Old and

CHAPTER I.

THE THIRTEEN COLONIES.

We left various colonies from England scattered new colo- over the Atlantic coast. Of these, the three princinies. pal, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maryland, were portrayed with comparative detail. Besides these three, several were mentioned as existing in New England, while others were projected in New Jersey and Carolina. It is the purpose of this chapter to show how the older colonies were concentrated, while new colonies were founded and extended.

Plymouth

The oldest colony in New England - that of annexed. Plymouth-maintained its independence for seventy years. It was then annexed to Massachusetts, (1691.)

Maine annexed.

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The name of New Somersetshire was changed to Maine at the same time that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was constituted lord palatine of the province, (1639.) His deputy presently appeared to hold a general court at Saco, (1640.) The grant to Gorges covered the district from the Piscataqua to the Kennebec; but within a very few years one of the numerous patents, previously mentioned as conveying the same soil to different parties, was revived, and the land between the Kennebec and the Saco became a distinct territory, as Ligonia, (1643.) Some time later the two divisions were both annexed to Massachusetts, (1652–58,) then separated, (1665,) then reannexed, (1668,) and at length bought of the Gorges heirs by the colony of Massa

chusetts Bay, (1677.) East of the Kennebec, as far as Pemaquid Point, there lay a tract belonging to the province of New York, (1664,) but afterwards united with Massachusetts, to which the territory beyond Pemaquid, previously occupied by one or two French posts, was also attached, (1691.) This eastern region was afterwards detached by French conquest, (1696,) but was ultimately reunited to Massachusetts by treaty with France, (1713.)

New

Not quite so various were the fortunes of the New Hamp- Hampshire settlements. Those at Dover, Portsshire. mouth, and Exeter,* surrendering themselves to Massachusetts, (1641-42,) left nothing but unsettled lands to bear the name of New Hampshire. But on the revival of the Mason claims to the territory east of the Merrimac, New Hampshire was declared in England to be a royal province, (1677-79.) The new government had been in operation but a short and a troubled period, when the people again united themselves to Massachusetts, (1690–92 ;) and, though again disunited, they were once more rejoined to that colony, at least so far as to be under one and the same governor for nearly half a century, (1698–1741.) Annexation did not prevent disturbance. New Hampshire was still the object of suits and controversies on both sides of the ocean, while the course of affairs amongst the inhabitants themselves was far from being peaceful. It finally became a separate province, (1741.)

Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Bay was the thriving sister, as we see, amongst the New England family. Her large immigrations and her increasing resources gave her the stability and the unity which her neighbors lacked. She did not go without her trials. At the very time that Plymouth and Maine were added to her domains, her independence of

Founded by Wheelwright, one of the Hutchinson exiles, in 1638.

government was reduced by a change in her charter, (1691,) of which we shall take notice hereafter. The colony continued, however, to thrive.

Connecti

Of the three settlements in Connecticut, two, cut. namely, Saybrook and Connecticut, were early united under the latter name, (1644.) For this colony a royal charter was afterwards procured by John Winthrop, the early governor, (1662.) The charter included the colony of New Haven; but to this community the provisions of the instrument were so unacceptable that the union was not consummated for two years, nor would it have been so soon but for external circumstances, (1665.) While the Connecticut territory was thus rounded off, it was cut into by the grant of Long Island to the province of New York, for which, likewise, the main land was claimed as far as the Connecticut River. But this claim was repelled.

Rhode

The settlements of Providence and Rhode Island Island. were united under a single charter procured by their founder, Roger Williams, from the crown, (1644.) He went a second time to England to obtain its confirmation during the commonwealth, (1651-52,) being elected. president of the colony on his return, (1654.) Suspended at a later time, the charter was renewed by the royal government, (1663.) A portion of the territory supposed to be covered by the charter, and lying to the west of the Narraganset waters, was for a long period separated from the colony, under the name of the King's Province, (1665–1727.)

Four colonies

in New England.

Thus were the various colonies of New England reduced to four-New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. A fifth colony, the later State of Vermont, was prepared by the Massachusetts Fort Dummer, on the site of Brattleboro', (1724,) and by the New Hampshire grants of townships, Benning

ton being the earliest, (1749.) But the four elder colonies were all that enter into the list of the thirteen.

Virginia, the oldest of the colonies, was still the Virginia. most extensive in its limits. On the north, a bound seemed to be set by the grant of Maryland. But on the west and the south, Virginia stretched indefinitely, the grant of Carolana existing only upon paper. The government of the colony was frequently altered. Under the English commonwealth, the governors were chosen by the colonial assembly, (1652-60.) An earlier grant of the lands between the Potomac and the Rappahannoc to Lord Culpepper and his associates, (1649,) was afterwards revived, and extended to a lease of the entire colony for thirty-one years, (1673.) In vain did the Virginia assembly protest against the proceeding; in vain did it demand a charter to protect it against similar aggressions. Culpepper, buying out his associates and obtaining the appointment of governor for life, (1675,) sported his authority in England for several years before he made his appearance in Virginia, (1680.) His own disappointment being quite as great as the discontentment of his subjects, his authority over them was surrendered, and the provincial government was restored, (1684.) But, twenty years later, (1704,) a somewhat similar system was established by the appointment of one English nobleman after another to be governor; he, in his turn, sending out his lieutenant governor to administer the colony in his name. All the while the colony was increasing. On the south, indeed, its territories were restricted by the creation of new colonies; but on the west its settlers were crossing the mountains and clearing the farther valleys.

Maryland.

The adjoining colony of Maryland underwent few territorial changes. Its vicissitudes, like those of Virginia, consisted in its passing and repassing into new hands. As Virginia changed from a province to a proprie

tary colony, so Maryland changed from a proprietary colony to a province. After various disturbances, in none of which, however, had the proprietor's power been actually cast off, a convention of the Protestant settlers deposed the proprietary officers, (1689,) and transferred the capital of the colony from the Catholic St. Mary's to the Protestant Annapolis, (1694.) As the Protestant fervor in England was just then at its height, the proceedings of the colony were confirmed by the crown. But the head of the proprietary family in the next generation, Benedict Leonard, Lord Baltimore, becoming an English churchman, recovered the possession of Maryland, (1715.)

Carolina.

The first of the new colonies amongst the thirteen was Carolina. This was the territory included first in the limits of Virginia, and then in those of Carolana by royal patent. The patentee of Carolana had made no settlement or grant; but Virginia had granted at least a portion of the territory by act of assembly, (1643.) Another portion was occupied by a Massachusetts party settled near the mouth of Cape Fear River, on land purchased from the Indians, (1660.) Without regard to any of these claims, eight persons of the highest rank, amongst them the Earl of Clarendon, then prime minister, obtained a royal patent for all the territory between Albemarle Sound and the St. John's River, (1663.) A second charter extended the northern boundary to Chowan River, and the southern to below the Spanish St. Augustine, (1665,) while a third charter annexed the Bahama Islands to the swollen province, (1667.)

North and It was swollen only on the map. In reality, South. had but one or two shrivelled settlements. The nucleus of North Carolina was a Virginian settlement, not included in Carolina until the second charter, (1665.) The Massachusetts colony formed the nucleus of South Caro