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ENGLAND IN AMERICA

1580-1652

By

Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL.D.

J. & J. Harper Editions
Harper & Row, Publishers
New York and Evanston

1904 by Harper & Brothers.

[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1552-1618). From an engraving by
Robinson after a painting by Zucchero.]


CONTENTS

CHAP.                                                         PAGE

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION                                         xiii

AUTHOR'S PREFACE                                               xix

    I. GENESIS OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION (1492-1579)               3

   II. GILBERT AND RALEIGH COLONIES (1583-1602)                 18

  III. FOUNDING OF VIRGINIA (1602-1608)                         34

   IV. GLOOM IN VIRGINIA (1608-1617)                            55

    V. TRANSITION OF VIRGINIA (1617-1640)                       76

   VI. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF VIRGINIA (1634-1652)  100

  VII. FOUNDING OF MARYLAND (1632-1650)                        118

 VIII. CONTENTIONS IN MARYLAND (1633-1652)                     134

   IX. FOUNDING OF PLYMOUTH (1608-1630)                        149

    X. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PLYMOUTH (1621-1643)                 163

   XI. GENESIS OF MASSACHUSETTS (1628-1630)                    183

  XII. FOUNDING OF MASSACHUSETTS (1630-1642)                   196

 XIII. RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS (1631-1638)    210

  XIV. NARRAGANSETT AND CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENTS (1635-1637)    229

   XV. FOUNDING OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN (1637-1652)       251

  XVI. NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE (1653-1658)                     266

 XVII. COLONIAL NEIGHBORS (1643-1652)                          282

XVIII. THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION (1643-1654)               297

  XIX. EARLY NEW ENGLAND LIFE                                  318

   XX. CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES                           328

INDEX                                                          341


MAPS

ROANOKE ISLAND, JAMESTOWN, AND ST. MARY'S
(1584-1632)                                            _facing_ 34

CHART OF VIRGINIA, SHOWING INDIAN AND
EARLY ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN 1632                               76

VIRGINIA IN 1652                                                99

MARYLAND IN 1652                                               133

NEW ENGLAND (1652)                                    _facing_ 196

MAINE IN 1652                                                  265

NEW SWEDEN AND NEW NETHERLAND                                  296


[Transcriber's Note: This text retains original spellings. Also,
superscripted abbreviations or contractions are indicated by the
use of a caret (^), such as w^th (with).]


EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Some space has already been given in this series to the English and
their relation to the New World, especially the latter half of
Cheyney's _European Background of American History_, which deals with
the religious, social, and political institutions which the English
colonists brought with them; and chapter v. of Bourne's _Spain in
America_, describing the Cabot voyages. This volume begins a detailed
story of the English settlement, and its title indicates the
conception of the author that during the first half-century the
American colonies were simply outlying portions of the English nation,
but that owing to disturbances culminating in civil war they had the
opportunity to develop on lines not suggested by the home government.

The first two chapters deal with the unsuccessful attempts to plant
English colonies, especially by Gilbert and Raleigh. These beginnings
are important because they proved the difficulty of planting colonies
through individual enterprise. At the same time the author brings out
clearly the various motives for colonization--the spirit of adventure,
the desire to enjoy a new life, and the intent to harm the commerce of
the colonies of Spain.

In chapters iii. to vi. the author describes the final founding of the
first successful colony, Virginia, and emphasizes four notable
characteristics of that movement. The first is the creation of
colonizing companies (a part of the movement described in its more
general features by Cheyney in his chapters vii. and viii.). The
second is the great waste of money and the awful sacrifice of human
life caused by the failure of the colonizers to adapt themselves to
the conditions of life in America. That the people of Virginia should
be fed on grain brought from England, should build their houses in a
swamp, should spend their feeble energies in military executions of
one another is an unhappy story made none the pleasanter by the
knowledge that the founders of the company in England were spending
freely of their substance and their effort on the colony. The third
element in the growth of Virginia is the introduction of the staple
crop, always in demand, and adapted to the soil of Virginia. Tobacco,
after 1616, speedily became the main interest of Virginia, and without
tobacco it must have gone down. A fourth characteristic is the early
evidence of an unconquerable desire for self-government, brought out
in the movements of the first assembly of 1619 and the later colonial
government: here we have the germ of the later American system of
government.

The founding of the neighboring colony of Maryland (chapters vii. and
viii.) marks the first of the proprietary colonies; it followed by
twenty-five years and had the advantage of the unhappy experience of
Virginia and of very capable management. The author shows how little
Maryland deserves the name of a Catholic colony, and he develops the
Kent Island episode, the first serious boundary controversy between
two English commonwealths in America.

To the two earliest New England colonies are devoted five chapters
(ix. to xiii.), which are treated not as a separate episode but as
part of the general spirit of colonization. Especial attention is paid
to the development of popular government in Massachusetts, where the
relation between governor, council, and freemen had an opportunity to
work itself out. Through the transfer of the charter to New England,
America had its first experience of a plantation with a written
constitution for internal affairs. The fathers of the Puritan
republics are further relieved of the halo which generations of
venerating descendants have bestowed upon them, and appear as human
characters. Though engaging in a great and difficult task, and while
solving many problems, they nevertheless denied their own fundamental
precept of the right of a man to worship God according to the dictates
of his own conscience.

Chapters xiv. to xvi. describe the foundation of the little
settlements in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Haven, New Hampshire,
and Maine; and here we have an interesting picture of little towns for
a time standing quite independent, and gradually consolidating into
commonwealths, or coalescing with more powerful neighbors. Then follow
(chapters xvii. and xviii.) the international and intercolonial
relations of the colonies, and especially the New England
Confederation, the first form of American federal government.

A brief sketch of the conditions of social life in New England
(chapter xix.) brings out the strong commercial spirit of the people
as well as their intense religious life and the narrowness of their
social and intellectual status. The bibliographical essay is
necessarily a selection from the great literature of early English
colonization, but is a conspectus of the most important secondary
works and collections of sources.

The aim of the volume is to show the reasons for as well as the
progress of English colonization. Hence for the illustration Sir
Walter Raleigh has been chosen, as the most conspicuous colonizer of
his time. The freshness of the story is in its clear exposition of the
terrible difficulties in the way of founding self-sustaining
colonies--the unfamiliar soil and climate, Indian enemies, internal
dissensions, interference by the English government, vague and
conflicting territorial grants. Yet out of these difficulties, in
forty-five years of actual settlement, two southern and six or seven
northern communities were permanently established, in the face of the
opposition and rivalry of Spain, France, and Holland. For this task
the editor has thought that President Tyler is especially qualified,
as an author whose descent and historical interest connect him both
with the northern and the southern groups of settlements.


AUTHOR'S PREFACE

This book covers a period of a little more than three-quarters of a
century. It begins with the first attempt at English colonization in
America, in 1576, and ends with the year 1652, when the supremacy of
Parliament was recognized throughout the English colonies. The
original motive of colonization is found in English rivalry with the
Spanish power; and the first chapter of this work tells how this
motive influenced Gilbert and Raleigh in their endeavors to plant
colonies in Newfoundland and North Carolina. Though unfortunate in
permanent result, these expeditions familiarized the people of England
with the country of Virginia--a name given by Queen Elizabeth to all
the region from Canada to Florida--and stimulated the successful
settlement at Jamestown in the early part of the seventeenth century.
With the charter of 1609 Virginia was severed from North Virginia, to
which Captain Smith soon gave the name of "New England"; and the story
thereafter is of two streams of English emigration--one to Virginia
and the other to New England. Thence arose the Southern and Northern
colonies of English America, which, more than a century beyond the
period of this book, united to form the great republic of the United
States.

The most interesting period in the history of any country is the
formative period; and through the mass of recently published original
material on America the opportunity to tell its story well has been of
late years greatly increased. In the preparation of this work I have
endeavored to consult the original sources, and to admit secondary
testimony only in matters of detail. I beg to express my indebtedness
to the authorities of the Harvard College Library and the Virginia
Library for their courtesy in giving me special facilities for the
verification of my authorities.

LYON GARDINER TYLER.




ENGLAND IN AMERICA

CHAPTER I

GENESIS OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION

(1492-1579)


Up to the last third of the sixteenth century American history was the
history of Spanish conquest, settlement, and exploration. Except for
the feeble Portuguese settlements in Brazil and at the mouth of the La
Plata, from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, around the eastern and
western coasts of South America, and northward to the Gulf of
California, all was Spanish--main-land and islands alike. The subject
of this volume is the bold assertion of England to a rivalry in
European waters and on American coasts.

How came England, with four millions of people, to enter into a
quarter of a century of war with the greatest power in Europe? The
answer is that Spain was already decaying, while England was instinct
with the spirit of progress and development. The contrast grew
principally out of the different attitude of the two nations towards
the wealth introduced into Europe from America, and towards the
hitherto established religion of the Christian world. While the
treasure from Mexico and Peru enabled Charles V. and Philip II. to
carry on great wars and to establish an immense prestige at the
different courts of Europe, it created a speculative spirit which drew
their subjects away from sober employment. For this reason
manufacturing and agriculture, for which Spain was once so
distinguished, were neglected; and the kingdom, thinned of people and
decreasing in industry, grew dependent