30 FREE SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED; BALTIMORE FOUNDED. were Charles Calvert, a relative of the proprietary. Some years later a free school system was carried out, with advantage to the colony and its progress. "Boards of visitors created, seven for each county, with power to perpetuate themselves by filling vacancies, and with authority to purchase in each county one hundred acres as the site of a boarding school and to employ good schoolmasters, members of the Church of England, and of pious and exemplary lives and conversation, and capable of teaching well the grammar, good writing, and the mathematics, if such can conveniently be got' on a salary of £20 per annum, and the use of the plantation." * From 1727 on, a brother of the proprietary (his name being the same, Benedict Leonard) was governor of Maryland, and during his administration acts were passed offering offering bounties bounties on flax, hemp, and iron. In 1729 the true founding of Baltimore took place, an act being passed in that year "for erecting a town in the North side of Patapsco, in Baltimore County, and for laying out in lots of 60 acres of land in and about the place where John Fleming now lives." Two years later an act was passed "for erecting a town on a creek, divided on the east from the town lately laid out in Baltimore County, called Baltimore Town' on the land whereon Hildreth, vol. ii., p. 325. Edward Fell keeps a store." There had been settlements made on the land now within the city limits as early as 1662, and during the Seventeenth century law after law was passed creating a town in paper, as many as thirtythree having been established, three of which were within the limits of what was then Baltimore County. In 1706 the Assembly passed an act to establish a town on Whetstone Neck on the Patapsco River but no name was given to the town in the act. Another town named Baltimore was located on the eastern side and near the mouth of the Bush River, this town being shown on the map made by Augustus Herrman in 1670. Subsequently the Assembly directed that a town named Baltimore be laid out on the Indian River in Worcester County, but the county surveyor refused to undertake the task and it was abandoned. In In 1745 Jones's Town was incorporated with Baltimore, the town receiving acquisitions of territory also by acts passed in 1747, 1765 and 1773.* In 1732 Calvert went to England and shortly after the proprietary himself arrived in the colony. His main object in coming to the colony was to endeavor to settle the disputes regarding the proprietary rights between Maryland and Pennsylvania and Delaware. But the controversy *Love, Baltimore: The Old Town and the Modern City (1895); Scharf, The Chronicles of Baltimore (1874); Browne, Maryland, p. 209 et seq. RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS IN THE CAROLINAS. was not settled until after some twenty years of litigation.* In 1736 Baltimore returned to England. Meanwhile, in 1731, Benedict Calvert had been compelled to resign the governorship because of ill health, when the administration of public affairs was placed in the hands of Benjamin Ogle. From that time until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Maryland continued to make rapid progress in all branches of human endeavor. The Carolinas, on the other hand, had been the scene of much disorder. The proprietaries had determined to unite the two settlements under one government, and in 1690 Philip Ludwell was appointed to the governorship of the reunited province. Sothel, who, it will be remembered, had usurped the place of governor, was compelled to relinquish his authority and Ludwell began his administration in a manner which promised to restore peace and prosperity to the colony. Affairs did not long remain in this condition, however. Churchmen and dissenters revived their old disputes, and the arguments between the churchmen and dissenters and the Huguenots who were now of considerable importance in the colony, were also renewed. Ludwell's manner of handling these affairs led the proprietaries to send a remonstrance, which in all probability Browne, Maryland, p. 212 et seq.; Doyle, Colonies Under Hanover, pp. 55-66. 31 He was led to his removal in 1649.* * Rivers, Sketch of the History of South Carolina, p. 163 and for the remonstrance, p. 436. Hildreth, vol. ii., pp. 210-211; Bancroft, vol. ii., p. 10. 32 CULTIVATION OF RICE INTRODUCED; CHURCH OF ENGLAND. England.* Among the measures instituted by Archdale were the remitting of quit-rents for three or four years, the regulations of the price of land and the forms of conveyances, and the granting to the planters of the privilege of paying quit-rents in money or in produce. He also established a board of arbitration to settle disputes between the colonists and the Indians.† Meanwhile the cultivation of rice had been introduced in the colony. A vessel from Madagascar happening to touch at Charleston on her homeward voyage, the captain presented the governor with a bag of seed rice, which he said he had seen growing in eastern countries, where it was deemed excellent food, and yielded a prodigious increase. At first the colonists began the cultivation of rice as a curiosity, but it soon became an important staple of the whole colony. Mr. Bancroft says, "hence the opulence of the colony; hence also its swarms of negro slaves. The profits of the rice fields tempted the planter to enlarge his domains, and Africa furnished laborers." While the majority of the colonists were dissenters, yet in May, 1704, they were disfranchised by a very small majority, and the monopoly of political power was bestowed upon the Church of England. Archdale opposed the bill before the court of pro prietaries, but it was sanctioned through the efforts of Lord Granville. Two years later, however, on application to the queen, the intolerant acts were declared null and void, and in November, 1706, all acts relating to political privileges were cancelled and repealed by the colonial Assembly.* Nevertheless, the Church of England was established as the religion of the colony. As a result, strifes and turbulence ensued.† Still the period was one of prosperity and exemption from the trials to which other colonies were exposed. According to Mr. Bancroft, North Carolina was at this time "the sanctuary of runaways, every one did what was right in his own eyes, paying tribute neither to God nor to Caesar." In 1704 Robert Daniel, the deputy governor, made an attempt to establish the Church of England in the colony, but the effort was abortive and a state of anarchy resulted, the colonists arraying themselves in opposing factions according to their opinions, and each party setting up its own governor and house of representatives. The Quakers determined to resist with all their power what they deemed unjust acts, and, notwithstanding the fact that the governor of Virginia was requested to interfere with the military, the malcontents * Rivers, Sketch of the History of South Carolina, p. 220 et seq.; Cooper, Laws of South Carolina, vol. ii., p. 282 et seq.; Trott, Ecclesiastical Laws, p. 41; Bancroft, vol. ii., pp. 11-12. Doyle, English Colonies in America, vol. i., pp. 369-372. WAR WITH TUSCARORAS; ATTACK ON SPANISH. 33 remained in a state of defiance from 1706 to 1710.* But the attention of the entire province was soon diverted from internal disputes to preparations for resisting attacks on the frontiers by the Tuscarora Indians. Enraged by what they considered a trespass on their territory, the Tuscaroras determined to revenge themselves according to the usual method of Indians. The Quakers of North Carolina refused to take up arms in defence of the colony, and South Carolina sent some aid, but the yellow fever broke Iout and the inhabitants fled from the distress and ravages of the disease and the inroads of the Indians. In 1713, however, a force of militia and Indians from South Carolina subdued the Tuscaroras and captured about 800 prisoners, who were sold in slavery. The balance of the tribe escaped and made their way northward, where they joined the Five Nations in New York, thus making the confederacy of the Six Nations.+ In 1702 occurred a rupture in the relations between England and Spain, and the attention of the colony was now directed to the Spanish settle Osgood, American Colonies, vol. ii., pp. 244251; Bancroft, vol. ii., p. 14 et seq.; The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. i., pp. 431433. Doyle, vol. i., pp. 346-348; Fiske, Old Virginia, vol. ii., p. 298 et seq.; Osgood, American Colonies, vol. ii., p. 429 et seq.; Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, vol. i., p. 27; Hildreth, vol. ii., p. 269; Bancroft, vol. ii., pp. 203-205; The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. i., pp. 433-435, vol. ii., p. 14. ments in America. Governor James Moore therefore determined to seize this opportunity to display his military prowess, also considering it a good opportunity to enrich himself by plundering the Spanish settlements at St. Augustine. While many of the colonists applauded this proposal, many opposed it, but a large majority of the Assembly declared in its favor, and forthwith a fund of £2,000 sterling was voted for the expenses of the expedition. The The services of 600 Indians were engaged by bribing them with arms and ammunition and a force of 600 provincial militia was raised, the necessary ships being impressed for transporting the troops. Port Royal had been fixed upon as the best place for general rendezvous, and in September the expedition set sail. It was planned that Colonel Robert Daniel should take the inland passage with a small party of militia and Indians and should attack the town by land, the governor assisting him by an attack from the sea. first Daniel met with considerable success and succeeded in plundering the town, but the Spanish, who had laid up a store of provisions, retired to the castle. As they could not contend with the colonial forces, they remained shut up in the castle, and Moore found it was impossible to dislodge them without additional militia. He therefore sent a sloop to Jamaica for cannon and ammunition, but while he was waiting the return of the vessel, the Spanish at Havana, At 34 PAPER MONEY ISSUED; SLAVE LAW. having received information of the attack on St. Augustine, sent two ships, one of 22 guns and the other of 16 guns, which soon appeared off the mouth of the harbor. At the sight of these reinforcements, Moore was seized with such a panic that he instantly abandoned his ships, raised the siege, and fled back to Carolina by land. The retreat not only relieved the Spanish, but turned into their hands all of the ships, stores, provisions, etc., which had been abandoned by the Carolinians. Daniel, meanwhile, had proceeded to Jamaica, and on his return found the siege raised. He continued on to Carolina, narrowly escaping capture by the Spanish. Moore was sharply censured by the Assembly for his conduct. A debt of £6,000 sterling had been foisted upon the colony, without any compensation.† About the same time, the Assembly passed an act for stamping bills of credit to answer the public expense, which were to be sunk in three years, by a duty laid upon liquors, skins, and furs. This was the first paper money issued in Carolina, and for some years remained at par value. "The population of North Carolina was nearly equal to that of the southern province. Tobacco, the Tobacco, the principal staple, was produced in considerable quantity. But there was no direct intercourse with the mother country, Shortly afterward Moore attacked the Appalachian Indians and was successful in breaking their power, and in 1706, Nathanial Johnson, his successor, successfully resisted an attack on Charleston by the Spanish.† In June, 1712, the first extant slave law of South Carolina was enacted. It provided that, inasmuch as " negroes and other slaves bought unto the people of this province for that purpose are of barbarous, wild, savage natures, and such as renders them wholly unqualified to be governed by the laws, customs and practices of this province," etc., that "all negroes, mulattoes, mestizoes, or Indians, which at any time heretofore have been sold, and now are held or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought or sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves; and they and their children are hereby made and declared slaves to all intents and pur* Hildreth, vol. ii., p. 233. Doyle, English Colonies in America, vol. i., p. $68 et seq.; Hildreth, vol. ii., pp. 230-231; Bancroft, vol. ii., pp. 194-195; The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. ii., pp. 11-12. |