Character of period, 1690-1760. Oglethorpe and founding of Georgia, 1732. Winsor's V, 361-367, Carolina 1719. three miles northward of the most northern point of that stream, as the old charter had plainly intended. The limits of Massachusetts still extended westward to the South Sea, as they had in the charter of 1629. 100. Georgia. — The period from the accession of William and Mary to the beginning of the events (1760) which led directly to the separation of the colonies from the British Empire, was a time of great material prosperity within the English colonies, and of conflicts with the French on the north and west and with the Spaniards on the south. Only one new province was founded during this period, and the colonies grew rather by developing the resources within their limits than by planting new settlements. The new province, Georgia (1732), had its rise in the desire of General Oglethorpe and other benevolent persons in England to provide a place in America where those who had been unsuccessful at home might obtain a new start in life. But these charitable people laid down conditions which greatly hampered those whom they wished to benefit they granted land in too small quantities, and forbade negro slavery. In consequence, the Georgia settlers found it impossible to compete with the Carolinians on the other side of the Savannah River. Unable to own slaves, they hired them of the Carolina slave owners, and in this way slavery was introduced into Georgia. The Spaniards viewed the newcomers with jealousy, and Oglethorpe passed most of his time while in America in dreary, but on the whole successful, conflicts with them. The Georgia charter contained an unusual clause, limiting the existence of the company to twenty-one years. Before that time had expired, the trustees were so disheartened that they surrendered their charter to the crown, and henceforth Georgia was governed as a royal province. IOI. The Carolinas. Meantime a great change had come over the Carolinas. The proprietaries' government had been most unsuccessful, and had become intensely unpopular in the colony. One of the most curious results of their 1689] Constitutional Progress III 322-329; II, 277. policy was to give an undue amount of influence to the Winsor's people of Charleston and its immediate neighborhood. America, V, The elections to the assembly were held in the open air at Stedman and Charleston, and the votes were given viva voce. The Hutchinson, people were anxious to have the colony divided into districts, but the system above described gave the governors an unusual chance to control elections, and nothing was done. In 1719 matters reached a crisis, and the proprietaries' governor was deposed. Anxious to secure the revocation of the Carolina charter, the English government seized upon this favorable opportunity to send out a royal governor. After vain attempts to assert their authority, the proprietaries, save one, sold to the crown (1729-31) their rights of government and their title to the undivided lands in the province. Carolinas V, ch. v. From the beginning, there had been two centers of settle- The ment and government in Carolina; this division was now to 1760. recognized, but the line between the two provinces was not Winsor's run for many years. Under the royal governors, the Caro- America, linas became very prosperous, especially after the founding of Georgia relieved them of danger from Spanish attacks. In 1738 a serious slave insurrection startled the colony; it was put down, and led to the enactment of a most severe system of slave laws. There were also troubles with the Indians, and with a succession of extortionate royal governors; but, on the whole, the Carolinas grew rapidly in strength and resources. 102. Constitutional Progress, 1689-1760.—The first half Characters of royal of the eighteenth century witnessed a gradual but steady governors. growth in the power of the representative legislative bodies, except in Connecticut and Rhode Island, where they were already supreme. In this growth they were greatly assisted by the poor character of the royal governors, who were for the most part men of broken fortune and of little force. The disputes generally turned on questions of money: the governors desired to have their salaries fixed by law; the assemblies preferred to regard them in the light of pay Lord The French and Indian Wars. Parkman's Works; Winsor's America, V, 407-413. Peace of Utrecht, 1713. ments for services rendered, generally the approval of some measure opposed to the policy of the home government. The worst royal representative who ever came to America was probably Lord Cornbury, governor of New York and New Jersey. He was the grandson of the first Earl of Clarendon and cousin to Queen Anne. His first exploit was to steal twelve thousand dollars which the New York assembly had voted for fortifications. The representatives thereupon declined to vote any more money unless it should be expended by officials in whom they had confidence. When his recall brought him under the jurisdiction of the law, he was arrested for unpaid debts and lodged in jail until his accession to the earldom of Clarendon enabled him to satisfy his creditors and to return to England. The Virginians were also subjected to a succession of extortionate rulers, from one of whom they obtained the right to appoint the Speaker of their assembly, and from another they wrested the appointment of provincial treasurer. These are only instances of what was going on in all the royal provinces; everywhere the royal authority was constantly weakened, and the power of the colonists constantly increased. 103. French and Indian Wars, 1690-1748. - The accession of William of Orange to the English throne entangled England in the great struggle between the French monarchy under Louis XIV and the other states of Europe; the contest spread to America, and the colonists were involved in continuous strife with the French and their Indian allies, which continued with hardly a pause for upwards of half a century. These conflicts have been graphically described. by Parkman in his Frontenac and New France and his Half Century of Conflict. The earlier part of this period of strife came to an end in 1713 with the Peace of Utrecht. This is the first important treaty in the diplomatic history of the United States. By it France finally conceded to Great Britain the territory which had been explored by Henry Hudson in 1610. 1690] French and Indian Wars 113 Acadians. Port Royal, the principal town of Acadia, had been con- Acadia and quered by the English in 1690, but had been restored Winsor's to the French by treaty in 1697; it had again been seized America, by the English in 1710, and was now, with all Acadia, V, 415-417, 452-463; definitely ceded to Great Britain. The boundaries of Parkman's Acadia, or Nova Scotia, as the English called it, were very Montcalm vague: the French asserted that this province included and Wolfe; only the peninsula which is now known as Nova Scotia; Stedman and the British argued that Acadia extended westward to the Hutchinson, III, 58. English settlements in Maine and northward to the St. Lawrence. The treaty also provided that the French colonists in the ceded country should enjoy certain rights; but these rights were not defined. In the end the Acadians were removed in 1755, when war with France was again imminent. Other provisions of the treaty related to the enjoyment of the fisheries by the subjects of the two monarchs; this part of the treaty has formed the basis of all later negotiations on the subject. Peace of Aixla-Chapelle, 1748. The French on the Mississippi, 1673-81. Winsor's America, Old South Leaflets, VII, Louisiana, In 1745 Great Britain and France were again at war. The New England colonists under William Pepperrell, with slight support from a British naval force, captured the important military post of Louisburg on the island of Cape Breton; but this was restored to the French at the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. 104. Founding of Louisiana. During the seventeenth century, the French had gradually extended their explorations westward along the Great Lakes. In 1673 two Frenchmen, Joliet and Marquette, penetrated to the upper Pepperrell waters of the Mississippi, and in 1680 Hennepin discovered the Falls of St. Anthony. The next year Robert Cavelier de la Salle voyaged down the Mississippi to its mouth and returned again to the French settlements in Canada. He then led a French colony to Occupy the region. about its mouth, but the attempt ended in disaster. In 1699 another French expedition appeared off the delta of the Mississippi. Its commander was Iberville, and with him was associated Bienville, who remained in the colony as governor. The settlers at first landed on one of the islands to the east of the Mississippi, but later they moved to the shores of Mobile Bay. Later still, in 1718, New Orleans was founded. To counteract this renewed colonizing activity of the French in the south, the Spaniards founded the town of Pensacola. Louisiana, as |