civil war saved the liberties of the colonies for a time, but after the restoration of the Stuarts the colonies were subject to much. interference and persecution, which culminated in 1684, when the king obtained a judgment in the high court of Chancery in England against the Governor and company of Massachusetts, declaring the charter of the company forfeited. The period of the rule of Sir Edmund Andros as governor from 1686-1689 was the most tyrannical epoch in all New England's history. After the expulsion of James II. the old charters were for a time reinstated, but in 1692 were finally superseded by a new charter granted to Massachusetts. By the terms of this charter the colony of Plymouth, the provinces of Maine and Nova Scotia as far north as the St. Lawrence River, and all the country between them, were added to the old provinces of Massachusetts, as were also the Elizabeth Islands and the Islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The governor, lieutenant-governor and colonial secretary were appointed by the crown. The charter gave the governor the power to convene and dissolve the General Court, and a veto of all its acts. The councillors first appointed by the crown were afterwards to be annually elected by the House of Representatives and the existing council; but of the twentyeight thus chosen the governor might reject thirteen. The advice and consent of the council were necessary to all appointments and official acts. Under this charter the theocracy which ruled Massachusetts with vigor lost nearly all its power. Toleration was expressly secured to all religious sects excepting the Roman Catholic. The right of suffrage, limited by the old government to church members and a few persons admitted as freemen on a minister's certificate, was now bestowed on all inhabitants possessing a freehold of the annual value of $6.66, or personal property to the amount of $133.33. After the receipt of the new charter the General Court passed an act which was a declaration of the rights of the colony. Among the general privileges which it asserted, it declared that "No aid, tax, tollage, assessment, custom, loan, benevolence, or imposition whatsoever, shall be laid, assessed, imposed, or levied on any of their majesty's subjects on their estates, on any picture whatsoever, but by the act and

consent of the governor and people assembled in the General Council."

Massachusetts was always the leader of the Puritan colonies. Her political and religious tendencies were those of the English Independents of the seventeenth century. The powers of local government were vested in the town meetings of the various towns, which were perhaps the most democratic political assemblies ever in existence. The counties were of minor importance, being little more than judicial districts. One political principle firmly established in this colony was that of the necessity for short terms for public officials and frequent elections.

§ 51. Connecticut.-Connecticut, which ranked next to Massachusetts in importance among the New England and Puritan colonies, was the product of the Union of two smaller colonies, the New Haven colony and the original Connecticut colony. The former colony was settled under a grant given by Charles I. to Viscount Say and Seal, Robert, Lord Brook and others. The first settlements in the latter colony was made at Hartford in 1635. In 1639 a constitution for the government of the colony was adopted by a general vote of the citizens. This constitution served as a basis for the charter afterwards obtained by the king. Connecticut sided with the Parliament during the civil wars and enjoyed practical self-government during the period of the Commonwealth. Upon the restoration, however, the colony had fears regarding their liberties, and therefore the General Assembly made a formal acknowledgment of their allegiance, which they sent to the king, together with a petition for a charter, by Governor Winthrop. Although at first coldly received, Winthrop finally succeeded in obtaining a charter from the king, which annexed to the territories of the colony New Haven and part of Rhode Island. It is probable that the king was induced to take this step less by any kindly feelings toward Connecticut than by a desire to raise up a strong rival to Massachusetts in New England and to punish New Haven, which had given shelter to three of the judges who had tried and condemned his father.

The operation of the charter was temporarily suspended during the reign of James II., but was put in operation once more upon the accession of William and Mary. The provisions of this

charter were so liberal that the charter was continued in use as a State Constitution for many years after the independence of the United States had been secured. The provision in the charter annexing a portion of Rhode Island led to a boundary dispute with that colony which lasted sixty years, while a provision in the charter that its territory should extend westward to the Pacific nearly involved Pennsylvania and Connecticut in a civil war near the close of the eighteenth century.

Connecticut very closely resembled Massachusetts in the character of her people, her political and religious principles and her form of local government.

§ 52. Rhode Island.-Rhode Island was originally settled by political and religious exiles from the neighboring colonies. The earliest government was one created by the settlers themselves, each settler being required to sign an agreement to give active or passive obedience to all ordinances that should be adopted by a majority vote of the inhabitants. In 1644 Roger Williams secured a charter from England which united the various scattered settlements into one province under the title of Rhode Island and Providence plantations. This charter was confirmed by Cromwell and a new charter was granted by Charles II. in 1663. Rhode Island shared with Connecticut the honor and privilege of having the most popular form of government among the colonies. The people elected all their officials and were practically a small republic with hardly more than a nominal allegiance to England. The charter granted by Charles II. continued to be used as the State constitution nearly to the middle. of the nineteenth century. The great freedom as to political and religious ideas allowed in Rhode Island attracted the discontented and oppressed from all the neighboring colonies. Rhode Island did much to set a good example of toleration to her sister colonies, but in the seventeenth century such a position as that taken by Rhode Island was so far in advance of the age as to render this colony an object of distrust to her neighbors. For this reason Rhode Island was excluded from the New England Confederacy (1643-1686). Although she had no serious grievances of her own, Rhode Island was one of the first of the colonies in the contest against England, but the prevalent spirit

of unrest and agitation abroad in the colony made her the most unmanageable of all the colonies in the attempt to establish a true national government.

$53. New Hampshire.-New Hampshire was the last settled and the weakest of the original New England colonies. For a long time New Hampshire was merely a county (Norfolk) of Massachusetts. In 1680 a separation took place and New Hampshire became a royal province, with the ordinary form of government for this class of colonies. The character of the settlers of this colony, their political and religious ideas and their system of private laws and of local self-government closely resembled the more southerly Puritan colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

§ 54. New York.-New York differed greatly from the other original colonies in that her original colonists and settlers were not English but Dutch. Although Holland was at the time a certain kind of republic, the colonial government and laws of her American colony were very illiberal, being in the main based upon the old principles and methods of the feudal system. In 1664 New Amsterdam (as the colony had been previously called) passed into the control of the English. For a while New York was a proprietory colony under the rule of James, Duke of York (afterward King James II.), but was soon made a royal province. The Dutch element in the population of the colony was always large, with the result that this colony was often not in sympathy with her sister colonies. The political history of the colony was less stormy than that of most of her neighbors. The Tory sentiment was perhaps stronger there than in any other colony and New York played a very unimportant part in the revolutionary war, while her narrow and selfish spirit in the period which followed the peace with England did much to embarrass the central government, and to drive the American Union more than once close to the rocks of anarchy or civil war. The colonial laws and government of New York possessed no features of particular interest or importance, closely resembling those of the other royal provinces.

$55. New Jersey. The possession of New Jersey was originally contested for by the English, Dutch and Swedes. For

a while New Jersey was annexed to New Amsterdam and later passed with this colony to England in 1664. The government of New Jersey under English rule underwent many rapid changes. The territory was part of the grant to James, Duke of York, and was by him granted to two of his favorites, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. These proprietors established a liberal. form of government and offered liberal terms to purchasers of land, and many settlers were soon attracted to the province. After a few years a great deal of trouble began to be experienced in connection with land titles and quit-rents, which resulted in continued agitation, and on one occasion in open rebellion. In 1676 Lord Berkeley sold his undivided one-half interest in the colony to William Penn and a number of other Quakers. New Jersey was shortly afterward divided into two colonies, the Quakers taking West Jersey and Sir George Carteret receiving East Jersey. In 1682 East Jersey was likewise purchased by the Quakers. During a portion of the reign of James II. New Jersey was united with all the colonies lying north of her under the rule of Governor Andors, but upon the accession of William and Mary was restored to her Quaker proprietors. In 1702, after the Quakers had secured possession of Pennsylvania and Delaware, New Jersey was surrendered to the King. From 1702 to 1739 New Jersey was annexed to New York, but in the latter year was made a separate royal province with the form of government usual in such colonies. The population of New Jersey was of very diverse character. The Tory sentiment was very strong in this colony during the revolution period.

§ 56. Pennsylvania and Delaware. The colonial histories of Pennsylvania and Delaware were so closely connected as to necessitate their treatment in connection one with the other. Delaware was the first of these two colonies to be the seat of white settlements. This colony, like New Jersey, was originally settled by the Swedes, who were conquered by the Dutch, and with the conquest of the latter in 1664, Delaware passed under English rule. The territory included within the area of the present state of Delaware was for a while claimed by Maryland; this colony, however, failed in their efforts to secure possession of this region, which remained under the rule of the Duke of