POPULATION AND GROWTH. I3 



equitable civil institutions, than men had ever before possessed and en- 

 joyed on earth. They were resolved on the establishment and maintenance 

 of the supremacy of law, in both religious and civil government; and they 

 were equally resolute to be themselves the interpreters of the law in both 

 Church and State; and this was a new departure in the organization of hu- 

 man society. In their feebleness, they found it necessary to exclude from 

 iheir own scattered and struggling settlements all those who were hostile 

 to their purpose of maintaining the new order in Church and State which 

 they had come to found and to enjtjy. In the meetings of the people for 

 the enactment of laws and rules for the government and welfare of the 

 community, they entrusted the right of voting to those only who were 

 friendly to their comprehensive and main objects — the enjoyment of the 

 gospel in purity and peace. They were determined that their lives, their 

 liberties, their possessions should be under the control of such persons as 

 were Heeing from England to avoid the persecution and injury there in- 

 llicted upon those who were intent upon more liberty and .safety in the 

 kingdom, and more freedom and purity in the church than they possessed. 

 In 1639, the freemen of the several towns of Connecticut associated and 

 conjoined themselves to be as one public State or commonwealth, "well 

 knowing, " as they said, "where a people are gathered together the word 

 of God requires, that to maintain the peace and union of such a people, 

 there should be an orderly and decent government established according 

 to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as 

 occasion shall require. '" On this ground, they formed a permanent or- 

 ganization, " to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel 

 01' our Lord Jesus which we now profes.s, and also the discipline of the 

 cimrchjs, which, according to the truth of the said gospel, is now prac- 

 tised among us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed ac- 

 cording to sucii laws, rules, orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered 

 and djcrejtl." In ttie same year, 1039, the government of the Colony of 

 Xew Haven was organized on essentially the same principles and for the 

 same purposes. Tne following year, in 1640, our towns of Southold and 

 .Soathampton were settled, the rirst under the New Haven jurisdiction from 

 Its origin, and the second soon after united itself to Connecticut. In 

 1643, tfie Puritan colonies of New England formed their Union, and said 

 in tne Preamble to their Constitution: " We all came into these parts of 

 America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the 

 kingdom of (jur Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel 

 in i)urity and peace." 



Men of tnis character, with these principles and aims, could not fail 

 to be sober, industrious, thrifty and virtuous. Planted on such a soil as 

 Long Island's, in this genial climate, with the rich advantages of the land 

 and seas which they have possessed, they were bound to grow and pros- 

 per. They were generally intelligent i)eople for those times, most of the 

 lull grown men being able to read and write, and some of them possessing- 

 scholarly attainments. Not a few were venturesome and restless, and 

 nearly all desired to increase their worldly estates and make provision for 

 their children, on earth, as well as lay up their treasures in heaven. Their 

 style of living was simple and ine.xpensive. But the hardships of their 

 Condition did not chill their love of home, nor hinder the rapid increase 

 of their descendants. The families were generally large and healthy, 

 though sufiering from the wants of medical skill. (Plad there been a phy- 



