Page:The Slave Struggle in America.djvu/8

 brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both."

Capt. John Smith, who was very prominent in the colonisation of Virginia, explored the coast to the north of it. He examined the shores from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod, and gave such a glowing account of the land to Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I.) that he named it New England. Everyone has heard of those men who, driven from home by persecution, sailed from Southampton in the "Mayflower" and the "Speedwell;" how the captain of the "Speedwell"—a tiny vessel of sixty tons—became dismayed at the dangers before him; how the emigrants put back to Plymouth; and how, on the 6th September, 1620, the "Mayflower," a frail bark of 180 tons, scarce bigger than a little yacht, set out on her way alone across the broad Atlantic. These men—these Pilgrim Fathers—had intended to settle on Hudson's River, in New York, but stress of weather compelled them to land on the shores of Cape Cod. The place of landing was called Plymouth, and here was the first permanent settlement in New England. Before landing the Pilgrims made a voluntary compact, and a governor and other officers were chosen to enact laws. The settlements increasing and being some distance apart, a House of Representatives was established in 1639, the members whereof were chosen annually.

The colony of Massachusetts Bay extended three miles south of Charles river and three miles north of the Merrimack, and was settled in 1628 by Puritans, who—like those who just preceded them—were so persecuted and oppressed at home that they were obliged to seek a refuge on the other side of the ocean. The provisions of the charter presupposed the transaction of the business of the colony in England. It took but a few months to discover that the plantation could not succeed under such circumstances, and it was unanimously decided that the management of the affairs should be carried on by persons resident within it. Massachusetts rapidly grew in strength, gaining an ascendancy among New England colonies. She formed a House of Representatives, each town sending up two members. In 1691, the charter under William and Mary incorporated Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia into one province, known as Massachusetts Bay in New England, and this continued until after the revolution.

New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut were settled about the same time, or shortly after Massachusetts.

Rhode Island was settled a little differently, by men flying from Massachusetts to escape religious persecution, and Roger Williams is still honored as the founder of the colony. Rhode Island was one of the earliest colonies in which liberty of conscience and freedom of worship were declared in its fundamental