Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/117

 allow no printing, the press being regarded as rather a dangerous element among a people situated as the colonists mostly were. Dongan also gave a character to the city of Albany, and bestowed upon Robert Livingston a sort of feudal principality on the Hudson River, known as Livingston Manor.

 

1640—1660.

political changes in England, consequent upon the success of the Parliament in its contest with Charles I., put a sudden stop to emigration, and for a time had a serious effect upon the fortunes of the New England colonies. There was a great fall in the prices of the main articles on which the colonists depended, especially in the articles of cattle and corn; and the difficulty of settling accounts and defraying debts was correspondingly great. Several provisions were made by the authorities to meet the emergency, and beavers' skins, wampum, etc., were used as currency in place of coin. New kinds of industry were also attempted under the pressure of this state of affairs, such as fisheries, ship-building, cultivation of hemp and flax, manufactures of linen, cotton and woolen cloths, etc.

A call on the part of the freemen, jealous of the arbitrary, undefined powers and prerogatives of the 