meet at the seat of government of each of the colonies. These courts elected delegates to a convention to be held in Boston. Thus the people of each town, as well as the whole colony, were represented in this first Congress. On meeting they formed the "United Colonies of New England." Four colonies were represented-Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. Each was to furnish its quota of soldiers for the common defence and bear a proportionate amount of the expense. Each was represented in the general body by two delegates, who formed a Board of Commissioners.

92. King Philip's War and the Checking of Missionary Work Among the Indians.-Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoags, had been treated so kindly by the Pilgrims during that first hard winter, that he was ever after a sincere friend of the whites. At his death, in 1660, his son, Philip, became chief of the tribe and was soon engaged in an effort to organize a confederacy of all the New England Indians for the extermination of the whites. The missionary work of John Eliot had been instrumental in partially civilizing some four thousand of the Indians, while some of the tribes had always been more friendly than others, so that he was successful in interesting but three tribes-the Wampanoags, the Nipmucks, and the Narragansetts. Hostilities began in June, 1675, at the town of Swansea, where an attack was made and followed up at several other towns, a number of whites being killed. The "United Colonies" at once organized and punished the Wampanoags severely. Philip was not captured, however, and continued the war at the head of the Nipmucks and the Narragansetts. The colonists now took efficient measures for the organization of a large force, each colony furnishing its quota. In December an army of one thousand men marched against the Narragansetts. This tribe, to the number of three thousand, had erected a fort in the center of a swamp; for this reason the fight that followed is known as the "swamp fight." The

case.

fort was attacked and all the features of the Pequot extermination were enacted, though not quite so successfully in this One thousand of the Indians were killed and a number taken prisoners-these were quartered in the different towns for a long period and made to serve the whites, or actually sold into slavery. Several hundred escaped, however, and for years kept the frontier in a state of terror. King Philip was killed the next year through the treachery of one of his own Indians.

This was the last organized Indian war the New England colonists experienced,-though the exposed settlements felt the merciless hatred of the survivors through another hundred years. The war was not without its good fruits, though the loss of thirteen towns and six hundred lives, together with the accumulation of a burdensome debt, was a fearful price to pay. It was the first time that anything like a general gathering for defence had been necessary. It taught the value of union, and helped to break down the religious and political prejudices existing, in marked degree, among the colonies at that time.

One outcome of the war was the check given to the missionary work of the Reverend John Eliot. He had done a grand work among the Indians, gathering into separate towns those who professed conversion and were desirous of trying the ways of civilization. Prior to the war, some thirty of these "praying" towns had been organized, and many of the Indians had made great advancement. But as the war came on, the natural instinct of many of these "praying" Indians got the better of their educational training, and in one case a whole town went over to the enemy. This had the effect of cooling the missionary zeal of the colonists, and the work gradually ceased.

93. The Connecticut Charter.-When James II. sent Andros to be governor of all New England, in 1686, it was with instructions to annul all the charters and unite the colonies under one government. This he proceeded to do without

regard to the protests of the different colonies. When he went to Hartford he met with an especially earnest protest. While the conference was proceeding between Governor Robert Treat and Andros, and it seemed certain that Andros would carry out his purpose, the candles were suddenly blown out. When they were relighted, it was found that the charter had been spirited away and could not be found. It had been taken by Captain Wadsworth and placed in the trunk of a hollow oak tree near by, where it remained until Andros had returned to Boston. This oak was ever after known as the "Charter Oak" and remained standing until a storm blew it down in 1856.

RHODE ISLAND
PROVIDENCE, 1636

94. Providence Founded-1636.-During his residence in Salem, Roger Williams had cultivated the acquaintance of the Indians and had learned to speak their language fluently. Banished from Massachusetts in the midst of winter, he found a welcome in the wigwams of these Indians. In the spring Canonicus, chief of the Narragansetts, gave him a tract of land, and with five companions he founded Providence, so named because of his "confidence in the mercies of God." Here he invited the oppressed of every clime, of whatever belief, giving them freely of the land he had received from the Indians.

95. Anne Hutchinson's Settlements, Portsmouth and Newport. Some of the followers of Anne Hutchinson upon banishment from Massachusetts founded towns to the north. Others, in company with their leader, bought the island of Aquedneck, or Rhode Island, from the Indians, and settled Portsmouth (1638) and Newport (1639). As in Providence, the utmost freedom was allowed. Religion was made a matter of conscience. All participated in the affairs of govern

ment.

96. Roger Williams Secures a Charter-1644.-There was much in common between the settlements of Providence, Ports