The Project Gutenberg ebook of a brief History of the United States

with the approval of the king. Each governor appointed by the king

recommended legislation to the assemblies, informed the king as to the

condition of the colony, sent home copies of the laws, and by his veto

prevented the passage of laws injurious to the interests of the crown.

From time to time he received instructions as to what the king wished

done. He was commander of the militia, and could assemble, prorogue

(adjourn), and dismiss the legislature of the colony.
[Illustration: COLONIAL PARLOR (RESTORATION).]
THE COUNCIL.--Associated with the governor in every colony was a Council

of from three to twenty-eight men [3] who acted as a board of advisers to

the governor, usually served as the upper house of the legislature, and

sometimes acted as the highest or supreme court of the colony.

names in some colonies, as House of Delegates, or House of Commons,--was

chosen by such of the people as could vote. With the governor and Council

it made the laws, [4] levied the taxes, and appointed certain officers;

but (except in Rhode Island and Connecticut) the laws could be vetoed by

the governor, or disallowed by the king or the proprietor.

gain more power and influence in the government. If the governor vetoed

many laws, the Assembly might refuse to vote him any salary. If the

Assembly would not levy taxes and pass laws as requested by the governor,

he might dismiss it and call for the election of a new one.
[Illustration: COLONIAL PEWTER DISHES.]
THE LAWS.--Many of the laws of colonial times seem to us cruel and severe.

A large number of crimes were then punishable with death. For less serious

offenses men and women had letters branded on their foreheads or cheeks or

hands, or sewed on their outer garments in plain sight; or were flogged

through the streets, ducked, stood under the gallows, stood in the

pillory, or put in the stocks. In New England it was an offense to travel

or cook food or walk about the town on the Sabbath day, or to buy any

cloth with lace on it.

the county in the Southern Colonies; and in the Middle Colonies a mixture

of both.
TOWN MEETING.--The affairs of a New England town were regulated at town

meeting, to which from time to time the freemen were "warned," or

summoned, by the constable. To be a freeman in Massachusetts and

Connecticut a man had to own a certain amount of property and be a member

of a recognized church. If a newcomer, he had to be formally admitted to

freemanship at a town meeting. These meetings were presided over by a

moderator chosen for the occasion, and at them taxes were levied, laws

enacted, and once a year officers were elected. [5] The principal town

officers were the selectmen who managed the town's affairs between town

meetings, the constables, overseers of the poor, assessors, the town

clerk, and the treasurer.
THE COUNTY.--In the South, where plantations were numerous and where there

were no towns of the New England kind, county government prevailed. The

officers were appointed by the royal governor, formed a board called the

court of quarter sessions, and levied local taxes, made local laws, and as

a court administered justice.
In the Middle Colonies there were both town and county governments. In New

York, each town (after 1703) elected a supervisor, and county affairs were

managed by a board consisting of the supervisors of all the towns in the

county. In Pennsylvania the county officers were elected by the voters of

the whole county.
NO REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT.--The colonies sent no representatives to

Parliament. In certain matters that body legislated for the colonies, as

in the case of the Navigation Acts. But unless expressly stated in the

act, no law of Parliament applied to the colonies. Having no

representation in Parliament, the colonies often sent special agents to

London to look after their affairs, and in later times kept agents there

regularly, one man acting for several colonies. [6]
A UNION OF THE COLONIES.--The idea of uniting the colonies for purposes of

general welfare and common defense was proposed very early in their

history. In 1697 Penn suggested a congress of delegates from each colony.

A little later Robert Livingston of New York urged the grouping of the

colonies into three provinces, from each of which delegates should be sent

to Albany to consider measures for defense. As yet, however, the colonies

were not ready for anything of this sort.
THE CHARTERS ATTACKED.--The king, on the other hand, had attempted to

unite some of the colonies in a very different way--by destroying the

charters of the northern colonies and putting them under one governor. The

first attack was made by King Charles II, on Massachusetts, and after a

long struggle her charter (p. 58) was taken away by the English courts in

1684. The charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut were next annulled, and

King James II [7] sent over Edmund Andros as governor of New England.
CONNECTICUT SAVES HER CHARTER.--Andros reached Boston in 1686, and assumed

the government of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. [8] He next ordered

Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut to submit and accept annexation.

Plymouth and Rhode Island did so, but Connecticut resisted. Andros

therefore came to Hartford (1687), dissolved the colonial government, and

demanded the Connecticut charter. Tradition says that the Assembly met

him, and debated the question till dusk; candles were then lighted and the

charter brought in and laid on the table; this done, the candles were

suddenly blown out, and when they were relighted, the charter could not be

found; Captain Wadsworth of Hartford had carried it off and hidden it in

an oak tree thereafter known as the Charter Oak.
But Andros ruled Connecticut, and in the following year New York and East

and West Jersey also were placed under his authority. Andros thus became

ruler of all the provinces lying north and east of the Delaware River. [9]

His rule was tyrannical: he abolished the legislatures, and with the aid

of appointed councilmen he made laws and levied taxes as he pleased.
THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1689.--In 1689 King James II was driven from his

throne, William and Mary became king and queen of England, and war broke

out with France. News of these events caused an upheaval in the colonies.

The people in Boston promptly seized Andros and put him in jail;

Connecticut and Rhode Island resumed their charter governments; the

Protestants in Maryland overthrew the government of the proprietor and set

up a new one in the name of William and Mary [10]; and in New York Leisler

raised a rebellion.

the restoration of her old charter; but instead William granted a new

charter in 1691, which provided that the governor should be appointed by

the king. Plymouth and Maine were united with Massachusetts, but New

Hampshire was made a separate royal colony. The charters of Rhode Island

and Connecticut were confirmed, so that they continued to elect their own

governors.
[Illustration: THE FORT AT NEW YORK.]
LEISLER'S REBELLION.--Andros had ruled New York through a deputy named

Nicholson, who tried to remain in control. A rich merchant named Jacob

Leisler denied the right of Nicholson to act, refused to pay duty on some

wine he had imported, and, aided by the people, seized the fort and set up

a temporary government. A convention was then called, a committee of

safety appointed, and Leisler was made commander in chief. Later he

assumed the office of lieutenant governor. When King William heard of

these things, he appointed a new governor, and early in 1691 three ships

with some soldiers reached New York. Leisler at first refused to give up

the fort; but was soon forced to surrender, and was finally hanged for

rebellion. [11]
BACON'S REBELLION.--Massachusetts and New York were not the first colonies

in which bad government led to uprisings against a royal governor. In

Virginia, during the reign of Charles II, the rule of Governor Berkeley

was selfish and tyrannical. In 1676 the planters on the frontier asked for

protection against Indian attacks, but the governor, who was engaged in

Indian trade, refused to send soldiers; and when Nathaniel Bacon led a

force of planters against the Indians, Berkeley declared him a rebel,

raised a force of men, and marched after him. While Berkeley was away, the

people in Jamestown rose and demanded a new Assembly and certain reforms.

Berkeley yielded to the demands, and was also compelled to give Bacon a

commission to fight the Indians; but when Bacon was well on his way,

Berkeley again proclaimed him a rebel, and fled from Jamestown.

a force to capture Berkeley. The governor and his followers defeated this

force and occupied Jamestown. Bacon, who was again on the frontier,

returned, drove Berkeley away, burned Jamestown lest it should be again

occupied, and a month later died. The popular uprising then subsided

rapidly, and when the king's forces arrived (1677) to restore order,

Berkeley was in control. [12]
GROWTH OF POPULATION.--During the century which followed the restoration

of monarchy (1660) the colonies grew not only in number but also in

population and in wealth. In 1660 there were probably 200,000 people in

the English colonies; by 1760 there were nearly 2,000,000--all east of the

Appalachian watershed. The three great centers were Virginia,

Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Sparse as the population seems to us,

the great march across the continent had begun. [13]
CITIES AND TOWNS.--The century (1660-1760) had seen the rise of but one

real city in the South--Charleston. Annapolis was a village, Baltimore a

hamlet of a hundred souls, Williamsburg and Norfolk were but towns, and no

place in North Carolina was more than a country village. Philadelphia,

which did not exist in 1660, had become a place of 16,000 people in 1760,

neat, well-built, and prosperous. Near by was German town, and further

west Lancaster, the largest inland town in all the colonies. Between

Philadelphia and New York there were no places larger than small villages.

New York had a population of some 12,000 souls; Boston, the chief city in

the colonies, some 20,000; and in New England were several other towns of

importance.
LIFE IN THE CITIES.--In the cities and large towns from Boston to

Charleston in 1760 were many fine houses. Every family of wealth had

costly furniture, plenty of silver, china, glass, and tapestry, and every

comfort that money could then buy. The men wore broadcloth, lace ruffles,

silk stockings, and silver shoe buckles, powdered their hair, and carried

swords. The women dressed more elaborately in silks and brocades, and wore

towering head-dresses and ostrich plumes. Shopkeepers wore homespun,

workingmen and mechanics leather aprons.

PITCHERS, AND DECANTER. In the possession of the Concord Antiquarian

Society.]
THINGS NOT IN USE IN 1660.--Should we make a list of what are to us the

everyday conveniences of life and strike from the list the things not

known in 1660, very few would remain. A business man in one of our large

cities, let us suppose, sets off for his place of business on a rainy day.

He puts on a pair of rubbers, takes an umbrella, buys a morning newspaper,

boards a trolley car, and when his place of business is reached, is

carried by an elevator to his office floor, and enters a steam-heated,

electric-lighted room. In 1660 and for many years after, there was not in

any of the colonies a pair of rubbers, an umbrella, a trolley car, a

morning newspaper, an elevator, a steam-heated room, [14] an electric

light.
[Illustration: COLONIAL FOOT STOVE.]
The man of business sits down in a revolving chair before a rolltop desk.

In front of him are steel pens, India rubber eraser, blotting paper,

rubber bands, a telephone. He takes up a bundle of typewritten letters,

dictates answers to a stenographer, sends a telegram to some one a

thousand miles away, and before returning home has received an answer. In

1660 there was not in all the land a stenographer, or any of the articles

mentioned; no telephone, no telegraph, not even a post office.
TRAVEL AND COMMUNICATION.--If business calls him from home, he travels in

comfort in a steamboat or a railway car, and goes farther in one hour than

in 1660 he could have gone in two days, for at that time there was not a

steamboat, nor a railroad, nor even a stagecoach, in North America. Men

went from one colony to another by sailing vessel; overland they traveled

on horseback; and if a wife went with her husband, she rode behind him on

a pillion. The produce of the farms was drawn to the village market by ox

teams.
[Illustration: TRAVELING IN 1660.]

published in the colonies. The first printing press in English America was

set up at Cambridge in 1630, and was long the only one. The first

newspaper in our country was the _Boston News Letter_, printed in 1704,

and there was none in Pennsylvania till 1719, and none south of the

Potomac till 1732.

printed without permission. In 1685, when a printer in Philadelphia

printed something in his almanac which displeased the Council, he was

forced to blot it out. Another Philadelphia printer, Bradford, offended

the Quakers by putting into his almanac something "too light and airy for

one that is a Christian," whereupon the almanac was suppressed; and for

later offenses Bradford was thrown into jail and so harshly treated that

he left the colony.

One of his old apprentices, John Peter Zenger, started the second (1733),

and soon called down the wrath of the governor because of some sharp

attacks on his conduct. Copies of the newspaper were burned before the

pillory, Zenger was put in jail, and what began as a trial for libel ended

in a great struggle for liberty of the press; Zenger's acquittal was the

cause of great public rejoicings. [15]
CHANGES BETWEEN 1660 AND 1760.--By 1760 the conditions of life in the

colonies had changed for the better in many respects. Stagecoaches had

come in, and a line ran regularly between New York and Philadelphia. Post

offices had been established. There were printing presses and newspapers

in most of the colonies, there were public subscription libraries in

Charleston and Philadelphia, and six colleges scattered over the colonies

from Virginia to Massachusetts.
EDUCATION.--What we know as the public school system, however, did not yet

exist. Children generally attended private schools kept by wandering

teachers who were boarded around among the farmers or village folk; and

learned only to read, write, and cipher. But a few went to the Latin

school or to college, for which they were often prepared by clergymen.
SPORTS AND PASTIMES.--Amusements in colonial days varied somewhat with the

section of the country and the character of the people who had settled it.

Corn huskings, quilting parties, and spinning bees were common in many

colonies. A house raising or a log-rolling (a piling bee) was a great

occasion for frolic. Picnics, tea parties, and dances were common

everywhere; the men often competed in foot races, wrestling matches, and

shooting at a mark. In New England the great day for such sports was

training day, which came four times a year, when young and old gathered on

the village green to see the militia company drill.
In New York there were also fishing parties and tavern parties, and much

skating and coasting, horse racing, bull baiting, bowling on the greens,

and in New York city balls, concerts, and private theatricals. In

Pennsylvania vendues (auctions), fairs, and cider pressing (besides

husking bees and house raisings) were occasions for social gatherings and

dances. South of the Potomac horse racing, fox hunting, cock fighting, and

cudgeling were common sports. At the fairs there were sack and hogshead

races, bull baiting, barbecues, and dancing. There was a theater at

Williamsburg and another in Charleston.
[Illustration: A MILL OF 1691. The power was furnished by the great

undershot water wheel.]

for the household. A few branches of manufactures--woolen goods, felt

hats, steel--which seemed likely to flourish in the colonies were checked

by acts of Parliament, lest they should compete with industries in

England. But shipbuilding was not molested, and in New England and

Pennsylvania many ships were built and sold.

trade. In sea-going commerce New England led, her vessels trading not only

with Great Britain and the West Indies, but carrying on most of the

coasting trade. In general the Navigation Acts were obeyed; but the

Molasses Act (1733), which levied a heavy duty on sugar or molasses from a

foreign colony, was boldly evaded. The law required that all European

goods must come by way of England; but this too was evaded, and smuggling

of European goods was very common. Tobacco from Virginia and North

Carolina often found its way in New England ships to forbidden ports.

SUMMARY
1. The English colonies were of three sorts--charter, royal, and

proprietary; but before 1660 each managed its affairs much as it pleased.
2. Charles II and later kings tried to rule the colonies for the benefit

of the crown and of the mother country. They acted through the Lords of

Trade in England and through colonial governors in America.
3. In 1676 Bacon led an uprising in Virginia against Governor Berkeley's

arbitrary rule.

years all the New England colonies, with New York and New Jersey, were put

under the tyrannical rule of Governor Andros.
5. When James II lost his throne, Andros was deposed, and Massachusetts

was given a new charter (1691).

the people (Rhode Island, Connecticut) or appointed by the king or by the

proprietor; (2) by an appointed Council; and (3) by an Assembly or lower

house elected by the colonists.

prevailed; in the Southern Colonies the county system; and in the Middle

Colonies a mixture of the two.
8. In 1660-1760 the population increased nearly tenfold; stagecoaches,

post offices, and newspapers were introduced; commerce increased, but

little manufacturing was done.

FOOTNOTES

became king), New Jersey after 1702, Virginia after 1624, North and South

Carolina after 1729, Georgia after 1752.
[2] These goods were products of the colonies and were named in the act--

such as tobacco, sugar, indigo, and furs. There was a long list of such

"enumerated goods," as they were called.
[3] In the royal colonies they were appointed by the crown; in

Massachusetts, by the General Court; in the proprietary colonies, by the

proprietor.
[4] In Massachusetts as early as 1634 the General Court consisted of the

governor, the assistants, and two deputies from each town. During ten

years they all met in one room; but a quarrel between the assistants and

the deputies led to their meeting as separate bodies. For an account of

this curious quarrel see Fiske's _Beginnings of New England_, pp. 106-108.

In Connecticut and Rhode Island also the towns elected deputies. Outside

of New England the delegates to the lower branch of the legislature were

usually elected from counties, but sometimes from important cities or

towns.
[5] The first government of Plymouth Colony was practically a town

meeting. The first town to set up a local government in Massachusetts was

Dorchester (1633). Thus started, the system spread over all New England.

Nothing was too petty to be acted on by the town meeting. For example, "It

is ordered that all dogs, for the space of three weeks after the

publishing hereof, shall have one leg tied up.... If a man refuse to tye

up his dogs leg and he be found scraping up fish [used for fertilizer] in

the corn field, the owner shall pay l2_s._, besides whatever damage the

dog doth." The proceedings of several town meetings at Providence are

given in Hart's _American History told by Contemporaries_, Vol. II,

pp. 214-219.
[6] Penn's charter required him to keep an agent in or near London.
[7] Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of

York (proprietor of the colony of New York), who reigned as James II.

made a separate province in 1679; but during the governorship of Andros it

was again annexed.
[9] These were Massachusetts (including Maine), New Hampshire, Plymouth,

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey--eight

in all. The only other colonies then in existence were Pennsylvania

(including Delaware), Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. For an account of

the attack on the New England charters, read Fiske's _Beginnings of New

England_, pp. 265-268.

colony (1692), and sharp laws were made against Catholics. From 1691 till

1715 Maryland was governed as a royal province; but then it was given back

to the fifth Lord Baltimore, who was a Protestant.

Leisler's Times_, by Elbridge Brooks, and _The Segum's Daughter_, by Edwin

L. Bynner, are two interesting stories based on the events of Leisler's