
to suppose that under a Bourbon prince stricter
regulations would be enforced, that special privi-
lege enjoyed by the English would be withdrawn,
and that the French would use their political power
to exploit the Spanish trade.

This emphasis on commercial interests, and es-
pecially upon colonial trade, appears repeatedly in
the diplomatic representations of the British gov-
ernment, from the foundation of the coalition until
the final settlement. Thus, in the secret treaty be-
tween England, the Netherlands, and the Austrian
emperor in 1701, there were included as indis-
pensable conditions of a settlement with France, not
only the exclusion of the French from the trade of
the Spanish Indies, but also the securing to English
and Dutch merchants of all the commercial privi-
leges enjoyed by them under the late king. The
same treaty reserved to the Dutch and the English
the right to make conquests in the Spanish Indies.
Similar views were expressed in the English treaty
with the Austrian claimant in 1706, and in the
preliminary articles proposed by England in the
peace negotiations of 1709 and 171 1. Thus one of
the leading issues of the war was in part, at least,
American.^

*Von Ncx)rden, Spanische Erbfolge-Krieg, I., 46-51, 162, II.,
224, III., 504; Stanhope, England, i^oi-iyij, p. 490; Boling-
broke, Letters and Correspondence, I., 374-381, notes; of. Mahan,
Sea Power, 203.

140 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1701

In the preceding wars the resources of Spain were,
in a measure at least, at the service of the coahtion.
In 1702, however, its government was in the hands
of the French party and the authority of PhiHp V.
was recognized at once in the American colonies.
For the first time the English in North America
had to face an alliance of the two great Latin powers ;
and for South Carolina and the British West Indies
this was a serious danger.

The great engagements of this war were fought
on the continent of Europe, and the victories of
Marlborough and Prince Eugene were probably the
most important factors in forcing France to terms.
Yet one of the most marked features of the struggle
was the steady decline in the naval power of France
and the steady advance in that of England. Eng-
land gained at the expense of the Dutch as well as
of the French, and by the close of the war had be-
come unquestionably the leading maritime pow-
er. This naval superiority produced, however, no
marked results in the American war. Though the
French navy declined because of official neglect,
English colonial trade suffered severely at the hands
of French privateers, especially from the West India
Islands.^

As the European conflict approached, it was
probably not materially hastened by any crisis in
North America. In fact, there was a strong dis-
position among the French to maintain peace in

* Mahan, Sea Power, 217-231.

1709] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 141

America. A French state paper of 1701 contains
an elaborate project for the conquest of the northern
EngHsh colonies, but ends with the opinion that,
after all, the neutrality of North America would
be preferable to war and would be *' infinitely more
advantageous for Canada . * ' Proposals for neutrality
were afterwards made by Governor Dudley, of
Massachusetts, and accepted in principle, not only
by Governor Vaudreuil at Quebec, but by the
French authorities at home. Upon the precise
terms, however, the two governors could not agree. ^

On the New York frontier the peculiar position
of the Iroquois resulted in a sort of partial neu-
trality which was maintained during the greater
part of the war. Since, after a long and harassing
conflict, the Canadian government had just brought
the Five Nations into peaceable treaty relations,
it was considered very important that these rela-
tions should be maintained. Conferences were held
with the Iroquois and assurances of neutrality were
secured. In view, however, of the close relations
which had long existed between these Indians and
the authorities at Albany, it seemed doubtful
whether, in case of actual war between the French
and the English, the Iroquois could be prevented
from taking sides with the latter. For this reason
the French refrained from attacking New York.
The English and Dutch of New York foimd it al-
most equally their interest to preserve the peace.

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 725-728, 770-776, 779.

142 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1702

Thus for several years New York was protected from
Indian incursions and the Indian trade was freely
continued both with Albany and Montreal.^

The attitude of the French towards New England
was quite different. The Indians of that region
had been under Jesuit influence and closely allied
with the French, but there was some anxiety lest
they might be reconciled with the English and
take sides with them. The Marquis de Vaudreuil,
who in 1703 became governor of New France,
argued that the English and the Abenakis must be
kept "irreconcilable enemies," and he therefore in-
stigated these Indians to attacks on the New Eng-
land frontier, in which the converted Iroquois of
the French mission were also engaged. The gov-
ernment in France expressed some misgivings with
regard to this policy at first, but its opposition does
not seem to have been serious.^

The peculiar neutral attitude of New York, while
the New England settlements were exposed to the
horrors of border warfare, provoked sharp criticism.
The New-Englanders suspected that their own safety
was being sacrificed in order that the men at
Albany might carry on a profitable trade. From
time to time they attempted to secure the help of
the Iroquois in their war with the eastern Indians,

>Ar. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist.,Y., 42, IX., 736-739, 742-
745; Schuyler, Colonial New York, II., 13-26; Parkman, Half'
Century of Conflict, I., 11-14.

' N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 755-760, 804.

I709] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 143

but were always blocked by opposition from New
York. It was not until 1709 that that province
was willing to promise its support and that of the
Indian allies for a general movement against the
French. Sometimes, however, the Schuylers at Al-
bany rendered the New-Englanders substantial ser-
vice by warning them of impending French and Ind-
ian raids. Samuel Penhallow, a contemporary New
England writer, notes the timely warning given on the
eve of the Deerfield massacre by ''Colonel Schuyler
who was always a kind and faithful intelligencer." ^
The history of the American war may be con-
veniently divided into two periods. The first
covers the seven years from 1702 to 1709, and is
characterized for the northern colonies chiefly by
French and Indian raids on the New England
frontier, followed by generally ineffective attempts
at reprisal, especially on the part of the Massa-
chusetts government. There was also a large
amount of commerce - destroying, in which New
England suffered severely from French privateers,
especially those from the West Indies and Port
Royal. On the sea, however, the New-Englanders
were able to give a better account of themselves
than on land, and considerable damage was in-
flicted upon French commerce and fisheries. Mean-
while, South Carolina, in even greater isolation, was

^ Penhallow, Wars of New England (ed. of 1859), 24, 35, 43;
Schuyler, Colonial New York, II., 20, 24; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to
Col. Hist., v., 42.

144 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1702

engaged in a serious conflict with the Spaniards of
Florida, aided not merely by Indian allies, but also
by French forces from the West Indies.

The intervening colonies were less directly in-
volved in the war, but their commerce was exposed
to attack. The English government, at consider-
able expense, provided naval vessels to convoy the
fleets that sailed at intervals from Massachusetts
or Virginia or Barbadoes, besides guard-ships to
patrol the coasts; but these precautions did not
always prevent serious loss. Even Pennsylvania,
where the Quakers were doing their utmost to keep
out of the war, had to feel at times the blows of
the enemy. James Logan, Penn's agent in the
province, writes repeatedly of the annoyance caused
by the "Martinico privateers." In 1708 he ob-
served that after a period of comparative peace,
"these coasts begin to be intolerably infested," and
that within four days "three vessels of this river*'
had been sunk and burned, including one "just off
our own capes." The next year he noted the
plunder of a neighboring town by a French privar
teer/

In the second period, from 1709 to 17 13, the Eng-
lish were more aggressive. Larger enterprises were
undertaken, there was more co-operation among the
colonies, and there were also considerable reinforce-
ments from England. These larger plans, however,

^ Penn-Logan Correspondence, I., 240, 289, 301, II., 123, 275,
348; Chalmers, Revolt, I., 354.

I704] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 145

were seriously impaired by poor leadership and de-
fective organization, and the results accomplished
were relatively small.

Notwithstanding the formal declaration of war,
in 1702, there was no serious outbreak on the New
England border that year. In 1703, Joseph Dudley,
who had recently been appointed governor of Mas-
sachusetts and New Hampshire, and thus exercised
jurisdiction over practically the whole territory ex-
posed to Indian attacks, held a conference with the
Abenaki tribes at Casco, on the Maine frontier. A
treaty of peace was then agreed to by the Indians,
but within two months, under the influence of the
French Jesuits, they reopened the war by a destruc-
tive raid which almost wiped out the Maine settle-
ments. In 1704 occurred the most serious disaster
of the whole war in New England, the massacre at
Deerfield, then the northwestern outpost of settle-
ment in the Connecticut valley. The town was at-
tacked by a force of Indians, accompanied by a few
Frenchmen, under the lead of a well-known partisan
chief, Hertel de Rouville. Men, women, and chil-
dren were butchered, and about a hundred prisoners
carried off to Canada. The most conspicuous of the
prisoners was the Reverend John Williams, pastor
of the church, who left a record of the hardships
experienced by himself and his associates in cap-
tivity. Many of the weaker prisoners died or were
murdered by their captors. Of those who finally
reached Canada, some were ultimately exchanged

146 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1703

and returned to their homes; but others, especially
the children, yielded to the efforts of the Catholic
missionaries or were so much influenced by their
Indian captors that they were unwilling to be re-
claimed.^

Even more characteristic of the border warfare
than this Deerfield expedition were the innumer-
able frontier raids made by comparatively small
bodies of French and Indians, or of Indians alone.
In this, as in the previous war, the ravages of the
enemy were not confined to Maine, New Hamp-
shire, and the remote Connecticut valley towns.
The Indian war-parties penetrated into the eastern
counties of Massachusetts, even to such towns as
Reading and Sudbury, within a few miles of Boston,
and Haverhill, which suffered one of the most de-
structive raids of the whole war. Many of these
expeditions were sent out by Governor Vaudreuil,
and he had the efficient co-operation of the French
missionaries. In 1703 the Jesuit Father Rale re-
ported that the Abenakis would take up the hatchet
whenever he pleased; and Vaudreuil noted com-
placently afterwards that the small parties sent out
had not failed "seriously to inconvenience the Eng-
lish." The French government at home ultimately
gave its approval of this savage warfare; in 1707,
Pontchartrain, the French colonial minister, told
Vaudreuil that he did well "to write to the Mission-

* Penhallow, Wars of New England (ed. of 1859), 16-23;
Drake, Border Wars of New England, chaps, xvi., xviii.

I704] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 147

aries among the Abenakis to have the war continued
against the English." *

Against these terrible onslaughts there seemed
to be no certain means of defence. The line of ex-
posed settlements was too long to be continuously
defended ; the precise point of attack could rarely be
anticipated ; and the communications were slow and
uncertain. It was during the winter of 1 703-1 704,
while Massachusetts and New Hampshire had nearly
nine hundred men in service, that the disaster occurred
at Deerfield. From time to time small retaliatory
expeditions were sent out, and, if successful, they
returned with Indian scalps, for which the provin-
cial government offered liberal bounties. Penhallow
tells of one such party sent up the Connecticut from
Northampton in 1704, consisting of Mr. Caleb
Lyman (subsequently elder of a church in Boston)
and five friendly Indians. After ten days' absence
the party returned, having killed eight Indians and
taken six scalps. It was estimated, however, that
every Indian killed or taken had cost the English at
least ;£iooo. To the direct charges of the war
must be added the wide-spread destruction of prop-
erty on land, and the serious damage done to New
England fisheries and commerce by the French
privateers.'

»iV. Y. Docs. Ret. to Col. Hist., IX. 755-760, 804; Drake,
Border Wars, passim; Penhallow, Wars of New England, passim.

' Penhallow, Wars of New England, 25, 31-33, 48, 57; Drake,
Border Wars, passim, esp. 251.

148 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1705

In 1705, Governor Dudley attempted to solve the
problem by proposing the neutrality of the colonies,
but he refused to accept Vaudreuil's coimter pro-
posal that the New-Englanders should be excluded
from the fisheries on the Acadian coasts. Under
these circumstances the Indian problem could only
be solved by striking at the French, who stood behind
the savages. For measures of this sort, however.
New England was poorly organized: the colonies of
Rhode Island and Connecticut were still imder in-
dependent governments which could not be counted
upon for continuous hearty support; and even in
Massachusetts there were serious divisions. The
governor, Joseph Dudley, though a man of ability,
was regarded with great suspicion by many people
under his jurisdiction. He was charged with com-
plicity in an illegal trade which was being car-
ried on with the enemy, and which undoubtedly
increased unnecessarily their power for offensive
measures against the English. These charges were
doubtless much exaggerated, but so conservative a
man as Samuel Sewall thought the governor not
wholly free from blame. ^

Again, as in the earlier wars. New England suf-
fered seriously from the absence of trained military
leaders and a disciplined soldiery, with the result

» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 770-772, 776, 779; Hutch-
inson, Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed, of 1795), II., 141-148; Drake,
Border Wars, 210-215; Mass. Hist., Soc.^ Collections, 5th series,
VI., 65-131*, esp. III*.

1707] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 149

that expeditions prepared with great enthusiasm
and with considerable financial sacrifices often re-
sulted in humiliating failures. The first retaliatory
expedition on any considerable scale was that of
Church in 1704, the last enterprise of that veteran
fighter of King Philip's War. After unsuccessful
efforts to find forces of French and Indians along
the Maine coast, Church sailed to Acadia, ravaged
the French settlements on the Bay of Fundy, and
took a number of prisoners. The expedition also
entered Port Royal harbor, but the fort was not at-
tacked ; and the failure to produce more positive re-
sults called forth severe criticism both of Church
and of Governor Dudley.^

As the war proceeded, the importance of Acadia
as a base for French operations against New Eng-
land was keenly felt; and in 1707 a new expedition
was organized against it, to which Rhode Island,
New Hampshire, and Massachusetts contributed,
though Connecticut held aloof. Two regiments
commanded by Colonel March were sent by sea
under convoy of a royal man-of-war and an armed
vessel belonging to Massachusetts, and appeared
before Port Royal in June, 1707, with some prospect
of success. The French governor, Subercase, made
a vigorous defence, and March, though an Indian
fighter of good reputation and undoubted courage,

*Penhallow, Wars of New England, 28-30; Hutchinson, Hist,
of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 132-135; Drake, Border Wars,
chap. XX.

150 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1686

proved unequal to his task. He finally lost heart
and after some skirmishing abandoned the siege.
There was great indignation in Boston at this
fiasco, and Dudley sent peremptory orders to the
fleet to return to the siege ; but the attacking force
was now too demoralized, while the French had
materially strengthened their position, so that the
siege was a second time abandoned.^

While New England was waging this compara-
tively ineffective warfare with the French and Ind-
dians, the South-Carolinians had been making a
creditable stand against their enemies. From its
beginning the Carolina settlement had been jeal-
ously watched by its Spanish neighbors at St.
Augustine, who, in 1686 destroyed the Scotch set-
tlement at Port Royal. The colonists were then
eager to organize a retaliatory expedition, but were
held back by the proprietary government. During
the next sixteen years Spain and England were not
only nominally at peace, but for a considerable time
allies against France.^ By 1702, however, this re-
straint upon the rival colonies was removed.

Early in 1702, before the queen's proclamation of
war was known in America, the Spaniards organized
a force, composed mainly of Indian allies with a
few whites, for a land attack upon South Carolina.

* Parkman, Half-Century of Conflict, I., 120-127; Hutchinson,
Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 150-156; Penhallow, Wars
of New England, 50-52.

' McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government,
316-222.

I704] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 151

The English traders, however, were warned by the
friendly Creek Indians, and formed from them a
strong opposing force, so that the invaders were
surprised and routed. The South-Carolinians now
determined to take the offensive, and in the autumn
of 1702 sent a small fleet with several hundred
provincial militia and Indians from Port Royal
against St. Augustine. The town was destroyed
but there was not enough artillery for a successful
siege of the fort, and before the needed supplies
could be secured, Governor Moore, who was in
command of the expedition, was alarmed by the
appearance of two hostile frigates and hastily re-
treated. The South - Carolinians, like the New-
Englanders before Port Royal, had involved them-
selves in heavy expense with no tangible results.

In the following year a new governor, Sir Na-
thaniel Johnson, received his commission from the
proprietors, and adopted in the main a defensive
policy. Nevertheless, Colonel Moore was allowed
to imdertake a raid into the enemy's territory; and
during the winter of 1 703-1 704 he fought a pitched
battle with several hundred Indians under Spanish
leaders. The English were completely victorious,
and after ravaging the country returned with a
large number of prisoners to Charleston.*

Two years now passed without any important
operations, and the interval was used by Governor

* McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government^
377-396; Carroll, Collections, II., 348-353, 574.

152 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1706

Johnson in guarding against possible invasion by-
land or sea. In 1706 a French and Spanish ex-
pedition sailed from Havana under a French com-
mander, Monsieur le Feboure, and, after receiving
reinforcements at St. Augustine, appeared before
Charleston, August 24. There was great anxiety
in the town, which was already suffering a severe
epidemic of yellow fever, but the governor faced
the situation with admirable courage and energy.
Militia were promptly brought in from the sur-
roimding country ; and when, after three days' delay,
the French commander presented his demand for
surrender, he received a defiant response. The
enemy then landed a part of his force, but one
landing party was defeated with considerable loss.
The Carolinians now assumed the offensive and
sent a small fleet against the invaders, whereupon
the French commander hastily abandoned the at-
tack and sailed away. Almost immediately after
his departure another French man-of-war appeared,
and, apparently in ignorance of the defeat of the
fleet, entered Sewee Bay, a few miles northeast of
Charleston. A small landing party sent out by
the French commander was defeated and the ship
itself was captured by the Charleston fleet. In a
little more than a week the Carolinians had re-
pelled a formidable invading force and taken over
two hundred French and Spanish prisoners.^

* McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government^
396-401.

1713] QUEEN ANNE'S WAR 153

This historic defence of Charleston was the last
important event of the war on the southern frontier.
Neither party had been able to hold territory be-
longing to the other, but the English inflicted more
damage than they suffered, and were, on the whole,
entitled to the honors of the conflict.

CHAPTER X

ACADIA AND THE PEACE OF UTRECHT
(1709-1713)

AFTER seven years of indecisive conflict, during
i\ which the colonists had been left largely to
their own resources, the English government began
to direct its attention more seriously to the North
American situation. The desirability of the con-
quest of Canada had been repeatedly urged upon
the home government, and now had an unusually
zealous advocate in the person of Colonel Samuel
Vetch, an adventurous Scotchman, who, after some
service in the British army, came first to New York,
where he married into the Livingston family, and
afterwards engaged in trade at Boston. In 1706,
Vetch, with a number of other prominent Boston
merchants, was convicted of trading with the enemy
and fined, though the sentence was annulled by the
crown on technical grounds. This incident does not
appear to have affected his standing in England, and
he had the advantage of considerable local knowledge
of Canadian affairs gained during a recent visit. ^

* Order in council of September 24, 1707, in Hutchinson,
Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 144; Patterson, "Hon.
Samuel Vetch," in Nova Scotia Hist. Soc, Collections, IV., 1-20.

1709] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 155

In March, 1709, a royal circular was issued to the
northern governors announcing an expedition against
the French in accordance with Vetch's proposals.
A fleet was to be sent out from England with five
regiments of British regulars, who were to be re-
inforced by Massachusetts and Rhode Island militia,
and then to proceed by sea against Quebec; Mon-
treal was to be attacked by a land force from Albany,
consisting of militia from New York, Connecticut,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and an auxiliary
force of Indians. Vetch was given general super-
vision of the enterprise, and the colonial govern-
ments were required to furnish supplies and fixed
quotas of militia.^

The plan was received with enthusiasm in New
England, where it seemed to offer a permanent solu-
tion of the perplexing French and Indian problem.
The necessary preparations were therefore pushed
forward with vigor. ^ In the middle colonies the
problem was less simple. For New York the new
enterprise meant a departure from the quasi-neutral
position which had hitherto saved the province from
border warfare. Nevertheless, the expulsion of the
French from Canada was a prize for which it was
worth while to take some risks, so that the New
York assembly contributed liberally in men and
supplies; and, by the help of the Schuylers, some

* iV. y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist.,Y., 70-74; Instructions to
Vetch in Nova Scotia Hist. Soc, Collections, IV., 64-68.
' Parkman, Half -Century of Conflict, I., 131.

156 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1709

of the Iroquois were induced to co-operate. In
New Jersey and Pennsylvania the Quaker influ-
ence proved a serious obstacle. New Jersey finally
made an appropriation of £3000, but Pennsylvania
refused to take any part in the enterprise. Never-
theless, a strong force was collected and a com-
mander chosen in the person of Francis Nicholson,
who as governor or lieutenant-governor in New
York, Virginia, and Maryland, had had an unusually
varied experience. His military capacity was never
severely tested, but he was zealous and energetic*

After all these preparations the colonists were
finally disappointed by the failure of the home
government to do its part. The supposedly more
urgent demands of the European war led to a change
of plan, and the troops formerly intended for Que-
bec were sent to Portugal. It was now proposed
that with the help of English men-of-war then in
American waters an attack should be made on
Port Royal. The naval officers, however, refused
their co-operation, and the year of hard work and
heavy outlay ended with no tangible result.^

Nevertheless, the leaders in America refused to
give up the enterprise. Nicholson and Schuyler
went to England to urge vigorous measures upon
the government, and the latter took with him a

»N. y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 78-81; Penn-Logan Cor-
respondence, II., 351.

2 Pa.Tkma.n, Half-Century of Conflict, I., 137-140; Hutchinson,
Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 160-163.

lyio] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 157

party of Mohawk sachems who attracted much at-
tention.^ The more ambitious expedition to Canada
was allowed to drop for the present, but one sub-
stantial result of these appeals was the Port Royal
expedition of 17 10, of which Nicholson himself
was commander-in-chief, with Vetch as adjutant-
general. Four regiments of militia were furnished
by New England, and the EngUsh government con-
tributed a few men-of-war with a regiment of marines.
The French governor at Port Royal was too weak
to resist so strong a force, and a week after the
arrival of the fleet he was obliged to surrender.
Acadia thereupon became the British province of
Nova Scotia and Port Royal became Annapolis
Royal.2

After the capture of Port Royal, Nicholson re-
turned to England to urge once more the larger
enterprise against Canada. During the summer of
1 7 10 the ministry of Godolphin and Marlborough,
which, though not distinctly partisan, had finally
allied itself closely with the Whigs, was overthrown
and a new Tory ministry came into office, of which
the leading members were Robert Harley, soon
after created Earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John,
who was also soon raised to the peerage as Viscount
Bolingbroke. These men represented the reaction

* Schuyler, Colonial New York, II., 32-39.

2 Nicholson, Journal, in Nova Scotia Hist. See, Collections,
I., 59-104; Penhallow, Wars of New England, 57-62; N. Y.
Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IX., 853.

158 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1710

against the continental war policy of their prede-
cessors, and they soon set themselves to secure peace
with France. On the other hand, the idea of the
conquest of Canada appealed strongly to St. John,
who wrote of the plan, "It is my favorite project,
which I have been driving on ever since I came last
into business, what will be an immense and lasting
advantage to our country, if it succeeds, and what
if it fails, will perhaps be particularly prejudicial to
me." '

A new campaign was therefore planned. Again,
as in 1709, it was proposed to undertake simul-
taneous movements by sea from Boston against
Quebec and by land from Albany against Montreal.
The attack on Quebec was to be made by a British
fleet carrying seven regiments of regular troops,
and an additional force to be raised in New Eng-
land. The land expedition was to consist of a few
regulars, militia from Connecticut and the middle
colonies, and Iroquois Indians, all tinder the com-
mand of General Nicholson.

The desire of the government to keep the ex-
pedition as secret as possible left the colonists only
a scant allowance of time to make their contribu-
tions in men and supplies; but they seem, on the
whole, to have given cordial and effective support.

* Stanhope, England, I'/oi-i'/is, pp. 424-427, 438-441, 469-
473; St. John to Hunter, February 6, 171 1, quoted in Palfrey,
New England, IV., 280; cf. Bolingbroke, Letters and Correspond"
ence, I., 232, 252.

17 1 1] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 159

A conference of governors was held at New London
to discuss the necessary arrangements, and even
Pennsylvania consented to make a contribution in
money. ^ After some discussion the leading Quakers
decided that they might ''give the Queen money,
notwithstanding any use she might put it to, that
being not our part, but hers. " ^ In Boston there was
some friction between the royal officers and the
citizens, but the general court seems to have done
all that could reasonably have been expected. In
New York there was another diplomatic contest be-
tween Peter Schuyler and the able French agent
Joncaire, which resulted in securing the co-operation
of eight hundred Iroquois for the attack on Mon-
treal.^

Once more the colonists were doomed to disap-
pointment, and the responsibility for the failure
must rest mainly with the British naval and mili-
tary commanders. The admiral of the fleet. Sir
Hovenden Walker seems to have been faint-hearted
as well as incompetent. The commander of the
military forces, the notorious "Jack Hill," a brother
of the queen's favorite, Mrs. Masham, had been
rapidly promoted in the face of Marlborough's pro-
tests and had never shown capacity for important
military command.^ The fleet entered the St.

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 257-261.
^ Penn-Logan Correspondence, II., 436.
» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 252.

*Coxe, Marlborough, V., 127; Bolingbroke, Letters andCorre'
spondence, I., 94.

i6o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1711

Lawrence in August, 17 11, but never reached Que-
bec: through a serious blunder, for which Walker
was at least partially responsible, several trans-
ports were wrecked in the river with a loss of sev-
eral hundred soldiers. There still remained a force
decidedly superior to any that Vaudreuil could mus-
ter at Quebec, but neither Walker nor Hill had
any heart for the undertaking, and after taking the
advice of a council of war they determined to re-
treat. The failure of the Quebec movement re-
quired the abandonment of the New York enter-
prise also, greatly to the disgust of its commander.

Few episodes in English colonial history are more
humiliating than the failure of this Quebec ex-
pedition ; and in New England, especially, there was
sharp criticism of the management, "some imput-
ing it to cowardice, but most to treachery." An
attempt was also made to throw the blame upon
the Massachusetts government and people for lack
of proper support, but the charge v/as effectively
answered by Dummer, the Massachusetts agent in
London, in his Letter to a Noble Lord}

Notwithstanding their disappointment, the colo-
nists urged upon the home government a new
attempt upon Canada, but the Tory ministers were
deep in the negotiations for peace, and in 17 12
secured a general suspension of hostilities. After
a long and exhausting war both parties were

* Penhallow, Wars of New England, 70-74; Dummer, Letter
to a Noble Lord.

1713] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 161

ready for concessions, and in 17 13 they agreed to
the peace of Utrecht. The Spanish succession was
settled by a compromise which was reluctantly and
after some delay accepted by the Austrians; the
establishment of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain and
its colonial dependencies was recognized, but the
union of the French and Spanish crowns was care-
fully guarded against. Nevertheless, the tendency
of the two related houses to act together proved
more than once an important factor in the sub-
sequent history both of Europe and America.^

Of great significance for America are the provi-
sions of the peace of Utrecht which mark the ad-
vance of England as a maritime power. Her posi-
tion in the Mediterranean was strengthened by the
acquisition of Port Mahon, in Minorca, and the
fortress of Gibraltar, captured in 1704. Her in-
terest in the Spanish trade was recognized by the
Asiento clause, which gave to English merchants
for thirty years the exclusive privilege of carrying
on the African slave-trade with the Spanish-Ameri-
can colonies. In the West Indies the net result
was comparatively small. St. Christopher became a
wholly English possession, but the French retained
their chief islands, which continued to be important
stations for French privateers.^

* Palfrey, New England, IV., 285; Treaty with France, Art.
vi., in Chalmers, Collections, I., 340-386.

' Treaty with Spain, Arts, x., xi, xii., ibid., II., 40-107; treaty
with France, Art. xii., ibid., I., 340-386.

i62 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1712

The North American settlement brought serious
disappointment to both parties. Louis XIV. was
reluctant to give up Acadia and offered instead
various concessions elsewhere; but he was finally
forced to yield, although an opening was left for
future controversy by the statement that the prov-
ince was ceded "with its ancient limits." With
Acadia, England also established her claim to the
Hudson Bay country and Newfoundland, though
with certain reservations in the interests of the
French fisheries. The old claim that the Iroquois
were subjects of the king of England was now
formally recognized by the French, though their
efforts to bring the confederates under French in-
fluence were by no means finally abandoned.^

For the New-Englanders the conquest of Canada
had seemed one of the desirable and possible results
of the war. Dummer, the Massachusetts agent, in
his Letter to a Noble Lord, insisted that the English
colonies could never be at ease while the French
remained master of Canada. Writing in 1712, after
the failure of Walker's expedition, he urged that
Canada as well as Acadia be retained. Doubtless
a minister of the type of Pitt, supported by a gen-
eral like Wolfe, would have anticipated by half a
century the English conquest of Canada. A serious
defect in the settlement from the English point of
view was the retention of Cape Breton Island by

* Treaty with France, Arts, x.-xv., in Chalmers, Collections,
I', 340-386.

17 13] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 163

the French. The English had proposed a joint
occiipation of the island, refusing to either party the
right to fortify it ; but the French rejected this propo-
sal, and in their hands Louisbourg became a formida-
ble base for hostile operations against New England.*

The cessation of war between France and Eng-
land enabled the New-Englanders to come to terms
with the eastern Indians. In July, 17 13, Governor
Dudley held a conference at Portsmouth with repre-
sentatives of various tribes and a treaty of peace
was agreed to. The Indians acknowledged the
sovereignty of the queen, promised to respect the
rights of the colonists to the territory occupied by
them, and to seek redress for future wrongs by
peaceful methods. In spite of this solemn treaty
another border war broke out a few years later, but
for the time being the return of peace encouraged
the English to extend their settlements.^

The year of the general peace was marked also
by the end of a serious Indian disturbance in North
Carolina, the so-called Tuscarora war, which re-
quired the co-operation of the neighboring colonies
and for a time caused some uneasiness so far north
as New York. The coming of a new Swiss colony
into North Carolina had excited the jealousy of
this strong tribe of Indians, and the murder of the
provincial surveyor, John Lawson, was followed

* Bolingbroke, Letters and Correspondence, II., 286; Dtimmer,
Letter to a Noble Lord; Kingsford, Canada, II., 481.
' Penhallow, Wars of New England, 77-84.

l64 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 12

by a general uprising in September, 171 1, when
some two hundred frontier settlers were massacred.
The governments of Virginia and South Carolina
were asked for assistance, and South Carolina
promptly sent Colonel Barnwell into the neighbor-
ing colony. In midwinter of 1 7 1 2 , Barnwell defeated
the Tuscaroras in a severe engagement near the
Neuse River and compelled them to make peace,
but this treaty was soon broken and the war con-
tinued. In 1 7 13 another South Carolina force,
under the command of Colonel James Moore, son
of the man who had led the expedition against St.
Augustine, captured the Indian fortress with some
eight hundred prisoners. The Tuscaroras were now
so demoralized that most of them abandoned the
province altogether.^

The Five Nations considered themselves bound
by kinship to the Tuscaroras, and there was some
anxiety in New York lest they might combine
forces against the English, especially as the French
were then suggesting to the Iroquois doubts as to
the sincerity of English friendship. This danger
was, however, averted. After their final defeat
the Tuscaroras took refuge with the Five Nations,
becoming the sixth tribe of the confederacy; and
with some hesitation this arrangement was finally
accepted by the English governor of New York.^

^ N. C. Col. Records, I., 810 et seq.; McCrady, South Carolina
under Proprietary Government, 496-503, 525.

'Schuyler, Colonial New York, II., 50-53; N. Y. Docs. Rel.
to Col. Hist., v., 343, 387.

17 13] CONQUEST OF ACADIA 165

For North America as a whole the peace of
Utrecht marks, as no previous treaty with France
had done, a real advance in the prestige of England.
It was true that the French raids had retarded the
spread of English settlements and that much
damage had been done to New England trade and
fisheries. Yet these losses were soon repaired and
the net result of French military and diplomatic
effort was a serious though not a decisive defeat.

CHAPTER XI

IMPERIAL POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
(1714-1742)

THE long wars of William and Anne were suc-
ceeded by a quarter - century of comparative
peace. In spite of Jacobite conspiracies the Act
of Settlement was carried out in 17 14, and the suc-
cession of George I. marked the victory of parlia-
mentary authority over the hereditary rights of the
Stuart line. Essentially foreign in their education,
tastes, and interests, the first two Georges depended
for their administration of English affairs upon the
Whig chiefs by whose support the dynasty had been
established. Under these conditions the system of
party and parliamentary administration was, in
course of time, so strongly founded that it finally
prevailed even against the aggressively personal
policy of George III.

The first years of the Whig domination were
occupied with struggles for headship in the party;
but they soon ended in the supremacy of Sir Robert
Walpole, who became prime-minister in 17 21, and
held the position until 1742. Though he was then

166

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY 167

forced to resign by a combination of Tories with
dissatisfied Whigs, most of the ministers of the
next two decades were men who had been trained
in his schooL Walpole was a strong though coarse-
grained country gentleman and a liberal-minded
statesman. He shared the prevaiHng low stand-
ards of public and private morality, and his political
power was maintained in part by various forms of
parliamentary corruption. His primary policy was
to establish securely under Whig auspices the new
Protestant succession and to develop the commerce
and manufactures of his country. He sought to
accomplish these ends by preserving peace abroad,
by avoiding extreme measures of any kind which
might provoke dangerous antagonism to the exist-
ing government, and by some relaxation of com-
mercial restrictions.

Walpole 's part in the shaping of British colonial
policy has never been thoroughly examined. He
has been credited with liberal views and particular-
ly with having opposed a proposal for taxing the
colonies. During his administration, parliament en-
acted some laws in the interest of colonial trade;
but, on the other hand, one of the harshest legis-
lative measures of the period, the Molasses Act_qf_
1733, which, if enforced, would have seriously in-
jured the trade of the northern colonies, was strong-
ly supported by his followers and seems to have
been distinctly an administration measure. His in-
fluence was apparently, in the main, the negative

i68 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

one of discouraging over - aggressive schemes of
colonial control.^

The system of colonial administration remained
essentially unchanged throughout the Walpole era,
so that the direct charge of colonial interests was,
as before, mainly in the hands of the secretary of
state for the southern department and the Board of
Trade. Until 1724 no one man held the secretary-
ship long enough to exert much influence for good
or ill upon colonial politics. In that year, however,
the southern department was given to the Duke
of Newcastle, who retained it during the remainder
of Walpole 's ministry and for six years longer, .in
all a period of twenty-four years.

Newcastle was conspicuous even among his con-
temporaries for his activity in the lower forms of
politics, particularly for his prostitution of the
patronage to partisan ends. He was also notorious-
ly inefficient. One of his contemporaries said of
him that he did "nothing in the same hurry and
agitation as if he did everything." According to an-
other hon-mot attributed to one of his colleagues,
he was always losing *' half an hour in the morning,
which he is running after the rest of the day with-
out being able to overtake it." He neglected the
colonial correspondence, and his chief interest in
American affairs, as in home politics, seemed to be
the spoils of office. From a politician of this type

* Annual Register, 1765, p. 25; Cobbett, Parliamentary History^
VIII., passim; Coxe, Sir R. Walpole, I., 163.

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY 169

no constructive policy could reasonably be ex-
pected.*

The personnel of the Board of Trade was hardly
of a kind to supply the deficiencies of the secretary.
In 1 7 14 the board was completely changed and a
number of comparatively obscure men appointed.
During the next thirty years about thirty men in
all were appointed and the average tenure was
fairly long ; four members held office for over twenty
years. With one exception, none of the men who
saw any considerable service in the board under
Walpole could be rated as even a respectable poli-
tician of the second class. That exception was
Colonel Martin Bladen, a veteran of the War of the
Spanish Succession, who entered Parliament as a
Whig in 1715, was appointed to the board in 17 17,
and served continuously until his death in 1746.
He was one of the most active and influential mem-
bers of the board, and he also spoke frequently in
the House of Commons, where he steadily sup-
ported Walpole. He came to be regarded as an
expert on commercial and colonial affairs, and as a
member of the Board of Trade was said to have
gone by the name of ** Trade" while his colleagues
were called the "Board." *

According to Horace Walpole, the Board of Trade

* Horace Walpole, Memoirs, I., 162-166, 396; Coxe, Sir R.
Walpole, 1., 192, 327-330; Mahon, England, 1713-1783, II., 154.

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., III., xvi., xvii.; Diet, of
National Biography, art. Bladen.

VOL. VI. — 13

170 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

in his father's time had become almost a "sine-
cure"; but the colonial papers of the twenties and
thirties indicate that the board held frequent meet-
ings and transacted a considerable amount of busi-
ness. In the course of a parliamentary debate,
General Oglethorpe said of its members that they
were *'as exact and diligent in all the matters which
fall under their province as any board in England,'*
and that it was " one of the most useful boards we
have." '

The board maintained a fairly regular correspond-
ence with colonial governors, inquired into colonial
conditions, and made some elaborate reports and
recommendations, notably in 1 7 2 1 and 1732. Though
many of these recommendations were disregarded,
others were accepted, and much of the colonial legis-
lation of the period was in accordance with their
advice. In their efforts to impose their policies
upon the colonial assemblies, they were frequently
defeated; but this was due, partly at least, to a
division of authority which left them almost no
power of final action. Ultimate decisions regard-
ing appointments and other subjects were in the
hands of the Privy Council, acting usually on the
advice of its own "Committee for Plantation Af-
fairs." An energetic secretary of state acting in
full harmony with the members of the board would
probably have moulded the colonial policy of the

* Horace Walpole, Memoirs, I., 396; Cobbett, Parliamentary
History, VIII., 921.

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY j^j

ministry, but these conditions were never realized
during the Newcastle regime. Generally speaking,
the lack of co-operation between the ministry and
the Board of Trade showed itself not in the adop-
tion by the former of a positive programme at vari-
ance with that of the board, but in failure to act
upon its recommendations.^

Other administrative boards continued to take a
considerable part in questions of colonial policy.
Thus the admiralty was interested in fostering the
production of naval stores in America, and one of
its leading members, Sir Charles Wager, was re-
garded as an expert in American affairs. Horace
Walpole the elder, a brother of Sir Robert, and a
diplomatist of some reputation, held the profitable
office of auditor-general of the colonial revenues.
He took part in the parliamentary proceedings of
1731-1733 which ended in the passage of the Mo-
lasses Act, and in 1735 he urged upon his brother a
closer attention to colonial affairs.^

Horace Walpole particularly commended "one
Coram, the honestest, the most disinterested, and
the most knowing person about the plantations I
ever talked with." Coram, after many years resi-
dence in Massachusetts, finally settled in London.
Having a special interest in colonial trade and ship-

»Ar. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., VI., passim; N. C. Col.
Records, III., IV., passim; cf. Egerton, Short Hist, of Col
Policy, 140.

' Coxe, Sir R. Walpole, III., 243; Cobbett, Parliamentary
History, VIII., 992-1002.

172 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

ping, he advocated the bounty on naval stores in
1704; but he also favored the policy of restricting
colonial manufactures. He was one of the Georgia
trustees, and was also interested in the settlement
of Nova Scotia. Doubtless, Coram was only one
among a number of more obscure personages who
contributed each his small share to the shaping of
British official opinion.*

A fair test of a colonial administration is its exer-
cise of the appointing power. Newcastle kept the
patronage largely in his own hands, and numerous
letters among the colonial papers show that their
writers looked to him as the dispenser of desirable
offices. Even before his time the Board of Trade
complained of not being consulted with regard to
appointments. Sinecure positions continued to be
a serious evil in colonial administration; during the
first half of the eighteenth century the important
government of Virginia was generally held by a
non-resident governor, while the actual work of
administration was performed by a lieutenant-gov-
ernor. The commercial conception of public patron-
age may be illustrated by the case of T^ord Delaware,
who, having been appointed governor of New York
in 1737, was asked three years later to resign in
favor of Lieutenant-Governor Clarke, and was prom-
ised one thousand guineas, to be paid when the new
appointment had actually been made. A new gov-

^Dict. of National Biography, art. Coram; N. J. Docs. Rel. to
Col. Hist., v., 308-314.

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY 173

emor was appointed, but Clarke's application was
unsuccessful/

Not all appointments, however, were unfit. There
were bad governors like Cosby in New York, but
he was probably no worse than Lord Combury, his
predecessor, in Queen Anne's reign. The New-
castle regime must, on the other hand, be credited
with such good appointments as those of Morris in
New Jersey and Shirley in Massachusetts. Though
disposed to stand for the royal prerogative, both
these governors were men of public spirit. Nor
was the home government wholly irresponsible in
the making of removals. In Massachusetts, it
showed its sensitiveness to local sentiment on the
death of one governor who had made himself ob-
noxious to the colonists, by appointing as his suc-
cessor the agent who had been sent to act against
him. Probably the home government was not
always reasonably firm in its support of men whose
unpopularity arose largely from their vigorous as-
sertion of imperial authority.

A governor once appointed was supposed to be
controlled by his instructions. During the New-
castle period there was no marked change in the
general instructions issued to the governor on his
appointment, though there were a few additions.
Some governors were criticised for failing to make
regular reports to the secretary of state and the

* Chalmers, Revolt, II., 35; N. C. Col. Records, III., passim,
esp. 80; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist. VI., 163.

174 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 14

Board of Trade; but in other instances a volumi-
nous correspondence was kept up, enough to give the
home government a lively picture of provincial con-
ditions, especially on the political side, though the
board seems not always to have had full confidence
in the accuracy of the returns. The adverse criti-
cism which the board passed upon colonial officials
was sometimes reciprocated. In October, 1736, a
North Carolina governor wrote that he had had no
communication from the board since the previous
December, and, with the exception of a short note
then, nothing for over a year. A similar complaint
was made by Governor Clinton, of New York, a few
years later. ^

Even in this era of "salutary neglect,*' colonial
legislation was scrutinized with some care, though
there was no such wholesale disallowance of provin-
cial statutes as had taken place during the reigns of
William and Anne. This may have been due partly
to lack of energy in the Board of Trade, but it is
explained partly also by the fact that the assem-
blies had adjusted themselves to a sort of modus
Vivendi in which some demands of the crown were
acquiesced in and others avoided by indirect meth-
ods. Governors also were now more definitely in-
structed with regard to legislation. In the new
royal government of North Carolina, out of the first
two hundred and seventy-one acts approved by the

^N. C. Col. Records, III., IV., passim, esp. IV,, 173, 242;
N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., V., VI., passim, esp. VI., 270.

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY 175

governors, only eight were disallowed by the crown,
and even in Massachusetts the percentage of royal
vetoes was small. In Massachusetts the charter
provision that acts not disallowed within three
years after presentation to the crown should re-
main laws until repealed by the provincial assembly,
was avoided by postponing presentation. It was
a common practice of the Board of Trade to order
colonial acts "to lie by probationary," awaiting
examination by legal counsel or objections from any
other quarter. Some acts which were not disallowed
were adversely criticised by the board or its legal
counsel, and sometimes the governor was cautioned
against the passage of similar acts in the future.^

The colonies frequently gave offence by their ^'
tariff legislation. Discriminating duties were laid '
in favor of colonial shipping as against that of;;
Great Britain, and duties on slaves and on goods
imported from England were also frequently com-
plained of. Governors were forbidden to pass acts
of this kind without at least a clause suspending exe-
cution until approved by the crown ; and several such
acts were disallowed Again, the home government
forbade the passage of private acts without the sus-
pending clause, and for several years the Massachusetts
general court gave up such legislation altogether.*

* Raper, North Carolina, 45, 49, 56; Massachusetts 'Bay, Acts
and Resolves, II., passim, esp. 31, 66, 790.

'AT. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 706; Massachusetts Bav.
Acts and Resolves, II., 69, 128; N. C. Col. Records, III., 9*3,
Chalmers, Revolt, II., 72-75.

176 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

A striking instance of the use of a royal veto
to check a strong poptilar demand was the dis-
allowance of a New York act providing for tri-
ennial assemblies. After two long assemblies, last-
ing ten and nine years respectively, it was felt that
more frequent elections were necessary to secure
genuine representation. The movement was re-
sisted by Governor Cosby, but in 1737 the trien-
nial act was approved by his successor, Lieutenant-
Gk)vemor Clarke. An elaborate argument was made
in its favor, laying stress upon the practice of an-
nual elections in New England and Pennsylvania;
but the Board of Trade, accepting the advice of
its special counsel, Mr. Fane, recommended the
disallowance of the act and an order in council
was issued accordingly.^

The home government could not always impose
its wishes upon the colonial assemblies. Royal in-
structions did not prevent temporary grants to gov-
ernors or extravagant issues of paper money. As
a solution of this problem, and also in order to con-
trol the legislation of the chartered colonies which
was not subject to veto, the House of Lords pro-
posed that all colonial laws should be sent to the
Board of Trade, and that except in case of urgency
none should take effect until approved by the king
in council. This drastic measure, however, was not
adopted.'

^Doc. Hist, of N. Y., IV., 243 et seq.
' TalcoU Papers, I., 296-298.

1739] IMPERIAL POLICY 177

Generally speaking, the Whig ministries accepted
the mercantilist colonial theories, and governors
were carefully instructed to enforce the navigation
acts. Colonial enterprises were jealously watched,
and the board continued its efforts to check colonial
manufactures by encouraging the production of
naval stores. Most English statesmen regarded the
southern colonies, and more particularly the sugar
islands, as deserving special attention and favor,
because their trade was more clearly advantageous
to the mother-country. In case of conflict, the in-
terests of the northern colonies were likely to be
sacrificed to those of the West Indies.

These views were embodied in a considerable
nimiber of acts of Parliament dealing with Ameri-
can affairs. The most vital phase of English for-
eign relations was the antagonism with Spain,
arising from the efforts of enterprising English mer-
chants to secure for themselves more of the Span-
ish-American trade than they could fairly claim
tmder existing treaties. This subject was almost
constantly discussed in Parliament, and a more ag-
gressive policy was urged upon the ministry, tmtil
in 1739 it was reluctantly forced into war with
Spain. These conditions, of course, made it easier
for colonial officials to gain the attention of Parlia-
ment.^

* Mahon, England, i^ij-iySj, I.-III., passim; Coxe, Sir R.
Walpole, passim; Cobbett, Parliamentary History, VII., VIII.,
passim.

lyS PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1721

In 172 1 a recommendation of the Board of
Trade in favor of encouraging the production of
naval stores was indorsed in the king's speech to
Parliament and a new bounty act was passed.
Other acts of this year placed furs and copper on
the list of enumerated articles, but, on the other
hand, removed ^ export duties on British manu-
factures, with a few exceptions. In 1^37^ Parliament
established the right of the Pennsylvanians to im-
port their salt directly from Europe, as the New-Eng-
landers were already allowed to do, and a few years
later the same privilege was secured to New York/

With the year 1730 begins a period of consid-
erable parliamentary activity in colonial affairs.
Readiness to stimulate desirable lines of trade was
shown by allowing the planters, first of South Caro-
lina and then of Georgia, to send their rice, one of
the enumerated articles, directly to European coun-
tries south of Cape Finisterre. A few years later a
similar concession was made to the sugar planters
of the West Indies. Generally speaking, however,
the spirit of British legislation during the next two
decades was restrictive. In 1232 Parliament pro-
hibited the intercolonial trade in ha.ts, and otherwise
restricted their manufacture in America. A similar
policy with regard to iron manufactures had already
been urged, but it was not carried out until the

* AT. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 628; Cobbett, Parliamen-
tary History, VII., 913-916; 8 George I., chaps, xii., xv., xviii.;
13 George I., chap, v.; 3 George il., chap. xii.

1733] IMPERIAL POLICY 179

act of 1750 prohibiting the manufacture of that
metal beyond the stage of pig or bar iron. ^

The most important commercial regulation of
this period was the Molasses Act, which, after two
years of discussion in Parliament, became law in
1733. Its chief importance consists not in its act-
ual economic effects, but in the light which it
throws on colonial policy, and in the constitutional
questions which were raised while the bill was under
discussion. This act, imposing prohibitory duties
on molasses, sugar, and rum imported into the con-
tinental colonies from the West Indian colonies of
other powers than England, was intended to revive
the declining trade of the British West Indian
planters by compelling the continental colonies to
buy of them instead of encouraging their French
and Dutch competitors. Its enforcement would
have crippled the commerce of the northern colo-
nies, and its passage in the face of their protests
shows clearly the relative importance of the West
Indies from the official point of view. Sir John \
Barnard, one of Walpole's leading antagonists in the
House of Commons, and General Oglethorpe, both
argued ably but unsuccessfully against this sacrifice
of continental interests to those of the islands.'

Three other acts may be mentioned as marking

*3 George II., chap, xxviii.; 8 George II., chap, xix.; 12
George II., chap, xxx.; see below, chap. xvii.

'6 George II., chap, xiii.; Cobbett, Parliamentary History,
VIII.^ 856-1 200, passim., 1 261-1266; see Howard, Preliminaries
of the Revolution {Am. Nation, VIII.), chap. vi.

i8o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1732

some real advance in imperial control. In 1732
Parliament determined to intervene in the judicial
administration of the colonies for the protection of
British merchants who had complained of legal ob-
stacles in the collection of debts due them in Ameri-
ca. It was provided that debts due to residents in
Great Britain or to the crown might be proved by
testimony taken in England, and that colonial real
estate should be " chargeable with all just debts " as
" real estates are by the law of England." In 1741
the Land Bank of Massachusetts was summarily
dealt with by applying to the colonies the pro-
visions of a previous statute dealing with similar
speculative companies. Finally, in ij^ Parlia-
ment undertook to check the paper-money craze
in New England by prohibiting the issue of legal-
tender bills. The act which destroyed the Land
Bank was retroactive and therefore peculiarly ar-
bitrary. Mr. Andrew McF. Davis, the leading au-
thority on this subject, has accepted as ** probably
true" the opinion of John Adams that this act was
more influential than the Stamp Act in the devel-
opment of opposition to the supremacy of Parlia-
ment among the people of Massachusetts. Frank-
lin also thought that the hostility of the home
government to colonial currency experiments was
a large factor in the growth of colonial discontent.^

* 5 George IL, chap, vii.; 14 George II., chap, xxxvii.; Davis,
Currency and Banking in Mass. Bay, II., chaps, vii.-xii.; ]^rank-
lin, Works (Bigelow's ed.) III., 418.

I75I] IMPERIAL POLICY i8i

Some of the more aggressive officials of the Geor-
gian period continued to cherish projects of direct
royal government in all of the colonies, and the
union of all under one general governor to whom
the governors of particular colonies should be sub-
ordinate. Little, however, was accomplished in the
realization of these ideals.

At the beginning of this period one backward
step was taken. Maryland, which had been ad-
ministered since 1692 by royal governors, was in
17 1 5 re-established as a proprietary province. The
Catholicism of the proprietor had been one of the
reasons urged for the institution of royal govern-
ment, and now the succession of a Protestant heir
was considered to justify the restoration of full
proprietary rights. The negotiations for the sur-
render of Pennsylvania had also, as has already
been observed, come to nothing. Thus the two
proprietorships which had been most seriously
threatened during the early years of William III.
survived to the close of the colonial era.*

One decided advantage was gained, however, by
the abolition of proprietary government in the
Carolinas, largely on the initiative of the colonists
themselves. Both of the Carolina governments had
long been under fire for lax administration of the
navigation laws and for various other irregularities.
The intolerance of the high-church party, supported

* Steiner, in Am. Hist. Assoc., AnnucU Report^ 1899, I., 231

et seq.

i82 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1706

by the proprietors, helped to bring on a civil war in
North Carolina, while in the southern province it
provoked an appeal by the colonists to the crown.
In the latter case the prestige of the proprietors
was weakened by the queen's intervention on be-
half of the colonists, and the annulling of the charter
was seriously considered.^

The exposed position of these frontier colonies
also showed the need of a stronger government.
This need was illustrated by the struggles of South
CaroHna with the French and Spaniards, and of
North Carolina with the Tuscarora Indians; and it
was still further emphasized two years after the
peace of Utrecht by the Yemassee war. The Yem-
assee Indians, who were settled in the southern
part of South Carolina, were led, partly by un-
friendly treatment at the hands of English traders
and partly by the instigation of the Spaniards, to
take up arms against the province. The invasion
was finally repelled by the colonists themselves,
with some help from Virginia and North Carolina;
but several hundred settlers were massacred, and
the proprietors gave no substantial protection.
Exasperated by the negligence of the proprie ors,
the colonists in 1 7 1 6 presented through their agent
a memorial asking the intervention of the crown.

Soon afterwards the proprietors gave great of-
fence to the colonists by vetoing a number of popu-
lar laws which had been enacted by the assembly.
* See above, p. 60

1729] IMPERIAL POLICY 183

The most important was one changing the method
of election for the members of the assembly, so
that instead of being chosen altogether at Charles-
ton they should be elected by the voters in the
various districts of the province. This veto seemed
to be intended to secure the continued domination
of a little group of politicians in Charleston, and led
finally to armed resistance. In 17 19 the colonists
assembled in arms and called upon their governor,
Robert Johnson, to renounce the proprietors and
assume the government in the name of the crown.
This Johnson loyally refused to do. He was, there-
fore, set aside and Moore elected governor in his
place, with the understanding that he was to hold
office for the king.*

The home government accepted the results of
this revolution by appointing Francis Nicholson as
the governor of South Carolina, and the attorney-
general was ordered to proceed against the charter.
No such legal steps were actually taken, however,
and the royal government of South Carolina re-
mained for ten years on a purely provisional basis.
The proprietors tried at first to recover their con-
trol of the government ; failing in this attempt, they
began negotiations for the surrender of their pro-
prietary rights as a whole. In 1729 these negotia-
tions were consummated by an act of Parliament,
and royal governments were then permanently es-

* Proceedings of the People of South Carolina, in Carroll, Collec-
Hons, II., 141-192; N. C. Col. Records, II., 224-234.

i84 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1715

tablished in both provinces. Three years after this
event the crown granted a charter for the part of this
territory lying between the Savannah and Altamaha
rivers to the Georgia trustees. The government
of the new province was delegated for twenty years
to a private corporation, but it was then to revert
to the crown. ^

From time to time the general plan of abolishing
all the chartered governments was revived. In
1715 a bill for the ** better regulation of Charter
and Proprietary Governments" passed the first and
second readings in the House of Commons; and in
1721 the Board of Trade urged that all proprietary
"governments be abolished. To meet attacks of
this kind, Jeremiah Dummer, agent in England for
the colony of Massachusetts, wrote his famous De-
fence of the New England Charters, addressing it to
Newcastle's immediate predecessor. Lord Carteret.
He defended the colonists effectively against the
common charges brought against them, such as
lack of zeal in imperial defence, arbitrary govern-
ment, violation of the navigation acts, and the en-
actment of laws at variance with those of Great
Britain. He asserted strongly the loyalty of the
colonists to the mother-country, denied any ten-
dency towards independence, and insisted that the
prosperity of the mother -coimtry was bound up
with that of the colonies. He held that the pros-

* McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government,
chaps, xxiii.-xxx.; 2 George, II., chap, xxxiv.

1744] IMPERIAL POLICY 185

perity of the latter was founded on the Hberal pro-
visions of the early charters, which could not,
therefore, be withdrawn without serious injury to im-
perial interests. The power of Parliament to resume
the charters was not denied ; but, he said, " the ques-
tion here is not about power but right; and shall not
the supreme legislature of all the nation do right V

During the next quarter-century schemes for the
reorganization of the colonial governments were
frequently proposed; in 1723 Rhode Island and
Connecticut were asked to submit to union with
the royal province of New Hampshire; and in 1744
Governor Clinton of New York referred to a printed
proposal which he had seen for a general governor
over all the continental colonies.^

In the same letter Governor Clinton referred to
a closely related proposal for colonial taxation.
The possibility of taxation by Parliament for the
support of colonial administration was discussed at
intervals throughout the eighteenth century. In
an essay submitted by Bladen to Lord Townshend
in 1726, a stamp duty was suggested as a means by
which Parliament might raise a revenue in the
colonies, and this was the particular form of tax
referred to by Clinton in 1744. Clinton declared
the colonists were "quite strangers to any duty,
but such as they raise themselves," and that the

* Dtimmer, Defence of the New England Charters; Kellogg, Am.
Colonial Charter, in Am. Hist. Assoc, Report, 1903, I., 308 e*
seq.; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 627, VI., 268.

VOL. VI. — 14

i86 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1733

proposed tax "might prove a dangerous consequence
to His Majesty's interests." *

The most important parliamentary discussion of
taxation and representation took place in the de-
bate on the Molasses Act in 1733, with special ref-
erence to a Rhode Island petition against the bill.
Sir William Yonge, in arguing against receiving the
petition, objected to a clause declaring the bill " prej-
udicial to their charter," "as if this House had not
a power to tax them, or to make any laws for the
regulating of the affairs of their colony." Another
speaker was sure that "they can have no such
charter" which "debars this House from taxing
them as well as any other subject of this nation. ' ' Sir
John Barnard, speaking for the petitioners, argued
that the colonists had a special claim to be heard
by petition, because "the people of every part of
Great Britain have a representative in this House
who is to take care of their particular interest, as
well as of the general interest of the nation . . . but
the people who are the petitioners . . . have no
particular representatives in this House ; and, there-
fore, they have no other way of applying or of
offering their reasons to this, but in the way of
being heard at the bar of the House by their agent
here in England." As against this view of Bar-
nard, however, another member, Mr. Conduit, set
forth the orthodox theory of virtual representation,

»iV. C. Col. Records, II., 635; Bassett, Writings of WiUiam
Byrd, 365; Chalmers, Revolt. II., 138.

17421 IMPERIAL POLICY 187

that as the colonies were "all a part of the people
of Great Britain they are generally represented in
this House as well as the rest of the people are." *

In the Annual Register in 1765, for which Ed-
mund Burke was then writing, the statement is
made that a scheme for taxing the colonies was
proposed to Walpole and rejected by him, with the
remark that he would leave that "to some of my
successors who may have more courage than I
have." In his opinion, the royal exchequer would
gain more indirectly by the development of colonial
commerce, which would be "taxing them more
agreeably to their own constitution and to ours." ^

It has been customary to speak of this period of
British colonial policy as one of "salutary neglect,"
but this, like some other attractive generalizations,
cannot be accepted without many qualifications.
Though the trade laws were less vigorously enforced
than they were in later years, and though the pro-
posal of taxation by Parliament was never carried
out, the colonists were by no means left to them-
selves. Popular legislation was repeatedly defeated
by the royal veto, and Parliament exerted its au-
thority over the colonies even in the face of strong
resistance. Sometimes, as in the suppression of the
Massachusetts Land Bank, these assertions of par-
liamentary authority left a smouldering fire of dis-
content to trouble the statesmen of a later time.

* Cobbett, Parliamentary History, VIII., 1 261-1266.

^ Annual Register, 1765, p. 25.

i88 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

It is not easy to determine with precision what
in this period were the theories and feelings of the
colonists regarding the authority of the home gov-
ernment. If the views of aggressive imperialists
had been carried out, if Parliament had remodelled
the colonial governments and levied a stamp tax,
radical theories like those of Samuel Adams and
Thomas Jefferson would probably have come earlier
to light. There were, indeed, royal officials tmder
George II., as under Queen Anne, who thought the
colonial assemblies were moving clearly towards
independence. Attorney - General Bradley of New
York set forth this theory at length in 1729, point-
ing out the difficulty of suppressing a revolt if the
colonists were once imited; and Dummer thought
it necessary to discuss the question in his Defence
of the New England Charters.'^

Nevertheless, the colonists generally were loyal
to the king and did not question the supremacy
lof Parliament. Dummer, in his argument against
legislative resumption of the charters, insisted that
the colonists were unreservedly loyal and would ac-
cept a decision by Parliament as final, even if it
abolished their chartered privileges. He admitted
that "the legislative power is absolute and unac-
countable, and King, Lords, and Commons may
do what they please." Doubtless, as Clinton in-
timated, there was an underlying assumption that

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 901; cf, Anderson, Church
•/ England in ike Cols., III., 351.

1742] IMPERIAL POLICY 189

taxation by Parliament would be a violation of
colonial rights, but the colonists had not yet been
obliged to define with precision their theories of
constitutional limitations. *

* Dtimmer, Defence of the New England Charters; cf, Egerton,
Short Hist, of Col. Policy, 143; Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay
(ed. of 1795), II., 319-

CHAPTER Xli

PROVINCIAL POLITICS
(17 14-1740)

IN Spite of the prevalence of similar political ideas
among the colonies, there was much of mutual
jealousy and antagonism due in part to boundary-
controversies. In 1702 none of the colonies had
its boundaries accurately marked; and in every
case except that of New Jersey the disputed lands
were of considerable importance for the future
development of the colony. Massachusetts had
boimdary disputes with Rhode Island and Con-
necticut on the south, and New York on the west;
while she could not agree with New Hampshire
either regarding the northern limits of the old Bay
Colony or the western boundary of Maine. The
disputes with New York and New Hampshire were
important because of the large area involved ; and
the comparatively small strips at issue with Rhode
Island and Connecticut related to settled town-
ships. Connecticut had also a dispute with Rhode
Island on the east and an unsurveyed line on the

190

i75o] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 191

west which was still to cause some trouble with
New York.^

New York had a comparatively small controversy
to adjust with New Jersey and a more important
one with Pennsylvania as to the whole northern
line of Penn's charter. The latter issue did not,
however, become serious during the first half of
the century because of the slow movement of set-
tlers into that territory. On the south, Perm and
his heirs had a much more difficult question to set-
tle. The Baltimores continued to claim the "lower
counties" on the Delaware, and the southern line
of Pennsylvania was still undetermined when in
the second quarter of the eighteenth century immi-
grants began to enter the disputed territory. Of all
the boundary controversies of the period, this was
the most persistent and acrimonious. In the south
there were similar boundary disputes which em-
bittered the relations of the two Carolinas with
each other and those of North Carolina with Vir-
ginia.

Before the middle of the eighteenth century
marked progress was made towards the settlement
of these disputes. The interior lines of New Eng-
land were substantially determined, though Mas-
sachusetts and New York had not yet come to
terms regarding the territory between the Hudson
and the Connecticut. In 1750 the Pennsylvania-

iPalfrey, New England, IV., 356-364, SS4-SS9. 586; N. Y,
Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., VI., 125, 143, 454, 510.

192 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1721

Maryland controversy was passed upon by the
lord chancellor in England, though there was still
some wrangling about details. A few years earlier,
the North Carolina lines were drawn for some dis-
tance westward from the coast by agreement with
her neighbors to the north and south.*

Trade jealousies were another source of friction.
Discriminating duties in favor of home shipping
were common and sometimes provoked retaliation,
as in 172 1, when New Hampshire retaliated against
a Massachusetts law imposing double duties and
light- house fees upon the inhabitants of the former
province. There were similar incidents in the mid-
dle and southern colonies, and a serious instance of
hostile feeling awakened by commercial regulations
occurred between Virginia and North Carolina. The
latter colony, being poorly supplied with ports, was
accustomed to ship tobacco through Virginia; but
this practice was prohibited by the Virginia assem-
bly in acts of 1725 and 1726, on the ground that
North Carolina tobacco was of an inferior quality.
North Carolina complained to the Board of Trade,
which recommended the disallowance of both acts.'

There was also a considerable intercolonial rivalry
in the Indian trade, notably between Virginia and
South Carolina and between the latter colony and

* Shepherd, Proprietary Government in Pa., chap, vii.; N. C.
Col. Records, II , viii., 205, IV., viii.

' Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 593; Hill,
" Colonial Tariffs," in Quarterly Journal of Economics, VII., 78;
N. C. Col. Records, II.. 683, III., 196, 210.

i74i] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 193

Georgia. In both instances serious ill-feeling de-
veloped.^

Some intercolonial disputes were settled by
amicable agreement; but often the intervention of
the home government was necessary, and the final
award left bad feeling behind on the part of one or
both the parties. The difficulty of maintaining
cordial relations between neighboring colonies is
well illustrated by the experience of two pairs of
provinces united for a time by the assignment of a
single governor to both governments. New Hamp-
shire and Massachusetts were combined under one
governor over forty years, until 1741; when, partly
because of the bad feeling between the two provinces,
generated by the boundary dispute, this personal
tmion was abandoned and New Hampshire received
a separate government. For over thirty years the
crown commissioned the same person as governor
of New York and New Jersey; but in this case, as
in the other, the weaker colony felt that its interests
were being sacrificed to those of the stronger, and
the practice was given up in 1738. The southern
colonies were no more friendly neighbors during
much of this peiiod. William Byrd, one of the
Virginia commissioners in the boimdary dispute,
repeatedly expressed his contempt for the North
Carolina people; and in 1730 the South Carolina
agents in London characterized the same province

* Smith, South Carolina, 212 etseq.; N. C. Col. Records, II.,
951 et seq.

194 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

as the "receptacle of all the vagabouns & run-
aways of the main land of America, for which rea-
son and for their entertaining Pirates they are justly
contemned by their neighbors." ^

Notwithstanding these unpleasant facts of inter-
colonial jealousy and strife, the most significant
thing in the life of the colonies is the growing simi-
larity of their political usages and aspirations.
Leaving the two elective governments out of ac-
count, the fundamental fact of American politics in
this as in the earlier period was the antagonism
between the appointed governor and the elected
assembly, between the organized colonists and the
agent of external authority. The underlying con-
stitutional issues remained essentially as they were
at the close of the seventeenth century, but they
sometimes presented themselves in different aspects ;
and among the colonists themselves there appeared
new lines of party cleavage.

Numerous controversies arose regarding the com-
position and organization of the assembly, in which
the lower house sought to secure as much freedom
as possible from executive control. Thus in North
Carolina the lower house refused for many years to
admit members elected from districts which had
been created by the governor without the sanction
of the assembly. Nevertheless, in this, as in a
similar controversy in New Hampshire, the repre-

» N, C. Col. Records, II., 394-396; Bassett, Writings of William
Byrd, passim.

i74o] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 195

sentatives were finally beaten. The attempts to
limit the governor's freedom in svimmoning and
dissolving assemblies also continued. Acts pro-
viding for triennial elections were passed during
this period in South Carolina, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, and New York ; but the New Jersey and New
York acts were disallowed by the crown. The
Board of Trade regarded such acts as interfering
with the legitimate prerogatives of the crown, and
the governor's point of view was probably stated
accurately by Governor Montgomerie of New
Jersey, when he said that his predecessors "could
not have carried on the publick business so quietly
and Successfully as they did, if they had been
obliged to call a new Assembly every three years." ^
One of the most important questions of legis-
lative privilege during this period was whether the
house of representatives had the right to choose
its own speaker independently of the governor.
In most of the colonies, as in the mother-country,
the presentation of the speaker to the governor was
a mere formality; but in Massachusetts and New
Hampshire the governors sometimes rejected candi-
dates chosen by the house. The most important
contest took place in Massachusetts in 1720, when
Governor Shute vetoed the choice of the opposition
leader as speaker of the house, on the ground that
the charter gave him a negative upon all acts of

*Raper, North Carolina, 89-92; Greene, Provincial Governor,
147. 155-157.

196 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 14

the general court. The home government finally
issued, in 1725, an "explanatory charter" which
decided the point in the governor's favor. ^

By the beginning of the Hanoverian period the
practice of making temporary grants to the gov-
ernors had been adopted by several of the colonies ;
but the home government was by no means ready
to yield. The ideal of the board was a salary fixed
by the crown, and governors were instructed to in-
sist upon permanent settlements. The most in-
teresting contests of this period took place in Mas-
sachusetts and New York.

In Massachusetts the crisis came during the ad-
ministration of Governor Burnet in 1728. The
governor argued strongly for a permanent civil list
as necessary to his freedom of action in legislative
matters. He supported this argument by referring
to the practice of the mother-country, and claimed
also that temporary grants had been used to extort
legislation in opposition to the governor's judg-
ment. The position of the house was summed up
in a resolution declaring that, after a salary had
once been settled, the governor with his uncertain
tenure would have little interest in serving the wel-
fare of the people. In this instance the governor
held to his instructions and died at his post, re-
fusing to the end the liberal grants which the as-

* Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay, II., 211 -214, 226, 241;
Poore, Charters and Constitutions, I., 954; N. H. Provincial
Papers, IV., 485-488.

i74o] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 197

sembly was willing to give if he would only con-
sent to give up the principle of a permanent estab-
lishment. The Privy Council in 1729, after the
Massachusetts agents had argued the assembly's
case, commended Burnet and reiterated the demand
for a permanent settlement of the governor's salary;
but under Burnet's successors, Belcher and Shirley,
the home government practically gave up the fight.
A permanent settlement was still urged, but if that
could not be had, temporary grants might be ac-
cepted.

In New York the practice for several years after
Queen Anne's War was to grant the salary list for
periods of five or three years ; but the house finally
resolved to grant revenue for one year only, and
the home government was obliged to submit. At
the beginning of the last French war the board
practically acknowledged its defeat, as it had al-
ready done in Massachusetts, by instructing the
governor not to press the matter. The same issue
arose in South Carolina during the first years of
the royal government, and the outcome was the
same.^

The result of these controversies was that in South
Carolina as well as in New England and the mid-
dle colonies the provincial assemblies had in their
hands an effective offset to the administrative con-
trol exercised by the home government. A con-

* Greene, Provincial Governor, 168-173; Smith, South Caro-
lina, 75-77.

198 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

temporary statement regarding the proprietary prov-
ince of Pennsylvania may be taken as applicable
to several of the royal governments: "Every pro-
prietary Governor has two Masters: one who gives
him his Commission and one who gives him his
Pay."i

The powers thus gained, the assemblies were not
slow to use for purposes which the royalists regarded
as subversive of the constitution ; and in these radi-
cal measures New England continued to exercise a
strong influence, which was naturally felt most
strongly in the neighboring provinces of New York
and New Jersey, where it attracted the attention of
the royal governors. Cosby, of New York, said in
1732 that the ''example and spirit of the Boston
people begins to spread amongst these colonys in a
most prodigious maner"; and a few years later
Governor Morris, of New Jersey, wrote of the fond-
ness of his assembly for the example of ''their
neighbours in Pennsylvania & New England." It
is noteworthy that the New York assembly, in de-
fending the triennial act of 1737, urged that their
people ought not to be deprived of a privilege en-
joyed by their neighbors. Even in the Carolinas
the prevalence of "commonwealth maxims" was
attributed to New England influence.^

The most common encroachments of the provin-

* Historical Review of the Const, and Govt, of Pa. (1759), 72.
'Chalmers, Revolt, II., 99; Morris Papers, 162; N. J. Docs.
Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 321; S. C. Hist. Soc, Collections, I., 283.

I740] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 199

cial assemblies were in the field of finance. In sev-
eral colonies the assemblies attempted, with more
or less success, either to authorize payments of
money without the governor's warrant, required by
his instructions; or to make the warrant a mere
formality by requiring a particular vote of the
representatives in each instance. The assemblies
also generally refused to allow the council to amend
money bills, a policy which had appeared much
earlier and was unsuccessfully resisted by the Board
of Trade. In the first years of the royal govern-
ment in South Carolina the issue was raised there.
The governor's instructions explicitly gave the
council equal rights with the house; but the as-
sembly denied that the king could limit their privi-
leges in this way, and insisted upon their right to
all the privileges of the House of Commons. The
dispute went on for over twenty years and the
house finally carried its point. In 1740 the Board
of Trade made a stand in favor of the New Jersey
council, but here again it was defeated. By the
middle of the eighteenth century the exclusive con-
trol in the lower house of money bills was almost
everywhere established.^

Provincial treasurers were generally appointed by
the assemblies during the quarter-century following
the English revolution; but there was some con-

^N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., VI., 614; Greene, Provincial
Governor, 122, 180; Raper, North Carolina, 197; Smith, South
Carolina, 289 et seq.

200 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1720

troversy as to whether the appointment should be
controlled by the lower house alone or whether it
should follow the regular process of legislation by
governor, council, and assembly. "Usually the con-
trol rested practically if not formally with the
lower house. Sometimes, as in Virginia and North
Carolina, the close relation between the House and
the treasurer was shown by combining that office
with the speakership in a way which suggests the
position of the English chancellor of the exchequer
in the House of Commons.

Other executive officers were frequently appoint-
ed by the assemblies during the eighteenth century.
When, about the middle of the century. Governor
Glen of South Carolina declared that the executive
power was largely in the hands of commissioners
appointed by the assembly, he made a statement
which, with some allowance for exaggeration, might
have been made with regard to several of the provin-
cial governments. In 1 7 5 1 the Board of Trade made
a long statement about New York, in which they
rehearsed the "fatal measures, by which the legal
prerogative of the Crown (which alone can keep
this or any Province dependent on the Mother
Country) has been reduced" and "the most essen-
cial powers of Goverm* violently wrested out of
the hands of the Governor." ^

While governor and assembly were thus strug-

* Greene, Provincial Governor, 183-195; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to
Col. Hist., VI., 614 et seq.

1 75 1] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 201

gling for control of the provincial administration,
other important issues were raised, involving the
rights of individuals and the extent to which they
shared in the legal privileges of English subjects.
The general principle was stated during this period
in two important legal opinions. The first, deliver-
ed by Richard West, special counsel to the Board of
Trade, in 1720, declared that the common law of Eng-
land was the common law of the plantations. " Let
an Englishman," he said, " go where he will, he carries
as much of law and liberty with him as the nature of
things will bear." The second opinion was deliv-
ered by Attorney-General Yorke in 1729, and dealt
with the more difficult question of the statute law,
which had been for many years an important politi-
cal issue in Maryland. With special reference to
that colony, Yorke asserted that general statutes
enacted by Parliament since the settlement of the
province, and not expressly applied to that colony
or to the colonies in general, were not applicable
there, unless they had either been declared so by
act of assembly or "received there by long uninter-
rupted usage or practice," which might imply the
tacit consent of the proprietor and the colonists.

The Maryland assembly asserted, however, that
general statutes passed by Parliament, and not spe-
cifically restricted, were the common privilege of
English subjects whether in England or America.
The proprietor denied this proposition; and though
the matter was frequently discussed and the as-

202 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1679

sembly gained a partial victory, it was never pre-
cisely settled.^

As a part of their inheritance in the common law,
the American colonists enjoyed the familiar safe-
guards of property and personal liberty, and were
accustomed to trial by jury both in civil and crimi-
nal cases. The habeas-corpus act of 1679 was not
applicable to the colonies, and their acts extending
its provisions to themselves were sometimes dis-
allowed ; but the privilege of the writ was generally
secured in practice under the common law. Cer-
tain other personal rights now regarded as a matter
of course were not then generally conceded. One
of these was religious liberty ; for, notwithstanding
the substantial progress of the previous century.
Catholics and Jews were still deprived of equal
rights, and many men were compelled to support
religious establishments of which they disapproved.
So also the right of free criticism of public men
and measures was not enjoyed as of course by the
American of the provincial era, but was the out-
come of serious conflicts with arbitrary power. ^

Shortly before the revolution of 1688 a clause
had been commonly inserted in the governor's in-
structions providing that no book should be printed
and no printing-press set up without the governor's

^Chalmers, Opinions, 206; Mereness, Maryland, 257-278;
see below, p. 221.

'Carpenter, "The Habeas Corpus" in Am. Hist. Review,
VIII., 18-27.

1735] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 203

leave. This clause was retained during the reigns
of William and Anne, and for a time in some of
the colonies the censorship was actually enforced.
In 1 7 2 1 , Governor Shute of Massachusetts asked
for penal legislation against the authors of sedi-
tious papers, but the house of representatives re-
fused, and resolved instead that " to suffer no books
to be printed without a license from the governor
will be attended with innumerable inconveniences
and danger." In the instructions to later gover-
nors the censorship clause was omitted.^

Yet the withdrawal of the governor's censorship
by no means perfectly secured the free expression of
public opinion, which was still much restricted by
prosecutions for criminal libel, in which the rights
of defendants were not always thoroughly guarded.
Representative assemblies also were at times guilty
of arbitrary procedure in this respect.^

Fortunately for the American people, the prin-
ciple of a free press found an able defender in 1735,
when John Peter Zenger, publisher of the Weekly
Journal in New York, was tried for publishing false
and malicious libels against Governor Cosby. Cosby
had removed the chief-justice, Lewis Morris, for
deciding against him in a suit about his salary, and
the libels consisted in sharp criticisms of the gover-
nor's conduct in the columns of Zenger's Journal.
The case was tried before the new chief -justice, De

» Greene, Provincial Governor, 127.
» Cf. above, p. 88.

204 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 14

Lancey, who had a natural bias against the
prisoner. According to De Lancey 's theory the
jury had to decide only on the fact of publication,
simply accepting the decision of the court as to
the libellous character of the statements made.
This would of course have secured Zenger's con-
viction.

The defendant's friends had, however, secured
the services of an able counsellor in the person of
Andrew Hamilton, a well-known lawyer and poli-
tician of Pennsylvania. Hamilton insisted that the
jury must decide whether the publication was really
a false and malicious libel, and argued strongly for
public criticism as the only safeguard of free gov-
ernment. By this appeal he won the jury, who
acquitted Zenger and thus established a new bar-
rier against arbitrary power. ^

These constitutional controversies between the
colonists and their governors were complicated by
other disputes, especially on economic issues. In
the royal and proprietary governments the land
question was in some form or other an almost con-
stant source of friction, the governors finding it
difficult to secure the proper collection of quit-rents.
In the proprietary provinces the colonists struggled
to secure public control of land administration.

Paper-money issues constituted another prolific
source of party conflicts in which the governors
and the administration parties sometimes stood out

* Rutherfurd, John Peter Zenger.

I740] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 205

against the popular demand, but often yielded to the
pressure of colonial opinion, especially when they
needed financial support. Even in the elective gov-
ernments this became a disturbing political issue.
In 1 73 1, Governor Joseph Jenckes of Rhode Island
carried his opposition to paper-money issues to the
point of indorsing his dissent upon a bill which had
been passed by both houses of the assembly. The
charter, however, made no reference to an executive
veto, and the legal advisers of the home govern-
ment decided against the governor, holding that
the assembly might make any law not actually in
conflict with the laws of England. At the next
election Jenckes lost his office.^

No definite and permanent organization of politi-
cal parties can be traced in the provincial era, and
the lines of party cleavage varied at different times
and in different colonies. In Massachusetts there
was a tendency to party division between social
classes, especially during the period in which cur-
rency problems were under discussion. A radi-
cal party, recruited largely from the farmers and
small traders, was opposed by the conservative " men
of estates and the principal merchants," who held
out against the paper-money radicals and became
later the basis of a distinctly royalist party. There
was a similar division of parties in Rhode Island.^

^ R. I. Col. Records, IV,, 456-461.

' Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay, (ed.of 1795), II., 188, 200,
315, 354; Bates, R. I. and the Formation of the Union, 36.

2o6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

In New York, party contests assumed a more dis-
tinctly factional character. The suffrage was close-
ly limited, and politics during the first half of the
eighteenth century was largely a contest between
a few influential families, such as the Livingstons
and the De Lanceys, who built up their influence
by means of marriage alliances and other social ties.
This aristocratic type of family politics continued
until after the War of Independence; but the con-
stitutional controversies between the governor and
the assembly were preparing the way for more clearly
defined parties based on political principles rather
than on personal allegiance.*

In Pennsylvania the Quakers formed a compact
political body which until the middle of the eigh-
teenth century controlled the provincial assembly,
with the help of the conservative Germans. By
that time the Penn family had joined the estab-
lished church and the Quakers were usually in op-
position. On the proprietary side there were usu-
ally the Anglicans, a small but relatively influential
party, and the Presbyterians. During the last
French war this proprietary party favored vigorous
measures of defence. The comparative conserva-
tism of the dominant Quaker party may be illus-
trated by the more moderate paper-money issues of
Pennsylvania as compared with New England.'

^ Becker, " Nominations in Colonial New York," in Ant. Hist.
Review, VL, 260-275.

^ Sharpless, Quaker Experiment in Government, I., chap. iv.

I740] PROVINCIAL POLITICS 207

In the tobacco colonies, especially in Maryland,
the divergent interests of the large and small
planters led to important political disputes as to
the regulation of the tobacco trade. Gradually the
poorer and less educated people began to find po-
litical leaders in the lawyer class. In Virginia a
prominent feature of politics during the first half
of the eighteenth century was the great power ex-
ercised by a small group of aristocratic families
who were strongly represented in the council and
were able to make quite uncomfortable any governor
whose policy interfered with the interests of their
class. In South Carolina there was a strong group
of Charleston merchants which, until about 1760,
formed the backbone of the government party, op-
posing the paper-money legislation desired by the
planters and taking a generally conservative posi-
tion on public questions. It was largely this class
which dominated the council, while the planters
controlled the lower house.*

* Mereness, Maryland, pt, i., chaps, iv., v.; Bassett, Writings
of William Byrd, Introd.; Spotswood, Official Letters, passim;
Smith, South Carolina, 234, 330.

CHAPTER XIII

PROVINCIAL LEADERS
(17 14-1740)

THE politics of thirteen small communities united
to each other only by their common dependence
on the mother-country hardly offered an adequate
field for the larger kind of statesmanship. The
governor's position gave him, of course, a certain
opportunity for leadership, but he was mainly con-
fined within the limits of his particular province.
Still more distinctly was this true of the popular
leaders. Nevertheless, a few efficient governors
showed in their restricted field some of the elements
of true statesmanship; and among the colonists
there were some aggressive and intelligent cham-
pions of the popular will.

Probably none of the provincial governors had on
the whole so interesting a personality or gave so
much evidence of political foresight as Alexan-
der Spotswood, who, with the title of lieutenant-
governor, was the actual head of the Virginia ad-
ministration from i7ioto 1722. Spotswood was a
Scotchman by descent, but was bom in Tangier,
where his father was stationed as an army surgeon.

-?o8

17 1 6] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 209

Like several other royal governors of the time, he
had had an important military experience, having
held the rank of colonel under Marlborough in the
Blenheim campaign; yet when he began his career
in Virginia he was not quite thirty-five.

From the beginning of his service as governor,
Spotswood showed remarkable energy, public spirit,
and breadth of interest. He was an active patron
of William and Mary College, concerned himself
seriously with the supply of ministers for the Vir-
ginia parishes, and corresponded with the bishop
of London about the best method of improving the
general position of the clergy.

Spotswood was also deeply interested in the
economic development of his province. Much of
the credit for breaking up piracy belongs to him.
He also saw the value of the iron-mines, and may
be regarded as the founder of the iron industry in
Virginia. In its interest he secured from the as-
sembly liberal legislation for the encouragement
of German settlers, and tried also to enlist the aid
of the home government. His largeness of view
was perhaps most clearly shown in the emphasis
which he laid upon western exploration. He be-
lieved that the French plan of connecting Canada
with the Mississippi might be thwarted by pushing
the English settlements westward along the line of
the James River. A few months after his arrival
he sent out an exploring company to the mountains,
and in 17 16 he personally led an expedition over

2IO PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1718

the Blue Ridge. Two years later he urged upon
the English government the desirability of an es-
tablishment on Lake Erie.

With all his strong qualities Spotswood was un-
fortunate in his relations with his associates in the
provincial government. He found a local aristoc-
racy strongly intrenched in the council and accus-
tomed to political control. His plans for a reform
of the land administration were contrary to their
interests and prejudices, and he asserted his pre-
rogative as governor in ways which seemed to en-
croach upon their constitutional privileges. He
also antagonized James Blair, the commissary of
the bishop of London. These difficulties were par-
tially overcome, but he was soon after removed
from office.

He then retired to his country place at Germanna,
on the Rapidan, where he engaged, on a considerable
scale, in the manufacture of iron. Here he was
visited in later years by his former antagonist in
the council, William Byrd, who wrote a charming
account of the Spotswood establishment. His pub-
lic career was not, however, completely closed.
As governor he already had done what he could
towards the development of the colonial postal
system under the act of 17 10; and in 1730 he
became deputy postmaster - general for America.
Finally, on the outbreak of the Spanish war, he
received the rank of major-general, and at the age
of sixty-four was actively engaged in the work of

i'r4o] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 2H

gathering the colonial forces for an expedition
against Carthagena, when his long and varied life
was suddenly ended in 1740. His career, taken as
a whole, is an admirable example of a royal official
identifying himself with American life and sincerely
devoted to the solution of its problems.^

Two years before Spots wood's retirement from
the Virginia governorship, William Burnet began a
short but eventful service in America as governor
of New York. Burnet was not so strong nor so
picturesque a personality as Spotswood; but the
two men were alike in watchful care for English
interests in the continental rivalry with France, in
zealous assertion of their prerogatives against rival
elements in the government, and in the unfortunate
antagonisms which marred their official service.
William Burnet was a son of Bishop Gilbert Burnet,
the famous counsellor of William and Mary and a
leading personage in church and state. The son had
a university education at Cambridge, supplemented
by study abroad, and during his residence in Amer-
ica was recognized as a gentleman of refined and
scholarly tastes. Before his appointment as governor
he had been in the customs service and had suffered
from some unfortunate speculations. In 1720 he
succeeded Robert Hunter as governor of New York
and held that office until 1728, when his difficulties

* Spotswood, Official Letters, passim, esp. I., Introd., 4-13, 18-
42, 163 et seq., IL, 70, 295 et seq., 305 et seq.; Bassett, Writings
of William Byrd, Introd., 355 et seq.

212 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1720

with the opposing faction became so serious that
he was transferred to the government of Massa-
chusetts, which he held until his death in the fol-
lowing year.

Burnet's American career is chiefly notable for
two things : his far-sighted policy for the promotion
of English influence in the region of the Great
Lakes and among the western Indians; and his
constitutional conflict with the Massachusetts as-
sembly on the salary issue. Before coming to
New York, Burnet had conferred with his prede-
cessor. Hunter, and acquired some knowledge of
American conditions. On his arrival he accepted
as one of his expert advisers on provincial policy
the famous Cadwallader Golden, best known for
his History of the Five Indian Nations; and in ac-
cordance with Golden 's views he adopted two im-
portant measures of policy. One was the estab-
lishment of a British trading -post and fort at
Oswego on Lake Ontario. In 1726 he secured a
small appropriation from the assembly for this pur-
pose, but was obliged to supplement this amount
by advances from his own purse, for which he was
never fully repaid. Burnet hoped that this would
prove the foundation of an important English trade
with the western Indians, an expectation which
seemed to be justified by the attitude of the French,
who regarded the new post as a serious menace to
their interests and demanded, though without suc-
cess, that it should be given up.

1729] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 213

Bumet also sought to check the trade between
Albany and Canada, on the ground that it supplied
the French with European goods which they used
in the Indian trade. Thus, Burnet argued, the
merchants were playing directly into the hands of
their French rivals. He secured the passage of
several acts of assembly prohibiting or restricting
this trade, but the opposition at Albany was so
strong as to prevent strict enforcement; and sev-
eral of these provincial measures were disallowed
by the crown.

The salary dispute in Massachusetts has already
been considered.^ In this episode, as in his meas-
ures relating to Oswego, Bumet showed remarkable
steadiness in the face of opposition, and commend-
able readiness to make financial sacrifices in sup-
port of what seemed to him a sound public policy.
It may, however, be open to question whether more
tact and judgment in dealing with men might not
have given him greater success in administration.^

Burnet's place in the governorship of Massa-
chusetts and New Hampshire was taken by Jona-
than Belcher, who served for about eleven years.
Unlike Spotswood and Bumet, Belcher was a pro-
vincial by birth and early training, coming from a
mercantile family in Boston and graduating from
Harvard College. He had, however, seen some-

*See above, p. 196.

» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., passim; Smith, New York
(ed. of 1792), 167 et seq.

214 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1730

thing of the outside world, not only in England but
in continental Europe, and on his return he took an
important place among the merchants and politi-
cians of Boston. His correspondence shows the fre-
quent use of religious phrases after the Puritan
manner, with some suggestion of sanctimoniousness.

For many years Belcher was known as a "pre-
rogative" man; but during Burnet's controversy
with the assembly on the salary question he identi-
fied himself with the opposition, and was presently
sent to England as provincial agent to secure a
modification of the governor's instructions. The
home government refused to yield; but soon after-
wards Burnet died and Belcher was sent as his
successor, apparently on the theory that he would
be more successful in bringing the assembly to
terms.

As governor, Belcher had the reputation of being
showy in his manner of life, unusually masterful in
his dealings with the council, and much inclined to
use his power of appointment and removal for per-
sonal and political purposes. Though at first popu-
lar with both the previously existing parties, he
drifted into controversies which aroused bitter an-
tagonism. On the salary question his instructions
were drastic enough; but, on the failure of all at-
tempts at compromise, he finally secured the con-
sent of the Board of Trade to the practical surrender
which has already been recorded.' On some im-

^ See above, p. 197.

i74i] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 215

portant issues, however, Belcher held his ground,
and during his administration the house was obliged
to give up the practice of issuing money from the
treasury by simple resolutions. He also held out
firmly against new issues of paper money in Mas-
sachusetts.

Near the end of his term. Belcher earned his
chief title to fame by his fight against the Land
Bank party, which then controlled the house of
representatives. All persons prominently identi-
fied with the bank he marked out for political
ostracism, rejecting, in 1740, the speaker chosen
by the house, and thirteen councillors, besides re-
moving a number of administrative officers. In
the fight for sound money. Belcher had the sup-
port of the mercantile interests; but by this time
there was a formidable combination of dissatisfied
elements. The assembly of New Hampshire was
convinced that he had not dealt fairly with that
province in its recent boundary controversy with
Massachusetts, and charged him with having been
influenced by a considerable grant of money made to
him by the Massachusetts assembly while the con-
troversy was pending. Various political devices
were used against him ; and in 1741 he was removed
in favor of William Shirley, who was to become so
prominent a figure in the last two wars with the
French.

Belcher's removal from his New England govern-
ments did not close permanently his political career,

2i6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1717

for he was afterwards appointed governor of New
Jersey, where he helped to found Princeton College.
In New England he left an unfortunate impression
of indirect dealing, insincerity, and self-seeking.^

Sir William Keith, the proprietary governor of
Pennsylvania (17 17-1724), may be taken as a good
example of the demagogue in the governor's of-
fice. Keith was a Scotchman who had previously
served as surveyor-general of customs for the king.
Throughout his administration he was notorious-
ly negligent in the observance of his instructions —
a serious matter for the proprietors, under the Penn-
sylvania constitution, which left legislation wholly in
the hands of the governor and the representatives.
Efforts were made to check him by stringent in-
structions, requiring him to approve no bill without
the consent of a majority of the council. Keith then
appealed openly to the people against the proprie-
tary instructions, but this was more than the pro-
prietors would tolerate and he was soon removed.

After his removal Keith entered the assembly
and attempted the role of opposition leader, appar-
ently with the purpose of breaking down the pro-
prietary government. He subsequently returned to
England, where he was consulted by tiie Board of
Trade as an expert on colonial questions. Keith's
lack of trustworthiness in private as well as public

* Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay (ed. of 1795), II., 318, 323,
329, 331 et seq.; Belcher Papers (Mass. Hist. Soc, Collections,
v., VI.).

i74i] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 217

relations has been recorded for all time by Frank-
lin in his Autobiography; but Franklin, from the
point of view of a popular leader, thought that
Keith had in the main given good service as gov-
ernor, especially in the passage of desirable legis-
lation.^

The elective governors of Rhode Island and Con-
necticut were officers of a wholly different type ; for
they were themselves of the people, chosen repre-
sentatives of their neighbors. Their authority was
closely limited by the charters, and in theory they
were little more than the first among the councillors.
Yet as spokesmen for the people in negotiations
with the neighboring colonies and with the home
government they had important parts to play.

During the first half of the eighteenth century
these little republics showed remarkable steadiness
in their treatment of their political leaders. Gov-
ernor Cranston, of Rhode Island, was elected year
after year for twenty-eight years; and from 1707 to
1 741 Connecticut had only two governors, both of
whom died in office. One of these Connecticut
governors was Joseph Talcott, whose tenure of
office covered the seventeen years from 1724 to
1 741; and his career is of interest not because it
showed any remarkable statesmanship, but because
it is that of a characteristic republican leader.

* Shepherd, Proprietary Government in Pa., passim; Proud,
Pennsylvania, II., 178 et seq.; Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.),
I., 76, 83-87; N. J. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 245.

VOL. VI. — 16

2i8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1724

Talcott belonged to one of the old and prominent
families of Connecticut, but he had little education
of an academic kind. Before becoming governor,
however, he served a varied apprenticeship in pub-
lic employments; first, in the town of Hartford as
selectman or townsman, then successively as repre-
sentative in the assembly, assistant, and deputy-
governor. Besides his legislative and executive re-
sponsibilities he held various judicial positions ex-
tending from that of justice of the peace to judge
of the superior court. He performed his share of
military service in defending the colony against the
Indians, and was also active in the Hartford church.
Talcott may therefore be regarded as a typical
public servant.

The period of his governorship brought many
perplexing problems, some of which involved the
essential principles of the Connecticut constitution.
During the early years he was engaged in some-
what vexatious correspondence with New York and
Rhode Island regarding boundary disputes, but
these were settled during his term of office. More
serious and perplexing were his relations with the
home government. In 1728 came the news that
in the case of Winthrop vs. Lechmere, carried on ap-
peal from the colonial courts, the Privy Council had
declared invalid the Connecticut law distributing the
property of intestates among the heirs.* The en-
forcement of such a decision would have caused
* Thayer, Cases in Constitutional Law, I., 34-40.

I745J PROVINCIAL LEADERS 219

great confusion in the colony, and during the re-
mainder of his life a large part of Talcott's corre-
spondence with the Connecticut agents was made
up of argtmients in favor of maintaining the long-
established local usage. The final issue did not ap-
pear until after Talcott's death, when the Privy
Council by its decision in the new case of Clarke vs.
Toucey, in 1745, practically abandoned the position
taken in Winthrop vs. Lechmere.

These negotiations were peculiarly difficult be-
cause all communications with the English govern-
ment served to direct attention to the somewhat
exceptional and anomalous position of Connecticut
under the charter. It was noted that her laws were
not subject to disallowance like those of most colo-
nies, and that there were not the necessary securi-
ties for an exact enforcement of the navigation acts.
From time to time there was talk of radical parlia-
mentary action, and of a remodelling of the charter,
which at the best would place Connecticut on a foot-
ing somewhat like that of Massachusetts. In deal-
ing with these threatening proposals, Talcott showed
himself diplomatic as well as firm, making minor
concessions when necessary, but holding fast in es-
sentials and constantly defending his people from
the charges of insubordination and disloyalty.^

The constitutional controversies of the provincial

* Talcott Papers (Conn. Hist. Soc, Collections, IV., V.), esp. I.,
chaps, xvii.-xxviii., 53, 64, 89, 114, 217-229,11., 75-97; cf. An-
drews in Y' ale Review, III., 261-294.

220 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1732

governments brought out a few men of real capacity
for parliamentary leadership. In the south two
such leaders may be mentioned, Charles Pinckney,
of South Carolina, and Daniel Dulany the elder, of
Maryland. Pinckney was a native South-Carolinian
who had been educated in England. On his return
he soon took a prominent place as a, lawyer, and in
1732 became attorney-general of the province. He
held that position, however, only for a short time,
and presently became a member of the "Commons
House of Assembly," serving as speaker from 1736
to 1740. Though a man of considerable wealth, he
identified himself with the house in its struggle
with the council for exclusive control of money
bills. Before he became speaker he draughted some
important resolutions on this subject which were
adopted by the house and which claimed for the
latter in this respect all the powers of the English
Commons. The resolutions were strongly worded
throughout and ended with this notable para-
graph:

"Resolved, That after the Estimate is closed and
added to any Tax Bill, that no additions can or
ought to be made thereto, by any other Estate or
Power whatsoever, but by and in the Commons
House of Assembly."

Pinckney showed himself a man of unusually
liberal views by claiming equal rights for Protestant
dissenters and entering his protest on the journals
against a bill to impose upon them as members of

1745] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 221

the assembly an objectionable form of oath. He
belonged to the second generation of a strong South
Carolina family, several of whom played important
parts in the later struggle for independence and
nationality.^

Dulany was active in the Maryland assembly at
nearly the same time. Beginning his career in
America as a poor Irish immigrant, he became a
considerable landholder and founded an important
Maryland family. Like Pinckney, he had a high
reputation as a lawyer, being considered in his day
the best lawyer in the province.

The chief constitutional question with which
Dulany concerned himself was that of the applica-
bility of English statutes in Maryland. Dulany,
though holding the office of attorney-general, was
also a member of the lower house and accepted the
popular theory that the colonists were entitled to
all the benefits of English statutes. In 1724 he
led the house in demanding that judges should
swear to do justice " according to the laws, statutes,
and reasonable customs of England and the acts
of assembly and usage of this province of Mary-
land."

The proprietors stubbornly resisted this view, and
prolonged parliamentary struggles ensued with a se-
ries of able state papers from the lower house, usu-
ally draughted by Dulany, who was chairman of the

*McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, 173-175,
279; Smith, South Carolina, 116, 296 et seq., 412, 415.

222 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1724

committee on laws. He also wrote a pamphlet in de-
fence of the assembly's position, entitled " The Right
of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of the
English Laws;" which doubtless helped to raise the
public excitement to the point described by Gov-
ernor Ogle in 173 1, when he wrote that the coimtry
was " as hot as possible about the English statutes
and the judge's oath." The controversy ended in
a compromise which, though not determining the
question with precision, was nevertheless regarded as
a victory for the lower house. Yet Dulany objected
when Bishop Gibson's commissary undertook to
apply the same principle to ecclesiastical law and
custom.

Dulany subsequently became a councillor and
one of the governor's supporters, though he showed
his moderation by helping to bring about a reduc-
tion of officers' fees. Like Pinckney, he had a dis-
tinguished son, Daniel Dulany the younger, who
took a prominent part on the colonial side in the
great Stamp- Act debate of 1765.*

Pinckney and Dulany, though parliamentary
leaders of the popular party, allied themselves at
one time or another with the administration and
held important appointments. The middle colo-
nies produced a similar personage in Lewis Morris,

* Mereness, Maryland, 114-116, 122, 180, 270, 275, 449;
Sioussat, Economics and Politics in Maryland, and English
Statutes in Maryland (Johns Hopkins University Studies, XXI.,
Nos. 6, 7, 11, 12).

1739] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 223

of New York and New Jersey, a severe critic of
arbitrary government during Governor Cosby 's ad-
ministration, but a man of aristocratic tempera-
ment, who afterwards became a royal governor him-
self and was involved in the usual constitutional
controversies with his assembly.

One of the most representative leaders of provin-
cial democracy was Andrew Hamilton, of Pennsyl-
vania, who is notable also because of the inter-
colonial range of his influence. Hamilton's public
career began in the Maryland assembly, and in
1715a committee of which he was a member framed
a code for that province which " remained the law,
with little change, " during the rest of the colonial
era. Already, however, Hamilton had an impor-
tant practice in Pennsylvania, and in 17 17 he be-
came attorney -general of that province. A few
years later he entered the assembly, was for several
years its speaker, and in 1739 made a valedictory
speech in which he congratulated the province on
its comparatively democratic forms of government,
with officers generally elected by the people or their
representatives, and an assembly which sat upon
its own adjournments "when we please and as long
as we think necessary."

The most memorable incident of his life took place
in another province when, in the trial already men-
tioned, he argued before Chief -Justice De Lancey, of
New York, the case of John Peter Zenger. That
speech is significant not merely as an incident in

224 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 iS

the history of the struggle for freedom of the press,
but also as a recognition of political principles
held in common by Americans of the provincial
era.*

In Massachusetts the most important radical
leaders of the early eighteenth century were the
two Elisha Cookes, father and son, whose careers
taken together cover about half a century of pro-
vincial politics. The importance of the elder Cooke
as an opposition leader has already been noted, and
his son was equally conspicuous in the constitutional
controversies of the early Georgian period. In
17 18 the younger Cooke defended in the house of
representatives the right of the colonists to cut
pine-trees on their own estates, notwithstanding
the prohibition of the royal surveyor of the woods.
The house supported him, and in 1720 showed its
defiant spirit by electing him as speaker. Governor
Shute met the challenge by vetoing the election, and
the quarrel which followed prevented the trans-
action of business during that session. The next
house chose another speaker; but Cooke retained
his leadership, and the governor, though afterwards
sustained in principle by the explanatory charter of
1725, was forced to leave the province.

During Burnet's administration Cooke pursued
his father's policy of insisting upon temporary
grants ; and though under Belcher, to whom he was

^Steiner, in Am. Hist. Assoc, Annual Report, 1899, pp. 351,
a 6 o ; Proud , Pennsylvania , 1 1 . , 2 1 7 .

1749] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 225

more friendly, he was willing to make some con-
cessions, he refused to yield the essential principle
at issue. The historian Hutchinson, who was just
beginning his public career as Cooke's drew to a
close, said that he had "the character of a fair
and open enemy," and remarked on his unusual
success during the earlier part of his career in
"keeping the people steady in applause of his
measures." *

During the second quarter of the eighteenth cen-
tury a few men were rising into prominence who
were to play still larger parts in the revolutionary
era. In Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, as a
representative from Boston in the general court,
was already a leader in the fight for sound money
against the Land Bank and paper-money faction,
and was urging, without effect at first, but with
final success, the redemption of the currency in
specie. Then, as in later years, he showed his
readiness to resist a strong popular movement
which seemed to him mistaken.^

Franklin also had begun his long and varied
career of public service. Bom in Boston, he had
while still a boy assisted his brother in publishing
the New England Courant, and thus seen something
of party politics in Massachusetts. His stay in
England from 1724 to 1726 gave him a broader

* Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay, II., 200, 211, 293, 335, 351.
' Davis, Currency and Banking in Mass. Bay, II., 168-189;
Hutchinson, Hist, of Mass. Bay, II., 352 et seq.

2^6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1729

knowledge of the world than most of his contem-
poraries, and before he was twenty he had made the
acquaintance of some of the most prominent men
of his time both in England and America. In 1729,
at the age of twenty-three, he took charge of the
Pennsylvania Gazette, which soon became the prin-
cipal paper of the province; and three years later
came the first issue of Poor Richard's Almanac.
During these early years he showed that combina-
tion of business shrewdness with public spirit which
was to distinguish him through life. Before 1740
he had been appointed postmaster at Philadelphia,
and had set on foot a number of important public
enterprises in the city, including its fire company
and its public library.

From the beginning he took a keen interest in
provincial politics. In support of the paper-money
policy he published in 1729 his Modest Inquiry into
the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency, which,
though not in accord with modem economic views,
was above the average level of contemporary pub-
lications on that subject. In 1736 he began his
long service as clerk of the assembly, and soon be-
came a recognized leader of the popular party. In
1748 one of the proprietors characterized his ** doc-
trine that obedience to governors is no more due
than protection to the people" as "not fit to be in
the heads of the unthinking multitude," adding,
"He is a dangerous man, and I should be glad if he
inhabited another country, as I believe him of a

1748] PROVINCIAL LEADERS 227

very uneasy spirit. However, as he is a sort of
tribune of the people, he must be treated with re-
gard." '

* Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.), I., passim, esp. 53-57, 146-
149, 153, 167-205; Penn, Letter-Book, quoted in Shepherd, Pro-
prietary Government i" P^., ^J»?-

CHAPT2K XiV

MMIGRATION AND EXPANSION
(1690-1740)

DURING the fifty years after Penn began his
colony only two new English provinces were
permanently organized in North America; these
were Nova Scotia, conquered from the French in
1 7 10, and Georgia, which was carved out of South
Carolina in 1732. Placed on the northern and
southern frontiers of the British dominions, these
two colonies had a considerable political importance ;
but in point of population both remained insignifi-
cant throughout the provincial era. The story of
colonial expansion during this period is, therefore,
chiefly concerned with the development of the older
colonies.

Between 1690 and 1740 the population of the
continental colonies increased from something over
two hundred thousand to about one million. There
was substantial growth in every colony, but the
most decided increase came in the middle group.
By about the middle of the eighteenth century
Pennsylvania outstripped all the older colonies ex-

228

I740] IMMIGRATION 229

cept Virginia and Massachusetts, and in white popu-
lation she was nearly equal to Virginia.^

The important natural increase of population was
reinforced in most colonies by a large immigration,
partly from England but more largely from Scot-
land, Ireland, and the continent of Europe. Com-
paratively few of these non-English settlers came
to New England, though there were some French
Huguenots and Scotch-Irish. With something of
the old exclusive spirit, the later Puritans scruti-
nized jealously immigrants of alien faith and race,
and thus, to the close of the colonial era, New
England remained distinctly Puritan and English.'

In New York the conditions seemed more favor-
able for growth by immigration. Its population
at the beginning of the eighteenth century was
more distinctly cosmopolitan than that of any
other colony. The majority of its people were of
Dutch descent, though in New York City the
Dutch language and the Dutch church lost ground
during the next half -century, and the young peo-
ple came to " speak principally English and go only
to the English church." In other counties, like
Albany, the Dutch language predominated, and it
was difficult to find men sufficiently acquainted
with English to serve as jurors. A community so
varied in its racial and religious elements was ap-

> Dexter, Estimates of Population in the American Colonies.
2 Belknap, New Hampshire, II., 30, 71; Proper, Colonial Im-
migration Laws, 22-34.

230 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

parently well adapted to attract the foreign immi-
grant.^

This opportunity was lost, however, largely be-
cause of the mistaken policy of the provincial au-
thorities. The land legislation of New York was
less liberal than that of other colonies, particu-
larly Pennsylvania. The unfortunate experience of
some Palatinate Germans who settled in New York
during Queen Anne's reign discouraged others of
that nationality from coming to New York, and
placed the province at a serious disadvantage in
the competition with her neighbors to the south.'

During the eighteenth century Pennsylvania was
especially attractive to non-English immigrants from
Europe. She offered land and citizenship on easy
terms, and she adhered more consistently than any
other colony to the principles of religious freedom.
The result was a volume of immigration which pro-
foundly influenced the subsequent history of the
colony and the state.

The first to come in considerable numbers were
the Germans. Some of this nationality were among
the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania, but their
n-umbers were then comparatively small. The Ger-
mans first became important during the second dec-
ade of the eighteenth century, partly because of
peculiar conditions in the mother-country, partly

* Kalm, Travels, in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII., 463, 586;
Valentine, Hist, of City of New York, 299.
' Proper, Colonial Immigration Laws, 38-44.

aoRHAY & ca.,H.T.

1709] IMMIGRATION 231

through the action of the British government, and
partly because of the liberal policy of the proprietary
government.

The treaties of Westphalia in 1648 failed to se-
cure either the domestic or the international peace
of the disintegrating German empire, and thousands
of people belonging to various Protestant sects were
led to seek refuge from persecution under a foreign
flag. The great international wars of Louis XIV. 's
reign also left their mark upon the unfortunate bor-
der regions of western Germany, especially in the
Palatinate, which suffered severely from the French
armies.

To these persecuted Protestants the government
of Queen Anne and her successors offered protection
and religious freedom under the English flag, and
the result was an immense immigration to England
and her colonies. For their benefit Parliament
enacted its first general naturalization law, which,
though repealed three years later, gave to large
numbers of them the rights of English subjects.
A few Palatines were sent to Ireland, but the great
majority found their way to America. In 1709
the Board of Trade sent a considerable colony of
them to New York, where they were expected to
devote their energies largely to the production of
naval stores. They were dissatisfied, however,
with the plans made for them, and after some
serious disagreements with the provincial govern-
ment, a considerable number of them left New

232 PROVLNCIAL AMERICA [1727

York for Pennsylvania. Others came directly from
Europe, and about the same time a considerable
body of Swiss Mennonites came into the colony.*

About 1727 the German and Swiss immigration
began to assume large proportions, sometimes
amounting to several thousand new arrivals in a
single year. These immigrants included adherents
of various Protestant sects : the Lutherans, the Ger-
man Reformed, the Mennonites, the Dunkards, and
finally the Moravians, perhaps the most attractive
representatives of eighteenth-century Pietism.

This strong infusion of alien influences was looked
upon with some misgiving, and Penn's secretary,
Logan, suggested the danger of the province being
transformed into a German colony. It was pointed
out that the new-comers frequently squatted on
their lands without making regular purchases from
the proprietary agents, and that "being ignorant
of our language and laws, and settling in a body
together," they formed "a distinct people from his
Majesty's subjects." A German newspaper was
founded at Germantown as early as 1739, and in
1743 another was issued in Philadelphia. In time
the Germans became an important factor in colo-
nial politics, uniting with the Quakers to form a
conservative peace party in opposition to those

* Proper, Colonial Immigration Laws, 14, 40; Carpenter, in
Am. Hist. Review, IX., 293 ; Kuhns, German and Swiss Settle'
ments of Colonial Pennsylvania, chaps, i.-iii.; N. Y. Docs. Rel.
to Col. Hist., v., passim.

1755] IMMIGRATION 233

who were trying to establish an efficient military
system.

Some efforts were made to check the tide of im-
migration, or at least to regulate it. In 1727 the
Pennsylvania council ordered masters of vessels to
furnish lists of their passengers, and immigrants
were required to declare their allegiance to the king
and the proprietor. In 1729 a duty was imposed
on the importation of foreigners and Irish servants.
The act was repealed almost immediately, but the
feeling which prompted the measure evidently per-
sisted. The proprietary governors, however, usually
desired to encourage immigration, and in 1755 a bill
restricting it was defeated by the governor's veto.*

More aggressive politically than the Germans
were the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. This immi-
gration first assumed importance a few years after
the close of Queen Anne's War, but it developed
rapidly during the next two decades. The Scotch-
Irish, like the Germans, were not regarded with un-
mixed satisfaction. During the early years they
received liberal terms and were encouraged to form
barrier settlements on the frontier. Logan found
them as little disposed to pay for their land as some
of the Germans had been; they were quoted as
arguing that it was "against the laws of God and

* Shepherd, Proprietary Government in Pa., 545; Watson,
AnnaLs of Philadelphia (ed. of 1857), II., 254-259, 398; Proper,
Colonial Immigration Laws, 46-54; [Burke], European Settle-
tnents, II., 201.

234 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

nature that so much land should be idle while so
many Christians wanted it to labour on, and to raise
their bread." They were also criticised for their
tendency to embroil themselves with the Indians,
and this aggressive and warlike spirit made them
particularly objectionable to the Quakers, who tried
to restrict their political influence by refusing them
proportionate representation in the assembly/

Many Germans and Scotch-Irish also found their
way into New Jersey. One important German set-
tlement in that colony was that of New Brunswick,
which by 1750 had two German churches. The
strength of the Scotch-Irish element in that colony
may be seen in the rapid extension of the Presby-
terian church.^

This immigration impressed more strongly than
ever upon the middle colonies that complexity in
race and religion which had been characteristic of
them from the first. Nowhere did this complexity
find clearer expression than in the colonial churches.
In New York City in the middle of the eighteenth
century there were English, Dutch, French, Ger-
man, and Jewish places of worship, besides a Pres-
byterian church which was affiliated with the es-
tabhshed church of Scotland. Of twelve churches
in Philadelphia, noted by Kalm during his stay
there in 1749, at least seven represented non-Eng-

' Logan M5S., quoted in Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, II.,
259; Shepherd, Proprietary Government in Pa., 546.
' Kalm, in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII., 448-450.

i7So] IMMIGRATION 235

lish elements in the life of the colony, including
Swedish and German Lutherans, German Calvinists,
a Moravian church where services were conducted
both in English and German, and the "great house"
of the Roman Catholics. Outside of Philadelphia
there were several German communities, made up
almost if not quite exclusively of members of a single
religious body, as in the case of the German Baptists
at Ephrata and the Moravians at Bethlehem.*

During the eighteenth century, the southern colo-
nies also sought to encourage immigration, some-
times making religious concessions for this purpose.
The French Huguenot immigration, which began
some years before the revolution of 1689, continued
for several years afterwards, and in Virginia and
South Carolina these settlers were nimierous enough
to form several churches. In spite of their Calvin-
istic traditions they maintained, as a rule, friendly
relations with the established Anglican church, and
often united with it. Other Protestant settlers in
South Carolina were not so friendly to these refugees,
but the early antagonism gradually passed away.^

Aside from the French Huguenots, the non-
English immigration into the south was compara-
tively unimportant until the second quarter of the
eighteenth century. Then the Scotch- Irish and the

' Kalm, in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII., 388, 457, 584; cf. Sachse,
German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, passim.

^ Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1693-1696, p. 85; McCrady, South
Carolina under Proprietary Government, 180, 181, 233, 239, 304,
319. 323. 339. 374. 391. 404.

236 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1714

Germans began to appear in force in the up-country
of Virginia and especially in the Great Valley. In
order to develop these settlements on the frontier,
the royal government was willing to concede relig-
ious toleration. Under the leadership of their pioneer
ministers, the Great Valley became, as it is to-day, a
stronghold of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, standing out
in marked contrast, sometimes in sharp antagonism,
with the Anglican influence of the tide-water.^

In South Carolina the overthrow of the pro-
prietary government was followed by vigorous ef-
forts to stimulate immigration. A favorite plan at
this period was that of laying out new townships
and offering them to communities or groups of set-
tlers. In this way the Scotch-Irish settlement of
Williamsburg was formed, with a special guarantee
of freedom of worship. Other similar communities
were founded by Swiss, German, and Welsh settlers.
Here, as in Pennsylvania, the new-comers tended
to form on the frontiers communities with sym-
pathies and interests quite different from those of
the seaboard. It was not, however, until the period
of the last French war that the great Scotch- Irish
immigration into the Carolinas took place; and not
until then did the mutual jealousy and antago-
nism of tide-water and back-country become a really
important factor in their provincial politics.^

A large proportion of the early American immi-

^ Mcllwaine, in Johns Hopkins University Studies, XII., No. iv.
' McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, chap. viii.

I740] IMMIGRATION 237

grants belonged to the servant class. The best of
them were the " redemptioners, " who sold their ser-
vices for fixed terms of years in return for their
passage money. Both in Pennsylvania and Mary-
land these white servants formed an important part
of the industrial system ; and many of them became,
after their term of service, prosperous land-owners
and useful citizens.

A much less desirable kind of servants were the
convicts. Under a parliamentary statute of 17 17
certain classes of criminals might at the discretion of
the court be transported to the colonies for a term
of not less than seven years.* It has been estimated
that some fifty thousand convicts were shipped
from Great Britain and Ireland during the remain-
der of the colonikl period. Maryland has the dis-
tinction of receiving more of them than any other
single colony, and the convicts there formed the
larger portion of the servant class. Several of the
colonies attempted to check this introduction of
servants, especially that of the Irish Catholics and
the convicts. Such restrictive measures were, how-
ever, discouraged by the home government and fre-
quently disallowed.^

No other form of immigration during this period
had so serious a meaning for the future of the

^ 4 George I., chap. xi.

' Kalm, in Pinkerton, Travels, XIII., 500; Geiser, Redemp-
tioners and Indented Servants in Pennsylvania ; McCormac, White
Servitude in Maryland {Johns Hopkins University Studies, XXII.,
Nos. iii.,iv.).

238 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1672

American people as that of the negro slaves. At
the close of the seventeenth century the slaves
constituted only a small minority of the popula-
tion in all of the colonies except South Carolina.
During the next fifty years this condition was radi-
cally changed through the development of the
African slave-trade. The Royal African Company,
which was chartered in 1672, carried on an in-
creasing trade with monopoly privileges until, in
1698, Parliament admitted private merchants to a
share in it. In 17 13 the Asiento contract with
Spain gave England a larger interest in this branch
of commerce, which had the special favor of the
crown. Between 1698 and 1707 some twenty-five
thousand slaves were probably brought annually
from Africa to America, and the number was in-
creased after the Asiento privilege had been se-
cured. The proportion which went to the con-
tinental colonies also increased. By the middle of
the eighteenth century, there were about three
hundred thousand slaves in British North Amer-
ica, so that they had increased at least twice as
rapidly as the white population.*

This negro population was very unequally distrib-
uted. On the western shore of Narragansett Bay
there was a small slave-holding aristocracy which
had an important influence in the social and political
life of Rhode Island ; but in New England, general-
ly, the negro population was insignificant. Of the
* Du Bois, Suppression of the Slave-Trade, chap. i.

1 7 so] IMMIGRATION 239

middle colonies, New York had the largest propor-
tion of slaves, from one-sixth to one-seventh of the
total population. There was even then a decided
transition in this respect on passing southward
from Pennsylvania into Maryland, where perhaps
one -fourth of the people were slaves. In Vir-
ginia the proportion was probably about two-fifths,
and in some Virginia counties, as well as in South
Carolina, the negroes outnumbered the whites.^

As the slaves increased, their legal status was
more carefully defined by legislation, and they were
more sharply differentiated from the white servants.
Stringent laws were enacted to prevent the inter-
mixture of the races ; and a Virginia statute classed
negroes, for certain purposes, as real estate. The
power of the master over his slave, though not
absolute, was very great, especially in the south;
in Virginia, for instance, manslaughter, as dis-
tinguished from wilful murder, was not punishable
if committed by a master upon his slave. The testi-
mony of a negro could not be accepted as evidence
except against those of his own race, and special
courts were provided for the trial of his more serious
offences, "without the solemnitie of a jury." ^

^ Du Bois, Suppression of the Slave-Trade, chaps, ii.-iv., esp.
statistics in notes; Doc. Hist, of N. Y., I., 695; Channing, Narra-
gansett Planters, and Ballagh, Slavery in Virginia {Johns Hop-
kins University Studies, IV., No. iii. and extra vol.).

2 Hening, Statutes, III., 86, 102, 333, 447 et seq., IV., 133; cf.
Channing, Narragansett Planters; Ballagh, Slavery in Virginia;
Steiner, Slavery in Connecticut {Johns Hopkins University
Studies, IV., No. iii., XL, Nos. ix., x., and extra vol.)

24© PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 12

Opinions differed then, as now, regarding the
actual grievances of the negro. Burnaby, who
visited Virginia in 1759, thought slaves were very
harshly treated; while Byrd, a somewhat fair-
minded slave-owner, thought they were not worked
so hard as the poorer people in other countries, and
that cruelty was exceptional. The house -servants
of the wealthy planters were doubtless well treated
and even trained to a certain kind of refinement
and dignity of manner. The conditions of the half-
savage field-laborers were quite different, and the
constant dread of slave insurrections showed how
largely the servile relation depended upon the su-
perior force and discipline of the dominant whites.*

In the north, the most familiar examples of real
or imaginary slave insurrections are the so-called
"negro plots" of 17 12 and 1741 in New York, in
both of which the danger was grossly exaggerated.
Both of these " plots " were followed by severe meas-
ures of repression ; and in the panic of 174 1, on rather
doubtful evidence, fourteen negroes were burned at
the stake and eighteen were hanged. In the south-
em colonies the large negro population made the
danger much more real, and the proximity of hostile
Spaniards and Indians was an additional source of
embarrassment in South Carolina. The most im-
portant actual outbreak took place in South Caro-

* Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII., 714, 750; Bassett, Writings of
William Byrd, xxxv.; Jones, Present State of Virginia (ed. of
1865). 37.

1759] IMMIGRATION 241

lina in 1739; but the prevalent feeling is shown
by the elaborate patrol system of the prov-
ince.^

The evils of the system were recognized even in
the south. William Byrd expressed his sympathy
with the efforts of the Georgia trustees to prohibit
slavery in their new colony, emphasizing the danger
of insurrections and the depressing influence of
slave-labor upon the whites. The southern colonies
tried to protect themselves from an excessive slave
population by a number of acts imposing prohibi-
tory or retaliatory duties; but these acts were fre-
quently disallowed by the crown. ^

Some efforts were made to instruct and Chris-
tianize the slaves. Eliza Lucas, of South Carolina,
who afterwards married Chief - Justice Pinckney,
mentions "a parcel of little Negroes whom I have
undertaken to teach to read";' and considerable
efforts were also made to Christianize the negroes.
The theory that baptism might work emancipation
caused some anxiety at first; but it was expressly
denied by provincial statutes and in a formal dec-
laration by the bishop of London. Both in the
northern and the southern colonies negroes became
members of churches, though their inferior status

» N. y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., V., 341, VI., 195 et seq.; Val-
entine, Hist, of City of New York, 268-276; McCrady, South
Carolina under Royal Government, 183-187.

' Du Bois, Suppression of the Slave -Trade, chap, ii,; Am.
Hist. Review. I., 88.

' Journal and Letters of Eliza Lucas, 16.

242 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1688

was marked by their being confined to a special
comer or gallery.^

The ethical aspect of slavery was rarely consid-
ered. Though comparatively few slaves were held
in New England, this was largely the result of eco-
nomic considerations, and some of the most promi-
nent and respected merchants of Boston and Newport
were deeply involved in the slave-trade. Here and
there, however, the moral objection found expression.

In 1688 the Germantown Quakers protested
against slave - holding by Friends as contrary to
the golden rule and a scandal to the society; and
during the next half - century there were similar
protests. Nevertheless, many of the Quakers con-
tinued to hold slaves, and no positive action was
taken against slavery by the ** Yearly Meeting" of
the society until 1758. Perhaps the finest expression
of antislavery feeling during this period was Judge
Se wall's Selling of Joseph. Without neglecting the
economic argument against slavery, he lays the em-
phasis upon religious and ethical considerations:
" These Ethiopians, as black as they are ; seeing they
are the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the
Brethren and Sisters of the Last Adam and the Off-
spring of God ; They ought to be treated with a Re-
spect agreeable . " ^

* Hening, Statutes, III., 460; McCrady, South Carolina under
Royal Government, chap. iii.

' Moore, Slavery in Mass., 74-77 ; Sharpless, Quaker Experiment
in Government (ed. of 1902), L, 31; Sewall, Diary, II., 16-20.

1758] IMMIGRATION 243

As late as 1750 the south had scarcely any real
urban centres. In Maryland the seat of govern-
ment, Annapolis, was hardly more than a village;
and Baltimore had hardly a hundred inhabitants.
In Virginia, Williamsburg had been made the capi-
tal and had some public buildings which attracted
attention, but its permanent inhabitants were few.
Richmond was not laid out as a town until about
the close of this period. Norfolk, at the entrance of
Chesapeake Bay, was described by William Byrd
in 1728 as having "most the ayr of a Town of any
in Virginia." The principal places of North Carolina
were mere country villages. South Carolina, alone of
all the southern colonies, had a real urban centre in
Charleston, which, more than any other town in Amer-
ica, concentrated in itself the economic, social, and
political activity of the colony to which it belonged.*

In the middle colonies two important centres of
population grew up at Philadelphia and New York.
Philadelphia, in the first sixty years of its history,
developed into a town of about thirteen thousand
people and was still growing rapidly when Kalm
visited it a few years later. Only a few miles away
was the thriving settlement of Germantown with
its one street, "near two English miles long," and
its four churches, two English and two German.
The growth of New York was less rapid; in 1703

' Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist.,V., 261-268; [Burke], European
Settlements, II., 212, 233: Bumaby,in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII.,
707; Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, 28.

244 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

it had about five thousand inhabitants, white and
black; in 1741 the number had increased to about
twelve thousand, and during this decade it stood
next to Boston and Philadelphia. There were no
other large towns in the middle colonies; but New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania each had a few
other substantial places. Parts of this middle re-
gion were so well occupied with Europeans, that
according to a contemporary witness, ** few parts of
Europe are more populous."^

In New England, town life had, of course, been
relatively important from the first; and during the
first half of the eighteenth century Boston held its
place as the most considerable centre of popula-
tion and trade on the continent, though the number
of its inhabitants probably did not much exceed
twenty thousand. Second in importance among
the New England towns was Newport, which grew
very rapidly after the peace of Utrecht. Along the
coast from New Hampshire to New York were
such considerable port towns as Portsmouth, Salem,
New London, and New Haven. In New England
even more than in the middle colonies the prosperity
of the large towns rested upon what was, accord-
ing to the standards of that day, a fairly compact
surrounding population.^

^ Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, II., 404; Kalm.in Pinkerton,
Voyages, XIII., 395, 406, 449; Valentine, Hist, of City of New
York, 217 and App.

^ Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 583;
Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston II.. 496, 510, 529.

i75o] IMMIGRATION AND EXPANSION 245

More important, on the whole, than the forma-
tion of a few urban centres was the gradual recession
of the frontier. The rapidity of this movement
varied greatly at different points along the sea-
board, but the final result was a surprise to Euro-
pean observers. One traveller remarked that in
most places one might travel "about a hundred
and twenty English miles from the seashore before
you reach the first habitations of the Indians "; or
spend half a year in the seaboard towns without
seeing an Indian.^

On the extreme north the frontier still extended
to the coast. Only a few years after the peace of
Utrecht another Indian outbreak, inspired by the
Jesuit Rale and known as LovewelTs war (1722-
1725), checked the advance of settlement north and
east. In 1743 the town of Brunswick, in Maine,
was one of a little group of exposed frontier settle-
ments and military posts extending only a short dis-
tance beyond the Kennebec. In New Hampshire
there was a movement of settlers up the Merri-
mac valley to Concord, and settlements were also
formed on the east bank of the Connecticut River.
The first English occupation beyond the river, in
what is now Vermont, was Fort Dttmmer, built in
1724, near the present site of Brattleboro. Farther
south, the Massachusetts pioneers moved forward
after Queen Anne*s War across the Connecticut val-
ley into the Berkshire region, first occupied about
* Kalm, in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII., 449.

246 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

1725; and the line of settlement was soon carried
close to the present western boundary of the state. ^

In New York, the movement into the interior
was comparatively slow. In 1740, as in 1690, the
population of the province was confined almost
wholly to Long Island and to narrow lines of settle-
ment on both banks of the Hudson between New
York City and Albany. A few weak German set-
tlements were formed in the Mohawk valley; and
on Lake Ontario there was the isolated post of
Oswego.

The rapidly growing population of Pennsylvania
made possible a more substantial advance. By
1744 there were considerable settlements of Ger-
mans and Scotch-Irish in the Susquehanna valley,
including the substantial town of Lancaster. On
the upper Schuylkill, Reading had developed by
1752 to a place of one hundred and thirty dwellings ;
and in 1740 the Moravians advanced the frontier
towards the north by the founding of Bethlehem in
the Lehigh valley.^

More interesting still was the westward move-
ment in the southern colonies. At the close of the
seventeenth century the estate of William Byrd
the elder, at the falls of the James, on the present
site of Richmond, occupied an isolated frontier

*Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist., V., 127, 181-188; Holland,
Western Massachusetts, I., chap. x. ; Williamson, Maine, IL, 214.

'Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, II., 147-150; Kuhn, Ger-
man and Swiss Settlements in Colonial Pennsylvania, passim.

1752] IMMIGRATION AND EXPANSION 247

position and was exposed to Indian attacks. Within
the next fifty years, and especially during the latter
half of that period, population moved west and up
the great rivers, the York, the Rappahannock, and
the James, to the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge.
Finally, the southward course of the Scotch-Irish
and Germans from Pennsylvania into the Great
Valley beyond the Blue Ridge brought a popula-
tion which required the organization of new county
governments. In 1738 the counties of Augusta
and Frederick were organized, both in the territory
west of the Blue Ridge. ^

In the Carolinas there was a similar development
though somewhat later in time. When the first
royal governor of North Carolina, Burrington, began
his administration in 1731 almost the whole popu-
lation was to be found close to the coast below the
falls of the rivers, from the Roanoke southward to
the Cape Fear. Twenty years later Governor John-
ston, reporting on the rapid increase of popula-
tion, especially from Pennsylvania, said that thou-
sands had already come in; they were settling
mainly in the west and had nearly reached the
mountains. In South Carolina also the back set-
tlements had been only slightly extended before
1730; but during the next decade settlements of
Scotch-Irish, Germans, Swiss, and Welsh were made
in the middle region between the tide-water and

» Bassett, Writings of Williatn Byrd, p. xxix. ; Hening, StatuUs,
v.. 78.

248 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1755

the up-country. Finally, in the fifties, the main
stream of Scotch-Irish immigration made its way
into the up-country/

* McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, chap. viii. ;
N. C. Col. Records, III., chap, xii., IV., 1073.

CHAPTER XV

FOUNDING OF GEORGIA
(1732-1754)

WHILE the older colonies were developing by the
help of immigrants from Europe, occasional
projects appeared for the organization of new prov-
inces. In 1690 a proposed charter to a new colo-
nizing company was submitted to the attorney-gen-
eral. It provided for a colony in North America,
lying between the thirty-fourth and the forty-sixth
degrees of latitude, bounded on the east by the
western boundaries of New York, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and on the
west by the Pacific. The attorney-general offered
no objection, but the plan was never carried out.
Soon after the conquest of Acadia another new
province was planned between Nova Scotia and
Maine, but this project also was dropped.*

One of the reasons most frequently urged for
new settlements was the formation of a barrier
against rival colonizing powers; and the need of
such a barrier colony was especially felt on the ex-

* Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, p. 761 ; Hutchinson, Hist,
of Mass. Bay, II., 203.

VOL. VI.— 18 249

250 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [17 16

posed frontier of South Carolina. Here, in the
wilderness now occupied by the states of Georgia
and Alabama, the traders and soldiers of England,
France, and Spain were competing for the Indian
trade and for ultin.ace political control. Within the
present limits of Georgia there had been almost no
permanent occupation by white men before the
year 1733, but explorers, during the latter part of
the seventeenth century, brought reports of Span-
iards working mines in the mountainous regions of
upper Georgia. The French, too, with their head-
quarters on Mobile Bay, were reaching out to se-
cure a monopoly of the Indian trade.

To this region the English had already asserted
their title by the charter of 1665, which extended
the nominal jurisdiction of the Carolina proprie-
tors to the twenty-ninth parallel, several miles
south of St. Augustine. This extreme claim was
never enforced ; but early in the eighteenth century
the South Carolina government began to push for-
ward its posts into and beyond the valley of the
Savannah. In 17 16 Fort Moore was established on
the Savannah opposite the present site of Augusta,
Georgia. In 1721 Fort King George was established
on the Altamaha and garrisoned by a few British
regulars. This fort was abandoned in 1727, but
another had already been built on the western bank
of the Savannah, which was maintained until 1735.*

» Charter in Carroll, Hist. Collections of S. C, II., 39; Smith,
South Carolina, 208.

1732] GEORGIA 2$%

In 1730 a vigorous effort was made to counter-
act the French influence among the Indians of the
hill country by sending Sir Alexander Cuming on a
dangerous but successful mission to the Cherokees,
which resulted in their acknowledging the English
supremacy and promising the monopoly of their
trade.* Thus when, two years later, the British
government renewed its claims to the disputed re-
gion by granting a considerable part of it to the
Georgia trustees, the step was a natural develop-
ment from the policy of the previous decade.

In the final settlement of Georgia this idea of a
barrier colony was combined with a distinctly phil-
anthropic motive. The new province should serve
as a barrier against foreign attacks and a safe-
guard of English interests in America; but it was
also to be a refuge for the unfortunate. Both of
these motives are explicitly stated in the charter
of the colony and both are admirably illustrated in
the personality and the public career of its founder.

James Edward Oglethorpe was bom in 1689,
and had therefore reached middle life before his
American career began. After a short military
service in the English and Austrian armies, he en-
tered the House of Commons in 1722, and, in spite
of his prolonged absences in America, he retained
his membership for over thirty years. He soon be-
came a conspicuous member and showed the breadth
of his public interests by speeches on a variety of

*Winsor, Mississippi Basin, 183; Jones, Georgia, I., 76-80.

252 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1729

subjects. He agreed with Walpole's critics in de-
manding a more aggressive assertion of English in-
terests against the Spaniards, and he objected to a
treaty with the emperor, because it failed to secure
the Protestants of Germany against religious per-
secution; he also showed his appreciation of the
colonial point of view by opposing the molasses act
of 1733. The words attributed to him on this occa-
sion deserved to be remembered : " Our colonies are
all a part of our own dominions ; the people in every
one of them are our own people, and we ought to
show an equal respect to all." ^

The most attractive aspect of Oglethorpe's par-
liamentary career is his disinterested service in be-
half of poor debtors. Not only were honest debtors
then generally subjected to the humiliation of ar-
rest and imprisonment, but they were frequently
placed at the mercy of jailers who had purchased
their appointments and regarded them as invest-
ments. Oglethorpe became interested in the re-
form of this system, and in 1729 he secured from
the Commons the appointment of a committee of
inquiry. As chairman of this committee he made
a series of reports to the house, bringing to light
many instances of extreme cruelty and extortion.

Oglethorpe was now convinced of the existence
of a large class of honest but unfortunate people
who might under the more favorable conditions of

* Wright, Oglethorpe, chaps, i.-iii. ; Cobbett, Parliamentary
History, VIII., 920.

1732] GEORGIA 253

a new country, and with a little assistance at the
start, be enabled ultimately to stand on their own
feet. Public interest had been awakened by the recent
investigations, and almost at the same time the sur-
render of the Carolina charter left the field clear for the
founding of a new colony on the southern frontier.

Many prominent noblemen and clergymen agreed
to support the enterprise; and in June, 1732, they
received a royal charter incorporating them as " the
Trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia in
America." The objects of the colony were de-
clared to be two: first, the relief of the king's " poor
subjects" who in the New World might "not only
gain a comfortable subsistence for themselves and
families, but also strengthen our colonies and in-
crease the trade, navigation, and wealth" of the
kingdom; secondly, the protection of the frontier
against the attacks of the savages.*

The territory of the new colony was defined as
that lying between the Savannah and Altamaha
rivers and extending from their head-waters west-
ward to the "south seas." An undivided eighth
part of this territory was still the property of Lord
Carteret, one of the Carolina proprietors who had
refused to yield his share in the original Carolina
grant. The trustees, however, promptly secured
the surrender of Carteret's claim.

* Charter, in Poore, Charters and Constitutions, I.; Some Ac-
count of the Designs of the Trustees {Am. Colonial Tracts, I.,
No. ii.).

254 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1732

This charter was a return to the principle of pro-
prietary government. The soil of the colony and
the government of its people were intrusted to a
private corporation which was to exercise authority
over the colonists without reference to any repre-
sentative assembly. It differs from the older char-
ters, however, in two important respects. In the
first place, the enterprise was purely disinterested:
members of the corporation were expressly pro-
hibited from receiving any profits from membership
or the holding of office, and all the lands of the
colony, with any contributions which might be re-
ceived, were to be held in trust. In the second
place, the reserved rights of the crown were more
strongly asserted than in any previous proprietary
charter. The corporation was required to present
annual reports of receipts and expenditures, and all
its legislation was to be submitted to the crown for
approval. Every new governor had to be approved
by the crown and was required to take the oaths
and offer the financial securities usually required of
royal governors. Even this modified proprietary
government was to be temporary, for after twenty-
one years Georgia was to become a royal province.

The charter provisions, taken together with the
early legislation of the trustees, bring out clearly the
benevolent paternalism of the founders. The cor-
poration was authorized to transport foreigners who
were willing to become subjects of the crown, and
religious liberty was promised to all except "pa-

1732J GEORGIA 255

pists." A number of the regulations show the de-
sire of the trustees to protect the moral and eco-
nomic welfare of the colonists even, if necessary,
against themselves. Thus, though the charter al-
lowed one person to hold land up to five hundred
acres, the maximum grant was made only to those
who transported at least ten persons to the colony.
These grants were entailed so that they could not
be alienated or divided, and according to the origi-
nal regulations estates could only pass to male
heirs, reverting in the absence of such heirs to the
trustees. The purpose of these rules was to pro-
tect the settlers against their own improvidence, to
prevent the formation of excessively large estates,
and to build up a considerable soldier-farmer class.
A logical part of this plan for developing a class
of small landed proprietors was the prohibition of
slavery. In South Carolina the system of large
plantations worked by savage negro slaves had ex-
posed the small white population to serious dangers
from slave insurrections. The large number of
fugitive slaves protected by the Spaniards and some-
times enlisted in their military service was also a
serious annoyance. These dangers the trustees
wished to avoid in their new colony; in close con-
tact with the slave-holding plantation system of
South Carolina they hoped to establish a new com-
munity, founded on the opposite principle of free
labor. The trustees also imposed important re-
strictions on trade : no rum was to be imported into

2S6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1732

the colony, and no trade could be carried on with
the Indians without a license.^

The trustees now set themselves to secure de-
sirable immigrants. They were ready to help the
unfortunate, but they did not wish to fill up the
colony with recruits from the vicious and degener-
ate classes. Besides, the funds of the trustees were
insufficient to enable them to send over all who
wished to take advantage of this opportunity.
Hence, a careful sifting process became necessary.
By the autumn of 1732, however, about one hun-
dred men, women, and children had been gathered,
including men of various occupations: carpenters,
bricklayers, and farmers are among those men-
tioned. Oglethorpe offered to assimie the conduct
of the colony, and was accordingly appointed its
first governor. After a voyage of nearly two
months the colonists arrived at Charleston in
January, 1733.^

South Carolina was strongly interested in the
formation of this new barrier colony, and Ogle-
thorpe and his charges were cordially received.
Temporary quarters were provided for the settlers
in the frontier port of Beaufort, and both the gov-
ernment and the people showed every disposition
to help in putting the new colony on its feet.

In the mean time, Oglethorpe had to undertake

* Account Showing the Progress of Georgia (Am. Colonial TraciSf
I., No. v.).

* Ibid.; Jones, Georgia, I., chaps, vi., vii.

1733] GEORGIA 257

the delicate and important task of reaching a satis-
factory understanding with the Indians. The east-
em part of the new province was mainly occupied
by various Creek tribes. With the help of an Ind-
ian woman who had married a white trader, Ogle-
thorpe entered into negotiations with the chief of
one of these tribes, and secured from him a grant
of land near the mouth of the Savannah. With
the help of the same chief, a convention of the lower
Creek Indians was subsequently held and a treaty of
alliance was entered into. The Indians surrendered
a tract of land near the coast between the Savannah
and the Altamaha, and agreed to have no communi-
cation with the French and the Spaniards. These
arrangements, subsequently agreed to by the Ind-
ians of the back country, were formally ratified by
the common council of the trustees, and proved
effective in protecting the colony from Indian at-
tacks during the critical period of its early history.*
Before these negotiations were completed, Ogle-
thorpe had brought his colonists to the tract ceded
by Tomochichi and laid the foundations of the
present city of Savannah. By the summer of 1733,
the town had been laid out and lands allotted to
individual settlers, in regular assignments including
a town lot, a garden, and a farm — in all, fifty acres.
For the first ten years the land was to be held rent
free ; but after that an annual rent of two shillings
was to be paid. During the early stages of the
* Text of treaty in Jones, Georgia, I., 141-144.

258 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1733

settlement the inhabitants were dependent upon
the coinmon stock; they were governed by Ogle-
thorpe in paternalistic fashion, and for many years
the colony had only the most rudimentary political
organization.^

In 1734 an important new element was intro-
duced by the coming of the Protestant Germans
from Salzburg. These Germans were subjects of
the Catholic archbishop of Salzburg, who had been
driven by his persecution to seek refuge in vari-
ous other states and countries, including Prussia
and England. In December, 1733, the trustees
agreed to transport a considerable number of them
to Georgia. They were to receive their passage
and allowances for tools, provisions, and seed, and
were to have in the province all the rights and privi-
leges of Englishmen. Under the direction of a Ger-
man nobleman, the Baron von Reck, and of their
Lutheran ministers, a company of them came to
Georgia in 1734. The chief settlement of the Salz-
burgers was at Ebenezer, a little north of Savannah
on a small tributary of the Savannah River. They
soon, however, removed to a new site a few miles
away; both the old and the new Ebenezer have
long disappeared from the map of the state. The
original company was subsequently reinforced by
others of the same nationality, most of whom set-
tled in the region between Savannah and Ebenezer.

* Jones, Georgia, I., 155 et seq.; Account Showing the Progress
of Georgia, 44-46.

i74i] GEORGIA 259

In 1735 a Moravian settlement was begun, but the
unwillingness of these people to perform military
service made them unpopular and they soon found
a more congenial home in Pennsylvania.

By 1 741 it was estimated by the secretary of
the trustees that at least twelve hundred German
Protestants had arrived in the colony. The Ger-
mans maintained a distinct community life, whose
most striking characteristics as recorded by con-
temporary observers were the industry of the peo-
ple, the strong influence of their clerical leaders,
and the primitive simplicity of their civil organiza-
tion. They had for some time no regular court of
justice, and their disputes were settled by the min-
isters in concert with three or four of ''the most
prudent Elders."

A more aggressive group of colonists came from
the Highlands of Scotland. About one hundred
and eighty people were sent out in 1735 and formed
their first settlement on the north bank of the
Altamaha, a few miles above its mouth; the dis-
trict was named Darien and the first town New
Inverness. A fort was constructed here and the
colony was afterwards strengthened by new arrivals
from Scotland; for the Highlanders, unlike most
of the Germans, took an important part in the de-
fence of the frontier.^

From the beginning, military and defensive con-

* Jones, Georgia, I., chaps, xi.-xiv.; Stevens, Georgia, I., 85-
139-

a6o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1735

siderations exerted a strong influence on the policy
of the trustees. Georgia, more nearly than any
of the other North American provinces, approxi-
mates the Roman conception of a military colony
planted for the defence of the empire. Nowhere
does this policy appear more clearly than in the
post of Frederica, at the extreme limit of the char-
ter grant, on St. Simon's Island at the mouth of the
Altamaha. Beginning in 1736 as a military post,
the town and its approaches were laid out with
definite reference to defence against the Spaniards.
Its people were largely engaged in supplying the
soldiers, and when, at the close of the war, the
troops were withdrawn the town rapidly declined.*
A more substantial and permanent settlement was
developing on the northern frontier at Augusta.
Here on the Savannah River a fort was established
in 1735, and a town laid out which soon became an
important centre for the Indian trade, especially
with the Cherokees. Besides these principal towns,
there were a number of small villages or private
plantations in the low country adjoining Savannah
and extending southward along the coast towards
the Ogeec'hee. These settlenients suffered from un-
healthy situations and some of them soon disap-
peared.'

» Jones, Dead Towns of Ga. (Ga. Hist. Soc, Collections, IV.),
No. ii.

' Ibid., esp. Nos. iii., vii.; A State of the Province of Georgia
{Am. Colonial Tracts, I., No. ii.).

"1737] GEORGIA 261

From the outset the young colony was obliged
to guard against attack by the Spaniards at St.
Augustine, who regarded the Georgians, like the
Virginians and Carolinians before them, as mere in-
truders. The charter grants of Carolina and Geor-
gia constituted a direct defiance of Spanish pre-
tensions ; but the challenge was brought closer home
when Oglethorpe, not content with his colony at
Frederica, established a series of small military
posts extending from the Altamaha to the St.
John's River, well within the limits of the present
state of Florida.

The Walpole ministry strongly desired to avoid
war, and in 1736 an English agent was sent to St.
Augustine to settle the dispute; conferences were
also held by Oglethorpe with some of the Spanish
officers. No final agreement could be reached, how-
ever, and with threatening language the Spanish
agents asserted their claim to all the coast so far
north as St. Helena Sound, only a few miles be-
low Charleston.

It was now necessary to make thorough prepara-
tion for defence, and Oglethorpe returned to Eng-
land for this purpose in the winter of 173 6- 1737.
The Spanish government demanded his recall; but
in answer to a petition from the trustees, he was au-
thorized to raise a regiment of troops for Georgia,
of which he himself was colonel. Some additional
regulars were sent directly from Gibraltar, and Ogle-
thorpe was also made commander-in-chief of all the

262 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1738

royal forces in South Carolina. He returned to
Georgia in 1738 with instructions to maintain a
cautious defensive attitude until actually attacked.
Then he might adopt any necessary measures
whether defensive or offensive.

One of the most essential conditions of success
in the conflict with the Spaniards was the good-will
of the Indians. This was now endangered, partly
by the misconduct of English traders and partly by
the intrigues of the Spaniards. To guard against
this danger, Oglethorpe undertook, in 1739, a long
and dangerous journey into the back country to
Coweta, the principal town of the Creek Indians,
where he secured a renewal of their alliance with
the English.*

Soon after this mission word came to Georgia of
the formal declaration of war between England and
Spain, brought on chiefly by the increasing friction
between English merchants and Spanish customs
officials. On the Georgia frontier the chief interest
of the war lies in two leading operations, the English
attack on St. Augustine and the successful defence
of St. Simon's Island against the Spaniards.

In 1740 St. Augustine was believed to be weak-
ened by the want of provisions and by the sending
of a part of its naval force to Havana. Oglethorpe
proposed to take this opportunity for an offensive

^Wright, Oglethorpe, chaps, viii.-xii.; Oglethorpe's letters in
Ga. Hist. Soc, Collections, III., 28-43, 55. 81; Stevens, Georgia,
I., 145-159.

1742] GEORGIA 263

movement, and it was agreed that with the help
of the South-Carolinians, the Indians, and some
vessels of the royal navy, St. Augustine was to be
attacked by sea and land. The land forces were
to cut off Spanish supplies from the interior and the
fleet was to prevent relief by reinforcements from
the West Indies. The combined forces arrived at
St. Augustine and began a siege; but they failed to
work effectively together and the result was a
humiliating failure.^

In the following year Oglethorpe reported that
the Spaniards had been strongly reinforced and
were planning an invasion of South Carolina and
Georgia. Appeals were made to the home govern-
ment and to South Carolina, but with little effect.
Finally, in 1742, the blow fell. A formidable invad-
ing expedition was organized, consisting of some
four or five thousand men with a considerable fleet,
and a landing was effected at the southern end of
St. Simon's Island. Oglethorpe had only a few hun-
dred men for the defence of Frederica, but the
character of the road which the Spaniards were
obliged to take was such that they could be at-
tacked in detail and in disadvantageous positions.
These opportunities were effectively used and the
attacking army was defeated and demoralized. Over-
estimating the opposing force, the Spaniards withdrew
from the island and the invasion was abandoned.

^ Jones, Georgia, I., chap. xxi. ; McCrady, South Carolina under
Royal Government, chaps, xi., xii.

264 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1730

In 1743, Oglethorpe led a retaliatory expedition
into the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine, but
before the end of that year he returned to Eng-
land and there were no subsequent military op-
erations of any importance on the Georgia fron-
tier. Though the offensive movements of the
English failed to accomplish any positive result,
the significant fact of the war was that they
had held their groimd and could not be dis-
lodged.^

The early years of the colony were also troubled
by internal dissensions, many of which were petty
enough. One small affair has gained a certain his-
torical interest because of the subsequent career of
one of the persons involved. In 1736 the brothers
John and Charles Wesley came to Georgia, John as
minister of the Anglican church in Savannah and
Charles as Oglethorpe's private secretary. Both the
brothers showed at this stage in their careers some
lack of tact in their criticism of their neighbors.
John Wesley was very popular at the outset, but
his aggressive churchmanship soon gave offence;
and his attempt to discipline a young woman whom
he had himself courted before her marriage pro-
voked so much feeling that he was indicted on a
series of petty charges. The case was never brought
to trial; but Wesley was convinced that his useful-
ness in the colony was ended, and shortly afterwards

* Jones, Georgia, I., chap, xxii.; Ga. Hist. Soc., Collections ^
III., 1 17-155; Gentleman's Magazine, XII., 694-696.

1743] GEORGIA 265

sailed for England after a stay of less than two
years in Georgia.^

Almost from the beginning there was a consider-
able element in the colony antagonistic to Ogle-
thorpe, and, indeed, to the general policy of the trus-
tees. Some of the opposition leaders were forced
out of the colony; and, taking refuge in South
Carolina, they published a vehement criticism of
the Georgia government, charging Oglethorpe with
arbitrary conduct and emphasizing his failure in
the campaign against St. Augustine. Great stress
was laid on the misconduct of the "storekeeper"
who had been left in charge of colonial affairs dur-
ing one of Oglethorpe's visits to England, though
the trustees had already dismissed the offender
from their service. The chief point of historical
interest in this partisan statement is the claim that
the growth of the colony had been checked by cer-
tain principles of economic policy which the trus-
tees regarded as essential; the writers especially
emphasize the prohibition of slavery and the re-
strictions imposed on the alienation of land.

In 1738 over one hundred of the freeholders
signed at Savannah a petition to the trustees as-
serting that unless these restrictions were removed
they could not compete successfully with their
neighbors to the north. They urged, therefore,
that lands should henceforth be granted in fee-sim-

* Tailfer, True and Historical Narrative (Am. Colonial Tracts.
I., No. iv.), 32-39; Jones, Georgia, I., chap, xviii.

VOL. VI. — 10

266 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1738

pie and that the introduction of negroes "with
proper limitations" should be permitted. The
Scotch settlers in Darien and the Salzburgers were
equally convinced that slavery would be injurious
to their interests, and sent in counter - petitions.
The trustees rejected the Savannah petition, though
they relaxed somewhat the restrictions on the alien-
ation of land. In 1742 the opposition party sent
an agent to London, who tried by petition to se-
cure a parliamentary declaration against the policy
of the trustees; but the House of Commons voted
down a resolution in favor of slavery in Georgia,
and the petitioner was reprimanded by the speaker
for his "false, scandalous, and malicious charges"
against the trustees.^

Nevertheless, the agitation against the policy of
the trustees continued. The production of silk and
wine, which had been intended to serve as the chief
staples of the colony, failed to develop on any con-
siderable scale, and it was believed that, in the pro-
duction of rice, white labor could not compete with
that of negro slaves. It was found difficult also to
hold in the colony enough white laborers.

Among those who urged the legalization of slavery
were James Habersham, an influential merchant; and
the famous missionary, Whitefield, who had founded

* Tailfer, True and Historical Narrative; Account {Am. ColO'
nial Tracts, L, Nos. iv., v.); Samuel Quincy's letter, in Hart,
Contemporaries, II., 116; Journals of the House of Commons (ed.
of 1803), XXIV., 192, 216, 221, 288.

1752] GEORGIA 267

an orphan house in Georgia and believed that its
success had been impaired by the want of negro
slaves. In this state of public feeling the prohibi-
tion of slavery gradually became ineffective and in
1749 it was finally repealed, though as a pre-
caution against slave insurrections the proportion
of negroes to white servants was limited. The
other restrictive regulations were also abandoned.
In accordance with a vote of the House of Com-
mons the trustees repealed the act prohibiting the
importation of rum, and in 1750 the restrictions
on the tenure and alienation of land were removed.

After the removal of these restrictions Georgia
developed much more rapidly, and a considerable
movement of planters from South Carolina began
into the so-called Midway District between the Ogee-
chee and South Newport rivers. These planters
brought their slaves with them in such large num-
bers that a contemporary writer estimated the
negroes brought into the colony during the years
1 75 1 and 1752 at nearly a thousand. Thus the low
country of Georgia began, in spite of the theories
of the trustees, to reproduce in its essential features
the social system of South Carolina.^

The political experience of Georgia was in many
respects unlike that of any other English colony.
No provision was made in the charter for a repre-
sentative legislature and none was established un-

* Jones, Georgia, I., chaps, xxv., xxvi,, xxx.; Stevens, Georgia,
II , 262-318.

268 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1741

der the proprietary government. An assembly
which met in 1751 was not authorized to make
laws, but only "to propose, debate, and represent
to the Trustees."

The superior legislative authority was vested in
the trustees, but a large discretion was left to their
agents in the colony. At first, Oglethorpe had an
indefinite paternalistic authority over the whole
province, but a local government was soon organ-
ized at Savannah; and in 174 1, while Oglethorpe was
making Frederica his military headquarters, the
colony was divided into two counties, one including
the territory extending from the Savannah to a lit-
tle beyond the Ogeechee, and the other covering
all the territory to the southward. Oglethorpe re-
tained direct control of Frederica, but the govern-
ment of the northern county was intrusted to
William Stephens, the former secretary of the
trustees, with four assistants. In 1743, on Ogle-
thorpe's final departure for England, the authority
of President Stephens and his assistants was ex-
tended over the whole province. This arrange-
ment continued until the surrender of the charter
and the final institution of the royal government in
1754. After that date the government of Georgia
was substantially that of the typical royal province,
with its governor and council appointed by the
king and its assembly chosen by the people.*

* Account Showing the Progress of Georgia, 45 ; Stevens, Georgia^
I., 216-261, 372, 381-384.

1760] GEORGIA 269

In caring for the religious interests of their prov-
ince the trustees showed in the main a broad and
tolerant spirit. Men of all religious faiths, except
that of the Roman Catholic church, were allowed
freedom of worship. The population of the colony-
included Anglicans, Presbyterians, Moravians, Lu-
therans, Anabaptists, and Jews, the latter sect being
sufficiently numerous to rent a room in Savannah
for their public worship. Among the most con-
spicuous and influential men in the colony were
the Lutheran ministers, such as Martin Bolzius,
who served the religious interests of the German
population. With all this variety the Anglican
church had the advantage of special official recog-
nition: several of the trustees were well-known
Anglican clergymen ; with the first company of colo-
nists they sent out an Episcopal chaplain ; and with
the help of the Venerable Society they maintained
a succession of ministers for the church of Savan-
nah, including such distinguished men as John Wes-
ley and George Whitefield.

At the beginning of the revolutionary era Georgia
still remained much the smallest and weakest of
the thirteen colonies. As late as 1760 it had a
population of about ten thousand people, of whom
over three thousand were negroes. Its historical
significance lies mainly in its advanced position on
the Anglo-Spanish frontier.^

* Jones, Georgia, I., 440-449, 541; Stevens, Georgia, I., 319-
370-

CHAPTER XVI

PROVINCIAL INDUSTRY
(1690-1740)

THE growth of population just described im-
plies a corresponding development of econom-
ic activity, partly on lines already indicated and
partly in new directions.^ In the south the most
important characteristic of the period is the gradual
rounding out and crystallizing of the plantation
system. In Virginia during the seventeenth cen-
tury the tendency to form large estates, favored by
the physiographical conditions and the almost ex-
clusive cultivation of tobacco, was somewhat re-
strained by the rule limiting grants to fifty acres
for each person actually imported. These head-
rights gradually became more valuable, till, in 1699,
the council fixed a definite purchase price for land
in sterling money. Very large grants now became
common: Governor Spotswood signed on one occa-
sion several grants of ten, twenty, and forty thou-
sand acres, including an aggregate of over eighty-
six thousand for himself. Theoretically, grants were

' Cf. Andrews, Colonial Self -Government (Ant. Nation, V.),
chaps, xviii., xix.

270

I740] INDUSTRY 271

conditioned upon occupation and improvement, but
the land administration was in the hands of the
governor and council, or even sometimes of the
councillors alone, who, being themselves large land-
owners, were lax in enforcing rules which operated
against the interests of their class. An extreme il-
lustration is furnished by the record of William
Byrd, of Westover, the most famous Virginian
planter of the early eighteenth century. Byrd in-
herited from his father an estate of some twenty-
six thousand acres, added to it at various times by
fresh grants, one of which amounted to over one
hundred thousand acres, and " owned when he died
no less than 179,440 acres of the best land in Vir-
ginia." ^

Similar laxity in other parts of the south re-
sulted in a similar absorption of landed estates in
comparatively few hands; the tendency was least
marked in North Carolina and most so in South
Carolina. The Carolina proprietors had begun by
granting some large tracts, or baronies; but they
afterwards tried to keep grants within more mod-
erate limits; and, under the royal government,
efforts were made to resume lands which had been
improperly taken out in the first instance or never
actually occupied. The best lands of South Caro-
lina were monopolized by a few landholders and
speculators ; and after the overthrow of the propri-
etary government their claims were confirmed by a

^ Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, Introd.

272 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

statute of 1 73 1 which, though strongly opposed by
the royal surveyor-general, finally escaped disal-
lowance. By 1732 it was estimated that there
were not "one thousand acres within one hundred
miles of Charleston or within twenty miles of a
river or navigable creek which were not already
taken possession of." Many estates so formed were
held together by the system of entails, which in Vir-
ginia during the early years of the eighteenth cen-
tury became even stricter than that of the mother-
country. Land and slaves became the dominant
passion of the planter, who could rarely be induced
"to sell or even lease the smallest portion of his
lands." '

As the land system developed, the growing im-
port trade in slaves furnished the kind of cheap
labor desired for the great estates, and, especially
in Virginia and South Carolina, gradually super-
seded the system of white service in the fields. In
Maryland, however, white service continued to be
important.^ Notwithstanding all efforts towards di-
versification, Virginia and Maryland continued dur-
ing this period to devote themselves almost wholly
to tobacco. For the marketing of this product the
planter was dependent upon the London merchants,
who sent out their ships, not to a few trading ports
in the colony, but up the rivers to the individual

^ Smith, South Carolina, 28-70, esp. 41; Ballagh, Land Sys-
tem in the South (Am. Hist. Assoc, Report, 1897), ^^7; Hening,
Statutes, IIL, 320. ^ See above, p. 237.

I740] INDUSTRY 273

plantations, though the large planters sometimes
acted as agents for their neighbors. The attempts
to establish towns at which tobacco might be col-
lected for export, especially by the small planters,
were almost wholly unsuccessful. The planters
complained of exorbitant freight rates, and, indeed,
of difficulty in securing regular transportation on
any terms. The small planters suffered most; but
even the larger planters with their regular corre-
spondents in London sometimes failed to secure
sufficient shipping.

The London merchant was the planter's agent in
the purchase of goods as well as in the sale of to-
bacco, and the natural result was a large develop-
ment of the credit system. The long delays in ex-
change between America and England often left the
planter in considerable uncertainty as to the exact
extent of his balance. Thus a Virginia planter
wrote to his agent in 1695, pressing him to send his
account at once, "for not knowing how my account
stands, I dare not send for goods though my wants
are very great and pressing." This system certainly
did not promote sound business methods, and many
of the larger land-owners were, like Byrd himself,
heavily in debt to their English agents.*

It was essential to the prosperity of the tobacco
colonies that their products should maintain a good

' Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, xxxv.-xxxix. ; Bassett,
Virginia Planter and London Merchant (Am. Hist. Assoc, Report,
1901, I.), 553-575-

274 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1705

standard of quality, and this need was a frequent
subject of provincial legislation. In this respect
Maryland was less fortunate than Virginia, and her
trade was seriously depressed in consequence. Bills
for the inspection of tobacco, with a view to en-
hancing its price, were strongly urged by the small
planters, who were relatively strong in the lower
house; but the insistence of the latter on reducing
the fees of public officers, regularly paid in tobacco,
prevented the passage of such a measure by the of-
fice-holders in the council, until 1747, when a satis-
factory compromise was reached and efficient in-
spection secured.^

No one product in the Carolinas had quite the
same position in provincial life which tobacco had
in Virginia, although in South Carolina rice soon
became the chief article of export, and competed
with great success in the markets of southern
Europe. This promising trade was checked in 1705
by an English statute which added rice to the list
of enumerated articles; but in 1730 the restriction
was removed as to ports south of Cape Finisterre,
and the trade revived, though not on the scale
which had been hoped for. Indigo, later second
to rice as a staple export, was not produced in
considerable quantities until near the middle of the
eighteenth century. Both the Carolinas produced
considerable quantities of lumber, of naval stores,
including pitch and tar, and of provisions ; but North

* Mereness, Maryland, 1 06-1 18.

1740] INDUSTRY 275

Carolina had no one important staple, and her aggre-
gate production for export was comparatively small.
The most striking economic difference between South
Carolina trade and that of the tobacco colonies was
its concentration in the one important port of
Charleston ; but there was no such development in
North Carolina.*

The engrossing of estates by a few large owners
and the increasing use of slave -labor checked the
development of an independent small-farmer class
^. and discouraged immigration. In North Carolina,
however, where land could be had on easier terms,
and where governmental authority was compara-
tively lax, the population was quite different from
that of tide-water Virginia or South Carolina, and the
large planter did not have the same overshadowing
importance as in the two neighboring colonies. At
the other extreme of the social scale stood the
shiftless farmers whom William Byrd described so
effectively in his History of the Dividing Line, who
kept ** so many Sabbaths every week, that their dis-
regard of the Seventh Day has no manner of cruelty
in it, either to Servants or Cattle"; they loitered
"away their lives, like Solomon's Sluggard, with
their Arms across, and at the Winding up of the
Year scarcely have Bread to Eat." Yet some al-
lowance must be made for the prejudices of a Vir-

* McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, 109, 262-
265; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 609; Anderson, Origin
of Commerce, III., 200, 224, 229; N. C. Col. Records, III., xv.

276 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1700

ginia planter ; and undoubtedly there stood between
these two extremes a substantial though less pict-
uresque class of small farmers.^

In the second quarter of the century the Scotch-
Irish and German immigration was just beginning
to complicate the social structure of the planter
colonies by bringing in a class of settlers who cul-
tivated comparatively small farms on the frontiers,
without slaves for the most part, and produced
wheat instead of tobacco or rice. They were still,
however, of minor importance in southern life.

The industrial life of the northern colonies was
developing on lines clearly divergent from that of
the south. There is nothing comparable to the great
plantation systems of Virginia and South Carolina,
except among some exceptional communities like
the Narragansett and Hudson River farmers. In New
York the English governors after the revolution of
1689 continued the practice of lavish grants begun
under the Dutch regime; but these grants failed
to develop to any large extent a real plantation
system, for the number of slaves imported was
comparatively small. On the other hand, few im-
migrants cared to become tenants on the great es-
tates. The chief effect of this unwise administra-
tion was, therefore, to divert immigration to other
provinces. Generally speaking, therefore, the mid-
dle colonies as well as those of New England con-
tinued to be occupied by comparatively small hold-
^ Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, chap, xii., 61, 76.

i74o] INDUSTRY 277

ings, not isolated economic units like the Virginia
plantations, but grouped together in more or less
compact communities.*

The labor system of the north shows a similar
divergence from southern conditions. Negroes were
few, and though white servants were numerous in
Pennsylvania, even they did not form a permanent-
ly servile class. Aristocratic usages and traditions
existed, but the general trend of economic develop-
ment was towards a democratic society. The great-
er variety of northern industry appeared the mo-
ment one passed from the Chesapeake colonies into
Pennsylvania. In 1700, Robert Quarry reported
that the Pennsylvanians as the result of their in-
dustry had made "bread, flower and Beer a drugg
in all the Markets in the West Indies.'* In later
years beef, pork, and lumber appear as important
articles of export. The agricultural products of
New York and New Jersey were in the main similar
to those of Pennsylvania. In a word, the middle
colonies were the great producers of provisions.^

The colonists still depended mainly upon England
for their clothing and other manufactures, though
their early experiments in this field were important
enough to arouse the jealousy of the mother-country.
In these enterprises the southern colonies were ob-

^N. Y. Docs. Rel to Col. Hist., V., 368-371; cf. Ballagh,
Land System in the South (Am. Hist. Assoc. Report, 1897), iio-
113; Shepherd, Proprietary Government in Pa., 45 et seq.

2 A^. y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist.,V., 601-604, 686 ; Ames, Pa. and
the English Govt.

278 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1698

served to be far less active and successful than those
of the north. The Board of Trade declared in 1732
that there were **more trades carried on and manu-
factures set up in the provinces on the continent of
America to the northward of Virginia, prejudicial
to the trade and manufactures of Great Britain,
particularly in New England, than in any other of
the British colonies." ^

The colonial woollen industry which Parliament
had attempted to check by the act of 1698 con-
tinued to be an object of special interest and sus-
picion to the Board of Trade. During Queen Anne's
War and the consequent interruption of trade, there
was apparently a considerable development of the
industry, especially in New England. In 1708 a
zealous royal official in New England made the ex-
treme assertion with regard to the country people
that "not one in forty but wears his own carding,
spinning, etc."; and soon afterwards Governor Dud-
ley reported that "the people here clothe them-
selves with their own wool, though they would be
glad to buy English wool if they could afford it."
Later reports, however, indicate no considerable de-
velopment beyond the production of the coarser
grades for domestic use, which went on more or less
in all the colonies. There were also some manu-
factures of linen, as among the Germans of Penn-
sylvania and the Scotch-Irish of New Hampshire.

One detail of clothing acquired during this period
* Anderson, Origin of Commerce, III., 194.

1732] INDUSTRY 279

an unusual historic importance. In 172 1 the Board
of Trade noted in its report on New England that
"some hatters have lately set up their trade in the
principal Towns." The industry also appeared in
New York, presently came to the knowledge of the
London Company of Feltmakers, and finally called
forth an act of Parliament in 1732 prohibiting the
export of hats from one colony to another, requir-
ing for makers of hats an apprenticeship of seven
years, and forbidding any master to employ more
than two apprentices.*

One other class of industrial experiments excited
the interest and jealousy of the mother-country.
These were the small beginnings of the American
iron industry, which was carried on in several of
the continental colonies during the early years of
the eighteenth century. Iron was then mined in
New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir-
ginia, and all of these colonies began the rudimentary
forms of iron manufacture in charcoal furnaces. In
the Board of Trade reports for 1721 the iron works
of New England are referred to as furnishing small
quantities for common use, but English iron was
said to have a better reputation and to be more
generally used. In 1732 the Massachusetts colo-
nists were said by one official to make " all sorts of
iron-work for shipping " ; but the governor, while

»Ar. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 63, 591-630, 938; N. C.
Col. Records, III., xv.; Palfrey, New England, IV., 326, 399;
5 George II., chap, xxii.; N. J. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 306.

38o PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1719

admitting that the local iron -works afforded the
people iron for some common necessaries, asserted
that British iron was wholly used for the shipping
and that the colonial product could not supply one-
twentieth of the local demand. William Byrd, about
the same time, describes several iron-works in Vir-
ginia in which the former Governor Spotswood,
among others, was interested. During the next
decade New England sent insignificant quantities
of pig-iron to England ; but Pennsylvania, and es-
pecially the Chesapeake colonies, exported more
largely.*

There was a considerable sentiment in England
in favor of developing the iron resources of the
colonies; but the more finished products were ob-
jectionable as likely to come into competition with
those of the mother-country. In 17 19 it was pro-
posed in Parliament to prohibit the manufacture
of iron wares or even of bar-iron. About twenty
years later there was a lively agitation in favor of
encouraging the importation of partially worked
iron from the colonies on the ground that it would
stimulate the more finished manufactures of the
mother-country and would also free English mer-
chants from their dependence on Sweden and Rus-
sia. The discussion did not take shape in legisla-

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 396, II.,
497-500; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 598; Anderson,
Origin of Commerce, III., 192 ; Bassett, Writings of William Byrd,
342-361.

I750] INDUSTRY 281

tion until 1750, when an act was passed allowing
the free importation into England of colonial pig-
iron, and, at the port of London, of bar-iron, but
prohibiting American manufacture beyond that
stage. Probably the colonial industry was not
sufficiently advanced to suffer seriously from this
statutory prohibition ; but it doubtless caused some
irritation.^

Two kinds of colonial manufacture which were
thoroughly established and carried far beyond pro-
vincial limits were the building of ships and the
distilling of rum, and the chief seat of both was
New England. New - Englanders had been ship-
builders almost from the first; but the industry
assiimed much larger proportions during the first
half of the eighteenth century. The small craft of
the seventeenth century were gradually replaced
by larger ones, though even in 1780 a ship of five
hundred tons was considered unusually large. New
England ship-building was not confined to a few
leading ports but spread to nearly all the coast and
river towns; and Pennsylvania also developed a
considerable ship-building industry. Both Pennsyl-
vania and New England built ships not merely for
their own use, but for sale abroad, in the West Indies
and in Europe; hence English jealousies were again
aroused, and the ship - carpenters of the Thames

* Anderson, Origin of Commerce, III., 88, 167, 170, 217;
Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 683; 23
George II., chap. xxix.

VOL. VI. — ao

282 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1724

complained of the New England competition. Rich-
ard West, the legal adviser of the Board of Trade,
reported that though their grievance might be well
founded, "they might as well complain of ship-
building at Bristol, because the acts of navigation
recognized colonial ships as English built." The
Board of Trade apparently sympathized with the
ship-masters, but nothing was done.*

During the same period the manufacture of rum
first assimied large proportions. The chief seats
of this industry were Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, especially Newport, and it was made from
West Indian molasses. It was not only consumed
at home, but was regarded as indispensable for
the fishing fleets, the Indian trade, and the African
slave-trade.^

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 366-369,
II-» 573~576; Chalmers, Revolt, II., 33; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col.
Hist., v., 604; cf. Andrews, Colonial Self -Government {Am. Na-
tion, V.) , chap. xix.

' Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 459, 501-
503; Anderson, Origin of Commerce, III., 180-182.

CHAPTER XVII

PROVINCIAL COMMERCE
(1690-1740)

IN the commerce of the provincial era the Indian
fur trade continued to play an important part.
In New York, peltry was one of the chief articles of
export ; and Cadwallader Golden, the historian of the
Iroquois confederacy, said that in this trade New
York was the only English colony that could suc-
cessfully compete with the French. Reference has
already been made to Burnet's establishment at
Oswego and his efforts to break up the trade be-
tween Albany and Montreal. It was found im-
possible to stop the trade altogether, and a new
measure was therefore adopted which aimed to dis-
courage it by imposing higher duties than on the
direct trade with the western Indians.^

A considerable Indian trade was also developed
on the frontiers, from Pennsylvania southward. The
founder of the Byrd family in Virginia was inter-
ested in the trade carried on by pack-horse cara-
vans with the Catawbas, Creeks, and Cherokees of

» N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 687, 726-733, 745 et seq.,
781, 818, 820, 824; see above, p. 212.

283

284 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

the southwest. During the eighteenth century
there was often sharp rivalry between individual
colonies for the control of this trade. The Vir-
ginians, gradually losing ground before the Caro-
linians, complained of unfair regulations imposed by
South Carolina, which afterwards had similar com-
plaints to make of Georgia. In the south as well
as in the north the international rivalry between
French and English was also active. The Board of
Trade complained that the trade which ought to
be a source of strength to the English interest
was tainted with so many abuses that it often pro-
voked the hostility of the Indians. They there-
fore urged new regulations for Indian affairs. No
general measures were adopted, however, for many
years. ^

Except for the Indian trade, American commerce,
whether intercolonial or international, was mainly
carried on by sea, and in sea-going commerce New
England easily took the lead. The abundance of
good harbors on her coasts, the rich resources of-
fered by the northern coast and deep-sea fisheries,
and the ready supply of lumber for ship-building had
all combined to make the New-Englanders a sea-
going people.

The prosperity of New England commerce was
closely related to the development of the fisheries.

^ Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, chaps, xvii.-xix.; Smith,
South Carolina, 212-219; ^- ^' Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 611,
626, 627.

i74o] COMMERCE 285

During the early French wars this interest suffered
severely, and it was not until the second quarter
of the eighteenth century that the New-Englanders
fairly established themselves in the northern fish-
eries. Then the industry developed rapidly all
along the north shore, and in 1741 the single port
of Gloucester had seventy vessels engaged. The
cod-fisheries were the most important; but there
was also an interesting development in whaling, from
the early catch of drift-whales and the small-boat
fisheries near the coast, to the deep-sea whaling
which reached its prime by the middle of the eigh-
teenth century and carried New England seamen
on perilous voyages to the most remote regions of
the Atlantic*

The fisheries of New England may fairly be de-
scribed as the foundation of her international trade ;
for fish was, on the whole, her steadiest article of ex-
port. The better grades were shipped to the Cath-
olic countries of southern Europe and the produce
of the trade was expended sometimes in the illegal
importation of European products ; but in the main,
probably in English manufactures or in wine from
the Azores or the Canaries, a permissible article of
direct import under the navigation acts. Other im-
portant exports for this transatlantic trade were
lumber and naval stores, though New England her-
self gradually came to depend for naval stores upon

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 430-447,

n., 595-598.

286 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

the Carolinas. Frequently the voyage to Europe
resulted in the sale of the ship itself.

Probably no branch of New England commerce
has had a more direct and evident influence upon
her history than the trade with the West Indies.
Here again the fisheries furnished a large part of
the material for export, especially the "refuse fish"
then thought good enough for the West Indian
slaves. With fish went lumber, horses, provisions,
and some British manufactures. From the West
Indies the New-Englanders took in return various
tropical products, including sugar, and especially
large quantities of molasses for the distilleries of
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This commerce
was closely connected with the rapid development
of the African slave-trade; for, as has been seen.
New England rtim was sent to the Guinea coast for
slaves, and these in turn found their best market
in the plantation colonies, especially in the West
Indies. Newport especially profited largely by this
trade. ^

Philadelphia, the chief commercial port of the
middle colonies, followed to a limited extent the
lines of New England commerce, though her ex-
ports were somewhat different. Grain formed an
important article of export from the middle colo-
nies to the West Indies, the Azores, and even

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 353 et
seq., 371-373, II., chaps, xii., xiv.; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col.
Hist., v., 595, 597.

I740] COMMERCE 287

to southern Europe. Beef, pork, and lumber were
also exported, and, as in the case of the New-
Englanders, the ship itself was sometimes sold.
Return voyages brought clothing and other manu-
factures from England; sugar, molasses, and other
tropical products — often Spanish money from the
West Indies. So large a share of the latter, how-
ever, was paid for European goods that little re-
mained in the colonies. New York's trade was
similar to that of Philadelphia, though her export
of peltry was more important and her ship-building
less so. One other branch of trade in which the
northern colonies were engaged was that of bring-
ing logwood from Central America to be re-exported
to European markets.^

There are no accurate statistics as to the trade
of the continental colonies, but some figures fur-
nished by the Board of Trade in 1 7 2 1 will illustrate
the general situation. The annual exports from
England to the continental colonies were then
valued at about £430,000, of which a little over
two-thirds were British goods and the rest foreign
articles re-exported. Woollen goods constituted
roughly one-half of the whole value of British ar-
ticles exported. Next in importance stood wrought
iron and nails. The imports from the continental
colonies were valued, roughly, at £300,000, and of
this amotmt about one-half was tobacco. Next in

* N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 601, 685; Anderson, Origin
of Commerce, III., 171,

288 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1713

order came naval stores, rice, and peltry. More
than three-fourths of the total English imports from
the continental colonies came from Virginia, Mary-
land, and the Carolinas, and a much larger amount
(more than two-thirds of all the imports from the
American colonies) came from the British sugar
islands of the West Indies. Of the English export
trade a much larger proportion went to the sugar
islands than to either the northern or the southern
group of continental colonies. In the aggregate
trade of England with the continental colonies she
exported more largely than she imported, this con-
dition being due to the northern colonies, w^hich sent
no great staples directly to England and paid for
their English manufactures indirectly through their
ship-building and carrying trade and their commerce
with the West Indies and southern Europe.

These figures show the greater value of England's
direct trade with the West Indies as compared with
that carried on with the northern colonies ; and the
same fact is emphasized by the statistics of ship-
ping. The tonnage to the British West Indies was
more than twice as large as that to New England,
New York, and Pennsylvania combined, and some-
what larger than the aggregate for the Chesapeake
colonies and the Carolinas. These facts explain the
emphasis given by British colonial administrators
to West Indian interests. It is to be remembered
also that the trade of the northern colonies, es-
pecially that of New England, was carried on largely

1733] COMMERCE 289

in their own shipping, while that of the south and
the West Indies was in the hands of British mer-
L. chants.^

Even from the mercantilist point of view there
were decided advantages in the trade between the
northern colonies and the West Indies; it supplied
the sugar islands with provisions and lumber on
cheaper terms than would otherwise have been pos-
sible, and it enabled the New-Englanders and Penn-
sylvanians to buy more freely of English manu-
factures. After 1 7 13, however, the British West
Indian planters grew jealous of the trade between
their continental countrymen and the French and
Dutch islands. The French relaxed their old re-
strictions, and their sugar production developed
rapidly until it began to displace the British prod-
uct in European markets. The New - Englanders
also found that they could buy their sugar and mo-
lasses more cheaply from the French and Dutch.
In 1 72 1 the Board of Trade called attention to this
undesirable form of New England enterprise, and
in 1 73 1 the sugar-planters and the merchants trad-
ing to the West Indies petitioned Parliament for
relief. In the latter year a bill for this purpose
passed the House of Commons but was dropped in
the House of Lords.

During the next two years the question was much
debated, but the final outcome was the molasses
act of 1733, imposing prohibitory duties on foreign
»iV. y. Docs. Rel. to Col Hist., V., 613-619.

290 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

sugar, molasses, and rum imported into the English
colonies.* The friends of the bill emphasized the
value of the sugar colonies as a market for English
manufactures and for African slaves and the large
amount of shipping employed in the trade. They
asserted also that the trade of the continental colo-
nies was chiefly responsible for the too successful
competition of the foreign sugar islands in Europe.
The northern colonies claimed that the British West
Indies could not meet the whole American demand
in addition to that of the mother-country, dwelt on
the importance of their own shipping interests and
of the rum industry, and insisted that the unfortu-
nate condition of the British sugar plantations was
largely due to improvidence and mismanagement.
Finally, they argued that it was the trade with the
French islands which enabled them to pay for
British manufactures. The act was passed, but it
involved so serious a disturbance of the natural
course of trade that it was systematically violated.^
Of great importance, but extremely difficult to
estimate even approximately, was the intercolonial
coasting trade. Thus the middle colonies • sent
bread-stuffs to New England as well as to South
Carolina. A large part of the coasting trade was
carried on in New England vessels, which supplied

* 6 Greorge II., chap. xiii.

'A/". Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 597; Anderson, Origin
of Commerce, III., 140, 171, 177-182; Beer, Commercial Policy
of England, chap. vi. For later effects, see Howard, Prelimi-
naries of the Revolution {Am. Nation, VIII.), chap. iii.

i74o] COMMERCE 291

the southerners not only with their own domestic
commodities but with the proceeds of the Euro-
pean and West Indian trades, North Carolina in
particular being largely dependent upon them for
contact with the outside world.*

The intercolonial wars gave rise directly or
indirectly to several abnormal forms of colonial
enterprise. On the border-line between war and
commerce, technically legal yet tending always to
degenerate into distinctly criminal courses, was pri-
vateering. The privateer had a regular commission
from his government to prey upon the enemy's
commerce, thus enabling him to combine patriot-
ism with private advantage. The peace of Utrecht
closed for a time the opportunity for legitimate
privateering, but it developed again on a large
scale upon the outbreak of war with Spain in 1739.
Rhode Island merchants were conspicuous for their
investments in this form of business.^

In time of peace the more reckless privateers-
men were easily drawn into piracy. Just before
and after the revolution of 1689 piracy was very
common, and in many of the colonial seaports was
looked upon somewhat indulgently by the local
merchants, who were glad to have the pirate's
money without inquiring too closely as to its source.

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 589-592;
N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., V., 686; N. C. Col. Records, III.,
xv.-xvii.

' Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 337 et seq.,
II., 598 et seq.

392 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1699

Much was said about the laxity of the proprietary
governors in this respect, but one of the most no-
torious offenders was the royal governor Fletcher,
of New York. To remedy this crying evil the Brit-
ish piracy act of 1699 was passed, and in the suc-
(ceeding years pirates were severely dealt with in
several of the colonies. The best-known piratical
adventurer of this period was Captain William
Kidd, who, under the auspices of Lord Bellomont,
governor of New York, and the great Lord Chan-
cellor Somers, set out to capture pirates, but ended
by turning pirate, or half pirate, himself, and thus
brought scandal on his distinguished patrons. He
was finally arrested by order of Bellomont, sent to
England for trial, and executed there, upon some-
what inadequate evidence, for the crimes of piracy
and murder. In 1704 some pirates were executed
in Boston, affording a grewsome entertainment to
Samuel Sewall and his fellow-citizens.'

The climax of American piracy was reached at
the close of the War of the Spanish Succession,
when the forces of the pirates were swelled by ac-
cessions from former privateersmen. Their chief
hatints during this period were the Bahamas, which
had for a time fallen into a state of anarchy; and
the convenient inlets and rivers of North Carolina.

^ Diet, of National Biography, art. Kidd; Cobbett, Parlia-
mentary History, V., 1276; N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV.,
275, 454, 470, 551, 583, 815; Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of
New England, I., 340 et seq., 423, IL, 559-565; Sewall, Diary,
II.. 108-110,

i7i8] COMMERCE 293

Two of these maritime desperadoes who stand
out above their fellows are Teach, or Thatch, some-
times known as Blackbeard, and Steve Bonnet,
formerly a respectable inhabitant of Barbadoes.
The leading proprietary officials of North Carolina
were strongly suspected of complicity with the pi-
rates, and finally, after a succession of outrages all
along the coast, the neighboring governments were
forced to act. In 17 18, Governor Spotswood, of
Virginia, sent an expedition into North Carolina,
which in a pitched battle killed Thatch and some
of his accomplices. In the same year the South
Carolina government sent a similar expedition to
the Cape Fear River, where after another desperate
encounter Bonnet and his crew were captured.
Bonnet himself and most of his followers were soon
after tried and executed. Before the year ended,
another engagement off Charleston resulted in the
capture and execution of several other desperadoes.
These and other vigorous measures soon made pi-
racy a more exceptional feature of maritime life.*

The extent of the colonial trade carried on in
violation of the navigation acts has been and still
is a matter of controversy. Some provisions of
these acts were undoubtedly well observed, as, for
instance, the rule limiting trade with the colonies
to English (including colonial-built) vessels. It is
also generally agreed that the molasses act, which

' Hughson, Carolina Pirates (Johns Hopkins University Studies^
XII.. Nos. 5-7).

294 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

attempted to break up colonial trade with the for-
eign sugar colonies, was systematically violated.
Probably the export of enimierated articles was in
the main confined to England, as the law provided,
though there was said to be some illicit exportation
of Virginia and North Carolina tobacco from the ill-
guarded coasts of the latter colony, with the con-
venient aid of New England traders. The greatest
doubt exists as to the enforcement of the clause re-
quiring that all European goods should be imported
by way of England. During the two decades fol-
lowing the revolution of 1689 the colonists were
charged with carrying on a large amount of this
illegal import trade ; but something must undoubt-
edly be allowed for the zealous efforts of royal
agents to discredit the chartered governments, and
something, perhaps, for friction in the inauguration
of a new system.

After the peace of Utrecht there appear from
time to time references to illegal imports from
Europe. Thus Thomas Amory, of Boston, wrote to
one of his correspondents in 1721, "If you have a
Captain you can confide in, you will find it easy to
import all kinds of goods from the Streights, France,
and Spain, although prohibited." The famous
Peter Faneuil was also involved in the illicit trade
in European goods, and disposed to resent any ex-
cessive strictness on the part of admiralty judges.
A fair general conclusion would seem to be that
though there was much illegal trading, the voltmie

i74o] COMMERCE 295

of this illicit trade, with the exception of that car-
ried on with the West Indies in defiance of the
molasses act, was not relatively large, and that the
eighteenth - century colonists drew the great bulk
of their European goods from English ports. ^

One of the most perplexing of colonial problems
was that of securing an adequate medium of ex-
change. At the close of the seventeenth century
the chief metallic money of the colonists was the
Spanish silver piece-of -eight. This Spanish silver
was not only limited in quantity, but it was subject
to a confusing variety of ratings in the different
colonies, and the efforts of the home government
to regulate it were not successful. Nearly all the
colonies during this century depended largely upon
various systems of barter or payment in kind.
Thus Virginia had her tobacco currency and Mas-
sachusetts her "country pay," or payment in com-
modities at certain fixed values. In North Caro-
lina this primitive barter system continued until
the middle of the eighteenth century.^

The want of a satisfactory circulating medium
was aggravated by the financial difficulties of the
colonial governments. In the colonies as in Eng-
land the wars with France subjected the financial

* Ashley, Surveys Historic and Economic, 336-360; Beer,
Commercial Policy of England, esp. 134-143; Weeden, Econ. and
Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 556-558, 611 et seq.; N. C. Col.
Records, III., xvi.

' Biillock, Monetary Hist, of the U. S., chaps, ii., iii. ; see above,
P-39.

296 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

resources of the state to an unusual strain, which
they could hardly meet by the immediate imposi-
tion of taxes. From one or the other of these
motives, or both of them together, paper money
was issued by all of the colonies.

The first bills were issued by Massachusetts to
meet the expenses of Phips's disastrous expedition
against Quebec in 1690. Though declared "in
value equal to money," they depreciated rapidly;
but during the next twenty years the issues were
kept within moderate limits, and the notes were
brought for a considerable time to par with coin.
The first serious tendency to inflation appeared near
the close of Queen Anne's War. The volume of
bills was then swelled by numerous emissions, while
credit was also impaired by postponing the taxes
necessary for their redemption.

All the New England colonies were led to the
same course by financial necessities and the real or
supposed need of a circulating medium. Efforts to
check the depreciation by legal-tender legislation
and other forcing measures all failed. New issues
were made to replace the old; but the "new tenor"
bills only added new rates of depreciation, bringing
great hardships not only to the creditor class, but
to all recipients of fixed incomes. In 1749 Massa-
chusetts was able to restore her currency to a specie
basis ; but her neighbors continued to suffer from a
depreciated currency, Rhode Island having a par-
ticularly bad record in this respect.

I7SS] COMMERCE 297

During Queen Anne's War, and as a direct result
of the financial burdens imposed by the French and
Indian wars, paper currencies were issued by New
York and both the Carolinas. They were largely
increased afterwards, with the same results of ex-
treme depreciation, which could not be effectively
checked by legal tender and forcing clauses. Vir-
ginia was much more conservative during this
period, issuing no bills until 1755. Maryland and
the middle colonies, except New York, were com-
paratively prudent also, though the Pennsylvanians
were thoroughly convinced of the desirability of
paper money, and their most eminent citizen, Ben-
jamin Franklin, early distinguished himself in its
defence.*

One of the worst phases of the paper-money move-
ment was the "bank," a natural product of a time
when the nature and limitations of credit were not
clearly understood, a period marked by such dis-
astrous experiments as the French "Mississippi
Scheme" and the "South Sea Bubble," in which
many prominent English politicians were involved.
A colonial "bank" has been described as "simply
a batch of paper money " lent out either by the
government or by a private company. In either
case there was little or no specie value behind the

* Bullock, Monetary Hist, of the U. S., 29-59, 125-156, 207-
245; Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, I., 319-
330; 379-387, II., 473-486; Smith, South Carolina, 229-275;
Dewey, Financial Hist, of the U. S., chap. i.

VOL. VI. 21

298 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1700

notes, and usually very poor security for the pay-
ment either of the principal or of the interest
pledged. Such "banks" were undertaken by colo-
nial governments in New England and elsewhere,
often with disastrous results. The best-known of
these schemes was the Massachusetts ''Land Bank"
of 1740, a private institution which, however, be-
came a conspicuous factor in provincial politics.
Only an insignificant part of the stock of this bank
was subscribed in cash, and for the rest commodi-
ties of various kinds might be accepted. The bank
then issued notes which added perceptibly to the
confusion of currency in the province, until Par-
liament put a stop to its operations.^

Throughout the eighteenth century the British
government showed its hostility to paper-money
issues and tried to check them in various ways,
especially by instructions to the governors. These
instructions were, however, frequently evaded or
disobeyed; for governors could be brought to terms
by the assemblies refusing to vote salaries or with-
holding money for urgent public needs. The colo^
nists themselves were divided on the question, as,
for instance, in South Carolina, where there was
a sharp contest between the planters who wished a
jraper currency and the merchants who opposed it.
In a similar division in Massachusetts the con-

* Bullock, Monetary Hist, of the U. S., 29-32; Davis, Currency
and Banking in Mass. Bay, esp. pt. ii., chaps, v.-ix.; 14 George
II., chap. XXX vii.

1764] COMMERCE 299

servative business interests finally secured the with-
drawal of the paper altogether. Parliament also
interested itself in the question, and, after some
previous inquiries and resolutions, passed in 175 1
an act prohibiting the issue of paper money in New
England, except in certain clearly defined cases.
This legislation was not extended to the other colo-
nies until 1764.^

Notwithstanding unfortunate experiments of va-
rious kinds, the colonies were on the whole pros-
perous. Prosperity was probably more generally
diffused in New England and Pennsylvania than
elsewhere; but in every colony there were many
persons who could, according to the standards of the
time, command the material comforts and luxuries
of life. In the south the most substantial wealth
was probably to be found in Charleston ; but a con-
siderable number of the Virginian planters, though
often land-poor and in debt, were able to secure for
themselves luxuries of food, clothing, and furniture.
Such a man, for instance, was William Byrd. In
New England there were prosperous merchants, such
as Peter Faneuil, or Thomas Amory, who, after a
broad experience in various parts of the world, set-
tled in Boston in 17 19 and wrote of his new home,
"People live handsomely here and without fear of
anything." Philadelphia and New York also gave
to intelligent observers like the Swedish Kalm and
the English Bumaby the impression of comfort and

* 24 George II., chap, liii.; 4 George III., chap, xxxiv.

300 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1760

prosperity. Bumaby, who visited Philadelphia in
1760, spoke of it with admiration, observing its sub-
stantial public buildings and its handsome streets.
A few years earlier Kalm wrote rather extravagant-
ly that " its fine appearance, good regulations, agree-
able situation, natural advantages, trade, riches
and power, are by no means inferior to those of any,
even of the most ancient, towns in Europe." *

* Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II,, 565 et
seq., 624 et seq.; Jones, Present State of Virginia (ed. of 1865),
28-31; Pinkerton, Voyages, XIIL, 396, 456, 728, 736-739; Hart,
Contemporaries, II., §§ 23, 28.

CHAPTER XVIII

PROVINCIAL CULTURE
(1690-1740)

DURING the seventeenth century the pressure
of material needs and the scattered character
of the settlements prevented much development in
the finer elements of civilization; and though New
England showed a strongly idealistic spirit, her
culture was narrowed by theological partisanship.

At the close of the century these unfavorable con-
ditions were gradually changing and there began a
period of substantial progress in civilization. The
older communities were emerging from the hard-
ships of the pioneer period; they were coming to
have leisure and taste for intellectual pursuits, and
becoming ambitious of larger opportunities for their
children. The improved communications between
different colonies were giving to their higher life
some real community of interest, by weakening
local and sectarian prejudices. The development of
mercantile interests also helped to bring the back-
ward or one-sided life of the colonies into vital
contact with the main currents of European prog-
ress. In Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and

301

302 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

Charleston there were many men who had regular
business connections with the Old World and from
time to time found it necessary to cross the ocean.

Much credit must also be given to the royal gov-
ernors. Francis Nicholson, for instance, while gov-
ernor in Virginia, Maryland, and South Carolina,
gave special attention to education, urging it upon
the attention of his colonial assembly, and himself
making contributions to the cause. When Yale
College was founded, this zealous Anglican showed a
surprising breadth of interest by contributing to its
stock of books. So, too, his successor in Virginia,
Governor Spotswood, was one of the chief patrons
of William and Mary College.^

In New York and Massachusetts, Governor Bur-
net left an enviable reputation as a man of scholarly
and literary tastes. In New York he had among
his political advisers a rather unusual group of in-
tellectual men, and during his residence in Massa-
chusetts he was understood to be a contributor of
essays to the New England Weekly Journal. Gov-
ernor Dudley, whatever his faults may have been,
was a "gentleman and a scholar" who kept him-
self in sympathy with the literary and scientific
activities of his time.^

The Anglican church also exerted an important

civilizing influence. The first two commissaries of
/

* Mereness, Maryland, 137; McCrady, South Carolina under
Royal Government, 482; Trumbull, Connecticut, II., 30.
' Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston, II., 400, 435.

i74ol CULTURE 303

the bishop of London, Blair in Virginia and Bray
in Maryland, are almost as well known for their
educational as for their religious activities. The
Venerable Society emphasized the educational side
of its missionary work, and in many southern
parishes the Anglican lay reader was the first
teacher. In New England also the Anglican clergy
were an important intellectual force, helping their
Puritan neighbors by the stimulus of competition
and preparing the way for a more tolerant prac-
tice.*

Perhaps the finest gift of the English church to
the life of New England was the mission of George
Berkeley, who lived from 1729 to 1731 in the vicin-
ity of Newport. Dean Berkeley was the highest
ecclesiastical dignitary who had hitherto visited the
colonies, and was known already as a brilliant
scholar. As the founders of Massachusetts had
hoped to build up a ''bulwark against Anti-Christ,"
so Berkeley saw in the fresh and youthful life of the
New World a refuge for Christian and Protestant
civilization. He desired to establish an American
college under Anglican auspices, but the project
was not supported by the English government, and
he returned to England much disappointed.

Yet the time which Berkeley spent in Newport
was not wasted. In a kindly way he used his in-
fluence against the sectarian spirit of New England

» Weeks, in U. S. Commissioner of Education, Report, 1897,
II., 1380-1383.

304 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1691

Puritanism, and his sympathies were not confined
within his own communion. After his return to
England he gave generously to Yale College, both
in books and in land, and he also contributed some
books to the library of Harvard College. Through
the stimulus of his intercourse and example he
strengthened the intellectual life of the little colony
where he lived, and his influence can be traced also
in the founding of King's College in New York,
1754, under the leadership of his friend and disciple,
Samuel Johnson.*

During this period there was substantial progress
in the founding and development of educational
institutions, and in the south the most important
event was the founding of William and Mary Col-
lege. Some subscriptions for such a college had been
taken in Berkeley's administration; but little was
accomplished until 1691, when the assembly sent
commissary Blair to England with instructions to
secure a charter. Blair appealed successfully to the
queen and the king, and in 1693 came back with a
royal charter, together with a substantial endow-
ment from the royal revenues. From time to time
this endowment was increased by grants from the
assembly and by private gifts. ^

'Tyler, in Perry, American Episcopal Church, I., 519-540;
Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New England, II., 546-548;
Fraser, Life and Letters of Berkeley, II., chaps, iv., v.

' Cal. of State Pap., Col., 1689-1692, pp. 300, 426, 452, 575,
693; Adams, College of William and Mary, 11-17; Letters of
Blair, in Perry, American Episcopal Church, I., 116-119.

1729] CULTURE 305

William and Mary College was thus founded un-
der distinctly Anglican auspices and its close con-
nection with the church continued throughout the
colonial era. Commissary Blair himself was its
first president, holding the office for fifty years ; its
professors were generally clergymen in charge of
neighboring parishes, and emphasis was constantly
laid upon training for the service of the Anglican
church. About the college there was subsequently
built the capital town of Williamsburg, which, with
its double attraction of the college and the seat of
government, became a social centre of some impor-
tance. The college itself passed through many vi-
cissitudes; it was burned down in 1705, and, though
soon restored, it was described about 1724 by one
of its professors, the Reverend Hugh Jones, as "a
college without a chapel, without a scholarship, and
without a statute" having " a library without books
comparatively speaking; and a president without a
fixed salary till of late." In 1729 the faculty con-
sisted of President Blair and six professors, includ-
ing two in theology and two in the school of phi-
losophy. Though its influence in the colonial era
was hardly comparable with that of Harvard, in
Massacl^usetts, it trained a large proportion of the
men who were to play conspicuous parts in the
struggle for independence.*

* Adams, College of William and Mary, 17-27; Jones, Present
State of Virginia (ed. of 1865), 45, 83 et seq.; William and Mary
Quarterly, VI., 176, 177.

3o6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1695

William and Mary was the only college in the
south during the colonial era, and the demand for
higher education had to be met by sending young
men out of the colony either to England, or, occa-
sionally, to one of the northern colleges. In the
richer families an education over-seas was, there-
fore, more common than in New England.

In secondary and elementary education the south
made some progress during the first half of the
eighteenth century. A "grammar" school at Will-
iamsburg gave preliminary training in Greek and
Latin. In 1695 the Maryland assembly passed an
act for one or more free schools in which Latin and
Greek might be taught, but only one was established
under its provisions, the King William's School at
Annapolis. In 1763, Governor Sharpe declared that
there was not in Maryland even one good grammar-
school.^

South Carolina during the earlier years of the
eighteenth century passed a number of laws for the
encouragement of education. In 171 1 the colony,
with the co-operation of the Society for the Propa-
gation of the Gospel, established a school in Charles-
ton ; and a few were established elsewhere through
bequests by individuals or through the efforts of
societies.^

North Carolina was probably the most backward

* Mereness , Maryland , 137-145.

' McCrady, South Carolina under Proprietary Government, 510,
700; South Carolina under Royal Government, chap. xxv.

1736] CULTURE 307

of all the colonies, but even here a few schools were
established during the first two decades of the
eighteenth century, chiefly through the efforts of
the Anglican church. The net results, however,
were small, and in 1736 Governor Johnston reproach-
ed the assembly with having ''never yet taken the
least care to erect one school, which deserves the
name in this extended country." ^

None of the southern colonies had a genuine pub-
lic-school system, but the deficiency in organized
education was partly made up by private instruc-
tion, which, in South Carolina especially, employed
a considerable number of persons during the latter
part of the provincial era. In that colony also some-
thing was done for the poor by the rich through the
institution of schools with free scholarships.^

Eight years after the incorporation of William and
Mary College another institution for higher educa-
tion was incorporated in Connecticut. Yale College,
like its predecessors in Massachusetts and Virginia,
was founded under strongly clerical influences, and
was intended to be largely, though not exclusively,
a training school for ministers. Most of its pro-
moters were Harvard graduates ; but in Connecticut
there was a demand for a college nearer home, while
in Massachusetts many men felt that Harvard was
dritting away from the orthodox standards. The

^ Weeks, in U. S. Commissioner of Education, Report, 1897,
II., 1380-1383; A^. C. Col. Records, IV., 227.

* McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government, chap, xxv.

3o8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1701

act of 1 701 incorporating the new college provided
for a board of trustees composed exclusively of
ministers/

For the next seventeen years the college led an
extremely precarious existence. A part of the in-
struction was given at Saybrook, but some of the
students were provided for at various other places.
Local jealousies made it difficult to fix a permanent
seat for the college; but in 17 16 the trustees agreed
upon New Haven, and their decision was sanctioned
by the general court. There was still some resist-
ance, and in 17 18 rival commencements were held at
Weathersfield and New Haven ; but by concessions to
the disappointed towns the breach was soon healed.
Meanwhile, donations were coming in from various
quarters. Jeremiah Dummer collected a number of
books for the college from friends in England; but
the most important benefactor was Elihu Yale,
a native of Boston, who, after receiving his educa-
tion in England, became a prosperous East Indian
merchant, and governor for the East India Company
at Madras. In 17 18, at the first New Haven com-
mencement, the school was christened by its new
name of Yale College, and in 17 19 Timothy Cutler
was made resident rector or president of the college.*

The college seemed at last to be definitely estab-
lished ; but it soon sustained a severe shock through
the conversion of President Cutler to the principle

* Papers by Dexter and Baldwin, in New Haven Colony Hist.
See., Papers, III., 1-32, 405-442. * Dexter, Ibid., 227-248.

1746] CULTURE 309

of episcopal ordination. The trustees, however,
proved equal to the occasion; Cutler was promptly
deposed and a drastic rule was adopted excluding
from the government of the college any one who
might be tainted with '' Arminian and Prelatical Cor-
ruptions." Yale College was thus more carefully
forearmed against heresy than Harvard had ever
been. Cutler's successors, Williams and Clap, both
proved efficient administrators and safe theologians,
and the college became prosperous and influential.
Yale was the academic headquarters of thorough-
going Calvinism both for New England and the
middle colonies; and it trained the two great Cal-
vinistic teachers of the period, Jonathan Dickinson
and Jonathan Edwards, who became later the first
two presidents of the college of New Jersey. Some
of the secular leaders of the middle colonies were
also educated at Yale, including such New-Yorkers
as William Smith the historian and William Liv-
ingston the politician and later revolutionary
leader.^

The enthusiasm of Cotton Mather and his friends
for Yale was largely due to their consciousness of
waning influence at Harvard, where there had long
been a vigorous contest between liberals and con-
servatives for the control of the college. The
Mathers desired a new charter in place of the old
one of 1650, which should secure the doctrinal

*Tnimbull, Hist, of Connecticut, II., 22 et seq.; Clap, Annals
or History of Yale College; Talcott Papers, I., 6, n., 58.

3IO PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1707

orthodoxy of the college. No act, however, which
the colonists could agree upon, was acceptable to
the crown or its agent the governor; until in 1707
the difficulty was solved by a short resolution de-
claring the old charter to be still in force.

The more liberal element in the church was
gradually increasing its representation in the cor-
poration, and in 1707, with the help of Governor
Dudley, they elected John Leverett as president.
In 17 17 the Mather influence suffered another se-
vere check when two more ministers of the liberal
school were elected to the corporation. In 1722
the conservatives were strong enough to get through
the general court a vote which, by adding the resi-
dent tutors to the corporation, would have elimi-
nated the objectionable new members, but this
project was blocked by Governor Shute.*

These controversies between ecclesiastical fac-
tions, though petty enough in themselves, are his-
torically significant because they involve the impor-
tant issue of academic freedom against ecclesiastical
control ; and because the victory of the liberals made
the college for the future one of the. strong human-
izing forces in New England life. In other ways,
also, this was a period of educational progress for
Harvard. In 172 1 and 1727 the London merchant,
Thomas Hollis, established the first two professor-
ships at the college, one in divinity and one in nat-

^Quincy, Harvard University, I., chaps, iv.-xiv., passim, and
App.

1756] CULTURE 311

ural philosophy. The latter chair was assigned, in
1738, to John Winthrop, a young graduate who dur-
ing forty years of service was to be one of the best
representatives in America of the scholar's life.*

Educational progress came more slowly in the
middle colonies. The Quakers of Pennsylvania be-
lieved thoroughly in elementary education, but they
cared little for the higher learning, partly because
they had no clergy requiring special teaching. The
first college in Pennsylvania was not founded until
1755, and then the chief mover in the enterprise
was Benjamin Franklin, a transplanted New-Eng-
lander. Perhaps the most important Pennsylvania
school founded before that time was the one es-
tablished at Philadelphia in 1697 and subsequently
known as the William Penn Charter School.^

In New York the presence of two distinct nation-
alities interfered seriously with educational prep-
ress, and, though there were schools in the province,
they had a poor reputation. William Smith the
laistorian, himself a native and prominent citizen of
the province, wrote in 1756 that the schools were
"in the lowest order."'

In New Jersey a law authorizing towns to levy
taxes for the support of public schools was passed
as early as 1693, and during the next half -century

^Qxiincy, Harvard University, I., 232-a4i, 398, 399, II., 25-27-

* Cf. Sharpless, Quaker Experiment in Government (ed. of 1902),
Im 3S et seq.

• Smith, Hist, of New York (ed. of 1756),^ M9,

312 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1693

a considerable number of schools were actually es-
tablished. The educational leadership in New Jer-
sey came largely from the Presbyterian church,
which had gathered to itself not merely the original
Presbyterians of Scotch-Irish stock, but their fel-
low-Gal vinists from New England, Holland, and
Germany. Largely through the efforts of Pres-
byterian ministers, the first charter of the College
of New Jersey was granted in 1746, three of the four
principal ministerial promoters being graduates of
Yale, and one of Harvard. A year later, another
Harvard graduate, Jonathan Belcher, became gov-
ernor of New Jersey, and through his efforts a new
charter was granted, which placed the college upon
a secure foundation. Thus the higher education of
the middle colonies was in large measure the prod-
uct of New England training.* No other college
was founded in the middle region before 1750, but
the subject was already attracting attention, and
the next decade saw the founding of Columbia
College under Anglican auspices at New York, and of
the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, the
freest from ecclesiastical control of all the colonial
colleges.

An important evidence of a developing civiliza-
tion is the accumulation of private and public
libraries. In the endowment of the early American
colleges, notably of Harvard and Yale, donations

»De Witt, in Murray, Hist, of Education in N. J. (U. S.
Bureau of Education, No. i.), chap. ix.

1746] CULTURE 313

of books had played an important part. Gradual-
ly there developed in New England such consider-
able private collections as those of the Mathers and
Thomas Prince. In the south the best - known
private collection was that of Westover, in Vir-
ginia, which, when sold in 1778, numbered nearly
four thousand volumes, collected largely by William
Byrd, the contemporary of Governor Spotswood,
and showing broad literary and scientific interests.^

Towards the close of the seventeenth century,
Reverend Thomas Bray collected and sent to various
places in America small libraries, made up largely,
but not wholly, of theological literature. Most of
these were in Maryland, but one of the most im-
portant was in Charleston, South Carolina, and there
were three in New England. About 1729 the So-
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel sent to
New York a library of one thousand volumes for
the use of the neighboring clergy. Generally speak-
ing, little was done by the colonists to develop these
collections, but in 1698 the South Carolina assem-
bly appropriated money for the support of the li-
brary in Charleston, for which the distinction has
been claimed of being the first public library in
America.*

Of more importance as an indication of colonial

* Bassett, Writings of William Byrd, p. Ixxxii., and App.

' Steiner, in Am. Hist. Review, 11. , 59-75; Smith, New York
(ed. of 1792), 213; McCrady, SotUh Carolina under Royal Gov-
ernment, 508.
VOL. vx. — 33

314 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1704

initiative in this field was the public subscription
library in Philadelphia founded by Franklin in
1 731 and incorporated in 1742. Franklin tells us
that "The institution soon manifested its utility,
was imitated by other towns, and in other prov-
inces . . . reading became fashionable; and our
people, having no publick amusements to divert
their attention from study, became better acquaint-
ed with books, and in a few years were observ'd
by strangers to be better instructed and more in-
telligent than people of the same rank generally
are in other countries." A somewhat similar move-
ment resulted in the formation of the Charleston
Library Society in 1743.*

The development of journalism is one of the most
important social facts of this provincial era. At
the close of the seventeenth century there was not
a single newspaper published in North America, and
even after the founding of the Boston News Letter,
in 1704, fifteen years passed before it had any rival
on the continent. During the next two decades,
however, newspapers were established in Rhode
Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir-
ginia, and South Carolina. These were generally
weekly publications, very imperfect in their reports
of American news, giving considerable space to Eng-
lish court life and parliamentary procedure and to
scientific or literary essays. Though often cautious

* Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.) ,1., 167-170; McCrady, 5oJrtfc
Carolina under Royal Government, 510-512.

1743] CULTURE 315

about the expression of editorial views, they be-
came important agencies of political controversy,
and furnish to-day valuable sources of information
upon numerous aspects of provincial politics/

During the first half of the eighteenth century
Boston was the chief journalistic centre in the colo-
nies, and in 1735 there were five newspapers simul-
taneously published in the town. There Franklin
began his career as printer and journalist by assist-
ing his brother in the publication of the New Eng-
land Courant. Papers of a much higher order were
the New England Weekly Journal and the Weekly
Rehearsal, afterwards continued in the Boston Weekly
Post, which had distinctly literary aims and received
contributions from leading ministers and laymen.^

During the seventeenth century the clergy were
almost the only educated professional men in
America. Lawyers were few and were regarded
with suspicion, and there were few thoroughly train-
ed physicians. During the next half -century there
was a decided advance in all of these professions.
The development of the Anglican church brought
into the middle and southern colonies a few clergy-
men like Blair in Virginia and Garden in South
Carolina, who had shared in the best educational
opportunities of their time and yet were ready to
spend their lives in the New World.

^Thomas, Hist, of Printing (Am. Antiq. Soc, Collections, VL),
IL, 7-204, passim.

' Goddard, in Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston, II., chap. xv.

3i6 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

In New England the clergy lost ground relative-
ly, but their best men began to show a broader
spirit. At the beginning of this era the represent-
ative men were the two Mathers, especially Cotton
Mather, who, though a man of great learning, felt
it to be one of his chief functions to check the rising
tide of innovation. With all his voluminous pub-
lications, he lacked the scholar's critical instinct.
The men who succeeded him differed from him not
so much in their formal statements of doctrine as in
their more tolerant temper. Such a man was Ben-
jamin Colman, one of the liberals whose influence in
Harvard College was so much dreaded by Cotton
Mather. "There are some practices and princi-
ples," he said, "that look Catholic, which though I
cannot reason myself into, yet I bear a secret rev-
erence to in others, and dare not for the world speak
a word against. Their souls look enlarged to me;
and mine does so the more to myself, for not daring
to judge them." Yet Colman had misgivings about
Yale College accepting Berkeley's generous gift of
books.*

The most scholarly Puritan minister of the next
generation was Thomas Prince, a graduate of Har-
vard in 1707, and for forty years pastor of the South
Church in Boston. Prince found time to build up
a large library and to write his scholarly though
fragmentary Chronological History of New England.

* Tyler, Hist, of Am. Literature (ed. of 1879) , II., 1 71-175 ; Tyler,
in Perry, American Episcopal Church, I., 537.

1756] CULTURE 317

In his dedication he enunciated principles of
scholarship strikingly different from those of the
Magnalia Christi. ** I would not," he said, "take
the least iota upon trust, if possible," and ** I cite
my vouchers to every passage." ^

The progress of the medical profession was com-
paratively slow. One of the best-known and in some
respects most intelligent of American physicians dur-
ing this period was William Douglass, the author of
an entertaining but not quite trustworthy historical
and descriptive account of the colonies. Strangely
enough, the sceptical Douglass opposed inoculation
as a protection against small -pox, while Cotton
Mather defended it. William Smith gave a gloomy
view of physicians in New York about the middle
of the eighteenth century, declaring that there were
few really skilful ones, while "quacks abound like
locusts in Egypt." South Carolina had a few physi-
cians who showed not only practical skill but some
capacity for scientific research.^

At the beginning of the eighteenth century law-
yers were so few that even the most important
judicial positions were often filled by men with-
out specific legal training. This was true in the
southern and middle colonies as well as in New
England. In South Carolina, for instance, the first
professional lawyer of whom there seems to be any

* Quoted in Tyler, Hist, of Am. Literature, II., 145 et seq.
' Smith, New York (ed. of 1792), 230; McCrady, South Caro^
Una under Royal Government, chap, xxii.

3i8 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1698

definite record was Nicholas Trott, who came to the
province in 1698.

During the next fifty years there was a steadily
increasing niimber of trained lawyers, many of
whom, especially in the southern and middle colo-
nies, had learned their profession in England. The
political leadership of the lawyers may be illus-
trated by such names as those of Charles Pinckney
in South Carolina, Daniel Dulany the elder, in
Maryland, and Andrew Hamilton in Pennsylvania,
all professional lawyers and all leaders in their re-
spective assemblies. Even Massachusetts, where
the common-law traditions were weakest, was pro-
ducing some strong lawyers; among them John
Read, the leader among his contemporaries in the
profession; Paul Dudley, a student at the Temple
in London and afterwards attorney - general and
chief -justice of his native province; and Jeremiah
Gridley, who seems to have been a sort of mentor
for the younger lawyers of the revolutionary era.^

There are many evidences of increased refinement
and of genuine intellectual interests. It has been
said that the New-Englanders of the early eighteenth
century show little appreciation of the contemporary
literary movement in England; and it is true, for
instance, that the Harvard College library contained
few of the memorable books of the age of Anne.
Nevertheless, Franklin while a boy in Boston un-
dertook to form his style on the Spectator, and the

* Washburn, Judicial Hist, of Mass., 207-209, 211, 283-287.

1743] CULTURE 319

newspaper essays of the period show clearly the
influence of Addison and Steele.^

A wide-spread interest in natural science corre-
sponded to the contemporary tendency of English
thought ; even Cotton Mather was interested in these
studies, as were his contemporaries Joseph and Paul
Dudley. Many Americans of that time were mem-
bers of the Royal Society of London or contributors
to its transactions, including the Winthrops and
Paul Dudley in Massachusetts, William Byrd in
Virginia, and the physician Lining of South Car-
olina. In Philadelphia the Quaker John Bartram
won a European reputation as a naturalist; and
there Franklin, in 1743, issued his appeal for the
formation of an American philosophical society to
stimulate and organize research.^

In some of the provincial towns there were con-
siderable groups of cultivated people. With in-
creasing wealth came a development of the aesthetic
side of life, especially in domestic architecture and
the furnishing of the house. The artist Smibert,
who came to New England with Berkeley, left some
portraits of representative provincial personages,
which, like the later ones by Copley, indicate refined
and comfortable standards of life.

Hugh Jones thought that while his Virginian
friends were not much disposed " to dive into books,"

» Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.) , I., 47 ; Goddard, in Winsor,
Memorial Hist, of Boston, II., chap. xv.
'Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.), I., 480.

320 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1724

their " quick apprehension " gave them a " Sufficien-
cy of Knowledge and Fluency of Tongue." During
the second quarter of the eighteenth century the
genteel public of Charleston was listening to lectures
on natural science, paying good prices at the thea-
tre to see such plays as Addison's tragedy of " Cato,"
and observing St. Cecilia's day by a concert of vo-
cal and instrumental music. William Smith, writ-
ing of New York, gives the impression, confirmed
by later writers, of a community which. had some
of the social graces, but was not very intellectual.^

Boston was thought by the Anglican clergyman,
Bumaby, in 1760, to be "undeniably forwarder in
the arts" than either Pennsylvania or New York.
He considered their public buildings "more ele-
gant" and observed " a more general turn for music,
painting, and the belles lettres." The strict obser-
vance of Sunday was still a subject of comment by
visitors, and the theatre was under the ban, but
otherwise the Puritan discipline was much relaxed.
Smith thought his own people of New York " not so
gay as our neighbors at Boston," and in 1740 the
Boston ladies were reported as indulging "every
little piece of gentility to the height of the mode."*

In Boston and New York, as well as in Annapolis,

* Jones, Present State of Virginia (ed. of 1865), 44; McCrady,
South Carolina under Royal Government, 492, 526-528.

'Smith, New York (ed. of 1792), 229; Bumaby, Travels
(Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII.), 730, 738, 747; cf. Hart, Contem-
poraries, II., chaps, xii., xiv.; Winsor, Memorial Hist, of Boston^
II., chap. xvi.

i76o] CULTURE 321

Williamsburg, and Charleston, English models were
closely followed in dress and social practices, though
it was observed in New York that the London fash-
ions were adopted in America just as they were go-
ing out of use in England/

Provincial society was growing richer, freer, more
cosmopolitan in the eighteenth century, but it was
felt by many to be losing in ethical and religious
vigor. Significant as a protest against the pre-
vailing tendencies of the time was the religious re-
vival which had for its chief preachers Jonathan
Edwards and George White field. The " Great Awak-
ening" may be said to have begun in 1734 with
the revival in Edwards's Church at Northampton,
in western Massachusetts. A short period of com-
parative inaction followed, but in 1739 the smoul-
dering fire was fanned into flame by the passionate
eloquence of Whitefield. The new revival spread
through the southern and middle colonies and pro-
duced a powerful impression upon nearly all classes.
Even the unemotional Franklin found it hard at
times to resist the spell of Whitefield's oratory.

Gradually, however, the inevitable reaction came ;
for the movement was unwelcome not only to those
who were tinged with the new secular spirit, but
also to many who stood for the old ecclesiastical
order. Thus Whitefield found among his antagonists
the Anglican commissary Garden, of South Caro-

* Journal and Letters of Eliza Lucas, 6,17; Jones, Present State
of Virginia (ed. of 1865), 31.

322 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1703

lina, many of the leading Puritan ministers of New-
England, and the faculties of Yale and Harvard.^
By 1745 the "Great Awakening" had largely spent
its force, and to-day men question whether it really
helped or harmed the cause of morals and true re-
ligion. Many of its leaders were men of no great
significance in American life ; and even Whitefield
was not a man of commanding intellect or char-
acter.

One of these men cannot be so easily dismissed.
Jonathan Edwards was not only a preacher of ex-
traordinary power, trying to bring back his people
to the hard but virile Calvinism from which they
were gradually drifting, but perhaps the keenest
and most original thinker America has ever pro-
duced. A graduate of Yale College at a time when
it seemed on the verge of disintegration, he spent
nearly all his life as the pastor of a small country
town. Yet the great Scotch metaphysician, Stew-
art, said of him that in ** logical acuteness and sub-
tilt y" he was not inferior "to any disputant bred
in the universities of Europe"; and the German
scholar, Immanuel Fichte, nearly a century after
Edwards's death, expressed his admiration for the
contributions to ethical theory made by this *' soli-
tary thinker of North America."^

This preacher and metaphysician was also a gen*

^ Palfrey, New England, V., 1-41.

' Fisher, " The Philosophy of Jonathan Edwards," in North
American Review, CXXVIII., 284-303,

1743] CULTURE 323

uine poet. Like Dante, he used his imaginative
power in depicting the terrors of the world to come
for those who died unsaved, but he was also finely
sensitive to beauty in nature and in the world of
spirit. His record of his early spiritual experience
contains many passages of exquisite beauty. In
one of them he describes '* the soul of a true Chris-
tian" as resembling ''such a little white flower as
we see in the spring of the year ; low and humble on
the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleas-
ant beams of the sun's glory, rejoicing, as it were, in
a calm rapture ; diffusing around a sweet f ragrancy ;
standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of
other flowers round about ; all in like manner open-
ing their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun." ^

Edwards was born in 1703 and Franklin in 1706,
both before the close of the first century of English
colonization. The two men were alike in the keen-
ness and range of their intellectual interests, and
alike also in a reputation transcending the limits of
the provincial communities in which they lived.
In other respects they were as opposite as the poles.
In sharp contrast to Franklin, with his worldly wis-
dom, his unemotional temper, and his matter-of-
fact philanthropy, stands the great idealist Edwards,
who in his writings and his life probably approached
more nearly than any American before or since his
time the highest levels of the human spirit.

In 1743, while Edwards was absorbed in the

» Edwards, Works (Dwight's ed.), L, Ivi.

324 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1743

problems of the Great Awakening, Franklin wrote
his Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among
the British Plantations in America,^ in which he
urged that, " the first drudgery of settling new colo-
nies " being ''pretty well over," Americans might
do their part in scientific and philosophical inquiry.
Certainly his own achievements and those of Ed-
wards might well have encouraged such a hope.

From these studies, however, Franklin himself was
soon diverted by new and perplexing political prob-*
lems. Already the final struggle was coming on
for the mastery of the continent. Already, too,
there lay beneath the obscure questions of provin-
cial politics deeper issues which were to estrange the
colonies from the mother-country and force upon
them the great problems of government for a new
nation. Thus politics rather than speculation be-
came the absorbing interest of the next generation,
which saw the end of the provincial era.

> Franklin, Works (Bigelow's ed.), I., 480

CHAPTER XIX
CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AIDS

JUSTIN WINSOR, Narrative and Critical History of
America (8 vols., 1884-1889), gives the most detailed
account of the literature of this period, chiefly in vol.
v.; but much important material has since appeared.
Channing and Hart, Guide to the Study of American History
(1896), is a compact and systematic collection of reference
lists, in which, however, the topics are less developed for
this than for the earlier period. J. N. Lamed, Literature
of American History (1902), contains useful descriptive
and critical notes, mainly by competent hands. Charles
McL. Andrews, American Colonial History (i6qo- i^^o),
(American Historical Association, Report, 1898), and his
"Materials in British Archives for American Colonial
History" (American Historical Review, X., 325-349,
January, 1905), are serviceable accounts of printed and
manuscript material. See also, Moses Coit Tyler, History
of American Literature (2 vols., 1879; revised ed., 1897).

OBNBRAL SECONDARY WORKS

No comprehensive treatment of this period has yet
appeared which represents fairly the present state of
knowledge or the point of view of recent students. Of the
general histories written during the eighteenth century,
John Oldmixon, British Empire in America (2 vols., 1708;
revised edition, 1741), and William Douglass, A Summary,
Historical and Political, . . . of the British Settlements in

325

326 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

North America (2 vols., 1749, 1751), are still worth con-
sulting, though neither is accurate. The most scholarly
of the eighteenth - century writers was George Chalmers,
whose works covering this period are An Intriduction to the
History of the Revolt of the American Colonies (vol. I., 1782;
2 vols., 1845), and his fragmentary Continuation (to 1696)
of his Political Annals of the Present United Colonies (this
continuation is in New York Historical Society, Collections,
Publication Fund, 1868). Chalmers was a royalist official
who had had experience in America, and argued that the
colonists were during this period aiming at independence.
Notwithstanding this theory, his careful study of the Brit-
ish state papers makes his Revolt still the best general ac-
count of colonial politics in the eighteenth century.

The accounts of the period by George Bancroft, History
of the United States (last revision, 6 vols., 1888), and
Richard Hildreth, History of the United States (6 vols.,
1849-1852), are both scholarly, but defective on the
institutional side and antiquated in method of treatment
and point of view. The various volumes by John Fiske
are fragmentary in their treatment of the eighteenth cen-
tury, especially for New England, and lay special stress
upon the picturesque aspects of politics and society.
Another popular treatment is by Bryant and Gay, Popular
History of the United States (4 vols., 1881, especially vol,
III.), but neither this work nor Fiske gives an adequate
view of general political conditions and tendencies. Justin
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols.,
1 888-1 889), contains in vol. V. some learned and indispen-
sable chapters, especially that by the editor on New Eng-
land; but there is little account of general movements
except on the international side. John A. Doyle, English
in America (3 vols., 1882-1887), is as yet mainly confined
to the seventeenth century.

GENERAL COLLECTIONS OF SOURCES

The most important repository of material relating to
the colonies is the State-Paper Office in London. Abstracts

I740] AUTHORITIES 327

of these papers have been published in the Calendars of
State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies (9
vols., 1860-1903); but the last volume so far published
stops at 1696. Much of the remaining material has, how-
ever, been published by state governments and historical
societies. Especially valuable for general colonial conditions
are: the Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New
York (14 vols, and index, 1856-1883); Documents Re-
lating to the Colonial History of New Jersey (22 vols., 1880-
1902); and Colonial Records of North Carolina (10 vols.,
1886-1890).

Important contemporary doctmients are reprinted in
Peter Force, Tracts and other Papers relating principally to
the Colonies in North America (4 vols., 1836-1846), and in
G. P. Humphrey, American Colonial Tracts (18 Nos., 1897-
1898). Albert Bushnell Hart, American History Told by
Contemporaries (4 vols., 1 897-1 901 ; vol. II. on this period),
is representative both in the topics covered and in the nar-
ratives chosen to illustrate them.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The following histories of England covering this period
are important for international relations: Leopold von
Ranke, History of England, principally in the Seventeenth
Century (6 vols., 1875); W. E. H. Lecky, England in the
Eighteenth Century (8 vols., 1 878-1 890) ; Lord Mahon, His-
tory of Englarul, i^ij-iySj (vols- L-III., 1858); Earl Stan-
hope,//wtory of England, lyoi-iyi^ (2 vols., 1872; also i
vol., 1870) ; Carl von Noorden, DerSpanische Erbfolge-Krieg
(3 vols., 1870-1882; published as vols. I.-III.of his Euro-
pdische Geschichte in Achtzehnten J ahrhundert) , is the most
adequate account of the War of the Spanish Succession and
the underlying issues of commerce and politics. The lives,
memoirs, and published papers of such statesmen as Marl-
borough, Bolingbroke, and Walpole should also be studied,
together with the reports of debates, in William Cobbett,
Parliamentary History of England (36 vols., 1806-1820).

328 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

For the colonial wars from 1689 to 17 13, the leading
secondary authorities are: Francis Parkman, Count Fron-
tenac and New France (1878), and his Half -Century of
Conflict (2 vols., 1892); Henri Lorin, Le Comte de Fron-
tenac (1895); William Kingsford, History of Canada (vols.
II., III., 1888); S. A. Drake, Border Wars of New England
(1897). G. W. Schuyler, Colonial New York (3 vols.,
1885), is valuable for the New York frontier.

The principal English documents are in Documents
Relative to the Colonial History of New York, III.-V.;
vol. IX. contains translations from the French archives.
The important contemporary history of the border war-
fare is Samuel Penhallow, Wars of New England with the
Eastern Indians (1726; new ed., 1859). Cadwallader
Col den. Five Indian Nations (1727; good editions by J. G.
Shea, 1866, and G. P. Winship, 1904), is also valuable.
Compare, on this section, Reuben G. Thwaites, France
in America {American Nation, VIL), chap. xix.

RELATIONS WITH THB MOTHER-COUNTRY

For the relation of colonial policy to economic develop-
ment see William Cunningham, English Industry and Com-
merce in Modern Times, pt. i. (1903). An old-fashioned
but substantial work is Adam Anderson, An Historical and
Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce (4 vols.,
1787-1789). The best brief account of British colonial
policy is H. E. Egerton, Short History of British Colonial
Policy (1897), based in part upon the state papers. G.
L. Beer, Commercial Policy of England towards the American
Colonies {Columbia University Studies, III., No. 2, 1893),
is the most complete study on the commercial side.

Contemporary English opinion may be studied in nu-
merous political tracts (see bibliography in Beer, as above) ;
in William Cobbett, Parliamentary History of England
(1806-1820); in Journals of the House of Commons and
Journals of the House of Lords. The statutes to 1713 are
in Statutes of the Realm (12 vols., 1810-1828); after that

i74o] AUTHORITIES 329

date in Danby Pickering, Statutes at Large ^'109 vols, and
index, 1762).

Louise P. Kellogg, The American Colonial Charter (Amer-
ican Historical Association, Report, 1903, I., 185-341), is an
excellent essay upon British administrative policy, chiefly
during this period, based largely upon the state papers
in London. Other useful essays are: Eleanor L. Lord,
Industrial Experiments in the British Colonies of North
America {Johns Hopkins University Studies, extra vol.,
1898); H. D. Hazeltine, Appeals from Colonial Courts to
the King in Council (American Historical Association, Re-
port, 1894); E. P. Tanner, "Colonial Agencies," in Political
Science Quarterly, XVL, 24-49 (1901)- Eor legal questions,
Chalmers, Opinions of Eminent Lawyers on Various Points
of English Jurisprudence, etc. (2 vols., 1814; also i vol.,
1858), is of the first importance; it contains a number of
official reports on disallowing colonial statutes. See also
St. G. L. Sioussat, TJte English Statutes in Maryland {Johns
Hopkins University Studies, XXI., Nos. 11, 12).

The documentary collections of New York, New Jersey,
and North Carolina mentioned above contain important
material on this subject. Especially valuable also are the
following volumes of official correspondence: Robert N.
Toppan, ed., Edward Randolph (5 vols., 1898-1899); the
Belcher Papers (Massachusetts Historical Society, Col-
lections, 6th series, VI., VII.); the Talcott Papers (Con-
necticut Historical Society, Collections, IV., V.); G. S.
Kimball, ed., Correspondence of the Colonial Governors of
Rhode Island, lys^-i'/y^ (2 vols., 1902-1903); Correspond-
ence between William Penn and James Logan (Pennsylvania
Historical Society, Memoirs, IX., X.).

Consiilt for subject-matter and bibliography of this
section, Andrews, Colonial Self - Government {American
Nation, V.), especially chaps, i., ii., xvii., xx.

POLITICS AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE COLONIES

H. L. Osgood, The American Colonies in the Seventeenth
Century (1904), in the two volumes published, is limited

VOL VI.— 23

330 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

to the proprietary and corporate colonies, but the royal
provinces are to be considered in a third volume. Though
dealing mainly with earlier conditions, these scholarly
volumes constitute a valuable introduction to the study
of political institutions in the eighteenth century. For
the later period the student must depend upon mono-
graphic and documentary material.

E. B. Greene, The Provincial Governor in the English Colo-
nies of North America {Harvard Historical Studies, VII.,
1898), includes the royal and proprietary colonies, and gives
special attention to the conflicts between the governors and
the representative assemblies. The representative element
in the constitution is considered in two careful monographs:
C. F. Bishop, History of Elections in the American Colonies
{Columbia University Studies, III., No. i), is chiefly a sum-
mary of colonial legislation; A. E. McKinley, The Suffrage
Franchise in the Thirteen English Colonies (University
of Pennsylvania, Publications, Series in History, No. 2,
1905), is extremely detailed, giving more attention to
causes and effects. Frank H. Miller, Legal Qualifications
jar Office (American Historical Association, Report, 1899, 1.,
pp. 87-151), deals with another side of the representative
system.

The following are useful accounts of particular provinces:
[Edward] Long, History of Jamaica (3 vols., 1774), a good
early description of a royal province; J. V. L. McMahon,
An Historical View of the Government of Maryland (vol. I.,
1831); [Benjamin Franklin], Historical Review of the Con-
stitution and Government of Pennsylvania (London, 1759;
reprinted in Franklin, Works, Sparks's edition, 1809), a
partisan narrative. The best recent study of a royal
government is W. Roy Smith, South Carolina as a Royal
Province (1903); less successful, but useful, is C. L. Raper,
North Carolina (1904) ; cf . E. L. Whitney, Government of the
Colony of South Carolina {Johns Hopkins University Studies ,
XIII., No. 2, 1895). The best account of a proprietary
province is N. D. Mereness, Maryland as a Proprietary
Province (1901). W. R. Shepherd, History of Proprietary

i74o] AUTHORITIES 331

Government in Pennsylvania (Columbia University Studies,
VI., 1896), contains valuable material and shows thorough
research, but is unfortunately constructed. Isaac Sharp-
less, History of Quaker Government in Pennsylvania, 16S2-
lySj (1898, also 1902 as vol. I. of his Quaker Experiment
in Government), is fair minded and suggestive.

CHURCH AND STATE

Church of England. — J. S. M. Anderson, History of
the Church of England in the Colonies (revised ed., 3 vols.,
1856), is written by a moderate Anglican, largely from
first-hand material, and, though old - fashioned, is still
valuable. The most important recent history is W. S.
Perry, History of the American Episcopal Church (2 vols.,
1885); it contains some monographic chapters contributed
by other writers, and important selections from the sources.
Arthur L. Cross, The Anglican Episcopate and the Ameri-
can Colonies {Harvard Historical Studies, IX., 1902), is a
scholarly monograph founded on manuscript as well as
printed material dealing with the colonial jurisdiction of the
Bishop of London and the attempts to establish an Ameri-
can episcopate. Bishop [William] Meade, Old Churches,
Ministers, and Families of Virginia (2 vols., 1857, also,
1872), is a valuable authority on religious and social history.
The most important documentary collections are: Hawks
and Perry, Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the United States (2 vols., 1 863-1 864), and W. S.
Perry, Papers Relating to the History of the Church (5 vols.,
187 0-1878), containing documents for Connecticut, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Delaware.

New England Puritanism. — See on this subject, H.
M. Dexter, Congregationalism as Seen in Its Literature
(1880); P. E. Lauer, Church and State in New England
{Johns Hopkins University Studies, X., Nos. 2, 3); I.
Backus, History of New England with Particular Reference
to the Denomination of Christians Called Baptists (2d ed.,
187 1 ), valuable for the relations between the Congrega-
tional establishment and the dissenting bodies; E. F.

332 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

Slafter, ed., John Checkley, or the Evolution of Religious
Tolerance in Massachusetts Bay (2 vols., 1897); A. P.
Marvin, Life and Times of Cotton Mather (1892); Barrett
Wendell, Cotton Mather, the Puritan Priest (1891), a brief
but suggestive study, based largely on Mather's diaries.
Important as illustrating religious feeling are: Cotton
Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana (1702 ; best ed., 2 vols.,
1853) ; and Samuel Sewall, Diary (Massachusetts Historical
Society, Collections, 5th series, V.-VII.).

Witchcraft. — For the abundant literature on this epi-
sode, see Justin Winsor, The Literature of Witchcraft in New
England (American Antiquarian Society, Proceedings, X.,
3S^~Z13y 1896). The most detailed study is in C. W.
Upham, Salem Witchcraft (2 vols., 1867) ; but his treatment
of the Mathers has been ably criticised by W. F. Poole, in
North American Review, CVIIL, 337-397. Important also
are Samuel G. Drake, Annals of Witchcraft in New Eng-
land (1869); and W. E. Woodward, ed.. Records of Salem
Witchcraft, Copied from the Original Documents (2 vols.,
1864.)

Other Religious Bodies. — See the various volumes of
the American Church History Series, including bibliographi-
cal chapters and a final bibliographical volume. See also
Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York (4 vols., 1901-
1902).

ECONOMIC HISTORY

There is as yet no comprehensive economic history of
the American colonies; but, for New England, William B.
Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England (2
vols., 1 890-1891), is a valuable storehouse of facts. Philip
A. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth
Century (2 vols., 1896), describes the initial conditions. Of
the histories of particular colonies, Edward McCrady, His-
tory of South Carolina under the Royal Government (1899), is
especially serviceable on the economic side.

Southern Land Administrations. — See J. C. Ballagh,
Introduction to Southern Economic History — The Land Sys-

I740] AUTHORITIES 333

tern in the South (American Historical Association, Report,
1897), and the chapters on the subject in Mereness, Mary-
land ; Raper, North Carolina ; and Smith, South Carolina.
There are two scholarly essays by J. S. Bassett: The Rela-
tion between the Virginia Planter and the London Merchant
(American Historical Association, Report, 1901, pp. 551-
575) ; and the introduction to his edition of the Writings of
Colonel William Byrd (1901).

Manufactures and Commerce. — Some material may
be found in the works of Anderson, Cunningham, and
Weeden mentioned above; and in J. L. Bishop, History of
American Manufactures (3 vols., 1867); but the printed
material is chiefly in the documentary collections.

Financial History. — See the references in Davis R.
Dewey, Financial History of the United States (1903),
chap. i. The best general view of colonial currency is
Charles J. Bullock, Essays on the Monetary History of the
United States (1900). The most detailed study of currency
and banking is Andrew McF. Davis, Currency and Banking
in Massachusetts Bay (American Economic Association,
Publications, 3d series, I., No. 4, and II, No. 2).

SYSTEM OF LABOR

On colonial slavery, see especially G. H. Moore, Notes on
the History of Slavery in Massachusetts (1866); Edward
McCrady, Slavery in South Carolina (American Historical
Association, i^^/?or^, 1895, pp. 331-373); Edward Needles,
An Historical Memoir of the Pennsylvania Society (1848);
Edwin V. Morgan, Slavery in New York (Americm Histori-
cal Accociation, Papers, V.) ; and the following numbers of
th.e Johns Hopkins University Studies: B. C. Sterner, History
of Slavery in Connecticut (XI., Nos. 9, 10); Edward Chan-
ning, Narragansett Planters (IV., No. 3); Jeffrey R. Brack-
ett. The Negro in Maryland (extra vol. VI.); J. C. Ballagh,
A History of Slavery in Virginia (extra vol., 1902); Stephen
B. Weeks, Southern Quakers and Slavery (extra vol. XV.,
1890) The most scholarly treatment of the slave-trade

334 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

and its regulation is W. E. B. Du Bois, Suppression of
the African Slave -Trade {Harvard Historical Studies ^ I.).
Important studies of white servitude are K. F. Geiser,
Redemptioners and Indented Servants in Pennsylvania (sup-
plement to Yale Review, X.,No. 2,1901); and two numbers
in the Johns Hopkins University Studies : E. I. McCormac,
White Servitude in Maryland (XXI ., Nos. 3, 4); and J. C.
Ballagh, White Servitude in Maryland (XIII., Nos. 6, 7).
See critical chapter in Albert Bushnell Hart, Slavery
and Abolition {American Nation, XVI.).

CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVES ILLUSTRATING SOCIAL CON-
DITIONS

For seventeenth-century narratives, see Andrews, Colonial
Self-Government {American Nation, V.), 340-342. The foot-
notes in Henry Cabot Lodge, Short History of the English
Colonies in America (1881), are still useful guides in this
field. Many extracts are printed in Albert Bushnell Hart,
American History Told by Contemporaries, IL (1899).

The following records of travel are noteworthy: Madam
[S. K.] Knight, Journal, 1 704-1 705 (editions, 1825, 1865),
a realistic account of contemporary conditions chiefly
in New England; George Keith, Journal of Travels from
New Hampshire to Caratuck (1706; reprinted in Protestant
Episcopal Historical Society, Collections, I., 185 1), records
the missionary journeys of a zealous Anglican; George
Whitefield, Journal of a Voyage from London to Savannah
(2d ed., 1738, and numerous other editions of this and the
continuations). For conditions at the close of this period,
consult Peter Kalm, Travels into North America (in trans.,
1770 and later eds. ; reprinted in Pinkerton, Voyages, XIII.),
written by a Swedish naturalist who travelled chiefly in the
middle colonies during the years 1749 and 1750; Andrew
Burnaby, Travels through the Middle Settlements in North-
America (1775, and later editions; reprinted in Pinkerton,
Voyages, XIII.).

Important contemporary descriptions of particular

I740] AUTHORITIES 335

colonies are John Callender, Historical Discourse on the
Civil and Religious Affairs of the Colony of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations (1739; reprinted in Rhode
Island Historical Society, Collections, IV., 1838); [Robert
Beverley], History of Virginia (1705 and later eds.);
Hartwell, Blair, and Chilton, The Present State of Virginia
and the College (1727); Hugh Jones, The Present State of
Virginia (1724; reprinted, 1865); William Byrd, Writings
(1841; later eds. by T. H. Wynne, 1866, 2 vols., and J. S.
Bassett, 1901), the observations of a cultivated man of the
world. Much the most important personal records are
Samuel Sewall, Diary, mentioned above, and Franklin,
Autobiography (many eds. and in all eds. of his works).
See also Eliza Lucas, Journal and Letters (Holbrook's ed.,
1850), for South Carolina in the middle of the eighteenth
century.

Good descriptions of social life founded on contempo-
rary records are the numerous volumes of Mrs. Alice Morse
Earle, dealing chiefly with New England, which are listed
in Lamed, Literature of American History, 70. See also
articles on colonial life by Edward Eggleston {Century
Magazine, 1883-1885), and the William and Mary College
Quarterly (1893-). The numerous local histories, of which
the best is Justin Winsor, Memorial History of Boston (4
vols ., 1880-1881), are important for social conditions . See
lists in Channing and Hart, Guide, § 23.

COLONIAL IMMIGRATION. NON-ENGLISH STOCKS

There is much monographic and antiquarian material
on this subject, but no comprehensive treatise. For the
Germans, especially in Pennsylvania, the best introduc-
tion is Oscar Kuhns, The German and Swiss Settlements
of Colonial Pennsylvania (1901), which includes a good
bibliography. Some important special studies are: Fried-
rich Kapp, Die Deutschen im Staate New York wdhrend
des Achtzehnten Jahrhunderts (revised ed., 1884); various
works by F. R. Diffenderffer, J. F. Sachse, and S. W. Penny.

336 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

packer (titles given by Kuhns); G. D. Bemheim, History
of German Settlements in North and South Carolina (1872).

C. A. Hanna, The Scotch-Irish or the Scot in Great Britain,
North Ireland, and North America (2 vols., 1902), is tin-
scientific but contains some valuable matter. See also S. S.
Green, The Scotch-Irish in America (American Antiquarian
Society, Proceedings, X., 32-70, with bibliography). C.
W. Baird, History of the Huguenot Emigration to America
(2 vols., 1885), deals chiefly with the seventeenth century.
See also Huguenot Papers (in Virginia Historical Society,
Collections, new series, V.).

On colonial regulation of immigration, see Ember son E.
Proper, Colonial Immigration Laws {Columbia University
Studies, XVI., No. 2, 1900) ; A. H. Carpenter, " Naturaliza-
tion in England and the Colonies," in American Historical
Review, IX., 288-303.

PROVINCIAL EDUCATION AND CULTURE

On the colonial colleges, the most scholarly work is Josiah
Quincy, History of Harvard University (2d ed., 2 vols., i860) ;
the appendices contain many original documents. For the
founding of Yale, see Thomas Clap, Annals or History of
Yale College (1766) ; papers by F. B. Dexter and Simeon E.
Baldwin, in New Haven Colony Historical Society, Papers,
III.; and W. L. Kingsley, Yale College (2 vols., 1879). On
William and Mary College, see H. B. Adams, The College of
William and Mary (U. S. Bureau of Education, Circulars
of Information, No. i, 1887), which contains an extended
bibliography; and various numbers of the William and
Mary College Quarterly (1893-).

The reports and circulars of the U. S. Bureau of Educa-
tion, though of unequal value, contain some valuable papers
on colonial education. See also E. W. Clews, Educational
Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments
(Coliimbia University, Contributions to Philosophy, etc.,
VL, 1899).

The best introduction to the study of colonial culture is

I740] AUTHORITIES 337

Moses Coit Tyler, History of American Literature, i6oy—
1765 (2 vols., 1879; revised ed., 1897). Important also are
Isaiah Thomas, History of Printing in America (best ed. in
American Antiquarian Society, ArchcBologia Americana, V.,
VL, 1874); Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American
Literature (11 vols., 1887-1890); and A. B.Hart, American
History Told by Contemporaries, II.

HISTORIES OF PARTICULAR COLONIES

A few essential books for this period will be given under
each colony. For other critical estimates, see Andrews,
Colonial Self-Government (American Nation, V.), chap. xx.

New England. — J. G. Palfrey, History of New England
(vols. IV., v., 1875, 1890), is the most important single
work on New England; it is based upon a wide range of
printed and manuscript material and is not soon likely
to be superseded. See also Weeden, Economic and Social
History, mentioned above.

For Massachusetts, the most important history is Thomas
Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay, 1628-1750 (2
vols., 1764, 1767; 3ded., 1795), which is in part the record
of a contemporary. The most useful documentary publi-
cation is the Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay (10 vols., 1 869-1 902). Be-
sides the statutes there is much original material in the
notes. Indispensable also are the Collections and Proceed-
ings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. For New
Hampshire, the standard history is Jeremy Belknap, The
History of New Hampshire (3 vols., 1784-17 92); and the
chief dociimentary collection is New Hampshire Provincial
Papers (7 vols., 1867-1873). For Connecticut, Benjamin
Trumbull, History of Connecticut (2 vols., 1797; new ed.,
1898), should be used with the Colonial Records of Connecti-
cut (15 vols., 1850-1890), and the Connecticut Historical
Society, Collections (9 vols., 1 860-1 903). For Rhode Island,
the chief authorities are S. G. Arnold, History of Rhode Isl-
and and Providence Plantations (2 vols., 1859-1860; 4th ed.,

338 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1690

1899), and the Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations (10 vols.> 1856-1865).

Middle Colonies. — John Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colo-
nies (2 vols., 1899) , is a general, popular account. William
Smith, History of New York (1757 and various later edi-
tions), is valuable for this period. Of the numerous docu-
mentary collections the most important are the Documents
Relative to the Colonial History of New York, already men-
tioned ; the Documentary History of the State of New York
(4 vols., 1849-1851) ; and the Colonial Laws of New York (5
vols., 1894). For New Jersey, see Samuel Smith, History
of the Colony of New Jersey (1765), an unsatisfactory his-
tory, but containing many documents ; and the Documents
Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey
(22 vols., 1880-1902), containing public records and impor-
tant extracts from colonial newspapers.

For Pennsylvania, the most useful histories are Robert
Proud, History of Pennsylvania (2 vols., 1797-1798), and
those of W. R. Shepherd and Isaac Sharpless, already
mentioned. The latter author asserts that "an authentic
and impartial history of Colonial Pennsylvania is yet to be
written." The chief documentary collections are Colonial
Records, 1683 - 1776 (10 vols., 1851-1852); Votes and
Proceedings of the House of Representatives (6 vols., 1752-
1776); the Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Historical Society
and its Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography;
and the Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania (vols. 1 1. -VI 1 1.,
1896-1902).

Southern Colonies. — For Virginia, the chief secondary
authorities for this period are J. D. Burk, History of Vir-
ginia (3 vols., 1 804-1 805), and Charles Campbell, History
of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia (i860).
There are three interesting chapters, chiefly on social con-
ditions, in John Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, II.
(1898). The principal collection of documents is W. W.
Hening, Statutes at Large, i6ig-iyg2 (13 vols., 1823). See
also the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, I. (1875); the
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (1893-); the

I740] AUTHORITIES 339

William and Mary College Quarterly; the Virginia Historical
Society, Collections, especially vols. I. and XL, containing the
Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood. For Maryland dur-
ing this period, the most useful secondary works are those
of McMahon and Mereness already mentioned. The valu-
able collection of TPie Archives of Maryland has so far been
confined mainly to the seventeenth century. Much im-
portant material is included in the Maryland Historical
Society, Fund Publications, especially No. 34 (the Calvert
Papers, II.).

The narrative history of South Carolina can be best stud-
ied in Edward McCrady, History of South Carolina under the
Proprietary Government (1897) and History of South Caro-
lina under the Royal Government (1899). The first volume
is rigidly chronological, but the second contains valuable
chapters on special topics. The older works by W. J.
Rivers, Sketch of the History of South Carolina (1856) and
A Chapter in the Early History of South Carolina (1874),
contain many documents and should still be consulted.
See also Smith, South Carolina as a Royal Province, already
mentioned. For the narrative history of North Carolina,
see F. L. Hawks, History of North Carolina (2 vols. 1857-
1858), and on the institutional side, C. L. Raper, North
Carolina (1904). The most complete documentary collec-
tion for the Carolinas is the Colonial Records of North Caro-
lina, already mentioned. There is no similar collection for
South Carolina; but important source material may be
found in the Collections of the South Carolina Historical
Society, still in progress, and in B. R. Carroll, Historical
Collections of South Carolina (2 vols., 1836).

The best of the older histories of Georgia is W. B.
Stevens, History of Georgia (2 vols., 1847, 1859); it shows
extensive and scholarly use of the sources. C. C. Jones, Jr.,
History of Georgia (2 vols., 1883), though based in part on
the older writers, shows also independent examination of
source material, much of which is incorporated with the
text. Among the numerous lives of Oglethorpe, the most
important is still Robert Wright, Memoir of General James

340 PROVINCIAL AMERICA [1689

Oglethorpe (1867); see also Letters from General Oglethorpe
(Georgia Historical Society, Collections, III.)-

The Journal of the Transactions of the Trustees of the
Colony of Georgia in America was published in 1886, by
C. C. Jones. Important contemporary narratives are pub-
lished in the Georgia Historical Society, Collections (vols,
I.-IV., 1840), and in Peter Force, Tracts on the Colonies.
Further bibliographical data are given by C. C. Jones, in
Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, V.,
392-406.

INDEX

Abenaki Indians, raids on New-
England, no, 119, 126, 127,
142, 143, 145-147; treaties,
127, 134, 145, 163.

Acadia, joined to Massachusetts,
21, 127; captured by Phips,
122; boundary controversy ,
no; instigates Indian raids,
no; recovered, 126; Church's
raids (1696), 127; (1704), 149;
March's expedition, 149; final
conquest, 157; ceded to Eng-
land, 162.

Adams, John, on paper money
and loyalty, 180.

Administration, See Board of
Trade, Colonies, Governors.

Admiralty, control over colonies,
45 , 1 7 1 ; colonial courts, 48, 53 .

Agents, colonial, in England, 78;
bribery by, 79.

Agricultiu"e, conditions (1689),
9; plantation system, 270-
276; northern, 277.

Albany, independent of Leisler,
117; trade with Canada, 213,
283.

Allen, Samuel, control in New
Hampshire, 2 1 .

Amory, Thomas, on illicit trade,
294; merchant, 299.

Andover raid, 128.

Andros, Edmund, overthrow, 18;
governor of Virginia, 24,

Annapolis, Maryland, in 1750,

243-
Anne, Queen, personal influence

on colonial policy, 43; and
colonial bishops, 104.

Antislavery, colonial, 242.

Appointments, minor colonial
officers, 74, 76, 199; character
of colonial, 172; sinecure, 172.

Aristocracy, New York, 206;
Virginia, 207.

Art, colonial, 319.

Asiento, 161, 238.

Assemblies, representative,
rights, 66 ; limitations on legis-
lative powers, 67; policy, 67;
conflict with governors, 67,
194; and spirit of self-govern-
ment, 69 ; inspired by House of
Commons,69, 72 ; bills of rights,
70-72; frequent elections, 72,
73, 195; judging elections, 73;
financial control, 73-78, 198—
200, 220; appointment of ad-
ministrative officers, ^4, 76,
199; salary controversies, 75,
196-198; speaker controver-
sies, 195, 224.

Bahamas, English colony, 5;
pirates, 292.

Baltimore, Benedict, Lord, pro-
p ietary restored, 181.

Baltimore, Charles, Lord, loses
control, retains soil, 22.

Baltimore in 1750, 243.

Banks, Massachusetts Land, 180,
187, 215, 225, 298; colonial
paper -money, 297; bibliog-
raphy, 333.

341

342

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Baptists in New England, 87;

and support of establishment,

89, 90; in Georgia, 269.
Barbadoes, English colony, 5.
Barnard, Sir John, on Molasses

Act, 179; on taxing colonies,

186.
Barnwell, John, expedition

against Tuscaroras, 164.
Barter, colonial, 295.
Bartram, John, scientist, 319.
Beachy Head, battle, 114.
Beaubassin destroyed, 127.
Belcher, Jonathan, career, 213-

216; and Princeton, 312.
Bellomont, Earl of, governor,

32, 56; and imperial control,

32; and church matters, 84,

95; and Kidd, 292.
Berkeley, George, in America,

3°3-

Bermudas, English colony, 5.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
founded, 246.

Bibliographies of period 1689-
1740, 325.

Bills of rights, colonial, 70-72.

Bladen, Martin, in Board of
Trade, 169; proposes stamp
duty, 185.

Blair, James, commissary, 93;
and Spotswood, 210; social in-
fluence, 302,315; and William
and Mary College, 304, 305.

Blathwayte, William, in Board
of Trade, 47.

Board of Trade, organization,
46 ; composition, 46 ; attempt-
ed control by Parliament, 46,
49; colonial authority, 47, 48,
169 -171; agitation against
charters, 60 ; and colonial bills
of rights, 72; and colonial
salaries, 77; and control of
appointments, 172, 200; and
governors, 173; and triennial
elections, 176, 195; and man-
ufactures, 278; and Indian
trade, 284.

Bolingbroke, Viscount, control
over colonies, 45, 61 ; and con-
quest of Canada, 158.

Bolzius, Martin, in Georgia, 269.

Bonnet, Steve, pirate, 293.

Boston, French plans against,
125, 129; in 17^0, 244; news-
papers, 315; social conditions,
320.

Boundaries, Acadia — New Eng-
land, no; intercolonial dis-
putes, 190-192; Georgia, 253.

Bounties, commercial, 38, 178;
scalp, 147.

Brattle Street Church contro-
versy, 85.

Brattleboro settlement, 245.

Bray, Thomas, as commissary,
94, 97, 104; social influence,
302, 313.

Brunswick, Maine, frontier town,

245-

Bumaby, Andrew, on colonial
prosperity, 300.

Burnet, William, salary dispute,
196, 213; career, 211-213; so-
cial influence, 302.

Burroughs, George, witchcraft,

Byrd, William, on North Caro-
lina, 193, 275; on slavery,
240, 241; on Norfolk, 243;
real estate, 271 ; scientist,
319-

Callieres, Chevalier de, lead-
ership, 116; plan against New
York, 120.

Canada, instigates Indian raids,
no; fur trade and western
expansion, in, 283; and Iro-
quois, 111-113; trade with
Albany, 213, 283. See also
wars by name.

Cape Breton Island, France re-
tains, 162.

Carolinas, population (1689), 6;
religious condition (1689), 8;
proposed royal province, 60.

INDEX

343

See also North Carolina, South

Carolina.
Carteret, Lord, claim in Caro-

linas, 2t;3,
Gary rebellion, 98, 182.
Casco (Portland), attacks on,

120, 121.

Castine settlement, no.

Catawba Indians, English trade,
283.

Catholicism in colonies (1689),
8; restrictions on rights, 202.

Charles II., foreign policy, 106,
107.

Charleston, importance, 9, 183,
243; Spanish attack, 152, 153;
trading-centre, 275; libraries,
313, 314; social condition,
320.

Charters, question of restora-
tion (1689), 19; Massachusetts
(1691), 21; royal checks, 34;
abnormal position under, 55;
agitation against, 56, 58-62,
181, 184, 185, 219; general
influence, 69; defended, 184;
Georgia (1732), 253-256. See
also Proprietary government.

Checkley, John, libel suit, 88.

Cherokee Indians, English trade,
251, 260, 283.

Church, Benjamin, Indian ex-
pedition, 120; Acadian expe-
ditions, 127, 149.

Church of England in colonies
(1689), 7-9; aggressiveness,
83, 91; growth in New Eng-
land, 84, 87, 89-91; and sup-
port of Congregational estab-
lishment, 89, 90; factor in
New England pjolitics, 91;
loyalty, 91 ; establishment, 92,
94, 96-99; control by bishop
of London, 92, commissaries,
^3, 94; Society for Propagat-
mg the Gospel, 94, 95 ; support
of governors, 95; and imperial
control, 95; general increase,
95; discipline over clergy, 99,

102; measures against dis-
sent, 99-roi; political activ-
ity, loi; internal dissensions,
ior-103; engagement of min-
isters, 102; agitation for bish-
ops, 104, 105; in Georgia, 269;
social influence, 302-304; bib-
liography, 331.

Claims in America, French and
English (1689), 4, 5, 109, 112.

Clarke, George, and triennial
act, 176.

Clinton, George, on taxation
and representation, 185.

Cocheco, Indians attack, 120.

Codrington, Sir Christopher,
in West Indies, 119.

Colden, Cadwallader, and Bur-
net, 212.

Colman, Benjamin, liberal cult-
ure, 316.

Colonies, effect of revolution
of 1689, 4, 15, 106-108; dis-
tribution (1689), 4, 5; gov-
ernmental confusion (1689),
10, 18, 116; early policy of
control, 1 1-13 ; variating ten-
dencies, 12, 63; later Stuart
policy, 12, 15, 16; consolida-
tion ,15,16,18; compromise re-
organization of William III.,
17-24; unsatisfactory results,

17, 30, 43; military and com-
mercial motives of control,

18, 20, 30, 50, 116-118; agi-
tation for more imperial con-
trol, 30-33, 43 ; increased im-
perial control, 33-42, 62, 79,
180; king's personal control,
43; control by Privy Council,
44, 170; by secretaries of
state, 45, 168; by executive
boards, 45, 171; by Board
of Trade, 46-48, 169- 171;
growth of uniformity, 64,
194; political system, 64-
67; follow English tenden-
cies, 68; agents in Englan4
78; use of bribes, 79; politi-

344

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

cal results (17 13), 79; and
independence (17 13), 80-82;
Walpole's policy, 167; inhar-
monious control, 170; non-
resident officers, 172; char-
acter of appointments, 172,
173; "salutary neglect," 187;
antagonisms , 193; influen ce
of New England, 198; per-
sonal rights, 201-204; pro-
posed, 249; bibliography of
period 1689— 1740, 325-327;
of international relations ,327,
328; of home relations, 328,
329; of political institutions,
329-331; of individual colo-
nies, 337-340. See also As-
semblies, Boundaries, Char-
ters, Economic conditions.
Governors, Judiciary, Legis-
lation, Parliament, Politics,
Proprietary, Religion, Social
conditions. Union, and colo-
nies, sections, and wars by
name.

Columbia College, foimdation,
304, 312.

Commerce, West Indies, 5,
286, 288, 289; colonial con-
ditions (1689), 9, 10; in-
fluence on colonial policy,
20, 30; colonial irregularities,
3 1 ; registration of vessels, 35 ;
piracy act, 38; post-office, 40^
210; influence on War of the
Spanish Succession, 138, 139;
competition for Indian, no,
212, 213, 250, 257, 260, 283;
privateering, 122, 140, 143,
291; Astento, 161, 238; inter-
colonial disputes, 192; Cana-
da-New York, 213; Georgia
restrictions, 255, 267; system
and products of southern,
272-275; fur trade, 283; sea
transportation, 284; and fish-
eries, 284-286; middle colo-
nies, 286; statistics of Eng-
lish-colonial, 287; coasting.

290; piracy, 291-295; cir-
culating medium, 295-299;
bibliography, 333. See also
Customs, Navigation acts.

Compton, Henry, and colonial
church, 92, 93, 104,

Conduit, John, on virtual repre-
sentation, 186.

Congregationalism, in colonies
(1689), 7, 9; establishment,
83, 88. See also Puritanism.

Connecticut, proposed royal
control, 59; proposed union
with New Hampshire, 185;
character of leaders, 217;
and home government, 218,
219; Yale, 307-309; bibliog-
raphy, 337, See also New
England.

Cooke, Elisha (i), leadership,
74, 224.

Cooke, Elisha (2), leadership,
224.

Coram, Thomas, colonial inter-
est, 171

Corey, Giles, witchcraft, 27.

Combury, Lord, as governor,
58, 173; and dissenters, 100.

Cosby, William, as governor,
173, 176, 203; on influence
of New England, 198.

Councils, Massachusetts elec-
tive, 21; status, powers, ap-
pointment, 65, 67; financial
powers, 75, 199, 220.

Cranston, Samuel, as governor,
217.

Creek Indians, and Georgia, 257,
262; English trade, 283.

Crown, personal colonial con-
trol, 43. See also Colonies,
Legislation, Governors, and
kings by name.

Currency act (1707), 39, 40. See
also Money, Paper money.

Customs, establishment, im-
perial control, 14; friction,
14; official bonds, 34; colo-
nial legislation, 175; duties on

INDEX

345

immigrants, 233; on slaves,
241.
Cutler, Timothy, Anglican, 90;
and Yale, 308.

Debts, colonial English, 180;
English imprisonment for,
252.

Deerfield destroyed, 145.

De Lancey, James, Zenger trial,
204; political influence, 206.

Delaware, Lord, as governor,
172.

Denonville, Marquis de, expe-
dition against Senecas, 113.

Dongan, Thomas, and Iroquois,

Douglass, William, physician,

317-

Dudley, Joseph, and imperial
control, 32; salary question,
77; and Anglicanism, 87;
project of neutrality, 141,
148; and Abenakis, 145, 163;
and illegal trade, 148; social
influence, 302.

Dudley, Paul, lawyer, 318;
scientist, 319.

Dulany, Daniel, career, 221,
222, 318.

Dummer, Jeremiah, defence of
Massachusetts, 160; on con-
quest of Canada, 162; de-
fence of charters, 184; on
loyalty, 188; and Yale, 308.

Dummer, Fort, 245.

Dustin, Hannah, adventure,
128.

Dutch, colonists (1689), 6; in
New York, 229.

Dutch Reformed Church in
colonies, 7.

Ebenezer settled, 258.

Economic conditions, colonial
(1689), 9; issues, 204; Geor-
gia, 266; southern industry,
270-276; northern industry,
276, 277; prosperity, 299;

bibliography, 332, 333- ^^^
also Finances, Fisheries, Com-
merce, Manufactures.

Education, Harvard and Puri-
tanism, 86, 309-311 ; license
of school-masters, 92; Will-
iam and Mary, 93, 304, 305;
Princeton, 216, 312; south-
ern schools, 306, 307; Yale,
307-^09; middle colonies,
311; libraries , 312-314; bib-
liography, 336.

Edwards, Jonathan, Great
Awakening, 321 ; thinker and
poet, 322, 323.

Elections, frequency, 72, 176,
195 ; judging, 73 ; South Caro-
lina law, 183; bibliography,

330-

England, results of revolution
of 1689, 3, 68; politics and
religion, 83; measures against
dissenters, 99; foreign policy
of later Stuarts, 106, 107; and
France in America (1689) ,109,
112; War of Grand Alliance,
114, 133; War of the Span-
ish Succession, 136-139, 161,
165; naval power, 140, 161;
imprisonment for debt, 252.
See also Colonies, Parliament.

Entail in South, 255, 267,
272.

Expenditures, control in colo-
nies, 74, 75.

Exploration, Spotswood, 209.

Falmouth. See Casco.

Faneuil, Peter, illicit trade,
294; as a merchant, 299.

Fashions, colonial, 320.

Finances, colonial money, 39,
295; control of colonial, 7^-
78, 198-200, 220; debts in
England, 180; banks, 180,
187, 215, 225, 297; paper
money, 180, 204-207, 215,
225, 295, 39S; bibliography,
333.

346

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Fisheries, New England, lo; ex-
tent, 284; and international
trade, 285.

Five Nations. See Iroquois.

Fletcher, Benjamin, and An-
glicanism, 95, 96; military
commission, 117; and Iro-
quois, 130; and pirates, 292.

Florida, and South Carolina,
140, 150-153, 260; and Geor-
gia, 261-264.

France, and England in Ameri-
ca (1689), 109, 112; war of
the Grand Alliance, 114, 133;
and Indian warfare, 146;
war of the Spanish Succes-
sion, 136—139, 161, 165. See
also Acadia, Canada

Franklin, Benjamin, on paper
money and loyalty, 180, 297;
early career, 225-227; edu-
cational influence , 311, 314;
scientist, 319; culture, 324.

Frederica, settled, 260; defence,
263.

Frontenac, Count, leadership,
116; border raids, 121; and
Phips's expedition, 124; plans
against Boston and New
York, 125; and Iroquois, 130,
132.

Frontenac, Fort, re-established,
132.

Frontier, Scotch-Irish settlers,
233, 236; in 1750, 245-248,

Fur trade. New England, 10;
competition, m ; impor-
tance, 283.

Garden, Alexander, culture,

315-
Georgia, charter, 184, 253-256;
objects of settlement, 251,
253; founder, 251-253; ter-
ritory, 253; religious liberty,

254, 269; land regulation,

255, 257, 265-267; trade re-
strictions, 255, 267; slavery,
255, 265-267; selected immi-

grants, 256; and South Caro-
lina, 256; and Indians, 256,
260, 262, 284; settlement, 257;
government, 258, 267, 268;
Germans, 258, 259; Scotch,
259; military colony, 260;
Augusta, 260; and Spaniards,
261-264; Wesleys in, 264; in-
ternal dissensions, 265-267;
economic conditions, 266;
growth with slavery, 267;
royal province, 268; popula-
tion (1760), 269; bibliogra-

^ Phy, 339-

Germans, immigration, 230-
232, 276; in Georgia, 258,
259; bibliography, 335.

Germantown in 1750, 243.

Gibraltar, England acquires,
161.

Glen, James, on control of ap-
pointments, 200.

Gloucester fishing industry,
285.

Goodwin, John, witchcraft,
26.

Governors, and customs officers,
14, power of Massachusetts,
21; and imperial control, 32;
oath, 34; royal control of
proprietary, 34, ^7, 254; in-
structions on legislation, 53,
174; trial for misconduct, 55;
over several colonies, 56, 58;
status, 64; and councils, 65;
powers, 65; conflict with as-
semblies, 67, 194-200; repre-
sent prerogative, 69; salary
controversies, 75, 1^6-198;
character, 172, 173; instruc-
tions, 173; and Board of
Trade, 173; and navigation
acts, 177.

Grand Alliance, war of the, 114,
133. See also King William's
War.

Great Awakening, 321.

Gridley, Jeremiah, lawyer, 318.

Groton, Indian raid, 127.

INDEX

347

Habeas Corpus in colonies, 71,

72, 202.
Habersham, James, and slavery

in Georgia, 266.
Hamilton, Andrew, control of

post-office, 41; Zenger trial,

204, 223; career, 223, 318.
Harley. See Oxford.
Harvard College, growth of

liberalism, 86, 310; charter

question, 309; progress, 310;

hbrary, 312.
Hats, restriction on colonial

industry, 279.
Haverhill, Indian raids, 128,

146.
Hill, Jack, Quebec expedition,

159-

Hollis, Thomas, and Harvard,
310.

Howard of Effingham, Lord,
governor, 24.

Hudson Bay, trading-posts, 5;
rival claims, 109; Iberville's
expedition, 133; English con-
trol, 162.

Huguenots, in colonies (1689),
6, 9; in south, 235; bibliog-
raphy, 336.

Hunter, Robert, and imperial
control, 32; salary question,
77; and colonial bishops, 104.

Hutchinson, Thomas, early ca-
reer, 225.

Iberville, Sieur de, partisan
leader, 116; raids, 127.

Immigration, development and
character, 229-237; bibliog-
raphy, 335, 336. ^

Impressment, colonial seamen
exempted, 37.

Independence, colonies accused
of desiring, 80; influences, 81,
188; desire for, denied, 184.

Indians, trade, no, in, 192,
212, 213, 250, 251, 260, 283;
raids, no, 119, 121, 126-128,
142-147, 245; treaties, 127,

134, 145, 163; Tuscarora war,
163, 164; Yemassee war, 182;
and Georgia, 256, 260, 262.
See also Iroquois.

Indigo culture and trade, 274.

Ireland, considered alien, 4;
and navigation acts, 36.

Iron, colonial production, 209,
210, 279; regulation of manu-
factures, 280.

Iroquois, French - English in-
trigue, 111-113, 129-132;
French expeditions against,
113, 132; English suzerainty,
113, 134, 162; raids on Cana-
da, 120; weakened, 131-133;
French treaty, 134; in Queen
Anne's War, 141-143, 156,
159; in England, 157; re-
ceive Tuscaroras, 164.

Jamaica, English colony, 5.

James II., foreign policy, 106-
108; and Iroquois, 112.

Jenckes, Joseph, paper-money
issue, 205.

Jesuits, Indian missionaries,
no, 112, 126, 146.

Jews, restrictions on rights,
202; in Georgia, 269.

Johnson, Sir Nathaniel, and
Anglicanism, 98; and Span-
iards, 151.

Johnson, Robert, and proprie-
tary, 183.

Johnson, Samuel, and King's
College, 304.

Joncaire, L. T. de, and Iroquois,

159-
Jones, Hugh, on Virginians,

319-

Judiciary, appeal to Privy
Council, 12, 54; piracy courts,
39. 53; colonial admiralty,
48, 53; trial of governors, 55;
power of governor and coun-
cil, 66.

Jury trial, denied, 54; right,

348

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Kalm, Peter, on colonial pros-
perity, 300.
Keith, George, Anglican agent,

95-

Keith, Sir William, career, 216.

Kennett, White, and colonial
bishops, 104.

Kidd, William, career, 292.

King George, Fort, 250.

King William's War, local
causes, 108; English aid for
colonists, 115; rival resources
and conditions, 11 5-1 18; no
decisive results, 118, 133;
West Indian operations, 119,
126; French and Indian raids,
119, 121, 126-128; French
plans, 120, 125, 129; French
privateers, 122; capture of
Acadia, 122; Quebec expedi-
tion, 122-125, 128; Acadia
retaken, 126; Abenaki treaty,
127, 134; Newfoundland and
Acadia raids, 127; intrigue
over Iroquois, 129-132; Fort
Frontenac, 132; expedition
against Iroquois, 132; Hudson
Bay expedition, 133; treaty,
133; French- Iroquois peace,
1 34. See also Grand Alliance.

King's College. See Columbia
College.

Labor, southern, 272; north-
em, 277; bibliography, 333.

Lachine, Iroquois raid, 120.

La Hogue, battle, 114.

Lancaster in 1744, 246.

Land, quit-rents, 204; Georgia
regulation, 255, 257, 265-267;
engrossment m South, 270-
272, 275; northern holdings,
276; bibliography, 332.

La Prairie attacked, 123.

Lawson, John, murdered, 163.

Lawyers, eminent colonial, 317,

318.
Leeward Islands, English colo-
ny, 5-

Le Feboure, M., attack on
Charleston, 152.

Legislation, colonial, royal veto,
12, 21, 49-53. 174-176, 219;
and navigation acts, 35; sus-
pending clause, 53; mstruc-
tions to governors, 53, 174;
tariff, 175; private, 175. See
also subjects by name.

Leverett, John, and Harvard,
310.

Libraries, colonial, 312-314.

Linen industry, 278.

Lining, John, scientist, 319.

Literature, colonial interest,

318-

Livingston, Robert, plan for
union, 57; family of political
leaders, 206.

Local government. Georgia,
268.

Locke, John, in Board of
Trade, 47.

Logan, James, on privateers,
144; on non-English immi-
gration, 232, 233.

Logwood trade, 287.

Lords of Trade, new establish-
ment (1689), 17. See also
Board of Trade.

Louis XIV., and Stuarts, 106,
107; and revolution of 1689,
107; and Spanish succession,
136-139.

Love well's war, 245.

Lucas, Eliza, teaches slaves,
241.

Lumber trade, 274, 277, 28;^.

Lutheranism, in colonies
(1689), 7, 8; in Georgia, 269.

Lyman, Caleb, scalping expedi-
tion, 147.

Maine, joined to Massachu-
setts, 21; frontier, 110, 245.
See also New England.

Manufactures, colonial, re-
strictions, 36, 177-179, 278-
282; iron, 209, 210, 279-281;

INDEX

349

extent, 277; woollen, 2^8;
Unen, 278; hats, 279; ship-
bxiilding, 281; rum, 282;
bibliography, 333.

March, John, Acadian expedi-
tion, 149.

Maryland, religious conditions
(1689), 8; agriculture (1689),
9; governmental type, 12;
revolution, 18; reorganiza-
tion, 22, 59; bill of rights, 71 ;
establishment of Anglican-
ism, 94, 96; discipline over
clergy, 103; proprietary re-
stored, 181; boundary dis-
putes, 191; controversy over
personal statutory rights,
201, 221; party cleavage, 207;
white servants, 237, 272;
paper money, 297; schools,
306; bibliography, 330, 339.
See also South.

Massachusetts, population
(1689), 5; new charter, 21,
25; witchcraft, 25-29, 85;
royal veto, 50; continued in-
fluence of old charter, 69;
bill of rights, 71, 72; habeas
corpus, 71, 72: control of
finances and officials, 73-75,

L7; Harvard, 86, 309-311;
-and Bank, 180, 187, 215,
225, 297; trade dispute, 192;
personal union with New
Hampshire, 193 ; speaker con-
troversy, 195, 224; explana
tory charter, 196; salary con-
troversy, 196, 213, 214; press
censorship, 203: party ten-
dencies, 205; Burnet as gov-
ernor, 213; Belcher as gov-
ernor, 214,215; paper money,
215,225, 296; frontier (1750),
245; bibliography, 337. See
also New England.
Mather, Cotton, and witch-
craft, 26, 29; conservatism,
86; and Yale, 86, 309; library,
313; culture, 316, 317, 319.

Mather, Increase, and witch-
craft, 26; and charter, 84;
conservatism, 86.

Medicine, progress, 317.

Middle colonies, population
(1689), 5; religious freedom,
8, 234; economic condition
(1689), 9; races, 234; urban
centres, 243; land holdings,
276; labor, 277; industry,
277; commerce, 286. See
also colonies by name.

Militia, intercolonial command,
56, 117-

Minorca, English possession,
161.

Molasses Act, 179, 252, 289,

293-

Molasses trade, 36, 286, 289.

Money, diverse colonial stand-
ards, 39, 295; proclamation
on standard, 40; currency
act (1707), 40; bibliography,
333. See also Paper money.

Montgomerie, John, on trien-
nial elections, 195.

Moore, James, Florida expedi-
tion, 151; governor, 183.

Moore, James, Jr., Tuscarora
expedition, 164.

Moore, Fort, 250.

Moravians in Georgia, 259, 269.

Morris, Lewis, as governor,
173; on influences of New
England, 198; and Cosby,
203, 223; career, 222.

Natural science, colonial in-
terest, 318.

Naval stores industry, 36-38,
177, 178, 274, 285.

Navigation acts, evasion, 10,
31, 293-295; principles, 13;
constitutional lesults, 14;
(1696), 33-36; enumerated
commodities, 35, 36, 178,
274; Whig policy, 177; fos-
ter West Indies interests, 177,
179; export duties removea,

350

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

178; direct trade extended,
178, 274; Molasses Act, 179,
28q; and Connecticut, 219.

Navy, English colonists ex-
empted, 37; growth of Brit-
ish, 140, 161.

Naxouat, Villebon at, 126; at-
tacked, 127.

Neale. Thomas, control of post-
office, 41.

Nelson, Fort, captured, 133.

Nesmond, Marquis de, expedi-
tion, 129

New Brunswick, German set-
tlement, 234.

New England, population
(1689), 5; religious condition
(1689), 7; economic condi-
tions (1689), 10; practical
independence, 12; consoli-
dated, 15, 16; spirit of self-
government, 70; hold of
Puritanism (1700), 83-85;
growth of dissent, 86-91;
loyalty of Anglicans, 91 ; ear-
ly French and Indian raids,
110; northern boundary, no;
boundary disputes, 190, 191;
political influence, 198; ra-
cial condition, 229; urban
centres, 243; land holdings,
276; labor, 277; industry,
277; fisheries and trade, 284-
286; West Indies trade, 286,
289, coasting trade, 290; in-
fluence of Anglicanism, 303;
libraries, 313; clergy, 316;
literary culture, 318; bibliog-
raphy, 331, 332, 337. See
also colonies and wars by
name.

New Hampshire, royal prov-
ince, 21; trade dispute, 192;
personal union with Massa-
chusetts, ip3; and Belcher,
215; frontier (1750), 245;
bibliography, 337. See also
New England.

New Haven in 1750, 244.

New Inverness settled, 259.

New Jersey, royal province, 50,
58; Anglicanism, 95; Queen
Anne's War, 156; personal
union with New York, 193;
triennial act, 195; Belcher as
governor, 216; non-English
immigrants, 234; schools,
311; college, 312; bibliog-
raph)r, 338. See also Middle
colonies.

New Jersey, College of. See
Princeton College.

New London in 1750, 244.

New York, religious condi-
tions (1689), 7; patent (1664)
15; Leisler, 18; royal prov-
ince, 22; royal veto, 52; bill
of rights, 70, 72; appoint-
ment of treasurer, 76; salary
controversy, 78, 197; An-
glicanism, 95; frontier situa-
tion (1689), 111; and Iro-
quois, III — 113, 129 — 134;
Queen Anne's War, 141-143,
155; triennial act, 176, 195,
198; boundary disputes, 190,
191; personal union with New
Jersey, 193; Zenger trial, 203,
204; party factions, 206 ; Bur-
net as governor, 212, 213;
Oswego, 212; trade with
Canada, 213; Dutch element,
229; Palatines, 230-232; sla-
very, 238; negro plots, 240;
frontier (1740), 246; land
grants and immigration, 276;
paper money, 297; schools,
311; physicians, 317; bibli-
ography, 338. See also King
William's War, Middle colo-
nies.

New York City, trade, 9, 287;
growth, 243; society, 320.

Newcastle, Duke of, as secre-
tary of state, 168, 172.

Newfoundland, settlements, 5;
French fort, 5; rival claims,
109; Iberville's raid, 127;

INDEX

351

English control, 162; French
fisheries, 162.

Newport, in 1750, 244; slave-
trade, 286.

Newspapers, German, 232; co-
lonial, 314, 315.

Nicholson, Francis, governor.
32, 183; and imperial con-
trol, 32, 58; and Anglican-
ism, 95; Canadian expedition,
156-160; conquers Acadia,
157; social influence, 302.

Norfolk in 1750, 243.

North Carolma, Anglicanism,
96-98; Gary rebellion, 98,
182; ecclesiastical test, 100;
Tuscarora war, 163; irregu-
larities, 181; overthrow of
proprietary, 183; boundary
disputes, 191, 192; trade dis-
pute, 192; character of in-
habitants, 193, 275; appor-
tionment controversy, 194;
frontier (1750), 247; pirates,
292, 293; paper money, 297;
schools, 306; bibliography,
339. See also Carolinas, South.

Nottingham, Earl of, secretary
of state, 45.

Oglethorpe, J. E., on Board
of Trade, 170; on Molasses
Act, 179; career and per-
sonality, 251-253; governor
of Georgia, 256; and Indians,
256, 262; lays out Savannah,
257; paternalistic rule, 258,
268; and Spaniards, 261-
264; opposition, 265.

Oswego founded, 212.

Oxford, Earl of, control over
colonies, 45; Tory minister,

157-
Oyster River raid, 127.

Palatines, immigration, 230-

232.
Paper money, English hostility,

180, 298; effect on loyalty,

180; party conflicts, 204-
207; controversy in Massa-
chusetts, 215, 225; issues and
depreciation, 295-297 ; banks,
297.

Parliament, colonial control,
13* 33^ 38-42, 60-62; colo-
nial supervision, 48, 176;
control of Board of Trade,
46, 49; bills against charters,
60; party administration,
166; Whig control, 166. Wal-
pole premier, 166 ; on colonial
debts and paper money, 180;
act on Carolinas, 183; colo-
nial taxation discussed, 185,
186.

Pemaquid, fort of, no, 119;
captured, 120, 127; rebuilt,
127.

Penn, William, retains control,
23; on currency standards,
40; on Anne's influence, 44;
plan of union, 57; defends
his proprietary, 59, 61 ; ready
to surrender, 62; on bribery,

79-

Pennsylvania, social elements,
6, 230, 232-234; religious
conditions (1689), 8; royal
veto, 15, 49, 52; proprietary
retained, 23 ; temporary royal
control, 59; spirit of self-
government, 70; Anglican-
ism, 95, 10 1 ; Queen Anne's
War, 144, 156, 159; boun-
dary disputes, 191 , party ten-
dencies, 206; Keith's career,
216; white servants, 237;
frontier (1750), 246; paper
money, 279; schools, 311;
bibUographv, 330, 331, 338.
See also Middle colonies.

?ennsylvania. University of,
foundation, 312.

Petition, colonial right, 186.

Philadelphia, trade, 9, 286;
growth, 243; library, 314.

Phips, Sir William, captures

352

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Acadia, 21, 122; Congrega-
tionalist, 84; military com-
mission, 117; Quebec ex-
pedition, 123-125; and Abe-
nakis, 127.
Pinckney, Charles, career, 221,

Pirates, act against, 38, 53;
countenanced, 291; Kidd,
292; suppression, 292, 293.

Plymouth joined to Massachu-
setts, 21.

Politics, party germs, 205-207 ;
lack of opportunity, 208;
leaders, 208-227; bibliogra-
phy, ^29-331. See also As-
semlDlies, Governors.

Poor whites, North Carolina,

^ 275-

Population, colonial (1689), 5,
6; (1740), 228; slave (1750),
238 ; Philadelphia (i 740) , 243 ;
New York City (1703), 243;
(1741), 244; Boston (1730),
244; Georgia (1760), 269.

Port Royal, captured, 21, 122,
1^7; recovered, 21, 126. See
also Acadia.

Portland. See Casco.

Portsmouth in 1750, 244.

Post-office, colonial, imperial
control, 40; Spotswood's ser-
vices, 210.

Presbyterianism, in colonies,
(1689), 9; in Georgia, 269;
Princeton, 312.

Press, censorship, 202; libel,
203; Zenger trial, 203; news-
papers, 232, 314, 315.

Pnnce, Thomas, library, 313;
culture, 316.

Princeton College, foundation,
216, 312.

Privateering, French, 122, 140,
143; colonial, 291.

Privy Council, colonial appeal,
to, 12, 54; composition, 44;
control over colonies, 44, 45,
170; and Congregational es-

tablishment, 89; on civil lists,
197.

Property, intestate inheritance,
218.

Proprietary government, royal
checks, 12, 34, 57, 254;
measures against, 15, 18;
policy of William III., 22;
restored in Maryland, 181;
abolished in Carolina, 181-
184; Georgia, 184, 254.

Provisions industry, 274, 277,
286.

Puritanism, relaxation, 83, 85;
hold on New England (1700),
83, 84; Congregational es-
tablishment, 83, 88; super-
naturalism, 85; effect of
witchcraft delusion, 85 ; Brat-
tle Street Church, 85; Har-
vard, 86, 309; and growth of
Anglicanism, 87; Yale, 307-
309; culture ol clergy, 316;
bibliography, 331.

Quakerism, colonial (1689), 8,
9; growth in New England,
87; and support of establish-
ment, 89, 90; and Anglican-
ism, loi; and slavery, 242;
and education, 311.

Quarry, Robert, and imperial
control, 32, 58; on Pennsyl-
vania industry, 277.

Quebec, expeditions against
1690), 122-125; (1693), 128;
1711). 159. 160.

Queen Anne s War, projects of
colonial neutrality, 140, 148;
New York frontier neutral-
ized, 141; on New England
frontier, 142-147; first pe-
riod, 143; commerce destroy-
ing, 143; South Carolina and
Florida, 143, 150-1^3; atti-
tude of middle colonies, 144;
second period, 144; Deerfield
raid, 14c; retaliatory raids,
147; scalp bounty, 147; inef-

INDEX

353

ficient organization of New
England, 148; Acadian expe-
ditions, 149; English aid, 154-
160; plans against Canada
(1709), 155; conquest of
Acadia, 157; Canadian ex-
pedition (1711), 157-160; re-
sults, 162, 165; Indian treaty,
163; Tuscarora war, 163, 164.
See also Spanish Succession.
Quit-rents, 204.

Race elements, colonial (1689),
6; New England, 229; non-
English, 229-236. See also
Slavery.

Rale, Sebastian, and Abenakis,
146.

Randolph, Edward, and im-
perial control, 15, 31, 58;
retains office, •24.

Reading, Massachusetts, Indian
raid, 146.

Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1752,
246.

Religion, colonial conditions
(1689), 7-9; test in South
Carolina, 48, 100, 220; in-
fluence on English politics,
83; colonial restrictions on
liberty, 202; complexity of
middle colonies, 234; free-
dom in Georgia, 254, 269;
Great Awakening, 321; bib-
liography, 331 , 332. See also
sects by name.

Representation, universal colo-
nial, 12, 66; none in domin-
ion of New England, 16; and
taxation, 41, 67, 70, 185, 186;
property, 66; colonial, in Par-
liament, 1 86. S^^ a/50 Assem-
blies.

Revenue, imperial postal, from
colonies, 41.

Revolution , American , religious
cause, 105,

Revolution of 1689, results in
England, 3, 68; in colonies.

4, 15, 106; international re-
sults, 107.

Rhode Island, proposed royal
control, 59, 185; character
of leaders, 217; paper money,
205, 296; party tendencies,
205; slavery, 238; bibliog-
raphy, 337. See also New
England.

Rice culture and trade, 36, 178,

274.

Rights, of colonists as Britons,
201, 202; habeas corpus, 202;
religious liberty, 202; free-
dom of press, 202-204.

Rum, prohibition in Georgia,
255, 267; manufacture, 282;
and slave-trade, 286.

St. Augustine, English at-
tacks, 151, 262.

St. Castin, Baron de, settle-
ment, no; raid on Pema-
quid, 120.

St. Christopher, seized by
France, 119; English con-
trol, 126, 161.

St. John. See Bolingbroke.

Salaries, colonial controversies,

„ 75. 77. .196.

Salem, witchcraft, 27-29, 85;
in 1750, 244.

Salmon Falls destroyed, 121.

Salt trade, 178.

Salzburgers in Georgia, 258.

Savannah founded, 257.

Schenectady, outpost, iii; de-
stroyed , 121.

Schuyler, Peter, on capture of
Schenectady, 121; attack on
La Prairie, 123 ; and Iro-
quois, 130, 159; in England,
156.

Scotch Highlanders in Georgia,

a59-
Scotch-Irish, in middle colonies,

233; in South, 235, 236, 276.
Scotland, considered alien, 4;

and navigation acts, 34, 36.

354

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

Secretaries of state, colonial
control, 45, 168.

Servants, wlute, redemptioners,
237; convicts, 237; labor,
272, 277; bibliography, 334.

Sewall, Samuel, and witch-
craft, 29; conservatism, 86,
87; antislavery, 242.

Shenandoah valley, settlement,
236, 246.

Ship-building, extent, 10, 281;
English jealousy, 281; trade,
286, 287.

Shipping, registration, 35; Eng-
lish and colonial, 288.

Shirley, William, as governor,

173-

Shrewsbury, Duke of, secre-
tary of state, 45.

Shute, Samuel, speaker con-
troversy, 195, 224; and Har-
vard, 310.

Slavery, colonial (1689), 6, 9,
10; population (1750), 238;
distribution, 238; slave codes,
239; conditions, 240; insur-
rections, 240; instruction,
241; evils recognized, 241;
ethical aspect ignored, 242;
antislavery, 242; prohibi-
tion in Georgia, 255, 265-
267 ; labor, 272; bibliography,

333.

Slave-trade, Asiento, 161, 238;
growth, 238; retaliatory du-
ties, 241; and rum, 286; bib-
liography, 333.

Social conditions, religion
(1689), 7-9; (1740), 269, 321;
slavery (1689), 9, 10; (1740),
2^8-242, 272; Puritanism and
dissent, 83-91; Anglicanism,
91-105, 302-304; aristoc-
racy, 206, 207; non-English
immigration, 229-236, 258,
259; white servants, 237,
272, 277; towns, 243-245;
frontier, 245-248; progress,
301 ; touch with Europe, 301 ;

leaders, 302, 322-324; edu-
cation , 304-312; libraries ,
312-314; journalism, 314,
315; professions, 315-318;
general culture, 318-321 ; bib-
Hography ,333-337. See also
Population.

Society for Propagating the
Gospel, 94, 95; social influ-
ence, 303, 313.

Sources, on period 1 689-1 740,
326, 327; on international re-
lations, 328; on English opin-
ion, 328; on home relations,
329; on conditions, 334, 335;
on individual colonies, 337-
340.

South, population (1689), 6;
slavery, 238-242; lack of
urban centres, 243, 273; plan-
tation system, 270-272; slave
labor, 272; products and
trade, 272-275; immigration,
276; small farmers, 275, 276.
See also colonies by name.

South Carolina, slaves (1689),
6 ; economic conditions
(1689), 9; ecclesiastical test,
48, 100, 220; habeas corpus,
71; Anglicanism, 98; dis-
cipline over clerg;^, 99, 102;
Spanish antagonism, 140,
150; Spanish attacks (1702),
150; (1706), 152, 153; Florida
expedition, 151; Yemassee
war, 182; petition against
proprietary, 182; election
law, 183; overthrow of pro-
prietary, 183; boundary dis-
putes, 191, 192; Indian trade,
192, 284; salary controversy,
197; power of council, 199;
control by merchants, 207;
control of finances, 220; non-
English settlers, 234, 235;
slave insurrection, 240; fron-
tier (1750), 247; need of bar-
rier colony, 249; growth
southward, 250; and Georgia,

INDEX

355

256; and pirates, 293; paper
money, 297; schools, 306,
307; physicians, 317; liter-
ary culture, 318; natural
science, 319; art, 319; so-
ciety, 319-321; bibliography,
33o» 332, 339- 5^^ also Caro-
linas. South.

Spain, War of Grand Alliance,
114, 133; succession, 136-
139; and English colonies,
140, 150. See also Florida.

Spanish Succession, War of the,
causes, 136-139; progress,
140; treaty, 160, 161; bibliog-
raphy, 327. 5^^ a/50 Queen
Anne's War.

Speakership controversies, 195,
224.

Spotswood, Alexander, and im-
perial control, 32; and An-
glicanism, 95; career, 208-
211; and pirates, 293; social
influence, 302.

Stephen, William, in Georgia,
268.

Stoughton, Willi am, Puritan, 84,

Subercase, D. A. de, defends
Port Royal, 149.

Sudbury, Indian raid, 146.

Suffrage, property qualifica-
tion, 66; religious qualifica-
tion, 84; bibliography, 330.

Sugar. See Molasses trade.

Swansea, Baptist establish-
ment, 89.

Talbot, John, Anglican agent,

95-

Talcott, Joseph, career, 217-
219.

Taxation of colonies, and rep-
resentation, 41, 67, 70, 185,
186; parliamentary, pro-
posed, 185; right discussed
(1733), 1 86 ;Walpole's policy,
187.

Teach, pirate, 293.

Thatch, pirate, 293.

Thury, Peter, and Abenalds,

127.
Tobacco, industry (1689), 9;

culture and regulation (i 750) ,

272-274; trade, 287.
Towns, colonial (1750), 243-

245; lacking in south, 273.
Treasurer, appointment, 76,

199.
Treaties, Dover (1670), 107; of

American neutrality (1686),

112; Ryswick (1697), 133;

Utrecht (1713), 161.
Trott, Nicholas, lawyer, 318.
Tuscarora war, 163, 164.

Union, under Stuarts, 15;
policy of William III., 18;
military motive, 18, 20, 30,
56, 1 16-118; personal exec-
utive, 56, 193; Penn's plan,
57; Livingston's plan, 57;
Leisler's convention, 117,
123; Fletcher ' s convention ,
117; proposal (1744), 185.

Usher, John, in New Hamp-
shire, 24.

Vaudreuil, Philippe de, and
projects of neutrality, 141,
148 ; instigates Abenaki raids,
142, 146.

Vermont settlement, 245.

Vetch, Samuel, plan against
Canada, 154, 155.

Veto. See Legislation.

Villebon, Chevalier de, recovers
Acadia, 126.

Villieu, partisan leader, 116;
and Abenakis, 127.

Virginia, religious conditions
(1689), 8; agriculture (1689),
9; governors, 24; bill of
rights, 70; control of finances,
75, 76; Anglicanism, 92, 102;
boundary disputes, 191;
trade dispute, 192; Indian
trade, 192, 284; aristocratic
control, 207; Spotswood as

356

PROVINCIAL AMERICA

governor, 209, 210; iron in-
dustry, 209, 210; non-Eng-
lish settlers, 234, 235; slave-
code, 239; frontier (1750),
246; paper money, 297; col-
lege, 304, 305; bibliography,
332, 338. See also South.

Wager, Sir Charles, colonial
interest, 171.

Walker, Henderson, and An-
glicanism, 97.

Walker, Sir Hovenden, Quebec
expedition, 159.

Walley, John, Quebec expedi-
tion, 125.

Walpole, Sir Robert, premier,
166; colonial policy, 167, 187.

Wars, and colonial union, 18, 20,
30, 56, II 6- 118; bibliography,
327, 328. See also wars by
name.

Wells, Indian attack, 126.

Wesley, Charles, in Georgia, 264.

Wesley, John, in Georgia, 264.

West, Richard, on colonists'
personal rights, 201.

West, Spotswood's interest,
209; Burnet's interest, 212.
See also Frontier.

West Indies, English posses-
sions (1689), 5, 109; inter-
course with main -land, 5;
operations (1689), 119;
(1690), 126; results of war,
161; interests considered su-
perior, 177, 179, 288; New
England trade, 286, 289;
English trade, 288, 289;
Molasses Act, 289.

Westover library, 313.

Wheeler, Sir Francis, Quebec
expedition, 128.

Whitefield, George, and sla-
very in Georgia, 266; Great
Awakening, 321, 322.

William III., and colonies, 17-
24; personal influence on
colonial policy, 43.

William and Mary College,
foundation, 304; progress and
influence, 305.

William Penn Charter School,

311.
Williams, John, Deerfield raid,

Williamsburg in 1750, 243.

Winthrop, Fitz-John, Quebec
expedition, 123.

Winthrop, John, and Harvard,
311.

Winthrop vs. Lechmere, 218.

Witchcraft delusion, Massa-
chusetts, 25-29; effect on
Puritanism, 85 ; bibliography,
332.

Woollens, parliamentary act,
36; colonial industry, 278;
English trade, 287.

Yale, Elihu, and Yale Col-
lege, 308.

Yale College, and Cotton Math-
er, 86; and Berkeley, 304;
foundation, 307; progress,
308; conservatism, 309; in-
fluence, 309; library, 312.

Yemassee war, 182.

Yonge, Sir William, on taxing
colonies, 186.

York destroyed, 126.

Yorke, Philip, on colonists* per-
sonal rights, 201.

Zenger, J. P., trial, 203, 204,
223.

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