I 2 6 HIS TORY OF COHA SSE T. 



said so much land as will make up the quantytie of eight miles 

 square to belong to euery such Plantacion begun or to be begun 

 as aforesaid which wee agree determine and conclude to apertaine 

 and belong to the said Gourment of New Plymouth And 

 whereas the said line from the mouth of the said brook vvch run- 

 neth into Conahassett salt Marshes (called by us bound brooke) 

 and the pond called Accord Pond lyeth neere the lands belonging 

 to the Towneships of Scittuate and Hinghame Wee doe there- 

 fore hereby determine and conclude that if any divisions already 

 made and recorded by either the said Townes do crosse the said 

 line, that then it shall stand and bee of force according to the 

 former intents and purposes of the said Townes graunting them 

 (the Marshes formerly agreed on excepted) And that no Towne 

 in either Jurisdiccion shall hereafter exceede, but containe them- 

 selves within the said lines before expressed. In witnesse whereof 

 we the comissioners of both the Jurisdiccions do by these pres- 

 ents Indented set our hands and scales the ninth day of the fourth 

 month in the sixteenth yeare of our Souraigne Lord King Charles 

 and in the yeare of our Lord 1640 



JO: ENDECOIT. WILLIAM BRADFORD, Gotir. 



ISRAELL STOUGHTON. EDW : WINSLOW.* 



The full text of this document is given, for its impor- 

 tance merits a large place in our local history and even in 

 our national history. This boundary dispute over Co- 

 hasset Harbor has the dignity of an event that was forma- 

 tive and epochal in our nation. The appointment of this 

 joint commission for the settlement of this intercolonial 

 difificulty was the first step of federation that culminated 

 in the Colonial Congress and then blossomed into the 

 United States. These two colonies had separate charters, 

 and according to strict adherence to the authority of the 

 court of St. James, they would be expected to appeal to 

 their King Charles across the Atlantic to define their 

 boundaries ; but instead of that, they undertook to meet 

 each other as two sovereign states, and to determine their 



* Plyin. Rec, Vol. IX, p. i. .Acts of tlie Commissioners of the United Colonies 

 of New England, Vol. I. 



