Charles II. But we must not forget that narrow as the basis of government was in New Haven, as in other New England colonies, it was an honest and beneficent government in most of the affairs of life. Its sole severity was in requiring a rigid observance of Puritan practices, and to most of the inhabitants this was not a hardship. The advance of the whites along the coast alarmed the Pequot Indians, who lived in the central part of the present state of Connecticut. The origin of the trouble does not clearly apThe Pequot pear, but the settlers were convinced that the times War, 1637. demanded a most signal chastisement. Massachusetts lent a hand, and in 1637 a combined force of whites from Massachusetts and Connecticut, with 280 Indian allies, ancient foes of the Pequots, surprised the enemy in a fort near the Rhode Island boundary line and of the 400 men, women, and children within it not more than five escaped alive. The Pequots were then pursued vigorously. Overtaken in a swamp near New Haven, another great slaughter occurred, and the result of the two engagements was the complete extinction of the Pequot tribe as such. It was grim dealing, but it gave the whites peace from the Indians for many years. New Hamp shire and Maine. Meanwhile the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine had been dotted with fishing and trading villages which gradually grew into agricultural towns. In some cases they received fugitives from the religious persecutions in Massachusetts. These settlements were usually made under the protection of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, who held grants for nearly the whole region, although some were direct from the Council of New England. In 1635 Mason obtained confirmation of a grant for the region between Salem and the Piscataqua as his own property, and called it New Hampshire. The region between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec was confirmed to Gorges and called Maine. Massachusetts had a claim to most of the former, for her charter fixed her north boundary at an east and west line running three miles north of the source of the Merrimac. She did not act violently, but when Mason died (1635) and his heirs left the New Hampshire towns to shift for themselves, she absorbed them one by one, giving protection in exchange for allegiance. In 1647 Gorges died and Maine was left without a head. The towns tried for a while to maintain a general government of their own, but they were very weak, and much disorder appeared. Now Massachusetts realized that her hour was come. Assuming the aggressive, in 1652 she ran her northern boundary in keeping with her own claim, and extending the line eastward to the ocean, secured the coast towns as far north as Saco Bay. The weak settlements to the north of the line remained independent for six years, when they also submitted to Massachusetts. In all these towns the government was organized on the regular New England plan; but not all of them were of the congregational faith. NEW ENGLAND UNION land Con 71 The Pequot war seems to have been the first occasion of a desire for union among the Puritan colonies. Connecticut made such a suggestion in 1637, but Massachusetts raised the question of boundaries, and it was impossible to find a satisfactory New Engbasis of coöperation. In a year or two alarm was felt lest federation. the Dutch seize the Connecticut settlements, and the suggestion was repeated, but with the same results. In 1642 Connecticut renewed the request, alleging a general Indian league to crush the whites. Then Massachusetts began to relent, and in 1643 the desired league was formed without reference to boundaries. To it were admitted the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. New Hampshire and Maine were not taken in because they were unlike the leagued colonies "in their ministry and administration," and Rhode Island was left out because the inhabitants were "tumultuous" and "schismatic." Its Con The Constitution of the Confederacy provided for a firm and permanent offensive and defensive league, the management of which was placed in the hands of two commissioners from each of the four colonies. These commissioners by a majority stitution. vote of six were to settle questions of war or peace, quotas of men and arms, contributions for the general fund, and division of the spoils gained in war. Contributions were to be paid by the individual colonies in proportion to population, and the confederacy was not to interfere in the local affairs of a colony. The confederation was in operation for forty years. It did not remove all the causes of conflict between the colonies, but it lessened them. It stood the test of the terrible war with King Philip, and only fell to pieces when the early dangers it was formed to meet were passed. Although phrases in the constitution seem to indicate that the framers hoped to build up a permanent federal state, the confederacy was, in fact, only a league for self-protection. Between the large colony of Massachusetts and her small neighbors there was too much latent jealousy for permanent coöperation. The latter were vigilant lest. they lose some of their power, and the requirement that six of the eight commissioners should assent to business was an expression of this feeling. On the other hand, Massachusetts resented the checks the constitution put upon her. She declared that she was forced to assume a disproportionate part of the common burden. In 1653 the commissioners decided to raise troops for an expected war against the Dutch, and apportioned the levies of troops so that Massachusetts should furnish two-thirds of them. The Bay Colony did not relish fighting a war to protect the people of Connecticut, and persuaded itself that the war was not necessary. The requisition was accordingly ignored in words which strongly remind us of the language in which South Carolina justified nullification many years later. There were cases of friction which made it clear that it was futile to expect the one strong government to yield itself to the direction of three weak ones. Henry NEW YORK UNDER THE DUTCH The history of New Amsterdam, as the Dutch called New York, begins with the exploration of Henry Hudson, an Englishman in Dutch employ, in 1609. In the Half Moon, a "fly-boat" manned by eighteen or twenty men, he skirted the coast from Newfoundland to Virginia, searching for a northwest passage. He entered Delaware Bay, but turned back when he observed shoals. Northward 125 miles he came to a broad harbor which he entered safely. The water was very salt, and he thought it might indicate the long-sought passage to other seas. Following its course he sailed onward, past beautiful hills and rich plains, until at last he was halted by shallows at what is now Albany. From that point a small boat proceeded eight leagues, but only proyed that no open sea lay beyond. This exploration revealed to the Dutch the value of the Hudson river. With an excellent harbor at its mouth and long water com Block. munication to the interior of the country, it was apparent Adriaen that it possessed great advantages in the Indian trade. From 1610 their traders began to frequent the river, among them Adriaen Block, a man of much enterprise. In 1613 his ship was burned, but he built another in which he began to explore the New England waters. He visited Long Island Sound, the Connecticut river, Block Island, which bears his name, and the coast as far as Nahant. For his services he received for three years the monopoly of the fur trade betweer parallels 40° and 45° north latitude. For trading purposes Manhattan Island was of supreme importance, and by 1620 it was the center of a fair trade. In 1621 the government of Holland established the Dutch West India Company, a trading enterprise, and authorized it to spoil the New Spaniards and to settle colonies in Africa and the New World. It had no special reference to the Hudson river region, but that section naturally attracted attention, and in 1623 a small settlement was made on Manhattan Island. The enterprise was confided by the company to Peter Minuit (pronounced Minnewit), the governor, who with five councillors was the sole governing body. They were supplemented, however, by a schout-fiscal, who arrested and prosecuted delinquents, and a secretary who represented the company's financial interests, and between these and the governor and council much friction occurred. All these officers were appointed by the company, and popular suffrage was not granted. The settlement was called New Netherland, and the town on Manhattan Island was New Amsterdam. The boundaries of the province were indefinite. Soon after his arrival Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for goods worth $24, EARLY DUTCH RULE 73 and began to erect a fort with a mill and large houses for the company's business. The Patroon New Amsterdam grew slowly, for its chief business was the fur trade, and agriculturalists were not attracted. In 1629 the company tried to promote the settlement of the interior by adopting a system of large landed estates. It was provided that System. any member of the company who in four years should carry to the colony fifty families at his own expense should have a large tract of land over which he should have extensive civil and criminal authority under the title of Patroon. He should also have on his estate the monopoly of weaving and some exclusive trading privileges. It was thus definitely proposed to establish a feudal system of landholding like that of Holland. To encourage the patroons the company agreed to furnish them with as many negroes slaves as were desired. Under this system the valuable lands around New Amsterdam and on the Hudson were quickly absorbed by the most influential members of the company. under Van Peter Minuit's administration ended in 1632, and he was succeeded by Wouter van Twiller, who had married a niece of the great patroon, Kiliaen van Rensselaer. He received much opposition within the colony, and his peace was also disturbed by the Confusion encroachments of the New England men in Connecticut Twiller and and the threats of Virginians who resented the presence Kieft. of the Dutch in the Delaware. He was glad to retire from his unhappy position, and regarded with complacency the troubles of William Kieft, his successor, who arrived in 1638. Under him occurred a war with the Indians, who fought to save their hunting ground from the advance of the whites. The easy-going Dutch were slow to fight, and only Kieft's insistence brought the council to a declaration of war. In battle the settlers were not efficient, and at last Kieft called in Captain John Underhill, a soldier of fortune from New England, who took prominent part against the Pequots. He collected 150 soldiers, surprised and destroyed an Indian village at Strickland's Plains, and of the 500 inhabitants only eight Indian War. are said to have escaped. In this war the settlers built a wall across the lower end of Manhattan Island to protect their fields and houses. Its memory is perpetuated in the name of Wall Street. In 1646 peace was made with the savages, but already the colony was in dire distress. The inhabitants of New Amsterdam were about 400, and among them a visitor heard eighteen languages. They were discontented, and assailed Kieft bitterly. As sole ruler with the Council he was held responsible for all the evils that came, and the truth is, he was not a man to exercise despotism benevolently. In 1647 he was succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant. The new governor began by declaring that he would rule as a father over his children. He promulgated many ordinances against intem Governor perance, but they were not enforced, and it was charged that he himself received money to wink at their infraction. He required the Indian traders to have licenses from the governor, which proved an advantage to his private purse. But he dared not of his own power levy taxes, and out of this feeling came a step in constitutional development. He asked the people to elect eighteen men from whom he and the Council selected nine to advise with them in the government, their successors to be chosen by themselves and the governor and council. Thus was created the Nine Men, destined to be a thorn in his side. But the desire for self-government was not satisfied, and at length a leader of the liberals appeared in Adrian van der Donck, president of the Nine. In 1649 he went to Holland with a petition, asking the government to take the colony out of the hands of the Company and give it just laws. He also carried a severe arraignment of Stuyvesant, whose irritable temDemand for per and covetousness gave ample grounds of complaint. Liberal In 1652 his efforts succeeded so far that municipal privi Government. leges were granted to New Amsterdam, but the governor was allowed to appoint the officials. His despotism was nowise lessened by the creation of this body of subordinates. The next year an attack by the English seemed imminent, and Stuyvesant permitted delegates from the towns and villages to meet to provide means of defense. But the assembly took up the state of the colony instead, and sent a memorial to the governor, severely arraigning the existing system. An exchange of arguments followed, in which the governor's aversion to popular government was made very plain, and the result of the agitation was nothing. The existing despotism continued until the end of Dutch control, 1664. Religious bigotry was added to the stout old governor's love of power. He hated the Lutherans, Independents, and Baptists, and Religious Persecutions. issued a proclamation that no public religious meetings should be held except those in accordance with the Dutch Reform Church. The ordinance was often evaded, and there were some notable cases in which its violation was severely punished. The worst was that of Robert Hodshone, a Quaker, who, for preaching at Hemstead, Long Island, was sentenced by the governor to two years of hard labor. When he refused to work he was beaten on three successive days until he fell to his feet. Then taken before the governor he would speak when told to hold his tongue, for which he was hung up by his hands and beaten until his back was raw. This also was repeated until the popular mind sickened of it. At last the governor's sister interceded, and Hodshone was allowed to go out of the province. Spite of such severities the dissenting churches in New Netherland grew stronger. From conflicts with the settlements around New Amsterdam the efforts of Stuyvesant were drawn to the protection of his boundaries |