Page images
PDF
EPUB

20

ACT OF TOLERATION; THE "WALKING PURCHASE."

In 1734 Penn's widow died and the sovereignty and territorial rights of the province were vested in Penn's three sons, John, Thomas, and Richard. Unfortunately for themselves, however, neither of them possessed their father's ability or even a small portion of his popularity. While Gordon was still governor, the sects and nationalities comprising the population of Pennsylvania were welded together by a general naturalization act, "admitting all Christians who owed allegiance to the British crown and the Pennsylvania government." A poll tax was imposed on all aliens imported in order to keep out such as were poor, illiterate and indigent, and those who refused to send their children to school. German Town had now become a powerful center for the German race in America. The Tunkers (or Dunkards) and other societies united with the Mennonites to establish German schools and to set up a printing press, from which was issued the first German Bible printed in this country, the first German newspaper and also an almanac. The Germans soon outnumbered the Quakers as did also the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, but both of these races held aloof from the affairs of government.

[blocks in formation]

tending from the latitude of Trenton
northward as far as a man could walk
in a day and a half. Thomas now
proceeded to cheat the Indians by
hiring the fastest walkers in the prov-
ince to do the walking, and some of
the distance was run, so that instead
of the Lehigh River being the limit
of the tract as the Indians expected,
the walkers had reached a point 30
miles beyond it when the 36th hour
had passed. The treachery of this
transaction, which was called the
"Walking Purchase," was never for-
gotten by the Indians as subsequent
events proved.* For two years Logan
administered the government as
president of the Council until 1738,
when George Thomas arrived to be-
come deputy governor.
Five years
after Thomas Penn's first blunder
with the Indians, he committed an-
other. The boundary of the "Walk-
ing Purchase " was supposed to be a
direct line drawn from the end of the
36 hour walk to the Delaware, but
Penn was not satisfied with this and
slanted the line upward so that it in-
cluded the whole of the valuable
Minisink country, then called the
Forks of the Delaware. The Dela-
wares were unwilling to sell this land
and refused to move from a territory,
out of which they had so evidently
been defrauded. Penn, however, ap-
pealed to their suzerains - the Six

[blocks in formation]

DISPUTE BETWEEN PROPRIETARIES AND ASSEMBLY.

Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy

*

and by means of a large present* induced them to force the Delawares from their land. They moved to Wyoming, Shamokin and other places to the west, and there nursed their anger until circumstances gave them opportunity to avenge these treacherous acts.†

In 1740 a dispute arose between the governor and the Assembly regarding measures of defence, fortifications, etc., and while the Assembly voted £4,000 for the king's use, they imposed upon Thomas the disposing of it, because they would not vote

Pennsylvania Col. Recs., vol. iv., p. 597 et seq. Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. i., p. 83 et seq. (10th ed., 1886); Sharpless, pp.

175-177.

21

money to carry on war.* About 1742 a controversy began between the proprietaries and the Assembly, the latter claiming that the proprietaries should provide for the defence of the province, inasmuch as they received a large revenue from it in the way of quit-rents, etc. The proprietaries and the Board of Trade, however, denied this view. In 1746 Thomas Penn resigned his jurisdiction and in the same year John Penn died, a double loss which was a sore blow to the colony. In 1748 Thomas gave up the struggle with the Assembly, and was succeeded in the office of deputy governor by James Hamilton.

[blocks in formation]

22

CHARTER TO WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE.

CHAPTER XIX.

1690-1748.

PROGRESS OF VIRGINIA, MARYLAND AND THE CAROLINAS.

--

-

Nicholson becomes governor Charter granted for College of William and Mary-Laws passed by the Assembly Sir Edmund Andros becomes governor - His controversy with Blair and subsequent retirement — Patent granted to Thomas Neale for post office- - Nicholson reappointed governor Williamsburg founded Virginia shows spirit of independence — Nicholson becomes unpopular and is removed — Virginia code revised Alexander Spotswood becomes governor - Arrival of the German Palatines - Spotswood's expedition across the Blue Ridge His dispute with Blair His removal from office - Further arrivals from the old country - Williamsburg destroyed by fire - Lionel Copley governor of Maryland - New code of laws enacted - Capitol removed to Annapolis-Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts formed-Persecution of the Catholics-Free school system established - The Calverts reassume control of Maryland affairs - Founding of Baltimore-Prosperity of the colony- The two Carolinas united in one government-Disputes between churchmen and dissenters - Grand Model abrogated - - Administration of John Archdale - The cultivation of rice begun - Dissenters disfranchised - Church of England established as religion of the colony-North Carolina War with the Tuscaroras-Governor Moore's expedition against the Spanish settlements - First paper money issued - Sir Francis Nicholson governor - Proprietaries of North Carolina sell rights - Treaty with the Cherokees - Accessions from Europe - Slave insurrection Commerce of the colony.

-

After the revolution of 1688, the commission of Effingham was renewed by William III. in spite of the charges made against him. He did He did not return to Virginia, and instead, in 1690, Francis Nicholson was sent in his place as lieutenant. During the same year the Rev. James Blair, who some years prior to this had been employed in Virginia, returned to that colony with a commission as missionary of the Bishop of London, whose jurisdiction extended over all the American colonies. For the next few years, Blair exerted a remarkable influence in Virginia affairs,* and it

"Of the activity and practical usefulness of this excellent man, sufficient evidence will be furnished in the statement, that when, at the advanced age of eighty-eight, he died, he had been sixty-four years a minister of the Gospel; fifty

was due to his activities and his importunities that the king, on February 14, 1692, granted a charter for the College of William and Mary in Virginia. The object, as stated in the preamble, was, "that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a Seminary of ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in good letters and manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated among the western Indians, to the glory of Almighty God." This college was established, as the king said, because his subjects who formed the General Assembly of the colony of Virginia had for a long

three years Commissary for Virginia; president of a College for forty-nine years; and a member of the king's council for fifty." Hawks, Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, p. 75.

COLLEGE ESTABLISHED; LAWS ENACTED

time had it in mind to found and establish a college of divinity, philosophy, languages, and other good arts and sciences, consisting of one president, six masters or professors, and a hundred scholars, more or less, according to the ability of said college, and its statutes, to be made by certain trustees nominated and elected by the General Assembly of the colony. Accordingly, Nicholson and seventeen others were appointed by the Assembly, "were confirmed as trustees, and were empowered to hold and enjoy lands, possessions, and inincomes, to the yearly value of £2,000, and all donations, bestowed for their use. The Rev. James Blair, nominated and elected by the Assembly, was made first president, and the Bishop of London was appointed and confirmed by their majesties to be the first chancellor of the college. defray the charges of building the college and supporting the president and masters, the king and queen gave nearly £2,000, and endowed the college with twenty thousand acres of the best land, together with the perpetual revenue arising from the duty of one penny per pound on all tobacco transported from Virginia and Maryland to the other English plantations. By the charter, liberty was given to the president and masters or professors to elect one member of the House of Burgesses of the General Assembly. In grateful acknowledgment of the royal patronage and benefaction, the college was called

To

23

William and Mary. This was the second college founded in North America.†

[ocr errors]

At two successive sessions of the Assembly, several important laws were passed. In order to provide linen, which was scarce by reason of the wars," every tithable was required to produce each year one pound of dressed hemp or flax. Searchers and examiners of leather, boots, and shoes were to be appointed to prevent divers and sundry deceits and abuses ceits and abuses" on the part of the tanners, curriers, and shoemakers. An act was passed "for the more effectual suppressing of the several sins and offences of swearing, cursing, profaning God's holy name, Sabbath abusing, drunkenness, fornication and adultery," the fine for every oath being one shilling, for drunkenness ten shillings, or the stocks for three hours, for fornication £10 sterling, for adultery, £20, or, as alternatives, 30 lashes or three months' imprisonment. Several laws were enacted for the regulation of slaves and for the conduct of the whites toward them, intermixture of the races and intermarriage being strictly prohibited under heavy penalties.‡

In 1692, after Nicholson's promotion to the governorship of Maryland, Sir Edmund Andros, who had been

* Holmes, American Annals, vol. i., p. 443. Doyle, English Colonies in America, vol. i., pp. 266-273. See also D. E. Motley, Life of Commissary James Blair, in Johns Hopkins University Studies, series xix., No. 10.

Hildreth, vol. ii., pp. 175-181.

24

WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDED; LAWS REVISED.

governor of New England, was appointed to the chief office in Virginia. Despite the reputation acquired by his course in the North, Andros completely reversed his conduct in the South and rendered himself very popular in this new office. During the six years he occupied the office, he was particularly serviceable to the colony in collecting, arranging and taking measures to preserve the public records. He unfortunately at this time engaged in a controversy with Blair regarding the vestries and also tried to assert his authority over the college. Blair resisted and was dismissed from the council, but as his influence was great in England through the Bishop of London, it was not long before Andros was compelled to retire from office. In 1693 a patent was given to Thomas Neale for establishing postal routes in the colonies, the rates of postage being in proportion to those obtaining in England. In 1696 another act was passed which fixed the salaries of the ministers at 16,000 pounds of tobacco, together with a glebe, and a dwelling house to be provided by the parish.

In 1698 Nicholson again came to the colony as governor and exerted all his energy to secure the passage of various measures for the benefit of the colony. In December, 1698, an act was passed providing for the laying out of a new city, which was to be the capital of Virginia instead of Jamestown. William and Mary college had already been erected at Mid

dle Plantation, and as the region had proved healthful, the site for the new city was located in the vicinity of the college on two creeks that run out of James and York rivers. The city was named Williamsburg, and the streets were laid out in the form of a cypher made from the letters W and M.* In order to provide funds for erecting a capital, the duty on liquors was continued, and a new tax imposed on servants not born in England and Wales, and on such slaves as were imported in the colony.+ During the same session of the Assembly, the colonial statutes were thoroughly revised, and the benefits of the English toleration acts were extended to dissenters, in accordance with orders received from England. Although this was a step in the right direction, it was remarkable that the governors permitted it to become a law, for it was not expected that they would allow it, or any other law, to be enacted that would tend to enlarged political freedom. As Bancroft says, "The powers of the governor were exorbitant; he was at once lieutenant general and admiral, lord treasurer and chancellor, the chief judge in all courts, president of the council, and bishop or ordinary, so that the armed force, the revenue, the interpretation of law, the administration of justice, the church,- all were under his con

*Cooke, Virginia, p. 304. Williamsburg remained the capital of Virginia until 1780, when it was superseded by Richmond.

Hildreth, vol. ii., pp. 208-209.

« PreviousContinue »