Government of Connecticut.

Boundary disputes.

Governor Andros.

religious element was supreme in the new organization, and the Bible was made the statute book of the colony; and, in imitation of the constitution of the Plymouth and Massachusetts settlers, none but church members were allowed the privileges of freemen.' A committee of twelve men was appointed, who selected seven of their members to be "pillars" in the new state. These had power to admit as many others as they pleased to take part with them in legislation. Theophilus Eaton was chosen governor.

2. Many of the New Haven settlers were merchants, and they tried to found a commercial colony. Heavy losses at sea caused them to abandon the project and turn to tilling the soil. They worked in harmony with their brethren of the Connecticut valley. Both joined the New England confederacy in 1643. Ten years later, the Dutch, by mutual agreement, left the valley, and a cause for irritation between the Puritans of New England and the Hollanders of New Netherland was removed.

3. After the restoration of Charles the Second, in 1660,3 the CONNECTICUT colony obtained a charter from the king, dated May 30, 1662.* It was more liberal than any yet issued by a royal hand. It included in its boundary the whole NEW HAVEN colony and a part of RHODE ISLAND. The former consented to the union in 1665; but Rhode Island refused, and disputed the boundary question for more than sixty years.

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4. Sir Edmund Andros' was made governor of New York in 1674. He hated the sturdy republicans of New England, and did what he could to annoy them. He claimed jurisdiction to the

1. Note 2, page 58.

3. Verse 10, page 53.

2. Note 1, page 71.

4. This was obtained by the personal influence of John Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts. At first Charles refused his application, because of his known republicanism. Winthrop then presented to his majesty a ring which the king's father had given to Winthrop's father. The heart of the monarch was touched, and a liberal charter was readily granted. Winthrop was chosen governor of Connecticut in 1657, and held the office several years. Such was his station when he appeared in England to ask a charter of the king. Hopkins (who was one of the founders of the New Haven colony) was chosen the first governor of the Connecticut colony, and for several years he and Haynes were alternately chosen chief magistrate.

5. Verse 9, page 41.

7. Verse 22, page 64.

6. Verse 4, page 43.

QUESTIONS.-1. What can you tell about the New Haven colony? What was their form of government? 2. What kind of colony did the New Haven people attempt to establish? What prevented? What did the Dutch do, and what was the effect? 3. What can you tell about a new charter for the Connecticut colony, and the union with New Haven?

Andros the usurper.

Attempt to seize the Connecticut charter.

mouth of the Connecticut river, and went to Saybrook in July, 1675, with a small naval force, to assert his authority. When he attempted to declare his power, he was silenced by the people, and he returned in great anger to New York.

5. Twelve years later [1687], Andros again appeared as the

disturber of the peace of Connecticut. As governor-general of New England, he demanded the surrender of all the colonial charters. Connecticut alone refused compliance. Andros went

QUESTIONS.-4. What can you tell about Governor Andros in Connecticut? 5. What further can you tell about Governor Andros?

Salvation of the Connecticut charter.

Defiance of a royal governor.

to Hartford with sixty armed men, in November, 1687, to seize

the charter.

The assembly was in ses

sion in the evening. The charter was brought out and laid on the table. When

Andros was about to take it, the candles were put out, and the charter was carried away in the dark, and effectually hidden in a hollow tree, which bore the name of The Charter Oak until it was blown down, in August, 1856. Andros was soon afterward driven from New England; and in May, 1689, Connecticut resumed her position as an independent colony, under her preserved charter.

THE CHARTER OAK.

6. Governor Fletcher, of New York, also attempted to exercise authority in Connecticut. He went to Hartford for the purpose, in November, 1693, and ordered the assembling of the militia. When he attempted to read his commission, Captain Wadsworth ordered the drums to be beaten. "Silence!" shouted the governor. He was obeyed. "Sir," said Wadsworth, stepping in front of the governor, "if they are again interrupted, I will make the sun shine through you in a moment!" Fletcher believed him, and, with his unread commission, returned to New York in great but impotent anger. From this time, until the French and Indian war, when her people numbered one hundred thousand, Connecticut went hand in hand with her sister colonies in promoting the growth of an independent American nationality.

SECTION VI.

RHODE ISLAND.

1. With the union of the Providence and Rhode Island plantations in 1644,' the independent Commonwealth of Rhode Island

1. Verse 4, page 43.

QUESTIONS.-5. Relate the circumstances concerning the saving of the Connecticut charter. 6. What can you tell about Governor Fletcher in Connecticut? What did Connecticut afterward do?

Rhode Island and its charter and constitution.

commenced its career.' The royal charter was first confirmed by the Long Parliament in 1652, and then by Cromwell in 1655. By the recognition of the Parliament, the claims of jurisdiction made by Plymouth and Massachusetts were set aside." Internal dissensions, growing out of theological discussions, sometimes disturbed the colony, but did not impede its prosperity.

2. On the restoration of Charles the Second, the people applied for a new charter. One similar to that of Connecticut was granted in July, 1663. It was yielded to Andros in 1687; but when that officer was expelled from New England in 1689,* the people resumed their independent government. Their seal bore the device of an anchor, and the motto was HOPE. Under that royal charter Rhode Island was governed until 1842, a period of one hundred and fifty-seven years, when the people in convention adopted a constitution.

3. The history of Rhode Island, from King William's War, shows its active sympathies with its sister colonies down to the close of the Revolution in 1783, in which its sons took a distinguished part.

SECTION VII.

NEW JERSEY.

1. We have considered the settlements in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, in the same section, as forming a series of events having intimate relations." The history of the colonial

1. A general assembly of deputies from the several towns met at Portsmouth on the 29th of May, 1647, and organized the new government by the election of a president and other officers. At that time a code of laws was adopted, which declared the government to be a democracy, and that "all men might walk as their conscience persuaded them." Verse 2, page 42. 2. Note 3, page 60

3. This charter guaranteed free toleration in religious matters, and the legislature of the colony reasserted the principle, so as to give it the popular force of law. The assertion, made by some, that Roman Catholics were excluded from voting, and that Quakers were outlawed, is erroneous. Very warm disputes occurred, but free discussion was allowed. 4. Verse 22, page 64. 5. Page 43.

reer?

QUESTIONS.-1. When did Rhode Island, as an independent province, commence its caWhat did Parliament and Cromwell do? What was the effect? 2. What can you tell about a new charter for Rhode Island? What can you tell about the duration of that charter? 3. What does the history of Rhode Island, from King William's War, show?

Popular commotions in New Jersey.

Its proprietors and partition.

organization and progress of the first two is separate and distinct. Delaware was never a separate commonwealth until after the declaration of independence in 1776.

2. The time when the colony was permanently founded, was when families from Long Island settled on the site of Elizabethtown in 1664, and Philip Carteret, brother of one of the proprietors, was appointed governor.1 Settlers were allured thither by a liberal written agreement, on the part of the proprietors, called "concessions," which, among other privileges, exempted the people from the payment of quit-rents for their land for the space of five years."

3. At the first sitting of the assembly under the "concessions," that body perceived opposition to their authority on the part of settlers who had been there long, and had purchased lands of the Indians. And when slight quit-rents were exacted, at the end of the five years, there was a general resistance to the payment of the tax. A revolution ensued. The governor was driven from the province, and another chosen in his place by the people. Preparations were in progress to coerce the people into submission, when New York and New Jersey fell into the hands of the Dutch.*

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4. When the territory was restored to the English, the dishonest James, trampling upon the rights of the proprietors, made the infamous Andros governor of New Jersey as well as New York, in 1674. Berkeley sold his interest to the Quakers. They were unwilling to maintain a political union with other parties, and in July, 1676, they bargained with Carteret for a division of the province, they receiving the western part. From that time

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the divisions were known was EAST and WEST JERSEY.

1. Verse 6, page 44.

2. This was a sort of constitution, which provided for a government to be composed of a governor and council appointed by the proprietors, and an assembly chosen by the freehold. ers of the province. The legislative power resided in the assembly; the executive in the governor. The council and the assembly were each restricted to twelve members. 3. The amount of quit-rent was a half-penny for the use of each acre.

4. Verse 11, page 73. 6. Verse 6, page 44.

5. Verse 11, page 73.
7. Verse 6, page 44.

QUESTIONS.-1. What have you to say about the settlements in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware? 2. What can you tell about the founding of New Jersey? What was done for the people? 3. What can you tell about discontents in New Jersey? 4. How did King James treat the New Jersey people? What can you tell about a sale to Quakers? What about the division of New Jersey?