NEW ENGLAND. 



199 



ginia company, and chartered two small vessels, 

 in one of which they sailed from Delfthaven July 

 22, 1620, and joined the other at Southampton. 

 After being repeatedly obliged to put in to land, on 

 account of the leaky condition of one of the vessels, 

 they finally set sail from Plymouth (September 6) 

 with only one vessel, the Mayflower, and, November 

 9, made the land at cape Cod. Finding that they 

 were without the limits of the South Virginia patent, 

 destitute of any right to the soil, and without any 

 powers of government, they entered into a voluntary 

 compact, as follows : " We, &c., do, by these pres- 

 ents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God 

 and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves 

 together, into a civil body politic, for our better or- 

 dering, and preservation, and furtherance of the ends 

 aforesaid ; and, by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, 

 and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, 

 constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall 

 be thought most meet and convenient for the general 

 good of the colony ; unto which we promise all due 

 submission and obedience." This is the earliest 

 American constitution, and is dated November 11, 

 1620, and signed by 41 persons. The whole com- 

 pany, including women and children, amounted to 

 101. They then proceeded to examine the coast, 

 and finally determined to settle at a place to which 

 they gave the name of Plymouth (q. v.). They landed 

 here December 11 (O. S.). Cast upon an unknown 

 shore, in a severe cKmate, at an inclement season ; 

 exhausted by the fatigues of the sea, and suffering 

 from a want of suitable provisions and shelter, nearly 

 one half of their number died within four months after 

 their lauding. At times, only six or seven were fit 

 for duty. Before they left England, they had formed 

 a connexion with certain merchants, for seven years, 

 by which they were bound to carry on all their com- 

 merce in common. At the end of seven years, the 

 shares were bought in by the colonists, and the joint 

 property divided among them. The government was 

 administered by a governor, chosen annually by the 

 people, and seven persons, called assistants, elected 

 in the same way. It was, at first, a pure democracy, 

 and the whole body of ttie people often met and de- 

 cided upon executive as well as legislative affairs. 

 But, in 1639, a house of representatives was estab- 

 lished. The political affairs of this colony are con^ 

 nected with those of the others, particularly of Mas- 

 sachusetts, with which it was incorporated in 1792. 



The colony of Massachusetts Bay, which, as we 

 have already seen, swallowed up several of the other 

 colonies, and from which those of Connecticut and 

 Providence also originated, always acted a leading 

 part in New England. In 1628, the Plymouth com- 

 pany granted to a number of individuals that part of 

 New England lying three miles south of Charles river, 

 and at the same distance north of the Merrimac, and 

 extending from the Atlantic to the South sea. Powers 

 of government were given them the next year, by 

 Charles I., as the governor and company of Massa- 

 chusetts Bay in New England. The company were 

 authorized to elect a governor and eighteen assistants 

 annually, and required to hold four Great and General 

 Courts annually, which were empowered to make 

 laws and regulations for the government of the co- 

 lony. A settlement was immediately made, under 

 this charter, at Salem (q. v.), in 1628 ; and, in 1630, 

 1500 persons arrived at Charlestown, who soon after 

 settled at Boston, and in the vicinity. These last 

 named individuals received permission from the com- 

 pany to transfer the charter and government to New 

 England ; and thus what had been intended merely 

 as the organization of a company, became the con- 

 stitution of a state. The government was, at first, 

 administered by the governor and assistants ; but, in 



1634, the people claimed a participation in it, and 

 declared that the General Court (the name which the 

 two legislative houses still bear in Massachusetts) 

 alone had power to make laws, impose taxes, and 

 appoint officers. This, therefore, became a funda- 

 mental part of the constitution. The assistants and 

 the deputies of the people at first met in the same 

 room, and the former claimed a negative on the acts 

 of the latter. The disputes to which this subject 

 gave rise were not settled until 1644, when it was 

 determined that the legislature should consist of two 

 separate bodies, each having a negative on the other. 

 Although the charter gave no judicial authority, this 

 power was assumed, and courts of justice created, 

 and, in criminal cases, the Mosaic law was mainly 

 followed. 



The first colonists of Connecticut went from Mas- 

 sachusetts in 1635, and were governed by persons 

 called magistrates, who were empowered, for that 

 purpose, by the legislature of Massachusetts. But 

 being out of the limits of the Massachusetts charter, 

 they established (1639) a constitution for themselves. 

 The colony then consisted of 800 persons, in the 

 three towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. 

 The substance of this constitution was contained in 

 the charter granted by Charles II., in 1662, and con- 

 tinued, without any material alteration, to be the fun- 

 damental law of the state until 1818. New Haven, 

 which now constitutes a part of Connecticut, was 

 settled in 1647, by a company of Puritans, who, hav- 

 ing no powers of government, and no right to the 

 land, except by agreements with the natives, also 

 constituted themselves into a body politic, and estab- 

 lished a form of government. This colony was in- 

 cluded in Connecticut by the charter of 1662. 



In 1634, Roger Williams (q. v.), a minister at Sa- 

 lem, was banished from Massachusetts, on account of 

 his religious opinions. With a few followers he fixed 

 himself at Providence. A few years afterwards, 

 Mrs Hutchinson, and some other persons, also ban- 

 ished from Massachusetts for religious differences, 

 purchased of the Indians (1638) the island now called 

 Rhode Island (q, v.) ; and thus two new communi- 

 ties, with distinct governments were formed. The 

 members of both of them made civil compacts among 

 themselves, in the same manner as had been done by 

 other colonies. In 1644, Williams obtained a charter 

 of incorporation, from the commissioners of planta- 

 tions (created in 1643), for the inhabitants of the 

 towns of Newport, Portsmouth, and Providence, un- 

 der the name of the Providence Plantations, with full 

 power to rule themselves, under such a form of gov- 

 ernment as they should adopt. In 1663, they re- 

 ceived a new charter from Charles II. In 1643, the 

 colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connec- 

 ticut, and New Haven, formed a confederacy, under 

 the name of the United Colonies of New England, 

 which lasted about forty years, until they were de- 

 prived of their charters by James II. By the articles 

 of confederation, they entered into a perpetual league 

 of friendship and amity, for offence and defence, each 

 colony retaining its own government and jurisdiction, 

 in domestic concerns. Two commissioners of each 

 of the confederates formed a board for managing the 

 common affairs of the confederacy. During the as- 

 cendency of the parliamentary party and the protec- 

 torate of Cromwell, the New England colonies were 

 particularly favoured; but, on the restoration, they 

 began to be viewed with an evil eye, and, in 1664, 

 royal commissioners were appointed to visit them, 

 and hear and decide all complaints and appeals, civil, 

 criminal, and military, according to their discretion. 

 But the colonies were, as Lord Clarendon expressed 

 it, already hardened into republics, and the commis- 

 sioners found themselves unable to execute theii 



