Reasons for union. American lets, No. 7. cernements." The English government was now engaged in a deadly contest with the Puritans; it could no longer History Leaf- protect the American colonists, nor could it protest effectually against any measures they might see fit to adopt. The New Englanders were surrounded by enemies: the Dutch on the west, the French on the north, and the Indians all along the land frontier. The distance between the settlements on Massachusetts Bay and those on the Connecticut River prevented the formation of a general government, and some form of confederation, or "consociation" as they termed it, was the only way out of the difficulty. Neither the Rhode Islanders nor the settlers in Maine were invited to join in this association. "Concerning the Islanders," wrote Brewster of Plymouth, "we have no conversing with them further than necessity or humanity may require." As to the dwellers on the Maine seacoast, Rhode Island and Maine not admitted. Analysis of Articles of Confederation. American History Leaflets, No. 7. John Winthrop of Massachusetts wrote: "They ran a different course from us both in their ministry and in their civil administration; for they had lately made Acomenticus (a poor village) a corporation, and had made a tailor their mayor, and had entertained one Hull, an excommunicated person and very contentious for their minister." These two extracts show very clearly the light in which the colonists of Rhode Island and Maine were regarded by their fellow English settlers; plainly they would not have been acceptable in the "consociation." Jo: wmthop. 73. Articles of Confederation. - The Articles should be studied in the original; a few points only will be noted. here. The federal bond was of the loosest description, as each colony retained its "peculiar jurisdiction" (Arts. iii and viii). Each colony sent two representatives or commissioners to the meetings of the Confederation; this provision was most unfair to Massachusetts, as contributions in men and money were based on the fighting strength of the several colonies. It was not long (1653) before she 1643] Articles of Confederation 81 refused to be bound by the votes of the commissioners of . spirit of the New Englanders. It must not be supposed that the independent spirit Independent which led to the formation of the Confederation was in any way lessened by the success of their Puritan friends in England. On the contrary, the New Englanders used the Puritan triumph in England to forward plans for the selfgovernment of New England. In 1643 the Massachusetts General Court voted to omit the words "You shall bear true faith and allegiance to our sovereign lord King Charles " from the magistrate's oath and did not insert a new form of words acknowledging allegiance to the Long Parliament. At about the same time, some of the leading Puritans in England suggested that any legislation which Massachusetts desired would be enacted by Parliament; but Winthrop declined the offer "lest in . . . after times . . . hostile forces might be in control, and meantime a precedent ... Dutch dis coveries, Hudson's voyage. Winsor's America; Gay's Popu lar History, I, ch. xiii; Higginson's Explorers, 281-296; Hart's Contemporaries, I, No. 38. Iwould have been established." Thus, more than a century before the passage of the Stamp Act, we find the leading men in Massachusetts denying the legislative authority of Parliament over the colony. During the period of the Commonwealth, Massachusetts paid no attention to the Navigation Ordinances; she did not proclaim Cromwell and declined to recognize Richard as Protector, although asked so to do. The Confederation, also, maintained the attitude of an independent state towards the French and the Dutch. 74. The Dutch Settlements. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the Dutch were foremost amongst the commercial nations of the world. The Dutch East India Company was the most successful corporation of its kind in existence. On the decline of the Spanish sea power, the enterprising Netherlanders, in common with the French and the English, turned their attention to American exploration. In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English seaman in the employ of Dutch merchants, sailed across the Atlantic in search of the straits leading to India, which were thought to be somewhere north of the Chesapeake. He first sighted the coast of Maine, and then sailing southward, reached the capes of the Chesapeake. Turning northward, he entered what is now New York harbor. Boldly sailing up the river, which now bears his name, he navigated his vessel as far as Albany. While in the river he received several parties of Indians with great kindness, offering them spirits to drink, after the manner of the day. At almost the same time Champlain was not a hundred miles away, on the shores of Lake Champlain. He also met Indians and killed several temporaries, of them. It happened that the natives entertained by HudI, No. 39. son and warred on by Champlain belonged to the League of the Iroquois, the strongest and most important Indian power in America. They never forgot their early hatred of the French, and always maintained the most friendly relations with the Dutch and their English successors, who in their turn treated them with justice. Hart's Con 1643] Kieft and Stuyvesant 83 ing posts. Roberts's New York, I, ch. iii. Following on Hudson's voyage, the Dutch established Dutch tradtrading posts on the Hudson River: the most important one was Fort Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island; another was Fort Orange, on the site of the Albany of the present day. Dutch captains sailed along the coast eastward as far as Boston harbor and southward to Delaware Bay and River. In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was established; it had exclusive rights as to trade in lands bordering on the Atlantic-so far, of course, as the Dutch authorities could confer such rights. These early Dutch settlements were for the purposes of trade; it was not until 1623 that the first colonists came over. New Netherland did not attract settlers, and, in 1629, The patroonthe Dutch West India Company attempted to stimulate ships. colonization by the establishment of patroonships. This arrangement was embodied in a document called the Charter of Privileges to Patroons; its principal provisions were that any member of the company who should transport, at his own expense, fifty colonists to New Netherland, should be entitled to a grant of land extending sixteen miles along one side of the river, or eight miles on both sides, if that were preferred. Each of these large grants was styled a patroonship, and the owner, or patroon, enjoyed extensive rights within its limits, subject, in important matters, to appeal to the company's representative at New Amsterdam. No sooner was the plan determined upon than the more enterprising directors sent out agents to seize the best lands. The most successful of these was Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a rich diamond merchant of Amsterdam, who acquired the region around Fort Nassau, or Orange. Subsequently, the system was modified to extend the rights of patroons to less important men, and, in 1639, the trade of the colony was thrown open to all comers, and land was granted in small quantities on payment of an annual rent. 75. Kieft and Stuyvesant. In 1643-44, owing to the wretched mismanagement of Kieft, the governor, the colony Kieft and Stuyvesant; Hart's Con I, 154. became involved in a serious conflict with the Indians who lived in the vicinity of Manhattan Island; the colony was nearly ruined and Kieft was recalled. He was replaced by I, chs. iv, v; Stuyvesant, an able and energetic soldier, who had lost a Tuckerman's leg in the company's service. Stuyvesant's administration was very despotic, as was that of all the Dutch governors. temporaries, The people of New Amsterdam gained a few privileges of self-government in 1652, but Stuyvesant was able to deprive these concessions of nearly all their value. In his dealings with the neighboring English colonies, he was not so successful. The Dutch claimed as far east as the Connecticut River, which had been discovered by one of their navigators; but the Confederation of New England was too powerful for Stuyvesant; he was obliged to give way and to acknowledge the rights of the English settlers. With the Swedes on the Delaware he was more fortunate. Attracted by the advantages it offered, many Englishmen emigrated to New Netherland. Among them were some of the most important men of the Dutch colony. They taught their new associates the English hostility towards arbitrary rule, and the fall of New Netherland in 1664 seems to have been hailed with satisfaction by nearly all its inhabitants. Swedish 76. The Swedes on the Delaware. The Swedish settlements had their rise in the desire of Sweden's greatest king and one of Europe's greatest men, Gustavus Adolphus, to establish a colonial empire. It was not until after his death, however, that a beginning was made by the formation of a Swedish company, on the model of the Dutch and the English trading corporations. The new colony was planted on the southwestern side of Delaware Bay, on ground claimed by the Dutch. At the moment the Swedes were the foremost military power in Europe. The Netherlanders were practically under their protection, and could hardly refuse a few square miles of unoccupied land in America to such a necessary ally in Europe. In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia put an end to this state of affairs: the independence of the Netherlands was acknowledged by all the important powers; |