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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3043-h.zip b/3043-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf2efd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/3043-h.zip diff --git a/3043-h/3043-h.htm b/3043-h/3043-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dad68df --- /dev/null +++ b/3043-h/3043-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5323 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Quaker Colonies, by Sydney G. Fisher + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quaker Colonies, by Sydney G. Fisher + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Quaker Colonies + A Chronicle of the Proprietors of the Delaware, Volume 8 + in The Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Sydney G. Fisher + +Release Date: February 21, 2009 [EBook #3043] +Last Updated: January 26, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUAKER COLONIES *** + + + + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, Alev Akman, and David Widger + + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE QUAKER COLONIES, + </h1> + <h2> + A CHRONICLE OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE DELAWARE + </h2> + <h3> + Volume 8 In The Chronicles Of America Series + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Sydney G. Fisher + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h5> + New Haven: Yale University Press <br /><br /> Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & + Co. <br /><br /> London: Humphrey Milford <br /><br /> Oxford University Press + <br /><br /> 1919 + </h5> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <h4> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE QUAKER COLONIES </a> + </h4> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> Chapter I. </a> + </td> + <td> + The Birth Of Pennsylvania + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> Chapter II. </a> + </td> + <td> + Penn Sails For The Delaware + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> Chapter III. </a> + </td> + <td> + Life In Philadelphia + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> Chapter IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + Types Of The Population + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> Chapter V. </a> + </td> + <td> + The Troubles Of Penn And His Sons + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> Chapter VI. </a> + </td> + <td> + The French And Indian War + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> Chapter VII. </a> + </td> + <td> + The Decline Of Quaker Government + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> Chapter VIII. </a> + </td> + <td> + The Beginnings Of New Jersey + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> Chapter IX. </a> + </td> + <td> + Planters And Traders Of Southern Jersey + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> Chapter X. </a> + </td> + <td> + Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> Chapter XI. </a> + </td> + <td> + The United Jerseys + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> Chapter XII. </a> + </td> + <td> + Little Delaware + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> Chapter XIII. </a> + </td> + <td> + The English Conquest + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + THE QUAKER COLONIES + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I. The Birth Of Pennsylvania + </h2> + <p> + In 1661, the year after Charles II was restored to the throne of England, + William Penn was a seventeen-year-old student at Christ Church, Oxford. + His father, a distinguished admiral in high favor at Court, had abandoned + his erstwhile friends and had aided in restoring King Charlie to his own + again. Young William was associating with the sons of the aristocracy and + was receiving an education which would fit him to obtain preferment at + Court. But there was a serious vein in him, and while at a high church + Oxford College he was surreptitiously attending the meetings and listening + to the preaching of the despised and outlawed Quakers. There he first + began to hear of the plans of a group of Quakers to found colonies on the + Delaware in America. Forty years afterwards he wrote, "I had an opening of + joy as to these parts in the year 1661 at Oxford." And with America and + the Quakers, in spite of a brief youthful experience as a soldier and a + courtier, William Penn's life, as well as his fame, is indissolubly + linked. + </p> + <p> + Quakerism was one of the many religious sects born in the seventeenth + century under the influence of Puritan thought. The foundation principle + of the Reformation, the right of private judgment, the Quakers carried out + to its logical conclusion; but they were people whose minds had so long + been suppressed and terrorized that, once free, they rushed to extremes. + They shocked and horrified even the most advanced Reformation sects by + rejecting Baptism, the doctrine of the Trinity, and all sacraments, forms, + and ceremonies. They represented, on their best side, the most vigorous + effort of the Reformation to return to the spirituality and the simplicity + of the early Christians. But their intense spirituality, pathetic often in + its extreme manifestations, was not wholly concerned with another world. + Their humane ideas and philanthropic methods, such as the abolition of + slavery, and the reform of prisons and of charitable institutions, came in + time to be accepted as fundamental practical social principles. + </p> + <p> + The tendencies of which Quakerism formed only one manifestation appeared + outside of England, in Italy, in France, and especially in Germany. The + fundamental Quaker idea of "quietism," as it was called, or peaceful, + silent contemplation as a spiritual form of worship and as a development + of moral consciousness, was very widespread at the close of the + Reformation and even began to be practiced in the Roman Catholic Church + until it was stopped by the Jesuits. The most extreme of the English + Quakers, however, gave way to such extravagances of conduct as trembling + when they preached (whence their name), preaching openly in the streets + and fields—a horrible thing at that time—interrupting other + congregations, and appearing naked as a sign and warning. They gave + offense by refusing to remove their hats in public and by applying to all + alike the words "thee" and "thou," a form of address hitherto used only to + servants and inferiors. Worst of all, the Quakers refused to pay tithes or + taxes to support the Church of England. As a result, the loathsome jails + of the day were soon filled with these objectors, and their property + melted away in fines. This contumacy and their street meetings, regarded + at that time as riotous breaches of the peace, gave the Government at + first a legal excuse to hunt them down; but as they grew in numbers and + influence, laws were enacted to suppress them. Some of them, though not + the wildest extremists, escaped to the colonies in America. There, + however, they were made welcome to conditions no less severe. + </p> + <p> + The first law against the Quakers in Massachusetts was passed in 1656, and + between that date and 1660 four of the sect were hanged, one of them a + woman, Mary Dyer. Though there were no other hangings, many Quakers were + punished by whipping and banishment. In other colonies, notably New York, + fines and banishment were not uncommon. Such treatment forced the Quakers, + against the will of many of them, to seek a tract of land and found a + colony of their own. To such a course there appeared no alternative, + unless they were determined to establish their religion solely by + martyrdom. + </p> + <p> + About the time when the Massachusetts laws were enforced, the principal + Quaker leader and organizer, George Fox (1624-1691), began to consider the + possibility of making a settlement among the great forests and mountains + said to lie north of Maryland in the region drained by the Delaware and + Susquehanna rivers. In this region lay practically the only good land on + the Atlantic seaboard not already occupied. The Puritans and Dutch were on + the north, and there were Catholic and Church of England colonies on the + south in Maryland and Virginia. The middle ground was unoccupied because + heretofore a difficult coast had prevented easy access by sea. Fox + consulted Josiah Coale, a Quaker who had traveled in America and had seen + a good deal of the Indian tribes, with the result that on his second visit + to America Coale was commissioned to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, + who were supposed to have rights in the desired land. In November, 1660, + Coale reported to Fox the result of his inquiries: "As concerning Friends + buying a piece of land of the Susquehanna Indians I have spoken of it to + them and told them what thou said concerning it; but their answer was, + that there is no land that is habitable or fit for situation beyond + Baltimore's liberty till they come to or near the Susquehanna's Fort." * + Nothing could be done immediately, the letter went on to say, because the + Indians were at war with one another, and William Fuller, a Maryland + Quaker, whose cooperation was deemed essential, was absent. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * James Bowden's "History of the Friends in America," vol. I, p. +389 +</pre> + <p> + This seems to have been the first definite movement towards a Quaker + colony. Reports of it reached the ears of young Penn at Oxford and set his + imagination aflame. He never forgot the project, for seventeen is an age + when grand thoughts strike home. The adventurousness of the plan was + irresistible—a home for the new faith in the primeval forest, far + from imprisonment, tithes, and persecution, and to be won by effort worthy + of a man. It was, however, a dream destined not to be realized for many a + long year. More was needed than the mere consent of the Indians. In the + meantime, however, a temporary refuge for the sect was found in the + province of West Jersey on the Delaware, which two Quakers had bought from + Lord Berkeley for the comparatively small sum of 1000 pounds. Of this + grant William Penn became one of the trustees and thus gained his first + experience in the business of colonizing the region of his youthful + dreams. But there was never a sufficient governmental control of West + Jersey to make it an ideal Quaker colony. What little control the Quakers + exercised disappeared after 1702; and the land and situation were not all + that could be desired. Penn, though also one of the owners of East Jersey, + made no attempt to turn that region into a Quaker colony. + </p> + <p> + Besides West Jersey the Quakers found a temporary asylum in Aquidneck, now + Rhode Island. * For many years the governors and magistrates were Quakers, + and the affairs of this island colony were largely in their hands. Quakers + were also prominent in the politics of North Carolina, and John Archdale, + a Quaker, was Governor for several years. They formed a considerable + element of the population in the towns of Long Island and Westchester + County but they could not hope to convert these communities into real + Quaker commonwealths. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * This Rhode Island colony should be distinguished from the +settlement at Providence founded by Roger Williams with which it was +later united. See Jones, "The Quakers in the American Colonies," p. 21, +note. +</pre> + <p> + The experience in the Jerseys and elsewhere very soon proved that if there + was to be a real Quaker colony, the British Crown must give not only a + title to the land but a strong charter guaranteeing self-government and + protection of the Quaker faith from outside interference. But that the + British Government would grant such valued privileges to a sect of + schismatics which it was hunting down in England seemed a most unlikely + event. Nothing but unusual influence at Court could bring it about, and in + that quarter the Quakers had no influence. + </p> + <p> + Penn never forgot the boyhood ideal which he had developed at college. For + twenty years he led a varied life—driven from home and whipped by + his father for consorting with the schismatic; sometimes in deference to + his father's wishes taking his place in the gay world at Court; even, for + a time, becoming a soldier, and again traveling in France with some of the + people of the Court. In the end, as he grew older, religious feeling + completely absorbed him. He became one of the leading Quaker theologians, + and his very earnest religious writings fill several volumes. He became a + preacher at the meetings and went to prison for his heretical doctrines + and pamphlets. At last he found himself at the age of thirty-six with his + father dead, and a debt due from the Crown of 16,000 pounds for services + which his distinguished father, the admiral, had rendered the Government. + </p> + <p> + Here was the accident that brought into being the great Quaker colony, by + a combination of circumstances which could hardly have happened twice. + Young Penn was popular at Court. He had inherited a valuable friendship + with Charles II and his heir, the Duke of York. This friendship rested on + the solid fact that Penn's father, the admiral, had rendered such signal + assistance in restoring Charles and the whole Stuart line to the throne. + But still 16,000 pounds or $80,000, the accumulation of many deferred + payments, was a goodly sum in those days, and that the Crown would pay it + in money, of which it had none too much, was unlikely. Why not therefore + suggest paying it instead in wild land in America, of which the Crown had + abundance? That was the fruitful thought which visited Penn. Lord Berkeley + and Lord Carteret had been given New Jersey because they had signally + helped to restore the Strait family to the throne. All the more therefore + should the Stuart family give a tract of land, and even a larger tract, to + Penn, whose father had not only assisted the family to the throne but had + refrained so long from pressing his just claim for money due. + </p> + <p> + So the Crown, knowing little of the value of it, granted him the most + magnificent domain of mountains; lakes, rivers, and forests, fertile soil, + coal, petroleum, and iron that ever was given to a single proprietor. In + addition to giving Penn the control of Delaware and, with certain other + Quakers, that of New Jersey as well, the Crown placed at the disposal of + the Quakers 55,000 square miles of most valuable, fertile territory, + lacking only about three thousand square miles of being as large as + England and Wales. Even when cut down to 45,000 square miles by a boundary + dispute with Maryland, it was larger than Ireland. Kings themselves have + possessed such dominions, but never before a private citizen who scorned + all titles and belonged to a hunted sect that exalted peace and spiritual + contemplation above all the wealth and power of the world. Whether the + obtaining of this enormous tract of the best land in America was due to + what may be called the eternal thriftiness of the Quaker mind or to the + intense desire of the British Government to get rid of these people—at + any cost might be hard to determine. + </p> + <p> + Penn received his charter in 1681, and in it he was very careful to avoid + all the mistakes of the Jersey proprietary grants. Instead of numerous + proprietors, Penn was to be the sole proprietor. Instead of giving title + to the land and remaining silent about the political government, Penn's + charter not only gave him title to the land but a clearly defined position + as its political head, and described the principles of the government so + clearly that there was little room for doubt or dispute. + </p> + <p> + It was a decidedly feudal charter, very much like the one granted to Lord + Baltimore fifty years before, and yet at the same time it secured civil + liberty and representative government to the people. Penn owned all the + land and the colonists were to be his tenants. He was compelled, however, + to give his people free government. The laws were to be made by him with + the assent of the people or their delegates. In practice this of course + meant that the people were to elect a legislature and Penn would have a + veto, as we now call it, on such acts as the legislature should pass. He + had power to appoint magistrates, judges, and some other officers, and to + grant pardons. Though, by the charter, proprietor of the province, he + usually remained in England and appointed a deputy governor to exercise + authority in the colony. In modern phrase, he controlled the executive + part of the government and his people controlled the legislative part. + </p> + <p> + Pennsylvania, besides being the largest in area of the proprietary + colonies, was also the most successful, not only from the proprietor's + point of view but also from the point of view of the inhabitants. The + proprietorships in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and the Carolinas + were largely failures. Maryland was only partially successful; it was not + particularly remunerative to its owner, and the Crown deprived him of his + control of it for twenty years. Penn, too, was deprived of the control of + Pennsylvania by William III but for only about two years. Except for this + brief interval (1692-1694), Penn and his sons after him held their + province down to the time of the American Revolution in 1776, a period of + ninety-four years. + </p> + <p> + A feudal proprietorship, collecting rents from all the people, seems to + modern minds grievously wrong in theory, and yet it would be very + difficult to show that it proved onerous in practice. Under it the people + of Pennsylvania flourished in wealth, peace, and happiness. Penn won + undying fame for the liberal principles of his feudal enterprise. His + expenses in England were so great and his quitrents always so much in + arrears that he was seldom out of debt. But his children grew rich from + the province. As in other provinces that were not feudal there were + disputes between the people and the proprietors; but there was not so much + general dissatisfaction as might have been expected. The proprietors were + on the whole not altogether disliked. In the American Revolution, when the + people could have confiscated everything in Pennsylvania belonging to the + proprietary family, they not only left them in possession of a large part + of their land, but paid them handsomely for the part that was taken. + </p> + <p> + After Penn had secured his charter in 1681, he obtained from the Duke of + York the land now included in the State of Delaware. He advertised for + colonists, and began selling land at 100 pounds for five thousand acres + and annually thereafter a shilling quitrent for every hundred acres. He + drew up a constitution or frame of government, as he called it, after wide + and earnest consultation with many, including the famous Algernon Sydney. + Among the Penn papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a + collection of about twenty preliminary drafts. Beginning with one which + erected a government by a landed aristocracy, they became more and more + liberal, until in the end his frame was very much like the most liberal + government of the other English colonies in America. He had a council and + an assembly, both elected by the people. The council, however, was very + large, had seventy-two members, and was more like an upper house of the + Legislature than the usual colonial governor's council. The council also + had the sole right of proposing legislation, and the assembly could merely + accept or reject its proposals. This was a new idea, and it worked so + badly in practice that in the end the province went to the opposite + extreme and had no council or upper house of the Legislature at all. + </p> + <p> + Penn's frame of government contained, however, a provision for its own + amendment. This was a new idea and proved to be so happy that it is now + found in all American constitutions. His method of impeachment by which + the lower house was to bring in the charge and the upper house was to try + it has also been universally adopted. His view that an unconstitutional + law is void was a step towards our modern system. The next step, giving + the courts power to declare a law unconstitutional, was not taken until + one hundred years after his time. With the advice and assistance of some + of those who were going out to his colony he prepared a code of laws which + contained many of the advanced ideas of the Quakers. Capital punishment + was to be confined to murder and treason, instead of being applied as in + England to a host of minor offenses. The property of murderers, instead of + being forfeited to the State, was to be divided among the next of kin of + the victim and of the criminal. Religious liberty was established as it + had been in Rhode Island and the Jerseys. All children were to be taught a + useful trade. Oaths in judicial proceedings were not required. All prisons + were to be workhouses and places of reformation instead of dungeons of + dirt, idleness, and disease. This attempt to improve the prisons + inaugurated a movement of great importance in the modern world in which + the part played by the Quakers is too often forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Penn had now started his "Holy Experiment," as he called his enterprise in + Pennsylvania, by which he intended to prove that religious liberty was not + only right, but that agriculture, commerce, and all arts and refinements + of life would flourish under it. He would break the delusion that + prosperity and morals were possible only under some one particular faith + established by law. He, would prove that government could be carried on + without war and without oaths, and that primitive Christianity could be + maintained without a hireling ministry, without persecution, without + ridiculous dogmas or ritual, sustained only by its own innate power and + the inward light. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II. Penn Sails For The Delaware + </h2> + <p> + The framing of the constitution and other preparations consumed the year + following Penn's receipt of his charter in 1681. But at last, on August + 30, 1682, he set sail in the ship Welcome, with about a hundred colonists. + After a voyage of about six weeks, and the loss of thirty of their number + by smallpox, they arrived in the Delaware. June would have been a somewhat + better month in which to see the rich luxuriance of the green meadows and + forests of this beautiful river. But the autumn foliage and bracing air of + October must have been inspiring enough. The ship slowly beat her way for + three days up the bay and river in the silence and romantic loneliness of + its shores. Everything indicated richness and fertility. At some points + the lofty trees of the primeval forest grew down to the water's edge. The + river at every high tide overflowed great meadows grown up in reeds and + grasses and red and yellow flowers, stretching back to the borders of the + forest and full of water birds and wild fowl of every variety. Penn, now + in the prime of life, must surely have been aroused by this scene and by + the reflection that the noble river was his and the vast stretches of + forests and mountains for three hundred miles to the westward. + </p> + <p> + He was soon ashore, exploring the edge of his mighty domain, settling his + government, and passing his laws. He was much pleased with the Swedes whom + he found on his land. He changed the name of the little Swedish village of + Upland, fifteen miles below Philadelphia, to Chester. He superintended + laying out the streets of Philadelphia and they remain to this day + substantially as he planned them, though unfortunately too narrow and + monotonously regular. He met the Indians at Philadelphia, sat with them at + their fires, ate their roasted corn, and when to amuse him they showed him + some of their sports and games he renewed his college days by joining them + in a jumping match. + </p> + <p> + Then he started on journeys. He traveled through the woods to New York, + which then belonged to the Duke of York, who had given him Delaware; he + visited the Long Island Quakers; and on his return he went to Maryland to + meet with much pomp and ceremony Lord Baltimore and there discuss with him + the disputed boundary. He even crossed to the eastern shore of the + Chesapeake to visit a Quaker meeting on the Choptank before winter set in, + and he describes the immense migration of wild pigeons at that season, and + the ducks which flew so low and were so tame that the colonists knocked + them down with sticks. + </p> + <p> + Most of the winter he spent at Chester and wrote to England in high + spirits of his journeys, the wonders of the country, the abundance of game + and provisions, and the twenty-three ships which had arrived so swiftly + that few had taken longer than six weeks, and only three had been infected + with the smallpox. "Oh how sweet," he says, "is the quiet of these parts, + freed from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, hurries and + perplexities of woful Europe." + </p> + <p> + As the weeks and months passed, ships kept arriving with more Quakers, far + exceeding the migration to the Jerseys. By summer, Penn reported that 50 + sail had arrived within the past year, 80 houses had been built in + Philadelphia, and about 300 farms had been laid out round the town. It is + supposed that about 8000 immigrants had arrived. This was a more rapid + development than was usual in the colonies of America. Massachusetts and + Virginia had been established slowly and with much privation and + suffering. But the settlement of Philadelphia was like a summer outing. + There were no dangers, the hardships were trifling, and there was no + sickness or famine. There was such an abundance of game close at hand that + hunger and famine were in nowise to be feared. The climate was good and + the Indians, kindly treated, remained friendly for seventy years. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to note that in that same year, 1682, in which Penn and + his friends with such ease and comfort founded their great colony on the + Delaware, the French explorers and voyageurs from Canada, after years of + incredible hardships, had traversed the northern region of the Great Lakes + with their canoes and had passed down the Mississippi to its mouth, giving + to the whole of the Great West the name of Louisiana, and claiming it for + France. Already La Salle had taken his fleet of canoes down the + Mississippi River and had placed the arms of France on a post at its mouth + in April, 1682, only a few months before Penn reached his newly acquired + colony. Thus in the same year in which the Quakers established in + Pennsylvania their reign of liberty and of peace with the red men, La + Salle was laying the foundation of the western empire of despotic France, + which seventy years afterwards was to hurl the savages upon the English + colonies, to wreck the Quaker policy of peace, but to fail in the end to + maintain itself against the free colonies of England. + </p> + <p> + While they were building houses in Philadelphia, the settlers lived in + bark huts or in caves dug in the river bank, as the early settlers in New + Jersey across the river had lived. Pastorius, a learned German Quaker, who + had come out with the English, placed over the door of his cave the motto, + "Parva domus, sed amica bonis, procul este profani," which much amused + Penn when he saw it. A certain Mrs. Morris was much exercised one day as + to how she could provide supper in the cave for her husband who was + working on the construction of their house. But on returning to her cave + she found that her cat had just brought in a fine rabbit. In their later + prosperous years they had a picture of the cat and the rabbit made on a + box which has descended as a family heirloom. Doubtless there were + preserved many other interesting reminiscences of the brief camp life. + These Quakers were all of the thrifty, industrious type which had gone to + West Jersey a few years before. Men of means, indeed, among the Quakers + were the first to seek refuge from the fines and confiscations imposed + upon them in England. They brought with them excellent supplies of + everything. Many of the ships carried the frames of houses ready to put + together. But substantial people of this sort demanded for the most part + houses of brick, with stone cellars. Fortunately both brick clay and stone + were readily obtainable in the neighborhood, and whatever may have been + the case in other colonies, ships loaded with brick from England would + have found it little to their profit to touch at Philadelphia. An early + description says that the brick houses in Philadelphia were modeled on + those of London, and this type prevailed for nearly two hundred years. + </p> + <p> + It was probably in June, 1683, that Penn made his famous treaty with the + Indians. No documentary proof of the existence of such a treaty has + reached us. He made, indeed, a number of so-called treaties, which were + really only purchases of land involving oral promises between the + principals to treat each other fairly. Hundreds of such treaties have been + made. The remarkable part about Penn's dealings with the Indians was that + such promises as he made he kept. The other Quakers, too, were as careful + as Penn in their honorable treatment of the red men. Quaker families of + farmers and settlers lived unarmed among them for generations and, when + absent from home, left children in their care. The Indians, on their part, + were known to have helped white families with food in winter time. Penn, + on his first visit to the colony, made a long journey unarmed among the + Indians as far as the Susquehanna, saw the great herds of elk on that + river, lived in Indian wigwams, and learned much of the language and + customs of the natives. There need never be any trouble with them, he + said. They were the easiest people in the world to get on with if the + white men would simply be just. Penn's fair treatment of the Indians kept + Pennsylvania at peace with them for about seventy years—in fact, + from 1682 until the outbreak of the French and Indian Wars, in 1755. In + its critical period of growth, Pennsylvania was therefore not at all + harassed or checked by those Indian hostilities which were such a serious + impediment in other colonies. + </p> + <p> + The two years of Penn's first visit were probably the happiest of his + life. Always fond of the country, he built himself a fine seat on the + Delaware near Bristol, and it would have been better for him, and probably + also for the colony, if he had remained there. But he thought he had + duties in England: his family needed him; he must defend his people from + the religious oppression still prevailing; and Lord Baltimore had gone to + England to resist him in the boundary dispute. One of the more + narrow-minded of his faith wrote to Penn from England that he was enjoying + himself too much in his colony and seeking his own selfish interest. + Influenced by all these considerations, he returned in August, 1684, and + it was long before he saw Pennsylvania again—not, indeed, until + October, 1699, and then for only two years. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III. Life In Philadelphia + </h2> + <p> + The rapid increase of population and the growing prosperity in + Pennsylvania during the life of its founder present a striking contrast to + the slower and more troubled growth of the other British colonies in + America. The settlers in Pennsylvania engaged at once in profitable + agriculture. The loam, clay, and limestone soils on the Pennsylvania tide + of the Delaware produced heavy crops of grain, as well as pasture for + cattle and valuable lumber from its forests. The Pennsylvania settlers + were of a class particularly skilled in dealing with the soil. They + apparently encountered none of the difficulties, due probably to + incompetent farming, which beset the settlers of Delaware, whose land was + as good as that of the Pennsylvania colonists. + </p> + <p> + In a few years the port of Philadelphia was loading abundant cargoes for + England and the great West India trade. After much experimenting with + different places on the river, such as New Castle, Wilmington, Salem, + Burlington, the Quakers had at last found the right location for a great + seat of commerce and trade that could serve as a center for the export of + everything from the region behind it and around it. Philadelphia thus soon + became the basis of a prosperity which no other townsite on the Delaware + had been able to attain. The Quakers of Philadelphia were the soundest of + financiers and men of business, and in their skillful hands the natural + resources of their colony were developed without setback or accident. At + an early date banking institutions were established in Philadelphia, and + the strongest colonial merchants and mercantile firms had their offices + there. It was out of such a sound business life that were produced in + Revolutionary times such characters as Robert Morris and after the + Revolution men like Stephen Girard. + </p> + <p> + Pennsylvania in colonial times was ruled from Philadelphia somewhat as + France has always been ruled from Paris. And yet there was a difference: + Pennsylvania had free government. The Germans and the Scotch-Irish + outnumbered the Quakers and could have controlled the Legislature, for in + 1750 out of a population of 150,000 the Quakers were only about 50,000; + and yet the Legislature down to the Revolution was always confided to the + competent hands of the Quakers. No higher tribute, indeed, has ever been + paid to any group of people as governors of a commonwealth and architects + of its finance and trade. + </p> + <p> + It is a curious commentary on the times and on human nature that these + Quaker folk, treated as outcasts and enemies of good order and religion in + England and gradually losing all their property in heavy fines and + confiscations, should so suddenly in the wilderness prove the capacity of + their "Holy Experiment" for achieving the best sort of good order and + material success. They immediately built a most charming little town by + the waterside, snug and pretty with its red brick houses in the best + architectural style. It was essentially a commercial town down to the time + of the Revolution and long afterwards. The principal residences were on + Water Street, the second street from the wharves. The town in those days + extended back only as far as Fourth Street, and the State House, now + Independence Hall, an admirable instance of the local brick architecture, + stood on the edge of the town. The Pennsylvania Hospital, the first + institution of its kind to be built in America, was situated out in the + fields. + </p> + <p> + Through the town ran a stream following the line of the present Dock + Street. Its mouth had been a natural landing place for the first explorers + and for the Indians from time immemorial. Here stood a neat tavern, the + Blue Anchor, with its dovecotes in old English style, looking out for many + a year over the river with its fleet of small boats. Along the wharves lay + the very solid, broad, somber, Quaker-like brick warehouses, some of which + have survived into modern times. Everywhere were to be found ships and the + good seafaring smell of tar and hemp. Ships were built and fitted out + alongside docks where other ships were lading. A privateer would receive + her equipment of guns, pistols, and cutlasses on one side of a wharf, + while on the other side a ship was peacefully loading wheat or salted + provisions for the West Indies. + </p> + <p> + Everybody's attention in those days was centered on the water instead of + inland on railroads as it is today. Commerce was the source of wealth of + the town as agriculture was the wealth of the interior of the province. + Every one lived close to the river and had an interest in the rise and + fall of the tide. The little town extended for a mile along the water but + scarcely half a mile back from it. All communication with other places, + all news from the world of Europe came from the ships, whose captains + brought the letters and the few newspapers which reached the colonists. An + important ship on her arrival often fired a gun and dropped anchor with + some ceremony. Immediately the shore boats swarmed to her side; the + captain was besieged for news and usually brought the letters ashore to be + distributed at the coffeehouse. This institution took the place of the + modern stock exchange, clearing house, newspaper, university, club, and + theater all under one roof, with plenty to eat and drink besides. Within + its rooms vessels and cargoes were sold; before its door negro slaves were + auctioned off; and around it as a common center were brought together all + sorts of business, valuable information, gossip, and scandal. It must have + been a brilliant scene in the evening, with the candles lighting + embroidered red and yellow waistcoats, blue and scarlet Coats, green and + black velvet, with the rich drab and mouse color of the prosperous Quakers + contrasting with the uniforms of British officers come to fight the French + and Indian wars. Sound, as well as color, had its place in this busy and + happy colonial life. Christ Church, a brick building which still stands + the perfection of colonial architecture had been established by the Church + of England people defiantly in the midst of heretical Quakerdom. It soon + possessed a chime of bells sent out from England. Captain Budden, who + brought them in his ship Myrtilla, would charge no freight for so + charitable a deed, and in consequence of his generosity every time he and + his ship appeared in the harbor the bells were rung in his honor. They + were rung on market days to please the farmers who came into town with + their wagons loaded with poultry and vegetables. They were rung muffled in + times of public disaster and were kept busy in that way in the French and + Indian wars. They were also rung muffled for Franklin when it was learned + that while in London he had favored the Stamp Act—a means of + expressing popular opinion which the newspapers subsequently put out of + date. + </p> + <p> + The severe Quaker code of conduct and peaceful contemplation contains no + prohibition against good eating and drinking. Quakers have been known to + have the gout. The opportunities in Philadelphia to enjoy the pleasures of + the table were soon unlimited. Farm, garden, and dairy products, + vegetables, poultry, beef, and mutton were soon produced in immense + quantity and variety and of excellent quality. John Adams, coming from the + "plain living and high thinking" of Boston to attend the first meeting of + the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was invited to dine with Stephen + Collins, a typical Quaker, and was amazed at the feast set before him. + From that time his diary records one after another of these "sinful + feasts," as he calls them. But the sin at which he thus looks askance + never seems to have withheld him from a generous indulgence. "Drank + Madeira at a great rate," he says on one occasion, "and took no harm from + it." Madeira obtained in the trade with Spain was the popular drink even + at the taverns. Various forms of punch and rum were common, but the modern + light wines and champagne were not then in vogue. + </p> + <p> + Food in great quantity and variety seems to have been placed on the table + at the same time, with little regard to formal courses. Beef, poultry, and + mutton would all be served at one dinner. Fruit and nuts were placed on + the table in profusion, as well as puddings and desserts numerous and + deadly. Dinners were served usually in the afternoon. The splendid banquet + which Adams describes as given to some members of the Continental Congress + by Chief Justice Chew at his country seat was held at four in the + afternoon. The dinner hour was still in the afternoon long after the + Revolution and down to the times of the Civil War. Other relics of this + old love of good living lasted into modern times. It was not so very long + ago that an occasional householder of wealth and distinction in + Philadelphia could still be found who insisted on doing his own marketing + in the old way, going himself the first thing in the morning on certain + days to the excellent markets and purchasing all the family supplies. + Philadelphia poultry is still famous the country over; and to be a good + judge of poultry was in the old days as much a point of merit as to be a + good judge of Madeira. A typical Philadelphian, envious New Yorkers say, + will still keep a line of depositors waiting at a bank while he discourses + to the receiving teller on what a splendid purchase of poultry he had made + that morning. Early in the last century a wealthy leader of the bar is + said to have continued the old practice of going to market followed by a + negro with a wheelbarrow to bring back the supplies. Not content with + feasting in their own homes, the colonial Philadelphians were continually + banqueting at the numerous taverns, from the Coach and Horses, opposite + the State House, down to the Penny Pot Inn close by the river. At the + Coach and Horses, where the city elections were usually held, the + discarded oyster shells around it had been trampled into a hard white and + smooth floor over which surged the excited election crowds. In those + taverns the old fashion prevailed of roasting great joints of meat on a + turnspit before an open fire; and to keep the spit turning before the heat + little dogs were trained to work in a sort of treadmill cage. + </p> + <p> + In nothing is this colonial prosperity better revealed than in the quality + of the country seats. They were usually built of stone and sometimes of + brick and stone, substantial, beautifully proportioned, admirable in + taste, with a certain simplicity, yet indicating a people of wealth, + leisure, and refinement, who believed in themselves and took pleasure in + adorning their lives. Not a few of these homes on the outskirts of the + city have come down to us unharmed, and Cliveden, Stenton, and Belmont are + precious relics of such solid structure that with ordinary care they will + still last for centuries. Many were destroyed during the Revolution; + others, such as Landsdowne, the seat of one of the Penn family, built in + the Italian style, have disappeared; others were wiped out by the city's + growth. All of them, even the small ones, were most interesting and + typical of the life of the times. The colonists began to build them very + early. A family would have a solid, brick town house and, only a mile or + so away, a country house which was equally substantial. Sometimes they + built at a greater distance. Governor Keith, for example, had a country + seat, still standing though built in the middle of the eighteenth century, + some twenty-five miles north of the city in what was then almost a + wilderness. + </p> + <p> + Penn's ideal had always been to have Philadelphia what he called "a green + country town." Probably he had in mind the beautiful English towns of + abundant foliage and open spaces. And Penn was successful, for many of the + Philadelphia houses stood by themselves, with gardens round them. The + present Walnut was first called Pool Street; Chestnut was called Winn + Street; and Market was called High Street. If he could have foreseen the + enormous modern growth of the city, he might not have made his streets so + narrow and level. But the fault lies perhaps rather with the people for + adhering so rigidly and for so long to Penn's scheme, when traffic that he + could not have imagined demanded wider streets. If he could have lived + into our times he would surely have sent us very positive directions in + his bluff British way to break up the original rectangular, narrow plan + which was becoming dismally monotonous when applied to a widely spread-out + modern city. He was a theologian, but he had a very keen eye for + appearances and beauty of surroundings. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV. Types Of The Population + </h2> + <p> + The arrival of colonists in Pennsylvania in greater numbers than in + Delaware and the Jerseys was the more notable because, within a few years + after Pennsylvania was founded, persecution of the Quakers ceased in + England and one prolific cause of their migration was no more. Thirteen + hundred Quakers were released from prison in 1686 by James II; and in + 1689, when William of Orange took the throne, toleration was extended to + the Quakers and other Protestant dissenters. + </p> + <p> + The success of the first Quakers who came to America brought others even + after persecution ceased in England. The most numerous class of immigrants + for the first fifteen or twenty years were Welsh, most of whom were + Quakers with a few Baptists and Church of England people. They may have + come not so much from a desire to flee from persecution as to build up a + little Welsh community and to revive Welsh nationalism. In their new + surroundings they spoke their own Welsh language and very few of them had + learned English. They had been encouraged in their national aspirations by + an agreement with Penn that they were to have a tract of 40,000 acres + where they could live by themselves. The land assigned to them lay west of + Philadelphia in that high ridge along the present main line of the + Pennsylvania Railroad, now so noted for its wealthy suburban homes. All + the important names of townships and places in that region, such as + Wynnewood, St. Davids, Berwyn, Bryn Mawr, Merion, Haverford, Radnor, are + Welsh in origin. Some of the Welsh spread round to the north of + Philadelphia, where names like Gwynedd and Penllyn remain as their + memorials. The Chester Valley bordering the high ridge of their first + settlement they called Duffrin Mawr or Great Valley. + </p> + <p> + These Welsh, like so many of the Quakers, were of a well-to-do class. They + rapidly developed their fertile land and, for pioneers, lived quite + luxuriously. They had none of the usual county and township officers but + ruled their Welsh Barony, as it was called, through the authority of their + Quaker meetings. But this system eventually disappeared. The Welsh were + absorbed into the English population, and in a couple of generations their + language disappeared. Prominent people are descended from them. David + Rittenhouse, the astronomer, was Welsh on his mother's side. David Lloyd, + for a long time the leader of the popular party and at one time Chief + Justice, was a Welshman. Since the Revolution the Welsh names of + Cadwalader and Meredith have been conspicuous. + </p> + <p> + The Church of England people formed a curious and decidedly hostile + element in the early population of Pennsylvania. They established + themselves in Philadelphia in the beginning and rapidly grew into a + political party which, while it cannot be called very strong in numbers, + was important in ability and influence. After Penn's death, his sons + joined the Church of England, and the Churchmen in the province became + still stronger. They formed the basis of the proprietary party, filled + executive offices in the Government, and waged relentless war against the + Quaker majority which controlled the Legislature. During Penn's lifetime + the Churchmen were naturally opposed to the whole government, both + executive and legislative. They were constantly sending home to England + all sorts of reports and information calculated to show that the Quakers + were unfit to rule a province, that Penn should be deprived of his + charter, and that Pennsylvania should be put under the direct rule of the + King. + </p> + <p> + They had delightful schemes for making it a strong Church of England + colony like Virginia. One of them suggested that, as the title to the + Three Lower Counties, as Delaware was called, was in dispute, it should be + taken by the Crown and given to the Church as a manor to support a bishop. + Such an ecclesiastic certainly could have lived in princely state from the + rents of its fertile farms, with a palace, retinue, chamberlains, + chancellors, feudal courts, and all the appendages of earthly glory. For + the sake of the picturesqueness of colonial history it is perhaps a pity + that this pious plan was never carried out. + </p> + <p> + As it was, however, the Churchmen established themselves with not a little + glamour and romance round two institutions, Christ Church for the first + fifty years, and after that round the old College of Philadelphia. The + Reverend William Smith, a pugnacious and eloquent Scotchman, led them in + many a gallant onset against the "haughty tribe" of Quakers, and he even + suffered imprisonment in the cause. He had a country seat on the + Schuylkill and was in his way a fine character, devoted to the + establishment of ecclesiasticism and higher learning as a bulwark against + the menace of Quaker fanaticism; and but for the coming on of the + Revolution he might have become the first colonial bishop with all the + palaces, pomp, and glory appertaining thereunto. + </p> + <p> + In spite of this opposition, however, the Quakers continued their control + of the colony, serenely tolerating the anathemas of the learned Churchmen + and the fierce curses and brandished weapons of the Presbyterians and + Scotch-Irish. Curses and anathemas were no check to the fertile soil. + Grist continued to come to the mill; and the agricultural products poured + into Philadelphia to be carried away in the ships. The contemplative + Quaker took his profits as they passed; enacted his liberalizing laws, his + prison reform, his charities, his peace with the savage Indians; allowed + science, research, and all the kindly arts of life to flourish; and seemed + perfectly contented with the damnation in the other world to which those + who flourished under his rule consigned him. + </p> + <p> + In discussing the remarkable success of the province, the colonists always + disputed whether the credit should be given to the fertile soil or to the + liberal laws and constitution. It was no doubt due to both. But the + obvious advantages of Penn's charter over the mixed and troublesome + governmental conditions in the Jerseys, Penn's personal fame and the + repute of the Quakers for liberalism then at its zenith, and the wide + advertising given to their ideas and Penn's, on the continent of Europe as + well as in England, seem to have been the reasons why more people, and + many besides Quakers, came to take advantage of that fertile soil. + </p> + <p> + The first great increase of alien population came from Germany, which was + still in a state of religious turmoil, disunion, and depression from the + results of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War. The reaction from + dogma in Germany had produced a multitude of sects, all yearning for + greater liberty and prosperity than they had at home. Penn and other + Quakers had made missionary tours in Germany and had preached to the + people. The Germans do not appear to have been asked to come to the + Jerseys. But they were urged to come to Pennsylvania as soon as the + charter was obtained; and many of them made an immediate response. The + German mind was then at the height of its emotional unrestraint. It was as + unaccustomed to liberty of thought as to political liberty and it produced + a new sect or religious distinction almost every day. Many of these sects + came to Pennsylvania, where new small religious bodies sprang up among + them after their arrival. Schwenkfelders, Tunkers, Labadists, New Born, + New Mooners, Separatists, Zion's Brueder, Ronsdorfer, Inspired, Quietists, + Gichtelians, Depellians, Mountain Men, River Brethren, Brinser Brethren, + and the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness, are names which occur in + the annals of the province. But these are only a few. In Lancaster County + alone the number has at different times been estimated at from twenty to + thirty. It would probably be impossible to make a complete list; some of + them, indeed, existed for only a few years. Their own writers describe + them as countless and bewildering. Many of them were characterized by the + strangest sort of German mysticism, and some of them were inclined to + monastic and hermit life and their devotees often lived in caves or + solitary huts in the woods. + </p> + <p> + It would hardly be accurate to call all the German sects Quakers, since a + great deal of their mysticism would have been anything but congenial to + the followers of Fox and Penn. Resemblances to Quaker doctrine can, + however, be found among many of them; and there was one large sect, the + Mennonites, who were often spoken of as German Quakers. The two divisions + fraternized and preached in each other's meetings. The Mennonites were + well educated as a class and Pastorius, their leader, was a ponderously + learned German. Most of the German sects left the Quakers in undisturbed + possession of Philadelphia, and spread out into the surrounding region, + which was then a wilderness. They and all the other Germans who afterwards + followed them settled in a half circle beginning at Easton on the + Delaware, passing up the Lehigh Valley into Lancaster County, thence + across the Susquehanna and down the Cumberland Valley to the Maryland + border, which many of them crossed, and in time scattered far to the south + in Virginia and even North Carolina, where their descendants are still + found. + </p> + <p> + These German sects which came over under the influence of Penn and the + Quakers, between the years 1682 and 1702, formed a class by themselves. + Though they may be regarded as peculiar in their ideas and often in their + manner of life, it cannot be denied that as a class they were a + well-educated, thrifty, and excellent people and far superior to the rough + German peasants who followed them in later years. This latter class was + often spoken of in Pennsylvania as "the church people," to distinguish + them from "the sects," as those of the earlier migration were called. + </p> + <p> + The church people, or peasantry of the later migration, belonged usually + to one of the two dominant churches of Germany, the Lutheran or the + Reformed. Those of the Reformed Church were often spoken of as Calvinists. + This migration of the church people was not due to the example of the + Quakers but was the result of a new policy which was adopted by the + British Government when Queen Anne ascended the throne in 1702, and which + aimed at keeping the English people at home and at filling the English + colonies in America with foreign Protestants hostile to France and Spain. + </p> + <p> + Large numbers of these immigrants were "redemptioners," as they were + called; that is to say, they were persons who had been obliged to sell + themselves to the shipping agents to pay for their passage. On their + arrival in Pennsylvania the captain sold them to the colonists to pay the + passage, and the redemptioner had to work for his owner for a period + varying from five to ten years. No stigma or disgrace clung to any of + these people under this system. It was regarded as a necessary business + transaction. Not a few of the very respectable families of the State and + some of its prominent men are known to be descended from redemptioners. + </p> + <p> + This method of transporting colonists proved a profitable trade for the + shipping people, and was soon regularly organized like the modern assisted + immigration. Agents, called "newlanders" and "soul-sellers," traveled + through Germany working up the transatlantic traffic by various devices, + some of them not altogether creditable. Pennsylvania proved to be the most + attractive region for these immigrants. Some of those who were taken to + other colonies finally worked their way to Pennsylvania. Practically none + went to New England, and very few, if any, to Virginia. Indeed, only + certain colonies were willing to admit them. + </p> + <p> + Another important element that went to make up the Pennsylvania population + consisted of the Scotch-Irish. They were descendants of Scotch and English + Presbyterians who had gone to Ireland to take up the estates of the Irish + rebels confiscated under Queen Elizabeth and James I. This migration of + Protestants to Ireland, which began soon after 1600, was encouraged by the + English Government. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century the + confiscation of more Irish land under Cromwell's regime increased the + migration to Ulster. Many English joined the migration, and Scotch of the + Lowlands who were largely of English extraction, although there were many + Gaelic or Celtic names among them. + </p> + <p> + These are the people usually known in English history as Ulstermen—the + same who made such a heroic defense of Londonderry against James II, and + the same who in modern times have resisted home rule in Ireland because it + would bury them, they believe, under the tyranny of their old enemies, the + native Irish Catholic majority. They were more thrifty and industrious + than the native Irish and as a result they usually prospered on the Irish + land. At first they were in a more or less constant state of war with the + native Irish, who attempted to expel them. They were subsequently + persecuted by the Church of England under Charles I, who attempted to + force them to conform to the English established religion. Such a rugged + schooling in Ireland made of them a very aggressive, hardy people, + Protestants of the Protestants, so accustomed to contests and warfare that + they accepted it as the natural state of man. + </p> + <p> + These Ulstermen came to Pennsylvania somewhat later than the first German + sects; and not many of them arrived until some years after 1700. They were + not, like the first Germans, attracted to the colony by any resemblance of + their religion to that of the Quakers. On the contrary they were entirely + out of sympathy with the Quakers, except in the one point of religious + liberty; and the Quakers were certainly out of sympathy with them. Nearly + all the colonies in America received a share of these settlers. Wherever + they went they usually sought the frontier and the wilderness; and by the + time of the Revolution, they could be found upon the whole colonial + frontier from New Hampshire to Georgia. They were quite numerous in + Virginia, and most numerous along the edge of the Pennsylvania wilderness. + It was apparently the liberal laws and the fertile soil that drew them to + Pennsylvania in spite of their contempt for most of the Quaker doctrines. + </p> + <p> + The dream of their life, their haven of rest, was for these Scotch-Irish a + fertile soil where they would find neither Irish "papists" nor Church of + England; and for this reason in America they always sought the frontier + where they could be by themselves. They could not even get on well with + the Germans in Pennsylvania; and when the Germans crowded into their + frontier settlements, quarrels became so frequent that the proprietors + asked the Ulstermen to move farther west, a suggestion which they were + usually quite willing to accept. At the close of the colonial period in + Pennsylvania the Quakers, the Church of England people, and the + miscellaneous denominations occupied Philadelphia and the region round it + in a half circle from the Delaware River. Outside of this area lay another + containing the Germans, and beyond that were the Scotch-Irish. The + principal stronghold of the Scotch-Irish was the Cumberland Valley in + Southern Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna, a region now containing the + flourishing towns of Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Carlisle, and York, where + the descendants of these early settlers are still very numerous. In modern + times, however, they have spread out widely; they are now to be found all + over the State, and they no longer desire so strongly to live by + themselves. + </p> + <p> + The Ulstermen, owing to the circumstances of their earlier life, had no + sympathy whatever with the Quaker's objection to war or with his desire to + deal fairly with the Indians and pay them for their land. As Presbyterians + and Calvinists, they belonged to one of the older and more conservative + divisions of the Reformation. The Quaker's doctrine of the inward light, + his quietism, contemplation, and advanced ideas were quite + incomprehensible to them. As for the Indians, they held that the Old + Testament commands the destruction of all the heathen; and as for paying + the savages for their land, it seemed ridiculous to waste money on such an + object when they could exterminate the natives at less cost. The + Ulstermen, therefore, settled on the Indian land as they pleased, or for + that matter on any land, and were continually getting into difficulty with + the Pennsylvania Government no less than with the Indians. They regarded + any region into which they entered as constituting a sovereign state. It + was this feeling of independence which subsequently prompted them to + organize what is known as the Whisky Rebellion when, after the Revolution, + the Federal Government put a tax on the liquor which they so much esteemed + as a product, for corn converted into whisky was more easily transported + on horses over mountain trails, and in that form fetched a better price in + the markets. + </p> + <p> + After the year 1755, when the Quaker method of dealing with the Indians no + longer prevailed, the Scotch-Irish lived on the frontier in a continual + state of savage warfare which lasted for the next forty years. War, + hunting the abundant game, the deer, buffalo, and elk, and some + agriculture filled the measure of their days and years. They paid little + attention to the laws of the province, which were difficult to enforce on + the distant frontier, and they administered a criminal code of their own + with whipping or "laced jacket," as they called it, as a punishment. They + were Jacks of all trades, weaving their own cloth and making nearly + everything they needed. They were the first people in America to develop + the use of the rifle, and they used it in the Back Country all the way + down into the Carolinas at a time when it was seldom seen in the seaboard + settlements. In those days, rifles were largely manufactured in Lancaster, + Pennsylvania, and there were several famous gunsmiths in Philadelphia. + Some of the best of these old rifles have been preserved and are really + beautiful weapons, with delicate hair triggers, gracefully curved stocks, + and quaint brass or even gold or silver mountings. The ornamentation was + often done by the hunter himself, who would melt a gold or silver coin and + pour it into some design which he had carved with his knife in the stock. + </p> + <p> + The Revolution offered an opportunity after the Ulstermen's heart, and + they entered it with their entire spirit, as they had every other contest + which involved liberty and independence. In fact, in that period they + played such a conspicuous part that they almost ruled Philadelphia, the + original home of the Quakers. Since then, spread out through the State, + they have always had great influence, the natural result of their energy, + intelligence, and love of education. + </p> + <p> + Nearly all these diverse elements of the Pennsylvania population were + decidedly sectional in character. The Welsh had a language of their own, + and they attempted, though without success, to maintain it, as well as a + government of their own within their barony independent of the regular + government of the province. The Germans were also extremely sectional. + They clung with better success to their own language, customs, and + literature. The Scotch-Irish were so clannish that they had ideas of + founding a separate province on the Susquehanna. Even the Church of + England people were so aloof and partisan that, though they lived about + Philadelphia among the Quakers, they were extremely hostile to the Quaker + rule and unremittingly strove to destroy it. + </p> + <p> + All these cleavages and divisions in the population continue in their + effects to this day. They prevented the development of a homogeneous + population. No exact statistics were taken of the numbers of the different + nationalities in colonial times; but Franklin's estimate is probably + fairly accurate, and his position in practical politics gave him the means + of knowing and of testing his calculations. About the year 1750 he + estimated the population as one-third Quaker, one-third German, and + one-third miscellaneous. This gave about 50,000 or 60,000 to each of the + thirds. Provost Smith, of the newly founded college, estimated the Quakers + at only about 40,000. But his estimate seems too low. He was interested in + making out their numbers small because he was trying to show the absurdity + of allowing such a small band of fanatics and heretics to rule a great + province of the British Empire. One great source of the Quaker power lay + in the sympathy of the Germans, who always voted on their side and kept + them in control of the Legislature, so that it was in reality a case of + two-thirds ruling one-third. The Quakers, it must be admitted, never lost + their heads. Unperturbed through all the conflicts and the jarring of + races and sects, they held their position unimpaired and kept the + confidence and support of the Germans until the Revolution changed + everything. + </p> + <p> + The varied elements of population spread out in ever widening half circles + from Philadelphia as a center. There was nothing in the character of the + region to stop this progress. The country all the way westward to the + Susquehanna was easy hill, dale, and valley, covered by a magnificent + growth of large forest trees—oaks, beeches, poplars, walnuts, + hickories, and ash—which rewarded the labor of felling by exposing + to cultivation a most fruitful soil. + </p> + <p> + The settlers followed the old Indian trails. The first westward pioneers + seem to have been the Welsh Quakers, who pushed due west from Philadelphia + and marked out the course of the famous Lancaster Road, afterwards the + Lancaster Turnpike. It took the line of least resistance along the old + trail, following ridges until it reached the Susquehanna at a spot where + an Indian trader, named Harris, established himself and founded a post + which subsequently became Harrisburg, the capital of the State. + </p> + <p> + For a hundred years the Lancaster Road was the great highway westward, at + first to the mountains, then to the Ohio, and finally to the Mississippi + Valley and the Great West. Immigrants and pioneers from all the New + England and Middle States flocked out that way to the land of promise in + wagons, or horseback, or trudging along on foot. Substantial taverns grew + up along the route; and habitual freighters and stage drivers, proud of + their fine teams of horses, grew into characters of the road. When the + Pennsylvania Railroad was built, it followed the same line. In fact, most + of the lines of railroad in the State follow Indian trails. The trails for + trade and tribal intercourse led east and west. The warrior trails usually + led north and south, for that had long been the line of strategy and + conquest of the tribes. The northern tribes, or Six Nations, established + in the lake region of New York near the headwaters of the Delaware, the + Susquehanna, and the Ohio, had the advantage of these river valleys for + descending into the whole Atlantic seaboard and the valley of the + Mississippi. They had in consequence conquered all the tribes south of + them as far even as the Carolinas and Georgia. All their trails of + conquest led across Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + The Germans in their expansion at first seem to have followed up the + Schuylkill Valley and its tributaries, and they hold this region to the + present day. Gradually they crossed the watershed to the Susquehanna and + broke into the region of the famous limestone soil in Lancaster County, a + veritable farmer's paradise from which nothing will ever drive them. Many + Quaker farmers penetrated north and northeast from Philadelphia into Bucks + County, a fine rolling and hilly wheat and corn region, where their + descendants are still found and whence not a few well-known Philadelphia + families have come. + </p> + <p> + The Quaker government of Pennsylvania in almost a century of its existence + largely fulfilled its ideals. It did not succeed in governing without war; + but the war was not its fault. It did succeed in governing without oaths. + An affirmation instead of an oath became the law of Pennsylvania for all + who chose an affirmation; and this law was soon adopted by most American + communities. It succeeded in establishing religious liberty in + Pennsylvania in the fullest sense of the word. It brought Christianity + nearer to its original simplicity and made it less superstitious and + cruel. + </p> + <p> + The Quakers had always maintained that it was a mistake to suppose that + their ideas would interfere with material prosperity and happiness; and + they certainly proved their contention in Pennsylvania. To Quaker + liberalism was due not merely the material prosperity, but prison reform + and the notable public charities of Pennsylvania; in both of which + activities, as in the abolition of slavery, the Quakers were leaders. + Original research in science also flourished in a marked degree in + colonial Pennsylvania. No one in those days knew the nature of thunder and + lightning, and the old explanation that they were the voice of an angry + God was for many a sufficient explanation. Franklin, by a long series of + experiments in the free Quaker colony, finally proved in 1752 that + lightning was electricity, that is to say, a manifestation of the same + force that is produced when glass is rubbed with buckskin. He invented the + lightning rod, discovered the phenomenon of positive and negative + electricity, explained the action of the Leyden jar, and was the first + American writer on the modern science of political economy. This energetic + citizen of Pennsylvania spent a large part of his life in research; he + studied the Gulf Stream, storms and their causes, waterspouts, whirlwinds; + and he established the fact that the northeast storms of the Atlantic + coast usually move against the wind. + </p> + <p> + But Franklin was not the only scientist in the colony. Besides his three + friends, Kinnersley, Hopkinson, and Syng, who worked with him and helped + him in his discoveries, there were David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, John + Bartram, the botanist, and a host of others. Rittenhouse excelled in every + undertaking which required the practical application of astronomy, He + attracted attention even in Europe for his orrery which indicated the + movements of the stars and which was an advance on all previous + instruments of the kind. When astronomers in Europe were seeking to have + the transit of Venus of 1769 observed in different parts of the world, + Pennsylvania alone of the American colonies seems to have had the man and + the apparatus necessary for the work. Rittenhouse conducted the + observations at three points and won a world-wide reputation by the + accuracy and skill of his observations. The whole community was interested + in this scientific undertaking; the Legislature and public institutions + raised the necessary funds; and the American Philosophical Society, the + only organization of its kind in the colonies, had charge of the + preparations. + </p> + <p> + The American Philosophical Society had been started in Philadelphia in + 1743. It was the first scientific society to be founded in America, and + throughout the colonial period it was the only society of its kind in the + country. Its membership included not only prominent men throughout + America, such as Thomas Jefferson, who were interested in scientific + inquiry, but also representatives of foreign nations. With its library of + rare and valuable collections and its annual publication of essays on + almost every branch of science, the society still continues its useful + scientific work. + </p> + <p> + John Bartram, who was the first botanist to describe the plants of the New + World and who explored the whole country from the Great Lakes to Florida, + was a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial times, farmer born and bred. Thomas + Godfrey, also a colonial Pennsylvanian, was rewarded by the Royal Society + of England for an improvement which he made in the quadrant. Peter + Collinson of England, a famous naturalist and antiquarian of early times, + was a Quaker. In modern times John Dalton, the discoverer of the atomic + theory of colorblindness, was born of Quaker parents, and Edward Cope, of + a well-known Philadelphia Quaker family, became one of the most eminent + naturalists and paleontologists of the nineteenth century, and unaided + discovered over a third of the three thousand extinct species of + vertebrates recognized by men of science. In the field of education, + Lindley Murray, the grammarian of a hundred years ago, was a Quaker. Ezra + Cornell, a Quaker, founded the great university in New York which bears + his name; and Johns Hopkins, also a Quaker, founded the university of that + name in Baltimore. + </p> + <p> + Pennsylvania deserves the credit of turning these early scientific + pursuits to popular uses. The first American professorship of botany and + natural history was established in Philadelphia College, now the + University of Pennsylvania. The first American book on a medical subject + was written in Philadelphia by Thomas Cadwalader in 1740; the first + American hospital was established there in 1751; and the first systematic + instruction in medicine. Since then Philadelphia has produced a long line + of physicians and surgeons of national and European reputation. For half a + century after the Revolution the city was the center of medical education + for the country and it still retains a large part of that preeminence. The + Academy of Natural Sciences founded in Philadelphia in 1812 by two + inconspicuous young men, an apothecary and a dentist, soon became by the + spontaneous support of the community a distinguished institution. It sent + out two Arctic expeditions, that of Kane and that of Hayes, and has + included among its members the most prominent men of science in America. + It is now the oldest as well as the most complete institution of its kind + in the country. The Franklin Institute, founded in Philadelphia in 1824, + was the result of a similar scientific interest. It was the first + institution of applied science and the mechanic arts in America. + Descriptions of the first 2900 patents issued by the United States + Government are to be found only on the pages of its Journal, which is + still an authoritative annual record. + </p> + <p> + Apart from their scientific attainments, one of the most interesting facts + about the Quakers is the large proportion of them who have reached + eminence, often in occupations which are supposed to be somewhat + inconsistent with Quaker doctrine. General Greene, the most capable + American officer of the Revolution, after Washington, was a Rhode Island + Quaker. General Mifflin of the Revolution was a Pennsylvania Quaker. + General Jacob Brown, a Bucks County Pennsylvania Quaker, reorganized the + army in the War of 1819. and restored it to its former efficiency. In the + long list of Quakers eminent in all walks of life, not only in + Pennsylvania but elsewhere, are to be found John Bright, a lover of peace + and human liberty through a long and eminent career in British politics; + John Dickinson of Philadelphia, who wrote the famous Farmer's Letters so + signally useful in the American Revolution; Whittier, the American poet, a + Quaker born in Massachusetts of a family converted from Puritanism when + the Quakers invaded Boston in the seventeenth century; and Benjamin West, + a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial times, an artist of permanent eminence, + one of the founders of the Royal Academy in England and its president in + succession to Sir Joshua Reynolds. + </p> + <p> + Wherever Quakers are found they are the useful and steady citizens. Their + eminence seems out of all proportion to their comparatively small numbers. + It has often been asked why this height of attainment should occur among a + people of such narrow religious discipline. But were the Quakers really + narrow, or were they any more narrow than other rigorously + self-disciplined people: Spartans, Puritans, soldiers whose discipline + enables them to achieve great results? All discipline is in one sense + narrow. Quaker quietude and retirement probably conserved mental energy + instead of dissipating it. In an age of superstition and irrational + religion, their minds were free and unhampered, and it was the dominant + rational tone of their thought that enabled science to flourish in + Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V. The Troubles Of Penn And His Sons + </h2> + <p> + The material prosperity of Penn's Holy Experiment kept on proving itself + over and over again every month of the year. But meantime great events + were taking place in England. The period of fifteen years from Penn's + return to England in 1684, until his return to Pennsylvania at the close + of the year of 1699, was an eventful time in English history. It was long + for a proprietor to be away from his province, and Penn would have left a + better reputation if he had passed those fifteen years in his colony, for + in England during that period he took what most Americans believe to have + been the wrong side in the Revolution of 1688. + </p> + <p> + Penn was closely tied by both interest and friendship to Charles II and + the Stuart family. When Charles II died in 1685 and his brother, the Duke + of York, ascended the throne as James II, Penn was equally bound to him, + because among other things the Duke of York had obtained Penn's release in + 1669 from imprisonment for his religious opinions. He became still more + bound when one of the first acts of the new King's reign was the release + of a great number of people who had been imprisoned for their religion, + among them thirteen hundred Quakers. In addition to preaching to the + Quakers and protecting them, Penn used his influence with James to secure + the return of several political offenders from exile. His friendship with + James raised him, indeed, to a position of no little importance at Court. + He was constantly consulted by the King, in whose political policy he + gradually became more and more involved. + </p> + <p> + James was a Roman Catholic and soon perfected his plans for making both + Church and State a papal appendage and securing for the Crown the right to + suspend acts of Parliament. Penn at first protested, but finally supported + the King in the belief that he would in the end establish liberty. In his + earlier years, however, Penn had written pamphlets arguing strenuously + against the same sort of despotic schemes that James was now undertaking; + and this contradiction of his former position seriously injured his + reputation even among his own people. + </p> + <p> + Part of the policy of James was to grant many favors to the Quakers and to + all other dissenting bodies in England, to release them from prison, to + give them perfect freedom of worship, and to remove the test laws which + prevented them from holding office. He thus hoped to unite them with the + Roman Catholics in extirpating the Church of England and establishing the + Papacy in its place. But the dissenters and nonconformists, though + promised relief from sufferings severer than it is possible perhaps now to + appreciate, refused almost to a man this tempting bait. Even the Quakers, + who had suffered probably more than the others, rejected the offer with + indignation and mourned the fatal mistake of their leader Penn. All + Protestant England united in condemning him, accused him of being a secret + Papist and a Jesuit in disguise, and believed him guilty of acts and + intentions of which he was probably entirely innocent. This extreme + feeling against Penn is reflected in Macaulay's "History of England," + which strongly espouses the Whig side; and in those vivid pages Penn is + represented, and very unfairly, as nothing less than a scoundrel. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the attempts which James made to secure his position, the + dissenters, the Church of England, and Penn's own Quakers all joined heart + and soul in the Revolution of 1688, which quickly dethroned the King, + drove him from England, and placed the Prince of Orange on the throne as + William III. Penn was now for many years in a very unfortunate, if not + dangerous, position, and was continually suspected of plotting to restore + James. For three years he was in hiding to escape arrest or worse, and he + largely lost the good will and affection of the Quakers. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, since his departure from Pennsylvania in the summer of 1684, + that province went on increasing in population and in pioneer prosperity. + But Penn's quitrents and money from sales of land were far in arrears, and + he had been and still was at great expense in starting the colony and in + keeping up the plantation and country seat he had established on the + Delaware River above Philadelphia. Troublesome political disputes also + arose. The Council of eighteen members which he had authorized to act as + governor in his absence neglected to send the new laws to him, slighted + his letters, and published laws in their own name without mentioning him + or the King. These irregularities were much exaggerated by enemies of the + Quakers in England. The Council was not a popular body and was frequently + at odds with the Assembly. + </p> + <p> + Penn thought he could improve the government by appointing five + commissioners to act as governor instead of the whole Council. Thomas + Lloyd, an excellent Quaker who had been President of the Council and who + had done much to allay hard feeling, was fortunately the president of + these commissioners. Penn instructed them to act as if he himself were + present, and at the next meeting of the Assembly to annul all the laws and + reenact only such as seemed proper. This course reminds us of the + absolutism of his friend, King James, and, indeed, the date of these + instructions (1686) is that when his intimacy with that bigoted monarch + reached its highest point. Penn's theory of his power was that the frame + or constitution of government he had given the province was a contract; + that, the Council and Assembly having violated some of its provisions, it + was annulled and he was free, at least for a time, to govern as he + pleased. Fortunately his commissioners never attempted to carry out these + instructions. There would have been a rebellion and some very unpleasant + history if they had undertaken to enforce such oriental despotism in + Pennsylvania. The five commissioners with Thomas Lloyd at their head seem + to have governed without seriously troublesome incidents for the short + term of two years during which they were in power. But in 1687 Thomas + Lloyd, becoming weary of directing them, asked to be relieved and is + supposed to have advised Penn to appoint a single executive instead of + commissioners. Penn accordingly appointed Captain John Blackwell, formerly + an officer in Cromwell's army. Blackwell was not a Quaker but a "grave, + sober, wise man," as Penn wrote to a friend, who would "bear down with a + visible authority vice and faction." It was hoped that he would vigorously + check all irregularities and bring Penn better returns from quitrents and + sales of land. + </p> + <p> + But this new governor clashed almost at once with the Assembly, tried to + make them pass a militia law, suggested that the province's trade to + foreign countries was illegal, persecuted and arrested members of the + Assembly, refused to submit new laws to it, and irritated the people by + suggesting the invalidity of their favorite laws. The Quaker Assembly + withstood and resisted him until they wore him out. After a year and one + month in office he resigned at Penn's request or, according to some + accounts, at his own request. At any rate, he expressed himself as + delighted to be relieved. As a Puritan soldier he found himself no match + for a peaceable Quaker Assembly. + </p> + <p> + Penn again made the Council the executive with Thomas Lloyd as its + President. But to the old causes of unrest a new one was now added. One + George Keith, a Quaker, turned heretic and carried a number of + Pennsylvania Quakers over to the Church of England, thereby causing great + scandal. The "Lower Counties" or Territories, as the present State of + Delaware was then called, became mutinous, withdrew their representatives + from the Council, and made William Markham their Governor. This action + together with the Keithian controversy, the disturbances over Blackwell, + and the clamors of Church of England people that Penn was absent and + neglecting his province, that the Quakers would make no military defense, + and that the province might at any time fall into the hands of France, + came to the ears of King William, who was already ill disposed toward Penn + and distrusted him as a Jacobite. It seemed hardly advisable to allow a + Jacobite to rule a British colony. Accordingly a royal order suspended + Penn's governmental authority and placed the province under Benjamin + Fletcher, Governor of New York. He undertook to rule in dictatorial + fashion, threatening to annex the province to New York, and as a + consequence the Assembly had plenty of trouble with him. But two years + later, 1694, the province was returned to Penn, who now appointed as + Governor William Markham, who had served as lieutenant-governor under + Fletcher. + </p> + <p> + Markham proceeded to be high-handed with the Assembly and to administer + the government in the imperialistic style of Fletcher. But the Assembly + soon tamed him and in 1696 actually worried out of him a new constitution, + which became known as Markham's Frame, proved much more popular than the + one Penn had given, and allowed the Assembly much more power. Markham had + no conceivable right to assent to it and Penn never agreed to it; but it + was lived under for the next four years until Penn returned to the + province. While it naturally had opponents, it was largely regarded as + entirely valid, and apparently with the understanding that it was to last + until Penn objected to it. + </p> + <p> + Penn had always been longing to return to Pennsylvania and live there for + the rest of his life; but the terrible times of the Revolution of 1688 in + England and its consequences had held him back. Those difficulties had now + passed. Moreover, William III had established free government and + religious liberty. No more Quakers were imprisoned and Penn's old + occupation of securing their protection and release was gone. + </p> + <p> + In the autumn of 1699 he sailed for Pennsylvania with his family and, + arriving after a tedious three months' voyage, was well received. His + political scrapes and mistakes in England seemed to be buried in the past. + He was soon at his old enjoyable life again, traveling actively about the + country, preaching to the Quakers, and enlarging and beautifying his + country seat, Pennsbury, on the Delaware, twenty miles above Philadelphia. + As roads and trails were few and bad he usually traveled to and from the + town in a barge which was rowed by six oarsmen and which seemed to give + him great pride and pleasure. + </p> + <p> + Two happy years passed away in this manner, during which Penn seems to + have settled, not however without difficulty, a great deal of business + with his people, the Assembly, and the Indian tribes. Unfortunately he got + word from England of a bill in Parliament for the revocation of colonial + charters and for the establishment of royal governments in their place. He + must needs return to England to fight it. Shortly before he sailed the + Assembly presented him with a draft of a new constitution or frame of + government which they had been discussing with him and preparing for some + time. This he accepted, and it became the constitution under which + Pennsylvania lived and prospered for seventy-five years, until the + Revolution of 1776. + </p> + <p> + This new constitution was quite liberal. The most noticeable feature of it + was the absence of any provision for the large elective council or upper + house of legislation, which had been very unpopular. The Assembly thus + became the one legislative body. There was incidental reference in the + document to a governor's council, although there was no formal clause + creating it. Penn and his heirs after his death always appointed a small + council as an advisory body for the deputy governor. The Assembly was to + be chosen annually by the freemen and to be composed of four + representatives from each county. It could originate bills, control its + own adjournments without interference from the Governor, choose its + speaker and other officers, and judge of the qualifications and election + of its own members. These were standard Anglo-Saxon popular parliamentary + rights developed by long struggles in England and now established in + Pennsylvania never to be relaxed. Finally a clause in the constitution + permitted the Lower Counties, or Territories, under certain conditions to + establish home rule. In 1705 the Territories took advantage of this + concession and set up an assembly of their own. + </p> + <p> + Immediately after signing the constitution, in the last days of October, + 1701, Penn sailed for England, expecting soon to return. But he became + absorbed in affairs in England and never saw his colony again. This was + unfortunate because Pennsylvania soon became a torment to him instead of a + great pleasure as it always seems to have been when he lived in it. He was + a happy present proprietor, but not a very happy absentee one. + </p> + <p> + The Church of England people in Pennsylvania entertained great hopes of + this proposal to turn the proprietary colonies into royal provinces. Under + such a change, while the Quakers might still have an influence in the + Legislature, the Crown would probably give the executive offices to + Churchmen. They therefore labored hard to discredit the Quakers. They kept + harping on the absurdity of a set of fanatics attempting to govern a + colony without a militia and without administering oaths of office or + using oaths in judicial proceedings. How could any one's life be safe from + foreign enemies without soldiers, and what safeguard was there for life, + liberty, and property before judges, jurors, and witnesses, none of whom + had been sworn? The Churchmen kept up their complaints for along time, but + without effect in England. Penn was able to thwart all their plans. The + bill to change the province into a royal one was never passed by + Parliament. Penn returned to his court life, his preaching, and his + theological writing, a rather curious combination and yet one by which he + had always succeeded in protecting his people. He was a favorite with + Queen Anne, who was now on the throne, and he led an expensive life which, + with the cost of his deputy governor's salary in the colony, the slowness + of his quitrent collections, and the dishonesty of the steward of his + English estates, rapidly brought him into debt. To pay the government + expense of a small colonial empire and at the same time to lead the life + of a courtier and to travel as a preacher would have exhausted a stronger + exchequer than Penn's. + </p> + <p> + The contests between the different deputy governors, whom Penn or his + descendants sent out, and the Quaker Legislature fill the annals of the + province for the next seventy years, down to the Revolution. These + quarrels, when compared with the larger national political contests of + history, seem petty enough and even tedious in detail. But, looked at in + another aspect, they are important because they disclose how liberty, + self-government, republicanism, and many of the constitutional principles + by which Americans now live were gradually developed as the colonies grew + towards independence. The keynote to all these early contests was what may + be called the fundamental principle of colonial constitutional law or, at + any rate, of constitutional practice, namely, that the Governor, whether + royal or proprietary, must always be kept poor. His salary or income must + never become a fixed or certain sum but must always be dependent on the + annual favor and grants of a legislature controlled by the people. This + belief was the foundation of American colonial liberty. The Assemblies, + not only in Pennsylvania but in other colonies, would withhold the + Governor's salary until he consented to their favorite laws. If he vetoed + their laws, he received no salary. One of the causes of the Revolution in + 1776 was the attempt of the mother country to make the governors and other + colonial officials dependent for their salaries on the Government in + England instead of on the legislatures in the colonies. + </p> + <p> + So the squabbles, as we of today are inclined to call them, went on in + Pennsylvania—provincial and petty enough, but often very large and + important so far as the principle which they involved was concerned. The + Legislature of Pennsylvania in those days was a small body composed of + only about twenty-five or thirty members, most of them sturdy, thrifty + Quakers. They could meet very easily anywhere—at the Governor's + house, if in conference with him, or at the treasurer's office or at the + loan office, if investigating accounts. Beneath their broad brim hats and + grave demeanor they were as Anglo-Saxon at heart as Robin Hood and his + merry men, and in their ninety years of political control they built up as + goodly a fabric of civil liberty as can be found in any community in the + world. + </p> + <p> + The dignified, confident message from a deputy governor, full of lofty + admonitions of their duty to the Crown, the province, and the proprietor, + is often met by a sarcastic, stinging reply of the Assembly. David Lloyd, + the Welsh leader of the anti-proprietary party, and Joseph Wilcox, another + leader, became very skillful in drafting these profoundly respectful but + deeply cutting replies. In after years, Benjamin Franklin attained even + greater skill. In fact, it is not unlikely that he developed a large + measure of his world famous aptness in the use of language in the process + of drafting these replies. The composing of these official communications + was important work, for a reply had to be telling and effective not only + with the Governor but with the people who learned of its contents at the + coffeehouse and spread the report of it among all classes. There was not a + little good-fellowship in their contests; and Franklin, for instance, + tells us how he used to abuse a certain deputy governor all day in the + Assembly and then dine with him in jovial intercourse in the evening. + </p> + <p> + The Assembly had a very convenient way of accomplishing its purposes in + legislation in spite of the opposition of the British Government. Laws + when passed and approved by the deputy governor had to be sent to England + for approval by the Crown within five years. But meanwhile the people + would live under the law for five years, and, if at the end of that time + it was disallowed, the Assembly would reenact the measure and live under + it again for another period. + </p> + <p> + The ten years after Penn's return to England in 1701 were full of trouble + for him. Money returns from the province were slow, partly because England + was involved in war and trade depressed, and partly because the Assembly, + exasperated by the deputy governors he appointed, often refused to vote + the deputy a salary and left Penn to bear all the expense of government. + He was being rapidly overwhelmed with debt. One of his sons was turning + out badly. The manager of his estates in England and Ireland, Philip Ford, + was enriching himself by the trust, charging compound interest at eight + per cent every six months, and finally claiming that Penn owed him 14,000 + pounds. Ford had rendered accounts from time to time, but Penn in his + careless way had tossed them aside without examination. When Ford pressed + for payment, Penn, still without making any investigation, foolishly gave + Ford a deed in fee simple of Pennsylvania as security. Afterwards he + accepted from Ford a lease of the province, which was another piece of + folly, for the lease could, of course, be used as evidence to show that + the deed was an absolute conveyance and not intended as a mortgage. + </p> + <p> + This unfortunate business Ford kept quiet during his lifetime. But on his + death his widow and son made everything public, professed to be the + proprietors of Pennsylvania, and sued Penn for 2000 pounds rent in + arrears. They obtained a judgment for the amount claimed and, as Penn + could not pay, they had him arrested and imprisoned for debt. For nine + months he was locked up in the debtors' prison, the "Old Bailey," and + there he might have remained indefinitely if some of his friends had not + raised enough money to compromise with the Fords. Isaac Norris, a + prominent Quaker from Pennsylvania, happened at that time to be in England + and exerted himself to set Penn free and save the province from further + disgrace. After this there was a reaction in Penn's favor. He selected a + better deputy governor for Pennsylvania. He wrote a long and touching + letter to the people, reminding them how they had flourished and grown + rich and free under his liberal laws, while he had been sinking in + poverty. + </p> + <p> + After that conditions improved in the affairs of Penn. The colony was + better governed, and the anti-proprietary party almost disappeared. The + last six or eight years of Penn's life were free from trouble. He had + ceased his active work at court, for everything that could be accomplished + for the Quakers in the way of protection and favorable laws had now been + done. Penn spent his last years in trying to sell the government of his + province to the Crown for a sum that would enable him to pay his debts and + to restore his family to prosperity. But he was too particular in + stipulating that the great principles of civil and religious liberty on + which the colony had been established should not be infringed. He had seen + how much evil had resulted to the rights of the people when the + proprietors of the Jerseys parted with their right to govern. In + consequence he required so many safeguards that the sale of Pennsylvania + was delayed and delayed until its founder was stricken with paralysis. + Penn lingered for some years, but his intellect was now too much clouded + to make a valid sale. The event, however, was fortunate for Pennsylvania, + which would probably otherwise have lost many valuable rights and + privileges by becoming a Crown colony. + </p> + <p> + On July 30,1718, Penn died at the age of seventy-four. His widow became + proprietor of the province, probably the only woman who ever became feudal + proprietor of such an immense domain. She appointed excellent deputy + governors and ruled with success for eight years until her death in 1726. + In her time the ocean was free from enemy cruisers, and the trade of the + colony grew so rapidly that the increasing sales of land and quitrents + soon enabled her to pay off the mortgage on the province and all the rest + of her husband's debts. It was sad that Penn did not live to see that day, + which he had so hoped for in his last years, when, with ocean commerce + free from depredations, the increasing money returns from his province + would obviate all necessity of selling the government to the Crown. + </p> + <p> + With all debts paid and prosperity increasing, Penn's sons became very + rich men. Death had reduced the children to three—John, Thomas, and + Richard. Of these, Thomas became what may be called the managing + proprietor, and the others were seldom heard of. Thomas lived in the + colony nine years—1732 to 1741—studying its affairs and + sitting as a member of the Council. For over forty years he was looked + upon as the proprietor. In fact, he directed the great province for almost + as long a time as his father had managed it. But he was so totally unlike + his father that it is difficult to find the slightest resemblance in + feature or in mind. He was not in the least disposed to proclaim or argue + about religion. Like the rest of his family, he left the Quakers and + joined the Church of England, a natural evolution in the case of many + Quakers. He was a prosperous, accomplished, sensible, cool-headed + gentleman, by no means without ability, but without any inclination for + setting the world on fire. He was a careful, economical man of business, + which is more than can be said of his distinguished father. He saw no + visions and cared nothing for grand speculations. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Penn, however, had his troubles and disputes with the Assembly. + They thought him narrow and close. Perhaps he was. That was the opinion of + him held by Franklin, who led the anti-proprietary party. But at the same + time some consideration must be given to the position in which Penn found + himself. He had on his hands an empire, rich, fertile, and inhabited by + liberty-loving Anglo-Saxons and by passive Germans. He had to collect from + their land the purchase money and quitrents rapidly rolling up in value + with the increase of population into millions of pounds sterling, for + which he was responsible to his relatives. At the same time he had to + influence the politics of the province, approve or reject laws in such a + way that his family interest would be protected from attack or attempted + confiscation, keep the British Crown satisfied, and see that the liberties + of the colonists were not impaired and that the people were kept + contented. + </p> + <p> + It was not an easy task even for a clear-headed man like Thomas Penn. He + had to arrange for treaties with the Indians and for the purchase of their + lands in accordance with the humane ideas of his father and in the face of + the Scotch-Irish thirst for Indian blood and the French desire to turn the + savages loose upon the Anglo-Saxon settlements. He had to fight through + the boundary disputes with Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, which + threatened to reduce his empire to a mere strip of land containing neither + Philadelphia nor Pittsburgh. The controversy with Connecticut lasted + throughout the colonial period and was not definitely settled till the + close of the Revolution. The charter of Connecticut granted by the British + Crown extended the colony westward to the Pacific Ocean and cut off the + northern half of the tract afterwards granted to William Penn. In + pursuance of what they believed to be their rights, the Connecticut people + settled in the beautiful valley of Wyoming. They were thereupon ejected by + force by the proprietors of Pennsylvania; but they returned, only to be + ejected again and again in a petty warfare carried on for many years. In + the summer of 1778, the people of the valley were massacred by the + Iroquois Indians. The history of this Connecticut boundary dispute fills + volumes. So does the boundary dispute with Maryland, which also lasted + throughout the colonial period; the dispute with Virginia over the site of + Pittsburgh is not so voluminous. All these controversies Thomas Penn + conducted with eminent skill, inexhaustible patience, and complete + success. For this achievement the State owes him a debt of gratitude. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Penn was in the extraordinary position of having to govern as a + feudal lord what was virtually a modern community. He was exercising + feudal powers three hundred years after all the reasons for the feudal + system had ceased to exist; and he was exercising those powers and + acquiring by them vast wealth from a people in a new and wild country + whose convictions, both civil and religious, were entirely opposed to + anything like the feudal system. It must certainly be put down as + something to his credit that he succeeded so well as to retain control + both of the political government and his family's increasing wealth down + to the time of the Revolution and that he gave on the whole so little + offense to a high-strung people that in the Revolution they allowed his + family to retain a large part of their land and paid them liberally for + what was confiscated. + </p> + <p> + The wealth which came to the three brothers they spent after the manner of + the time in country life. John and Richard do not appear to have had + remarkable country seats. But Thomas purchased in 1760 the fine English + estate of Stoke Park, which had belonged to Sir Christopher Hatton of + Queen Elizabeth's time, to Lord Coke, and later to the Cobham family. + Thomas's son John, grandson of the founder, greatly enlarged and + beautified the place and far down into the nineteenth century it was one + of the notable country seats of England. This John Penn also built another + country place called Pennsylvania Castle, equally picturesque and + interesting, on the Isle of Portland, of which he was Governor. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI. The French And Indian War + </h2> + <p> + There was no great change in political conditions in Pennsylvania until + about the year 1755. The French in Canada had been gradually developing + their plans of spreading down the Ohio and Mississippi valleys behind the + English colonies. They were at the same time securing alliances with the + Indians and inciting them to hostilities against the English. But so + rapidly were the settlers advancing that often the land could not be + purchased fast enough to prevent irritation and ill feeling. The + Scotch-Irish and Germans, it has already been noted, settled on lands + without the formality of purchase from the Indians. The Government, when + the Indians complained, sometimes ejected the settlers but more often + hastened to purchase from the Indians the land which had been occupied. + "The Importance of the British Plantations in America," published in 1731, + describes the Indians as peaceful and contented in Pennsylvania but + irritated and unsettled in those other colonies where they had usually + been ill-treated and defrauded. This, with other evidence, goes to show + that up to that time Penn's policy of fairness and good treatment still + prevailed. But those conditions soon changed, as the famous Walking + Purchase of 1737 clearly indicated. + </p> + <p> + The Walking Purchase had provided for the sale of some lands along the + Delaware below the Lehigh on a line starting at Wrightstown, a few miles + back from the Delaware not far above Trenton, and running northwest, + parallel with the river, as far as a man could walk in a day and a half. + The Indians understood that this tract would extend northward only to the + Lehigh, which was the ordinary journey of a day and a half. The + proprietors, however, surveyed the line beforehand, marked the trees, + engaged the fastest walkers and, with horses to carry provisions, started + their men at sunrise. By running a large part of the way, at the end of a + day and a half these men had reached a point thirty miles beyond the + Lehigh. + </p> + <p> + The Delaware Indians regarded this measurement as a pure fraud and refused + to abandon the Minisink region north of the Lehigh. The proprietors then + called in the assistance of the Six Nations of New York, who ordered the + Delawares off the Minisink lands. Though they obeyed, the Delawares became + the relentless enemies of the white man and in the coming years revenged + themselves by massacres and murder. They also broke the control which the + Six Nations had over them, became an independent nation, and in the French + Wars revenged themselves on the Six Nations as well as on the white men. + The congress which convened at Albany in 1754 was an attempt on the part + of the British Government to settle all Indian affairs in a general + agreement and to prevent separate treaties by the different colonies; but + the Pennsylvania delegates, by various devices of compass courses which + the Indians did not understand and by failing to notify and secure the + consent of certain tribes, obtained a grant of pretty much the whole of + Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna. The Indians considered this + procedure to be another gross fraud. It is to be noticed that in their + dealings with Penn they had always been satisfied, and that he had always + been careful that they should be duly consulted and if necessary be paid + twice over for the land. But his sons were more economical, and as a + result of the shrewd practices of the Albany purchase the Pennsylvania + Indians almost immediately went over in a body to the French and were soon + scalping men, women, and children among the Pennsylvania colonists. It is + a striking fact, however, that in all the after years of war and rapine + and for generations afterwards the Indians retained the most distinct and + positive tradition of Penn's good faith and of the honesty of all Quakers. + So persistent, indeed, was this tradition among the tribes of the West + that more than a century later President Grant proposed to put the whole + charge of the nation's Indian affairs in the hands of the Quakers. The + first efforts to avert the catastrophe threatened by the alliance of the + red man with the French were made by the provincial assemblies, which + voted presents of money or goods to the Indians to offset similar presents + from the French. The result was, of course, the utter demoralization of + the savages. Bribed by both sides, the Indians used all their native + cunning to encourage the bribers to bid against each other. So far as + Pennsylvania was concerned, feeling themselves cheated in the first + instance and now bribed with gifts, they developed a contempt for the + people who could stoop to such practices. As a result this contempt + manifested itself in deeds hitherto unknown in the province. One tribe on + a visit to Philadelphia killed cattle and robbed orchards as they passed. + The delegates of another tribe, having visited Philadelphia and received + 500 pounds as a present, returned to the frontier and on their way back + for another present destroyed the property of the interpreter and Indian + agent, Conrad Weiser. They felt that they could do as they pleased. To + make matters worse, the Assembly paid for all the damage done; and having + started on this foolish business, they found that the list of tribes + demanding presents rapidly increased. The Shawanoes and the Six Nations, + as well as the Delawares, were now swarming to this new and convenient + source of wealth. + </p> + <p> + Whether the proprietors or the Assembly should meet this increasing + expense or divide it between them, became a subject of increasing + controversy. It was in these discussions that Thomas Penn, in trying to + keep his family's share of the expense as small as possible, first got the + reputation for closeness which followed him for the rest of his life and + which started a party in the province desirous of having Parliament + abolish the proprietorship and put the province under a governor appointed + by the Crown. + </p> + <p> + The war with the French of Canada and their Indian allies is of interest + here only in so far as it affected the government of Pennsylvania. From + this point of view it involved a series of contests between the + proprietors and the Crown on the one side and the Assembly on the other. + The proprietors and the Crown took advantage of every military necessity + to force the Assembly into a surrender of popular rights. But the Assembly + resisted, maintaining that they had the same right as the British Commons + of having their money bills received or rejected by the Governor without + amendment. Whatever they should give must be given on their own terms or + not at all; and they would not yield this point to any necessities of the + war. + </p> + <p> + When Governor Morris asked the Assembly for a war contribution in 1754, + they promptly voted 20,000 pounds. This was the same amount that Virginia, + the most active of the colonies in the war, was giving. Other colonies + gave much less; New York, only 5000 pounds, and Maryland 6000 pounds. + Morris, however, would not assent to the Assembly's bill unless it + contained a clause suspending its effect until the King's pleasure was + known. This was an attempt to establish a precedent for giving up the + Assembly's charter right of passing laws which need not be submitted to + the King for five years and which in the meantime were valid. The members + of the Assembly very naturally refused to be forced by the necessities of + the war into surrendering one of the most important privileges the + province possessed. It was, they said, as much their duty to resist this + invasion of their rights as to resist the French. + </p> + <p> + Governor Morris, besides demanding that the supply of 20,000 pounds should + not go into force until the King's pleasure was known, insisted that the + paper money representing it should be redeemable in five years. This + period the Assembly considered too short; the usual time was ten years. + Five years would ruin too many people by foreclosures. Moreover, the + Governor was attempting to dictate the way in which the people should + raise a money supply. He and the King had a right to ask for aid in war; + but it was the right of the colony to use its own methods of furnishing + this assistance. The Governor also refused to let the Assembly see the + instructions from the proprietors under which he was acting. This was + another attack upon their liberties and involved nothing less than an + attempt to change their charter rights by secret instructions to a deputy + governor which he must obey at his peril. Several bills had recently been + introduced in the English Parliament for the purpose of making royal + instructions to governors binding on all the colonial assemblies without + regard to their charters. This innovation, the colonists felt, would wreck + all their liberties and turn colonial government into a mere despotism. + </p> + <p> + The assemblies of all the colonies have been a good deal abused for delay + in supporting the war and meanness in withholding money. But in many + instances the delay and lack of money were occasioned by the grasping + schemes of governors who saw a chance to gain new privileges for the Crown + or a proprietor or to weaken popular government by crippling the powers of + the legislatures. The usual statement that the Pennsylvania Assembly was + slow in assisting the war because it was composed of Quakers is not + supported by the facts. The Pennsylvania Assembly was not behind the rest. + On this particular occasion, when their large money supply bill could not + be passed without sacrificing their constitutional rights, they raised + money for the war by appointing a committee which was authorized to borrow + 5000 pounds on the credit of the Assembly. + </p> + <p> + Other contests arose over the claim of the proprietors that their estates + in the province were exempt from taxation for the war or any purpose. One + bill taxing the proprietary estates along with others was met by Thomas + Penn offering to subscribe 5000 pounds, as a free gift to the colony's war + measures. The Assembly accepted this, and passed the bill without taxing + the proprietary estates. It turned out, however, to be a shrewd business + move on the part of Thomas Penn; for the 5000 pounds was to be collected + out of the quitrents that were in arrears, and the payment of it was in + consequence long delayed. The thrifty Thomas had thus saddled his bad + debts on the province and gained a reputation for generosity at the same + time. + </p> + <p> + Pennsylvania, though governed by Quakers assisted by noncombatant Germans, + had a better protected frontier than Maryland or Virginia; no colony, + indeed, was at that time better protected. The Quaker Assembly did more + than take care of the frontier during the war; it preserved at the same + time constitutional rights in defense of which twenty-five years + afterwards the whole continent fought the Revolution. The Quaker Assembly + even passed two militia bills, one of which became law, and sent rather + more than the province's full share of troops to protect the frontiers of + New York and New England and to carry the invasion into Canada. + </p> + <p> + General Braddock warmly praised the assistance which Pennsylvania gave him + because, he said, she had done more for him than any of the other + colonies. Virginia and Maryland promised everything and performed nothing, + while Pennsylvania promised nothing and performed everything. Commodore + Spy thanked the Assembly for the large number of sailors sent his fleet at + the expense of the province. General Shirley, in charge of the New England + and New York campaigns, thanked the Assembly for the numerous recruits; + and it was the common opinion at the time that Pennsylvania had sent more + troops to the war than any other colony. In the first four years of the + war the province spent for military purposes 210,567 pounds sterling, + which was a very considerable sum at that time for a community of less + than 200,000 people. Quakers, though they hate war, will accept it when + there is no escape. The old story of the Quaker who tossed a pirate + overboard, saying, "Friend, thee has no business here," gives their point + of view better than pages of explanation. Quaker opinion has not always + been entirely uniform. In Revolutionary times in Philadelphia there was a + division of the Quakers known as the Fighting Quakers, and their meeting + house is still pointed out at the corner of Fourth Street and Arch. They + even produced able military leaders: Colonel John Dickinson, General + Greene, and General Mifflin in the Continental Army, and, in the War of + 1812, General Jacob Brown, who reorganized the army and restored its + failing fortunes after many officers had been tried and found wanting. + </p> + <p> + There was always among the Quakers a rationalistic party and a party of + mysticism. The rationalistic party prevailed in Pennsylvania all through + the colonial period. In the midst of the worst horrors of the French and + Indian wars, however, the conscientious objectors roused themselves and + began preaching and exhorting what has been called the mystical side of + the faith. Many extreme Quaker members of the Assembly resigned their + seats in consequence. After the Revolution the spiritual party began + gaining ground, partly perhaps because then the responsibilities of + government and care of the great political and religious experiment in + Pennsylvania were removed. The spiritual party increased so rapidly in + power that in 1827 a split occurred which involved not a little + bitterness, ill feeling, and litigation over property. This division into + two opposing camps, known as the Hicksites and the Orthodox, continues and + is likely to remain. + </p> + <p> + Quaker government in Pennsylvania was put to still severer tests by the + difficulties and disasters that followed Braddock's defeat. That + unfortunate general had something over two thousand men and was hampered + with a train of artillery and a splendid equipment of arms, tools, and + supplies, as if he were to march over the smooth highways of Europe. When + he came to drag all these munitions through the depths of the Pennsylvania + forests and up and down the mountains, he found that he made only about + three miles a day and that his horses had nothing to eat but the leaves of + the trees. Washington, who was of the party, finally persuaded him to + abandon his artillery and press forward with about fifteen hundred picked + men. These troops, when a few miles from Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), + met about six hundred Indians and three hundred French coming from the + fort. The English maintained a close formation where they were, but the + French and Indians immediately spread out on their flanks, lying behind + trees and logs which provided rests for their rifles and security for + their bodies. This strategy decided the day. The English were shot down + like cattle in a pen, and out of about fifteen hundred only four hundred + and fifty escaped. The French and Indian loss was not much over fifty. + </p> + <p> + This defeat of Braddock's force has become one of the most famous reverses + in history; and it was made worse by the conduct of Dunbar who had been + left in command of the artillery, baggage, and men in the rear. He could + have remained where he was as some sort of protection to the frontier. But + he took fright, burned his wagons, emptied his barrels of powder into the + streams, destroyed his provisions, and fled back to Fort Cumberland in + Maryland. Here the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as the + Pennsylvania Assembly urged him to stay. But, determined to make the + British rout complete, he soon retreated to the peace and quiet of + Philadelphia, and nothing would induce him to enter again the terrible + forests of Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + The natural result of the blunder soon followed. The French, finding the + whole frontier of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia abandoned, + organized the Indians under French officers and swept the whole region + with a devastation of massacre, scalping, and burning that has never been + equaled. Hurons, Potawatomies, Ojibways, Ottawas, Mingoes, renegades from + the Six Nations, together with the old treaty friends of Penn, the + Delawares and Shawanoes, began swarming eastward and soon had killed more + people than had been lost at Braddock's defeat. The onslaught reached its + height in September and October. By that time all the outlying frontier + settlers and their families had been killed or sent flying eastward to + seek refuge in the settlements. The Indians even followed them to the + settlements, reached the Susquehanna, and crossed it. They massacred the + people of the village of Gnadenhutten, near Bethlehem on the Lehigh, and + established near by a headquarters for prisoners and plunder. Families + were scalped within fifty miles of Philadelphia, and in one instance the + bodies of a murdered family were brought into the town and exhibited in + the streets to show the inhabitants how near the danger was approaching. + Nothing could be done to stem the savage tide. Virginia was suffering in + the same way: the settlers on her border were slaughtered or were driven + back in herds upon the more settled districts, and Washington, with a + nominal strength of fifteen hundred who would not obey orders, was forced + to stand a helpless spectator of the general flight and misery. There was + no adequate force or army anywhere within reach. The British had been put + to flight and had gone to the defense of New England and New York. Neither + Pennsylvania nor Virginia had a militia that could withstand the French + and their red allies. They could only wait till the panic had subsided and + then see what could be done. + </p> + <p> + One thing was accomplished, however, when the Pennsylvania Assembly passed + a Quaker militia law which is one of the most curious legal documents of + its kind in history. It was most aptly worded, drafted by the master hand + of Franklin. It recited the fact that the province had always been ruled + by Quakers who were opposed to war, but that now it had become necessary + to allow men to become soldiers and to give them every facility for the + profession of arms, because the Assembly though containing a Quaker + majority nevertheless represented all the people of the province. To + prevent those who believed in war from taking part in it would be as much + a violation of liberty of conscience as to force enlistments among those + who had conscientious scruples against it. Nor would the Quaker majority + have any right to compel others to bear arms and at the same time exempt + themselves. Therefore a voluntary militia system was established under + which a fighting Quaker, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, or anybody, + could enlist and have all the military glory he could win. + </p> + <p> + It was altogether a volunteer system. Two years afterwards, as the + necessities of war increased, the Quaker Assembly passed a rather + stringent compulsory militia bill; but the governor vetoed it, and the + first law with its volunteer system remained in force. Franklin busied + himself to encourage enlistments under it and was very successful. Though + a philosopher and a man of science, almost as much opposed to war as the + Quakers and not even owning a shotgun, he was elected commander and led a + force of about five hundred men to protect the Lehigh Valley. His common + sense seems to have supplied his lack of military training. He did no + worse than some professional soldiers who might be named. The valley was + supposed to be in great danger since its village of Gnadenhutten had been + burned and its people massacred. The Moravians, like the Quakers, had + suddenly found that they were not as much opposed to war as they had + supposed. They had obtained arms and ammunition from New York and had + built stockades, and Franklin was glad to find them so well prepared when + he arrived. He built small forts in different parts of the valley, acted + entirely on the defensive, and no doubt checked the raids of the Indians + at that point. They seem to have been watching him from the hilltops all + the time, and any rashness on his part would probably have brought + disaster upon him. After his force had been withdrawn, the Indians again + attacked and burned Gnadenhutten. + </p> + <p> + The chain of forts, at first seventeen, afterwards increased to fifty, + built by the Assembly on the Pennsylvania frontier was a good plan so far + as it went, but it was merely defensive and by no means completely + defensive, since Indian raiding parties could pass between the forts. They + served chiefly as refuges for neighboring settlers. The colonial troops or + militia, after manning the fifty forts and sending their quota to the + operations against Canada by way of New England and New York, were not + numerous enough to attack the Indians. They could only act on the + defensive as Franklin's command had done. As for the rangers, as the small + bands of frontiersmen acting without any authority of either governor or + legislature were called, they were very efficient as individuals but they + accomplished very little because they acted at widely isolated spots. What + was needed was a well organized force which could pursue the Indians on + their own ground so far westward that the settlers on the frontier would + be safe. The only troops which could do this were the British regulars + with the assistance of the colonial militia. + </p> + <p> + Two energetic efforts to end the war without aid from abroad were made, + however, one by the pacific Quakers and the other by the combatant portion + of the people. Both of these were successful so far as they went, but had + little effect on the general situation. In the summer of 1756, the Quakers + made a very earnest effort to persuade the two principal Pennsylvania + tribes, the Delawares and Shawanoes, to withdraw from the French alliance + and return to their old friends. These two tribes possessed a knowledge of + the country which enabled them greatly to assist the French designs on + Pennsylvania. Chiefs of these tribes were brought under safe conducts to + Philadelphia, where they were entertained as equals in the Quaker homes. + Such progress, indeed, was made that by the end of July a treaty of peace + was concluded at Easton eliminating those two tribes from the war. This + has sometimes been sneered at as mere Quaker pacifism; but it was + certainly successful in lessening the numbers and effectiveness of the + enemy. + </p> + <p> + The other undertaking was a military one, the famous attack upon + Kittanning conducted by Colonel John Armstrong, an Ulsterman from + Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the first really aggressive officer the + province had produced. The Indians had two headquarters for their raids + into the province, one at Logstown on the Ohio a few miles below Fort + Duquesne, and the other at Kittanning or, as the French called it, + Attique, about forty miles northeast. At these two points they assembled + their forces, received ammunition and supplies from the French, and + organized their expeditions. As Kittanning was the nearer, Armstrong in a + masterly maneuver took three hundred men through the mountains without + being discovered and, by falling upon the village early in the morning, he + effected a complete surprise. The town was set on fire, the Indians were + put to flight, and large quantities of their ammunition were destroyed. + But Armstrong could not follow up his success. Threatened by overwhelming + numbers, he hastened to withdraw. The effect which the fighting and the + Quaker treaty had on the frontier was good. Incursions of the savages + were, at least for the present, checked. But the root of the evil had not + yet been reached, and the Indians remained massed along the Ohio, ready to + break in upon the people again at the first opportunity. + </p> + <p> + The following year, 1757, was the most depressing period of the war. The + proprietors of Pennsylvania took the opportunity to exempt their own + estate from taxation and throw the burden of furnishing money for the war + upon the colonists. Under pressure of the increasing success of the French + and Indians and because the dreadful massacres were coming nearer and + nearer to Philadelphia, the Quaker Assembly yielded, voted the largest sum + they had ever voted to the war, and exempted the proprietary estates. The + colony was soon boiling with excitement. The Churchmen, as friends of the + proprietors, were delighted to have the estates exempted, thought it a + good opportunity to have the Quaker Assembly abolished, and sent petitions + and letters and proofs of alleged Quaker incompetence to the British + Government. The Quakers and a large majority of the colonists, on the + other hand, instead of consenting to their own destruction, struck at the + root of the Churchmen's power by proposing to abolish the proprietors. And + in a letter to Isaac Norris, Benjamin Franklin, who had been sent to + England to present the grievances of the colonists, even suggested that + "tumults and insurrections that might prove the proprietary government + unable to preserve order, or show the people to be ungovernable, would do + the business immediately." + </p> + <p> + Turmoil and party strife rose to the most exciting heights, and the + details of it might, under certain circumstances, be interesting to + describe. But the next year, 1758, the British Government, by sending a + powerful force of regulars to Pennsylvania, at last adopted the only + method for ending the war. Confidence was at once restored. The + Pennsylvania Assembly now voted the sufficient and, indeed, immense sum of + one hundred thousand pounds, and offered a bounty of five pounds to every + recruit. It was no longer a war of defense but now a war of aggression and + conquest. Fort Duquesne on the Ohio was taken; and the next autumn Fort + Pitt was built on its ruins. Then Canada fell, and the French empire in + America came to an end. Canada and the Great West passed into the + possession of the Anglo-Saxon race. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII. The Decline Of Quaker Government + </h2> + <p> + When the treaty of peace was signed in 1763, extinguishing France's title + to Canada and turning over Canada and the Mississippi Valley to the + English, the colonists were prepared to enjoy all the blessings of peace. + But the treaty of peace had been made with France, not with the red man. A + remarkable genius, Pontiac, appeared among the Indians, one of the few + characters, like Tecumseh and Osceola, who are often cited as proof of + latent powers almost equal to the strongest qualities of the white race. + Within a few months he had united all the tribes of the West in a + discipline and control which, if it had been brought to the assistance of + the French six years earlier, might have conquered the colonies to the + Atlantic seaboard before the British regulars could have come to their + assistance. The tribes swept westward into Pennsylvania, burning, + murdering, and leveling every habitation to the ground with a thoroughness + beyond anything attempted under the French alliance. The settlers and + farmers fled eastward to the towns to live in cellars, camps, and sheds as + best they could. * Fortunately the colonies retained a large part of the + military organization, both men and officers, of the French War, and were + soon able to handle the situation. Detroit and Niagara were relieved by + water; and an expedition commanded by Colonel Bouquet, who had + distinguished himself under General Forties, saved Fort Pitt. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * For an account of Pontiac's conspiracy, see "The Old Northwest" +by Frederic A. Ogg (in "The Chronicles of America"). +</pre> + <p> + At this time the Scotch-Irish frontiersmen suddenly became prominent. They + had been organizing for their own protection and were meeting with not a + little success. They refused to join the expedition of regular troops + marching westward against Pontiac's warriors, because they wanted to + protect their own homes and because they believed the regulars to be + marching to sure destruction. Many of the regular troops were invalided + from the West Indies, and the Scotch-Irish never expected to see any of + them again. They believed that the salvation of Pennsylvania, or at least + of their part of the province, depended entirely upon themselves. Their + increasing numbers and rugged independence were forming them also into an + organized political party with decided tendencies, as it afterwards + appeared, towards forming a separate state. + </p> + <p> + The extreme narrowness of the Scotch-Irish, however, misled them. The only + real safety for the province lay in regularly constituted and strong + expeditions, like that of Bouquet, which would drive the main body of the + savages far westward. But the Scotch-Irish could not see this; and with + that intensity of passion which marked all their actions they turned their + energy and vengeance upon the Quakers and semicivilized Indians in the + eastern end of the colony. Their preachers, who were their principal + leaders and organizers, encouraged them in denouncing Quaker doctrine as a + wicked heresy from which only evil could result. The Quakers had offended + God from the beginning by making treaties of kindness with the heathen + savages instead of exterminating them as the Scripture commanded: "And + when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite + them and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor + show mercy unto them." The Scripture had not been obeyed; the heathen had + not been destroyed; on the contrary, a systematic policy of covenants, + treaties, and kindness had been persisted in for two generations, and as a + consequence, the Ulstermen said, the frontiers were now deluged in blood. + They were particularly resentful against the small settlement of Indians + near Bethlehem, who had been converted to Christianity by the Moravians, + and another little village of half civilized basketmaking Indians at + Conestoga near Lancaster. The Scotch-Irish had worked themselves up into a + strange belief that these small remnants were sending information, arms, + and ammunition to the western tribes; and they seemed to think that it was + more important to exterminate these little communities than to go with + such expeditions as Bouquet's to the West. They asked the Governor to + remove these civilized Indians and assured him that their removal would + secure the safety of the frontier. When the Governor, not being able to + find anything against the Indians, declined to remove them, the + Scotch-Irish determined to attend to the matter in their own fashion. + </p> + <p> + Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run, much to the surprise of the Scotch-Irish, + stopped Indian raids of any seriousness until the following spring. But in + the autumn there were a few depredations, which led the frontiersmen to + believe that the whole invasion would begin again. A party of them, + therefore, started to attack the Moravian Indians near Bethlehem; but + before they could accomplish their object, the Governor brought most of + the Indians down to Philadelphia for protection. Even there they were + narrowly saved from the mob, for the hostility against them was spreading + throughout the province. + </p> + <p> + Soon afterwards another party of Scotch-Irish, ever since known as the + "Paxton Boys," went at break of day to the village of the Conestoga + Indians and found only six of them at home—three men, two women, and + a boy. These they instantly shot down, mutilated their bodies, and burned + their cabins. As the murderers returned, they related to a man on the road + what they had done, and when he protested against the cruelty of the deed, + they asked, "Don't you believe in God and the Bible?" The remaining + fourteen inhabitants of the village, who were away selling brooms, were + collected by the sheriff and put in the jail at Lancaster for protection. + The Paxtons heard of it and in a few days stormed the jail, broke down the + doors, and either shot the poor Indians or cut them to pieces with + hatchets. + </p> + <p> + This was probably the first instance of lynch law in America. It raised a + storm of indignation and controversy; and a pamphlet war persisted for + several years. The whole province was immediately divided into two + parties. On one side were the Quakers, most of the Germans, and + conservatives of every sort, and on the other, inclined to sympathize with + the Scotch-Irish, were the eastern Presbyterians, some of the Churchmen, + and various miscellaneous people whose vindictiveness towards all Indians + had been aroused by the war. The Quakers and conservatives, who seem to + have been the more numerous, assailed the Scotch-Irish in no measured + language as a gang of ruffians without respect for law or order who, + though always crying for protection, had refused to march with Bouquet to + save Fort Pitt or to furnish him the slightest assistance. Instead of + going westward where the danger was and something might be accomplished, + they had turned eastward among the settlements and murdered a few poor + defenseless people, mostly women and children. + </p> + <p> + Franklin, who had now returned from England, wrote one of his best + pamphlets against the Paxtons, the valorous, heroic Paxtons, as he called + them, prating of God and the Bible, fifty-seven of whom, armed with + rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually succeeded in killing three old + men, two women, and a boy. This pamphlet became known as the "Narrative" + from the first word of its title, and it had an immense circulation. Like + everything Franklin wrote, it is interesting reading to this day. + </p> + <p> + One of the first effects of this controversy was to drive the excitable + Scotch-Irish into a flame of insurrection not unlike the Whisky Rebellion, + which started among them some years after the Revolution. They held + tumultuous meetings denouncing the Quakers and the whole proprietary + government in Philadelphia, and they organized an expedition which + included some delegates to suggest reforms. For the most part, however, it + was a well equipped little army variously estimated at from five hundred + to fifteen hundred on foot and on horseback, which marched towards + Philadelphia with no uncertain purpose. They openly declared that they + intended to capture the town, seize the Moravian Indians protected there, + and put them to death. They fully expected to be supported by most of the + people and to have everything their own way. As they passed along the + roads, they amused themselves in their rough fashion by shooting chickens + and pigs, frightening people by thrusting their rifles into windows, and + occasionally throwing some one down and pretending to scalp him. + </p> + <p> + In the city there was great excitement and alarm. Even the classes who + sympathized with the Scotch-Irish did not altogether relish having their + property burned or destroyed. Great preparations were made to meet the + expedition. British regulars were summoned. Eight companies of militia and + a battery of artillery were hastily formed. Franklin became a military man + once more and superintended the preparations. On all sides the Quakers + were enlisting; they had become accustomed to war; and this legitimate + chance to shoot a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian was too much for the strongest + scruples of their religion. It was a long time, however, before they heard + the end of this zeal; and in the pamphlet war which followed they were + accused of clamorously rushing to arms and demanding to be led against the + enemy. + </p> + <p> + It is amusing now to read about it in the old records. But it was serious + enough at the time. When the Scotch-Irish army reached the Schuylkill + River and found the fords leading to the city guarded, they were not quite + so enthusiastic about killing Quakers and Indians. They went up the river + some fifteen miles, crossed by an unopposed ford, and halted in Germantown + ten miles north of Philadelphia. That was as far as they thought it safe + to venture. Several days passed, during which the city people continued + their preparations and expected every night to be attacked. There were, + indeed, several false alarms. Whenever the alarm was sounded at night, + every one placed candles in his windows to light up the streets. One night + when it rained the soldiers were allowed to shelter themselves in a Quaker + meeting house, which for some hours bristled with bayonets and swords, an + incident of which the Presbyterian pamphleteers afterwards made much use + for satire. On another day all the cannon were fired to let the enemy know + what was in store for him. + </p> + <p> + Finally commissioners with the clever, genial Franklin at their head, went + out to Germantown to negotiate, and soon had the whole mighty difference + composed. The Scotch-Irish stated their grievances. The Moravian Indians + ought not to be protected by the government, and all such Indians should + be removed from the colony; the men who killed the Conestoga Indians + should be tried where the supposed offense was committed and not in + Philadelphia; the five frontier counties had only ten representatives in + the Assembly while the three others had twenty-six—this should be + remedied; men wounded in border war should be cared for at public expense; + no trade should be carried on with hostile Indians until they restored + prisoners; and there should be a bounty on scalps. + </p> + <p> + While these negotiations were proceeding, some of the Scotch-Irish amused + themselves by practicing with their rifles at the weather vane, a figure + of a cock, on the steeple of the old Lutheran church in Germantown—an + unimportant incident, it is true, but one revealing the conditions and + character of the time as much as graver matters do. The old weather vane + with the bullet marks upon it is still preserved. About thirty of these + same riflemen were invited to Philadelphia and were allowed to wander + about and see the sights of the town. The rest returned to the frontier. + As for their list of grievances, not one of them was granted except, + strange and sad to relate, the one which asked for a scalp bounty. The + Governor, after the manner of other colonies, it must be admitted, issued + the long desired scalp proclamation, which after offering rewards for + prisoners and scalps, closed by saying, "and for the scalp of a female + Indian fifty pieces of eight." William Penn's Indian policy had been + admired for its justice and humanity by all the philosophers and statesmen + of the world, and now his grandson, Governor of the province, in the last + days of the family's control, was offering bounties for women's scalps. + </p> + <p> + Franklin while in England had succeeded in having the proprietary lands + taxed equally with the lands of the colonists. But the proprietors + attempted to construe this provision so that their best lands were taxed + at the rate paid by the people on their worst. This obvious quibble of + course raised such a storm of opposition that the Quakers, joined by + classes which had never before supported them, and now forming a large + majority, determined to appeal to the Government in England to abolish the + proprietorship and put the colony under the rule of the King. In the + proposal to make Pennsylvania a Crown colony there was no intention of + confiscating the possessions of the proprietors. It was merely the + proprietary political power, their right to appoint the Governor, that was + to be abolished. This right was to be absorbed by the Crown with payment + for its value to the proprietors; but in all other respects the charter + and the rights and liberties of the people were to remain unimpaired. Just + there lay the danger. An act of Parliament would be required to make the + change and, having once started on such a change, Parliament, or the party + in power therein, might decide to make other changes, and in the end there + might remain very little of the original rights and liberties of the + colonists under their charter. It was by no means a wise move. But intense + feeling on the subject was aroused. Passionate feeling seemed to have been + running very high among the steady Quakers. In this new outburst the + Quakers had the Scotch-Irish on their side, and a part of the Churchmen. + The Germans were divided, but the majority enthusiastic for the change was + very large. + </p> + <p> + There was a new alignment of parties. The eastern Presbyterians, usually + more or less in sympathy with the Scotch-Irish, broke away from them on + this occasion. These Presbyterians opposed the change to a royal governor + because they believed that it would be followed by the establishment by + law of the Church of England, with bishops and all the other ancient + evils. Although some of the Churchmen joined the Quaker side, most of them + and the most influential of them were opposed to the change and did good + work in opposing it. They were well content with their position under the + proprietors and saw nothing to be gained under a royal governor. There + were also not a few people who, in the increase of the wealth of the + province, had acquired aristocratic tastes and were attached to the + pleasant social conditions that had grown up round the proprietary + governors and their followers; and there were also those whose salaries, + incomes, or opportunities for wealth were more or less dependent on the + proprietors retaining the executive offices and the appointments and + patronage. + </p> + <p> + One of the most striking instances of a change of sides was the case of a + Philadelphia Quaker, John Dickinson, a lawyer of large practice, a man of + wealth and position, and of not a little colonial magnificence when he + drove in his coach and four. It was he who later wrote the famous + "Farmer's Letters" during the Revolution. He was a member of the Assembly + and had been in politics for some years. But on this question of a change + to royal government, he left the Quaker majority and opposed the change + with all his influence and ability. He and his father-in-law, Isaac + Norris, Speaker of the Assembly, became the leaders against the change, + and Franklin and Joseph Galloway, the latter afterwards a prominent + loyalist in the Revolution, were the leading advocates of the change. + </p> + <p> + The whole subject was thoroughly thrashed out in debates in the Assembly + and in pamphlets of very great ability and of much interest to students of + colonial history and the growth of American ideas of liberty. It must be + remembered that this was the year 1764, on the eve of the Revolution. + British statesmen were planning a system of more rigorous control of the + colonies; and the advisability of a stamp tax was under consideration. + Information of all these possible changes had reached the colonies. + Dickinson foresaw the end and warned the people. Franklin and the Quaker + party thought there was no danger and that the mother country could be + implicitly trusted. + </p> + <p> + Dickinson warned the people that the British Ministry were starting + special regulations for new colonies and "designing the strictest + reformations in the old." It would be a great relief, he admitted, to be + rid of the pettiness of the proprietors, and it might be accomplished some + time in the future; but not now. The proprietary system might be bad, but + a royal government might be worse and might wreck all the liberties of the + province, religious freedom, the Assembly's control of its own + adjournments, and its power of raising and disposing of the public money. + The ministry of the day in England were well known not to be favorably + inclined towards Pennsylvania because of the frequently reported + willfulness of the Assembly, on which the recent disturbances had also + been blamed. If the King, Ministry, and Parliament started upon a change, + they might decide to reconstitute the Assembly entirely, abolish its + ancient privileges, and disfranchise both Quakers and Presbyterians. + </p> + <p> + The arguments of Franklin and Galloway consisted principally of assertions + of the good intentions of the mother country and the absurdity of any fear + on the part of the colonists for their privileges. But the King in whom + they had so much confidence was George III, and the Parliament which they + thought would do no harm was the same one which a few months afterwards + passed the Stamp Act which brought on the Revolution. Franklin and + Galloway also asserted that the colonies like Massachusetts, the Jerseys, + and the Carolinas, which had been changed to royal governments, had + profited by the change. But that was hardly the prevailing opinion in + those colonies themselves. Royal governors could be as petty and annoying + as the Penns and far more tyrannical. Pennsylvania had always defeated any + attempts at despotism on the part of the Penn family and had built up a + splendid body of liberal laws and legislative privileges. But governors + with the authority and power of the British Crown behind them could not be + so easily resisted as the deputy governors of the Penns. + </p> + <p> + The Assembly, however, voted—twenty-seven to three—with + Franklin and Galloway. In the general election of the autumn, the question + was debated anew among the people and, though Franklin and Galloway were + defeated for seats in the Assembly, yet the popular verdict was strongly + in favor of a change, and the majority in the Assembly was for practical + purposes unaltered. They voted to appeal to England for the change, and + appointed Franklin to be their agent before the Crown and Ministry. He + sailed again for England and soon was involved in the opening scenes of + the Revolution. He was made agent for all the colonies and he spent many + delightful years there pursuing his studies in science, dining with + distinguished men, staying at country seats, and learning all the arts of + diplomacy for which he afterwards became so distinguished. + </p> + <p> + As for the Assembly's petition for a change to royal government, Franklin + presented it, but never pressed it. He, too, was finally convinced that + the time was inopportune. In fact, the Assembly itself before long began + to have doubts and fears and sent him word to let the subject drop; and + amid much greater events it was soon entirely forgotten. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII. The Beginnings Of New Jersey + </h2> + <p> + New Jersey, Scheyichbi, as the Indians called it, or Nova Caesarea, as it + was called in the Latin of its proprietary grant, had a history rather + different from that of other English colonies in America. Geographically, + it had not a few attractions. It was a good sized dominion surrounded on + all sides but one by water, almost an island domain, secluded and + independent. In fact, it was the only one of the colonies which stood + naturally separate and apart. The others were bounded almost entirely by + artificial or imaginary lines. + </p> + <p> + It offered an opportunity, one might have supposed, for some dissatisfied + religious sect of the seventeenth century to secure a sanctuary and keep + off all intruders. But at first no one of the various denominations seems + to have fancied it or chanced upon it. The Puritans disembarked upon the + bleak shores of New England well suited to the sternness of their + religion. How different American history might have been if they had + established themselves in the Jerseys! Could they, under those milder + skies, have developed witchcraft, set up blue laws, and indulged in the + killing of Quakers? After a time they learned about the Jerseys and cast + thrifty eyes upon them. Their seafaring habits and the pursuit of whales + led them along the coast and into Delaware Bay. The Puritans of New Haven + made persistent efforts to settle the southern part of Jersey, on the + Delaware near Salem. They thought, as their quaint old records show, that + if they could once start a branch colony in Jersey it might become more + populous and powerful than the New Haven settlement and in that case they + intended to move their seat of government to the new colony. But their + shrewd estimate of its value came too late. The Dutch and the Swedes + occupied the Delaware at that time and drove them out. Puritans, however, + entered northern Jersey and, while they were not numerous enough to make + it a thoroughly Puritan community, they largely tinged its thought and its + laws, and their influence still survives. + </p> + <p> + The difficulty with Jersey was that its seacoast was a monotonous line of + breakers with dangerous shoal inlets, few harbors, and vast mosquito + infested salt marshes and sandy thickets. In the interior it was for the + most part a level, heavily forested, sandy, swampy country in its southern + portions, and rough and mountainous in the northern portions. Even the + entrance by Delaware Bay was so difficult by reason of its shoals that it + was the last part of the coast to be explored. The Delaware region and + Jersey were in fact a sort of middle ground far less easy of access by the + sea than the regions to the north in New England and to the south in + Virginia. + </p> + <p> + There were only two places easy of settlement in the Jerseys. One was the + open region of meadows and marshes by Newark Bay near the mouth of the + Hudson and along the Hackensack River, whence the people slowly extended + themselves to the seashore at Sandy Hook and thence southward along the + ocean beach. This was East Jersey. The other easily occupied region, which + became West Jersey, stretched along the shore of the lower Delaware from + the modern Trenton to Salem, whence the settlers gradually worked their + way into the interior. Between these two divisions lay a rough wilderness + which in its southern portion was full of swamps, thickets, and pine + barrens. So rugged was the country that the native Indians lived for the + most part only in the two open regions already described. + </p> + <p> + The natural geographical, geological, and even social division of New + Jersey is made by drawing a line from Trenton to the mouth of the Hudson + River. North of that line the successive terraces of the piedmont and + mountainous region form part of the original North American continent. + South of that line the more or less sandy level region was once a shoal + beneath the ocean; afterwards a series of islands; then one island with a + wide sound behind it passing along the division line to the mouth of the + Hudson. Southern Jersey was in short an island with a sound behind it very + much like the present Long Island. The shoal and island had been formed in + the far distant geologic past by the erosion and washings from the lofty + Pennsylvania mountains now worn down to mere stumps. + </p> + <p> + The Delaware River flowed into this sound at Trenton. Gradually the Hudson + end of the sound filled up as far as Trenton, but the tide from the ocean + still runs up the remains of the Old Sound as far as Trenton. The Delaware + should still be properly considered as ending at Trenton, for the rest of + its course to the ocean is still part of Old Pensauken Sound, as it is + called by geologists. + </p> + <p> + The Jerseys originated as a colony in 1664. In 1675 West Jersey passed + into the control of the Quakers. In 1680 East Jersey came partially under + Quaker influence. In August, 1664, Charles II seized New York, New Jersey, + and all the Dutch possessions in America, having previously in March + granted them to his brother the Duke of York. The Duke almost immediately + gave to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, members of the Privy + Council and defenders of the Stuart family in the Cromwellian wars, the + land between the Delaware River and the ocean, and bounded on the north by + a line drawn from latitude 41 degrees on the Hudson to latitude 41 degrees + 40 minutes on the Delaware. This region was to be called, the grant said, + Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey. The name was a compliment to Carteret, who + in the Cromwellian wars had defended the little isle of Jersey against the + forces of the Long Parliament. As the American Jersey was then almost an + island and geologically had been one, the name was not inappropriate. + </p> + <p> + Berkeley and Carteret divided the province between them. In 1676 an exact + division was attempted, creating the rather unnatural sections known as + East Jersey and West Jersey. The first idea seems to have been to divide + by a line running from Barnegat on the seashore to the mouth of Pensauken + Creek on the Delaware just above Camden. This, however, would have made a + North Jersey and a South Jersey, with the latter much smaller than the + former. Several lines seem to have been surveyed at different times in the + attempt to make an exactly equal division, which was no easy engineering + task. As private land titles and boundaries were in some places dependent + on the location of the division line, there resulted much controversy and + litigation which lasted down into our own time. Without going into + details, it is sufficient to say that the acceptable division line began + on the seashore at Little Egg Harbor at the lower end of Barnegat Bay and + crossed diagonally or northwesterly to the northern part of the Delaware + River just above the Water Gap. It is known as the Old Province line, and + it can be traced on any map of the State by prolonging, in both + directions, the northeastern boundary of Burlington County. + </p> + <p> + West Jersey, which became decidedly Quaker, did not remain long in the + possession of Lord Berkeley. He was growing old; and, disappointed in his + hopes of seeing it settled, he sold it, in 1673, for one thousand pounds + to John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, both of them old Cromwellian soldiers + turned Quakers. That this purchase was made for the purpose of affording a + refuge in America for Quakers then much imprisoned and persecuted in + England does not very distinctly appear. At least there was no parade of + it. But such a purpose in addition to profit for the proprietors may well + have been in the minds of the purchasers. + </p> + <p> + George Fox, the Quaker leader, had just returned from a missionary journey + in America, in the course of which he had traveled through New Jersey in + going from New York to Maryland. Some years previously in England, about + 1659, he had made inquiries as to a suitable place for Quaker settlement + and was told of the region north of Maryland which became Pennsylvania. + But how could a persecuted sect obtain such a region from the British + Crown and the Government that was persecuting them? It would require + powerful influence at Court; nothing could then be done about it; and + Pennsylvania had to wait until William Penn became a man with influence + enough in 1681 to win it from the Crown. But here was West Jersey, no + longer owned directly by the Crown and bought in cheap by two Quakers. It + was an unexpected opportunity. Quakers soon went to it, and it was the + first Quaker colonial experiment. + </p> + <p> + Byllinge and Fenwick, though turned Quakers, seem to have retained some of + the contentious Cromwellian spirit of their youth. They soon quarreled + over their respective interests in the ownership of West Jersey; and to + prevent a lawsuit, so objectionable to Quakers, the decision was left to + William Penn, then a rising young Quaker about thirty years old, dreaming + of ideal colonies in America. Penn awarded Fenwick a one-tenth interest + and four hundred pounds. Byllinge soon became insolvent and turned over + his nine-tenths interest to his creditors, appointing Penn and two other + Quakers, Gawen Lawrie, a merchant of London, and Nicholas Lucas, a + maltster of Hertford, to hold it in trust for them. Gawen Lawrie + afterwards became deputy governor of East Jersey. Lucas was one of those + thoroughgoing Quakers just released from eight years in prison for his + religion. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West Jersey, and +Delaware", p. 180. +</pre> + <p> + Fenwick also in the end fell into debt and, after selling over one hundred + thousand acres to about fifty purchasers, leased what remained of his + interest for a thousand years to John Edridge, a tanner, and Edmund + Warner, a poulterer, as security for money borrowed from them. They + conveyed this lease and their claims to Penn, Lawrie, and Lucas, who thus + became the owners, as trustees, of pretty much all West Jersey. + </p> + <p> + This was William Penn's first practical experience in American affairs. He + and his fellow trustees, with the consent of Fenwick, divided the West + Jersey ownership into one hundred shares. The ninety belonging to Byllinge + were offered for sale to settlers or to creditors of Byllinge who would + take them in exchange for debts. The settlement of West Jersey thus became + the distribution of an insolvent Quaker's estate among his creditor fellow + religionists. + </p> + <p> + Although no longer in possession of a title to land, Fenwick, in 1675, + went out with some Quaker settlers to Delaware Bay. There they founded the + modern town of Salem, which means peace, giving it that name because of + the fair and peaceful aspect of the wilderness on the day they arrived. + They bought the land from the Indians in the usual manner, as the Swedes + and Dutch had so often done. But they had no charter or provision for + organized government. When Fenwick attempted to exercise political + authority at Salem, he was seized and imprisoned by Andros, Governor of + New York for the Duke of York, on the ground that, although the Duke had + given Jersey to certain individual proprietors, the political control of + it remained in the Duke's deputy governor. Andros, who had levied a tax of + five per cent on all goods passing up the Delaware, now established + commissioners at Salem to collect the duties. + </p> + <p> + This action brought up the whole question of the authority of Andros. The + trustee proprietors of West Jersey appealed to the Duke of York, who was + suspiciously indifferent to the matter, but finally referred it for + decision to a prominent lawyer, Sir William Jones, before whom the Quaker + proprietors of West Jersey made a most excellent argument. They showed the + illegality, injustice, and wrong of depriving the Jerseys of vested + political rights and forcing them from the freeman's right of making their + own laws to a state of mere dependence on the arbitrary will of one man. + Then with much boldness they declared that "To exact such an unterminated + tax from English planters, and to continue it after so many repeated + complaints, will be the greatest evidence of a design to introduce, if the + Crown should ever devolve upon the Duke, an unlimited government in old + England." Prophetic words which the Duke, in a few years, tried his best + to fulfill. But Sir William Jones deciding against him, he acquiesced, + confirmed the political rights of West Jersey by a separate grant, and + withdrew any authority Andros claimed over East Jersey. The trouble, + however, did not end here. Both the Jerseys were long afflicted by + domineering attempts from New York. + </p> + <p> + Penn and his fellow trustees now prepared a constitution, or "Concessions + and Agreements," as they called it, for West Jersey, the first Quaker + political constitution embodying their advanced ideas, establishing + religious liberty, universal suffrage, and voting by ballot, and + abolishing imprisonment for debt. It foreshadowed some of the ideas + subsequently included in the Pennsylvania constitution. All these + experiences were an excellent school for William Penn. He learned the + importance in starting a colony of having a carefully and maturely + considered system of government. In his preparations some years afterwards + for establishing Pennsylvania he avoided much of the bungling of the West + Jersey enterprise. + </p> + <p> + A better organized attempt was now made to establish a foothold in West + Jersey farther up the river than Fenwick's colony at Salem. In 1677 the + ship Kent took out some 230 rather well-to-do Quakers, about as fine a + company of broadbrims, it is said, as ever entered the Delaware. Some were + from Yorkshire and London, largely creditors of Byllinge, who were taking + land to satisfy their debts. They all went up the river to Raccoon Creek + on the Jersey side, about fifteen miles below the present site of + Philadelphia, and lived at first among the Swedes, who had been in that + part of Jersey for some years and who took care of the new arrivals in + their barns and sheds. These Quaker immigrants, however, soon began to + take care of themselves, and the weather during the winter proving mild, + they explored farther up the river in a small boat. They bought from the + Indians the land along the river shore from Oldman's Creek all the way up + to Trenton and made their first settlements on the river about eighteen + miles above the site of Philadelphia, at a place they at first called New + Beverly, then Bridlington, and finally Burlington. + </p> + <p> + They may have chosen this spot partly because there had been an old Dutch + settlement of a few families there. It had long been a crossing of the + Delaware for the few persons who passed by land from New York or New + England to Maryland and Virginia. One of the Dutchmen, Peter Yegon, kept a + ferry and a house for entertaining travelers. George Fox, who crossed + there in 1671, describes the place as having been plundered by the Indians + and deserted. He and his party swam their horses across the river and got + some of the Indians to help them with canoes. + </p> + <p> + Other Quaker immigrants followed, going to Salem as well as to Burlington, + and a stretch of some fifty miles of the river shore became strongly + Quaker. There are not many American towns now to be found with more of the + old-time picturesqueness and more relics of the past than Salem and + Burlington. + </p> + <p> + Settlements were also started on the river opposite the site afterwards + occupied by Philadelphia, at Newton on the creek still called by that + name; and another a little above on Cooper's Creek, known as Cooper's + Ferry until 1794. Since then it has become the flourishing town of Camden, + full of shipbuilding and manufacturing, but for long after the Revolution + it was merely a small village on the Jersey shore opposite Philadelphia, + sometimes used as a hunting ground and a place of resort for duelers and + dancing parties from Philadelphia. + </p> + <p> + The Newton settlers were Quakers of the English middle class, weavers, + tanners, carpenters, bricklayers, chandlers, blacksmiths, coopers, bakers, + haberdashers, hatters, and linen drapers, most of them possessed of + property in England and bringing good supplies with them. Like all the + rest of the New Jersey settlers they were in no sense adventurers, gold + seekers, cavaliers, or desperadoes. They were well-to-do middle class + English tradespeople who would never have thought of leaving England if + they had not lost faith in the stability of civil and religious liberty + and the security of their property under the Stuart Kings. With them came + servants, as they were called; that is, persons of no property, who agreed + to work for a certain time in payment of their passage, to escape from + England. All, indeed, were escaping from England before their estates + melted away in fines and confiscations or their health or lives ended in + the damp, foul air of the crowded prisons. Many of those who came had been + in jail and had decided that they would not risk imprisonment a second + time. Indeed, the proportion of West Jersey immigrants who had actually + been in prison for holding or attending Quaker meetings or refusing to pay + tithes for the support of the established church was large. For example, + William Bates, a carpenter, while in jail for his religion, made + arrangements with his friends to escape to West Jersey as soon as he + should be released, and his descendants are now scattered over the United + States. Robert Turner, a man of means, who settled finally in Philadelphia + but also owned much land near Newton in West Jersey, had been imprisoned + in England in 1660, again in 1662, again in 1665, and some of his property + had been taken, again imprisoned in 1669 and more property taken; and many + others had the same experience. Details such as these make us realize the + situation from which the Quakers sought to escape. So widespread was the + Quaker movement in England and so severe the punishment imposed in order + to suppress it that fifteen thousand families are said to have been ruined + by the fines, confiscations, and imprisonments. + </p> + <p> + Not a few Jersey Quakers were from Ireland, whither they had fled because + there the laws against them were less rigorously administered. The Newton + settlers were joined by Quakers from Long Island, where, under the English + law as administered by the New York governors, they had also been fined + and imprisoned, though with less severity than at home, for nonconformity + to the Church of England. On arriving, the West Jersey settlers suffered + some hardships during the year that must elapse before a crop could be + raised and a log cabin or house built. During that period they usually + lived, in the Indian manner, in wigwams of poles covered with bark, or in + caves protected with logs in the steep banks of the creeks. Many of them + lived in the villages of the Indians. The Indians supplied them all with + corn and venison, and without this Indian help, they would have run + serious risk of starving, for they were not accustomed to hunting. They + had also to thank the Indians for having in past ages removed so much of + the heavy forest growth from the wide strip of land along the river that + it was easy to start cultivation. + </p> + <p> + These Quaker settlers made a point of dealing very justly with the Indians + and the two races lived side by side for several generations. There is an + instance recorded of the Indians attending with much solemnity the funeral + of a prominent Quaker woman, Esther Spicer, for whom they had acquired + great respect. The funeral was held at night, and the Indians in canoes, + the white men in boats, passed down Cooper's Creek and along the river to + Newton Creek where the graveyard was, lighting the darkness with + innumerable torches, a strange scene to think of now as having been once + enacted in front of the bustling cities of Camden and Philadelphia. Some + of the young settlers took Indian wives, and that strain of native blood + is said to show itself in the features of several families to this day. + </p> + <p> + Many letters of these settlers have been preserved, all expressing the + greatest enthusiasm for the new country, for the splendid river better + than the Thames, the good climate, and their improved health, the immense + relief to be away from the constant dread of fines and punishment, the + chance to rise in the world, with large rewards for industry. They note + the immense quantities of game, the Indians bringing in fat bucks every + day, the venison better than in England, the streams full of fish, the + abundance of wild fruits, cranberries, hurtleberries, the rapid increase + of cattle, and the good soil. A few details concerning some of the + interesting characters among these early colonial Quakers have been + rescued from oblivion. There is, for instance, the pleasing picture of a + young man and his sister, convinced Quakers, coming out together and + pioneering in their log cabin until each found a partner for life. There + was John Haddon, from whom Haddonfield is named, who bought a large tract + of land but remained in England, while his daughter Elizabeth came out + alone to look after it. A strong, decisive character she was, and women of + that sort have always been encouraged in independent action by the + Quakers. She proved to be an excellent manager of an estate. The romance + of her marriage to a young Quaker preacher, Estaugh, has been celebrated + in Mrs. Maria Child's novel "The Youthful Emigrant." The pair became + leading citizens devoted to good works and to Quaker liberalism for many a + year in Haddonfield. + </p> + <p> + It was the ship Shields of Hull, bringing Quaker immigrants to Burlington, + of which the story is told that in beating up the river she tacked close + to the rather high bank with deep water frontage where Philadelphia was + afterwards established; and some of the passengers remarked that it was a + fine site for a town. The Shields, it is said, was the first ship to sail + up as far as Burlington. Anchoring before Burlington in the evening, the + colonists woke up next morning to find the river frozen hard so that they + walked on the ice to their future habitations. + </p> + <p> + Burlington was made the capital of West Jersey, a legislature was convened + and laws were passed under the "concessions" or constitution of the + proprietors. Salem and Burlington became the ports of the little province, + which was well under way by 1682, when Penn came out to take possession of + Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + The West Jersey people of these two settlements spread eastward into the + interior but were stopped by a great forest area known as the Pines, or + Pine Barrens, of such heavy growth that even the Indians lived on its + outer edges and entered it only for hunting. It was an irregularly shaped + tract, full of wolves, bear, beaver, deer, and other game, and until + recent years has continued to attract sportsmen from all parts of the + country. Starting near Delaware Bay, it extended parallel with the ocean + as far north as the lower portion of the present Monmouth County and + formed a region about seventy-five miles long and thirty miles wide. It + was roughly the part of the old sandy shoal that first emerged from the + ocean, and it has been longer above water than any other part of southern + Jersey. The old name, Pine Barrens, is hardly correct because it implies + something like a desert, when as a matter of fact the region produced + magnificent forest trees. + </p> + <p> + The innumerable visitors who cross southern Jersey to the famous seashore + resorts always pass through the remains of this old central forest and are + likely to conclude that the monotonous low scrub oaks and stunted pines on + sandy level soil, seen for the last two or three generations, were always + there and that the primeval forest of colonial times was no better. But + that is a mistake. The stunted growth now seen is not even second growth + but in many cases fourth or fifth or more. The whole region was cut over + long ago. The original growth, pine in many places, consisted also of + lofty timber of oak, hickory, gum, ash, chestnut, and numerous other + trees, interspersed with dogwood, sassafras, and holly, and in the swamps + the beautiful magnolia, along with the valuable white cedar. DeVries, who + visited the Jersey coast about 1632, at what is supposed to have been + Beesley's or Somer's Point, describes high woods coming down to the shore. + Even today, immediately back of Somer's Point, there is a magnificent + lofty oak forest accidentally preserved by surrounding marsh from the + destructive forest fires; and there are similar groves along the road + towards Pleasantville. In fact, the finest forest trees flourish in that + region wherever given a good chance. Even some of the beaches of Cape May + had valuable oak and luxuriant growths of red cedar; and until a few years + ago there were fine trees, especially hollies, surviving on Wildwood + Beach. + </p> + <p> + The Jersey white cedar swamps were, and still are, places of fascinating + interest to the naturalist and the botanist. The hunter or explorer found + them scattered almost everywhere in the old forest and near its edges, + varying in size from a few square yards up to hundreds of acres. They were + formed by little streams easily checked in their flow through the level + land by decaying vegetation or dammed by beavers. They kept the water + within the country, preventing all effects of droughts, stimulating the + growth of vegetation which by its decay, throughout the centuries, was + steadily adding vegetable mold or humus to the sandy soil. This process of + building up a richer soil has now been largely stopped by lumbering, + drainage, and fires. + </p> + <p> + While there are many of these swamps left, the appearance of numbers of + them has largely changed. When the white men first came, the great cedars + three or four feet in diameter which had fallen centuries before often lay + among the living trees, some of them buried deep in the mud and preserved + from decay. They were invaluable timber, and digging them out and cutting + them up became an important industry for over a hundred years. In addition + to being used for boat building, they made excellent shingles which would + last a lifetime. The swamps, indeed, became known as shingle mines, and it + was a good description of them. An important trade was developed in + hogshead staves, hoops, shingles, boards, and planks, much of which went + into the West Indian trade to be exchanged for rum, sugar, molasses, and + negroes. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Between the years 1740 and '50, the Cedar Swamps of the county +[Cape May] were mostly located; and the amount of lumber since taken +from them is incalculable, not only as an article of trade, but to +supply the home demand for fencing and building material in the county. +Large portions of these swamps have been worked a second and some a +third time, since located. At the present time 1857 there is not an +acre of original growth of swamp standing, having all passed away +before the resistless sway of the speculator or the consumer. "Beesley's +"Sketch of Cape May" p. 197. +</pre> + <p> + The great forest has long since been lumbered to death. The pines were + worked for tar, pitch, resin, and turpentine until for lack of material + the industry passed southward through the Carolinas to Florida, exhausting + the trees as it went. The Christmas demand for holly has almost stripped + the Jersey woods of these trees once so numerous. Destructive fires and + frequent cutting keep the pine and oak lands stunted. Thousands of + dollars' worth of cedar springing up in the swamps are sometimes destroyed + in a day. But efforts to control the fires so destructive not only to this + standing timber but to the fertility of the soil, and attempts to reforest + this country not only for the sake of timber but as an attraction to those + who resort there in search of health or natural beauty, have not been + vigorously pushed. The great forest has now, to be sure, been partially + cultivated in spots, and the sand used for large glass-making industries. + Small fruits and grapes flourish in some places. At the northern end of + this forest tract the health resort known as Lakewood was established to + take advantage of the pine air. A little to the southward is the secluded + Brown's Mills, once so appealing to lovers of the simple life. Checked on + the east by the great forest, the West Jersey Quakers spread southward + from Salem until they came to the Cohansey, a large and beautiful stream + flowing out of the forest and wandering through green meadows and marshes + to the bay. So numerous were the wild geese along its shores and along the + Maurice River farther south that the first settlers are said to have + killed them for their feathers alone and to have thrown the carcasses + away. At the head of navigation of the Cohansey was a village called + Cohansey Bridge, and after 1765 Bridgeton, a name still borne by a + flourishing modern town. Lower down near the marsh was the village of + Greenwich, the principal place of business up to the year 1800, with a + foreign trade. Some of the tea the East India Company tried to force on + the colonists during the Revolution was sent there and was duly rejected. + It is still an extremely pretty village, with its broad shaded streets + like a New England town and its old Quaker meeting house. In fact, not a + few New Englanders from Connecticut, still infatuated with southern Jersey + in spite of the rebuffs received in ancient times from Dutch and Swedes, + finally settled near the Cohansey after it came under control of the more + amiable Quakers. There was also one place called after Fairfield in + Connecticut and another called New England Town. + </p> + <p> + The first churches of this region were usually built near running streams + so that the congregation could procure water for themselves and their + horses. Of one old Presbyterian Church it used to be said that no one had + ever ridden to it in a wheeled vehicle. Wagons and carriages were very + scarce until after the Revolution. Carts for occasions of ceremony as well + as utility were used before wagons and carriages. For a hundred and fifty + years the horse's back was the best form of conveyance in the deep sand of + the trails and roads. This was true of all southern Jersey. Pack horses + and the backs of Indian and negro slaves were the principal means of + transportation on land. The roads and trails, in fact, were so few and so + heavy with sand that water travel was very much developed. The Indian + dugout canoe was adopted and found faster and better than heavy English + rowboats. As the province was almost surrounded by water and was covered + with a network of creeks and channels, nearly all the villages and towns + were situated on tidewater streams, and the dugout canoe, modified and + improved, was for several generations the principal means of + communication. Most of the old roads in New Jersey followed Indian trails. + There was a trail, for example, from the modern Camden opposite + Philadelphia, following up Cooper's Creek past Berlin, then called + Long-a-coming, crossing the watershed, and then following Great Egg Harbor + River to the seashore. Another trail, long used by the settlers, led from + Salem up to Camden, Burlington, and Trenton, going round the heads of + streams. It was afterwards abandoned for the shorter route obtained by + bridging the streams nearer their mouths. This old trail also extended + from the neighborhood of Trenton to Perth Amboy near the mouth of the + Hudson, and thus, by supplementing the lower routes, made a trail nearly + the whole length of the province. + </p> + <p> + As a Quaker refuge, West Jersey never attained the success of + Pennsylvania. The political disturbances and the continually threatened + loss of self-government in both the Jerseys were a serious deterrent to + Quakers who, above all else, prized rights which they found far better + secured in Pennsylvania. In 1702, when the two Jerseys were united into + one colony under a government appointed by the Crown, those rights were + more restricted than ever and all hopes of West Jersey becoming a colony + under complete Quaker control were shattered. Under Governor Cornbury, the + English law was adopted and enforced, and the Quakers were disqualified + from testifying in court unless they took an oath and were prohibited from + serving on juries or holding any office of trust. Cornbury's judges wore + scarlet robes, powdered wigs, cocked hats, gold lace, and side arms; they + were conducted to the courthouse by the sheriff's cavalcade and opened + court with great parade and ceremony. Such a spectacle of pomp was + sufficient to divert the flow of Quaker immigrants to Pennsylvania, where + the government was entirely in Quaker hands and where plain and serious + ways gave promise of enduring and unmolested prosperity. + </p> + <p> + The Quakers had altogether thirty meeting houses in West Jersey and eleven + in East Jersey, which probably shows about the proportion of Quaker + influence in the two Jerseys. Many of them have since disappeared; some of + the early buildings, to judge from the pictures, were of wood and not + particularly pleasing in appearance. They were makeshifts, usually + intended to be replaced by better buildings. Some substantial brick + buildings of excellent architecture have survived, and their plainness and + simplicity, combined with excellent proportions and thorough construction, + are clearly indicative of Quaker character. There is a particularly + interesting one in Salem with a magnificent old oak beside it, another in + the village of Greenwich on the Cohansey farther south, and another at + Crosswicks near Trenton. + </p> + <p> + In West Jersey near Mount Holly was born and lived John Woolman, a Quaker + who became eminent throughout the English speaking world for the + simplicity and loftiness of his religious thought as well as for his + admirable style of expression. His "Journal," once greatly and even + extravagantly admired, still finds readers. "Get the writings of John + Woolman by heart," said Charles Lamb, "and love the early Quakers." He was + among the Quakers one of the first and perhaps the first really earnest + advocate of the abolition of slavery. The scenes of West Jersey and the + writings of Woolman seem to belong together. Possibly a feeling for the + simplicity of those scenes and their life led Walt Whitman, who grew up on + Long Island under Quaker influence, to spend his last years at Camden, in + West Jersey. His profound democracy, which was very Quaker-like, was more + at home there perhaps than anywhere else. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX. Planters And Traders Of Southern Jersey + </h2> + <p> + Most of the colonies in America, especially the stronger ones, had an + aristocratic class, which was often large and powerful, as in the case of + Virginia, and which usually centered around the governor, especially if he + were appointed from England by the Crown or by a proprietor. But there was + very little of this social distinction in New Jersey. Her political life + had been too much broken up, and she had been too long dependent on the + governors of New York to have any of those pretty little aristocracies + with bright colored clothes, and coaches and four, flourishing within her + boundaries. There seems to have been a faint suggestion of such social + pretensions under Governor Franklin just before the Revolution. He was + beginning to live down the objections to his illegitimate birth and + Toryism and by his entertainments and manner of living was creating a + social following. There is said also to have been something a little like + the beginning of an aristocracy among the descendants of the Dutch + settlers who had ancestral holdings near the Hudson; but this amounted to + very little. + </p> + <p> + Class distinctions were not so strongly marked in New Jersey as in some + other colonies. There grew up in southern Jersey, however, a sort of + aristocracy of gentlemen farmers, who owned large tracts of land and lived + in not a little style in good houses on the small streams. + </p> + <p> + The northern part of the province, largely settled and influenced by New + Englanders, was like New England a land of vigorous concentrated town life + and small farms. The hilly and mountainous nature of the northern section + naturally led to small holdings of land. But in southern Jersey the level + sandy tracts of forest were often taken up in large areas. In the absence + of manufacturing, large acreage naturally became, as in Virginia and + Maryland, the only mark of wealth and social distinction. The great + landlord was looked up to by the lesser fry. The Quaker rule of + discountenancing marrying out of meeting tended to keep a large acreage in + the family and to make it larger by marriage. A Quaker of broad acres + would seek for his daughter a young man of another landholding Quaker + family and would thus join the two estates. + </p> + <p> + There was a marked difference between East Jersey and West Jersey in + county organization. In West Jersey the people tended to become planters; + their farms and plantations somewhat like those of the far South; and the + political unit of government was the county. In East Jersey the town was + the starting point and the county marked the boundaries of a collection of + towns. This curious difference, the result of soil, climate, and methods + of life, shows itself in other States wherever South and North meet. + Illinois is an example, where the southern part of the State is governed + by the county system, and the northern part by the town system. + </p> + <p> + The lumberman, too, in clearing off the primeval forest and selling the + timber, usually dealt in immense acreage. Some families, it is said, can + be traced steadily proceeding southward as they stripped off the forest, + and started sawmills and gristmills on the little streams that trickled + from the swamps, and like beavers making with their dams those pretty + ponds which modern lovers of the picturesque are now so eager to find. A + good deal of the lumbering in the interior pines tract was carried on by + persons who leased the premises from owners who lived on plantations along + the Delaware or its tributary streams. These operations began soon after + 1700. Wood roads were cut into the Pines, sawmills were started, and + constant use turned some of these wood roads into the highways of modern + times. + </p> + <p> + There was a speculative tinge in the operations of this landed + aristocracy. Like the old tobacco raising aristocracy of Virginia and + Maryland, they were inclined to go from tract to tract, skinning what they + could from a piece of deforested land and then seeking another virgin + tract. The roughest methods were used; wooden plows, brush harrows, straw + collars, grapevine harness, and poor shelter for animals and crops; but + were the Virginia methods any better? In these operations there was + apparently a good deal of sudden profit and mushroom prosperity + accompanied by a good deal of debt and insolvency. In this, too, they were + like the Virginians and Carolinians. There seem to have been also a good + many slaves in West Jersey, brought, as in the southern colonies, to work + on the large estates, and this also, no doubt, helped to foster the + aristocratic feeling. + </p> + <p> + The best days of the Jersey gentlemen farmers came probably when they + could no longer move from tract to tract. They settled down and enjoyed a + very plentiful, if rude, existence on the products of their land, game, + and fish, amid a fine climate—with mosquitoes enough in summer to + act as a counterirritant and prevent stagnation from too much ease and + prosperity. After the manner of colonial times, they wove their own + clothes from the wool of their own sheep and made their own implements, + furniture, and simple machinery. + </p> + <p> + There are still to be found fascinating traces of this old life in + out-of-the-way parts of southern Jersey. To run upon old houses among the + Jersey pines still stored with Latin classics and old editions of + Shakespeare, Addison, or Samuel Johnson, to come across an old mill with + its machinery, cogwheels, flywheels, and all, made of wood, to find people + who make their own oars, and the handles of their tools from the materials + furnished by their own forest, is now unfortunately a refreshment of the + spirit that is daily becoming rarer. + </p> + <p> + This condition of material and social self-sufficiency lasted in places + long after the Revolution. It was a curious little aristocracy—a + very faint and faded one, lacking the robustness of the far southern type, + and lacking indeed the real essential of an aristocracy, namely political + power. Moreover, although there were slaves in New Jersey, there were not + enough of them to exalt the Jersey gentlemen farmers into such + self-sufficient lords and masters as the Virginian and Carolinian planters + became. + </p> + <p> + To search out the remains of this stage of American history, however, + takes one up many pleasant streams flowing out of the forest tract to the + Delaware on one side or to the ocean on the other. This topographical + formation of a central ridge or watershed of forest and swamp was a + repetition of the same formation in the Delaware peninsula, which like + southern Jersey had originally been a shoal and then an island. The Jersey + watershed, with its streams abounding in wood duck and all manner of wild + life, must have been in its primeval days as fascinating as some of the + streams of the Florida cypress swamps. Toward the ocean, Wading River, the + Mullica, the Tuckahoe, Great Egg; and on the Delaware side the Maurice, + Cohansey, Salem Creek, Oldman's, Raccoon, Mantua, Woodberry, Timber, and + the Rancocas, still possess attraction. Some of them, on opposite sides of + the divide, are not far apart at their sources in the old forest tract; so + that a canoe can be transported over the few miles and thus traverse the + State. One of these trips up Timber Creek from the Delaware and across + only eight miles of land to the headwaters of Great Egg Harbor River and + thence down to the ocean, thus cutting South Jersey in half, is a + particularly romantic one. The heavy woods and swamps of this secluded + route along these forest shadowed streams are apparently very much as they + were three hundred years ago. + </p> + <p> + The water in all these streams, particularly in their upper parts, owing + to the sandy soil, is very clean and clear and is often stained by the + cedar roots in the swamps a clear brown, sometimes almost an amber color. + One of the streams, the Rancocas, with its many windings to Mount Holly + and then far inland to Brown's Mills, seems to be the favorite with + canoemen and is probably without an equal in its way for those who love + the Indian's gift that brings us so close to nature. + </p> + <p> + The spread of the Quaker settlements along Delaware Bay to Cape May was + checked by the Maurice River and its marshes and by the Great Cedar Swamp + which crossed the country from Delaware Bay to the ocean and thus made of + the Cape May region a sort of island. The Cape May region, it is true, was + settled by Quakers, but most of them came from Long Island rather than + from the settlements on the Delaware. They had followed whale fishing on + Long Island and in pursuit of that occupation some of them had migrated to + Cape May where whales were numerous not far off shore. + </p> + <p> + The leading early families of Cape May, the Townsends, Stillwells, + Corsons, Leamings, Ludlams, Spicers, and Cresses, many of whose + descendants still live there, were Quakers of the Long Island strain. The + ancestor of the Townsend family came to Cape May because he had been + imprisoned and fined and threatened with worse under the New York + government for assisting his fellow Quakers to hold meetings. Probably the + occasional severity of the administration of the New York laws against + Quakers, which were the same as those of England, had as much to do as had + the whales with the migration to Cape May. This Quaker civilization + extended from Cape May up as far as Great Egg Harbor where the Great Cedar + Swamp joined the seashore. Quaker meeting houses were built at Cape May, + Galloway, Tuckahoe, and Great Egg. All have been abandoned and the + buildings themselves have disappeared, except that of the Cape May + meeting, called the Old Cedar Meeting, at Seaville; and it has no + congregation. The building is kept in repair by members of the Society + from other places. + </p> + <p> + Besides the Quakers, Cape May included a number of New Haven people, the + first of whom came there as early as 1640 under the leadership of George + Lamberton and Captain Turner, seeking profit in whale fishing. They were + not driven out by the Dutch and Swedes, as happened to their companions + who attempted to settle higher up the river at Salem and the Schuylkill. + About one-fifth of the old family names of Cape May and New Haven are + similar, and there is supposed to be not a little New England blood not + only in Cape May but in the neighboring counties of Cumberland and Salem. + While the first New Haven whalers came to Cape May in 1640, it is probable + that for a long time they only sheltered their vessels there, and none of + them became permanent settlers until about 1685. + </p> + <p> + Scandinavians contributed another element to the population of the Cape + May region. Very little is definitely known about this settlement, but the + Swedish names in Cape May and Cumberland counties seem to indicate a + migration of Scandinavians from Wilmington and Tinicum. + </p> + <p> + Great Egg Harbor, which formed the northern part of the Cape May + settlement, was named from the immense numbers of wild fowl, swans, ducks, + and water birds that formerly nested there every summer and have now been + driven to Canada or beyond. Little Egg Harbor farther up the coast was + named for the same reason as well as Egg Island, of three hundred acres in + Delaware Bay, since then eaten away by the tide. The people of the + district had excellent living from the eggs as well as from the plentiful + fowl, fish, and oysters. + </p> + <p> + Some farming was done by the inhabitants of Cape May; and many cattle, + marked with brands but in a half wild state, were kept out on the + uninhabited beaches which have now become seaside summer cities. Some of + the cattle were still running wild on the beaches down to the time of the + Civil War. The settlers "mined" the valuable white cedar from the swamps + for shingles and boards, leaving great "pool holes" in the swamps which + even today sometimes trap the unwary sportsman. The women knitted + innumerable mittens and also made wampum or Indian money from the clam and + oyster shells, an important means of exchange in the Indian trade all over + the colonies, and even to some extent among the colonists themselves. The + Cape May people built sloops for carrying the white cedar, the mittens, + oysters, and wampum to the outside world. They sold a great deal of their + cedar in Long Island, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Philadelphia finally + became their market for oysters and also for lumber, corn, and the + whalebone and oil. Their sloops also traded to the southern colonies and + even to the West Indies. + </p> + <p> + They were an interesting little community, these Cape May people, very + isolated and dependent on the water and on their boats, for they were + completely cut off by the Great Cedar Swamp which stretched across the + point and separated them from the rest of the coast. This troublesome + swamp was not bridged for many years; and even then the roads to it were + long, slow, and too sandy for transporting anything of much bulk. + </p> + <p> + Next above Cape May on the coast was another isolated patch of + civilization which, while not an island, was nevertheless cut off on the + south by Great Egg Harbor with its river and marshes, and on the north by + Little Egg Harbor with the Mullica River and its marshes extending far + inland. The people in this district also lived somewhat to themselves. To + the north lay the district which extended to Sandy Hook, also with its + distinct set of people. + </p> + <p> + The people of the Cape became in colonial times clever traders in various + pursuits. Although in one sense they were as isolated as islanders, their + adventurous life on the sea gave them breadth of view. By their thrift and + in innumerable shrewd and persistent ways they amassed competencies and + estates for their families. Aaron Leaming, for example, who died in 1780, + left an estate of nearly $1,000,000. Some kept diaries which have become + historically valuable in showing not only their history but their good + education and the peculiar cast of their mind for keen trading as well as + their rigid economy and integrity. + </p> + <p> + One character, Jacob Spicer, a prosperous colonial, insisted on having + everything made at home by his sons and daughters—shoes, clothes, + leather breeches, wampum, even shoe thread—calculating the cost of + everything to a fraction and economizing to the last penny of money and + the last second of time. Yet in the course of a year he used "fifty-two + gallons of rum, ten of wine, and two barrels of cyder." Apparently in + those days hard labor and hard drinking went well together. + </p> + <p> + The Cape May people, relying almost entirely on the water for + communication and trade, soon took to piloting vessels in the Delaware + River, and some of them still follow this occupation. They also became + skillful sailors and builders of small craft, and it is not surprising to + learn that Jacocks Swain and his sons introduced, in 1811, the centerboard + for keeping flat-bottomed craft closer to the wind. They are said to have + taken out a patent for this invention and are given the credit of being + the originators of the idea. But the device was known in England in 1774, + was introduced in Massachusetts in the same year, and may have been used + long before by the Dutch. The need of it, however, was no doubt strongly + impressed upon the Cape May people by the difficulties which their little + sloops experienced in beating home against contrary winds. Some of them, + indeed, spent weeks in sight of the Cape, unable to make it. One sloop, + the Nancy, seventy-two days from Demarara, hung off and on for forty-three + days from December 25, 1787, to February 6, 1788, and was driven off + fifteen times before she finally got into Hereford Inlet. Sometimes better + sailing craft had to go out and bring in such distressed vessels. The + early boats were no doubt badly constructed; but in the end apprenticeship + to dire necessity made the Cape May sailors masters of seamanship and the + windward art. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Stevens, "History of Cape May County," pp. 219, 229; Kelley, +"American Yachts" (1884), p. 165. +</pre> + <p> + Wilson, the naturalist, spent a great deal of time in the Cape May region, + because of the great variety of birds to be found there. Southern types, + like the Florida egret, ventured even so far north, and it was a stopping + place for migrating birds, notably woodcock, on their northern and + southern journeys. Men of the stone age had once been numerous in this + region, as the remains of village plats and great shell heaps bore + witness. It was a resting point for all forms of life. That much traveled, + adventurous gentleman of the sea, Captain Kidd, according to popular + legend, was a frequent visitor to this coast. + </p> + <p> + In later times, beginning in 1801, the Cape became one of the earliest of + the summer resorts. The famous Commodore Decatur was among the first + distinguished men to be attracted by the simple seaside charm of the + place, long before it was destroyed by wealth and crowds. Year by year he + used to measure and record at one spot the encroachment of the sea upon + the beach. Where today the sea washes and the steel pier extends, once lay + cornfields. For a hundred years it was a favorite resting place for + statesmen and politicians of national eminence. They traveled there by + stage, sailing sloop, or their own wagons. People from Baltimore and the + South more particularly sought the place because it was easily accessible + from the head of Chesapeake Bay by an old railroad, long since abandoned, + to Newcastle on the Delaware, whence sail-or steamboats went to Cape May. + This avoided the tedious stage ride over the sandy Jersey roads. + Presidents, cabinet officers, senators, and congressmen sought the + invigorating air of the Cape and the attractions of the old village, its + seafaring life, the sailing, fishing, and bathing on the best beach of the + coast. Congress Hall, their favorite hotel, became famous, and during a + large part of the nineteenth century presidential nominations and policies + are said to have been planned within its walls. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X. Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey + </h2> + <p> + East Jersey was totally different in its topography from West Jersey. The + northern half of the State is a region of mountains and lakes. As part of + the original continent it had been under the ice sheet of the glacial age + and was very unlike the level sands, swamps, and pine barrens of West + Jersey which had arisen as a shoal and island from the sea. The only place + in East Jersey where settlement was at all easy was along the open meadows + which were reached by water near the mouth of the Hudson, round Newark + Bay, and along the Hackensack River. + </p> + <p> + The Dutch, by the discoveries of Henry Hudson in 1609, claimed the whole + region between the Hudson and the Delaware. They settled part of East + Jersey opposite their headquarters at New York and called it Pavonia. But + their cruel massacre of some Indians who sought refuge among them at + Pavonia destroyed the prospects of the settlement. The Indians revenged + themselves by massacring the Dutch again and again, every time they + attempted to reestablish Pavonia. This kept the Dutch out of East Jersey + until 1660, when they succeeded in establishing Bergen between Newark Bay + and the Hudson. + </p> + <p> + The Dutch authority in America was overthrown in 1664 by Charles II, who + had already given all New Jersey to his brother the Duke of York. Colonel + Richard Nicolls commanded the British expedition that seized the Dutch + possessions; and he had been given full power as deputy governor of all + the Duke of York's vast territory. + </p> + <p> + Meantime the New England Puritans seem to have kept their eyes on East + Jersey as a desirable region, and the moment the Connecticut Puritans + heard of Nicolls' appointment, they applied to him for a grant of a large + tract of land on Newark Bay. In the next year, 1665, he gave them another + tract from the mouth of the Raritan to Sandy Hook; and soon the villages + of Shrewsbury and Middletown were started. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, however, unknown to Nicolls, the Duke of York in England had + given all of New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. As has + already been pointed out, they had divided the province between them, and + East Jersey had fallen to Carteret, who sent out, with some immigrants, + his relative Philip Carteret as governor. Governor Carteret was of course + very much surprised to find so much of the best land already occupied by + the excellent and thrifty Yankees. As a consequence, litigation and + sometimes civil war over this unlucky mistake lasted for a hundred years. + Many of the Yankee settlers under the Nicolls grant refused to pay + quitrents to Carteret or his successors and, in spite of a commission of + inquiry from England in 1751 and a chancery suit, they held their own + until the Revolution of 1776 extinguished all British authority. + </p> + <p> + There was therefore from the beginning a strong New England tinge in East + Jersey which has lasted to this day. Governor Carteret established a + village on Newark Bay which still bears the name Elizabeth, which he gave + it in honor of the wife of the proprietor, and he made it the capital. + There were also immigrants from Scotland and England. But Puritans from + Long Island and New England continued to settle round Newark Bay. By + virtue either of character or numbers, New Englanders were evidently the + controlling element, for they established the New England system of town + government, and imposed strict Connecticut laws, making twelve crimes + punishable with death. Soon there were flourishing little villages, Newark + and Elizabeth, besides Middletown and Shrewsbury. The next year Piscatawa + and Woodbridge were added. Newark and the region round it, including the + Oranges, was settled by very exclusive Puritans, or Congregationalists, as + they are now called, some thirty families from four Connecticut towns—Milford, + Guilford, Bradford, and New Haven. They decided that only church members + should hold office and vote. + </p> + <p> + Governor Carteret ruled the colony with an appointive council and a + general assembly elected by the people, the typical colonial form of + government. His administration lasted from 1665 to his death in 1682; and + there is nothing very remarkable to record except the rebellion of the New + Englanders, especially those who had received their land from Nicolls. + Such independent Connecticut people were, of course, quite out of place in + a proprietary colony, and, when in 1670 the first collection of quitrents + was attempted, they broke out in violent opposition, in which the settlers + of Elizabeth were prominent. In 1672 they elected a revolutionary assembly + of their own and, in place of the deputy governor, appointed as proprietor + a natural son of Carteret. They began imprisoning former officers and + confiscating estates in the most approved revolutionary form and for a + time had the whole government in their control. It required the + interference of the Duke of York, of the proprietors, and of the British + Crown to allay the little tempest, and three years were given in which to + pay the quitrents. + </p> + <p> + After the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680, his province of East + Jersey was sold to William Penn and eleven other Quakers for the sum of + 3400 pounds. Colonies seem to have been comparatively inexpensive luxuries + in those days. A few years before, in 1675, Penn and some other Quakers + had, as has already been related, gained control of West Jersey for the + still smaller sum of one thousand pounds and had established it as a + Quaker refuge. It might be supposed that they now had the same purpose in + view in East Jersey, but apparently their intention was to create a refuge + for Presbyterians, the famous Scotch Covenanters, much persecuted at that + time under Charles II, who was forcing them to conform to the Church of + England. + </p> + <p> + Penn and his fellow proprietors of East Jersey each chose a partner, most + of them Scotchmen, two of whom, the Earl of Perth and Lord Drummond, were + prominent men. To this mixed body of Quakers, other dissenters, and some + Papists, twenty-four proprietors in all, the Duke of York reconfirmed by + special patent their right to East Jersey. Under their urging a few Scotch + Covenanters began to arrive and seem to have first established themselves + at Perth Amboy, which they named from the Scottish Earl of Perth and an + Indian word meaning "point." This settlement they expected to become a + great commercial port rivaling New York. Curiously enough, Robert Barclay, + the first governor appointed, was not only a Scotchman but also a Quaker, + and a theologian whose "Apology for the True Christian Divinity" (1678) is + regarded to this day as the best statement of the original Quaker + doctrine. He remained in England, however, and the deputies whom he sent + out to rule the colony had a troublous time of it. + </p> + <p> + That Quakers should establish a refuge for Presbyterians seems at first + peculiar, but it was in accord with their general philanthropic plan to + help the oppressed and suffering, to rescue prisoners and exiles, and + especially to ameliorate the horrible condition of people confined in the + English dungeons and prisons. Many vivid pictures of how the Scotch + Covenanters were hunted down like wild beasts may be found in English + histories and novels. When their lives were spared they often met a fate + worse than death in the loathsome dungeons into which thousands of Quakers + of that time were also thrust. A large part of William Penn's life as a + courtier was spent in rescuing prisoners, exiles, and condemned persons of + all sorts, and not merely those of his own faith. So the undertaking to + make of Jersey two colonies, one a refuge for Quakers and the other a + refuge for Covenanters, was natural enough, and it was a very broad-minded + plan for that age. + </p> + <p> + In 1683, a few years after the Quaker control of East Jersey began, a new + and fiercer persecution of the Covenanters was started in the old country, + and shortly afterwards Monmouth's insurrection in England broke out and + was followed by a most bloody proscription and punishment. The greatest + efforts were made to induce those still untouched to fly for refuge to + East Jersey; but, strange to say, comparatively few of them came. It is + another proof of the sturdiness and devotion which has filled so many + pages of history and romance with their praise that as a class the + Covenanters remained at home to establish their faith with torture, + martyrdom, and death. + </p> + <p> + In 1685 the Duke of York ascended the throne of England as James II, and + all that was naturally to be expected from such a bigoted despot was soon + realized. The persecutions of the Covenanters grew worse. Crowded into + prisons to die of thirst and suffocation, shot down on the highways, tied + to stakes to be drowned by the rising tide, the whole Calvinistic + population of Scotland seemed doomed to extermination. Again they were + told of America as the only place where religious liberty was allowed, and + in addition a book was circulated among them called "The Model of the + Government of the Province of East Jersey in America." These efforts were + partially successful. More Covenanters came than before, but nothing like + the numbers of Quakers that flocked to Pennsylvania. The whole population + of East Jersey—New Englanders, Dutch, Scotch Covenanters, and all—did + not exceed five thousand and possibly was not over four thousand. + </p> + <p> + Some French Huguenots, such as came to many of the English colonies after + the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1685, were added to the East + Jersey population. A few went to Salem in West Jersey, and some of these + became Quakers. In both the Jerseys, as elsewhere, they became prominent + and influential in all spheres of life. There was a decided Dutch + influence, it is said, in the part nearest New York, emanating from the + Bergen settlement in which the Dutch had succeeded in establishing + themselves in 1660 after the Indians had twice driven them from Pavonia. + Many descendants of Dutch families are still found in that region. Many + Dutch characteristics were to be found in that region throughout colonial + times. Many of the houses had Dutch stoops or porches at the door, with + seats where the family and visitors sat on summer evenings to smoke and + gossip. Long Dutch spouts extended out from the eaves to discharge the + rain water into the street. But the prevailing tone of East Jersey seems + to have been set by the Scotch Presbyterians and the New England + Congregationalists. The College of New Jersey, afterward known as + Princeton, established in 1747, was the result of a movement among the + Presbyterians of East Jersey and New York. + </p> + <p> + All these elements of East Jersey, Scotch Covenanters, Connecticut + Puritans, Huguenots, and Dutch of the Dutch Reformed Church, were in a + sense different but in reality very much in accord and congenial in their + ideas of religion and politics. They were all sturdy, freedom-loving + Protestants, and they set the tone that prevails in East Jersey to this + day. Their strict discipline and their uncompromising thrift may now seem + narrow and harsh; but it made them what they were; and it has left a + legacy of order and prosperity under which alien religions and races are + eager to seek protection. In its foundation the Quakers may claim a share. + </p> + <p> + The new King, James II, was inclined to reassume jurisdiction and extend + the power of the Governor of New York over East Jersey in spite of his + grant to Sir George Carteret. In fact, he desired to put New England, New + York, and New Jersey under one strong government centered at New York, to + abolish their charters, to extinguish popular government, and to make them + all mere royal dependencies in pursuance of his general policy of + establishing an absolute monarchy and a papal church in England. + </p> + <p> + The curse of East Jersey's existence was to be always an appendage of New + York, or to be threatened with that condition. The inhabitants now had to + enter their vessels and pay duties at New York. Writs were issued by order + of the King putting both the Jerseys and all New England under the New + York Governor. Step by step the plans for amalgamation and despotism moved + on successfully, when suddenly the English Revolution of 1688 put an end + to the whole magnificent scheme, drove the King into exile, and placed + William of Orange on the throne. + </p> + <p> + The proprietaries of both Jerseys reassumed their former authority. But + the New York Assembly attempted to exercise control over East Jersey and + to levy duties on its exports. The two provinces were soon on the eve of a + little war. For twelve or fifteen years East Jersey was in disorder, with + seditious meetings, mob rule, judges and sheriffs attacked while + performing their duty, the proprietors claiming quitrents from the people, + the people resisting, and the British Privy Council threatening a suit to + take the province from the proprietors and make a Crown colony of it. The + period is known in the history of this colony as "The Revolution." Under + the threat of the Privy Council to take over the province, the proprietors + of both East and West Jersey surrendered their rights of political + government, retaining their ownership of land and quitrents, and the two + Jerseys were united under one government in 1702. Its subsequent history + demands another chapter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI. The United Jerseys + </h2> + <p> + The Quaker colonists grouped round Burlington and Salem, on the Delaware, + and the Scotch Covenanters and New England colonists grouped around Perth + Amboy and Newark, near the mouth of the Hudson, made up the two Jerseys. + Neither colony had a numerous population, and the stretch of country lying + between them was during most of the colonial period a wilderness. It is + now crossed by the railway from Trenton to New York. It has always been a + line of travel from the Delaware to the Hudson. At first there was only an + Indian trail across it, but after 1695 there was a road, and after 1738 a + stage route. + </p> + <p> + In 1702, while still separated by this wilderness, the two Jerseys were + united politically by the proprietors voluntarily surrendering all their + political rights to the Crown. The political distinction between East + Jersey and West Jersey was thus abolished; their excellent free + constitutions were rendered of doubtful authority; and from that time to + the Revolution they constituted one colony under the control of a royal + governor appointed by the Crown. + </p> + <p> + The change was due to the uncertainty and annoyance caused for their + separate governments when their right to govern was in doubt owing to + interference on the part of New York and the desire of the King to make + them a Crown colony. The original grant of the Duke of York to the + proprietors Berkeley and Carteret had given title to the soil but had been + silent as to the right to govern. The first proprietors and their + successors had always assumed that the right to govern necessarily + accompanied this gift of the land. Such a privilege, however, the Crown + was inclined to doubt. William Penn was careful to avoid this uncertainty + when he received his charter for Pennsylvania. Profiting by the sad + example of the Jerseys, he made sure that he was given both the title to + the soil and the right to govern. + </p> + <p> + The proprietors, however, now surrendered only their right to govern the + Jerseys and retained their ownership of the land; and the people always + maintained that they, on their part, retained all the political rights and + privileges which had been granted them by the proprietors. And these + rights were important, for the concessions or constitutions granted by the + proprietors under the advanced Quaker influence of the time were decidedly + liberal. The assemblies, as the legislatures were called, had the right to + meet and adjourn as they pleased, instead of having their meetings and + adjournments dictated by the governor. This was an important right and one + which the Crown and royal governors were always trying to restrict or + destroy, because it made an assembly very independent. This contest for + colonial rights was exactly similar to the struggle of the English + Parliament for liberty against the supposed right of the Stuart kings to + call and adjourn Parliament as they chose. If the governor could adjourn + the assembly when he pleased, he could force it to pass any laws he wanted + or prevent its passing any laws at all. The two Jersey assemblies under + their Quaker constitutions also had the privilege of making their own + rules of procedure, and they had jurisdiction over taxes, roads, towns, + militia, and all details of government. These rights of a legislature are + familiar enough now to all. Very few people realize, however, what a + struggle and what sacrifices were required to attain them. + </p> + <p> + The rest of New Jersey colonial history is made up chiefly of struggles + over these two questions—the rights of the proprietors and their + quitrents as against the people, and the rights of the new assembly as + against the Crown. There were thus three parties, the governor and his + adherents, the proprietors and their friends, and the assembly and the + people. The proprietors had the best of the change, for they lost only + their troublesome political power and retained their property. They never, + however, received such financial returns from the property as the sons of + William Penn enjoyed from Pennsylvania. But the union of the Jerseys + seriously curtailed the rights enjoyed by the people under the old + government, and all possibility of a Quaker government in West Jersey was + ended. It was this experience in the Jerseys, no doubt, that caused + William Penn to require so many safeguards in selling his political rights + in Pennsylvania to the Crown that the sale was, fortunately for the + colony, never completed. + </p> + <p> + The assembly under the union met alternately at Perth Amboy and at + Burlington. Lord Cornbury, the first governor, was also Governor of New + York, a humiliating arrangement that led to no end of trouble. The + executive government, the press, and the judiciary were in the complete + control of the Crown and the Governor, who was instructed to take care + that "God Almighty be duly served according to the rites of the Church of + England, and the traffic in merchantable negroes encouraged." Cornbury + contemptuously ignored the assembly's right to adjourn and kept adjourning + it till one was elected which would pass the laws he wanted. Afterwards + the assemblies were less compliant, and, under the lead of two able men, + Lewis Morris of East Jersey and Samuel Jennings, a Quaker of West Jersey, + they stood up for their rights and complained to the mother country. But + Cornbury went on fighting them, granted monopolies, established arbitrary + fees, prohibited the proprietors from selling their lands, prevented three + members of the assembly duly elected from being sworn, and was absent in + New York so much of the time that the laws went unexecuted and convicted + murderers wandered about at large. In short, he went through pretty much + the whole list of offenses of a corrupt and good-for-nothing royal + governor of colonial times. The union of the two colonies consequently + seemed to involve no improvement over former conditions. At last, the + protests and appeals of proprietors and people prevailed, and Cornbury was + recalled. + </p> + <p> + Quieter times followed, and in 1738 New Jersey had the satisfaction of + obtaining a governor all her own. The New York Governor had always + neglected Jersey affairs, was difficult of access, made appointments and + administered justice in the interests of New York, and forced Jersey + vessels to pay registration fees to New York. Amid great rejoicing over + the change, the Crown appointed the popular leader, Lewis Morris, as + governor. But by a strange turn of fate, when once secure in power, he + became a most obstinate upholder of royal prerogative, worried the + assembly with adjournments, and, after Cornbury, was the most obnoxious of + all the royal governors. + </p> + <p> + The governors now usually made Burlington their capital and it became, on + that account, a place of much show and interest. The last colonial + governor was William Franklin, an illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, + and he would probably have made a success of the office if the Revolution + had not stopped him. He had plenty of ability, affable manners, and was + full of humor and anecdote like his father, whom he is said to have + somewhat resembled. He had combined in youth a fondness for books with a + fondness for adventure, was comptroller of the colonial post office and + clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, served a couple of campaigns in the + French and Indian Wars, went to England with his father in 1757, was + admitted to the English Bar, attained some intimacy with the Earl of Bute + and Lord Fairfax, and through the latter obtained the governorship of New + Jersey in 1762. + </p> + <p> + The people were at first much displeased at his appointment and never + entirely got over his illegitimate birth and his turning from Whig to Tory + as soon as his appointment was secured. But he advanced the interests of + the colony with the home government and favored beneficial legislation. He + had an attractive wife, and they entertained, it is said, with viceregal + elegance, and started a fine model farm or country place on the north + shore of the Rancocas not far from the capital at Burlington. Franklin was + drawing the province together and building it up as a community, but his + extreme loyalist principles in the Revolution destroyed his chance for + popularity and have obscured his reputation. + </p> + <p> + Though the population of New Jersey was a mixed one, judged by the very + distinct religious differences of colonial times, yet racially it was + thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and a good stock to build upon. At the time of the + Revolution in 1776 the people numbered only about 120,000, indicating a + slow growth; but when the first census of the United States was taken, in + 1790, they numbered 184,139. + </p> + <p> + The natural division of the State into North and South Jersey is marked by + a line from Trenton to Jersey City. The people of these two divisions were + quite as distinct in early times as striking differences in environment + and religion could make them. Even in the inevitable merging of modern + life the two regions are still distinct socially, economically, and + intellectually. Along the dividing line the two types of the population, + of course, merged and here was produced and is still to be found the + Jerseyman of the composite type. + </p> + <p> + Trenton, the capital of the State, is very properly in the dividing belt. + It was named after William Trent, a Philadelphia merchant who had been + speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and who became chief justice of New + Jersey. Long ages before white men came Trenton seems to have been a + meeting place and residence of the Indians or preceding races of stone age + men. Antiquarians have estimated that fifty thousand stone implements have + been found in it. As it was at the head of tidewater, at the so-called + Falls of the Delaware, it was apparently a center of travel and traffic + from other regions. From the top of the bluff below the modern city of + Trenton there was easy access to forests of chestnut, oak, and pine, with + their supplies of game, while the river and its tributary creeks were full + of fish. It was a pleasant and convenient place where the people of + prehistoric times apparently met and lingered during many centuries + without necessarily having a large resident population at any one time. + Trenton was so obviously convenient and central in colonial times that it + was seriously proposed as a site for the national capital. + </p> + <p> + Princeton University, though originating, as we have seen, among the + Presbyterians of North Jersey, seems as a higher educational institution + for the whole State to belong naturally in the dividing belt, the meeting + place of the two divisions of the colony. The college began its existence + at Elizabeth, was then moved to Newark, both in the strongly Presbyterian + region, and finally, in 1757, was established at Princeton, a more + suitable place, it was thought, because far removed from the dissipation + and temptation of towns, and because it was in the center of the colony on + the post road between Philadelphia and New York. Though chartered as the + College of New Jersey, it was often called Nassau Hall at Princeton or + simply "Princeton." In 1896 it became known officially as Princeton + University. It was a hard struggle to found the college with lotteries and + petty subscriptions here and there. But Presbyterians in New York and + other provinces gave aid. Substantial assistance was also obtained from + the Presbyterians of England and Scotland. In the old pamphlets of the + time which have been preserved the founders of the college argued that + higher education was needed not only for ministers of religion, but for + the bench, the bar, and the legislature. The two New England colleges, + Harvard and Yale, on the north, and the Virginia College of William and + Mary on the south, were too far away. There must be a college close at + hand. + </p> + <p> + At first most of the graduates entered the Presbyterian ministry. But soon + in the short time before the Revolution there were produced statesmen such + as Richard Stockton of New Jersey, who signed the Declaration of + Independence; physicians such as Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia; + soldiers such as "Light Horse" Harry Lee of Virginia; as well as founders + of other colleges, governors of States, lawyers, attorney-generals, + judges, congressmen, and indeed a very powerful assemblage of intellectual + lights. Nor should the names of James Madison, Aaron Burr, and Jonathan + Edwards be omitted. + </p> + <p> + East Jersey with her New England influence attempted something like free + public schools. In West Jersey the Quakers had schools. In both Jerseys, + after 1700 some private neighborhood schools were started, independent of + religious denominations. The West Jersey Quakers, self-cultured and with a + very effective system of mental discipline and education in their families + as well as in their schools, were not particularly interested in higher + education. But in East Jersey as another evidence of intellectual + awakening in colonial times, Queen's College, afterward known as Rutgers + College, was established by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1766, and was + naturally placed, near the old source of Dutch influence, at New Brunswick + in the northerly end of the dividing belt. + </p> + <p> + New Jersey was fortunate in having no Indian wars in colonial times, no + frontier, no point of hostile contact with the French of Canada or with + the powerful western tribes of red men. Like Rhode Island in this respect, + she was completely shut in by the other colonies. Once or twice only did + bands of savages cross the Delaware and commit depredations on Jersey + soil. This colony, however, did her part in sending troops and assistance + to the others in the long French and Indian wars; but she had none of the + pressing danger and experience of other colonies. Her people were never + drawn together by a common danger until the Revolution. + </p> + <p> + In Jersey colonial homes there was not a single modern convenience of + light, heat, or cooking, and none of the modern amusements. But there was + plenty of good living and simple diversion—husking bees and shooting + in the autumn, skating and sleighing in the winter. Meetings and + discussions in coffeehouses and inns supplied in those days the place of + our modern books, newspapers, and magazines. Jersey inns were famous + meeting places. Everybody passed through their doors—judges, + lawyers, legislators, politicians, post riders, stage drivers, each + bringing his contribution of information and humor, and the slaves and + rabble stood round to pick up news and see the fun. The court days in each + county were holidays celebrated with games of quoits, running, jumping, + feasting, and discussions political and social. At the capital there was + even style and extravagance. Governor Belcher, for example, who lived at + Burlington, professed to believe that the Quaker influences of that town + were not strict enough in keeping the Sabbath, so he drove every Sunday in + his coach and four to Philadelphia to worship in the Presbyterian Church + there and saw no inconsistency in his own behavior. + </p> + <p> + Almanacs furnished much of the reading for the masses. The few newspapers + offered little except the barest chronicle of events. The books of the + upper classes were good though few, and consisted chiefly of the classics + of English literature and books of information and travel. The diaries and + letters of colonial native Jerseymen, the pamphlets of the time, and John + Woolman's "Journal," all show a good average of education and an excellent + use of the English language. Samuel Smith's "History of the Colony of + Nova-Casaria, or New Jersey," written and printed at Burlington and + published there in the year 1765, is written in a good and even attractive + style, with as intelligent a grasp of political events as any modern mind + could show; the type, paper, and presswork, too, are excellent. Smith was + born and educated in this same New Jersey town. He became a member of + council and assembly, at one time was treasurer of the province, and his + manuscript historical collections were largely used by Robert Proud in his + "History of Pennsylvania." + </p> + <p> + The early houses of New Jersey were of heavy timbers covered with + unpainted clapboards, usually one story and a half high, with immense + fireplaces, which, with candles, supplied the light. The floors were + scrubbed hard and sprinkled with the plentiful white sand. Carpets, except + the famous old rag carpets, were very rare. The old wooden houses have now + almost entirely disappeared; but many of the brick houses which succeeded + them are still preserved. They are of simple well-proportioned + architecture, of a distinctive type, less luxuriant, massive, and + exuberant than those across the river in Pennsylvania, although both + evidently derived from the Christopher Wren school. The old Jersey homes + seem to reflect with great exactness the simple feeling of the people and + to be one expression of the spirit of Jersey democracy. + </p> + <p> + There were no important seats of commerce in this province. Exports of + wheat, provisions, and lumber went to Philadelphia or New York, which were + near and convenient. The Jersey shores near the mouth of the Hudson and + along the Delaware, as at Camden, presented opportunities for ports, but + the proximity to the two dominating ports prevented the development of + additional harbors in this part of the coast. It was not until after the + Revolution that Camden, opposite Philadelphia, and Jersey City, opposite + New York, grew into anything like their present importance. + </p> + <p> + There were, however, a number of small ports and shipbuilding villages in + the Jerseys. It is a noticeable fact that in colonial times and even later + there were very few Jersey towns beyond the head of tidewater. The people, + even the farmers, were essentially maritime. The province showed its + natural maritime characteristics, produced many sailors, and built + innumerable small vessels for the coasting and West India trade—sloops, + schooners, yachts, and sailboats, down to the tiniest gunning boat and + sneak box. Perth Amboy was the principal port and shipbuilding center for + East Jersey as Salem was for West Jersey. But Burlington, Bordentown, Cape + May, and Trenton, and innumerable little villages up creeks and channels + or mere ditches could not be kept from the prevailing industry. They built + craft up to the limit of size that could be floated away in the water + before their very doors. Plentifully supplied with excellent oak and pine + and with the admirable white cedar of their own forests, very skillful + shipwrights grew up in every little hamlet. + </p> + <p> + A large part of the capital used in Jersey shipbuilding is said to have + come from Philadelphia and New York. At first this capital sought its + profit in whaling along the coast and afterwards in the trade with the + West Indies, which for a time absorbed so much of the shipping of all the + colonies in America. The inlets and beaches along the Jersey coast now + given over to summer resorts were first used for whaling camps or bases. + Cape May and Tuckerton were started and maintained by whaling; and as late + as 1830, it is said, there were still signs of the industry on Long Beach. + </p> + <p> + Except for the whaling, the beaches were uninhabited—wild stretches + of sand, swarming with birds and wild fowl, without a lighthouse or + lifesaving station. In the Revolution, when the British fleet blockaded + the Delaware and New York, Little Egg, the safest of the inlets, was used + for evading the blockade. Vessels entered there and sailed up the Mullica + River to the head of navigation, whence the goods were distributed by + wagons. To conceal their vessels when anchored just inside an inlet, the + privateersmen would stand slim pine trees beside the masts and thus very + effectively concealed the rigging from British cruisers prowling along the + shore. + </p> + <p> + Along with the whaling industry the risks and seclusion of the inlets and + channels developed a romantic class of gentlemen, as handy with musket and + cutlass as with helm and sheet, fond of easy, exciting profits, and + reaping where they had not sown. They would start legally enough, for they + began as privateersmen under legal letters of marque in the wars. But the + step was a short one to a traffic still more profitable; and for a hundred + years Jersey customs officers are said to have issued documents which were + ostensibly letters of marque but which really abetted a piratical cruise. + Piracy was, however, in those days a semi-legitimate offense, winked at by + the authorities all through the colonial period; and respectable people + and governors and officials of New York and North Carolina, it is said, + secretly furnished funds for such expeditions and were interested in the + profits. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XII. Little Delaware + </h2> + <p> + Delaware was the first colony to be established on the river that bears + this name. It went through half a century of experiences under the Dutch + and Swedes from 1609 to 1664, and then eighteen years under the English + rule of the Duke of York, from whom it passed into the hands of William + Penn, the Quaker. The Dutch got into it by an accident and were regarded + by the English as interlopers. And the Swedes who followed had no better + title. + </p> + <p> + The whole North Atlantic seaboard was claimed by England by virtue of the + discoveries of the Cabots, father and son; but nearly a hundred years + elapsed before England took advantage of this claim by starting the + Virginia colony near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. And nearly a + quarter of a century more elapsed before Englishmen settled on the shores + of Massachusetts Bay. Those were the two points most accessible to ships + and most favorable for settlement. The middle ground of the Delaware and + Hudson regions was not so easily entered and remained unoccupied. The + mouth of the Delaware was full of shoals and was always difficult to + navigate. The natural harbor at the mouth of the Hudson was excellent, but + the entrance to it was not at first apparent. + </p> + <p> + Into these two regions, however, the Dutch chanced just after the English + had effected the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. The Dutch had + employed an Englishman named Henry Hudson and sent him in 1609 in a small + ship called the Half Moon to find a passage to China and India by way of + the Arctic Ocean. Turned back by the ice in the Arctic, he sailed down the + coast of North America, and began exploring the middle ground from the + Virginia settlement, which he seems to have known about; and, working + cautiously northward along the coast and feeling his way with the lead + line, he soon entered Delaware Bay. But finding it very difficult of + navigation he departed and, proceeding in the same careful way up along + the coast of New Jersey, he finally entered the harbor of New York and + sailed up the Hudson far enough to satisfy himself that it was not the + desired course to China. + </p> + <p> + This exploration gave the Dutch their claim to the Delaware and Hudson + regions. But though it was worthless as against the English right by + discovery of the Cabots, the Dutch went ahead with their settlement, + established their headquarters and seat of government on Manhattan Island, + where New York stands today, and exercised as much jurisdiction and + control as they could on the Delaware. + </p> + <p> + Their explorations of the Delaware, feeling their way up it with small + light draft vessels among its shoals and swift tides, their travels on + land—shooting wild turkeys on the site of the present busy town of + Chester—and their adventures with the Indians are full of interest. + The immense quantities of wild fowl and animal and bird life along the + shores astonished them; but what most aroused their cupidity was the + enormous supply of furs, especially beaver and otter, that could be + obtained from the Indians. Furs became their great, in fact, their only + interest in the Delaware. They established forts, one near Cape Henlopen + at the mouth of the river, calling it Fort Oplandt, and another far up the + river on the Jersey side at the mouth of Timber Creek, nearly opposite the + present site of Philadelphia, and this they called Fort Nassau. Fort + Oplandt was destroyed by the Indians and its people were massacred. Fort + Nassau was probably occupied only at intervals. These two posts were built + mainly to assist the fur trade, and any attempts at real settlement were + slight and unsuccessful. + </p> + <p> + Meantime about the year 1624 the Swedes heard of the wonderful + opportunities on the Delaware. The Swedish monarch, Gustavus Adolphus, a + man of broad ambitions and energetic mind, heard about the Delaware from + Willem Usselinx, a merchant of Antwerp who had been actively interested in + the formation of the Dutch West India Company to trade in the Dutch + possessions in America. Having quarreled with the directors, Usselinx had + withdrawn from the Netherlands and now offered his services to Sweden. The + Swedish court, nobles, and people, all became enthusiastic about the + project which he elaborated for a great commercial company to trade and + colonize in Asia, Africa, and America. * But the plan was dropped because, + soon after 1630, Gustavus Adolphus led his country to intervene on the + side of the Protestants in the Thirty Years' War in Germany, where he was + killed three years later at the battle of Lutzen. But the desire aroused + by Usselinx for a Swedish colonial empire was revived in the reign of his + infant daughter, Christina, by the celebrated Swedish Chancellor, + Oxenstierna. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * See "Willem Usselinx," by J. F. Jameson in the "Papers of the +American Historical Association," vol. II. +</pre> + <p> + An expedition, which actually reached the Delaware in 1638, was sent out + under another Dutch renegade, Peter Minuit, who had been Governor of New + Netherland and after being dismissed from office was now leading this + Swedish enterprise to occupy part of the territory he had formerly + governed for the Dutch. His two ships sailed up the Delaware and with good + judgment landed at the present site of Wilmington. At that point a creek + carrying a depth of over fourteen feet for ten miles from its mouth flowed + into the Delaware. The Dutch had called this creek Minquas, after the + tribe of Indians; the Swedes named it the Christina after their infant + Queen; and in modern times it has been corrupted into Christiana. + </p> + <p> + They sailed about two and a half miles through its delta marshes to some + rocks which formed a natural wharf and which still stand today at the foot + of Sixth Street in Wilmington. This was the Plymouth Rock of Delaware. + Level land, marshes, and meadows lay along the Christina, the remains of + the delta which the stream had formed in the past. On the edge of the + delta or moorland, rocky hills rose, forming the edge of the Piedmont, and + out of them from the north flowed a fine large stream, the Brandywine, + which fell into the Christina just before it entered the Delaware. Here in + the delta their engineer laid out a town, called Christinaham, and a fort + behind the rocks on which they had landed. A cove in the Christina made a + snug anchorage for their ships, out of the way of the tide. They then + bought from the Indians all the land from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of + the Delaware at Trenton, calling it New Sweden and the Delaware New + Swedeland Stream. The people of Delaware have always regarded New Sweden + as the beginning of their State, and Peter Minuit, the leader of this + Swedish expedition, always stands first on the published lists of their + governors. + </p> + <p> + On their arrival in the river in the spring of 1638, the Swedes found no + evidences of permanent Dutch colonization. Neither Fort Oplandt nor Fort + Nassau was then occupied. They always maintained that the Dutch had + abandoned the river, and that it was therefore open to the Swedes for + occupation, especially after they had purchased the Indian title. It was + certainly true that the Dutch efforts to plant colonies in that region had + failed; and since the last attempt by De Vries, six years had elapsed. On + the other hand, the Dutch contended that they had in that time put Fort + Nassau in repair, although they had not occupied it, and that they kept a + few persons living along the Jersey shore of the river, possibly the + remains of the Nassau colony, to watch all who visited it. These people + had immediately notified the Dutch governor Kieft at New Amsterdam of the + arrival of the Swedes, and he promptly issued a protest against the + intrusion. But his protest was neither very strenuous nor was it followed + up by hostile action, for Sweden and Holland were on friendly terms. + Sweden, the great champion of Protestant Europe, had intervened in the + Thirty Years' War to save the Protestants of Germany. The Dutch had just + finished a similar desperate war of eighty years for freedom from the + papal despotism of Spain. Dutch and Swedes had, therefore, every reason to + be in sympathy with each other. The Swedes, a plain, strong, industrious + people, as William Penn aptly called them, were soon, however, seriously + interfering with the Dutch fur trade and in the first year, it is said, + collected thirty thousand skins. If this is true, it is an indication of + the immense supply of furbearing animals, especially beaver, available at + that time. For the next twenty-five years Dutch and Swedes quarreled and + sometimes fought over their respective claims. But it is significant of + the difficulty of retaining a hold on the Delaware region that the Swedish + colonists on the Christina after a year or two regarded themselves as a + failure and were on the point of abandoning their enterprise, when a + vessel, fortunately for them, arrived with cattle, agricultural tools, and + immigrants. It is significant also that the immigrants, though in a + Swedish vessel and under the Swedish government, were Dutchmen. They + formed a sort of separate Dutch colony under Swedish rule and settled near + St. George's and Appoquinimink. Immigrants apparently were difficult to + obtain among the Swedes, who were not colonizers like the English. + </p> + <p> + At this very time, in fact, Englishmen, Puritans from Connecticut, were + slipping into the Delaware region under the leadership of Nathaniel Turner + and George Lamberton, and were buying the land from the Indians. About + sixty settled near Salem, New Jersey, and some on the Schuylkill in + Pennsylvania, close to Fort Nassau—an outrageous piece of audacity, + said the Dutch, and an insult to their "High Mightinesses and the noble + Directors of the West India Company." So the Schuylkill English were + accordingly driven out, and their houses were burned. The Swedes + afterwards expelled the English from Salem and from the Cohansey, lower + down the Bay. Later the English were allowed to return, but they seem to + have done little except trade for furs and beat off hostile Indians. + </p> + <p> + The seat of the Swedish government was moved in 1643 from the Christina to + Tinicum, one of the islands of the Schuylkill delta, with an excellent + harbor in front of it which is now the home of the yacht clubs of + Philadelphia. Here they built a fort of logs, called Fort Gothenborg, a + chapel with a graveyard, and a mansion house for the governor, and this + remained the seat of Swedish authority as long as they had any on the + river. From here Governor Printz, a portly irascible old soldier, said to + have weighed "upwards of 400 pounds and taken three drinks at every meal," + ruled the river. He built forts on the Schuylkill and worried the Dutch + out of the fur trade. He also built a fort called Nya Elfsborg, afterward + Elsinboro, on the Jersey side below Salem. By means of this fort he was + able to command the entrance to the river and compelled every Dutch ship + to strike her colors and acknowledge the sovereignty of Sweden. Some he + prevented from going up the river at all; others he allowed to pass on + payment of toll or tribute. He gave orders to destroy every trading house + or fort which the Dutch had built on the Schuylkill, and to tear down the + coat of arms and insignia which the Dutch had placed on a post on the site + of Philadelphia. The Swedes now also bought from the Indians and claimed + the land on the Jersey side from Cape May up to Raccoon Creek, opposite + the modern Chester. + </p> + <p> + The best place to trade with the Indians for furs was the Schuylkill + River, which flowed into the Delaware at a point where Philadelphia was + afterwards built. There were at that time Indian villages where West + Philadelphia now stands. The headwaters of streams flowing into the + Schuylkill were only a short distance from the headwaters of streams + flowing into the Susquehanna, so that the valley of the Schuylkill formed + the natural highway into the interior of Pennsylvania. The route to the + Ohio River followed the Schuylkill for some thirty or forty miles, turned + up one of its tributaries to its source, then crossed the watershed to the + head of a stream flowing into the Susquehanna, thence to the Juniata, at + the head of which the trail led over a short divide to the head of the + Conemaugh, which flowed into the Allegheny, and the Allegheny into the + Ohio. Some of the Swedes and Dutch appear to have followed this route with + the Indians as early as 1646. + </p> + <p> + The Ohio and Allegheny region was inhabited by the Black Minquas, so + called from their custom of wearing a black badge on their breast. The + Ohio, indeed, was first called the Black Minquas River. As the country + nearer the Delaware was gradually denuded of beaver, these Black Minquas + became the great source of supply and carried the furs, over the route + described, to the Schuylkill. The White Minquas lived further east, round + Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and, though spoken of as belonging by + language to the great Iroquois or Six Nation stock, were themselves + conquered and pretty much exterminated by the Six Nations. The Black + Minquas, believed to be the same as the Eries of the Jesuit Relations, + were also practically exterminated by the Six Nations. * + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania", pp. 103-104. +</pre> + <p> + The furs brought down the Schuylkill were deposited at certain rocks two + or three miles above its mouth at Bartram's Gardens, now one of the city + parks of Philadelphia. On these rocks, then an island in the Schuylkill, + the Swedes built a fort which completely commanded the river and cut the + Dutch off from the fur trade. They built another fort on the other side of + Bartram's Gardens along the meadow near what is now Gibson's Point; and + Governor Printz had a great mill a couple of miles away on Cobb's Creek, + where the old Blue Bell tavern has long stood. These two forts protected + the mill and the Indian villages in West Philadelphia. + </p> + <p> + One would like to revisit the Delaware of those days and see all its wild + life and game, its islands and shoals, its virgin forests as they had + grown up since the glacial age, untouched by the civilization of the white + man. There were then more islands in the river, the water was clearer, and + there were pretty pebble and sandy beaches now overlaid by mud brought + down from vast regions of the valley no longer protected by forests from + the wash of the rains. On a wooded island below Salem, long since cut away + by the tides, the pirate Blackhead and his crew are said to have passed a + winter. The waters of the river spread out wide at every high tide over + marshes and meadows, turning them twice a day for a few hours into lakes, + grown up in summer with red and yellow flowers and the graceful wild oats, + or reeds, tasseled like Indian corn. + </p> + <p> + At Christinaham, in the delta of the Christina and the Brandywine, the + tide flowed far inland to the rocks on which Minuit's Swedish expedition + landed, leaving one dry spot called Cherry Island, a name still borne by a + shoal in the river. Fort Christina, on the edge of the overflowed meadow, + with the rocky promontory of hills behind it, its church and houses, and a + wide prospect across the delta and river, was a fair spot in the old days. + The Indians came down the Christina in their canoes or overland, bringing + their packs of beaver, otter, and deer skins, their tobacco, corn, and + venison to exchange for the cloth, blankets, tools, and gaudy trinkets + that pleased them. It must often have been a scene of strange life and + coloring, and it is difficult today to imagine it all occurring close to + the spot where the Pennsylvania railroad station now stands in Wilmington. + </p> + <p> + When doughty Peter Stuyvesant became Governor of New Netherland, he + determined to assert Dutch authority once more on the South River, as the + Delaware was called in distinction from the Hudson. As the Swedes now + controlled it by their three forts, not a Dutch ship could reach Fort + Nassau without being held up at Fort Elfsborg or at Fort Christina or at + the fort at Tinicum. It was a humiliating situation for the haughty spirit + of the Dutch governor. To open the river to Dutch commerce again, + Stuyvesant marched overland in 1651 through the wilderness, with one + hundred and twenty men and, abandoning Fort Nassau, built a new fort on a + fine promontory which then extended far out into the river below + Christina. Today the place is known as New Castle; the Dutch commonly + referred to it as Sandhoeck or Sand Point; the English called it Grape + Vine Point. Stuyvesant named it Fort Casimir. + </p> + <p> + The tables were now turned: the Dutch could retaliate upon Swedish + shipping. But the Swedes were not so easily to be dispossessed. Three + years later a new Swedish governor named Rising arrived in the river with + a number of immigrants and soldiers. He sailed straight up to Fort + Casimir, took it by surprise, and ejected the Dutch garrison of about a + dozen men. As the successful coup occurred on Trinity Sunday, the Swedes + renamed the place Fort Trinity. + </p> + <p> + The whole population—Dutch and Swede, but in 1654 mostly Swede—numbered + only 368 persons. Before the arrival of Rising there had been only + seventy. It seems a very small number about which to be writing history; + but small as it was their "High Mightinesses," as the government of the + United Netherlands was called, were determined to avenge on even so small + a number the insult of the capture of Fort Casimir. + </p> + <p> + Drums, it is said, were beaten every day in Holland to call for recruits + to go to America. Gunners, carpenters, and powder were collected. A ship + of war was sent from Holland, accompanied by two other vessels whose names + alone, Great Christopher and King Solomon, should have been sufficient to + scare all the Swedes. At New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant labored night and day + to fit out the expedition. A French privateer which happened to be in the + harbor was hired. Several other vessels, in all seven ships, and six or + seven hundred men, with a chaplain called Megapolensis, composed this + mighty armament gathered together to drive out the handful of poor + hardworking Swedes. A day of fasting and prayer was held and the Almighty + was implored to bless this mighty expedition which, He was assured, was + undertaken for "the glory of His name." It was the absurdity of such + contrasts as this running all through the annals of the Dutch in America + that inspired Washington Irving to write his infinitely humorous "History + of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch + Dynasty," by "Diedrich Knickerbocker." It is difficult for an Anglo-Saxon + to take the Dutch in America seriously. What can you do with a people + whose imagination allowed them to give such names to their ships as Weigh + Scales, Spotted Cow, and The Pear Tree? So Irving described the taking of + Fort Casimir in mock heroic manner. He describes the marshaling of the + Dutch hosts of New York by families, the Van Grolls of Anthony's Nose, the + Brinkerhoffs, the Van Kortlandts, the Van Bunschotens of Nyack and Kakiat, + the fighting men of Wallabout, the Van Pelts, the Say Dams, the Van Dams, + and all the warriors of Hellgate "clad in their thunder-and-lightning + gaberdines," and lastly the standard bearers and bodyguards of Peter + Stuyvesant, bearing the great beaver of the Manhattan. + </p> + <p> + "And now commenced the horrid din, the desperate struggle, the maddening + ferocity, the frantic desperation, the confusion and self-abandonment of + war. Dutchman and Swede commingled, tugged, panted, and blowed. The + heavens were darkened with a tempest of missives. Bang! went the guns; + whack! went the broadswords; thump! went the cudgels; crash! went the + musket-stocks; blows, kicks, cuffs, scratches, black eyes and bloody noses + swelling the horrors of the scene! Thick, thwack, cut and hack, + helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hurly-burly, heads-over-heels, + rough-and-tumble! Dunder and blixum! swore the Dutchmen; splitter and + splutter! cried the Swedes. Storm the works! shouted Hardkoppig Peter. + Fire the mine! roared stout Rising—Tantarar-ra-ra! twanged the + trumpet of Antony Van Corlear;—until all voice and sound became + unintelligible,—grunts of pain, yells of fury, and shouts of triumph + mingling in one hideous clamor. The earth shook as if struck with a + paralytic stroke; trees shrunk aghast, and withered at the sight; rocks + burrowed in the ground like rabbits; and even Christina creek turned from + its course, and ran up a hill in breathless terror!" + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, the fort surrendered without a fight on September 1, + 1655. It was thereupon christened New Amstel, afterwards New Castle, and + was for a long time the most important town on the Delaware. This + achievement put the Dutch in complete authority over the Swedes on both + sides of the river. The Swedes, however, were content, abandoned politics, + secluded themselves on their farms, and left politics to the Dutch. Trade, + too, they left to the Dutch, who, in their effort to monopolize it, almost + killed it. This conquest by their High Mightinesses also ended the + attempts of the New Englanders, particularly the people of New Haven, to + get a foothold in the neighborhood of Salem, New Jersey, for which they + had been struggling for years. They had dreams of a great lake far to + northward full of beaver to which the Delaware would lead them. Their + efforts to establish themselves survived in one or two names of places + near Salem, as, for example, New England Creek, and New England Channel, + which down almost into our own time was found on charts marking one of the + minor channels of the bay along the Jersey shore. They continued coming to + the river in ships to trade in spite of restrictions by the Dutch; and + some of them in later years, as has been pointed out, secured a foothold + on the Cohansey and in the Cape May region, where their descendants are + still to be found. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIII. The English Conquest + </h2> + <p> + It is a curious fact that the ancestor of the numerous Beekman family in + New York, after whom Beekman Street is named, was for a time one of the + Dutch governors on the Delaware who afterwards became the sheriff of + Esopus, New York. His successor on the Delaware had some thoughts of + removing the capital down to Odessa on the Appoquinimink, when an event + long dreaded happened. In 1664, war broke out between England and Holland, + long rivals in trade and commerce, and all the Dutch possessions in the + New World fell an easy prey to English conquerors. A British fleet took + possession of New Amsterdam, which surrendered without a struggle. But + when two British men of war under Sir Robert Carr appeared before New + Amstel on the Delaware, Governor D'Hinoyossa unwisely resisted; and his + untenable fort was quickly subdued by a few broadsides and a storming + party. This opposition gave the conquering party, according to the custom + of the times, the right to plunder; and it must be confessed that the + English soldiers made full use of their opportunity. They plundered the + town and confiscated the land of prominent citizens for the benefit of the + officers of the expedition. + </p> + <p> + After the English conquest on the Delaware, not a few of the Dutch + migrated to Maryland, where their descendants, it is said, are still to be + found. Some in later years returned to the Delaware, where on the whole, + notwithstanding the early confiscations, English rule seemed to promise + well. The very first documents, the terms of surrender both on the + Delaware and on the Hudson, breathed an air of Anglo-Saxon freedom. + Everybody was at liberty to come and go at will. Hollanders could migrate + to the Delaware or to New York as much as before. The Dutch soldiers in + the country, if they wished to remain, were to have fifty acres of land + apiece. This generous settlement seemed in striking contrast to the + pinching, narrow interference with trade and individual rights, the + seizures and confiscations for private gain, all under pretense of + punishment, bad enough on the Delaware but worse at New Amsterdam, which + had characterized the rule of the Dutch. + </p> + <p> + The Duke of York, to whom Delaware was given, introduced trial by jury, + settled private titles, and left undisturbed the religion and local + customs of the people. But the political rule of the Duke was absolute as + became a Stuart. He arbitrarily taxed exports and imports. Executive, + judicial, and legislative powers were all vested in his deputy governor at + New York or in creatures appointed and controlled by him. It was the sort + of government the Duke hoped to impose upon all Great Britain when he + should come to the throne, and he was trying his 'prentice hand in the + colonies. A political rebellion against this despotism was started on the + Delaware by a man named Konigsmarke, or the Long Finn, aided by an + Englishman, Henry Coleman. They were captured and tried for treason, their + property was confiscated, and the Long Finn branded with the letter R, and + sold as a slave in the Barbados. They might be called the first martyrs to + foreshadow the English Revolution of 1688 which ended forever the despotic + reign of the Stuarts. + </p> + <p> + The Swedes continued to form the main body of people on the Delaware under + the regime of the Duke of York, and at the time when William Penn took + possession of the country in 1682 their settlements extended from New + Castle up through Christina, Marcus Hook, Upland (now Chester), Tinicum, + Kingsessing in the modern West Philadelphia, Passyunk, Wicaco, both in + modern Philadelphia, and as far up the river as Frankford and Pennypack. + They had their churches at Christina, Tinicum, Kingsessing, and Wicaco. + The last, when absorbed by Philadelphia, was a pretty little hamlet on the + river shore, its farms belonging to a Swedish family called Swanson whose + name is now borne by one of the city's streets. Across the river in New + Jersey, opposite Chester, the Swedes had settlements on Raccoon Creek and + round Swedesboro. These river settlements constituted an interesting and + from all accounts a very attractive Scandinavian community. Their + strongest bond of union seems to have been their interest in their + Lutheran churches on the river. They spread very little into the interior, + made few roads, and lived almost exclusively on the river or on its + navigable tributaries. One reason they gave for this preference was that + it was easier to reach the different churches by boat. + </p> + <p> + There were only about a thousand Swedes along the Delaware and possibly + five hundred of Dutch and mixed blood, together with a few English, all + living a life of abundance on a fine river amid pleasing scenery, with + good supplies of fish and game, a fertile soil, and a wilderness of + opportunity to the west of them. All were well pleased to be relieved from + the stagnant despotism of the Duke of York and to take part in the free + popular government of William Penn in Pennsylvania. They became + magistrates and officials, members of the council and of the legislature. + They soon found that all their avenues of trade and life were quickened. + They passed from mere farmers supplying their own needs to exporters of + the products of their farms. + </p> + <p> + Descendants of the Swedes and Dutch still form the basis of the population + of Delaware. * There were some Finns at Marcus Hook, which was called + Finland; and it may be noted in passing that there were not a few French + among the Dutch, as among the Germans in Pennsylvania, Huguenots who had + fled from religious persecution in France. The name Jaquette, well known + in Delaware, marks one of these families, whose immigrant ancestor was one + of the Dutch governors. In the ten or dozen generations since the English + conquest intermarriage has in many instances inextricably mixed up Swede, + Dutch, and French, as well as the English stock, so that many persons with + Dutch names are of Swedish or French descent and vice versa, and some with + English names like Oldham are of Dutch descent. There has been apparently + much more intermarriage among the different nationalities in the province + and less standing aloof than among the alien divisions of Pennsylvania. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Swedish names anglicized are now found everywhere. Gostafsson +has become Justison and Justis. Bond has become Boon; Hoppman, Hoffman; +Kalsberg, Colesberry; Wihler, Wheeler; Joccom, Yocum; Dahlbo, Dalbow; +Konigh, King; Kyn, Keen; and so on. Then there are also such names as +Wallraven, Hendrickson, Stedham, Peterson, Matson, Talley, Anderson, and +the omnipresent Rambo, which have suffered little, if any, change. +Dutch names are also numerous, such as Lockermans, Vandever, Van +Dyke, Vangezel, Vandegrift, Alricks, Statts, Van Zandt, Hyatt, Cochran +(originally Kolchman), Vance, and Blackstone (originally Blackenstein). +</pre> + <p> + After the English conquest some Irish Presbyterians or Scotch-Irish + entered Delaware. Finally came the Quakers, comparatively few in colonial + times but more numerous after the Revolution, especially in Wilmington and + its neighborhood. True to their characteristics, they left descendants who + have become the most prominent and useful citizens down into our own time. + At present Wilmington has become almost as distinctive a Quaker town as + Philadelphia. "Thee" and "thou" are frequently heard in the streets, and a + surprisingly large proportion of the people of prominence and importance + are Quakers or of Quaker descent. Many of the neat and pleasant + characteristics of the town are distinctly of Quaker origin; and these + characteristics are found wherever Quaker influence prevails. + </p> + <p> + Wilmington was founded about 1731 by Thomas Willing, an Englishman, who + had married into the Swedish family of Justison. He laid out a few streets + on his wife's land on the hill behind the site of old Fort Christina, in + close imitation of the plan of Philadelphia, and from that small beginning + the present city grew, and was at first called Willingtown. * William + Shipley, a Pennsylvania Quaker born in England, bought land in it in 1735, + and having more capital than Willing, pushed the fortunes of the town more + rapidly. He probably had not a little to do with bringing Quakers to + Wilmington; indeed, their first meetings were held in a house belonging to + him until they could build a meeting house of their own in 1738. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Some years later in a borough charter granted by Penn, the name +was changed to Wilmington in honor of the Earl of Wilmington. +</pre> + <p> + Both Shipley and Willing had been impressed with the natural beauty of the + situation, the wide view over the level moorland and green marsh and + across the broad river to the Jersey shore, as well as by the natural + conveniences of the place for trade and commerce. Wilmington has ever + since profited by its excellent situation, with the level moorland for + industry, the river for traffic, and the first terraces or hills of the + Piedmont for residence; and, for scenery, the Brandywine tumbling through + rocks and bowlders in a long series of rapids. + </p> + <p> + The custom still surviving in Wilmington of punishing certain classes of + criminals by whipping appears to have originated in the days of Willing + and Shipley, about the year 1740, when a cage, stocks, and whipping-post + were erected. They were placed in the most conspicuous part of the town, + and there the culprit, in addition to his legal punishment, was also + disciplined at the discretion of passers-by with rotten eggs and other + equally potent encouragements to reform. These gratuitous inflictions, not + mentioned in the statute, as well as the public exhibition of the prisoner + were abolished in later times and in this modified form the method of + correction was extended to the two other counties. Sometimes a + cat-o'nine-tails was used, sometimes a rawhide whip, and sometimes a + switch cut from a tree. Nowadays, however, all the whipping for the State + is done in Wilmington, where all prisoners sentenced to whipping in the + State are sent. This punishment is found to be so efficacious that its + infliction a second time on the same person is exceedingly rare. + </p> + <p> + The most striking relic of the old Swedish days in Wilmington is the brick + and stone church of good proportions and no small beauty, and today one of + the very ancient relics of America. It was built by the Swedes in 1698 to + replace their old wooden church, which was on the lower land, and the + Swedish language was used in the services down to the year 1800, when the + building was turned over to the Church of England. Old Peter Minuit, the + first Swedish governor, may possibly have been buried there. The Swedes + built another pretty chapel—Gloria Dei, as it was called—at + the village of Wicaco, on the shore of the Delaware where Philadelphia + afterwards was established. The original building was taken down in 1700, + and the present one was erected on its site partly with materials from the + church at Tinicum. It remained Swedish Lutheran until 1831, when, like all + the Swedish chapels, it became the property of the Church of England, + between which and the Swedish Lutheran body there was a close affinity, if + not in doctrine, at least in episcopal organization. * The old brick + church dating from 1740, on the main street of Wilmington, is an + interesting relic of the colonial Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in Delaware, + and is now carefully preserved as the home of the Historical Society. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Clay's "Annals of the Swedes", pp. 143, 153-4. +</pre> + <p> + After Delaware had been eighteen years under the Duke of York, William + Penn felt a need of the west side of the river all the way down to the sea + to strengthen his ownership of Pennsylvania. He also wanted to offset the + ambitions of Lord Baltimore to extend Maryland northward. Penn accordingly + persuaded his friend James, the Duke of York, to give him a grant of + Delaware, which Penn thereupon annexed to Pennsylvania under the name of + the Territories or Three Lower Counties. The three counties, New Castle, + Kent, and Sussex, * are still the counties of Delaware, each one extending + across the State and filling its whole length from the hills of the + Brandywine on the Pennsylvania border to the sands of Sussex at Cape + Henlopen. The term "Territory" has ever since been used in America to + describe an outlying province not yet given the privileges of a State. + Instead of townships, the three Delaware counties were divided into + "hundreds," an old Anglo-Saxon county method of division going back beyond + the times of Alfred the Great. Delaware is the only State in the Union + that retains this name for county divisions. The Three Lower Counties were + allowed to send representatives to the Pennsylvania Assembly; and the + Quakers of Delaware have always been part of the Yearly Meeting in + Philadelphia. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The original names were New Castle, Jones's, and Hoerekill, as +it was called by the Dutch, or Deal. +</pre> + <p> + In 1703, after having been a part of Pennsylvania for twenty years, the + Three Lower Counties were given home rule and a legislature of their own; + but they remained under the Governor of Pennsylvania until the Revolution + of 1776. They then became an entirely separate community and one of the + thirteen original States. Delaware was the first State to adopt the + National Constitution, and Rhode Island, its fellow small State, the last. + Having been first to adopt the Constitution, the people of Delaware claim + that on all national occasions or ceremonies they are entitled to the + privilege of precedence. They have every reason to be proud of the + representative men they sent to the Continental Congress, and to the + Senate in later times. Agriculture has, of course, always been the + principal occupation on the level fertile land of Delaware; and it is + agriculture of a high class, for the soil, especially in certain + localities, is particularly adapted to wheat, corn, and timothy grass, as + well as small fruits. That section of land crossing the State in the + region of Delaware City and Middleton is one of the show regions in + America, for crops of wheat and corn. Farther south, grain growing is + combined with small fruits and vegetables with a success seldom attained + elsewhere. Agriculturally there is no division of land of similar size + quite equal to Delaware in fertility. Its sand and gravel base with + vegetable mold above is somewhat like the southern Jersey formation, but + it is more productive from having a larger deposit of decayed vegetation. + </p> + <p> + The people of Delaware have, indeed, very little land that is not + tillable. The problems of poverty, crowding, great cities, and excessive + wealth in few hands are practically unknown among them. The foreign + commerce of Wilmington began in 1740 with the building of a brig named + after the town, and was continued successfully for a hundred years. At + Wilmington there has always been a strong manufacturing interest, + beginning with the famous colonial flour mills at the falls of the + Brandywine, and the breadstuffs industry at Newport on the Christina. With + the Brandywine so admirably suited to the water-power machinery of those + days and the Christina deep enough for the ships, Wilmington seemed in + colonial times to possess an ideal combination of advantages for + manufacturing and commerce. The flour mills were followed in 1802 by the + Du Pont Powder Works, which are known all over the world, and which + furnished powder for all American wars since the Revolution, for the + Crimean War in Europe, and for the Allies in the Great War. + </p> + <p> + "From the hills of Brandywine to the sands of Sussex" is an expression the + people of Delaware use to indicate the whole length of their little State. + The beautiful cluster of hills at the northern end dropping into park-like + pastures along the shores of the rippling Red Clay and White Clay creeks + which form the deep Christina with its border of green reedy marshes, is + in striking contrast to the wild waste of sands at Cape Henlopen. Yet in + one way the Brandywine Hills are closely connected with those sands, for + from these very hills have been quarried the hard rocks for the great + breakwater at the Cape, behind which the fleets of merchant vessels take + refuge in storms. + </p> + <p> + The great sand dunes behind the lighthouse at the cape have their equal + nowhere else on the coast. Blown by the ocean winds, the dunes work + inland, overwhelming a pine forest to the tree tops and filling swamps in + their course. The beach is strewn with every type of wreckage of man's + vain attempts to conquer the sea. The Life Saving Service men have strange + tales to tell and show their collections of coins found along the sand. + The old pilots live snugly in their neat houses in Pilot Row, waiting + their turns to take the great ships up through the shoals and sands which + were so baffling to Henry Hudson and his mate one hot August day of the + year 1609. + </p> + <p> + The Indians of the northern part of Delaware are said to have been mostly + Minquas who lived along the Christiana and Brandywine, and are supposed to + have had a fort on Iron Hill. The rest of the State was inhabited by the + Nanticokes, who extended their habitations far down the peninsula, where a + river is named after them. They were a division or clan of the Delawares + or Leni Lenapes. In the early days they gave some trouble; but shortly + before the Revolution all left the peninsula in strange and dramatic + fashion. Digging up the bones of their dead chiefs in 1748, they bore them + away to new abodes in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. Some appear to + have traveled by land up the Delaware to the Lehigh, which they followed + to its source not far from the Wyoming Valley. Others went in canoes, + starting far down the peninsula at the Nanticoke River and following along + the wild shore of the Chesapeake to the Susquehanna, up which they went by + its eastern branch straight into the Wyoming Valley. It was a grand canoe + trip—a weird procession of tawny, black-haired fellows swinging + their paddles day after day, with their freight of ancient bones, leaving + the sunny fishing grounds of the Nanticoke and the Choptank to seek a + refuge from the detested white man in the cold mountains of Pennsylvania. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + </h2> + <p> + A large part of the material for the early history of Pennsylvania is + contained of course in the writings and papers of the founder. The "Life + of William Penn" by S. M. Janney (1852) is perhaps the most trustworthy of + the older biographies but it is a dull book. A biography written with a + modern point of view is "The True William Penn" by Sydney G. Fisher + (1900). Mrs. Colquhoun Grant, a descendant of Penn has published a book + with the title "Quaker and Courtier: the Life and Work of William Penn" + (1907). The manuscript papers of Penn now in the possession of the + Historical Society of Pennsylvania, together with much new material + gathered in England, are soon to be published under the able editorship of + Albert Cook Myers. + </p> + <p> + There is a vast literature on the history of Quakerism. The "Journal of + George Fox" (1694), Penn's "Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the + People called Quakers" (1695), and Robert Barclay's "Apology for the True + Christian Divinity" (1678) are of first importance for the study of the + rise of the Society of Friends. Among the older histories are J.J. + Gurney's "Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of the Society of + Friends" (1824), James Bowden's "History of the Society of Friends in + America," 2 vols. (1850-54), and S.M. Janney's "History of the Religious + Society of Friends," 4 vols. (1860-67). Two recent histories are of great + value: W. C. Braithwaite, "The Beginnings of Quakerism" (1912) and Rufus + M. Jones, "The Quakers in the American Colonies" (1911). Among the older + histories of Penn's province are "The History of Pennsylvania in North + America," 2 vols. (1797-98), written by Robert Proud from the Quaker point + of view and of great value because of the quotations from original + documents and letters, and "History of Pennsylvania from its Discovery by + Europeans to the Declaration of Independence in 1776" (1829) by T. F. + Gordon, largely an epitome of the debates of the Pennsylvania Assembly + which recorded in its minutes in fascinating old-fashioned English the + whole history of the province from year to year. Franklin's "Historical + Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its Origin" + (1759) is a storehouse of information about the history of the province in + the French and Indian wars. Much of the history of the province is to be + found in the letters of Penn, Franklin, Logan, and Lloyd, and in such + collections as Samuel Hazard's "Register of Pennsylvania," 16 vols. + (1828-36), "Colonial Records," 16 vols. (1851-53), and "Pennsylvania + Archives" (1874-). A vast amount of material is scattered in pamphlets, in + files of colonial newspapers like the "Pennsylvania Gazette," in the + publications of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and in the + "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography" (1877-). Recent histories + of the province have been written by Isaac Sharpless, "History of Quaker + Government in Pennsylvania," 2 vols. (1898-99), and by Sydney G. Fisher, + "The Making of Pennsylvania" (1896) and "Pennsylvania, Colony and + Commonwealth" (1897). A scholarly "History of Proprietary Government in + Pennsylvania" has been published by William R. Shepherd in the "Columbia + University Studies" (1896) and the "Relations of Pennsylvania with the + British Government, 1696-1765" (1912) have been traced with painstaking + care by Winfred T. Root. + </p> + <p> + Concerning the racial and religious elements in Pennsylvania the following + books contribute much valuable information: A. B. Faust, "The German + Element in the United States," 2 vols. (1909); A. C. Myers, "Immigration + of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750" (1909); S. W. + Pennypacker, "Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the Beginning of + German Immigration to North America" (1899); J. F. Sachse, "The German + Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania, 1694-1708" (1895), and "The German + Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 1708-1800," 2 vols. (1899-1900); L. O. Kuhns, + "The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania" (1901); H. J. + Ford, "The Scotch-Irish in America" (1915); T. A. Glenn, "Merion in the + Welsh Tract" (1896). + </p> + <p> + The older histories of New Jersey, like those of Pennsylvania, contain + valuable original material not found elsewhere. Among these Samuel Smith's + "The History of the Colony of Nova Casaria, or New Jersey" (1765) should + have first place. E. B. O'Callaghan's "History of New Netherland," 2 vols. + (1846), and J. R. Brodhead's "History of the State of New York," 2 vols. + (1853, 1871) contain also information about the Jerseys under Dutch rule. + Other important works are: W. A. Whitehead's "East Jersey under the + Proprietary Governments" (New Jersey Historical Society "Collections," + vol.1, 1875), and "The English in East and West Jersey" in Winsor's + "Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. III, L. Q. C. Elmer's + "The Constitution and Government of the Province and State of New Jersey" + (New Jersey Historical Society Collections, vols. III and VII, 1849 and + 1872.) Special studies have been made by Austin Scott, "Influence of the + Proprietors in the Founding of New Jersey" (1885), and by H. S. Cooley, + "Study of Slavery in New Jersey" (1896), both in the Johns Hopkins + University "Studies;" also by E. P. Tanner, "The Province of New Jersey" + (1908) and by E. J. Fisher, "New Jersey as a Royal Province, 1738-1776" + (1911) in the Columbia University "Studies." Several county histories + yield excellent material concerning the life and times of the colonists, + notably Isaac Mickle's "Reminiscences of Old Gloucester" (1845) and L. T. + Stevens's "The History of Cape May County" (1897) which are real histories + written in scholarly fashion and not to be confused with the vulgar county + histories gotten up to sell. + </p> + <p> + The Dutch and Swedish occupation of the lands bordering on the Delaware + may be followed in the following histories: Benjamin Ferris, "A History of + the Original Settlements of the Delaware" (1846); Francis Vincent, "A + History of the State of Delaware" (1870); J. T. Scharf, "History of + Delaware, 1609-1888," 2 vols. (1888); Karl K. S. Sprinchorn, Kolonien Nya + Sveriges Historia (1878), translated in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of + History and Biography," vols. VII and VIII. In volume IV of Winsor's + "Narrative and Critical History of America" is a chapter contributed by G. + B. Keen on "New Sweden, or The Swedes on the Delaware." The most recent + minute work on the subject is "The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware," 2 + vols. (1911) by Amandus Johnson. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quaker Colonies, by Sydney G. Fisher + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUAKER COLONIES *** + +***** This file should be named 3043-h.htm or 3043-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/3043/ + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, Alev Akman, and David Widger + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Quaker Colonies + A Chronicle of the Proprietors of the Delaware, Volume 8 + in The Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Sydney G. Fisher + +Posting Date: February 21, 2009 [EBook #3043] +Release Date: January, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUAKER COLONIES *** + + + + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, and Alev Akman. + + + + + + +THE QUAKER COLONIES, + +A CHRONICLE OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE DELAWARE + +Volume 8 In The Chronicles Of America Series + +By Sydney G. Fisher + + +New Haven: Yale University Press + +Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co. + +London: Humphrey Milford + +Oxford University Press + +1919 + + +CONTENTS + + I. THE BIRTH OF PENNSYLVANIA + II. PENN SAILS FOR THE DELAWARE + III. LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA + IV. TYPES OF THE POPULATION + V. THE TROUBLES OF PENN AND HIS SONS + VI. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR + VII. THE DECLINE OF QUAKER GOVERNMENT + VIII. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW JERSEY + IX. PLANTERS AND TRADERS OF SOUTHERN JERSEY + X. SCOTCH COVENANTERS AND OTHERS IN EAST JERSEY + XI. THE UNITED JERSEYS + XII. LITTLE DELAWARE + XIII. THE ENGLISH CONQUEST + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + + +THE QUAKER COLONIES + + + +Chapter I. The Birth Of Pennsylvania + +In 1661, the year after Charles II was restored to the throne of +England, William Penn was a seventeen-year-old student at Christ Church, +Oxford. His father, a distinguished admiral in high favor at Court, had +abandoned his erstwhile friends and had aided in restoring King Charlie +to his own again. Young William was associating with the sons of the +aristocracy and was receiving an education which would fit him to obtain +preferment at Court. But there was a serious vein in him, and while at a +high church Oxford College he was surreptitiously attending the meetings +and listening to the preaching of the despised and outlawed Quakers. +There he first began to hear of the plans of a group of Quakers to found +colonies on the Delaware in America. Forty years afterwards he wrote, "I +had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1661 at Oxford." And +with America and the Quakers, in spite of a brief youthful experience as +a soldier and a courtier, William Penn's life, as well as his fame, is +indissolubly linked. + +Quakerism was one of the many religious sects born in the seventeenth +century under the influence of Puritan thought. The foundation principle +of the Reformation, the right of private judgment, the Quakers carried +out to its logical conclusion; but they were people whose minds had +so long been suppressed and terrorized that, once free, they rushed to +extremes. They shocked and horrified even the most advanced Reformation +sects by rejecting Baptism, the doctrine of the Trinity, and all +sacraments, forms, and ceremonies. They represented, on their best +side, the most vigorous effort of the Reformation to return to the +spirituality and the simplicity of the early Christians. But their +intense spirituality, pathetic often in its extreme manifestations, +was not wholly concerned with another world. Their humane ideas and +philanthropic methods, such as the abolition of slavery, and the reform +of prisons and of charitable institutions, came in time to be accepted +as fundamental practical social principles. + +The tendencies of which Quakerism formed only one manifestation appeared +outside of England, in Italy, in France, and especially in Germany. The +fundamental Quaker idea of "quietism," as it was called, or peaceful, +silent contemplation as a spiritual form of worship and as a development +of moral consciousness, was very widespread at the close of the +Reformation and even began to be practiced in the Roman Catholic Church +until it was stopped by the Jesuits. The most extreme of the English +Quakers, however, gave way to such extravagances of conduct as trembling +when they preached (whence their name), preaching openly in the +streets and fields--a horrible thing at that time--interrupting other +congregations, and appearing naked as a sign and warning. They gave +offense by refusing to remove their hats in public and by applying to +all alike the words "thee" and "thou," a form of address hitherto used +only to servants and inferiors. Worst of all, the Quakers refused to +pay tithes or taxes to support the Church of England. As a result, the +loathsome jails of the day were soon filled with these objectors, and +their property melted away in fines. This contumacy and their street +meetings, regarded at that time as riotous breaches of the peace, gave +the Government at first a legal excuse to hunt them down; but as they +grew in numbers and influence, laws were enacted to suppress them. Some +of them, though not the wildest extremists, escaped to the colonies in +America. There, however, they were made welcome to conditions no less +severe. + +The first law against the Quakers in Massachusetts was passed in 1656, +and between that date and 1660 four of the sect were hanged, one of them +a woman, Mary Dyer. Though there were no other hangings, many Quakers +were punished by whipping and banishment. In other colonies, notably New +York, fines and banishment were not uncommon. Such treatment forced the +Quakers, against the will of many of them, to seek a tract of land +and found a colony of their own. To such a course there appeared no +alternative, unless they were determined to establish their religion +solely by martyrdom. + +About the time when the Massachusetts laws were enforced, the principal +Quaker leader and organizer, George Fox (1624-1691), began to consider +the possibility of making a settlement among the great forests and +mountains said to lie north of Maryland in the region drained by the +Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In this region lay practically the only +good land on the Atlantic seaboard not already occupied. The Puritans +and Dutch were on the north, and there were Catholic and Church of +England colonies on the south in Maryland and Virginia. The middle +ground was unoccupied because heretofore a difficult coast had prevented +easy access by sea. Fox consulted Josiah Coale, a Quaker who had +traveled in America and had seen a good deal of the Indian tribes, with +the result that on his second visit to America Coale was commissioned to +treat with the Susquehanna Indians, who were supposed to have rights in +the desired land. In November, 1660, Coale reported to Fox the result +of his inquiries: "As concerning Friends buying a piece of land of the +Susquehanna Indians I have spoken of it to them and told them what thou +said concerning it; but their answer was, that there is no land that is +habitable or fit for situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come +to or near the Susquehanna's Fort." * Nothing could be done immediately, +the letter went on to say, because the Indians were at war with one +another, and William Fuller, a Maryland Quaker, whose cooperation was +deemed essential, was absent. + + + * James Bowden's "History of the Friends in America," vol. I, p. +389 + + +This seems to have been the first definite movement towards a Quaker +colony. Reports of it reached the ears of young Penn at Oxford and set +his imagination aflame. He never forgot the project, for seventeen is an +age when grand thoughts strike home. The adventurousness of the plan was +irresistible--a home for the new faith in the primeval forest, far from +imprisonment, tithes, and persecution, and to be won by effort worthy of +a man. It was, however, a dream destined not to be realized for many a +long year. More was needed than the mere consent of the Indians. In +the meantime, however, a temporary refuge for the sect was found in the +province of West Jersey on the Delaware, which two Quakers had bought +from Lord Berkeley for the comparatively small sum of 1000 pounds. Of +this grant William Penn became one of the trustees and thus gained +his first experience in the business of colonizing the region of his +youthful dreams. But there was never a sufficient governmental control +of West Jersey to make it an ideal Quaker colony. What little control +the Quakers exercised disappeared after 1702; and the land and situation +were not all that could be desired. Penn, though also one of the owners +of East Jersey, made no attempt to turn that region into a Quaker +colony. + +Besides West Jersey the Quakers found a temporary asylum in Aquidneck, +now Rhode Island. * For many years the governors and magistrates were +Quakers, and the affairs of this island colony were largely in their +hands. Quakers were also prominent in the politics of North Carolina, +and John Archdale, a Quaker, was Governor for several years. They formed +a considerable element of the population in the towns of Long Island and +Westchester County but they could not hope to convert these communities +into real Quaker commonwealths. + + + * This Rhode Island colony should be distinguished from the +settlement at Providence founded by Roger Williams with which it was +later united. See Jones, "The Quakers in the American Colonies," p. 21, +note. + + +The experience in the Jerseys and elsewhere very soon proved that if +there was to be a real Quaker colony, the British Crown must give +not only a title to the land but a strong charter guaranteeing +self-government and protection of the Quaker faith from outside +interference. But that the British Government would grant such valued +privileges to a sect of schismatics which it was hunting down in England +seemed a most unlikely event. Nothing but unusual influence at Court +could bring it about, and in that quarter the Quakers had no influence. + +Penn never forgot the boyhood ideal which he had developed at college. +For twenty years he led a varied life--driven from home and whipped by +his father for consorting with the schismatic; sometimes in deference +to his father's wishes taking his place in the gay world at Court; even, +for a time, becoming a soldier, and again traveling in France with some +of the people of the Court. In the end, as he grew older, religious +feeling completely absorbed him. He became one of the leading Quaker +theologians, and his very earnest religious writings fill several +volumes. He became a preacher at the meetings and went to prison for his +heretical doctrines and pamphlets. At last he found himself at the age +of thirty-six with his father dead, and a debt due from the Crown of +16,000 pounds for services which his distinguished father, the admiral, +had rendered the Government. + +Here was the accident that brought into being the great Quaker colony, +by a combination of circumstances which could hardly have happened +twice. Young Penn was popular at Court. He had inherited a valuable +friendship with Charles II and his heir, the Duke of York. This +friendship rested on the solid fact that Penn's father, the admiral, +had rendered such signal assistance in restoring Charles and the whole +Stuart line to the throne. But still 16,000 pounds or $80,000, the +accumulation of many deferred payments, was a goodly sum in those days, +and that the Crown would pay it in money, of which it had none too much, +was unlikely. Why not therefore suggest paying it instead in wild land +in America, of which the Crown had abundance? That was the fruitful +thought which visited Penn. Lord Berkeley and Lord Carteret had been +given New Jersey because they had signally helped to restore the Strait +family to the throne. All the more therefore should the Stuart family +give a tract of land, and even a larger tract, to Penn, whose father +had not only assisted the family to the throne but had refrained so long +from pressing his just claim for money due. + +So the Crown, knowing little of the value of it, granted him the most +magnificent domain of mountains; lakes, rivers, and forests, fertile +soil, coal, petroleum, and iron that ever was given to a single +proprietor. In addition to giving Penn the control of Delaware and, with +certain other Quakers, that of New Jersey as well, the Crown placed +at the disposal of the Quakers 55,000 square miles of most valuable, +fertile territory, lacking only about three thousand square miles of +being as large as England and Wales. Even when cut down to 45,000 square +miles by a boundary dispute with Maryland, it was larger than Ireland. +Kings themselves have possessed such dominions, but never before a +private citizen who scorned all titles and belonged to a hunted sect +that exalted peace and spiritual contemplation above all the wealth and +power of the world. Whether the obtaining of this enormous tract of +the best land in America was due to what may be called the eternal +thriftiness of the Quaker mind or to the intense desire of the British +Government to get rid of these people--at any cost might be hard to +determine. + +Penn received his charter in 1681, and in it he was very careful to +avoid all the mistakes of the Jersey proprietary grants. Instead of +numerous proprietors, Penn was to be the sole proprietor. Instead +of giving title to the land and remaining silent about the political +government, Penn's charter not only gave him title to the land but +a clearly defined position as its political head, and described the +principles of the government so clearly that there was little room for +doubt or dispute. + +It was a decidedly feudal charter, very much like the one granted to +Lord Baltimore fifty years before, and yet at the same time it secured +civil liberty and representative government to the people. Penn owned +all the land and the colonists were to be his tenants. He was compelled, +however, to give his people free government. The laws were to be made by +him with the assent of the people or their delegates. In practice this +of course meant that the people were to elect a legislature and Penn +would have a veto, as we now call it, on such acts as the legislature +should pass. He had power to appoint magistrates, judges, and some other +officers, and to grant pardons. Though, by the charter, proprietor of +the province, he usually remained in England and appointed a deputy +governor to exercise authority in the colony. In modern phrase, +he controlled the executive part of the government and his people +controlled the legislative part. + +Pennsylvania, besides being the largest in area of the proprietary +colonies, was also the most successful, not only from the proprietor's +point of view but also from the point of view of the inhabitants. The +proprietorships in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and the Carolinas +were largely failures. Maryland was only partially successful; it was +not particularly remunerative to its owner, and the Crown deprived him +of his control of it for twenty years. Penn, too, was deprived of the +control of Pennsylvania by William III but for only about two years. +Except for this brief interval (1692-1694), Penn and his sons after him +held their province down to the time of the American Revolution in 1776, +a period of ninety-four years. + +A feudal proprietorship, collecting rents from all the people, seems +to modern minds grievously wrong in theory, and yet it would be very +difficult to show that it proved onerous in practice. Under it the +people of Pennsylvania flourished in wealth, peace, and happiness. Penn +won undying fame for the liberal principles of his feudal enterprise. +His expenses in England were so great and his quitrents always so much +in arrears that he was seldom out of debt. But his children grew rich +from the province. As in other provinces that were not feudal there were +disputes between the people and the proprietors; but there was not +so much general dissatisfaction as might have been expected. The +proprietors were on the whole not altogether disliked. In the American +Revolution, when the people could have confiscated everything in +Pennsylvania belonging to the proprietary family, they not only +left them in possession of a large part of their land, but paid them +handsomely for the part that was taken. + +After Penn had secured his charter in 1681, he obtained from the Duke of +York the land now included in the State of Delaware. He advertised for +colonists, and began selling land at 100 pounds for five thousand acres +and annually thereafter a shilling quitrent for every hundred acres. He +drew up a constitution or frame of government, as he called it, after +wide and earnest consultation with many, including the famous Algernon +Sydney. Among the Penn papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania +is a collection of about twenty preliminary drafts. Beginning with one +which erected a government by a landed aristocracy, they became more +and more liberal, until in the end his frame was very much like the most +liberal government of the other English colonies in America. He had +a council and an assembly, both elected by the people. The council, +however, was very large, had seventy-two members, and was more like +an upper house of the Legislature than the usual colonial governor's +council. The council also had the sole right of proposing legislation, +and the assembly could merely accept or reject its proposals. This was +a new idea, and it worked so badly in practice that in the end the +province went to the opposite extreme and had no council or upper house +of the Legislature at all. + +Penn's frame of government contained, however, a provision for its own +amendment. This was a new idea and proved to be so happy that it is now +found in all American constitutions. His method of impeachment by which +the lower house was to bring in the charge and the upper house was +to try it has also been universally adopted. His view that an +unconstitutional law is void was a step towards our modern system. The +next step, giving the courts power to declare a law unconstitutional, +was not taken until one hundred years after his time. With the advice +and assistance of some of those who were going out to his colony he +prepared a code of laws which contained many of the advanced ideas +of the Quakers. Capital punishment was to be confined to murder and +treason, instead of being applied as in England to a host of minor +offenses. The property of murderers, instead of being forfeited to the +State, was to be divided among the next of kin of the victim and of +the criminal. Religious liberty was established as it had been in Rhode +Island and the Jerseys. All children were to be taught a useful trade. +Oaths in judicial proceedings were not required. All prisons were to +be workhouses and places of reformation instead of dungeons of dirt, +idleness, and disease. This attempt to improve the prisons inaugurated +a movement of great importance in the modern world in which the part +played by the Quakers is too often forgotten. + +Penn had now started his "Holy Experiment," as he called his enterprise +in Pennsylvania, by which he intended to prove that religious liberty +was not only right, but that agriculture, commerce, and all arts and +refinements of life would flourish under it. He would break the delusion +that prosperity and morals were possible only under some one particular +faith established by law. He, would prove that government could +be carried on without war and without oaths, and that primitive +Christianity could be maintained without a hireling ministry, without +persecution, without ridiculous dogmas or ritual, sustained only by its +own innate power and the inward light. + + + +Chapter II. Penn Sails For The Delaware + +The framing of the constitution and other preparations consumed the year +following Penn's receipt of his charter in 1681. But at last, on +August 30, 1682, he set sail in the ship Welcome, with about a hundred +colonists. After a voyage of about six weeks, and the loss of thirty of +their number by smallpox, they arrived in the Delaware. June would have +been a somewhat better month in which to see the rich luxuriance of +the green meadows and forests of this beautiful river. But the autumn +foliage and bracing air of October must have been inspiring enough. +The ship slowly beat her way for three days up the bay and river in +the silence and romantic loneliness of its shores. Everything indicated +richness and fertility. At some points the lofty trees of the primeval +forest grew down to the water's edge. The river at every high tide +overflowed great meadows grown up in reeds and grasses and red and +yellow flowers, stretching back to the borders of the forest and full +of water birds and wild fowl of every variety. Penn, now in the prime of +life, must surely have been aroused by this scene and by the reflection +that the noble river was his and the vast stretches of forests and +mountains for three hundred miles to the westward. + +He was soon ashore, exploring the edge of his mighty domain, settling +his government, and passing his laws. He was much pleased with the +Swedes whom he found on his land. He changed the name of the little +Swedish village of Upland, fifteen miles below Philadelphia, to Chester. +He superintended laying out the streets of Philadelphia and they remain +to this day substantially as he planned them, though unfortunately too +narrow and monotonously regular. He met the Indians at Philadelphia, sat +with them at their fires, ate their roasted corn, and when to amuse him +they showed him some of their sports and games he renewed his college +days by joining them in a jumping match. + +Then he started on journeys. He traveled through the woods to New York, +which then belonged to the Duke of York, who had given him Delaware; he +visited the Long Island Quakers; and on his return he went to Maryland +to meet with much pomp and ceremony Lord Baltimore and there discuss +with him the disputed boundary. He even crossed to the eastern shore of +the Chesapeake to visit a Quaker meeting on the Choptank before winter +set in, and he describes the immense migration of wild pigeons at +that season, and the ducks which flew so low and were so tame that the +colonists knocked them down with sticks. + +Most of the winter he spent at Chester and wrote to England in high +spirits of his journeys, the wonders of the country, the abundance of +game and provisions, and the twenty-three ships which had arrived so +swiftly that few had taken longer than six weeks, and only three had +been infected with the smallpox. "Oh how sweet," he says, "is the quiet +of these parts, freed from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, +hurries and perplexities of woful Europe." + +As the weeks and months passed, ships kept arriving with more Quakers, +far exceeding the migration to the Jerseys. By summer, Penn reported +that 50 sail had arrived within the past year, 80 houses had been built +in Philadelphia, and about 300 farms had been laid out round the town. +It is supposed that about 8000 immigrants had arrived. This was a +more rapid development than was usual in the colonies of America. +Massachusetts and Virginia had been established slowly and with much +privation and suffering. But the settlement of Philadelphia was like a +summer outing. There were no dangers, the hardships were trifling, and +there was no sickness or famine. There was such an abundance of game +close at hand that hunger and famine were in nowise to be feared. The +climate was good and the Indians, kindly treated, remained friendly for +seventy years. + +It is interesting to note that in that same year, 1682, in which Penn +and his friends with such ease and comfort founded their great colony +on the Delaware, the French explorers and voyageurs from Canada, after +years of incredible hardships, had traversed the northern region of the +Great Lakes with their canoes and had passed down the Mississippi to its +mouth, giving to the whole of the Great West the name of Louisiana, and +claiming it for France. Already La Salle had taken his fleet of canoes +down the Mississippi River and had placed the arms of France on a post +at its mouth in April, 1682, only a few months before Penn reached +his newly acquired colony. Thus in the same year in which the Quakers +established in Pennsylvania their reign of liberty and of peace with +the red men, La Salle was laying the foundation of the western empire of +despotic France, which seventy years afterwards was to hurl the savages +upon the English colonies, to wreck the Quaker policy of peace, but to +fail in the end to maintain itself against the free colonies of England. + +While they were building houses in Philadelphia, the settlers lived in +bark huts or in caves dug in the river bank, as the early settlers +in New Jersey across the river had lived. Pastorius, a learned German +Quaker, who had come out with the English, placed over the door of his +cave the motto, "Parva domus, sed amica bonis, procul este profani," +which much amused Penn when he saw it. A certain Mrs. Morris was much +exercised one day as to how she could provide supper in the cave for +her husband who was working on the construction of their house. But on +returning to her cave she found that her cat had just brought in a fine +rabbit. In their later prosperous years they had a picture of the cat +and the rabbit made on a box which has descended as a family heirloom. +Doubtless there were preserved many other interesting reminiscences of +the brief camp life. These Quakers were all of the thrifty, industrious +type which had gone to West Jersey a few years before. Men of means, +indeed, among the Quakers were the first to seek refuge from the fines +and confiscations imposed upon them in England. They brought with them +excellent supplies of everything. Many of the ships carried the frames +of houses ready to put together. But substantial people of this +sort demanded for the most part houses of brick, with stone cellars. +Fortunately both brick clay and stone were readily obtainable in the +neighborhood, and whatever may have been the case in other colonies, +ships loaded with brick from England would have found it little to their +profit to touch at Philadelphia. An early description says that the +brick houses in Philadelphia were modeled on those of London, and this +type prevailed for nearly two hundred years. + +It was probably in June, 1683, that Penn made his famous treaty with +the Indians. No documentary proof of the existence of such a treaty has +reached us. He made, indeed, a number of so-called treaties, which +were really only purchases of land involving oral promises between the +principals to treat each other fairly. Hundreds of such treaties have +been made. The remarkable part about Penn's dealings with the Indians +was that such promises as he made he kept. The other Quakers, too, were +as careful as Penn in their honorable treatment of the red men. +Quaker families of farmers and settlers lived unarmed among them for +generations and, when absent from home, left children in their care. The +Indians, on their part, were known to have helped white families with +food in winter time. Penn, on his first visit to the colony, made a long +journey unarmed among the Indians as far as the Susquehanna, saw the +great herds of elk on that river, lived in Indian wigwams, and learned +much of the language and customs of the natives. There need never be any +trouble with them, he said. They were the easiest people in the world to +get on with if the white men would simply be just. Penn's fair treatment +of the Indians kept Pennsylvania at peace with them for about seventy +years--in fact, from 1682 until the outbreak of the French and Indian +Wars, in 1755. In its critical period of growth, Pennsylvania was +therefore not at all harassed or checked by those Indian hostilities +which were such a serious impediment in other colonies. + +The two years of Penn's first visit were probably the happiest of his +life. Always fond of the country, he built himself a fine seat on +the Delaware near Bristol, and it would have been better for him, and +probably also for the colony, if he had remained there. But he thought +he had duties in England: his family needed him; he must defend +his people from the religious oppression still prevailing; and Lord +Baltimore had gone to England to resist him in the boundary dispute. One +of the more narrow-minded of his faith wrote to Penn from England that +he was enjoying himself too much in his colony and seeking his own +selfish interest. Influenced by all these considerations, he returned +in August, 1684, and it was long before he saw Pennsylvania again--not, +indeed, until October, 1699, and then for only two years. + + + +Chapter III. Life In Philadelphia + +The rapid increase of population and the growing prosperity in +Pennsylvania during the life of its founder present a striking contrast +to the slower and more troubled growth of the other British colonies +in America. The settlers in Pennsylvania engaged at once in profitable +agriculture. The loam, clay, and limestone soils on the Pennsylvania +tide of the Delaware produced heavy crops of grain, as well as pasture +for cattle and valuable lumber from its forests. The Pennsylvania +settlers were of a class particularly skilled in dealing with the soil. +They apparently encountered none of the difficulties, due probably to +incompetent farming, which beset the settlers of Delaware, whose land +was as good as that of the Pennsylvania colonists. + +In a few years the port of Philadelphia was loading abundant cargoes for +England and the great West India trade. After much experimenting with +different places on the river, such as New Castle, Wilmington, Salem, +Burlington, the Quakers had at last found the right location for a great +seat of commerce and trade that could serve as a center for the export +of everything from the region behind it and around it. Philadelphia thus +soon became the basis of a prosperity which no other townsite on the +Delaware had been able to attain. The Quakers of Philadelphia were the +soundest of financiers and men of business, and in their skillful hands +the natural resources of their colony were developed without setback +or accident. At an early date banking institutions were established in +Philadelphia, and the strongest colonial merchants and mercantile firms +had their offices there. It was out of such a sound business life that +were produced in Revolutionary times such characters as Robert Morris +and after the Revolution men like Stephen Girard. + +Pennsylvania in colonial times was ruled from Philadelphia somewhat as +France has always been ruled from Paris. And yet there was a difference: +Pennsylvania had free government. The Germans and the Scotch-Irish +outnumbered the Quakers and could have controlled the Legislature, +for in 1750 out of a population of 150,000 the Quakers were only about +50,000; and yet the Legislature down to the Revolution was always +confided to the competent hands of the Quakers. No higher tribute, +indeed, has ever been paid to any group of people as governors of a +commonwealth and architects of its finance and trade. + +It is a curious commentary on the times and on human nature that these +Quaker folk, treated as outcasts and enemies of good order and religion +in England and gradually losing all their property in heavy fines and +confiscations, should so suddenly in the wilderness prove the capacity +of their "Holy Experiment" for achieving the best sort of good order and +material success. They immediately built a most charming little town +by the waterside, snug and pretty with its red brick houses in the best +architectural style. It was essentially a commercial town down to the +time of the Revolution and long afterwards. The principal residences +were on Water Street, the second street from the wharves. The town in +those days extended back only as far as Fourth Street, and the State +House, now Independence Hall, an admirable instance of the local brick +architecture, stood on the edge of the town. The Pennsylvania Hospital, +the first institution of its kind to be built in America, was situated +out in the fields. + +Through the town ran a stream following the line of the present Dock +Street. Its mouth had been a natural landing place for the first +explorers and for the Indians from time immemorial. Here stood a neat +tavern, the Blue Anchor, with its dovecotes in old English style, +looking out for many a year over the river with its fleet of small +boats. Along the wharves lay the very solid, broad, somber, Quaker-like +brick warehouses, some of which have survived into modern times. +Everywhere were to be found ships and the good seafaring smell of tar +and hemp. Ships were built and fitted out alongside docks where other +ships were lading. A privateer would receive her equipment of guns, +pistols, and cutlasses on one side of a wharf, while on the other side +a ship was peacefully loading wheat or salted provisions for the West +Indies. + +Everybody's attention in those days was centered on the water instead of +inland on railroads as it is today. Commerce was the source of wealth of +the town as agriculture was the wealth of the interior of the province. +Every one lived close to the river and had an interest in the rise and +fall of the tide. The little town extended for a mile along the water +but scarcely half a mile back from it. All communication with other +places, all news from the world of Europe came from the ships, whose +captains brought the letters and the few newspapers which reached +the colonists. An important ship on her arrival often fired a gun and +dropped anchor with some ceremony. Immediately the shore boats swarmed +to her side; the captain was besieged for news and usually brought the +letters ashore to be distributed at the coffeehouse. This institution +took the place of the modern stock exchange, clearing house, newspaper, +university, club, and theater all under one roof, with plenty to eat and +drink besides. Within its rooms vessels and cargoes were sold; before +its door negro slaves were auctioned off; and around it as a +common center were brought together all sorts of business, valuable +information, gossip, and scandal. It must have been a brilliant scene +in the evening, with the candles lighting embroidered red and yellow +waistcoats, blue and scarlet Coats, green and black velvet, with the +rich drab and mouse color of the prosperous Quakers contrasting with the +uniforms of British officers come to fight the French and Indian wars. +Sound, as well as color, had its place in this busy and happy colonial +life. Christ Church, a brick building which still stands the perfection +of colonial architecture had been established by the Church of England +people defiantly in the midst of heretical Quakerdom. It soon possessed +a chime of bells sent out from England. Captain Budden, who brought them +in his ship Myrtilla, would charge no freight for so charitable a deed, +and in consequence of his generosity every time he and his ship appeared +in the harbor the bells were rung in his honor. They were rung on market +days to please the farmers who came into town with their wagons loaded +with poultry and vegetables. They were rung muffled in times of public +disaster and were kept busy in that way in the French and Indian wars. +They were also rung muffled for Franklin when it was learned that while +in London he had favored the Stamp Act--a means of expressing popular +opinion which the newspapers subsequently put out of date. + +The severe Quaker code of conduct and peaceful contemplation contains no +prohibition against good eating and drinking. Quakers have been known to +have the gout. The opportunities in Philadelphia to enjoy the pleasures +of the table were soon unlimited. Farm, garden, and dairy products, +vegetables, poultry, beef, and mutton were soon produced in immense +quantity and variety and of excellent quality. John Adams, coming from +the "plain living and high thinking" of Boston to attend the first +meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was invited to dine +with Stephen Collins, a typical Quaker, and was amazed at the feast set +before him. From that time his diary records one after another of these +"sinful feasts," as he calls them. But the sin at which he thus looks +askance never seems to have withheld him from a generous indulgence. +"Drank Madeira at a great rate," he says on one occasion, "and took no +harm from it." Madeira obtained in the trade with Spain was the popular +drink even at the taverns. Various forms of punch and rum were common, +but the modern light wines and champagne were not then in vogue. + +Food in great quantity and variety seems to have been placed on the +table at the same time, with little regard to formal courses. Beef, +poultry, and mutton would all be served at one dinner. Fruit and nuts +were placed on the table in profusion, as well as puddings and desserts +numerous and deadly. Dinners were served usually in the afternoon. The +splendid banquet which Adams describes as given to some members of the +Continental Congress by Chief Justice Chew at his country seat was held +at four in the afternoon. The dinner hour was still in the afternoon +long after the Revolution and down to the times of the Civil War. Other +relics of this old love of good living lasted into modern times. It +was not so very long ago that an occasional householder of wealth and +distinction in Philadelphia could still be found who insisted on doing +his own marketing in the old way, going himself the first thing in the +morning on certain days to the excellent markets and purchasing all the +family supplies. Philadelphia poultry is still famous the country over; +and to be a good judge of poultry was in the old days as much a point of +merit as to be a good judge of Madeira. A typical Philadelphian, envious +New Yorkers say, will still keep a line of depositors waiting at a bank +while he discourses to the receiving teller on what a splendid purchase +of poultry he had made that morning. Early in the last century a wealthy +leader of the bar is said to have continued the old practice of going +to market followed by a negro with a wheelbarrow to bring back the +supplies. Not content with feasting in their own homes, the colonial +Philadelphians were continually banqueting at the numerous taverns, from +the Coach and Horses, opposite the State House, down to the Penny +Pot Inn close by the river. At the Coach and Horses, where the city +elections were usually held, the discarded oyster shells around it had +been trampled into a hard white and smooth floor over which surged the +excited election crowds. In those taverns the old fashion prevailed of +roasting great joints of meat on a turnspit before an open fire; and to +keep the spit turning before the heat little dogs were trained to work +in a sort of treadmill cage. + +In nothing is this colonial prosperity better revealed than in the +quality of the country seats. They were usually built of stone and +sometimes of brick and stone, substantial, beautifully proportioned, +admirable in taste, with a certain simplicity, yet indicating a people +of wealth, leisure, and refinement, who believed in themselves and +took pleasure in adorning their lives. Not a few of these homes on +the outskirts of the city have come down to us unharmed, and Cliveden, +Stenton, and Belmont are precious relics of such solid structure +that with ordinary care they will still last for centuries. Many were +destroyed during the Revolution; others, such as Landsdowne, the seat +of one of the Penn family, built in the Italian style, have disappeared; +others were wiped out by the city's growth. All of them, even the small +ones, were most interesting and typical of the life of the times. The +colonists began to build them very early. A family would have a solid, +brick town house and, only a mile or so away, a country house which +was equally substantial. Sometimes they built at a greater distance. +Governor Keith, for example, had a country seat, still standing though +built in the middle of the eighteenth century, some twenty-five miles +north of the city in what was then almost a wilderness. + +Penn's ideal had always been to have Philadelphia what he called "a +green country town." Probably he had in mind the beautiful English towns +of abundant foliage and open spaces. And Penn was successful, for many +of the Philadelphia houses stood by themselves, with gardens round them. +The present Walnut was first called Pool Street; Chestnut was called +Winn Street; and Market was called High Street. If he could have +foreseen the enormous modern growth of the city, he might not have made +his streets so narrow and level. But the fault lies perhaps rather with +the people for adhering so rigidly and for so long to Penn's scheme, +when traffic that he could not have imagined demanded wider streets. +If he could have lived into our times he would surely have sent us very +positive directions in his bluff British way to break up the original +rectangular, narrow plan which was becoming dismally monotonous when +applied to a widely spread-out modern city. He was a theologian, but he +had a very keen eye for appearances and beauty of surroundings. + + + +Chapter IV. Types Of The Population + +The arrival of colonists in Pennsylvania in greater numbers than in +Delaware and the Jerseys was the more notable because, within a few +years after Pennsylvania was founded, persecution of the Quakers ceased +in England and one prolific cause of their migration was no more. +Thirteen hundred Quakers were released from prison in 1686 by James +II; and in 1689, when William of Orange took the throne, toleration was +extended to the Quakers and other Protestant dissenters. + +The success of the first Quakers who came to America brought others +even after persecution ceased in England. The most numerous class of +immigrants for the first fifteen or twenty years were Welsh, most of +whom were Quakers with a few Baptists and Church of England people. They +may have come not so much from a desire to flee from persecution as to +build up a little Welsh community and to revive Welsh nationalism. In +their new surroundings they spoke their own Welsh language and very few +of them had learned English. They had been encouraged in their national +aspirations by an agreement with Penn that they were to have a tract of +40,000 acres where they could live by themselves. The land assigned to +them lay west of Philadelphia in that high ridge along the present main +line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now so noted for its wealthy suburban +homes. All the important names of townships and places in that region, +such as Wynnewood, St. Davids, Berwyn, Bryn Mawr, Merion, Haverford, +Radnor, are Welsh in origin. Some of the Welsh spread round to the north +of Philadelphia, where names like Gwynedd and Penllyn remain as their +memorials. The Chester Valley bordering the high ridge of their first +settlement they called Duffrin Mawr or Great Valley. + +These Welsh, like so many of the Quakers, were of a well-to-do class. +They rapidly developed their fertile land and, for pioneers, lived quite +luxuriously. They had none of the usual county and township officers +but ruled their Welsh Barony, as it was called, through the authority of +their Quaker meetings. But this system eventually disappeared. The +Welsh were absorbed into the English population, and in a couple of +generations their language disappeared. Prominent people are descended +from them. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, was Welsh on his mother's +side. David Lloyd, for a long time the leader of the popular party and +at one time Chief Justice, was a Welshman. Since the Revolution the +Welsh names of Cadwalader and Meredith have been conspicuous. + +The Church of England people formed a curious and decidedly hostile +element in the early population of Pennsylvania. They established +themselves in Philadelphia in the beginning and rapidly grew into a +political party which, while it cannot be called very strong in numbers, +was important in ability and influence. After Penn's death, his sons +joined the Church of England, and the Churchmen in the province became +still stronger. They formed the basis of the proprietary party, filled +executive offices in the Government, and waged relentless war against +the Quaker majority which controlled the Legislature. During Penn's +lifetime the Churchmen were naturally opposed to the whole government, +both executive and legislative. They were constantly sending home to +England all sorts of reports and information calculated to show that the +Quakers were unfit to rule a province, that Penn should be deprived of +his charter, and that Pennsylvania should be put under the direct rule +of the King. + +They had delightful schemes for making it a strong Church of England +colony like Virginia. One of them suggested that, as the title to the +Three Lower Counties, as Delaware was called, was in dispute, it should +be taken by the Crown and given to the Church as a manor to support +a bishop. Such an ecclesiastic certainly could have lived in princely +state from the rents of its fertile farms, with a palace, retinue, +chamberlains, chancellors, feudal courts, and all the appendages of +earthly glory. For the sake of the picturesqueness of colonial history +it is perhaps a pity that this pious plan was never carried out. + +As it was, however, the Churchmen established themselves with not a +little glamour and romance round two institutions, Christ Church for the +first fifty years, and after that round the old College of Philadelphia. +The Reverend William Smith, a pugnacious and eloquent Scotchman, led +them in many a gallant onset against the "haughty tribe" of Quakers, and +he even suffered imprisonment in the cause. He had a country seat on +the Schuylkill and was in his way a fine character, devoted to the +establishment of ecclesiasticism and higher learning as a bulwark +against the menace of Quaker fanaticism; and but for the coming on of +the Revolution he might have become the first colonial bishop with all +the palaces, pomp, and glory appertaining thereunto. + +In spite of this opposition, however, the Quakers continued their +control of the colony, serenely tolerating the anathemas of the +learned Churchmen and the fierce curses and brandished weapons of the +Presbyterians and Scotch-Irish. Curses and anathemas were no check +to the fertile soil. Grist continued to come to the mill; and the +agricultural products poured into Philadelphia to be carried away in the +ships. The contemplative Quaker took his profits as they passed; enacted +his liberalizing laws, his prison reform, his charities, his peace with +the savage Indians; allowed science, research, and all the kindly arts +of life to flourish; and seemed perfectly contented with the damnation +in the other world to which those who flourished under his rule +consigned him. + +In discussing the remarkable success of the province, the colonists +always disputed whether the credit should be given to the fertile soil +or to the liberal laws and constitution. It was no doubt due to +both. But the obvious advantages of Penn's charter over the mixed and +troublesome governmental conditions in the Jerseys, Penn's personal fame +and the repute of the Quakers for liberalism then at its zenith, and the +wide advertising given to their ideas and Penn's, on the continent of +Europe as well as in England, seem to have been the reasons why more +people, and many besides Quakers, came to take advantage of that fertile +soil. + +The first great increase of alien population came from Germany, which +was still in a state of religious turmoil, disunion, and depression from +the results of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War. The reaction +from dogma in Germany had produced a multitude of sects, all yearning +for greater liberty and prosperity than they had at home. Penn and other +Quakers had made missionary tours in Germany and had preached to the +people. The Germans do not appear to have been asked to come to the +Jerseys. But they were urged to come to Pennsylvania as soon as the +charter was obtained; and many of them made an immediate response. The +German mind was then at the height of its emotional unrestraint. It was +as unaccustomed to liberty of thought as to political liberty and it +produced a new sect or religious distinction almost every day. Many +of these sects came to Pennsylvania, where new small religious bodies +sprang up among them after their arrival. Schwenkfelders, Tunkers, +Labadists, New Born, New Mooners, Separatists, Zion's Brueder, +Ronsdorfer, Inspired, Quietists, Gichtelians, Depellians, Mountain Men, +River Brethren, Brinser Brethren, and the Society of the Woman in the +Wilderness, are names which occur in the annals of the province. But +these are only a few. In Lancaster County alone the number has at +different times been estimated at from twenty to thirty. It would +probably be impossible to make a complete list; some of them, indeed, +existed for only a few years. Their own writers describe them as +countless and bewildering. Many of them were characterized by the +strangest sort of German mysticism, and some of them were inclined to +monastic and hermit life and their devotees often lived in caves or +solitary huts in the woods. + +It would hardly be accurate to call all the German sects Quakers, since +a great deal of their mysticism would have been anything but congenial +to the followers of Fox and Penn. Resemblances to Quaker doctrine can, +however, be found among many of them; and there was one large sect, +the Mennonites, who were often spoken of as German Quakers. The two +divisions fraternized and preached in each other's meetings. The +Mennonites were well educated as a class and Pastorius, their leader, +was a ponderously learned German. Most of the German sects left the +Quakers in undisturbed possession of Philadelphia, and spread out into +the surrounding region, which was then a wilderness. They and all the +other Germans who afterwards followed them settled in a half circle +beginning at Easton on the Delaware, passing up the Lehigh Valley into +Lancaster County, thence across the Susquehanna and down the Cumberland +Valley to the Maryland border, which many of them crossed, and in time +scattered far to the south in Virginia and even North Carolina, where +their descendants are still found. + +These German sects which came over under the influence of Penn and the +Quakers, between the years 1682 and 1702, formed a class by themselves. +Though they may be regarded as peculiar in their ideas and often in +their manner of life, it cannot be denied that as a class they were a +well-educated, thrifty, and excellent people and far superior to the +rough German peasants who followed them in later years. This latter +class was often spoken of in Pennsylvania as "the church people," to +distinguish them from "the sects," as those of the earlier migration +were called. + +The church people, or peasantry of the later migration, belonged usually +to one of the two dominant churches of Germany, the Lutheran or +the Reformed. Those of the Reformed Church were often spoken of as +Calvinists. This migration of the church people was not due to the +example of the Quakers but was the result of a new policy which was +adopted by the British Government when Queen Anne ascended the throne +in 1702, and which aimed at keeping the English people at home and at +filling the English colonies in America with foreign Protestants hostile +to France and Spain. + +Large numbers of these immigrants were "redemptioners," as they were +called; that is to say, they were persons who had been obliged to sell +themselves to the shipping agents to pay for their passage. On their +arrival in Pennsylvania the captain sold them to the colonists to pay +the passage, and the redemptioner had to work for his owner for a period +varying from five to ten years. No stigma or disgrace clung to any of +these people under this system. It was regarded as a necessary business +transaction. Not a few of the very respectable families of the State and +some of its prominent men are known to be descended from redemptioners. + +This method of transporting colonists proved a profitable trade for +the shipping people, and was soon regularly organized like the modern +assisted immigration. Agents, called "newlanders" and "soul-sellers," +traveled through Germany working up the transatlantic traffic by various +devices, some of them not altogether creditable. Pennsylvania proved to +be the most attractive region for these immigrants. Some of those who +were taken to other colonies finally worked their way to Pennsylvania. +Practically none went to New England, and very few, if any, to Virginia. +Indeed, only certain colonies were willing to admit them. + +Another important element that went to make up the Pennsylvania +population consisted of the Scotch-Irish. They were descendants of +Scotch and English Presbyterians who had gone to Ireland to take up the +estates of the Irish rebels confiscated under Queen Elizabeth and James +I. This migration of Protestants to Ireland, which began soon after +1600, was encouraged by the English Government. Towards the middle +of the seventeenth century the confiscation of more Irish land under +Cromwell's regime increased the migration to Ulster. Many English joined +the migration, and Scotch of the Lowlands who were largely of English +extraction, although there were many Gaelic or Celtic names among them. + +These are the people usually known in English history as Ulstermen--the +same who made such a heroic defense of Londonderry against James II, and +the same who in modern times have resisted home rule in Ireland because +it would bury them, they believe, under the tyranny of their old +enemies, the native Irish Catholic majority. They were more thrifty and +industrious than the native Irish and as a result they usually prospered +on the Irish land. At first they were in a more or less constant state +of war with the native Irish, who attempted to expel them. They were +subsequently persecuted by the Church of England under Charles I, who +attempted to force them to conform to the English established religion. +Such a rugged schooling in Ireland made of them a very aggressive, hardy +people, Protestants of the Protestants, so accustomed to contests and +warfare that they accepted it as the natural state of man. + +These Ulstermen came to Pennsylvania somewhat later than the first +German sects; and not many of them arrived until some years after 1700. +They were not, like the first Germans, attracted to the colony by any +resemblance of their religion to that of the Quakers. On the contrary +they were entirely out of sympathy with the Quakers, except in the +one point of religious liberty; and the Quakers were certainly out of +sympathy with them. Nearly all the colonies in America received a share +of these settlers. Wherever they went they usually sought the frontier +and the wilderness; and by the time of the Revolution, they could be +found upon the whole colonial frontier from New Hampshire to Georgia. +They were quite numerous in Virginia, and most numerous along the edge +of the Pennsylvania wilderness. It was apparently the liberal laws +and the fertile soil that drew them to Pennsylvania in spite of their +contempt for most of the Quaker doctrines. + +The dream of their life, their haven of rest, was for these Scotch-Irish +a fertile soil where they would find neither Irish "papists" nor Church +of England; and for this reason in America they always sought the +frontier where they could be by themselves. They could not even get on +well with the Germans in Pennsylvania; and when the Germans crowded +into their frontier settlements, quarrels became so frequent that the +proprietors asked the Ulstermen to move farther west, a suggestion which +they were usually quite willing to accept. At the close of the colonial +period in Pennsylvania the Quakers, the Church of England people, and +the miscellaneous denominations occupied Philadelphia and the region +round it in a half circle from the Delaware River. Outside of this +area lay another containing the Germans, and beyond that were the +Scotch-Irish. The principal stronghold of the Scotch-Irish was the +Cumberland Valley in Southern Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna, a +region now containing the flourishing towns of Chambersburg, Gettysburg, +Carlisle, and York, where the descendants of these early settlers are +still very numerous. In modern times, however, they have spread out +widely; they are now to be found all over the State, and they no longer +desire so strongly to live by themselves. + +The Ulstermen, owing to the circumstances of their earlier life, had no +sympathy whatever with the Quaker's objection to war or with his +desire to deal fairly with the Indians and pay them for their land. As +Presbyterians and Calvinists, they belonged to one of the older and more +conservative divisions of the Reformation. The Quaker's doctrine of the +inward light, his quietism, contemplation, and advanced ideas were quite +incomprehensible to them. As for the Indians, they held that the Old +Testament commands the destruction of all the heathen; and as for paying +the savages for their land, it seemed ridiculous to waste money on such +an object when they could exterminate the natives at less cost. The +Ulstermen, therefore, settled on the Indian land as they pleased, or for +that matter on any land, and were continually getting into difficulty +with the Pennsylvania Government no less than with the Indians. They +regarded any region into which they entered as constituting a sovereign +state. It was this feeling of independence which subsequently prompted +them to organize what is known as the Whisky Rebellion when, after the +Revolution, the Federal Government put a tax on the liquor which they +so much esteemed as a product, for corn converted into whisky was more +easily transported on horses over mountain trails, and in that form +fetched a better price in the markets. + +After the year 1755, when the Quaker method of dealing with the Indians +no longer prevailed, the Scotch-Irish lived on the frontier in a +continual state of savage warfare which lasted for the next forty years. +War, hunting the abundant game, the deer, buffalo, and elk, and some +agriculture filled the measure of their days and years. They paid little +attention to the laws of the province, which were difficult to enforce +on the distant frontier, and they administered a criminal code of their +own with whipping or "laced jacket," as they called it, as a punishment. +They were Jacks of all trades, weaving their own cloth and making nearly +everything they needed. They were the first people in America to develop +the use of the rifle, and they used it in the Back Country all the +way down into the Carolinas at a time when it was seldom seen in the +seaboard settlements. In those days, rifles were largely manufactured +in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and there were several famous gunsmiths in +Philadelphia. Some of the best of these old rifles have been preserved +and are really beautiful weapons, with delicate hair triggers, +gracefully curved stocks, and quaint brass or even gold or silver +mountings. The ornamentation was often done by the hunter himself, who +would melt a gold or silver coin and pour it into some design which he +had carved with his knife in the stock. + +The Revolution offered an opportunity after the Ulstermen's heart, +and they entered it with their entire spirit, as they had every other +contest which involved liberty and independence. In fact, in that period +they played such a conspicuous part that they almost ruled Philadelphia, +the original home of the Quakers. Since then, spread out through the +State, they have always had great influence, the natural result of their +energy, intelligence, and love of education. + +Nearly all these diverse elements of the Pennsylvania population were +decidedly sectional in character. The Welsh had a language of their own, +and they attempted, though without success, to maintain it, as well as +a government of their own within their barony independent of the regular +government of the province. The Germans were also extremely sectional. +They clung with better success to their own language, customs, and +literature. The Scotch-Irish were so clannish that they had ideas of +founding a separate province on the Susquehanna. Even the Church of +England people were so aloof and partisan that, though they lived about +Philadelphia among the Quakers, they were extremely hostile to the +Quaker rule and unremittingly strove to destroy it. + +All these cleavages and divisions in the population continue in their +effects to this day. They prevented the development of a homogeneous +population. No exact statistics were taken of the numbers of the +different nationalities in colonial times; but Franklin's estimate is +probably fairly accurate, and his position in practical politics gave +him the means of knowing and of testing his calculations. About the year +1750 he estimated the population as one-third Quaker, one-third German, +and one-third miscellaneous. This gave about 50,000 or 60,000 to each of +the thirds. Provost Smith, of the newly founded college, estimated the +Quakers at only about 40,000. But his estimate seems too low. He was +interested in making out their numbers small because he was trying +to show the absurdity of allowing such a small band of fanatics and +heretics to rule a great province of the British Empire. One great +source of the Quaker power lay in the sympathy of the Germans, who +always voted on their side and kept them in control of the Legislature, +so that it was in reality a case of two-thirds ruling one-third. The +Quakers, it must be admitted, never lost their heads. Unperturbed +through all the conflicts and the jarring of races and sects, they held +their position unimpaired and kept the confidence and support of the +Germans until the Revolution changed everything. + +The varied elements of population spread out in ever widening half +circles from Philadelphia as a center. There was nothing in the +character of the region to stop this progress. The country all the way +westward to the Susquehanna was easy hill, dale, and valley, covered +by a magnificent growth of large forest trees--oaks, beeches, poplars, +walnuts, hickories, and ash--which rewarded the labor of felling by +exposing to cultivation a most fruitful soil. + +The settlers followed the old Indian trails. The first westward +pioneers seem to have been the Welsh Quakers, who pushed due west from +Philadelphia and marked out the course of the famous Lancaster Road, +afterwards the Lancaster Turnpike. It took the line of least resistance +along the old trail, following ridges until it reached the Susquehanna +at a spot where an Indian trader, named Harris, established himself and +founded a post which subsequently became Harrisburg, the capital of the +State. + +For a hundred years the Lancaster Road was the great highway westward, +at first to the mountains, then to the Ohio, and finally to the +Mississippi Valley and the Great West. Immigrants and pioneers from all +the New England and Middle States flocked out that way to the land of +promise in wagons, or horseback, or trudging along on foot. Substantial +taverns grew up along the route; and habitual freighters and stage +drivers, proud of their fine teams of horses, grew into characters of +the road. When the Pennsylvania Railroad was built, it followed the same +line. In fact, most of the lines of railroad in the State follow Indian +trails. The trails for trade and tribal intercourse led east and west. +The warrior trails usually led north and south, for that had long been +the line of strategy and conquest of the tribes. The northern tribes, +or Six Nations, established in the lake region of New York near the +headwaters of the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Ohio, had the +advantage of these river valleys for descending into the whole Atlantic +seaboard and the valley of the Mississippi. They had in consequence +conquered all the tribes south of them as far even as the Carolinas and +Georgia. All their trails of conquest led across Pennsylvania. + +The Germans in their expansion at first seem to have followed up the +Schuylkill Valley and its tributaries, and they hold this region to the +present day. Gradually they crossed the watershed to the Susquehanna and +broke into the region of the famous limestone soil in Lancaster County, +a veritable farmer's paradise from which nothing will ever drive them. +Many Quaker farmers penetrated north and northeast from Philadelphia +into Bucks County, a fine rolling and hilly wheat and corn region, +where their descendants are still found and whence not a few well-known +Philadelphia families have come. + +The Quaker government of Pennsylvania in almost a century of its +existence largely fulfilled its ideals. It did not succeed in governing +without war; but the war was not its fault. It did succeed in governing +without oaths. An affirmation instead of an oath became the law of +Pennsylvania for all who chose an affirmation; and this law was soon +adopted by most American communities. It succeeded in establishing +religious liberty in Pennsylvania in the fullest sense of the word. It +brought Christianity nearer to its original simplicity and made it less +superstitious and cruel. + +The Quakers had always maintained that it was a mistake to suppose that +their ideas would interfere with material prosperity and happiness; +and they certainly proved their contention in Pennsylvania. To Quaker +liberalism was due not merely the material prosperity, but prison reform +and the notable public charities of Pennsylvania; in both of which +activities, as in the abolition of slavery, the Quakers were leaders. +Original research in science also flourished in a marked degree in +colonial Pennsylvania. No one in those days knew the nature of thunder +and lightning, and the old explanation that they were the voice of an +angry God was for many a sufficient explanation. Franklin, by a long +series of experiments in the free Quaker colony, finally proved in 1752 +that lightning was electricity, that is to say, a manifestation of +the same force that is produced when glass is rubbed with buckskin. He +invented the lightning rod, discovered the phenomenon of positive and +negative electricity, explained the action of the Leyden jar, and was +the first American writer on the modern science of political economy. +This energetic citizen of Pennsylvania spent a large part of his life +in research; he studied the Gulf Stream, storms and their causes, +waterspouts, whirlwinds; and he established the fact that the northeast +storms of the Atlantic coast usually move against the wind. + +But Franklin was not the only scientist in the colony. Besides his three +friends, Kinnersley, Hopkinson, and Syng, who worked with him and helped +him in his discoveries, there were David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, +John Bartram, the botanist, and a host of others. Rittenhouse excelled +in every undertaking which required the practical application of +astronomy, He attracted attention even in Europe for his orrery which +indicated the movements of the stars and which was an advance on all +previous instruments of the kind. When astronomers in Europe were +seeking to have the transit of Venus of 1769 observed in different parts +of the world, Pennsylvania alone of the American colonies seems to +have had the man and the apparatus necessary for the work. Rittenhouse +conducted the observations at three points and won a world-wide +reputation by the accuracy and skill of his observations. The whole +community was interested in this scientific undertaking; the Legislature +and public institutions raised the necessary funds; and the American +Philosophical Society, the only organization of its kind in the +colonies, had charge of the preparations. + +The American Philosophical Society had been started in Philadelphia in +1743. It was the first scientific society to be founded in America, and +throughout the colonial period it was the only society of its kind in +the country. Its membership included not only prominent men throughout +America, such as Thomas Jefferson, who were interested in scientific +inquiry, but also representatives of foreign nations. With its library +of rare and valuable collections and its annual publication of essays on +almost every branch of science, the society still continues its useful +scientific work. + +John Bartram, who was the first botanist to describe the plants of the +New World and who explored the whole country from the Great Lakes to +Florida, was a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial times, farmer born and +bred. Thomas Godfrey, also a colonial Pennsylvanian, was rewarded by +the Royal Society of England for an improvement which he made in +the quadrant. Peter Collinson of England, a famous naturalist and +antiquarian of early times, was a Quaker. In modern times John Dalton, +the discoverer of the atomic theory of colorblindness, was born of +Quaker parents, and Edward Cope, of a well-known Philadelphia Quaker +family, became one of the most eminent naturalists and paleontologists +of the nineteenth century, and unaided discovered over a third of the +three thousand extinct species of vertebrates recognized by men of +science. In the field of education, Lindley Murray, the grammarian of +a hundred years ago, was a Quaker. Ezra Cornell, a Quaker, founded the +great university in New York which bears his name; and Johns Hopkins, +also a Quaker, founded the university of that name in Baltimore. + +Pennsylvania deserves the credit of turning these early scientific +pursuits to popular uses. The first American professorship of botany +and natural history was established in Philadelphia College, now the +University of Pennsylvania. The first American book on a medical subject +was written in Philadelphia by Thomas Cadwalader in 1740; the first +American hospital was established there in 1751; and the first +systematic instruction in medicine. Since then Philadelphia has +produced a long line of physicians and surgeons of national and European +reputation. For half a century after the Revolution the city was the +center of medical education for the country and it still retains a large +part of that preeminence. The Academy of Natural Sciences founded in +Philadelphia in 1812 by two inconspicuous young men, an apothecary and +a dentist, soon became by the spontaneous support of the community a +distinguished institution. It sent out two Arctic expeditions, that +of Kane and that of Hayes, and has included among its members the most +prominent men of science in America. It is now the oldest as well as +the most complete institution of its kind in the country. The Franklin +Institute, founded in Philadelphia in 1824, was the result of a similar +scientific interest. It was the first institution of applied science +and the mechanic arts in America. Descriptions of the first 2900 patents +issued by the United States Government are to be found only on the pages +of its Journal, which is still an authoritative annual record. + +Apart from their scientific attainments, one of the most interesting +facts about the Quakers is the large proportion of them who have +reached eminence, often in occupations which are supposed to be somewhat +inconsistent with Quaker doctrine. General Greene, the most capable +American officer of the Revolution, after Washington, was a Rhode Island +Quaker. General Mifflin of the Revolution was a Pennsylvania Quaker. +General Jacob Brown, a Bucks County Pennsylvania Quaker, reorganized the +army in the War of 1819. and restored it to its former efficiency. +In the long list of Quakers eminent in all walks of life, not only in +Pennsylvania but elsewhere, are to be found John Bright, a lover of +peace and human liberty through a long and eminent career in British +politics; John Dickinson of Philadelphia, who wrote the famous Farmer's +Letters so signally useful in the American Revolution; Whittier, the +American poet, a Quaker born in Massachusetts of a family converted from +Puritanism when the Quakers invaded Boston in the seventeenth century; +and Benjamin West, a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial times, an artist of +permanent eminence, one of the founders of the Royal Academy in England +and its president in succession to Sir Joshua Reynolds. + +Wherever Quakers are found they are the useful and steady citizens. +Their eminence seems out of all proportion to their comparatively small +numbers. It has often been asked why this height of attainment should +occur among a people of such narrow religious discipline. But were +the Quakers really narrow, or were they any more narrow than other +rigorously self-disciplined people: Spartans, Puritans, soldiers whose +discipline enables them to achieve great results? All discipline is +in one sense narrow. Quaker quietude and retirement probably conserved +mental energy instead of dissipating it. In an age of superstition and +irrational religion, their minds were free and unhampered, and it was +the dominant rational tone of their thought that enabled science to +flourish in Pennsylvania. + + + +Chapter V. The Troubles Of Penn And His Sons + +The material prosperity of Penn's Holy Experiment kept on proving itself +over and over again every month of the year. But meantime great events +were taking place in England. The period of fifteen years from Penn's +return to England in 1684, until his return to Pennsylvania at the close +of the year of 1699, was an eventful time in English history. It was +long for a proprietor to be away from his province, and Penn would have +left a better reputation if he had passed those fifteen years in his +colony, for in England during that period he took what most Americans +believe to have been the wrong side in the Revolution of 1688. + +Penn was closely tied by both interest and friendship to Charles II and +the Stuart family. When Charles II died in 1685 and his brother, the +Duke of York, ascended the throne as James II, Penn was equally bound +to him, because among other things the Duke of York had obtained Penn's +release in 1669 from imprisonment for his religious opinions. He became +still more bound when one of the first acts of the new King's reign +was the release of a great number of people who had been imprisoned +for their religion, among them thirteen hundred Quakers. In addition to +preaching to the Quakers and protecting them, Penn used his influence +with James to secure the return of several political offenders from +exile. His friendship with James raised him, indeed, to a position of no +little importance at Court. He was constantly consulted by the King, in +whose political policy he gradually became more and more involved. + +James was a Roman Catholic and soon perfected his plans for making both +Church and State a papal appendage and securing for the Crown the right +to suspend acts of Parliament. Penn at first protested, but finally +supported the King in the belief that he would in the end establish +liberty. In his earlier years, however, Penn had written pamphlets +arguing strenuously against the same sort of despotic schemes that +James was now undertaking; and this contradiction of his former position +seriously injured his reputation even among his own people. + +Part of the policy of James was to grant many favors to the Quakers and +to all other dissenting bodies in England, to release them from prison, +to give them perfect freedom of worship, and to remove the test laws +which prevented them from holding office. He thus hoped to unite them +with the Roman Catholics in extirpating the Church of England +and establishing the Papacy in its place. But the dissenters and +nonconformists, though promised relief from sufferings severer than +it is possible perhaps now to appreciate, refused almost to a man this +tempting bait. Even the Quakers, who had suffered probably more than +the others, rejected the offer with indignation and mourned the +fatal mistake of their leader Penn. All Protestant England united in +condemning him, accused him of being a secret Papist and a Jesuit in +disguise, and believed him guilty of acts and intentions of which he +was probably entirely innocent. This extreme feeling against Penn is +reflected in Macaulay's "History of England," which strongly espouses +the Whig side; and in those vivid pages Penn is represented, and very +unfairly, as nothing less than a scoundrel. + +In spite of the attempts which James made to secure his position, the +dissenters, the Church of England, and Penn's own Quakers all joined +heart and soul in the Revolution of 1688, which quickly dethroned the +King, drove him from England, and placed the Prince of Orange on +the throne as William III. Penn was now for many years in a very +unfortunate, if not dangerous, position, and was continually suspected +of plotting to restore James. For three years he was in hiding to escape +arrest or worse, and he largely lost the good will and affection of the +Quakers. + +Meantime, since his departure from Pennsylvania in the summer of +1684, that province went on increasing in population and in pioneer +prosperity. But Penn's quitrents and money from sales of land were far +in arrears, and he had been and still was at great expense in starting +the colony and in keeping up the plantation and country seat he had +established on the Delaware River above Philadelphia. Troublesome +political disputes also arose. The Council of eighteen members which he +had authorized to act as governor in his absence neglected to send the +new laws to him, slighted his letters, and published laws in their own +name without mentioning him or the King. These irregularities were much +exaggerated by enemies of the Quakers in England. The Council was not a +popular body and was frequently at odds with the Assembly. + +Penn thought he could improve the government by appointing five +commissioners to act as governor instead of the whole Council. Thomas +Lloyd, an excellent Quaker who had been President of the Council and who +had done much to allay hard feeling, was fortunately the president of +these commissioners. Penn instructed them to act as if he himself were +present, and at the next meeting of the Assembly to annul all the laws +and reenact only such as seemed proper. This course reminds us of the +absolutism of his friend, King James, and, indeed, the date of these +instructions (1686) is that when his intimacy with that bigoted monarch +reached its highest point. Penn's theory of his power was that the frame +or constitution of government he had given the province was a contract; +that, the Council and Assembly having violated some of its provisions, +it was annulled and he was free, at least for a time, to govern as he +pleased. Fortunately his commissioners never attempted to carry out +these instructions. There would have been a rebellion and some very +unpleasant history if they had undertaken to enforce such oriental +despotism in Pennsylvania. The five commissioners with Thomas Lloyd at +their head seem to have governed without seriously troublesome incidents +for the short term of two years during which they were in power. But +in 1687 Thomas Lloyd, becoming weary of directing them, asked to be +relieved and is supposed to have advised Penn to appoint a single +executive instead of commissioners. Penn accordingly appointed Captain +John Blackwell, formerly an officer in Cromwell's army. Blackwell was +not a Quaker but a "grave, sober, wise man," as Penn wrote to a friend, +who would "bear down with a visible authority vice and faction." It was +hoped that he would vigorously check all irregularities and bring Penn +better returns from quitrents and sales of land. + +But this new governor clashed almost at once with the Assembly, tried +to make them pass a militia law, suggested that the province's trade to +foreign countries was illegal, persecuted and arrested members of the +Assembly, refused to submit new laws to it, and irritated the people by +suggesting the invalidity of their favorite laws. The Quaker Assembly +withstood and resisted him until they wore him out. After a year and +one month in office he resigned at Penn's request or, according to +some accounts, at his own request. At any rate, he expressed himself as +delighted to be relieved. As a Puritan soldier he found himself no match +for a peaceable Quaker Assembly. + +Penn again made the Council the executive with Thomas Lloyd as its +President. But to the old causes of unrest a new one was now added. +One George Keith, a Quaker, turned heretic and carried a number of +Pennsylvania Quakers over to the Church of England, thereby causing +great scandal. The "Lower Counties" or Territories, as the present +State of Delaware was then called, became mutinous, withdrew their +representatives from the Council, and made William Markham their +Governor. This action together with the Keithian controversy, the +disturbances over Blackwell, and the clamors of Church of England people +that Penn was absent and neglecting his province, that the Quakers would +make no military defense, and that the province might at any time fall +into the hands of France, came to the ears of King William, who was +already ill disposed toward Penn and distrusted him as a Jacobite. It +seemed hardly advisable to allow a Jacobite to rule a British colony. +Accordingly a royal order suspended Penn's governmental authority and +placed the province under Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. +He undertook to rule in dictatorial fashion, threatening to annex the +province to New York, and as a consequence the Assembly had plenty of +trouble with him. But two years later, 1694, the province was returned +to Penn, who now appointed as Governor William Markham, who had served +as lieutenant-governor under Fletcher. + +Markham proceeded to be high-handed with the Assembly and to administer +the government in the imperialistic style of Fletcher. But the +Assembly soon tamed him and in 1696 actually worried out of him a new +constitution, which became known as Markham's Frame, proved much more +popular than the one Penn had given, and allowed the Assembly much more +power. Markham had no conceivable right to assent to it and Penn never +agreed to it; but it was lived under for the next four years until +Penn returned to the province. While it naturally had opponents, it +was largely regarded as entirely valid, and apparently with the +understanding that it was to last until Penn objected to it. + +Penn had always been longing to return to Pennsylvania and live there +for the rest of his life; but the terrible times of the Revolution +of 1688 in England and its consequences had held him back. Those +difficulties had now passed. Moreover, William III had established free +government and religious liberty. No more Quakers were imprisoned and +Penn's old occupation of securing their protection and release was gone. + +In the autumn of 1699 he sailed for Pennsylvania with his family and, +arriving after a tedious three months' voyage, was well received. His +political scrapes and mistakes in England seemed to be buried in the +past. He was soon at his old enjoyable life again, traveling actively +about the country, preaching to the Quakers, and enlarging and +beautifying his country seat, Pennsbury, on the Delaware, twenty miles +above Philadelphia. As roads and trails were few and bad he usually +traveled to and from the town in a barge which was rowed by six oarsmen +and which seemed to give him great pride and pleasure. + +Two happy years passed away in this manner, during which Penn seems to +have settled, not however without difficulty, a great deal of business +with his people, the Assembly, and the Indian tribes. Unfortunately +he got word from England of a bill in Parliament for the revocation +of colonial charters and for the establishment of royal governments in +their place. He must needs return to England to fight it. Shortly before +he sailed the Assembly presented him with a draft of a new constitution +or frame of government which they had been discussing with him +and preparing for some time. This he accepted, and it became the +constitution under which Pennsylvania lived and prospered for +seventy-five years, until the Revolution of 1776. + +This new constitution was quite liberal. The most noticeable feature of +it was the absence of any provision for the large elective council or +upper house of legislation, which had been very unpopular. The Assembly +thus became the one legislative body. There was incidental reference +in the document to a governor's council, although there was no formal +clause creating it. Penn and his heirs after his death always appointed +a small council as an advisory body for the deputy governor. The +Assembly was to be chosen annually by the freemen and to be composed of +four representatives from each county. It could originate bills, control +its own adjournments without interference from the Governor, choose its +speaker and other officers, and judge of the qualifications and +election of its own members. These were standard Anglo-Saxon popular +parliamentary rights developed by long struggles in England and now +established in Pennsylvania never to be relaxed. Finally a clause in the +constitution permitted the Lower Counties, or Territories, under +certain conditions to establish home rule. In 1705 the Territories took +advantage of this concession and set up an assembly of their own. + +Immediately after signing the constitution, in the last days of October, +1701, Penn sailed for England, expecting soon to return. But he became +absorbed in affairs in England and never saw his colony again. This was +unfortunate because Pennsylvania soon became a torment to him instead of +a great pleasure as it always seems to have been when he lived in it. He +was a happy present proprietor, but not a very happy absentee one. + +The Church of England people in Pennsylvania entertained great hopes +of this proposal to turn the proprietary colonies into royal provinces. +Under such a change, while the Quakers might still have an influence in +the Legislature, the Crown would probably give the executive offices to +Churchmen. They therefore labored hard to discredit the Quakers. They +kept harping on the absurdity of a set of fanatics attempting to govern +a colony without a militia and without administering oaths of office or +using oaths in judicial proceedings. How could any one's life be safe +from foreign enemies without soldiers, and what safeguard was there for +life, liberty, and property before judges, jurors, and witnesses, none +of whom had been sworn? The Churchmen kept up their complaints for along +time, but without effect in England. Penn was able to thwart all their +plans. The bill to change the province into a royal one was never passed +by Parliament. Penn returned to his court life, his preaching, and his +theological writing, a rather curious combination and yet one by which +he had always succeeded in protecting his people. He was a favorite +with Queen Anne, who was now on the throne, and he led an expensive life +which, with the cost of his deputy governor's salary in the colony, the +slowness of his quitrent collections, and the dishonesty of the steward +of his English estates, rapidly brought him into debt. To pay the +government expense of a small colonial empire and at the same time +to lead the life of a courtier and to travel as a preacher would have +exhausted a stronger exchequer than Penn's. + +The contests between the different deputy governors, whom Penn or his +descendants sent out, and the Quaker Legislature fill the annals of +the province for the next seventy years, down to the Revolution. These +quarrels, when compared with the larger national political contests of +history, seem petty enough and even tedious in detail. But, looked at +in another aspect, they are important because they disclose how +liberty, self-government, republicanism, and many of the constitutional +principles by which Americans now live were gradually developed as +the colonies grew towards independence. The keynote to all these early +contests was what may be called the fundamental principle of colonial +constitutional law or, at any rate, of constitutional practice, namely, +that the Governor, whether royal or proprietary, must always be kept +poor. His salary or income must never become a fixed or certain sum but +must always be dependent on the annual favor and grants of a legislature +controlled by the people. This belief was the foundation of American +colonial liberty. The Assemblies, not only in Pennsylvania but in other +colonies, would withhold the Governor's salary until he consented to +their favorite laws. If he vetoed their laws, he received no salary. One +of the causes of the Revolution in 1776 was the attempt of the mother +country to make the governors and other colonial officials dependent +for their salaries on the Government in England instead of on the +legislatures in the colonies. + +So the squabbles, as we of today are inclined to call them, went on +in Pennsylvania--provincial and petty enough, but often very large and +important so far as the principle which they involved was concerned. The +Legislature of Pennsylvania in those days was a small body composed of +only about twenty-five or thirty members, most of them sturdy, thrifty +Quakers. They could meet very easily anywhere--at the Governor's house, +if in conference with him, or at the treasurer's office or at the loan +office, if investigating accounts. Beneath their broad brim hats and +grave demeanor they were as Anglo-Saxon at heart as Robin Hood and his +merry men, and in their ninety years of political control they built up +as goodly a fabric of civil liberty as can be found in any community in +the world. + +The dignified, confident message from a deputy governor, full of +lofty admonitions of their duty to the Crown, the province, and the +proprietor, is often met by a sarcastic, stinging reply of the Assembly. +David Lloyd, the Welsh leader of the anti-proprietary party, and +Joseph Wilcox, another leader, became very skillful in drafting these +profoundly respectful but deeply cutting replies. In after years, +Benjamin Franklin attained even greater skill. In fact, it is not +unlikely that he developed a large measure of his world famous aptness +in the use of language in the process of drafting these replies. The +composing of these official communications was important work, for a +reply had to be telling and effective not only with the Governor but +with the people who learned of its contents at the coffeehouse and +spread the report of it among all classes. There was not a little +good-fellowship in their contests; and Franklin, for instance, tells us +how he used to abuse a certain deputy governor all day in the Assembly +and then dine with him in jovial intercourse in the evening. + +The Assembly had a very convenient way of accomplishing its purposes in +legislation in spite of the opposition of the British Government. +Laws when passed and approved by the deputy governor had to be sent to +England for approval by the Crown within five years. But meanwhile the +people would live under the law for five years, and, if at the end of +that time it was disallowed, the Assembly would reenact the measure and +live under it again for another period. + + +The ten years after Penn's return to England in 1701 were full of +trouble for him. Money returns from the province were slow, partly +because England was involved in war and trade depressed, and partly +because the Assembly, exasperated by the deputy governors he appointed, +often refused to vote the deputy a salary and left Penn to bear all the +expense of government. He was being rapidly overwhelmed with debt. One +of his sons was turning out badly. The manager of his estates in England +and Ireland, Philip Ford, was enriching himself by the trust, charging +compound interest at eight per cent every six months, and finally +claiming that Penn owed him 14,000 pounds. Ford had rendered accounts +from time to time, but Penn in his careless way had tossed them aside +without examination. When Ford pressed for payment, Penn, still without +making any investigation, foolishly gave Ford a deed in fee simple of +Pennsylvania as security. Afterwards he accepted from Ford a lease of +the province, which was another piece of folly, for the lease could, +of course, be used as evidence to show that the deed was an absolute +conveyance and not intended as a mortgage. + +This unfortunate business Ford kept quiet during his lifetime. But on +his death his widow and son made everything public, professed to be +the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and sued Penn for 2000 pounds rent in +arrears. They obtained a judgment for the amount claimed and, as Penn +could not pay, they had him arrested and imprisoned for debt. For nine +months he was locked up in the debtors' prison, the "Old Bailey," and +there he might have remained indefinitely if some of his friends had +not raised enough money to compromise with the Fords. Isaac Norris, +a prominent Quaker from Pennsylvania, happened at that time to be in +England and exerted himself to set Penn free and save the province from +further disgrace. After this there was a reaction in Penn's favor. He +selected a better deputy governor for Pennsylvania. He wrote a long and +touching letter to the people, reminding them how they had flourished +and grown rich and free under his liberal laws, while he had been +sinking in poverty. + +After that conditions improved in the affairs of Penn. The colony was +better governed, and the anti-proprietary party almost disappeared. The +last six or eight years of Penn's life were free from trouble. He +had ceased his active work at court, for everything that could be +accomplished for the Quakers in the way of protection and favorable +laws had now been done. Penn spent his last years in trying to sell the +government of his province to the Crown for a sum that would enable him +to pay his debts and to restore his family to prosperity. But he was +too particular in stipulating that the great principles of civil and +religious liberty on which the colony had been established should not be +infringed. He had seen how much evil had resulted to the rights of the +people when the proprietors of the Jerseys parted with their right to +govern. In consequence he required so many safeguards that the sale of +Pennsylvania was delayed and delayed until its founder was stricken with +paralysis. Penn lingered for some years, but his intellect was now too +much clouded to make a valid sale. The event, however, was fortunate +for Pennsylvania, which would probably otherwise have lost many valuable +rights and privileges by becoming a Crown colony. + +On July 30,1718, Penn died at the age of seventy-four. His widow became +proprietor of the province, probably the only woman who ever became +feudal proprietor of such an immense domain. She appointed excellent +deputy governors and ruled with success for eight years until her death +in 1726. In her time the ocean was free from enemy cruisers, and the +trade of the colony grew so rapidly that the increasing sales of land +and quitrents soon enabled her to pay off the mortgage on the province +and all the rest of her husband's debts. It was sad that Penn did not +live to see that day, which he had so hoped for in his last years, when, +with ocean commerce free from depredations, the increasing money returns +from his province would obviate all necessity of selling the government +to the Crown. + +With all debts paid and prosperity increasing, Penn's sons became very +rich men. Death had reduced the children to three--John, Thomas, +and Richard. Of these, Thomas became what may be called the managing +proprietor, and the others were seldom heard of. Thomas lived in the +colony nine years--1732 to 1741--studying its affairs and sitting as a +member of the Council. For over forty years he was looked upon as the +proprietor. In fact, he directed the great province for almost as long +a time as his father had managed it. But he was so totally unlike his +father that it is difficult to find the slightest resemblance in feature +or in mind. He was not in the least disposed to proclaim or argue about +religion. Like the rest of his family, he left the Quakers and joined +the Church of England, a natural evolution in the case of many Quakers. +He was a prosperous, accomplished, sensible, cool-headed gentleman, by +no means without ability, but without any inclination for setting the +world on fire. He was a careful, economical man of business, which is +more than can be said of his distinguished father. He saw no visions and +cared nothing for grand speculations. + +Thomas Penn, however, had his troubles and disputes with the Assembly. +They thought him narrow and close. Perhaps he was. That was the opinion +of him held by Franklin, who led the anti-proprietary party. But at the +same time some consideration must be given to the position in which +Penn found himself. He had on his hands an empire, rich, fertile, and +inhabited by liberty-loving Anglo-Saxons and by passive Germans. He +had to collect from their land the purchase money and quitrents rapidly +rolling up in value with the increase of population into millions of +pounds sterling, for which he was responsible to his relatives. At the +same time he had to influence the politics of the province, approve or +reject laws in such a way that his family interest would be protected +from attack or attempted confiscation, keep the British Crown satisfied, +and see that the liberties of the colonists were not impaired and that +the people were kept contented. + +It was not an easy task even for a clear-headed man like Thomas Penn. +He had to arrange for treaties with the Indians and for the purchase of +their lands in accordance with the humane ideas of his father and in the +face of the Scotch-Irish thirst for Indian blood and the French desire +to turn the savages loose upon the Anglo-Saxon settlements. He had to +fight through the boundary disputes with Connecticut, Maryland, and +Virginia, which threatened to reduce his empire to a mere strip of land +containing neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburgh. The controversy with +Connecticut lasted throughout the colonial period and was not definitely +settled till the close of the Revolution. The charter of Connecticut +granted by the British Crown extended the colony westward to the Pacific +Ocean and cut off the northern half of the tract afterwards granted to +William Penn. In pursuance of what they believed to be their rights, the +Connecticut people settled in the beautiful valley of Wyoming. They were +thereupon ejected by force by the proprietors of Pennsylvania; but they +returned, only to be ejected again and again in a petty warfare carried +on for many years. In the summer of 1778, the people of the valley +were massacred by the Iroquois Indians. The history of this Connecticut +boundary dispute fills volumes. So does the boundary dispute with +Maryland, which also lasted throughout the colonial period; the dispute +with Virginia over the site of Pittsburgh is not so voluminous. +All these controversies Thomas Penn conducted with eminent skill, +inexhaustible patience, and complete success. For this achievement the +State owes him a debt of gratitude. + +Thomas Penn was in the extraordinary position of having to govern as +a feudal lord what was virtually a modern community. He was exercising +feudal powers three hundred years after all the reasons for the feudal +system had ceased to exist; and he was exercising those powers and +acquiring by them vast wealth from a people in a new and wild country +whose convictions, both civil and religious, were entirely opposed +to anything like the feudal system. It must certainly be put down as +something to his credit that he succeeded so well as to retain control +both of the political government and his family's increasing wealth down +to the time of the Revolution and that he gave on the whole so little +offense to a high-strung people that in the Revolution they allowed his +family to retain a large part of their land and paid them liberally for +what was confiscated. + +The wealth which came to the three brothers they spent after the manner +of the time in country life. John and Richard do not appear to have had +remarkable country seats. But Thomas purchased in 1760 the fine English +estate of Stoke Park, which had belonged to Sir Christopher Hatton of +Queen Elizabeth's time, to Lord Coke, and later to the Cobham family. +Thomas's son John, grandson of the founder, greatly enlarged and +beautified the place and far down into the nineteenth century it was +one of the notable country seats of England. This John Penn also built +another country place called Pennsylvania Castle, equally picturesque +and interesting, on the Isle of Portland, of which he was Governor. + + + +Chapter VI. The French And Indian War + +There was no great change in political conditions in Pennsylvania until +about the year 1755. The French in Canada had been gradually developing +their plans of spreading down the Ohio and Mississippi valleys behind +the English colonies. They were at the same time securing alliances with +the Indians and inciting them to hostilities against the English. But +so rapidly were the settlers advancing that often the land could not +be purchased fast enough to prevent irritation and ill feeling. The +Scotch-Irish and Germans, it has already been noted, settled on lands +without the formality of purchase from the Indians. The Government, when +the Indians complained, sometimes ejected the settlers but more often +hastened to purchase from the Indians the land which had been occupied. +"The Importance of the British Plantations in America," published in +1731, describes the Indians as peaceful and contented in Pennsylvania +but irritated and unsettled in those other colonies where they had +usually been ill-treated and defrauded. This, with other evidence, +goes to show that up to that time Penn's policy of fairness and good +treatment still prevailed. But those conditions soon changed, as the +famous Walking Purchase of 1737 clearly indicated. + +The Walking Purchase had provided for the sale of some lands along the +Delaware below the Lehigh on a line starting at Wrightstown, a few miles +back from the Delaware not far above Trenton, and running northwest, +parallel with the river, as far as a man could walk in a day and a half. +The Indians understood that this tract would extend northward only to +the Lehigh, which was the ordinary journey of a day and a half. The +proprietors, however, surveyed the line beforehand, marked the trees, +engaged the fastest walkers and, with horses to carry provisions, +started their men at sunrise. By running a large part of the way, at +the end of a day and a half these men had reached a point thirty miles +beyond the Lehigh. + +The Delaware Indians regarded this measurement as a pure fraud and +refused to abandon the Minisink region north of the Lehigh. The +proprietors then called in the assistance of the Six Nations of New +York, who ordered the Delawares off the Minisink lands. Though they +obeyed, the Delawares became the relentless enemies of the white man and +in the coming years revenged themselves by massacres and murder. They +also broke the control which the Six Nations had over them, became an +independent nation, and in the French Wars revenged themselves on the +Six Nations as well as on the white men. The congress which convened at +Albany in 1754 was an attempt on the part of the British Government to +settle all Indian affairs in a general agreement and to prevent separate +treaties by the different colonies; but the Pennsylvania delegates, by +various devices of compass courses which the Indians did not understand +and by failing to notify and secure the consent of certain tribes, +obtained a grant of pretty much the whole of Pennsylvania west of the +Susquehanna. The Indians considered this procedure to be another gross +fraud. It is to be noticed that in their dealings with Penn they had +always been satisfied, and that he had always been careful that they +should be duly consulted and if necessary be paid twice over for the +land. But his sons were more economical, and as a result of the shrewd +practices of the Albany purchase the Pennsylvania Indians almost +immediately went over in a body to the French and were soon scalping +men, women, and children among the Pennsylvania colonists. It is a +striking fact, however, that in all the after years of war and rapine +and for generations afterwards the Indians retained the most distinct +and positive tradition of Penn's good faith and of the honesty of all +Quakers. So persistent, indeed, was this tradition among the tribes of +the West that more than a century later President Grant proposed to +put the whole charge of the nation's Indian affairs in the hands of the +Quakers. The first efforts to avert the catastrophe threatened by the +alliance of the red man with the French were made by the provincial +assemblies, which voted presents of money or goods to the Indians to +offset similar presents from the French. The result was, of course, the +utter demoralization of the savages. Bribed by both sides, the Indians +used all their native cunning to encourage the bribers to bid against +each other. So far as Pennsylvania was concerned, feeling themselves +cheated in the first instance and now bribed with gifts, they developed +a contempt for the people who could stoop to such practices. As a +result this contempt manifested itself in deeds hitherto unknown in the +province. One tribe on a visit to Philadelphia killed cattle and robbed +orchards as they passed. The delegates of another tribe, having visited +Philadelphia and received 500 pounds as a present, returned to the +frontier and on their way back for another present destroyed the +property of the interpreter and Indian agent, Conrad Weiser. They felt +that they could do as they pleased. To make matters worse, the Assembly +paid for all the damage done; and having started on this foolish +business, they found that the list of tribes demanding presents rapidly +increased. The Shawanoes and the Six Nations, as well as the Delawares, +were now swarming to this new and convenient source of wealth. + +Whether the proprietors or the Assembly should meet this increasing +expense or divide it between them, became a subject of increasing +controversy. It was in these discussions that Thomas Penn, in trying to +keep his family's share of the expense as small as possible, first got +the reputation for closeness which followed him for the rest of his life +and which started a party in the province desirous of having Parliament +abolish the proprietorship and put the province under a governor +appointed by the Crown. + +The war with the French of Canada and their Indian allies is of interest +here only in so far as it affected the government of Pennsylvania. +From this point of view it involved a series of contests between the +proprietors and the Crown on the one side and the Assembly on the other. +The proprietors and the Crown took advantage of every military necessity +to force the Assembly into a surrender of popular rights. But the +Assembly resisted, maintaining that they had the same right as the +British Commons of having their money bills received or rejected by the +Governor without amendment. Whatever they should give must be given on +their own terms or not at all; and they would not yield this point to +any necessities of the war. + +When Governor Morris asked the Assembly for a war contribution in +1754, they promptly voted 20,000 pounds. This was the same amount that +Virginia, the most active of the colonies in the war, was giving. Other +colonies gave much less; New York, only 5000 pounds, and Maryland 6000 +pounds. Morris, however, would not assent to the Assembly's bill unless +it contained a clause suspending its effect until the King's pleasure +was known. This was an attempt to establish a precedent for giving up +the Assembly's charter right of passing laws which need not be submitted +to the King for five years and which in the meantime were valid. The +members of the Assembly very naturally refused to be forced by the +necessities of the war into surrendering one of the most important +privileges the province possessed. It was, they said, as much their duty +to resist this invasion of their rights as to resist the French. + +Governor Morris, besides demanding that the supply of 20,000 pounds +should not go into force until the King's pleasure was known, insisted +that the paper money representing it should be redeemable in five years. +This period the Assembly considered too short; the usual time was ten +years. Five years would ruin too many people by foreclosures. Moreover, +the Governor was attempting to dictate the way in which the people +should raise a money supply. He and the King had a right to ask for aid +in war; but it was the right of the colony to use its own methods +of furnishing this assistance. The Governor also refused to let the +Assembly see the instructions from the proprietors under which he +was acting. This was another attack upon their liberties and involved +nothing less than an attempt to change their charter rights by secret +instructions to a deputy governor which he must obey at his peril. +Several bills had recently been introduced in the English Parliament for +the purpose of making royal instructions to governors binding on all the +colonial assemblies without regard to their charters. This innovation, +the colonists felt, would wreck all their liberties and turn colonial +government into a mere despotism. + +The assemblies of all the colonies have been a good deal abused for +delay in supporting the war and meanness in withholding money. But +in many instances the delay and lack of money were occasioned by the +grasping schemes of governors who saw a chance to gain new privileges +for the Crown or a proprietor or to weaken popular government by +crippling the powers of the legislatures. The usual statement that +the Pennsylvania Assembly was slow in assisting the war because it was +composed of Quakers is not supported by the facts. The Pennsylvania +Assembly was not behind the rest. On this particular occasion, when +their large money supply bill could not be passed without sacrificing +their constitutional rights, they raised money for the war by appointing +a committee which was authorized to borrow 5000 pounds on the credit of +the Assembly. + +Other contests arose over the claim of the proprietors that their +estates in the province were exempt from taxation for the war or any +purpose. One bill taxing the proprietary estates along with others was +met by Thomas Penn offering to subscribe 5000 pounds, as a free gift to +the colony's war measures. The Assembly accepted this, and passed the +bill without taxing the proprietary estates. It turned out, however, +to be a shrewd business move on the part of Thomas Penn; for the 5000 +pounds was to be collected out of the quitrents that were in arrears, +and the payment of it was in consequence long delayed. The thrifty +Thomas had thus saddled his bad debts on the province and gained a +reputation for generosity at the same time. + +Pennsylvania, though governed by Quakers assisted by noncombatant +Germans, had a better protected frontier than Maryland or Virginia; no +colony, indeed, was at that time better protected. The Quaker Assembly +did more than take care of the frontier during the war; it preserved +at the same time constitutional rights in defense of which twenty-five +years afterwards the whole continent fought the Revolution. The Quaker +Assembly even passed two militia bills, one of which became law, and +sent rather more than the province's full share of troops to protect +the frontiers of New York and New England and to carry the invasion into +Canada. + +General Braddock warmly praised the assistance which Pennsylvania gave +him because, he said, she had done more for him than any of the other +colonies. Virginia and Maryland promised everything and performed +nothing, while Pennsylvania promised nothing and performed everything. +Commodore Spy thanked the Assembly for the large number of sailors sent +his fleet at the expense of the province. General Shirley, in charge +of the New England and New York campaigns, thanked the Assembly for +the numerous recruits; and it was the common opinion at the time that +Pennsylvania had sent more troops to the war than any other colony. In +the first four years of the war the province spent for military purposes +210,567 pounds sterling, which was a very considerable sum at that time +for a community of less than 200,000 people. Quakers, though they hate +war, will accept it when there is no escape. The old story of the Quaker +who tossed a pirate overboard, saying, "Friend, thee has no business +here," gives their point of view better than pages of explanation. +Quaker opinion has not always been entirely uniform. In Revolutionary +times in Philadelphia there was a division of the Quakers known as the +Fighting Quakers, and their meeting house is still pointed out at the +corner of Fourth Street and Arch. They even produced able military +leaders: Colonel John Dickinson, General Greene, and General Mifflin in +the Continental Army, and, in the War of 1812, General Jacob Brown, +who reorganized the army and restored its failing fortunes after many +officers had been tried and found wanting. + +There was always among the Quakers a rationalistic party and a party of +mysticism. The rationalistic party prevailed in Pennsylvania all through +the colonial period. In the midst of the worst horrors of the French and +Indian wars, however, the conscientious objectors roused themselves and +began preaching and exhorting what has been called the mystical side of +the faith. Many extreme Quaker members of the Assembly resigned their +seats in consequence. After the Revolution the spiritual party began +gaining ground, partly perhaps because then the responsibilities of +government and care of the great political and religious experiment in +Pennsylvania were removed. The spiritual party increased so rapidly +in power that in 1827 a split occurred which involved not a little +bitterness, ill feeling, and litigation over property. This division +into two opposing camps, known as the Hicksites and the Orthodox, +continues and is likely to remain. + +Quaker government in Pennsylvania was put to still severer tests by +the difficulties and disasters that followed Braddock's defeat. That +unfortunate general had something over two thousand men and was hampered +with a train of artillery and a splendid equipment of arms, tools, and +supplies, as if he were to march over the smooth highways of Europe. +When he came to drag all these munitions through the depths of the +Pennsylvania forests and up and down the mountains, he found that he +made only about three miles a day and that his horses had nothing to eat +but the leaves of the trees. Washington, who was of the party, finally +persuaded him to abandon his artillery and press forward with about +fifteen hundred picked men. These troops, when a few miles from Fort +Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), met about six hundred Indians and three +hundred French coming from the fort. The English maintained a close +formation where they were, but the French and Indians immediately spread +out on their flanks, lying behind trees and logs which provided rests +for their rifles and security for their bodies. This strategy decided +the day. The English were shot down like cattle in a pen, and out of +about fifteen hundred only four hundred and fifty escaped. The French +and Indian loss was not much over fifty. + +This defeat of Braddock's force has become one of the most famous +reverses in history; and it was made worse by the conduct of Dunbar who +had been left in command of the artillery, baggage, and men in the rear. +He could have remained where he was as some sort of protection to the +frontier. But he took fright, burned his wagons, emptied his barrels of +powder into the streams, destroyed his provisions, and fled back to Fort +Cumberland in Maryland. Here the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia +as well as the Pennsylvania Assembly urged him to stay. But, determined +to make the British rout complete, he soon retreated to the peace and +quiet of Philadelphia, and nothing would induce him to enter again the +terrible forests of Pennsylvania. + +The natural result of the blunder soon followed. The French, finding +the whole frontier of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia abandoned, +organized the Indians under French officers and swept the whole region +with a devastation of massacre, scalping, and burning that has never +been equaled. Hurons, Potawatomies, Ojibways, Ottawas, Mingoes, +renegades from the Six Nations, together with the old treaty friends of +Penn, the Delawares and Shawanoes, began swarming eastward and soon +had killed more people than had been lost at Braddock's defeat. The +onslaught reached its height in September and October. By that time all +the outlying frontier settlers and their families had been killed or +sent flying eastward to seek refuge in the settlements. The Indians even +followed them to the settlements, reached the Susquehanna, and crossed +it. They massacred the people of the village of Gnadenhutten, near +Bethlehem on the Lehigh, and established near by a headquarters for +prisoners and plunder. Families were scalped within fifty miles of +Philadelphia, and in one instance the bodies of a murdered family +were brought into the town and exhibited in the streets to show the +inhabitants how near the danger was approaching. Nothing could be done +to stem the savage tide. Virginia was suffering in the same way: the +settlers on her border were slaughtered or were driven back in herds +upon the more settled districts, and Washington, with a nominal strength +of fifteen hundred who would not obey orders, was forced to stand +a helpless spectator of the general flight and misery. There was no +adequate force or army anywhere within reach. The British had been +put to flight and had gone to the defense of New England and New York. +Neither Pennsylvania nor Virginia had a militia that could withstand +the French and their red allies. They could only wait till the panic had +subsided and then see what could be done. + +One thing was accomplished, however, when the Pennsylvania Assembly +passed a Quaker militia law which is one of the most curious legal +documents of its kind in history. It was most aptly worded, drafted by +the master hand of Franklin. It recited the fact that the province had +always been ruled by Quakers who were opposed to war, but that now it +had become necessary to allow men to become soldiers and to give them +every facility for the profession of arms, because the Assembly though +containing a Quaker majority nevertheless represented all the people of +the province. To prevent those who believed in war from taking part in +it would be as much a violation of liberty of conscience as to force +enlistments among those who had conscientious scruples against it. Nor +would the Quaker majority have any right to compel others to bear arms +and at the same time exempt themselves. Therefore a voluntary militia +system was established under which a fighting Quaker, a Presbyterian, an +Episcopalian, or anybody, could enlist and have all the military glory +he could win. + +It was altogether a volunteer system. Two years afterwards, as the +necessities of war increased, the Quaker Assembly passed a rather +stringent compulsory militia bill; but the governor vetoed it, and the +first law with its volunteer system remained in force. Franklin busied +himself to encourage enlistments under it and was very successful. +Though a philosopher and a man of science, almost as much opposed to war +as the Quakers and not even owning a shotgun, he was elected commander +and led a force of about five hundred men to protect the Lehigh Valley. +His common sense seems to have supplied his lack of military training. +He did no worse than some professional soldiers who might be named. +The valley was supposed to be in great danger since its village of +Gnadenhutten had been burned and its people massacred. The Moravians, +like the Quakers, had suddenly found that they were not as much opposed +to war as they had supposed. They had obtained arms and ammunition from +New York and had built stockades, and Franklin was glad to find them so +well prepared when he arrived. He built small forts in different parts +of the valley, acted entirely on the defensive, and no doubt checked the +raids of the Indians at that point. They seem to have been watching +him from the hilltops all the time, and any rashness on his part would +probably have brought disaster upon him. After his force had been +withdrawn, the Indians again attacked and burned Gnadenhutten. + +The chain of forts, at first seventeen, afterwards increased to fifty, +built by the Assembly on the Pennsylvania frontier was a good plan so +far as it went, but it was merely defensive and by no means completely +defensive, since Indian raiding parties could pass between the forts. +They served chiefly as refuges for neighboring settlers. The colonial +troops or militia, after manning the fifty forts and sending their quota +to the operations against Canada by way of New England and New York, +were not numerous enough to attack the Indians. They could only act on +the defensive as Franklin's command had done. As for the rangers, as +the small bands of frontiersmen acting without any authority of either +governor or legislature were called, they were very efficient as +individuals but they accomplished very little because they acted at +widely isolated spots. What was needed was a well organized force which +could pursue the Indians on their own ground so far westward that the +settlers on the frontier would be safe. The only troops which could +do this were the British regulars with the assistance of the colonial +militia. + +Two energetic efforts to end the war without aid from abroad were made, +however, one by the pacific Quakers and the other by the combatant +portion of the people. Both of these were successful so far as they +went, but had little effect on the general situation. In the summer +of 1756, the Quakers made a very earnest effort to persuade the two +principal Pennsylvania tribes, the Delawares and Shawanoes, to withdraw +from the French alliance and return to their old friends. These two +tribes possessed a knowledge of the country which enabled them greatly +to assist the French designs on Pennsylvania. Chiefs of these tribes +were brought under safe conducts to Philadelphia, where they were +entertained as equals in the Quaker homes. Such progress, indeed, was +made that by the end of July a treaty of peace was concluded at Easton +eliminating those two tribes from the war. This has sometimes been +sneered at as mere Quaker pacifism; but it was certainly successful in +lessening the numbers and effectiveness of the enemy. + +The other undertaking was a military one, the famous attack upon +Kittanning conducted by Colonel John Armstrong, an Ulsterman from +Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the first really aggressive officer the +province had produced. The Indians had two headquarters for their raids +into the province, one at Logstown on the Ohio a few miles below Fort +Duquesne, and the other at Kittanning or, as the French called it, +Attique, about forty miles northeast. At these two points they assembled +their forces, received ammunition and supplies from the French, and +organized their expeditions. As Kittanning was the nearer, Armstrong in +a masterly maneuver took three hundred men through the mountains without +being discovered and, by falling upon the village early in the morning, +he effected a complete surprise. The town was set on fire, the Indians +were put to flight, and large quantities of their ammunition were +destroyed. But Armstrong could not follow up his success. Threatened +by overwhelming numbers, he hastened to withdraw. The effect which the +fighting and the Quaker treaty had on the frontier was good. Incursions +of the savages were, at least for the present, checked. But the root of +the evil had not yet been reached, and the Indians remained massed +along the Ohio, ready to break in upon the people again at the first +opportunity. + +The following year, 1757, was the most depressing period of the war. +The proprietors of Pennsylvania took the opportunity to exempt their own +estate from taxation and throw the burden of furnishing money for the +war upon the colonists. Under pressure of the increasing success of the +French and Indians and because the dreadful massacres were coming nearer +and nearer to Philadelphia, the Quaker Assembly yielded, voted the +largest sum they had ever voted to the war, and exempted the proprietary +estates. The colony was soon boiling with excitement. The Churchmen, as +friends of the proprietors, were delighted to have the estates exempted, +thought it a good opportunity to have the Quaker Assembly abolished, and +sent petitions and letters and proofs of alleged Quaker incompetence +to the British Government. The Quakers and a large majority of the +colonists, on the other hand, instead of consenting to their own +destruction, struck at the root of the Churchmen's power by proposing +to abolish the proprietors. And in a letter to Isaac Norris, Benjamin +Franklin, who had been sent to England to present the grievances of the +colonists, even suggested that "tumults and insurrections that might +prove the proprietary government unable to preserve order, or show the +people to be ungovernable, would do the business immediately." + +Turmoil and party strife rose to the most exciting heights, and the +details of it might, under certain circumstances, be interesting to +describe. But the next year, 1758, the British Government, by sending +a powerful force of regulars to Pennsylvania, at last adopted the +only method for ending the war. Confidence was at once restored. The +Pennsylvania Assembly now voted the sufficient and, indeed, immense sum +of one hundred thousand pounds, and offered a bounty of five pounds +to every recruit. It was no longer a war of defense but now a war of +aggression and conquest. Fort Duquesne on the Ohio was taken; and the +next autumn Fort Pitt was built on its ruins. Then Canada fell, and +the French empire in America came to an end. Canada and the Great West +passed into the possession of the Anglo-Saxon race. + + + +Chapter VII. The Decline Of Quaker Government + +When the treaty of peace was signed in 1763, extinguishing France's +title to Canada and turning over Canada and the Mississippi Valley to +the English, the colonists were prepared to enjoy all the blessings of +peace. But the treaty of peace had been made with France, not with the +red man. A remarkable genius, Pontiac, appeared among the Indians, one +of the few characters, like Tecumseh and Osceola, who are often cited +as proof of latent powers almost equal to the strongest qualities of the +white race. Within a few months he had united all the tribes of the +West in a discipline and control which, if it had been brought to the +assistance of the French six years earlier, might have conquered the +colonies to the Atlantic seaboard before the British regulars could have +come to their assistance. The tribes swept westward into Pennsylvania, +burning, murdering, and leveling every habitation to the ground with a +thoroughness beyond anything attempted under the French alliance. The +settlers and farmers fled eastward to the towns to live in cellars, +camps, and sheds as best they could. * Fortunately the colonies retained +a large part of the military organization, both men and officers, of +the French War, and were soon able to handle the situation. Detroit and +Niagara were relieved by water; and an expedition commanded by Colonel +Bouquet, who had distinguished himself under General Forties, saved Fort +Pitt. + + + * For an account of Pontiac's conspiracy, see "The Old Northwest" +by Frederic A. Ogg (in "The Chronicles of America"). + + +At this time the Scotch-Irish frontiersmen suddenly became prominent. +They had been organizing for their own protection and were meeting with +not a little success. They refused to join the expedition of regular +troops marching westward against Pontiac's warriors, because they wanted +to protect their own homes and because they believed the regulars to be +marching to sure destruction. Many of the regular troops were invalided +from the West Indies, and the Scotch-Irish never expected to see any +of them again. They believed that the salvation of Pennsylvania, or at +least of their part of the province, depended entirely upon themselves. +Their increasing numbers and rugged independence were forming them +also into an organized political party with decided tendencies, as it +afterwards appeared, towards forming a separate state. + +The extreme narrowness of the Scotch-Irish, however, misled them. The +only real safety for the province lay in regularly constituted and +strong expeditions, like that of Bouquet, which would drive the main +body of the savages far westward. But the Scotch-Irish could not see +this; and with that intensity of passion which marked all their +actions they turned their energy and vengeance upon the Quakers and +semicivilized Indians in the eastern end of the colony. Their preachers, +who were their principal leaders and organizers, encouraged them in +denouncing Quaker doctrine as a wicked heresy from which only evil +could result. The Quakers had offended God from the beginning by making +treaties of kindness with the heathen savages instead of exterminating +them as the Scripture commanded: "And when the Lord thy God shall +deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy +them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them." +The Scripture had not been obeyed; the heathen had not been destroyed; +on the contrary, a systematic policy of covenants, treaties, +and kindness had been persisted in for two generations, and as a +consequence, the Ulstermen said, the frontiers were now deluged in +blood. They were particularly resentful against the small settlement of +Indians near Bethlehem, who had been converted to Christianity by the +Moravians, and another little village of half civilized basketmaking +Indians at Conestoga near Lancaster. The Scotch-Irish had worked +themselves up into a strange belief that these small remnants were +sending information, arms, and ammunition to the western tribes; and +they seemed to think that it was more important to exterminate these +little communities than to go with such expeditions as Bouquet's to +the West. They asked the Governor to remove these civilized Indians and +assured him that their removal would secure the safety of the frontier. +When the Governor, not being able to find anything against the Indians, +declined to remove them, the Scotch-Irish determined to attend to the +matter in their own fashion. + +Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run, much to the surprise of the +Scotch-Irish, stopped Indian raids of any seriousness until the +following spring. But in the autumn there were a few depredations, which +led the frontiersmen to believe that the whole invasion would begin +again. A party of them, therefore, started to attack the Moravian +Indians near Bethlehem; but before they could accomplish their object, +the Governor brought most of the Indians down to Philadelphia for +protection. Even there they were narrowly saved from the mob, for the +hostility against them was spreading throughout the province. + +Soon afterwards another party of Scotch-Irish, ever since known as the +"Paxton Boys," went at break of day to the village of the Conestoga +Indians and found only six of them at home--three men, two women, and a +boy. These they instantly shot down, mutilated their bodies, and burned +their cabins. As the murderers returned, they related to a man on the +road what they had done, and when he protested against the cruelty of +the deed, they asked, "Don't you believe in God and the Bible?" The +remaining fourteen inhabitants of the village, who were away selling +brooms, were collected by the sheriff and put in the jail at Lancaster +for protection. The Paxtons heard of it and in a few days stormed the +jail, broke down the doors, and either shot the poor Indians or cut them +to pieces with hatchets. + +This was probably the first instance of lynch law in America. It raised +a storm of indignation and controversy; and a pamphlet war persisted +for several years. The whole province was immediately divided into +two parties. On one side were the Quakers, most of the Germans, and +conservatives of every sort, and on the other, inclined to sympathize +with the Scotch-Irish, were the eastern Presbyterians, some of the +Churchmen, and various miscellaneous people whose vindictiveness towards +all Indians had been aroused by the war. The Quakers and conservatives, +who seem to have been the more numerous, assailed the Scotch-Irish in no +measured language as a gang of ruffians without respect for law or order +who, though always crying for protection, had refused to march with +Bouquet to save Fort Pitt or to furnish him the slightest assistance. +Instead of going westward where the danger was and something might +be accomplished, they had turned eastward among the settlements and +murdered a few poor defenseless people, mostly women and children. + +Franklin, who had now returned from England, wrote one of his best +pamphlets against the Paxtons, the valorous, heroic Paxtons, as he +called them, prating of God and the Bible, fifty-seven of whom, armed +with rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually succeeded in killing +three old men, two women, and a boy. This pamphlet became known as the +"Narrative" from the first word of its title, and it had an immense +circulation. Like everything Franklin wrote, it is interesting reading +to this day. + +One of the first effects of this controversy was to drive the excitable +Scotch-Irish into a flame of insurrection not unlike the Whisky +Rebellion, which started among them some years after the Revolution. +They held tumultuous meetings denouncing the Quakers and the whole +proprietary government in Philadelphia, and they organized an expedition +which included some delegates to suggest reforms. For the most part, +however, it was a well equipped little army variously estimated at from +five hundred to fifteen hundred on foot and on horseback, which marched +towards Philadelphia with no uncertain purpose. They openly declared +that they intended to capture the town, seize the Moravian Indians +protected there, and put them to death. They fully expected to be +supported by most of the people and to have everything their own way. +As they passed along the roads, they amused themselves in their rough +fashion by shooting chickens and pigs, frightening people by thrusting +their rifles into windows, and occasionally throwing some one down and +pretending to scalp him. + +In the city there was great excitement and alarm. Even the classes who +sympathized with the Scotch-Irish did not altogether relish having their +property burned or destroyed. Great preparations were made to meet the +expedition. British regulars were summoned. Eight companies of militia +and a battery of artillery were hastily formed. Franklin became a +military man once more and superintended the preparations. On all sides +the Quakers were enlisting; they had become accustomed to war; and this +legitimate chance to shoot a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian was too much for +the strongest scruples of their religion. It was a long time, however, +before they heard the end of this zeal; and in the pamphlet war which +followed they were accused of clamorously rushing to arms and demanding +to be led against the enemy. + +It is amusing now to read about it in the old records. But it was +serious enough at the time. When the Scotch-Irish army reached the +Schuylkill River and found the fords leading to the city guarded, they +were not quite so enthusiastic about killing Quakers and Indians. They +went up the river some fifteen miles, crossed by an unopposed ford, and +halted in Germantown ten miles north of Philadelphia. That was as far as +they thought it safe to venture. Several days passed, during which the +city people continued their preparations and expected every night to be +attacked. There were, indeed, several false alarms. Whenever the alarm +was sounded at night, every one placed candles in his windows to light +up the streets. One night when it rained the soldiers were allowed +to shelter themselves in a Quaker meeting house, which for some hours +bristled with bayonets and swords, an incident of which the Presbyterian +pamphleteers afterwards made much use for satire. On another day all the +cannon were fired to let the enemy know what was in store for him. + +Finally commissioners with the clever, genial Franklin at their head, +went out to Germantown to negotiate, and soon had the whole mighty +difference composed. The Scotch-Irish stated their grievances. The +Moravian Indians ought not to be protected by the government, and all +such Indians should be removed from the colony; the men who killed +the Conestoga Indians should be tried where the supposed offense was +committed and not in Philadelphia; the five frontier counties had +only ten representatives in the Assembly while the three others had +twenty-six--this should be remedied; men wounded in border war should be +cared for at public expense; no trade should be carried on with hostile +Indians until they restored prisoners; and there should be a bounty on +scalps. + +While these negotiations were proceeding, some of the Scotch-Irish +amused themselves by practicing with their rifles at the weather vane, +a figure of a cock, on the steeple of the old Lutheran church in +Germantown--an unimportant incident, it is true, but one revealing the +conditions and character of the time as much as graver matters do. The +old weather vane with the bullet marks upon it is still preserved. About +thirty of these same riflemen were invited to Philadelphia and were +allowed to wander about and see the sights of the town. The rest +returned to the frontier. As for their list of grievances, not one of +them was granted except, strange and sad to relate, the one which asked +for a scalp bounty. The Governor, after the manner of other colonies, +it must be admitted, issued the long desired scalp proclamation, which +after offering rewards for prisoners and scalps, closed by saying, "and +for the scalp of a female Indian fifty pieces of eight." William Penn's +Indian policy had been admired for its justice and humanity by all the +philosophers and statesmen of the world, and now his grandson, Governor +of the province, in the last days of the family's control, was offering +bounties for women's scalps. + +Franklin while in England had succeeded in having the proprietary lands +taxed equally with the lands of the colonists. But the proprietors +attempted to construe this provision so that their best lands were taxed +at the rate paid by the people on their worst. This obvious quibble of +course raised such a storm of opposition that the Quakers, joined by +classes which had never before supported them, and now forming a large +majority, determined to appeal to the Government in England to abolish +the proprietorship and put the colony under the rule of the King. In the +proposal to make Pennsylvania a Crown colony there was no intention +of confiscating the possessions of the proprietors. It was merely the +proprietary political power, their right to appoint the Governor, that +was to be abolished. This right was to be absorbed by the Crown with +payment for its value to the proprietors; but in all other respects +the charter and the rights and liberties of the people were to remain +unimpaired. Just there lay the danger. An act of Parliament would be +required to make the change and, having once started on such a change, +Parliament, or the party in power therein, might decide to make other +changes, and in the end there might remain very little of the original +rights and liberties of the colonists under their charter. It was by +no means a wise move. But intense feeling on the subject was aroused. +Passionate feeling seemed to have been running very high among the +steady Quakers. In this new outburst the Quakers had the Scotch-Irish on +their side, and a part of the Churchmen. The Germans were divided, but +the majority enthusiastic for the change was very large. + +There was a new alignment of parties. The eastern Presbyterians, usually +more or less in sympathy with the Scotch-Irish, broke away from them +on this occasion. These Presbyterians opposed the change to a royal +governor because they believed that it would be followed by the +establishment by law of the Church of England, with bishops and all the +other ancient evils. Although some of the Churchmen joined the Quaker +side, most of them and the most influential of them were opposed to the +change and did good work in opposing it. They were well content with +their position under the proprietors and saw nothing to be gained under +a royal governor. There were also not a few people who, in the increase +of the wealth of the province, had acquired aristocratic tastes and were +attached to the pleasant social conditions that had grown up round the +proprietary governors and their followers; and there were also those +whose salaries, incomes, or opportunities for wealth were more or less +dependent on the proprietors retaining the executive offices and the +appointments and patronage. + +One of the most striking instances of a change of sides was the case of +a Philadelphia Quaker, John Dickinson, a lawyer of large practice, a man +of wealth and position, and of not a little colonial magnificence when +he drove in his coach and four. It was he who later wrote the famous +"Farmer's Letters" during the Revolution. He was a member of the +Assembly and had been in politics for some years. But on this question +of a change to royal government, he left the Quaker majority and opposed +the change with all his influence and ability. He and his father-in-law, +Isaac Norris, Speaker of the Assembly, became the leaders against +the change, and Franklin and Joseph Galloway, the latter afterwards a +prominent loyalist in the Revolution, were the leading advocates of the +change. + +The whole subject was thoroughly thrashed out in debates in the Assembly +and in pamphlets of very great ability and of much interest to students +of colonial history and the growth of American ideas of liberty. It must +be remembered that this was the year 1764, on the eve of the Revolution. +British statesmen were planning a system of more rigorous control of the +colonies; and the advisability of a stamp tax was under consideration. +Information of all these possible changes had reached the colonies. +Dickinson foresaw the end and warned the people. Franklin and the Quaker +party thought there was no danger and that the mother country could be +implicitly trusted. + +Dickinson warned the people that the British Ministry were starting +special regulations for new colonies and "designing the strictest +reformations in the old." It would be a great relief, he admitted, to +be rid of the pettiness of the proprietors, and it might be accomplished +some time in the future; but not now. The proprietary system might +be bad, but a royal government might be worse and might wreck all the +liberties of the province, religious freedom, the Assembly's control +of its own adjournments, and its power of raising and disposing of the +public money. The ministry of the day in England were well known not +to be favorably inclined towards Pennsylvania because of the frequently +reported willfulness of the Assembly, on which the recent disturbances +had also been blamed. If the King, Ministry, and Parliament started +upon a change, they might decide to reconstitute the Assembly entirely, +abolish its ancient privileges, and disfranchise both Quakers and +Presbyterians. + +The arguments of Franklin and Galloway consisted principally of +assertions of the good intentions of the mother country and the +absurdity of any fear on the part of the colonists for their privileges. +But the King in whom they had so much confidence was George III, and the +Parliament which they thought would do no harm was the same one which +a few months afterwards passed the Stamp Act which brought on the +Revolution. Franklin and Galloway also asserted that the colonies like +Massachusetts, the Jerseys, and the Carolinas, which had been changed to +royal governments, had profited by the change. But that was hardly the +prevailing opinion in those colonies themselves. Royal governors +could be as petty and annoying as the Penns and far more tyrannical. +Pennsylvania had always defeated any attempts at despotism on the part +of the Penn family and had built up a splendid body of liberal laws and +legislative privileges. But governors with the authority and power of +the British Crown behind them could not be so easily resisted as the +deputy governors of the Penns. + +The Assembly, however, voted--twenty-seven to three--with Franklin +and Galloway. In the general election of the autumn, the question was +debated anew among the people and, though Franklin and Galloway were +defeated for seats in the Assembly, yet the popular verdict was strongly +in favor of a change, and the majority in the Assembly was for practical +purposes unaltered. They voted to appeal to England for the change, and +appointed Franklin to be their agent before the Crown and Ministry. He +sailed again for England and soon was involved in the opening scenes of +the Revolution. He was made agent for all the colonies and he spent +many delightful years there pursuing his studies in science, dining with +distinguished men, staying at country seats, and learning all the arts +of diplomacy for which he afterwards became so distinguished. + +As for the Assembly's petition for a change to royal government, +Franklin presented it, but never pressed it. He, too, was finally +convinced that the time was inopportune. In fact, the Assembly itself +before long began to have doubts and fears and sent him word to let +the subject drop; and amid much greater events it was soon entirely +forgotten. + + + +Chapter VIII. The Beginnings Of New Jersey + +New Jersey, Scheyichbi, as the Indians called it, or Nova Caesarea, +as it was called in the Latin of its proprietary grant, had a history +rather different from that of other English colonies in America. +Geographically, it had not a few attractions. It was a good sized +dominion surrounded on all sides but one by water, almost an island +domain, secluded and independent. In fact, it was the only one of the +colonies which stood naturally separate and apart. The others were +bounded almost entirely by artificial or imaginary lines. + +It offered an opportunity, one might have supposed, for some +dissatisfied religious sect of the seventeenth century to secure a +sanctuary and keep off all intruders. But at first no one of the various +denominations seems to have fancied it or chanced upon it. The Puritans +disembarked upon the bleak shores of New England well suited to the +sternness of their religion. How different American history might have +been if they had established themselves in the Jerseys! Could they, +under those milder skies, have developed witchcraft, set up blue laws, +and indulged in the killing of Quakers? After a time they learned about +the Jerseys and cast thrifty eyes upon them. Their seafaring habits and +the pursuit of whales led them along the coast and into Delaware Bay. +The Puritans of New Haven made persistent efforts to settle the southern +part of Jersey, on the Delaware near Salem. They thought, as their +quaint old records show, that if they could once start a branch colony +in Jersey it might become more populous and powerful than the New +Haven settlement and in that case they intended to move their seat of +government to the new colony. But their shrewd estimate of its value +came too late. The Dutch and the Swedes occupied the Delaware at that +time and drove them out. Puritans, however, entered northern Jersey +and, while they were not numerous enough to make it a thoroughly Puritan +community, they largely tinged its thought and its laws, and their +influence still survives. + +The difficulty with Jersey was that its seacoast was a monotonous line +of breakers with dangerous shoal inlets, few harbors, and vast mosquito +infested salt marshes and sandy thickets. In the interior it was for +the most part a level, heavily forested, sandy, swampy country in its +southern portions, and rough and mountainous in the northern portions. +Even the entrance by Delaware Bay was so difficult by reason of its +shoals that it was the last part of the coast to be explored. The +Delaware region and Jersey were in fact a sort of middle ground far less +easy of access by the sea than the regions to the north in New England +and to the south in Virginia. + +There were only two places easy of settlement in the Jerseys. One was +the open region of meadows and marshes by Newark Bay near the mouth +of the Hudson and along the Hackensack River, whence the people slowly +extended themselves to the seashore at Sandy Hook and thence southward +along the ocean beach. This was East Jersey. The other easily occupied +region, which became West Jersey, stretched along the shore of the lower +Delaware from the modern Trenton to Salem, whence the settlers gradually +worked their way into the interior. Between these two divisions lay +a rough wilderness which in its southern portion was full of swamps, +thickets, and pine barrens. So rugged was the country that the native +Indians lived for the most part only in the two open regions already +described. + +The natural geographical, geological, and even social division of New +Jersey is made by drawing a line from Trenton to the mouth of the Hudson +River. North of that line the successive terraces of the piedmont and +mountainous region form part of the original North American continent. +South of that line the more or less sandy level region was once a shoal +beneath the ocean; afterwards a series of islands; then one island with +a wide sound behind it passing along the division line to the mouth of +the Hudson. Southern Jersey was in short an island with a sound behind +it very much like the present Long Island. The shoal and island had been +formed in the far distant geologic past by the erosion and washings from +the lofty Pennsylvania mountains now worn down to mere stumps. + +The Delaware River flowed into this sound at Trenton. Gradually the +Hudson end of the sound filled up as far as Trenton, but the tide from +the ocean still runs up the remains of the Old Sound as far as Trenton. +The Delaware should still be properly considered as ending at Trenton, +for the rest of its course to the ocean is still part of Old Pensauken +Sound, as it is called by geologists. + +The Jerseys originated as a colony in 1664. In 1675 West Jersey passed +into the control of the Quakers. In 1680 East Jersey came partially +under Quaker influence. In August, 1664, Charles II seized New York, New +Jersey, and all the Dutch possessions in America, having previously +in March granted them to his brother the Duke of York. The Duke almost +immediately gave to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, members of +the Privy Council and defenders of the Stuart family in the Cromwellian +wars, the land between the Delaware River and the ocean, and bounded +on the north by a line drawn from latitude 41 degrees on the Hudson to +latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes on the Delaware. This region was to be +called, the grant said, Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey. The name was a +compliment to Carteret, who in the Cromwellian wars had defended the +little isle of Jersey against the forces of the Long Parliament. As the +American Jersey was then almost an island and geologically had been one, +the name was not inappropriate. + +Berkeley and Carteret divided the province between them. In 1676 an +exact division was attempted, creating the rather unnatural sections +known as East Jersey and West Jersey. The first idea seems to have been +to divide by a line running from Barnegat on the seashore to the mouth +of Pensauken Creek on the Delaware just above Camden. This, however, +would have made a North Jersey and a South Jersey, with the latter much +smaller than the former. Several lines seem to have been surveyed at +different times in the attempt to make an exactly equal division, which +was no easy engineering task. As private land titles and boundaries were +in some places dependent on the location of the division line, there +resulted much controversy and litigation which lasted down into our +own time. Without going into details, it is sufficient to say that the +acceptable division line began on the seashore at Little Egg Harbor at +the lower end of Barnegat Bay and crossed diagonally or northwesterly to +the northern part of the Delaware River just above the Water Gap. It is +known as the Old Province line, and it can be traced on any map of the +State by prolonging, in both directions, the northeastern boundary of +Burlington County. + +West Jersey, which became decidedly Quaker, did not remain long in the +possession of Lord Berkeley. He was growing old; and, disappointed in +his hopes of seeing it settled, he sold it, in 1673, for one thousand +pounds to John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, both of them old Cromwellian +soldiers turned Quakers. That this purchase was made for the purpose +of affording a refuge in America for Quakers then much imprisoned and +persecuted in England does not very distinctly appear. At least there +was no parade of it. But such a purpose in addition to profit for the +proprietors may well have been in the minds of the purchasers. + +George Fox, the Quaker leader, had just returned from a missionary +journey in America, in the course of which he had traveled through New +Jersey in going from New York to Maryland. Some years previously in +England, about 1659, he had made inquiries as to a suitable place for +Quaker settlement and was told of the region north of Maryland which +became Pennsylvania. But how could a persecuted sect obtain such a +region from the British Crown and the Government that was persecuting +them? It would require powerful influence at Court; nothing could then +be done about it; and Pennsylvania had to wait until William Penn became +a man with influence enough in 1681 to win it from the Crown. But here +was West Jersey, no longer owned directly by the Crown and bought in +cheap by two Quakers. It was an unexpected opportunity. Quakers soon +went to it, and it was the first Quaker colonial experiment. + +Byllinge and Fenwick, though turned Quakers, seem to have retained +some of the contentious Cromwellian spirit of their youth. They soon +quarreled over their respective interests in the ownership of West +Jersey; and to prevent a lawsuit, so objectionable to Quakers, the +decision was left to William Penn, then a rising young Quaker about +thirty years old, dreaming of ideal colonies in America. Penn awarded +Fenwick a one-tenth interest and four hundred pounds. Byllinge soon +became insolvent and turned over his nine-tenths interest to his +creditors, appointing Penn and two other Quakers, Gawen Lawrie, a +merchant of London, and Nicholas Lucas, a maltster of Hertford, to hold +it in trust for them. Gawen Lawrie afterwards became deputy governor of +East Jersey. Lucas was one of those thoroughgoing Quakers just released +from eight years in prison for his religion. * + + + * Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West Jersey, and +Delaware", p. 180. + +Fenwick also in the end fell into debt and, after selling over one +hundred thousand acres to about fifty purchasers, leased what remained +of his interest for a thousand years to John Edridge, a tanner, and +Edmund Warner, a poulterer, as security for money borrowed from them. +They conveyed this lease and their claims to Penn, Lawrie, and Lucas, +who thus became the owners, as trustees, of pretty much all West Jersey. + +This was William Penn's first practical experience in American affairs. +He and his fellow trustees, with the consent of Fenwick, divided the +West Jersey ownership into one hundred shares. The ninety belonging to +Byllinge were offered for sale to settlers or to creditors of Byllinge +who would take them in exchange for debts. The settlement of West Jersey +thus became the distribution of an insolvent Quaker's estate among his +creditor fellow religionists. + +Although no longer in possession of a title to land, Fenwick, in 1675, +went out with some Quaker settlers to Delaware Bay. There they founded +the modern town of Salem, which means peace, giving it that name because +of the fair and peaceful aspect of the wilderness on the day they +arrived. They bought the land from the Indians in the usual manner, +as the Swedes and Dutch had so often done. But they had no charter or +provision for organized government. When Fenwick attempted to exercise +political authority at Salem, he was seized and imprisoned by Andros, +Governor of New York for the Duke of York, on the ground that, although +the Duke had given Jersey to certain individual proprietors, the +political control of it remained in the Duke's deputy governor. Andros, +who had levied a tax of five per cent on all goods passing up the +Delaware, now established commissioners at Salem to collect the duties. + +This action brought up the whole question of the authority of Andros. +The trustee proprietors of West Jersey appealed to the Duke of York, who +was suspiciously indifferent to the matter, but finally referred it +for decision to a prominent lawyer, Sir William Jones, before whom the +Quaker proprietors of West Jersey made a most excellent argument. They +showed the illegality, injustice, and wrong of depriving the Jerseys +of vested political rights and forcing them from the freeman's right +of making their own laws to a state of mere dependence on the arbitrary +will of one man. Then with much boldness they declared that "To exact +such an unterminated tax from English planters, and to continue it after +so many repeated complaints, will be the greatest evidence of a design +to introduce, if the Crown should ever devolve upon the Duke, an +unlimited government in old England." Prophetic words which the Duke, in +a few years, tried his best to fulfill. But Sir William Jones deciding +against him, he acquiesced, confirmed the political rights of West +Jersey by a separate grant, and withdrew any authority Andros claimed +over East Jersey. The trouble, however, did not end here. Both the +Jerseys were long afflicted by domineering attempts from New York. + +Penn and his fellow trustees now prepared a constitution, or +"Concessions and Agreements," as they called it, for West Jersey, the +first Quaker political constitution embodying their advanced ideas, +establishing religious liberty, universal suffrage, and voting by +ballot, and abolishing imprisonment for debt. It foreshadowed some of +the ideas subsequently included in the Pennsylvania constitution. All +these experiences were an excellent school for William Penn. He learned +the importance in starting a colony of having a carefully and maturely +considered system of government. In his preparations some years +afterwards for establishing Pennsylvania he avoided much of the bungling +of the West Jersey enterprise. + +A better organized attempt was now made to establish a foothold in West +Jersey farther up the river than Fenwick's colony at Salem. In 1677 the +ship Kent took out some 230 rather well-to-do Quakers, about as fine a +company of broadbrims, it is said, as ever entered the Delaware. Some +were from Yorkshire and London, largely creditors of Byllinge, who +were taking land to satisfy their debts. They all went up the river to +Raccoon Creek on the Jersey side, about fifteen miles below the present +site of Philadelphia, and lived at first among the Swedes, who had +been in that part of Jersey for some years and who took care of the new +arrivals in their barns and sheds. These Quaker immigrants, however, +soon began to take care of themselves, and the weather during the winter +proving mild, they explored farther up the river in a small boat. They +bought from the Indians the land along the river shore from Oldman's +Creek all the way up to Trenton and made their first settlements on the +river about eighteen miles above the site of Philadelphia, at a +place they at first called New Beverly, then Bridlington, and finally +Burlington. + +They may have chosen this spot partly because there had been an old +Dutch settlement of a few families there. It had long been a crossing of +the Delaware for the few persons who passed by land from New York or New +England to Maryland and Virginia. One of the Dutchmen, Peter Yegon, kept +a ferry and a house for entertaining travelers. George Fox, who crossed +there in 1671, describes the place as having been plundered by the +Indians and deserted. He and his party swam their horses across the +river and got some of the Indians to help them with canoes. + +Other Quaker immigrants followed, going to Salem as well as to +Burlington, and a stretch of some fifty miles of the river shore became +strongly Quaker. There are not many American towns now to be found with +more of the old-time picturesqueness and more relics of the past than +Salem and Burlington. + +Settlements were also started on the river opposite the site afterwards +occupied by Philadelphia, at Newton on the creek still called by that +name; and another a little above on Cooper's Creek, known as Cooper's +Ferry until 1794. Since then it has become the flourishing town of +Camden, full of shipbuilding and manufacturing, but for long after the +Revolution it was merely a small village on the Jersey shore opposite +Philadelphia, sometimes used as a hunting ground and a place of resort +for duelers and dancing parties from Philadelphia. + +The Newton settlers were Quakers of the English middle class, weavers, +tanners, carpenters, bricklayers, chandlers, blacksmiths, coopers, +bakers, haberdashers, hatters, and linen drapers, most of them possessed +of property in England and bringing good supplies with them. Like all +the rest of the New Jersey settlers they were in no sense adventurers, +gold seekers, cavaliers, or desperadoes. They were well-to-do middle +class English tradespeople who would never have thought of leaving +England if they had not lost faith in the stability of civil and +religious liberty and the security of their property under the Stuart +Kings. With them came servants, as they were called; that is, persons of +no property, who agreed to work for a certain time in payment of their +passage, to escape from England. All, indeed, were escaping from England +before their estates melted away in fines and confiscations or their +health or lives ended in the damp, foul air of the crowded prisons. Many +of those who came had been in jail and had decided that they would not +risk imprisonment a second time. Indeed, the proportion of West Jersey +immigrants who had actually been in prison for holding or attending +Quaker meetings or refusing to pay tithes for the support of the +established church was large. For example, William Bates, a carpenter, +while in jail for his religion, made arrangements with his friends +to escape to West Jersey as soon as he should be released, and his +descendants are now scattered over the United States. Robert Turner, a +man of means, who settled finally in Philadelphia but also owned much +land near Newton in West Jersey, had been imprisoned in England in 1660, +again in 1662, again in 1665, and some of his property had been taken, +again imprisoned in 1669 and more property taken; and many others had +the same experience. Details such as these make us realize the situation +from which the Quakers sought to escape. So widespread was the Quaker +movement in England and so severe the punishment imposed in order to +suppress it that fifteen thousand families are said to have been ruined +by the fines, confiscations, and imprisonments. + +Not a few Jersey Quakers were from Ireland, whither they had fled +because there the laws against them were less rigorously administered. +The Newton settlers were joined by Quakers from Long Island, where, +under the English law as administered by the New York governors, they +had also been fined and imprisoned, though with less severity than at +home, for nonconformity to the Church of England. On arriving, the West +Jersey settlers suffered some hardships during the year that must elapse +before a crop could be raised and a log cabin or house built. During +that period they usually lived, in the Indian manner, in wigwams of +poles covered with bark, or in caves protected with logs in the steep +banks of the creeks. Many of them lived in the villages of the Indians. +The Indians supplied them all with corn and venison, and without this +Indian help, they would have run serious risk of starving, for they were +not accustomed to hunting. They had also to thank the Indians for having +in past ages removed so much of the heavy forest growth from the wide +strip of land along the river that it was easy to start cultivation. + +These Quaker settlers made a point of dealing very justly with the +Indians and the two races lived side by side for several generations. +There is an instance recorded of the Indians attending with much +solemnity the funeral of a prominent Quaker woman, Esther Spicer, for +whom they had acquired great respect. The funeral was held at night, +and the Indians in canoes, the white men in boats, passed down Cooper's +Creek and along the river to Newton Creek where the graveyard was, +lighting the darkness with innumerable torches, a strange scene to think +of now as having been once enacted in front of the bustling cities of +Camden and Philadelphia. Some of the young settlers took Indian wives, +and that strain of native blood is said to show itself in the features +of several families to this day. + +Many letters of these settlers have been preserved, all expressing the +greatest enthusiasm for the new country, for the splendid river better +than the Thames, the good climate, and their improved health, the +immense relief to be away from the constant dread of fines and +punishment, the chance to rise in the world, with large rewards for +industry. They note the immense quantities of game, the Indians bringing +in fat bucks every day, the venison better than in England, the streams +full of fish, the abundance of wild fruits, cranberries, hurtleberries, +the rapid increase of cattle, and the good soil. A few details +concerning some of the interesting characters among these early colonial +Quakers have been rescued from oblivion. There is, for instance, the +pleasing picture of a young man and his sister, convinced Quakers, +coming out together and pioneering in their log cabin until each found a +partner for life. There was John Haddon, from whom Haddonfield is named, +who bought a large tract of land but remained in England, while his +daughter Elizabeth came out alone to look after it. A strong, decisive +character she was, and women of that sort have always been encouraged in +independent action by the Quakers. She proved to be an excellent manager +of an estate. The romance of her marriage to a young Quaker preacher, +Estaugh, has been celebrated in Mrs. Maria Child's novel "The Youthful +Emigrant." The pair became leading citizens devoted to good works and to +Quaker liberalism for many a year in Haddonfield. + +It was the ship Shields of Hull, bringing Quaker immigrants to +Burlington, of which the story is told that in beating up the river +she tacked close to the rather high bank with deep water frontage where +Philadelphia was afterwards established; and some of the passengers +remarked that it was a fine site for a town. The Shields, it is said, +was the first ship to sail up as far as Burlington. Anchoring before +Burlington in the evening, the colonists woke up next morning to find +the river frozen hard so that they walked on the ice to their future +habitations. + +Burlington was made the capital of West Jersey, a legislature was +convened and laws were passed under the "concessions" or constitution +of the proprietors. Salem and Burlington became the ports of the little +province, which was well under way by 1682, when Penn came out to take +possession of Pennsylvania. + +The West Jersey people of these two settlements spread eastward into the +interior but were stopped by a great forest area known as the Pines, or +Pine Barrens, of such heavy growth that even the Indians lived on its +outer edges and entered it only for hunting. It was an irregularly +shaped tract, full of wolves, bear, beaver, deer, and other game, and +until recent years has continued to attract sportsmen from all parts of +the country. Starting near Delaware Bay, it extended parallel with the +ocean as far north as the lower portion of the present Monmouth County +and formed a region about seventy-five miles long and thirty miles wide. +It was roughly the part of the old sandy shoal that first emerged from +the ocean, and it has been longer above water than any other part of +southern Jersey. The old name, Pine Barrens, is hardly correct because +it implies something like a desert, when as a matter of fact the region +produced magnificent forest trees. + +The innumerable visitors who cross southern Jersey to the famous +seashore resorts always pass through the remains of this old central +forest and are likely to conclude that the monotonous low scrub oaks +and stunted pines on sandy level soil, seen for the last two or three +generations, were always there and that the primeval forest of colonial +times was no better. But that is a mistake. The stunted growth now seen +is not even second growth but in many cases fourth or fifth or more. The +whole region was cut over long ago. The original growth, pine in many +places, consisted also of lofty timber of oak, hickory, gum, ash, +chestnut, and numerous other trees, interspersed with dogwood, +sassafras, and holly, and in the swamps the beautiful magnolia, along +with the valuable white cedar. DeVries, who visited the Jersey coast +about 1632, at what is supposed to have been Beesley's or Somer's Point, +describes high woods coming down to the shore. Even today, immediately +back of Somer's Point, there is a magnificent lofty oak forest +accidentally preserved by surrounding marsh from the destructive +forest fires; and there are similar groves along the road towards +Pleasantville. In fact, the finest forest trees flourish in that region +wherever given a good chance. Even some of the beaches of Cape May had +valuable oak and luxuriant growths of red cedar; and until a few years +ago there were fine trees, especially hollies, surviving on Wildwood +Beach. + +The Jersey white cedar swamps were, and still are, places of fascinating +interest to the naturalist and the botanist. The hunter or explorer +found them scattered almost everywhere in the old forest and near its +edges, varying in size from a few square yards up to hundreds of acres. +They were formed by little streams easily checked in their flow through +the level land by decaying vegetation or dammed by beavers. They kept +the water within the country, preventing all effects of droughts, +stimulating the growth of vegetation which by its decay, throughout +the centuries, was steadily adding vegetable mold or humus to the sandy +soil. This process of building up a richer soil has now been largely +stopped by lumbering, drainage, and fires. + +While there are many of these swamps left, the appearance of numbers +of them has largely changed. When the white men first came, the great +cedars three or four feet in diameter which had fallen centuries before +often lay among the living trees, some of them buried deep in the mud +and preserved from decay. They were invaluable timber, and digging them +out and cutting them up became an important industry for over a hundred +years. In addition to being used for boat building, they made excellent +shingles which would last a lifetime. The swamps, indeed, became known +as shingle mines, and it was a good description of them. An important +trade was developed in hogshead staves, hoops, shingles, boards, and +planks, much of which went into the West Indian trade to be exchanged +for rum, sugar, molasses, and negroes. * + + + * Between the years 1740 and '50, the Cedar Swamps of the county +[Cape May] were mostly located; and the amount of lumber since taken +from them is incalculable, not only as an article of trade, but to +supply the home demand for fencing and building material in the county. +Large portions of these swamps have been worked a second and some a +third time, since located. At the present time [1857] there is not an +acre of original growth of swamp standing, having all passed away +before the resistless sway of the speculator or the consumer. "Beesley's +"Sketch of Cape May" p. 197. + + +The great forest has long since been lumbered to death. The pines were +worked for tar, pitch, resin, and turpentine until for lack of material +the industry passed southward through the Carolinas to Florida, +exhausting the trees as it went. The Christmas demand for holly has +almost stripped the Jersey woods of these trees once so numerous. +Destructive fires and frequent cutting keep the pine and oak lands +stunted. Thousands of dollars' worth of cedar springing up in the swamps +are sometimes destroyed in a day. But efforts to control the fires so +destructive not only to this standing timber but to the fertility of +the soil, and attempts to reforest this country not only for the sake +of timber but as an attraction to those who resort there in search of +health or natural beauty, have not been vigorously pushed. The great +forest has now, to be sure, been partially cultivated in spots, and the +sand used for large glass-making industries. Small fruits and grapes +flourish in some places. At the northern end of this forest tract the +health resort known as Lakewood was established to take advantage of the +pine air. A little to the southward is the secluded Brown's Mills, once +so appealing to lovers of the simple life. Checked on the east by the +great forest, the West Jersey Quakers spread southward from Salem until +they came to the Cohansey, a large and beautiful stream flowing out of +the forest and wandering through green meadows and marshes to the bay. +So numerous were the wild geese along its shores and along the Maurice +River farther south that the first settlers are said to have killed them +for their feathers alone and to have thrown the carcasses away. At the +head of navigation of the Cohansey was a village called Cohansey Bridge, +and after 1765 Bridgeton, a name still borne by a flourishing modern +town. Lower down near the marsh was the village of Greenwich, the +principal place of business up to the year 1800, with a foreign trade. +Some of the tea the East India Company tried to force on the colonists +during the Revolution was sent there and was duly rejected. It is still +an extremely pretty village, with its broad shaded streets like a New +England town and its old Quaker meeting house. In fact, not a few New +Englanders from Connecticut, still infatuated with southern Jersey in +spite of the rebuffs received in ancient times from Dutch and Swedes, +finally settled near the Cohansey after it came under control of the +more amiable Quakers. There was also one place called after Fairfield in +Connecticut and another called New England Town. + +The first churches of this region were usually built near running +streams so that the congregation could procure water for themselves and +their horses. Of one old Presbyterian Church it used to be said that +no one had ever ridden to it in a wheeled vehicle. Wagons and carriages +were very scarce until after the Revolution. Carts for occasions of +ceremony as well as utility were used before wagons and carriages. For a +hundred and fifty years the horse's back was the best form of conveyance +in the deep sand of the trails and roads. This was true of all southern +Jersey. Pack horses and the backs of Indian and negro slaves were the +principal means of transportation on land. The roads and trails, in +fact, were so few and so heavy with sand that water travel was very +much developed. The Indian dugout canoe was adopted and found faster +and better than heavy English rowboats. As the province was almost +surrounded by water and was covered with a network of creeks and +channels, nearly all the villages and towns were situated on tidewater +streams, and the dugout canoe, modified and improved, was for several +generations the principal means of communication. Most of the old roads +in New Jersey followed Indian trails. There was a trail, for example, +from the modern Camden opposite Philadelphia, following up Cooper's +Creek past Berlin, then called Long-a-coming, crossing the watershed, +and then following Great Egg Harbor River to the seashore. Another +trail, long used by the settlers, led from Salem up to Camden, +Burlington, and Trenton, going round the heads of streams. It was +afterwards abandoned for the shorter route obtained by bridging the +streams nearer their mouths. This old trail also extended from the +neighborhood of Trenton to Perth Amboy near the mouth of the Hudson, and +thus, by supplementing the lower routes, made a trail nearly the whole +length of the province. + +As a Quaker refuge, West Jersey never attained the success of +Pennsylvania. The political disturbances and the continually threatened +loss of self-government in both the Jerseys were a serious deterrent to +Quakers who, above all else, prized rights which they found far better +secured in Pennsylvania. In 1702, when the two Jerseys were united into +one colony under a government appointed by the Crown, those rights were +more restricted than ever and all hopes of West Jersey becoming a colony +under complete Quaker control were shattered. Under Governor Cornbury, +the English law was adopted and enforced, and the Quakers were +disqualified from testifying in court unless they took an oath and +were prohibited from serving on juries or holding any office of trust. +Cornbury's judges wore scarlet robes, powdered wigs, cocked hats, +gold lace, and side arms; they were conducted to the courthouse by the +sheriff's cavalcade and opened court with great parade and ceremony. +Such a spectacle of pomp was sufficient to divert the flow of Quaker +immigrants to Pennsylvania, where the government was entirely in Quaker +hands and where plain and serious ways gave promise of enduring and +unmolested prosperity. + +The Quakers had altogether thirty meeting houses in West Jersey and +eleven in East Jersey, which probably shows about the proportion +of Quaker influence in the two Jerseys. Many of them have since +disappeared; some of the early buildings, to judge from the pictures, +were of wood and not particularly pleasing in appearance. They were +makeshifts, usually intended to be replaced by better buildings. Some +substantial brick buildings of excellent architecture have survived, and +their plainness and simplicity, combined with excellent proportions and +thorough construction, are clearly indicative of Quaker character. There +is a particularly interesting one in Salem with a magnificent old oak +beside it, another in the village of Greenwich on the Cohansey farther +south, and another at Crosswicks near Trenton. + +In West Jersey near Mount Holly was born and lived John Woolman, a +Quaker who became eminent throughout the English speaking world for the +simplicity and loftiness of his religious thought as well as for his +admirable style of expression. His "Journal," once greatly and even +extravagantly admired, still finds readers. "Get the writings of John +Woolman by heart," said Charles Lamb, "and love the early Quakers." +He was among the Quakers one of the first and perhaps the first really +earnest advocate of the abolition of slavery. The scenes of West Jersey +and the writings of Woolman seem to belong together. Possibly a feeling +for the simplicity of those scenes and their life led Walt Whitman, who +grew up on Long Island under Quaker influence, to spend his last years +at Camden, in West Jersey. His profound democracy, which was very +Quaker-like, was more at home there perhaps than anywhere else. + + + +Chapter IX. Planters And Traders Of Southern Jersey + +Most of the colonies in America, especially the stronger ones, had an +aristocratic class, which was often large and powerful, as in the case +of Virginia, and which usually centered around the governor, especially +if he were appointed from England by the Crown or by a proprietor. But +there was very little of this social distinction in New Jersey. Her +political life had been too much broken up, and she had been too long +dependent on the governors of New York to have any of those pretty +little aristocracies with bright colored clothes, and coaches and four, +flourishing within her boundaries. There seems to have been a faint +suggestion of such social pretensions under Governor Franklin just +before the Revolution. He was beginning to live down the objections to +his illegitimate birth and Toryism and by his entertainments and manner +of living was creating a social following. There is said also to have +been something a little like the beginning of an aristocracy among the +descendants of the Dutch settlers who had ancestral holdings near the +Hudson; but this amounted to very little. + +Class distinctions were not so strongly marked in New Jersey as in some +other colonies. There grew up in southern Jersey, however, a sort of +aristocracy of gentlemen farmers, who owned large tracts of land and +lived in not a little style in good houses on the small streams. + +The northern part of the province, largely settled and influenced by New +Englanders, was like New England a land of vigorous concentrated town +life and small farms. The hilly and mountainous nature of the northern +section naturally led to small holdings of land. But in southern Jersey +the level sandy tracts of forest were often taken up in large areas. +In the absence of manufacturing, large acreage naturally became, as in +Virginia and Maryland, the only mark of wealth and social distinction. +The great landlord was looked up to by the lesser fry. The Quaker rule +of discountenancing marrying out of meeting tended to keep a large +acreage in the family and to make it larger by marriage. A Quaker +of broad acres would seek for his daughter a young man of another +landholding Quaker family and would thus join the two estates. + +There was a marked difference between East Jersey and West Jersey +in county organization. In West Jersey the people tended to become +planters; their farms and plantations somewhat like those of the far +South; and the political unit of government was the county. In East +Jersey the town was the starting point and the county marked the +boundaries of a collection of towns. This curious difference, the result +of soil, climate, and methods of life, shows itself in other States +wherever South and North meet. Illinois is an example, where the +southern part of the State is governed by the county system, and the +northern part by the town system. + +The lumberman, too, in clearing off the primeval forest and selling the +timber, usually dealt in immense acreage. Some families, it is said, can +be traced steadily proceeding southward as they stripped off the forest, +and started sawmills and gristmills on the little streams that trickled +from the swamps, and like beavers making with their dams those pretty +ponds which modern lovers of the picturesque are now so eager to find. A +good deal of the lumbering in the interior pines tract was carried on +by persons who leased the premises from owners who lived on plantations +along the Delaware or its tributary streams. These operations began soon +after 1700. Wood roads were cut into the Pines, sawmills were started, +and constant use turned some of these wood roads into the highways of +modern times. + +There was a speculative tinge in the operations of this landed +aristocracy. Like the old tobacco raising aristocracy of Virginia and +Maryland, they were inclined to go from tract to tract, skinning what +they could from a piece of deforested land and then seeking another +virgin tract. The roughest methods were used; wooden plows, brush +harrows, straw collars, grapevine harness, and poor shelter for animals +and crops; but were the Virginia methods any better? In these operations +there was apparently a good deal of sudden profit and mushroom +prosperity accompanied by a good deal of debt and insolvency. In this, +too, they were like the Virginians and Carolinians. There seem to have +been also a good many slaves in West Jersey, brought, as in the southern +colonies, to work on the large estates, and this also, no doubt, helped +to foster the aristocratic feeling. + +The best days of the Jersey gentlemen farmers came probably when they +could no longer move from tract to tract. They settled down and enjoyed +a very plentiful, if rude, existence on the products of their land, +game, and fish, amid a fine climate--with mosquitoes enough in summer to +act as a counterirritant and prevent stagnation from too much ease and +prosperity. After the manner of colonial times, they wove their own +clothes from the wool of their own sheep and made their own implements, +furniture, and simple machinery. + +There are still to be found fascinating traces of this old life in +out-of-the-way parts of southern Jersey. To run upon old houses among +the Jersey pines still stored with Latin classics and old editions of +Shakespeare, Addison, or Samuel Johnson, to come across an old mill +with its machinery, cogwheels, flywheels, and all, made of wood, to find +people who make their own oars, and the handles of their tools from +the materials furnished by their own forest, is now unfortunately a +refreshment of the spirit that is daily becoming rarer. + +This condition of material and social self-sufficiency lasted in places +long after the Revolution. It was a curious little aristocracy--a very +faint and faded one, lacking the robustness of the far southern +type, and lacking indeed the real essential of an aristocracy, namely +political power. Moreover, although there were slaves in New Jersey, +there were not enough of them to exalt the Jersey gentlemen farmers into +such self-sufficient lords and masters as the Virginian and Carolinian +planters became. + +To search out the remains of this stage of American history, however, +takes one up many pleasant streams flowing out of the forest tract +to the Delaware on one side or to the ocean on the other. This +topographical formation of a central ridge or watershed of forest and +swamp was a repetition of the same formation in the Delaware peninsula, +which like southern Jersey had originally been a shoal and then an +island. The Jersey watershed, with its streams abounding in wood duck +and all manner of wild life, must have been in its primeval days as +fascinating as some of the streams of the Florida cypress swamps. Toward +the ocean, Wading River, the Mullica, the Tuckahoe, Great Egg; and on +the Delaware side the Maurice, Cohansey, Salem Creek, Oldman's, Raccoon, +Mantua, Woodberry, Timber, and the Rancocas, still possess attraction. +Some of them, on opposite sides of the divide, are not far apart +at their sources in the old forest tract; so that a canoe can be +transported over the few miles and thus traverse the State. One of these +trips up Timber Creek from the Delaware and across only eight miles of +land to the headwaters of Great Egg Harbor River and thence down to the +ocean, thus cutting South Jersey in half, is a particularly romantic +one. The heavy woods and swamps of this secluded route along these +forest shadowed streams are apparently very much as they were three +hundred years ago. + +The water in all these streams, particularly in their upper parts, owing +to the sandy soil, is very clean and clear and is often stained by +the cedar roots in the swamps a clear brown, sometimes almost an amber +color. One of the streams, the Rancocas, with its many windings to Mount +Holly and then far inland to Brown's Mills, seems to be the favorite +with canoemen and is probably without an equal in its way for those who +love the Indian's gift that brings us so close to nature. + +The spread of the Quaker settlements along Delaware Bay to Cape May +was checked by the Maurice River and its marshes and by the Great Cedar +Swamp which crossed the country from Delaware Bay to the ocean and thus +made of the Cape May region a sort of island. The Cape May region, it +is true, was settled by Quakers, but most of them came from Long Island +rather than from the settlements on the Delaware. They had followed +whale fishing on Long Island and in pursuit of that occupation some of +them had migrated to Cape May where whales were numerous not far off +shore. + +The leading early families of Cape May, the Townsends, Stillwells, +Corsons, Leamings, Ludlams, Spicers, and Cresses, many of whose +descendants still live there, were Quakers of the Long Island strain. +The ancestor of the Townsend family came to Cape May because he had +been imprisoned and fined and threatened with worse under the New York +government for assisting his fellow Quakers to hold meetings. Probably +the occasional severity of the administration of the New York laws +against Quakers, which were the same as those of England, had as much +to do as had the whales with the migration to Cape May. This Quaker +civilization extended from Cape May up as far as Great Egg Harbor where +the Great Cedar Swamp joined the seashore. Quaker meeting houses were +built at Cape May, Galloway, Tuckahoe, and Great Egg. All have been +abandoned and the buildings themselves have disappeared, except that of +the Cape May meeting, called the Old Cedar Meeting, at Seaville; and it +has no congregation. The building is kept in repair by members of the +Society from other places. + +Besides the Quakers, Cape May included a number of New Haven people, the +first of whom came there as early as 1640 under the leadership of George +Lamberton and Captain Turner, seeking profit in whale fishing. They were +not driven out by the Dutch and Swedes, as happened to their companions +who attempted to settle higher up the river at Salem and the Schuylkill. +About one-fifth of the old family names of Cape May and New Haven are +similar, and there is supposed to be not a little New England blood +not only in Cape May but in the neighboring counties of Cumberland and +Salem. While the first New Haven whalers came to Cape May in 1640, it is +probable that for a long time they only sheltered their vessels there, +and none of them became permanent settlers until about 1685. + +Scandinavians contributed another element to the population of the Cape +May region. Very little is definitely known about this settlement, but +the Swedish names in Cape May and Cumberland counties seem to indicate a +migration of Scandinavians from Wilmington and Tinicum. + +Great Egg Harbor, which formed the northern part of the Cape May +settlement, was named from the immense numbers of wild fowl, swans, +ducks, and water birds that formerly nested there every summer and have +now been driven to Canada or beyond. Little Egg Harbor farther up the +coast was named for the same reason as well as Egg Island, of three +hundred acres in Delaware Bay, since then eaten away by the tide. The +people of the district had excellent living from the eggs as well as +from the plentiful fowl, fish, and oysters. + +Some farming was done by the inhabitants of Cape May; and many cattle, +marked with brands but in a half wild state, were kept out on the +uninhabited beaches which have now become seaside summer cities. Some +of the cattle were still running wild on the beaches down to the time +of the Civil War. The settlers "mined" the valuable white cedar from the +swamps for shingles and boards, leaving great "pool holes" in the swamps +which even today sometimes trap the unwary sportsman. The women knitted +innumerable mittens and also made wampum or Indian money from the clam +and oyster shells, an important means of exchange in the Indian trade +all over the colonies, and even to some extent among the colonists +themselves. The Cape May people built sloops for carrying the white +cedar, the mittens, oysters, and wampum to the outside world. They +sold a great deal of their cedar in Long Island, Rhode Island, and +Connecticut. Philadelphia finally became their market for oysters and +also for lumber, corn, and the whalebone and oil. Their sloops also +traded to the southern colonies and even to the West Indies. + +They were an interesting little community, these Cape May people, very +isolated and dependent on the water and on their boats, for they were +completely cut off by the Great Cedar Swamp which stretched across the +point and separated them from the rest of the coast. This troublesome +swamp was not bridged for many years; and even then the roads to it were +long, slow, and too sandy for transporting anything of much bulk. + +Next above Cape May on the coast was another isolated patch of +civilization which, while not an island, was nevertheless cut off on the +south by Great Egg Harbor with its river and marshes, and on the north +by Little Egg Harbor with the Mullica River and its marshes extending +far inland. The people in this district also lived somewhat to +themselves. To the north lay the district which extended to Sandy Hook, +also with its distinct set of people. + +The people of the Cape became in colonial times clever traders in +various pursuits. Although in one sense they were as isolated as +islanders, their adventurous life on the sea gave them breadth of view. +By their thrift and in innumerable shrewd and persistent ways they +amassed competencies and estates for their families. Aaron Leaming, for +example, who died in 1780, left an estate of nearly $1,000,000. Some +kept diaries which have become historically valuable in showing not only +their history but their good education and the peculiar cast of their +mind for keen trading as well as their rigid economy and integrity. + +One character, Jacob Spicer, a prosperous colonial, insisted on having +everything made at home by his sons and daughters--shoes, clothes, +leather breeches, wampum, even shoe thread--calculating the cost of +everything to a fraction and economizing to the last penny of money and +the last second of time. Yet in the course of a year he used "fifty-two +gallons of rum, ten of wine, and two barrels of cyder." Apparently in +those days hard labor and hard drinking went well together. + +The Cape May people, relying almost entirely on the water for +communication and trade, soon took to piloting vessels in the Delaware +River, and some of them still follow this occupation. They also became +skillful sailors and builders of small craft, and it is not surprising +to learn that Jacocks Swain and his sons introduced, in 1811, the +centerboard for keeping flat-bottomed craft closer to the wind. They +are said to have taken out a patent for this invention and are given the +credit of being the originators of the idea. But the device was known in +England in 1774, was introduced in Massachusetts in the same year, and +may have been used long before by the Dutch. The need of it, however, +was no doubt strongly impressed upon the Cape May people by the +difficulties which their little sloops experienced in beating home +against contrary winds. Some of them, indeed, spent weeks in sight of +the Cape, unable to make it. One sloop, the Nancy, seventy-two days from +Demarara, hung off and on for forty-three days from December 25, 1787, +to February 6, 1788, and was driven off fifteen times before she finally +got into Hereford Inlet. Sometimes better sailing craft had to go out +and bring in such distressed vessels. The early boats were no doubt +badly constructed; but in the end apprenticeship to dire necessity made +the Cape May sailors masters of seamanship and the windward art. * + + + * Stevens, "History of Cape May County," pp. 219, 229; Kelley, +"American Yachts" (1884), p. 165. + + +Wilson, the naturalist, spent a great deal of time in the Cape May +region, because of the great variety of birds to be found there. +Southern types, like the Florida egret, ventured even so far north, and +it was a stopping place for migrating birds, notably woodcock, on their +northern and southern journeys. Men of the stone age had once been +numerous in this region, as the remains of village plats and great shell +heaps bore witness. It was a resting point for all forms of life. That +much traveled, adventurous gentleman of the sea, Captain Kidd, according +to popular legend, was a frequent visitor to this coast. + +In later times, beginning in 1801, the Cape became one of the earliest +of the summer resorts. The famous Commodore Decatur was among the first +distinguished men to be attracted by the simple seaside charm of the +place, long before it was destroyed by wealth and crowds. Year by year +he used to measure and record at one spot the encroachment of the sea +upon the beach. Where today the sea washes and the steel pier extends, +once lay cornfields. For a hundred years it was a favorite resting place +for statesmen and politicians of national eminence. They traveled there +by stage, sailing sloop, or their own wagons. People from Baltimore +and the South more particularly sought the place because it was easily +accessible from the head of Chesapeake Bay by an old railroad, long +since abandoned, to Newcastle on the Delaware, whence sail-or steamboats +went to Cape May. This avoided the tedious stage ride over the sandy +Jersey roads. Presidents, cabinet officers, senators, and congressmen +sought the invigorating air of the Cape and the attractions of the old +village, its seafaring life, the sailing, fishing, and bathing on the +best beach of the coast. Congress Hall, their favorite hotel, became +famous, and during a large part of the nineteenth century presidential +nominations and policies are said to have been planned within its walls. + + + +Chapter X. Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey + +East Jersey was totally different in its topography from West Jersey. +The northern half of the State is a region of mountains and lakes. As +part of the original continent it had been under the ice sheet of +the glacial age and was very unlike the level sands, swamps, and pine +barrens of West Jersey which had arisen as a shoal and island from the +sea. The only place in East Jersey where settlement was at all easy was +along the open meadows which were reached by water near the mouth of the +Hudson, round Newark Bay, and along the Hackensack River. + +The Dutch, by the discoveries of Henry Hudson in 1609, claimed the whole +region between the Hudson and the Delaware. They settled part of East +Jersey opposite their headquarters at New York and called it Pavonia. +But their cruel massacre of some Indians who sought refuge among them at +Pavonia destroyed the prospects of the settlement. The Indians revenged +themselves by massacring the Dutch again and again, every time they +attempted to reestablish Pavonia. This kept the Dutch out of East Jersey +until 1660, when they succeeded in establishing Bergen between Newark +Bay and the Hudson. + +The Dutch authority in America was overthrown in 1664 by Charles II, +who had already given all New Jersey to his brother the Duke of York. +Colonel Richard Nicolls commanded the British expedition that seized the +Dutch possessions; and he had been given full power as deputy governor +of all the Duke of York's vast territory. + +Meantime the New England Puritans seem to have kept their eyes on East +Jersey as a desirable region, and the moment the Connecticut Puritans +heard of Nicolls' appointment, they applied to him for a grant of a +large tract of land on Newark Bay. In the next year, 1665, he gave them +another tract from the mouth of the Raritan to Sandy Hook; and soon the +villages of Shrewsbury and Middletown were started. + +Meantime, however, unknown to Nicolls, the Duke of York in England had +given all of New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. As has +already been pointed out, they had divided the province between +them, and East Jersey had fallen to Carteret, who sent out, with some +immigrants, his relative Philip Carteret as governor. Governor Carteret +was of course very much surprised to find so much of the best land +already occupied by the excellent and thrifty Yankees. As a consequence, +litigation and sometimes civil war over this unlucky mistake lasted for +a hundred years. Many of the Yankee settlers under the Nicolls grant +refused to pay quitrents to Carteret or his successors and, in spite of +a commission of inquiry from England in 1751 and a chancery suit, they +held their own until the Revolution of 1776 extinguished all British +authority. + +There was therefore from the beginning a strong New England tinge in +East Jersey which has lasted to this day. Governor Carteret established +a village on Newark Bay which still bears the name Elizabeth, which +he gave it in honor of the wife of the proprietor, and he made it the +capital. There were also immigrants from Scotland and England. But +Puritans from Long Island and New England continued to settle round +Newark Bay. By virtue either of character or numbers, New Englanders +were evidently the controlling element, for they established the New +England system of town government, and imposed strict Connecticut laws, +making twelve crimes punishable with death. Soon there were flourishing +little villages, Newark and Elizabeth, besides Middletown and +Shrewsbury. The next year Piscatawa and Woodbridge were added. Newark +and the region round it, including the Oranges, was settled by very +exclusive Puritans, or Congregationalists, as they are now called, +some thirty families from four Connecticut towns--Milford, Guilford, +Bradford, and New Haven. They decided that only church members should +hold office and vote. + +Governor Carteret ruled the colony with an appointive council and a +general assembly elected by the people, the typical colonial form of +government. His administration lasted from 1665 to his death in 1682; +and there is nothing very remarkable to record except the rebellion of +the New Englanders, especially those who had received their land from +Nicolls. Such independent Connecticut people were, of course, quite out +of place in a proprietary colony, and, when in 1670 the first collection +of quitrents was attempted, they broke out in violent opposition, in +which the settlers of Elizabeth were prominent. In 1672 they elected +a revolutionary assembly of their own and, in place of the deputy +governor, appointed as proprietor a natural son of Carteret. They +began imprisoning former officers and confiscating estates in the most +approved revolutionary form and for a time had the whole government in +their control. It required the interference of the Duke of York, of the +proprietors, and of the British Crown to allay the little tempest, and +three years were given in which to pay the quitrents. + +After the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680, his province of East +Jersey was sold to William Penn and eleven other Quakers for the sum +of 3400 pounds. Colonies seem to have been comparatively inexpensive +luxuries in those days. A few years before, in 1675, Penn and some other +Quakers had, as has already been related, gained control of West Jersey +for the still smaller sum of one thousand pounds and had established +it as a Quaker refuge. It might be supposed that they now had the same +purpose in view in East Jersey, but apparently their intention was to +create a refuge for Presbyterians, the famous Scotch Covenanters, +much persecuted at that time under Charles II, who was forcing them to +conform to the Church of England. + +Penn and his fellow proprietors of East Jersey each chose a partner, +most of them Scotchmen, two of whom, the Earl of Perth and Lord +Drummond, were prominent men. To this mixed body of Quakers, other +dissenters, and some Papists, twenty-four proprietors in all, the Duke +of York reconfirmed by special patent their right to East Jersey. Under +their urging a few Scotch Covenanters began to arrive and seem to have +first established themselves at Perth Amboy, which they named from +the Scottish Earl of Perth and an Indian word meaning "point." This +settlement they expected to become a great commercial port rivaling New +York. Curiously enough, Robert Barclay, the first governor appointed, +was not only a Scotchman but also a Quaker, and a theologian whose +"Apology for the True Christian Divinity" (1678) is regarded to this day +as the best statement of the original Quaker doctrine. He remained in +England, however, and the deputies whom he sent out to rule the colony +had a troublous time of it. + +That Quakers should establish a refuge for Presbyterians seems at first +peculiar, but it was in accord with their general philanthropic plan to +help the oppressed and suffering, to rescue prisoners and exiles, and +especially to ameliorate the horrible condition of people confined in +the English dungeons and prisons. Many vivid pictures of how the Scotch +Covenanters were hunted down like wild beasts may be found in English +histories and novels. When their lives were spared they often met a +fate worse than death in the loathsome dungeons into which thousands of +Quakers of that time were also thrust. A large part of William Penn's +life as a courtier was spent in rescuing prisoners, exiles, and +condemned persons of all sorts, and not merely those of his own faith. +So the undertaking to make of Jersey two colonies, one a refuge for +Quakers and the other a refuge for Covenanters, was natural enough, and +it was a very broad-minded plan for that age. + +In 1683, a few years after the Quaker control of East Jersey began, a +new and fiercer persecution of the Covenanters was started in the old +country, and shortly afterwards Monmouth's insurrection in England broke +out and was followed by a most bloody proscription and punishment. The +greatest efforts were made to induce those still untouched to fly for +refuge to East Jersey; but, strange to say, comparatively few of them +came. It is another proof of the sturdiness and devotion which has +filled so many pages of history and romance with their praise that as +a class the Covenanters remained at home to establish their faith with +torture, martyrdom, and death. + +In 1685 the Duke of York ascended the throne of England as James II, +and all that was naturally to be expected from such a bigoted despot was +soon realized. The persecutions of the Covenanters grew worse. Crowded +into prisons to die of thirst and suffocation, shot down on the +highways, tied to stakes to be drowned by the rising tide, the whole +Calvinistic population of Scotland seemed doomed to extermination. Again +they were told of America as the only place where religious liberty was +allowed, and in addition a book was circulated among them called "The +Model of the Government of the Province of East Jersey in America." +These efforts were partially successful. More Covenanters came than +before, but nothing like the numbers of Quakers that flocked to +Pennsylvania. The whole population of East Jersey--New Englanders, +Dutch, Scotch Covenanters, and all--did not exceed five thousand and +possibly was not over four thousand. + +Some French Huguenots, such as came to many of the English colonies +after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1685, were added to the +East Jersey population. A few went to Salem in West Jersey, and some +of these became Quakers. In both the Jerseys, as elsewhere, they became +prominent and influential in all spheres of life. There was a decided +Dutch influence, it is said, in the part nearest New York, emanating +from the Bergen settlement in which the Dutch had succeeded in +establishing themselves in 1660 after the Indians had twice driven them +from Pavonia. Many descendants of Dutch families are still found in +that region. Many Dutch characteristics were to be found in that region +throughout colonial times. Many of the houses had Dutch stoops or +porches at the door, with seats where the family and visitors sat on +summer evenings to smoke and gossip. Long Dutch spouts extended out +from the eaves to discharge the rain water into the street. But the +prevailing tone of East Jersey seems to have been set by the Scotch +Presbyterians and the New England Congregationalists. The College of +New Jersey, afterward known as Princeton, established in 1747, was the +result of a movement among the Presbyterians of East Jersey and New +York. + +All these elements of East Jersey, Scotch Covenanters, Connecticut +Puritans, Huguenots, and Dutch of the Dutch Reformed Church, were in +a sense different but in reality very much in accord and congenial +in their ideas of religion and politics. They were all sturdy, +freedom-loving Protestants, and they set the tone that prevails in East +Jersey to this day. Their strict discipline and their uncompromising +thrift may now seem narrow and harsh; but it made them what they were; +and it has left a legacy of order and prosperity under which alien +religions and races are eager to seek protection. In its foundation the +Quakers may claim a share. + +The new King, James II, was inclined to reassume jurisdiction and extend +the power of the Governor of New York over East Jersey in spite of his +grant to Sir George Carteret. In fact, he desired to put New England, +New York, and New Jersey under one strong government centered at New +York, to abolish their charters, to extinguish popular government, and +to make them all mere royal dependencies in pursuance of his general +policy of establishing an absolute monarchy and a papal church in +England. + +The curse of East Jersey's existence was to be always an appendage of +New York, or to be threatened with that condition. The inhabitants now +had to enter their vessels and pay duties at New York. Writs were issued +by order of the King putting both the Jerseys and all New England under +the New York Governor. Step by step the plans for amalgamation and +despotism moved on successfully, when suddenly the English Revolution +of 1688 put an end to the whole magnificent scheme, drove the King into +exile, and placed William of Orange on the throne. + +The proprietaries of both Jerseys reassumed their former authority. But +the New York Assembly attempted to exercise control over East Jersey and +to levy duties on its exports. The two provinces were soon on the eve of +a little war. For twelve or fifteen years East Jersey was in disorder, +with seditious meetings, mob rule, judges and sheriffs attacked while +performing their duty, the proprietors claiming quitrents from the +people, the people resisting, and the British Privy Council threatening +a suit to take the province from the proprietors and make a Crown +colony of it. The period is known in the history of this colony as "The +Revolution." Under the threat of the Privy Council to take over the +province, the proprietors of both East and West Jersey surrendered their +rights of political government, retaining their ownership of land and +quitrents, and the two Jerseys were united under one government in 1702. +Its subsequent history demands another chapter. + + + +Chapter XI. The United Jerseys + +The Quaker colonists grouped round Burlington and Salem, on the +Delaware, and the Scotch Covenanters and New England colonists grouped +around Perth Amboy and Newark, near the mouth of the Hudson, made up the +two Jerseys. Neither colony had a numerous population, and the stretch +of country lying between them was during most of the colonial period a +wilderness. It is now crossed by the railway from Trenton to New York. +It has always been a line of travel from the Delaware to the Hudson. At +first there was only an Indian trail across it, but after 1695 there was +a road, and after 1738 a stage route. + +In 1702, while still separated by this wilderness, the two Jerseys were +united politically by the proprietors voluntarily surrendering all their +political rights to the Crown. The political distinction between +East Jersey and West Jersey was thus abolished; their excellent free +constitutions were rendered of doubtful authority; and from that time to +the Revolution they constituted one colony under the control of a royal +governor appointed by the Crown. + +The change was due to the uncertainty and annoyance caused for their +separate governments when their right to govern was in doubt owing to +interference on the part of New York and the desire of the King to +make them a Crown colony. The original grant of the Duke of York to the +proprietors Berkeley and Carteret had given title to the soil but had +been silent as to the right to govern. The first proprietors and their +successors had always assumed that the right to govern necessarily +accompanied this gift of the land. Such a privilege, however, the +Crown was inclined to doubt. William Penn was careful to avoid this +uncertainty when he received his charter for Pennsylvania. Profiting by +the sad example of the Jerseys, he made sure that he was given both the +title to the soil and the right to govern. + +The proprietors, however, now surrendered only their right to govern the +Jerseys and retained their ownership of the land; and the people always +maintained that they, on their part, retained all the political rights +and privileges which had been granted them by the proprietors. And these +rights were important, for the concessions or constitutions granted by +the proprietors under the advanced Quaker influence of the time were +decidedly liberal. The assemblies, as the legislatures were called, had +the right to meet and adjourn as they pleased, instead of having +their meetings and adjournments dictated by the governor. This was an +important right and one which the Crown and royal governors were +always trying to restrict or destroy, because it made an assembly very +independent. This contest for colonial rights was exactly similar to +the struggle of the English Parliament for liberty against the supposed +right of the Stuart kings to call and adjourn Parliament as they chose. +If the governor could adjourn the assembly when he pleased, he could +force it to pass any laws he wanted or prevent its passing any laws at +all. The two Jersey assemblies under their Quaker constitutions also +had the privilege of making their own rules of procedure, and they +had jurisdiction over taxes, roads, towns, militia, and all details of +government. These rights of a legislature are familiar enough now +to all. Very few people realize, however, what a struggle and what +sacrifices were required to attain them. + +The rest of New Jersey colonial history is made up chiefly of struggles +over these two questions--the rights of the proprietors and their +quitrents as against the people, and the rights of the new assembly as +against the Crown. There were thus three parties, the governor and his +adherents, the proprietors and their friends, and the assembly and the +people. The proprietors had the best of the change, for they lost only +their troublesome political power and retained their property. They +never, however, received such financial returns from the property as +the sons of William Penn enjoyed from Pennsylvania. But the union of the +Jerseys seriously curtailed the rights enjoyed by the people under +the old government, and all possibility of a Quaker government in West +Jersey was ended. It was this experience in the Jerseys, no doubt, +that caused William Penn to require so many safeguards in selling +his political rights in Pennsylvania to the Crown that the sale was, +fortunately for the colony, never completed. + +The assembly under the union met alternately at Perth Amboy and at +Burlington. Lord Cornbury, the first governor, was also Governor of +New York, a humiliating arrangement that led to no end of trouble. The +executive government, the press, and the judiciary were in the complete +control of the Crown and the Governor, who was instructed to take care +that "God Almighty be duly served according to the rites of the Church +of England, and the traffic in merchantable negroes encouraged." +Cornbury contemptuously ignored the assembly's right to adjourn and kept +adjourning it till one was elected which would pass the laws he wanted. +Afterwards the assemblies were less compliant, and, under the lead of +two able men, Lewis Morris of East Jersey and Samuel Jennings, a Quaker +of West Jersey, they stood up for their rights and complained to the +mother country. But Cornbury went on fighting them, granted monopolies, +established arbitrary fees, prohibited the proprietors from selling +their lands, prevented three members of the assembly duly elected from +being sworn, and was absent in New York so much of the time that the +laws went unexecuted and convicted murderers wandered about at large. +In short, he went through pretty much the whole list of offenses of a +corrupt and good-for-nothing royal governor of colonial times. The union +of the two colonies consequently seemed to involve no improvement over +former conditions. At last, the protests and appeals of proprietors and +people prevailed, and Cornbury was recalled. + +Quieter times followed, and in 1738 New Jersey had the satisfaction +of obtaining a governor all her own. The New York Governor had always +neglected Jersey affairs, was difficult of access, made appointments +and administered justice in the interests of New York, and forced Jersey +vessels to pay registration fees to New York. Amid great rejoicing over +the change, the Crown appointed the popular leader, Lewis Morris, as +governor. But by a strange turn of fate, when once secure in power, +he became a most obstinate upholder of royal prerogative, worried the +assembly with adjournments, and, after Cornbury, was the most obnoxious +of all the royal governors. + +The governors now usually made Burlington their capital and it became, +on that account, a place of much show and interest. The last colonial +governor was William Franklin, an illegitimate son of Benjamin +Franklin, and he would probably have made a success of the office if +the Revolution had not stopped him. He had plenty of ability, affable +manners, and was full of humor and anecdote like his father, whom he is +said to have somewhat resembled. He had combined in youth a fondness +for books with a fondness for adventure, was comptroller of the colonial +post office and clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, served a couple of +campaigns in the French and Indian Wars, went to England with his father +in 1757, was admitted to the English Bar, attained some intimacy with +the Earl of Bute and Lord Fairfax, and through the latter obtained the +governorship of New Jersey in 1762. + +The people were at first much displeased at his appointment and never +entirely got over his illegitimate birth and his turning from Whig +to Tory as soon as his appointment was secured. But he advanced the +interests of the colony with the home government and favored beneficial +legislation. He had an attractive wife, and they entertained, it is +said, with viceregal elegance, and started a fine model farm or country +place on the north shore of the Rancocas not far from the capital at +Burlington. Franklin was drawing the province together and building it +up as a community, but his extreme loyalist principles in the Revolution +destroyed his chance for popularity and have obscured his reputation. + +Though the population of New Jersey was a mixed one, judged by the very +distinct religious differences of colonial times, yet racially it was +thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and a good stock to build upon. At the time +of the Revolution in 1776 the people numbered only about 120,000, +indicating a slow growth; but when the first census of the United States +was taken, in 1790, they numbered 184,139. + +The natural division of the State into North and South Jersey is marked +by a line from Trenton to Jersey City. The people of these two divisions +were quite as distinct in early times as striking differences in +environment and religion could make them. Even in the inevitable +merging of modern life the two regions are still distinct socially, +economically, and intellectually. Along the dividing line the two types +of the population, of course, merged and here was produced and is still +to be found the Jerseyman of the composite type. + +Trenton, the capital of the State, is very properly in the dividing +belt. It was named after William Trent, a Philadelphia merchant who had +been speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and who became chief justice +of New Jersey. Long ages before white men came Trenton seems to have +been a meeting place and residence of the Indians or preceding races +of stone age men. Antiquarians have estimated that fifty thousand stone +implements have been found in it. As it was at the head of tidewater, +at the so-called Falls of the Delaware, it was apparently a center of +travel and traffic from other regions. From the top of the bluff below +the modern city of Trenton there was easy access to forests of chestnut, +oak, and pine, with their supplies of game, while the river and its +tributary creeks were full of fish. It was a pleasant and convenient +place where the people of prehistoric times apparently met and lingered +during many centuries without necessarily having a large resident +population at any one time. Trenton was so obviously convenient and +central in colonial times that it was seriously proposed as a site for +the national capital. + +Princeton University, though originating, as we have seen, among the +Presbyterians of North Jersey, seems as a higher educational institution +for the whole State to belong naturally in the dividing belt, the +meeting place of the two divisions of the colony. The college began its +existence at Elizabeth, was then moved to Newark, both in the strongly +Presbyterian region, and finally, in 1757, was established at Princeton, +a more suitable place, it was thought, because far removed from the +dissipation and temptation of towns, and because it was in the center +of the colony on the post road between Philadelphia and New York. Though +chartered as the College of New Jersey, it was often called Nassau Hall +at Princeton or simply "Princeton." In 1896 it became known officially +as Princeton University. It was a hard struggle to found the college +with lotteries and petty subscriptions here and there. But Presbyterians +in New York and other provinces gave aid. Substantial assistance was +also obtained from the Presbyterians of England and Scotland. In the +old pamphlets of the time which have been preserved the founders of the +college argued that higher education was needed not only for ministers +of religion, but for the bench, the bar, and the legislature. The two +New England colleges, Harvard and Yale, on the north, and the Virginia +College of William and Mary on the south, were too far away. There must +be a college close at hand. + +At first most of the graduates entered the Presbyterian ministry. +But soon in the short time before the Revolution there were produced +statesmen such as Richard Stockton of New Jersey, who signed the +Declaration of Independence; physicians such as Dr. Benjamin Rush of +Philadelphia; soldiers such as "Light Horse" Harry Lee of Virginia; +as well as founders of other colleges, governors of States, lawyers, +attorney-generals, judges, congressmen, and indeed a very powerful +assemblage of intellectual lights. Nor should the names of James +Madison, Aaron Burr, and Jonathan Edwards be omitted. + +East Jersey with her New England influence attempted something like free +public schools. In West Jersey the Quakers had schools. In both Jerseys, +after 1700 some private neighborhood schools were started, independent +of religious denominations. The West Jersey Quakers, self-cultured and +with a very effective system of mental discipline and education in their +families as well as in their schools, were not particularly interested +in higher education. But in East Jersey as another evidence of +intellectual awakening in colonial times, Queen's College, afterward +known as Rutgers College, was established by the Dutch Reformed +Church in 1766, and was naturally placed, near the old source of Dutch +influence, at New Brunswick in the northerly end of the dividing belt. + +New Jersey was fortunate in having no Indian wars in colonial times, no +frontier, no point of hostile contact with the French of Canada or +with the powerful western tribes of red men. Like Rhode Island in this +respect, she was completely shut in by the other colonies. Once or twice +only did bands of savages cross the Delaware and commit depredations on +Jersey soil. This colony, however, did her part in sending troops and +assistance to the others in the long French and Indian wars; but she had +none of the pressing danger and experience of other colonies. Her people +were never drawn together by a common danger until the Revolution. + +In Jersey colonial homes there was not a single modern convenience of +light, heat, or cooking, and none of the modern amusements. But there +was plenty of good living and simple diversion--husking bees and +shooting in the autumn, skating and sleighing in the winter. Meetings +and discussions in coffeehouses and inns supplied in those days the +place of our modern books, newspapers, and magazines. Jersey inns were +famous meeting places. Everybody passed through their doors--judges, +lawyers, legislators, politicians, post riders, stage drivers, each +bringing his contribution of information and humor, and the slaves and +rabble stood round to pick up news and see the fun. The court days in +each county were holidays celebrated with games of quoits, running, +jumping, feasting, and discussions political and social. At the capital +there was even style and extravagance. Governor Belcher, for example, +who lived at Burlington, professed to believe that the Quaker influences +of that town were not strict enough in keeping the Sabbath, so he drove +every Sunday in his coach and four to Philadelphia to worship in the +Presbyterian Church there and saw no inconsistency in his own behavior. + +Almanacs furnished much of the reading for the masses. The few +newspapers offered little except the barest chronicle of events. The +books of the upper classes were good though few, and consisted chiefly +of the classics of English literature and books of information and +travel. The diaries and letters of colonial native Jerseymen, the +pamphlets of the time, and John Woolman's "Journal," all show a good +average of education and an excellent use of the English language. +Samuel Smith's "History of the Colony of Nova-Casaria, or New Jersey," +written and printed at Burlington and published there in the year 1765, +is written in a good and even attractive style, with as intelligent +a grasp of political events as any modern mind could show; the type, +paper, and presswork, too, are excellent. Smith was born and educated in +this same New Jersey town. He became a member of council and assembly, +at one time was treasurer of the province, and his manuscript historical +collections were largely used by Robert Proud in his "History of +Pennsylvania." + +The early houses of New Jersey were of heavy timbers covered with +unpainted clapboards, usually one story and a half high, with immense +fireplaces, which, with candles, supplied the light. The floors were +scrubbed hard and sprinkled with the plentiful white sand. Carpets, +except the famous old rag carpets, were very rare. The old wooden houses +have now almost entirely disappeared; but many of the brick houses which +succeeded them are still preserved. They are of simple well-proportioned +architecture, of a distinctive type, less luxuriant, massive, and +exuberant than those across the river in Pennsylvania, although both +evidently derived from the Christopher Wren school. The old Jersey homes +seem to reflect with great exactness the simple feeling of the people +and to be one expression of the spirit of Jersey democracy. + +There were no important seats of commerce in this province. Exports of +wheat, provisions, and lumber went to Philadelphia or New York, which +were near and convenient. The Jersey shores near the mouth of the Hudson +and along the Delaware, as at Camden, presented opportunities for ports, +but the proximity to the two dominating ports prevented the development +of additional harbors in this part of the coast. It was not until after +the Revolution that Camden, opposite Philadelphia, and Jersey City, +opposite New York, grew into anything like their present importance. + +There were, however, a number of small ports and shipbuilding villages +in the Jerseys. It is a noticeable fact that in colonial times and even +later there were very few Jersey towns beyond the head of tidewater. The +people, even the farmers, were essentially maritime. The province showed +its natural maritime characteristics, produced many sailors, and built +innumerable small vessels for the coasting and West India trade--sloops, +schooners, yachts, and sailboats, down to the tiniest gunning boat and +sneak box. Perth Amboy was the principal port and shipbuilding +center for East Jersey as Salem was for West Jersey. But Burlington, +Bordentown, Cape May, and Trenton, and innumerable little villages +up creeks and channels or mere ditches could not be kept from the +prevailing industry. They built craft up to the limit of size that +could be floated away in the water before their very doors. Plentifully +supplied with excellent oak and pine and with the admirable white cedar +of their own forests, very skillful shipwrights grew up in every little +hamlet. + +A large part of the capital used in Jersey shipbuilding is said to have +come from Philadelphia and New York. At first this capital sought its +profit in whaling along the coast and afterwards in the trade with the +West Indies, which for a time absorbed so much of the shipping of all +the colonies in America. The inlets and beaches along the Jersey coast +now given over to summer resorts were first used for whaling camps or +bases. Cape May and Tuckerton were started and maintained by whaling; +and as late as 1830, it is said, there were still signs of the industry +on Long Beach. + +Except for the whaling, the beaches were uninhabited--wild stretches +of sand, swarming with birds and wild fowl, without a lighthouse or +lifesaving station. In the Revolution, when the British fleet blockaded +the Delaware and New York, Little Egg, the safest of the inlets, was +used for evading the blockade. Vessels entered there and sailed up +the Mullica River to the head of navigation, whence the goods were +distributed by wagons. To conceal their vessels when anchored just +inside an inlet, the privateersmen would stand slim pine trees beside +the masts and thus very effectively concealed the rigging from British +cruisers prowling along the shore. + +Along with the whaling industry the risks and seclusion of the inlets +and channels developed a romantic class of gentlemen, as handy with +musket and cutlass as with helm and sheet, fond of easy, exciting +profits, and reaping where they had not sown. They would start legally +enough, for they began as privateersmen under legal letters of marque +in the wars. But the step was a short one to a traffic still more +profitable; and for a hundred years Jersey customs officers are said to +have issued documents which were ostensibly letters of marque but which +really abetted a piratical cruise. Piracy was, however, in those days +a semi-legitimate offense, winked at by the authorities all through the +colonial period; and respectable people and governors and officials of +New York and North Carolina, it is said, secretly furnished funds for +such expeditions and were interested in the profits. + + + +Chapter XII. Little Delaware + +Delaware was the first colony to be established on the river that bears +this name. It went through half a century of experiences under the Dutch +and Swedes from 1609 to 1664, and then eighteen years under the English +rule of the Duke of York, from whom it passed into the hands of William +Penn, the Quaker. The Dutch got into it by an accident and were regarded +by the English as interlopers. And the Swedes who followed had no better +title. + +The whole North Atlantic seaboard was claimed by England by virtue of +the discoveries of the Cabots, father and son; but nearly a hundred +years elapsed before England took advantage of this claim by starting +the Virginia colony near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. And +nearly a quarter of a century more elapsed before Englishmen settled +on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. Those were the two points most +accessible to ships and most favorable for settlement. The middle +ground of the Delaware and Hudson regions was not so easily entered and +remained unoccupied. The mouth of the Delaware was full of shoals and +was always difficult to navigate. The natural harbor at the mouth of the +Hudson was excellent, but the entrance to it was not at first apparent. + +Into these two regions, however, the Dutch chanced just after the +English had effected the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. The Dutch +had employed an Englishman named Henry Hudson and sent him in 1609 in a +small ship called the Half Moon to find a passage to China and India by +way of the Arctic Ocean. Turned back by the ice in the Arctic, he sailed +down the coast of North America, and began exploring the middle ground +from the Virginia settlement, which he seems to have known about; and, +working cautiously northward along the coast and feeling his way +with the lead line, he soon entered Delaware Bay. But finding it very +difficult of navigation he departed and, proceeding in the same careful +way up along the coast of New Jersey, he finally entered the harbor of +New York and sailed up the Hudson far enough to satisfy himself that it +was not the desired course to China. + +This exploration gave the Dutch their claim to the Delaware and Hudson +regions. But though it was worthless as against the English right by +discovery of the Cabots, the Dutch went ahead with their settlement, +established their headquarters and seat of government on Manhattan +Island, where New York stands today, and exercised as much jurisdiction +and control as they could on the Delaware. + +Their explorations of the Delaware, feeling their way up it with small +light draft vessels among its shoals and swift tides, their travels +on land--shooting wild turkeys on the site of the present busy town of +Chester--and their adventures with the Indians are full of interest. +The immense quantities of wild fowl and animal and bird life along the +shores astonished them; but what most aroused their cupidity was the +enormous supply of furs, especially beaver and otter, that could be +obtained from the Indians. Furs became their great, in fact, their only +interest in the Delaware. They established forts, one near Cape Henlopen +at the mouth of the river, calling it Fort Oplandt, and another far +up the river on the Jersey side at the mouth of Timber Creek, nearly +opposite the present site of Philadelphia, and this they called Fort +Nassau. Fort Oplandt was destroyed by the Indians and its people were +massacred. Fort Nassau was probably occupied only at intervals. These +two posts were built mainly to assist the fur trade, and any attempts at +real settlement were slight and unsuccessful. + +Meantime about the year 1624 the Swedes heard of the wonderful +opportunities on the Delaware. The Swedish monarch, Gustavus Adolphus, a +man of broad ambitions and energetic mind, heard about the Delaware from +Willem Usselinx, a merchant of Antwerp who had been actively interested +in the formation of the Dutch West India Company to trade in the Dutch +possessions in America. Having quarreled with the directors, Usselinx +had withdrawn from the Netherlands and now offered his services to +Sweden. The Swedish court, nobles, and people, all became enthusiastic +about the project which he elaborated for a great commercial company +to trade and colonize in Asia, Africa, and America. * But the plan was +dropped because, soon after 1630, Gustavus Adolphus led his country to +intervene on the side of the Protestants in the Thirty Years' War in +Germany, where he was killed three years later at the battle of Lutzen. +But the desire aroused by Usselinx for a Swedish colonial empire +was revived in the reign of his infant daughter, Christina, by the +celebrated Swedish Chancellor, Oxenstierna. + + + + * See "Willem Usselinx," by J. F. Jameson in the "Papers of the +American Historical Association," vol. II. + +An expedition, which actually reached the Delaware in 1638, was sent out +under another Dutch renegade, Peter Minuit, who had been Governor of New +Netherland and after being dismissed from office was now leading this +Swedish enterprise to occupy part of the territory he had formerly +governed for the Dutch. His two ships sailed up the Delaware and with +good judgment landed at the present site of Wilmington. At that point +a creek carrying a depth of over fourteen feet for ten miles from its +mouth flowed into the Delaware. The Dutch had called this creek Minquas, +after the tribe of Indians; the Swedes named it the Christina after +their infant Queen; and in modern times it has been corrupted into +Christiana. + +They sailed about two and a half miles through its delta marshes to some +rocks which formed a natural wharf and which still stand today at +the foot of Sixth Street in Wilmington. This was the Plymouth Rock of +Delaware. Level land, marshes, and meadows lay along the Christina, the +remains of the delta which the stream had formed in the past. On the +edge of the delta or moorland, rocky hills rose, forming the edge of the +Piedmont, and out of them from the north flowed a fine large stream, +the Brandywine, which fell into the Christina just before it entered +the Delaware. Here in the delta their engineer laid out a town, called +Christinaham, and a fort behind the rocks on which they had landed. A +cove in the Christina made a snug anchorage for their ships, out of the +way of the tide. They then bought from the Indians all the land from +Cape Henlopen to the Falls of the Delaware at Trenton, calling it New +Sweden and the Delaware New Swedeland Stream. The people of Delaware +have always regarded New Sweden as the beginning of their State, and +Peter Minuit, the leader of this Swedish expedition, always stands first +on the published lists of their governors. + +On their arrival in the river in the spring of 1638, the Swedes found no +evidences of permanent Dutch colonization. Neither Fort Oplandt nor +Fort Nassau was then occupied. They always maintained that the Dutch had +abandoned the river, and that it was therefore open to the Swedes for +occupation, especially after they had purchased the Indian title. It was +certainly true that the Dutch efforts to plant colonies in that region +had failed; and since the last attempt by De Vries, six years had +elapsed. On the other hand, the Dutch contended that they had in that +time put Fort Nassau in repair, although they had not occupied it, and +that they kept a few persons living along the Jersey shore of the river, +possibly the remains of the Nassau colony, to watch all who visited it. +These people had immediately notified the Dutch governor Kieft at New +Amsterdam of the arrival of the Swedes, and he promptly issued a protest +against the intrusion. But his protest was neither very strenuous nor +was it followed up by hostile action, for Sweden and Holland were on +friendly terms. Sweden, the great champion of Protestant Europe, had +intervened in the Thirty Years' War to save the Protestants of Germany. +The Dutch had just finished a similar desperate war of eighty years +for freedom from the papal despotism of Spain. Dutch and Swedes had, +therefore, every reason to be in sympathy with each other. The Swedes, +a plain, strong, industrious people, as William Penn aptly called them, +were soon, however, seriously interfering with the Dutch fur trade and +in the first year, it is said, collected thirty thousand skins. If +this is true, it is an indication of the immense supply of furbearing +animals, especially beaver, available at that time. For the next +twenty-five years Dutch and Swedes quarreled and sometimes fought over +their respective claims. But it is significant of the difficulty of +retaining a hold on the Delaware region that the Swedish colonists on +the Christina after a year or two regarded themselves as a failure +and were on the point of abandoning their enterprise, when a vessel, +fortunately for them, arrived with cattle, agricultural tools, and +immigrants. It is significant also that the immigrants, though in a +Swedish vessel and under the Swedish government, were Dutchmen. They +formed a sort of separate Dutch colony under Swedish rule and settled +near St. George's and Appoquinimink. Immigrants apparently were +difficult to obtain among the Swedes, who were not colonizers like the +English. + +At this very time, in fact, Englishmen, Puritans from Connecticut, were +slipping into the Delaware region under the leadership of Nathaniel +Turner and George Lamberton, and were buying the land from the Indians. +About sixty settled near Salem, New Jersey, and some on the Schuylkill +in Pennsylvania, close to Fort Nassau--an outrageous piece of audacity, +said the Dutch, and an insult to their "High Mightinesses and the noble +Directors of the West India Company." So the Schuylkill English were +accordingly driven out, and their houses were burned. The Swedes +afterwards expelled the English from Salem and from the Cohansey, lower +down the Bay. Later the English were allowed to return, but they seem to +have done little except trade for furs and beat off hostile Indians. + +The seat of the Swedish government was moved in 1643 from the Christina +to Tinicum, one of the islands of the Schuylkill delta, with an +excellent harbor in front of it which is now the home of the yacht clubs +of Philadelphia. Here they built a fort of logs, called Fort Gothenborg, +a chapel with a graveyard, and a mansion house for the governor, and +this remained the seat of Swedish authority as long as they had any on +the river. From here Governor Printz, a portly irascible old soldier, +said to have weighed "upwards of 400 pounds and taken three drinks +at every meal," ruled the river. He built forts on the Schuylkill and +worried the Dutch out of the fur trade. He also built a fort called Nya +Elfsborg, afterward Elsinboro, on the Jersey side below Salem. By +means of this fort he was able to command the entrance to the river +and compelled every Dutch ship to strike her colors and acknowledge the +sovereignty of Sweden. Some he prevented from going up the river at all; +others he allowed to pass on payment of toll or tribute. He gave orders +to destroy every trading house or fort which the Dutch had built on the +Schuylkill, and to tear down the coat of arms and insignia which the +Dutch had placed on a post on the site of Philadelphia. The Swedes now +also bought from the Indians and claimed the land on the Jersey side +from Cape May up to Raccoon Creek, opposite the modern Chester. + +The best place to trade with the Indians for furs was the Schuylkill +River, which flowed into the Delaware at a point where Philadelphia was +afterwards built. There were at that time Indian villages where West +Philadelphia now stands. The headwaters of streams flowing into the +Schuylkill were only a short distance from the headwaters of streams +flowing into the Susquehanna, so that the valley of the Schuylkill +formed the natural highway into the interior of Pennsylvania. The route +to the Ohio River followed the Schuylkill for some thirty or forty +miles, turned up one of its tributaries to its source, then crossed the +watershed to the head of a stream flowing into the Susquehanna, thence +to the Juniata, at the head of which the trail led over a short divide +to the head of the Conemaugh, which flowed into the Allegheny, and the +Allegheny into the Ohio. Some of the Swedes and Dutch appear to have +followed this route with the Indians as early as 1646. + +The Ohio and Allegheny region was inhabited by the Black Minquas, so +called from their custom of wearing a black badge on their breast. The +Ohio, indeed, was first called the Black Minquas River. As the country +nearer the Delaware was gradually denuded of beaver, these Black Minquas +became the great source of supply and carried the furs, over the route +described, to the Schuylkill. The White Minquas lived further east, +round Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and, though spoken of as belonging +by language to the great Iroquois or Six Nation stock, were themselves +conquered and pretty much exterminated by the Six Nations. The Black +Minquas, believed to be the same as the Eries of the Jesuit Relations, +were also practically exterminated by the Six Nations. * + + + * Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania", pp. 103-104. + + +The furs brought down the Schuylkill were deposited at certain rocks two +or three miles above its mouth at Bartram's Gardens, now one of the city +parks of Philadelphia. On these rocks, then an island in the Schuylkill, +the Swedes built a fort which completely commanded the river and cut the +Dutch off from the fur trade. They built another fort on the other side +of Bartram's Gardens along the meadow near what is now Gibson's Point; +and Governor Printz had a great mill a couple of miles away on Cobb's +Creek, where the old Blue Bell tavern has long stood. These two forts +protected the mill and the Indian villages in West Philadelphia. + +One would like to revisit the Delaware of those days and see all its +wild life and game, its islands and shoals, its virgin forests as they +had grown up since the glacial age, untouched by the civilization of +the white man. There were then more islands in the river, the water was +clearer, and there were pretty pebble and sandy beaches now overlaid by +mud brought down from vast regions of the valley no longer protected by +forests from the wash of the rains. On a wooded island below Salem, long +since cut away by the tides, the pirate Blackhead and his crew are said +to have passed a winter. The waters of the river spread out wide at +every high tide over marshes and meadows, turning them twice a day for a +few hours into lakes, grown up in summer with red and yellow flowers and +the graceful wild oats, or reeds, tasseled like Indian corn. + +At Christinaham, in the delta of the Christina and the Brandywine, the +tide flowed far inland to the rocks on which Minuit's Swedish expedition +landed, leaving one dry spot called Cherry Island, a name still borne +by a shoal in the river. Fort Christina, on the edge of the overflowed +meadow, with the rocky promontory of hills behind it, its church and +houses, and a wide prospect across the delta and river, was a fair spot +in the old days. The Indians came down the Christina in their canoes or +overland, bringing their packs of beaver, otter, and deer skins, their +tobacco, corn, and venison to exchange for the cloth, blankets, tools, +and gaudy trinkets that pleased them. It must often have been a scene of +strange life and coloring, and it is difficult today to imagine it all +occurring close to the spot where the Pennsylvania railroad station now +stands in Wilmington. + +When doughty Peter Stuyvesant became Governor of New Netherland, he +determined to assert Dutch authority once more on the South River, as +the Delaware was called in distinction from the Hudson. As the Swedes +now controlled it by their three forts, not a Dutch ship could reach +Fort Nassau without being held up at Fort Elfsborg or at Fort Christina +or at the fort at Tinicum. It was a humiliating situation for the +haughty spirit of the Dutch governor. To open the river to Dutch +commerce again, Stuyvesant marched overland in 1651 through the +wilderness, with one hundred and twenty men and, abandoning Fort Nassau, +built a new fort on a fine promontory which then extended far out into +the river below Christina. Today the place is known as New Castle; the +Dutch commonly referred to it as Sandhoeck or Sand Point; the English +called it Grape Vine Point. Stuyvesant named it Fort Casimir. + +The tables were now turned: the Dutch could retaliate upon Swedish +shipping. But the Swedes were not so easily to be dispossessed. Three +years later a new Swedish governor named Rising arrived in the river +with a number of immigrants and soldiers. He sailed straight up to Fort +Casimir, took it by surprise, and ejected the Dutch garrison of about a +dozen men. As the successful coup occurred on Trinity Sunday, the Swedes +renamed the place Fort Trinity. + +The whole population--Dutch and Swede, but in 1654 mostly +Swede--numbered only 368 persons. Before the arrival of Rising there +had been only seventy. It seems a very small number about which to be +writing history; but small as it was their "High Mightinesses," as the +government of the United Netherlands was called, were determined to +avenge on even so small a number the insult of the capture of Fort +Casimir. + +Drums, it is said, were beaten every day in Holland to call for recruits +to go to America. Gunners, carpenters, and powder were collected. A ship +of war was sent from Holland, accompanied by two other vessels whose +names alone, Great Christopher and King Solomon, should have been +sufficient to scare all the Swedes. At New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant labored +night and day to fit out the expedition. A French privateer which +happened to be in the harbor was hired. Several other vessels, in +all seven ships, and six or seven hundred men, with a chaplain called +Megapolensis, composed this mighty armament gathered together to drive +out the handful of poor hardworking Swedes. A day of fasting and prayer +was held and the Almighty was implored to bless this mighty expedition +which, He was assured, was undertaken for "the glory of His name." It +was the absurdity of such contrasts as this running all through the +annals of the Dutch in America that inspired Washington Irving to write +his infinitely humorous "History of New York from the Beginning of the +World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty," by "Diedrich Knickerbocker." It +is difficult for an Anglo-Saxon to take the Dutch in America seriously. +What can you do with a people whose imagination allowed them to give +such names to their ships as Weigh Scales, Spotted Cow, and The Pear +Tree? So Irving described the taking of Fort Casimir in mock heroic +manner. He describes the marshaling of the Dutch hosts of New York by +families, the Van Grolls of Anthony's Nose, the Brinkerhoffs, the Van +Kortlandts, the Van Bunschotens of Nyack and Kakiat, the fighting men +of Wallabout, the Van Pelts, the Say Dams, the Van Dams, and all the +warriors of Hellgate "clad in their thunder-and-lightning gaberdines," +and lastly the standard bearers and bodyguards of Peter Stuyvesant, +bearing the great beaver of the Manhattan. + +"And now commenced the horrid din, the desperate struggle, the maddening +ferocity, the frantic desperation, the confusion and self-abandonment +of war. Dutchman and Swede commingled, tugged, panted, and blowed. The +heavens were darkened with a tempest of missives. Bang! went the guns; +whack! went the broadswords; thump! went the cudgels; crash! went the +musket-stocks; blows, kicks, cuffs, scratches, black eyes and bloody +noses swelling the horrors of the scene! Thick, thwack, cut and hack, +helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hurly-burly, heads-over-heels, +rough-and-tumble! Dunder and blixum! swore the Dutchmen; splitter and +splutter! cried the Swedes. Storm the works! shouted Hardkoppig Peter. +Fire the mine! roared stout Rising--Tantarar-ra-ra! twanged the +trumpet of Antony Van Corlear;--until all voice and sound became +unintelligible,--grunts of pain, yells of fury, and shouts of triumph +mingling in one hideous clamor. The earth shook as if struck with a +paralytic stroke; trees shrunk aghast, and withered at the sight; rocks +burrowed in the ground like rabbits; and even Christina creek turned +from its course, and ran up a hill in breathless terror!" + +As a matter of fact, the fort surrendered without a fight on +September 1, 1655. It was thereupon christened New Amstel, afterwards +New Castle, and was for a long time the most important town on the +Delaware. This achievement put the Dutch in complete authority over the +Swedes on both sides of the river. The Swedes, however, were content, +abandoned politics, secluded themselves on their farms, and left +politics to the Dutch. Trade, too, they left to the Dutch, who, in their +effort to monopolize it, almost killed it. This conquest by their High +Mightinesses also ended the attempts of the New Englanders, particularly +the people of New Haven, to get a foothold in the neighborhood of Salem, +New Jersey, for which they had been struggling for years. They had +dreams of a great lake far to northward full of beaver to which the +Delaware would lead them. Their efforts to establish themselves survived +in one or two names of places near Salem, as, for example, New England +Creek, and New England Channel, which down almost into our own time was +found on charts marking one of the minor channels of the bay along the +Jersey shore. They continued coming to the river in ships to trade in +spite of restrictions by the Dutch; and some of them in later years, as +has been pointed out, secured a foothold on the Cohansey and in the Cape +May region, where their descendants are still to be found. + + + +Chapter XIII. The English Conquest + +It is a curious fact that the ancestor of the numerous Beekman family in +New York, after whom Beekman Street is named, was for a time one of the +Dutch governors on the Delaware who afterwards became the sheriff of +Esopus, New York. His successor on the Delaware had some thoughts of +removing the capital down to Odessa on the Appoquinimink, when an +event long dreaded happened. In 1664, war broke out between England +and Holland, long rivals in trade and commerce, and all the Dutch +possessions in the New World fell an easy prey to English conquerors. +A British fleet took possession of New Amsterdam, which surrendered +without a struggle. But when two British men of war under Sir Robert +Carr appeared before New Amstel on the Delaware, Governor D'Hinoyossa +unwisely resisted; and his untenable fort was quickly subdued by a few +broadsides and a storming party. This opposition gave the conquering +party, according to the custom of the times, the right to plunder; and +it must be confessed that the English soldiers made full use of their +opportunity. They plundered the town and confiscated the land of +prominent citizens for the benefit of the officers of the expedition. + +After the English conquest on the Delaware, not a few of the Dutch +migrated to Maryland, where their descendants, it is said, are still +to be found. Some in later years returned to the Delaware, where on the +whole, notwithstanding the early confiscations, English rule seemed to +promise well. The very first documents, the terms of surrender both on +the Delaware and on the Hudson, breathed an air of Anglo-Saxon freedom. +Everybody was at liberty to come and go at will. Hollanders could +migrate to the Delaware or to New York as much as before. The Dutch +soldiers in the country, if they wished to remain, were to have fifty +acres of land apiece. This generous settlement seemed in striking +contrast to the pinching, narrow interference with trade and individual +rights, the seizures and confiscations for private gain, all under +pretense of punishment, bad enough on the Delaware but worse at New +Amsterdam, which had characterized the rule of the Dutch. + +The Duke of York, to whom Delaware was given, introduced trial by jury, +settled private titles, and left undisturbed the religion and local +customs of the people. But the political rule of the Duke was absolute +as became a Stuart. He arbitrarily taxed exports and imports. Executive, +judicial, and legislative powers were all vested in his deputy governor +at New York or in creatures appointed and controlled by him. It was the +sort of government the Duke hoped to impose upon all Great Britain when +he should come to the throne, and he was trying his 'prentice hand in +the colonies. A political rebellion against this despotism was started +on the Delaware by a man named Konigsmarke, or the Long Finn, aided by +an Englishman, Henry Coleman. They were captured and tried for treason, +their property was confiscated, and the Long Finn branded with the +letter R, and sold as a slave in the Barbados. They might be called the +first martyrs to foreshadow the English Revolution of 1688 which ended +forever the despotic reign of the Stuarts. + +The Swedes continued to form the main body of people on the Delaware +under the regime of the Duke of York, and at the time when William Penn +took possession of the country in 1682 their settlements extended from +New Castle up through Christina, Marcus Hook, Upland (now Chester), +Tinicum, Kingsessing in the modern West Philadelphia, Passyunk, Wicaco, +both in modern Philadelphia, and as far up the river as Frankford and +Pennypack. They had their churches at Christina, Tinicum, Kingsessing, +and Wicaco. The last, when absorbed by Philadelphia, was a pretty little +hamlet on the river shore, its farms belonging to a Swedish family +called Swanson whose name is now borne by one of the city's streets. +Across the river in New Jersey, opposite Chester, the Swedes had +settlements on Raccoon Creek and round Swedesboro. These river +settlements constituted an interesting and from all accounts a very +attractive Scandinavian community. Their strongest bond of union seems +to have been their interest in their Lutheran churches on the river. +They spread very little into the interior, made few roads, and lived +almost exclusively on the river or on its navigable tributaries. One +reason they gave for this preference was that it was easier to reach the +different churches by boat. + +There were only about a thousand Swedes along the Delaware and possibly +five hundred of Dutch and mixed blood, together with a few English, all +living a life of abundance on a fine river amid pleasing scenery, with +good supplies of fish and game, a fertile soil, and a wilderness of +opportunity to the west of them. All were well pleased to be relieved +from the stagnant despotism of the Duke of York and to take part in the +free popular government of William Penn in Pennsylvania. They +became magistrates and officials, members of the council and of the +legislature. They soon found that all their avenues of trade and life +were quickened. They passed from mere farmers supplying their own needs +to exporters of the products of their farms. + +Descendants of the Swedes and Dutch still form the basis of the +population of Delaware. * There were some Finns at Marcus Hook, which +was called Finland; and it may be noted in passing that there were not +a few French among the Dutch, as among the Germans in Pennsylvania, +Huguenots who had fled from religious persecution in France. The name +Jaquette, well known in Delaware, marks one of these families, whose +immigrant ancestor was one of the Dutch governors. In the ten or +dozen generations since the English conquest intermarriage has in many +instances inextricably mixed up Swede, Dutch, and French, as well as the +English stock, so that many persons with Dutch names are of Swedish or +French descent and vice versa, and some with English names like Oldham +are of Dutch descent. There has been apparently much more intermarriage +among the different nationalities in the province and less standing +aloof than among the alien divisions of Pennsylvania. + + + * Swedish names anglicized are now found everywhere. Gostafsson +has become Justison and Justis. Bond has become Boon; Hoppman, Hoffman; +Kalsberg, Colesberry; Wihler, Wheeler; Joccom, Yocum; Dahlbo, Dalbow; +Konigh, King; Kyn, Keen; and so on. Then there are also such names as +Wallraven, Hendrickson, Stedham, Peterson, Matson, Talley, Anderson, and +the omnipresent Rambo, which have suffered little, if any, change. +Dutch names are also numerous, such as Lockermans, Vandever, Van +Dyke, Vangezel, Vandegrift, Alricks, Statts, Van Zandt, Hyatt, Cochran +(originally Kolchman), Vance, and Blackstone (originally Blackenstein). + + +After the English conquest some Irish Presbyterians or Scotch-Irish +entered Delaware. Finally came the Quakers, comparatively few in +colonial times but more numerous after the Revolution, especially in +Wilmington and its neighborhood. True to their characteristics, they +left descendants who have become the most prominent and useful citizens +down into our own time. At present Wilmington has become almost as +distinctive a Quaker town as Philadelphia. "Thee" and "thou" are +frequently heard in the streets, and a surprisingly large proportion +of the people of prominence and importance are Quakers or of Quaker +descent. Many of the neat and pleasant characteristics of the town +are distinctly of Quaker origin; and these characteristics are found +wherever Quaker influence prevails. + +Wilmington was founded about 1731 by Thomas Willing, an Englishman, +who had married into the Swedish family of Justison. He laid out a +few streets on his wife's land on the hill behind the site of old Fort +Christina, in close imitation of the plan of Philadelphia, and from +that small beginning the present city grew, and was at first called +Willingtown. * William Shipley, a Pennsylvania Quaker born in England, +bought land in it in 1735, and having more capital than Willing, pushed +the fortunes of the town more rapidly. He probably had not a little to +do with bringing Quakers to Wilmington; indeed, their first meetings +were held in a house belonging to him until they could build a meeting +house of their own in 1738. + + + * Some years later in a borough charter granted by Penn, the name +was changed to Wilmington in honor of the Earl of Wilmington. + + +Both Shipley and Willing had been impressed with the natural beauty of +the situation, the wide view over the level moorland and green marsh and +across the broad river to the Jersey shore, as well as by the natural +conveniences of the place for trade and commerce. Wilmington has ever +since profited by its excellent situation, with the level moorland for +industry, the river for traffic, and the first terraces or hills of +the Piedmont for residence; and, for scenery, the Brandywine tumbling +through rocks and bowlders in a long series of rapids. + +The custom still surviving in Wilmington of punishing certain classes of +criminals by whipping appears to have originated in the days of Willing +and Shipley, about the year 1740, when a cage, stocks, and whipping-post +were erected. They were placed in the most conspicuous part of the town, +and there the culprit, in addition to his legal punishment, was also +disciplined at the discretion of passers-by with rotten eggs and other +equally potent encouragements to reform. These gratuitous inflictions, +not mentioned in the statute, as well as the public exhibition of the +prisoner were abolished in later times and in this modified form the +method of correction was extended to the two other counties. Sometimes +a cat-o'nine-tails was used, sometimes a rawhide whip, and sometimes +a switch cut from a tree. Nowadays, however, all the whipping for the +State is done in Wilmington, where all prisoners sentenced to whipping +in the State are sent. This punishment is found to be so efficacious +that its infliction a second time on the same person is exceedingly +rare. + +The most striking relic of the old Swedish days in Wilmington is the +brick and stone church of good proportions and no small beauty, and +today one of the very ancient relics of America. It was built by the +Swedes in 1698 to replace their old wooden church, which was on the +lower land, and the Swedish language was used in the services down +to the year 1800, when the building was turned over to the Church of +England. Old Peter Minuit, the first Swedish governor, may possibly have +been buried there. The Swedes built another pretty chapel--Gloria Dei, +as it was called--at the village of Wicaco, on the shore of the Delaware +where Philadelphia afterwards was established. The original building was +taken down in 1700, and the present one was erected on its site partly +with materials from the church at Tinicum. It remained Swedish Lutheran +until 1831, when, like all the Swedish chapels, it became the property +of the Church of England, between which and the Swedish Lutheran body +there was a close affinity, if not in doctrine, at least in episcopal +organization. * The old brick church dating from 1740, on the +main street of Wilmington, is an interesting relic of the colonial +Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in Delaware, and is now carefully preserved +as the home of the Historical Society. + + + * Clay's "Annals of the Swedes", pp. 143, 153-4. + + +After Delaware had been eighteen years under the Duke of York, William +Penn felt a need of the west side of the river all the way down to +the sea to strengthen his ownership of Pennsylvania. He also wanted to +offset the ambitions of Lord Baltimore to extend Maryland northward. +Penn accordingly persuaded his friend James, the Duke of York, to give +him a grant of Delaware, which Penn thereupon annexed to Pennsylvania +under the name of the Territories or Three Lower Counties. The three +counties, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, * are still the counties of +Delaware, each one extending across the State and filling its whole +length from the hills of the Brandywine on the Pennsylvania border to +the sands of Sussex at Cape Henlopen. The term "Territory" has ever +since been used in America to describe an outlying province not yet +given the privileges of a State. Instead of townships, the three +Delaware counties were divided into "hundreds," an old Anglo-Saxon +county method of division going back beyond the times of Alfred the +Great. Delaware is the only State in the Union that retains this name +for county divisions. The Three Lower Counties were allowed to send +representatives to the Pennsylvania Assembly; and the Quakers of +Delaware have always been part of the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. + + + * The original names were New Castle, Jones's, and Hoerekill, as +it was called by the Dutch, or Deal. + + +In 1703, after having been a part of Pennsylvania for twenty years, the +Three Lower Counties were given home rule and a legislature of their +own; but they remained under the Governor of Pennsylvania until the +Revolution of 1776. They then became an entirely separate community and +one of the thirteen original States. Delaware was the first State to +adopt the National Constitution, and Rhode Island, its fellow small +State, the last. Having been first to adopt the Constitution, the people +of Delaware claim that on all national occasions or ceremonies they are +entitled to the privilege of precedence. They have every reason to be +proud of the representative men they sent to the Continental Congress, +and to the Senate in later times. Agriculture has, of course, always +been the principal occupation on the level fertile land of Delaware; and +it is agriculture of a high class, for the soil, especially in certain +localities, is particularly adapted to wheat, corn, and timothy grass, +as well as small fruits. That section of land crossing the State in +the region of Delaware City and Middleton is one of the show regions in +America, for crops of wheat and corn. Farther south, grain growing is +combined with small fruits and vegetables with a success seldom attained +elsewhere. Agriculturally there is no division of land of similar size +quite equal to Delaware in fertility. Its sand and gravel base with +vegetable mold above is somewhat like the southern Jersey formation, +but it is more productive from having a larger deposit of decayed +vegetation. + +The people of Delaware have, indeed, very little land that is not +tillable. The problems of poverty, crowding, great cities, and excessive +wealth in few hands are practically unknown among them. The foreign +commerce of Wilmington began in 1740 with the building of a brig named +after the town, and was continued successfully for a hundred years. +At Wilmington there has always been a strong manufacturing interest, +beginning with the famous colonial flour mills at the falls of the +Brandywine, and the breadstuffs industry at Newport on the Christina. +With the Brandywine so admirably suited to the water-power machinery +of those days and the Christina deep enough for the ships, Wilmington +seemed in colonial times to possess an ideal combination of advantages +for manufacturing and commerce. The flour mills were followed in 1802 by +the Du Pont Powder Works, which are known all over the world, and which +furnished powder for all American wars since the Revolution, for the +Crimean War in Europe, and for the Allies in the Great War. + +"From the hills of Brandywine to the sands of Sussex" is an expression +the people of Delaware use to indicate the whole length of their little +State. The beautiful cluster of hills at the northern end dropping into +park-like pastures along the shores of the rippling Red Clay and White +Clay creeks which form the deep Christina with its border of green reedy +marshes, is in striking contrast to the wild waste of sands at Cape +Henlopen. Yet in one way the Brandywine Hills are closely connected with +those sands, for from these very hills have been quarried the hard +rocks for the great breakwater at the Cape, behind which the fleets of +merchant vessels take refuge in storms. + +The great sand dunes behind the lighthouse at the cape have their equal +nowhere else on the coast. Blown by the ocean winds, the dunes work +inland, overwhelming a pine forest to the tree tops and filling swamps +in their course. The beach is strewn with every type of wreckage of +man's vain attempts to conquer the sea. The Life Saving Service men have +strange tales to tell and show their collections of coins found along +the sand. The old pilots live snugly in their neat houses in Pilot Row, +waiting their turns to take the great ships up through the shoals and +sands which were so baffling to Henry Hudson and his mate one hot August +day of the year 1609. + +The Indians of the northern part of Delaware are said to have been +mostly Minquas who lived along the Christiana and Brandywine, and are +supposed to have had a fort on Iron Hill. The rest of the State was +inhabited by the Nanticokes, who extended their habitations far down the +peninsula, where a river is named after them. They were a division or +clan of the Delawares or Leni Lenapes. In the early days they gave some +trouble; but shortly before the Revolution all left the peninsula in +strange and dramatic fashion. Digging up the bones of their dead chiefs +in 1748, they bore them away to new abodes in the Wyoming Valley of +Pennsylvania. Some appear to have traveled by land up the Delaware to +the Lehigh, which they followed to its source not far from the Wyoming +Valley. Others went in canoes, starting far down the peninsula at the +Nanticoke River and following along the wild shore of the Chesapeake to +the Susquehanna, up which they went by its eastern branch straight into +the Wyoming Valley. It was a grand canoe trip--a weird procession of +tawny, black-haired fellows swinging their paddles day after day, with +their freight of ancient bones, leaving the sunny fishing grounds of the +Nanticoke and the Choptank to seek a refuge from the detested white man +in the cold mountains of Pennsylvania. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +A large part of the material for the early history of Pennsylvania is +contained of course in the writings and papers of the founder. The "Life +of William Penn" by S. M. Janney (1852) is perhaps the most trustworthy +of the older biographies but it is a dull book. A biography written with +a modern point of view is "The True William Penn" by Sydney G. Fisher +(1900). Mrs. Colquhoun Grant, a descendant of Penn has published a book +with the title "Quaker and Courtier: the Life and Work of William Penn" +(1907). The manuscript papers of Penn now in the possession of the +Historical Society of Pennsylvania, together with much new material +gathered in England, are soon to be published under the able editorship +of Albert Cook Myers. + +There is a vast literature on the history of Quakerism. The "Journal of +George Fox" (1694), Penn's "Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of +the People called Quakers" (1695), and Robert Barclay's "Apology for the +True Christian Divinity" (1678) are of first importance for the study of +the rise of the Society of Friends. Among the older histories are J.J. +Gurney's "Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of the Society of +Friends" (1824), James Bowden's "History of the Society of Friends in +America," 2 vols. (1850-54), and S.M. Janney's "History of the Religious +Society of Friends," 4 vols. (1860-67). Two recent histories are of +great value: W. C. Braithwaite, "The Beginnings of Quakerism" (1912) and +Rufus M. Jones, "The Quakers in the American Colonies" (1911). Among the +older histories of Penn's province are "The History of Pennsylvania +in North America," 2 vols. (1797-98), written by Robert Proud from the +Quaker point of view and of great value because of the quotations from +original documents and letters, and "History of Pennsylvania from its +Discovery by Europeans to the Declaration of Independence in 1776" +(1829) by T. F. Gordon, largely an epitome of the debates of the +Pennsylvania Assembly which recorded in its minutes in fascinating +old-fashioned English the whole history of the province from year to +year. Franklin's "Historical Review of the Constitution and Government +of Pennsylvania from its Origin" (1759) is a storehouse of information +about the history of the province in the French and Indian wars. Much +of the history of the province is to be found in the letters of Penn, +Franklin, Logan, and Lloyd, and in such collections as Samuel Hazard's +"Register of Pennsylvania," 16 vols. (1828-36), "Colonial Records," 16 +vols. (1851-53), and "Pennsylvania Archives" (1874-). A vast amount of +material is scattered in pamphlets, in files of colonial newspapers +like the "Pennsylvania Gazette," in the publications of the Historical +Society of Pennsylvania, and in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History +and Biography" (1877-). Recent histories of the province have +been written by Isaac Sharpless, "History of Quaker Government in +Pennsylvania," 2 vols. (1898-99), and by Sydney G. Fisher, "The Making +of Pennsylvania" (1896) and "Pennsylvania, Colony and Commonwealth" +(1897). A scholarly "History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania" +has been published by William R. Shepherd in the "Columbia University +Studies" (1896) and the "Relations of Pennsylvania with the British +Government, 1696-1765" (1912) have been traced with painstaking care by +Winfred T. Root. + +Concerning the racial and religious elements in Pennsylvania the +following books contribute much valuable information: A. B. Faust, +"The German Element in the United States," 2 vols. (1909); A. C. Myers, +"Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750" (1909); +S. W. Pennypacker, "Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the +Beginning of German Immigration to North America" (1899); J. F. Sachse, +"The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania, 1694-1708" (1895), and +"The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 1708-1800," 2 vols. +(1899-1900); L. O. Kuhns, "The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial +Pennsylvania" (1901); H. J. Ford, "The Scotch-Irish in America" (1915); +T. A. Glenn, "Merion in the Welsh Tract" (1896). + +The older histories of New Jersey, like those of Pennsylvania, contain +valuable original material not found elsewhere. Among these Samuel +Smith's "The History of the Colony of Nova Casaria, or New Jersey" +(1765) should have first place. E. B. O'Callaghan's "History of New +Netherland," 2 vols. (1846), and J. R. Brodhead's "History of the State +of New York," 2 vols. (1853, 1871) contain also information about the +Jerseys under Dutch rule. Other important works are: W. A. Whitehead's +"East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments" (New Jersey Historical +Society "Collections," vol.1, 1875), and "The English in East and West +Jersey" in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. +III, L. Q. C. Elmer's "The Constitution and Government of the Province +and State of New Jersey" (New Jersey Historical Society Collections, +vols. III and VII, 1849 and 1872.) Special studies have been made by +Austin Scott, "Influence of the Proprietors in the Founding of New +Jersey" (1885), and by H. S. Cooley, "Study of Slavery in New Jersey" +(1896), both in the Johns Hopkins University "Studies;" also by E. P. +Tanner, "The Province of New Jersey" (1908) and by E. J. Fisher, "New +Jersey as a Royal Province, 1738-1776" (1911) in the Columbia University +"Studies." Several county histories yield excellent material +concerning the life and times of the colonists, notably Isaac Mickle's +"Reminiscences of Old Gloucester" (1845) and L. T. Stevens's "The +History of Cape May County" (1897) which are real histories written +in scholarly fashion and not to be confused with the vulgar county +histories gotten up to sell. + +The Dutch and Swedish occupation of the lands bordering on the Delaware +may be followed in the following histories: Benjamin Ferris, "A History +of the Original Settlements of the Delaware" (1846); Francis Vincent, +"A History of the State of Delaware" (1870); J. T. Scharf, "History of +Delaware, 1609-1888," 2 vols. (1888); Karl K. S. Sprinchorn, Kolonien +Nya Sveriges Historia (1878), translated in the "Pennsylvania Magazine +of History and Biography," vols. VII and VIII. In volume IV of Winsor's +"Narrative and Critical History of America" is a chapter contributed +by G. B. Keen on "New Sweden, or The Swedes on the Delaware." The most +recent minute work on the subject is "The Swedish Settlements on the +Delaware," 2 vols. (1911) by Amandus Johnson. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quaker Colonies, by Sydney G. Fisher + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUAKER COLONIES *** + +***** This file should be named 3043.txt or 3043.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/3043/ + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, and Alev Akman. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Fisher + + +THIS BOOK, VOLUME 8 IN THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES, ALLEN +JOHNSON, EDITOR, WAS DONATED TO PROJECT GUTENBERG BY THE JAMES J. +KELLY LIBRARY OF ST. GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + +THE QUAKER COLONIES, A CHRONICLE OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE +DELAWARE + +By Sydney G. Fisher + +New Haven: Yale University Press +Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co. +London: Humphrey Milford +Oxford University Press + +1919 + + +CONTENTS + +I. THE BIRTH OF PENNSYLVANIA +II. PENN SAILS FOR THE DELAWARE +III. LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA +IV. TYPES OF THE POPULATION +V. THE TROUBLES OF PENN AND HIS SONS +VI. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR +VII. THE DECLINE OF QUAKER GOVERNMENT +VIII. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW JERSEY +IX. PLANTERS AND TRADERS OF SOUTHERN JERSEY +X. SCOTCH COVENANTERS AND OTHERS IN EAST JERSEY +XI. THE UNITED JERSEYS +XII. LITTLE DELAWARE +XIII. THE ENGLISH CONQUEST +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + +THE QUAKER COLONIES + +Chapter I. The Birth Of Pennsylvania + +In 1661, the year after Charles II was restored to the throne of +England, William Penn was a seventeen-year-old student at Christ +Church, Oxford. His father, a distinguished admiral in high favor +at Court, had abandoned his erstwhile friends and had aided in +restoring King Charlie to his own again. Young William was +associating with the sons of the aristocracy and was receiving an +education which would fit him to obtain preferment at Court. But +there was a serious vein in him, and while at a high church +Oxford College he was surreptitiously attending the meetings and +listening to the preaching of the despised and outlawed Quakers. +There he first began to hear of the plans of a group of Quakers +to found colonies on the Delaware in America. Forty years +afterwards he wrote, "I had an opening of joy as to these parts +in the year 1661 at Oxford." And with America and the Quakers, in +spite of a brief youthful experience as a soldier and a courtier, +William Penn's life, as well as his fame, is indissolubly linked. + +Quakerism was one of the many religious sects born in the +seventeenth century under the influence of Puritan thought. The +foundation principle of the Reformation, the right of private +judgment, the Quakers carried out to its logical conclusion; but +they were people whose minds had so long been suppressed and +terrorized that, once free, they rushed to extremes. They shocked +and horrified even the most advanced Reformation sects by +rejecting Baptism, the doctrine of the Trinity, and all +sacraments, forms, and ceremonies. They represented, on their +best side, the most vigorous effort of the Reformation to return +to the spirituality and the simplicity of the early Christians. +But their intense spirituality, pathetic often in its extreme +manifestations, was not wholly concerned with another world. +Their humane ideas and philanthropic methods, such as the +abolition of slavery, and the reform of prisons and of charitable +institutions, came in time to be accepted as fundamental +practical social principles. + +The tendencies of which Quakerism formed only one manifestation +appeared outside of England, in Italy, in France, and especially +in Germany. The fundamental Quaker idea of "quietism," as it was +called, or peaceful, silent contemplation as a spiritual form of +worship and as a development of moral consciousness, was very +widespread at the close of the Reformation and even began to be +practiced in the Roman Catholic Church until it was stopped by +the Jesuits. The most extreme of the English Quakers, however, +gave way to such extravagances of conduct as trembling when they +preached (whence their name), preaching openly in the streets and +fields--a horrible thing at that time--interrupting other +congregations, and appearing naked as a sign and warning. They +gave offense by refusing to remove their hats in public and by +applying to all alike the words "thee" and "thou," a form of +address hitherto used only to servants and inferiors. Worst of +all, the Quakers refused to pay tithes or taxes to support the +Church of England. As a result, the loathsome jails of the day +were soon filled with these objectors, and their property melted +away in fines. This contumacy and their street meetings, regarded +at that time as riotous breaches of the peace, gave the +Government at first a legal excuse to hunt them down; but as they +grew in numbers and influence, laws were enacted to suppress +them. Some of them, though not the wildest extremists, escaped to +the colonies in America. There, however, they were made welcome +to conditions no less severe. + +The first law against the Quakers in Massachusetts was passed in +1656, and between that date and 1660 four of the sect were +hanged, one of them a woman, Mary Dyer. Though there were no +other hangings, many Quakers were punished by whipping and +banishment. In other colonies, notably New York, fines and +banishment were not uncommon. Such treatment forced the Quakers, +against the will of many of them, to seek a tract of land and +found a colony of their own. To such a course there appeared no +alternative, unless they were determined to establish their +religion solely by martyrdom. + +About the time when the Massachusetts laws were enforced, the +principal Quaker leader and organizer, George Fox (1624-1691), +began to consider the possibility of making a settlement among +the great forests and mountains said to lie north of Maryland in +the region drained by the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In +this region lay practically the only good land on the Atlantic +seaboard not already occupied. The Puritans and Dutch were on the +north, and there were Catholic and Church of England colonies on +the south in Maryland and Virginia. The middle ground was +unoccupied because heretofore a difficult coast had prevented +easy access by sea. Fox consulted Josiah Coale, a Quaker who had +traveled in America and had seen a good deal of the Indian +tribes, with the result that on his second visit to America Coale +was commissioned to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, who were +supposed to have rights in the desired land. In November, 1660, +Coale reported to Fox the result of his inquiries: "As concerning +Friends buying a piece of land of the Susquehanna Indians I have +spoken of it to them and told them what thou said concerning it; +but their answer was, that there is no land that is habitable or +fit for situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come to or +near the Susquehanna's Fort."* Nothing could be done +immediately, the letter went on to say, because the Indians were +at war with one another, and William Fuller, a Maryland Quaker, +whose cooperation was deemed essential, was absent. + +* James Bowden's "History of the Friends in America," vol. I, p. +389 + + +This seems to have been the first definite movement towards a +Quaker colony. Reports of it reached the ears of young Penn at +Oxford and set his imagination aflame. He never forgot the +project, for seventeen is an age when grand thoughts strike home. +The adventurousness of the plan was irresistible--a home for the +new faith in the primeval forest, far from imprisonment, tithes, +and persecution, and to be won by effort worthy of a man. It was, +however, a dream destined not to be realized for many a long +year. More was needed than the mere consent of the Indians. In +the meantime, however, a temporary refuge for the sect was found +in the province of West Jersey on the Delaware, which two Quakers +had bought from Lord Berkeley for the comparatively small sum of +1000 pounds. Of this grant William Penn became one of the +trustees and thus gained his first experience in the business of +colonizing the region of his youthful dreams. But there was never +a sufficient governmental control of West Jersey to make it an +ideal Quaker colony. What little control the Quakers exercised +disappeared after 1702; and the land and situation were not all +that could be desired. Penn, though also one of the owners of +East Jersey, made no attempt to turn that region into a Quaker +colony. + +Besides West Jersey the Quakers found a temporary asylum in +Aquidneck, now Rhode Island.* For many years the governors and +magistrates were Quakers, and the affairs of this island colony +were largely in their hands. Quakers were also prominent in the +politics of North Carolina, and John Archdale, a Quaker, was +Governor for several years. They formed a considerable element of +the population in the towns of Long Island and Westchester County +but they could not hope to convert these communities into real +Quaker commonwealths. + +* This Rhode Island colony should be distinguished from the +settlement at Providence founded by Roger Williams with which it +was later united. See Jones, "The Quakers in the American +Colonies," p. 21, note. + + +The experience in the Jerseys and elsewhere very soon proved that +if there was to be a real Quaker colony, the British Crown must +give not only a title to the land but a strong charter +guaranteeing self-government and protection of the Quaker faith +from outside interference. But that the British Government would +grant such valued privileges to a sect of schismatics which it +was hunting down in England seemed a most unlikely event. Nothing +but unusual influence at Court could bring it about, and in that +quarter the Quakers had no influence. + +Penn never forgot the boyhood ideal which he had developed at +college. For twenty years he led a varied life--driven from home +and whipped by his father for consorting with the schismatic; +sometimes in deference to his father's wishes taking his place in +the gay world at Court; even, for a time, becoming a soldier, and +again traveling in France with some of the people of the Court. +In the end, as he grew older, religious feeling completely +absorbed him. He became one of the leading Quaker theologians, +and his very earnest religious writings fill several volumes. He +became a preacher at the meetings and went to prison for his +heretical doctrines and pamphlets. At last he found himself at +the age of thirty-six with his father dead, and a debt due from +the Crown of 16,000 pounds for services which his distinguished +father, the admiral, had rendered the Government. + +Here was the accident that brought into being the great Quaker +colony, by a combination of circumstances which could hardly have +happened twice. Young Penn was popular at Court. He had inherited +a valuable friendship with Charles II and his heir, the Duke of +York. This friendship rested on the solid fact that Penn's +father, the admiral, had rendered such signal assistance in +restoring Charles and the whole Stuart line to the throne. But +still 16,000 pounds or $80,000, the accumulation of many deferred +payments, was a goodly sum in those days, and that the Crown +would pay it in money, of which it had none too much, was +unlikely. Why not therefore suggest paying it instead in wild +land in America, of which the Crown had abundance? That was the +fruitful thought which visited Penn. Lord Berkeley and Lord +Carteret had been given New Jersey because they had signally +helped to restore the Strait family to the throne. All the more +therefore should the Stuart family give a tract of land, and even +a larger tract, to Penn, whose father had not only assisted the +family to the throne but had refrained so long from pressing his +just claim for money due. + +So the Crown, knowing little of the value of it, granted him the +most magnificent domain of mountains; lakes, rivers, and forests, +fertile soil, coal, petroleum, and iron that ever was given to a +single proprietor. In addition to giving Penn the control of +Delaware and, with certain other Quakers, that of New Jersey as +well, the Crown placed at the disposal of the Quakers 55,000 +square miles of most valuable, fertile territory, lacking only +about three thousand square miles of being as large as England +and Wales. Even when cut down to 45,000 square miles by a +boundary dispute with Maryland, it was larger than Ireland. Kings +themselves have possessed such dominions, but never before a +private citizen who scorned all titles and belonged to a hunted +sect that exalted peace and spiritual contemplation above all the +wealth and power of the world. Whether the obtaining of this +enormous tract of the best land in America was due to what may be +called the eternal thriftiness of the Quaker mind or to the +intense desire of the British Government to get rid of these +people--at any cost might be hard to determine. + +Penn received his charter in 1681, and in it he was very careful +to avoid all the mistakes of the Jersey proprietary grants. +Instead of numerous proprietors, Penn was to be the sole +proprietor. Instead of giving title to the land and remaining +silent about the political government, Penn's charter not only +gave him title to the land but a clearly defined position as its +political head, and described the principles of the government so +clearly that there was little room for doubt or dispute. + +It was a decidedly feudal charter, very much like the one granted +to Lord Baltimore fifty years before, and yet at the same time it +secured civil liberty and representative government to the +people. Penn owned all the land and the colonists were to be his +tenants. He was compelled, however, to give his people free +government. The laws were to be made by him with the assent of +the people or their delegates. In practice this of course meant +that the people were to elect a legislature and Penn would have a +veto, as we now call it, on such acts as the legislature should +pass. He had power to appoint magistrates, judges, and some other +officers, and to grant pardons. Though, by the charter, +proprietor +of the province, he usually remained in England and appointed a +deputy governor to exercise authority in the colony. In modern +phrase, he controlled the executive part of the government and +his people controlled the legislative part. + +Pennsylvania, besides being the largest in area of the +proprietary colonies, was also the most successful, not only from +the proprietor's point of view but also from the point of view of +the inhabitants. The proprietorships in Maine, New Hampshire, New +Jersey, and the Carolinas were largely failures. Maryland was +only partially successful; it was not particularly remunerative +to its owner, and the Crown deprived him of his control of it for +twenty years. Penn, too, was deprived of the control of +Pennsylvania by William III but for only about two years. Except +for this brief interval (1692-1694), Penn and his sons after him +held their province down to the time of the American Revolution +in 1776, a period of ninety-four years. + +A feudal proprietorship, collecting rents from all the people, +seems to modern minds grievously wrong in theory, and yet it +would be very difficult to show that it proved onerous in +practice. Under it the people of Pennsylvania flourished in +wealth, peace, and happiness. Penn won undying fame for the +liberal principles of his feudal enterprise. His expenses in +England were so great and his quitrents always so much in arrears +that he was seldom out of debt. But his children grew rich from +the province. As in other provinces that were not feudal there +were disputes between the people and the proprietors; but there +was not so much general dissatisfaction as might have been +expected. The proprietors were on the whole not altogether +disliked. In the American Revolution, when the people could have +confiscated everything in Pennsylvania belonging to the +proprietary family, they not only left them in possession of a +large part of their land, but paid them handsomely for the part +that was taken. + +After Penn had secured his charter in 1681, he obtained from the +Duke of York the land now included in the State of Delaware. He +advertised for colonists, and began selling land at 100 pounds +for five thousand acres and annually thereafter a shilling +quitrent for every hundred acres. He drew up a constitution or +frame of government, as he called it, after wide and earnest +consultation with many, including the famous Algernon Sydney. +Among the Penn papers in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania +is a collection of about twenty preliminary drafts. Beginning +with one which erected a government by a landed aristocracy, they +became more and more liberal, until in the end his frame was very +much like the most liberal government of the other English +colonies in America. He had a council and an assembly, both +elected by the people. The council, however, was very large, had +seventy-two members, and was more like an upper house of the +Legislature than the usual colonial governor's council. The +council also had the sole right of proposing legislation, and the +assembly could merely accept or reject its proposals. This was a +new idea, and it worked so badly in practice that in the end the +province went to the opposite extreme and had no council or upper +house of the Legislature at all. + +Penn's frame of government contained, however, a provision for +its own amendment. This was a new idea and proved to be so happy +that it is now found in all American constitutions. His method of +impeachment by which the lower house was to bring in the charge +and the upper house was to try it has also been universally +adopted. His view that an unconstitutional law is void was a step +towards our modern system. The next step, giving the courts power +to declare a law unconstitutional, was not taken until one +hundred years after his time. With the advice and assistance of +some of those who were going out to his colony he prepared a code +of laws which contained many of the advanced ideas of the +Quakers. Capital punishment was to be confined to murder and +treason, instead of being applied as in England to a host of +minor offenses. The property of murderers, instead of being +forfeited to the State, was to be divided among the next of kin +of the victim and of the criminal. Religious liberty was +established as it had been in Rhode Island and the Jerseys. All +children were to be taught a useful trade. Oaths in judicial +proceedings were not required. All prisons were to be workhouses +and places of reformation instead of dungeons of dirt, idleness, +and disease. This attempt to improve the prisons inaugurated a +movement of great importance in the modern world in which the +part played by the Quakers is too often forgotten. + +Penn had now started his "Holy Experiment," as he called his +enterprise in Pennsylvania, by which he intended to prove that +religious liberty was not only right, but that agriculture, +commerce, and all arts and refinements of life would flourish +under it. He would break the delusion that prosperity and morals +were possible only under some one particular faith established by +law. He, would prove that government could be carried on without +war and without oaths, and that primitive Christianity could be +maintained without a hireling ministry, without persecution, +without ridiculous dogmas or ritual, sustained only by its own +innate power and the inward light. + + + +Chapter II. Penn Sails For The Delaware + +The framing of the constitution and other preparations consumed +the year following Penn's receipt of his charter in 1681. But at +last, on August 30, 1682, he set sail in the ship Welcome, with +about a hundred colonists. After a voyage of about six weeks, and +the loss of thirty of their number by smallpox, they arrived in +the Delaware. June would have been a somewhat better month in +which to see the rich luxuriance of the green meadows and forests +of this beautiful river. But the autumn foliage and bracing air +of October must have been inspiring enough. The ship slowly beat +her way for three days up the bay and river in the silence and +romantic loneliness of its shores. Everything indicated richness +and fertility. At some points the lofty trees of the primeval +forest grew down to the water's edge. The river at every high +tide overflowed great meadows grown up in reeds and grasses and +red and yellow flowers, stretching back to the borders of the +forest and full of water birds and wild fowl of every variety. +Penn, now in the prime of life, must surely have been aroused by +this scene and by the reflection that the noble river was his and +the vast stretches of forests and mountains for three hundred +miles to the westward. + +He was soon ashore, exploring the edge of his mighty domain, +settling his government, and passing his laws. He was much +pleased with the Swedes whom he found on his land. He changed the +name of the little Swedish village of Upland, fifteen miles below +Philadelphia, to Chester. He superintended laying out the streets +of Philadelphia and they remain to this day substantially as he +planned them, though unfortunately too narrow and monotonously +regular. He met the Indians at Philadelphia, sat with them at +their fires, ate their roasted corn, and when to amuse him they +showed him some of their sports and games he renewed his college +days by joining them in a jumping match. + +Then he started on journeys. He traveled through the woods to +New York, which then belonged to the Duke of York, who had given +him Delaware; he visited the Long Island Quakers; and on his +return he went to Maryland to meet with much pomp and ceremony +Lord Baltimore and there discuss with him the disputed boundary. +He even crossed to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake to visit a +Quaker meeting on the Choptank before winter set in, and he +describes the immense migration of wild pigeons at that season, +and the ducks which flew so low and were so tame that the +colonists knocked them down with sticks. + +Most of the winter he spent at Chester and wrote to England in +high spirits of his journeys, the wonders of the country, the +abundance of game and provisions, and the twenty-three ships +which had arrived so swiftly that few had taken longer than six +weeks, and only three had been infected with the smallpox. "Oh +how sweet," he says, "is the quiet of these parts, freed from the +anxious and troublesome solicitations, hurries and perplexities +of woful Europe." + +As the weeks and months passed, ships kept arriving with more +Quakers, far exceeding the migration to the Jerseys. By summer, +Penn reported that 50 sail had arrived within the past year, 80 +houses had been built in Philadelphia, and about 300 farms had +been laid out round the town. It is supposed that about 8000 +immigrants had arrived. This was a more rapid development than +was usual in the colonies of America. Massachusetts and Virginia +had been established slowly and with much privation and +suffering. But the settlement of Philadelphia was like a summer +outing. There were no dangers, the hardships were trifling, and +there was no sickness or famine. There was such an abundance of +game close at hand that hunger and famine were in nowise to be +feared. The climate was good and the Indians, kindly treated, +remained friendly for seventy years. + +It is interesting to note that in that same year, 1682, in which +Penn and his friends with such ease and comfort founded their +great colony on the Delaware, the French explorers and voyageurs +from Canada, after years of incredible hardships, had traversed +the northern region of the Great Lakes with their canoes and had +passed down the Mississippi to its mouth, giving to the whole of +the Great West the name of Louisiana, and claiming it for France. +Already La Salle had taken his fleet of canoes down the +Mississippi River and had placed the arms of France on a post at +its mouth in April, 1682, only a few months before Penn reached +his newly acquired colony. Thus in the same year in which the +Quakers established in Pennsylvania their reign of liberty and of +peace with the red men, La Salle was laying the foundation of the +western empire of despotic France, which seventy years afterwards +was to hurl the savages upon the English colonies, to wreck the +Quaker policy of peace, but to fail in the end to maintain itself +against the free colonies of England. + +While they were building houses in Philadelphia, the settlers +lived in bark huts or in caves dug in the river bank, as the +early settlers in New Jersey across the river had lived. +Pastorius, a learned German Quaker, who had come out with the, +English, placed over the door of his cave the motto, "Parva +domus, sed amica bonis, procul este profani," which much amused +Penn when he saw it. A certain Mrs. Morris was much exercised one +day as to how she could provide supper in the cave for her +husband who was working on the construction of their house. But +on returning to her cave she found that her cat had just brought +in a fine rabbit. In their later prosperous years they had a +picture of the cat and the rabbit made on a box which has +descended as a family heirloom. Doubtless there were preserved +many other interesting reminiscences of the brief camp life. +These Quakers were all of the thrifty, industrious type which had +gone to West Jersey a few years before. Men of means, indeed, +among the Quakers were the first to seek refuge from the fines +and confiscations imposed upon them in England. They brought with +them excellent supplies of everything. Many of the ships carried +the frames of houses ready to put together. But substantial +people of this sort demanded for the most part houses of brick, +with stone cellars. Fortunately both brick clay and stone were +readily obtainable in the neighborhood, and whatever may have +been the case in other colonies, ships loaded with brick from +England would have found it little to their profit to touch at +Philadelphia. An early description says that the brick houses in +Philadelphia were modeled on those of London, and this type +prevailed for nearly two hundred years. + +It was probably in June, 1683, that Penn made his famous treaty +with the Indians. No documentary proof of the existence of such a +treaty has reached us. He made, indeed, a number of so-called +treaties, which were really only purchases of land involving oral +promises between the principals to treat each other fairly. +Hundreds of such treaties have been made. The remarkable part +about Penn's dealings with the Indians was that such promises as +he made he kept. The other Quakers, too, were as careful as Penn +in their honorable treatment of the red men. Quaker families of +farmers and settlers lived unarmed among them for generations +and, when absent from home, left children in their care. The +Indians, on their part, were known to have helped white families +with food in winter time. Penn, on his first visit to the colony, +made a long journey unarmed among the Indians as far as the +Susquehanna, saw the great herds of elk on that river, lived in +Indian wigwams, and learned much of the language and customs of +the natives. There need never be any trouble with them, he said. +They were the easiest people in the world to get on with if the +white men would simply be just. Penn's fair treatment of the +Indians kept Pennsylvania at peace with them for about seventy +years--in fact, from 1682 until the outbreak of the French and +Indian Wars, in 1755. In its critical period of growth, +Pennsylvania was therefore not at all harassed or checked by +those Indian hostilities which were such a serious impediment in +other colonies. + +The two years of Penn's first visit were probably the happiest of +his life. Always fond of the country, he built himself a fine +seat on the Delaware near Bristol, and it would have been better +for him, and probably also for the colony, if he had remained +there. But he thought he had duties in England: his family needed +him; he must defend his people from the religious oppression +still prevailing; and Lord Baltimore had gone to England to +resist him in the boundary dispute. One of the more narrow-minded +of his faith wrote to Penn from England that he was enjoying +himself too much in his colony and seeking his own selfish +interest. Influenced by all these considerations, he returned in +August, 1684, and it was long before he saw Pennsylvania +again--not, indeed, until October, 1699, and then for only two +years. + + +Chapter III. Life In Philadelphia + +The rapid increase of population and the growing prosperity in +Pennsylvania during the life of its founder present a striking +contrast to the slower and more troubled growth of the other +British colonies in America. The settlers in Pennsylvania engaged +at once in profitable agriculture. The loam, clay, and limestone +soils on the Pennsylvania tide of the Delaware produced heavy +crops of grain, as well as pasture for cattle and valuable lumber +from its forests. The Pennsylvania settlers were of a class +particularly skilled in dealing with the soil. They apparently +encountered none of the difficulties, due probably to incompetent +farming, which beset the settlers of Delaware, whose land was as +good as that of the Pennsylvania colonists. + +In a few years the port of Philadelphia was loading abundant +cargoes for England and the great West India trade. After much +experimenting with different places on the river, such as New +Castle, Wilmington, Salem, Burlington, the Quakers had at last +found the right location for a great seat of commerce and trade +that could serve as a center for the export of everything from +the region behind it and around it. Philadelphia thus soon became +the basis of a prosperity which no other townsite on the Delaware +had been able to attain. The Quakers of Philadelphia were the +soundest of financiers and men of business, and in their skillful +hands the natural resources of their colony were developed +without setback or accident. At an early date banking +institutions were established in Philadelphia, and the strongest +colonial merchants and mercantile firms had their offices there. +It was out of such a sound business life that were produced in +Revolutionary times such characters as Robert Morris and after +the Revolution men like Stephen Girard. + +Pennsylvania in colonial times was ruled from Philadelphia +somewhat as France has always been ruled from Paris. And yet +there was a difference: Pennsylvania had free government. The +Germans and the Scotch-Irish outnumbered the Quakers and could +have controlled the Legislature, for in 1750 out of a population +of 150,000 the Quakers were only about 50,000; and yet the +Legislature down to the Revolution was always confided to the +competent hands of the Quakers. No higher tribute, indeed, has +ever been paid to any group of people as governors of a +commonwealth and architects of its finance and trade. + +It is a curious commentary on the times and on human nature that +these Quaker folk, treated as outcasts and enemies of good order +and religion in England and gradually losing all their property +in heavy fines and confiscations, should so suddenly in the +wilderness prove the capacity of their "Holy Experiment" for +achieving the best sort of good order and material success. They +immediately built a most charming little town by the waterside, +snug and pretty with its red brick houses in the best +architectural style. It was essentially a commercial town down to +the time of the Revolution and long afterwards. The principal +residences were on Water Street, the second street from the +wharves. The town in those days extended back only as far as +Fourth Street, and the State House, now Independence Hall, an +admirable instance of the local brick architecture, stood on the +edge of the town. The Pennsylvania Hospital, the first +institution +of its kind to be built in America, was situated out in the +fields. + +Through the town ran a stream following the line of the present +Dock Street. Its mouth had been a natural landing place for the +first explorers and for the Indians from time immemorial. Here +stood a neat tavern, the Blue Anchor, with its dovecotes in old +English style, looking out for many a year over the river with +its fleet of small boats. Along the wharves lay the very solid, +broad, somber, Quaker-like brick warehouses, some of which have +survived into modern times. Everywhere were to be found ships and +the good seafaring smell of tar and hemp. Ships were built and +fitted out alongside docks where other ships were lading. A +privateer would receive her equipment of guns, pistols, and +cutlasses on one side of a wharf, while on the other side a ship +was peacefully loading wheat or salted provisions for the West +Indies. + +Everybody's attention in those days was centered on the water +instead of inland on railroads as it is today. Commerce was the +source of wealth of the town as agriculture was the wealth of the +interior of the province. Every one lived close to the river and +had an interest in the rise and fall of the tide. The little town +extended for a mile along the water but scarcely half a mile back +from it. All communication with other places, all news from the +world of Europe came from the ships, whose captains brought the +letters and the few newspapers which reached the colonists. An +important ship on her arrival often fired a gun and dropped +anchor with some ceremony. Immediately the shore boats swarmed to +her side; the captain was besieged for news and usually brought +the letters ashore to be distributed at the coffeehouse. This +institution took the place of the modern stock exchange, clearing +house, newspaper, university, club, and theater all under one +roof, with plenty to eat and drink besides. Within its rooms +vessels and cargoes were sold; before its door negro slaves were +auctioned off; and around it as a common center were brought +together all sorts of business, valuable information, gossip, and +scandal. It must have been a brilliant scene in the evening, with +the candles lighting embroidered red and yellow waistcoats, blue +and scarlet Coats, green and black velvet, with the rich drab and +mouse color of the prosperous Quakers contrasting with the +uniforms of British officers come to fight the French and Indian +wars. Sound, as well as color, had its place in this busy and +happy colonial life. Christ Church, a brick building which still +stands the perfection of colonial architecture had been +established by the Church of England people defiantly in the +midst of heretical Quakerdom. It soon possessed a chime of bells +sent out from England. Captain Budden, who brought them in his +ship Myrtilla, would charge no freight for so charitable a deed, +and in consequence of his generosity every time he and his ship +appeared in the harbor the bells were rung in his honor. They +were rung on market days to please the farmers who came into town +with their wagons loaded with poultry and vegetables. They were +rung muffled in times of public disaster and were kept busy in +that way in the French and Indian wars. They were also rung +muffled for Franklin when it was learned that while in London he +had favored the Stamp Act--a means of expressing popular opinion +which the newspapers subsequently put out of date. + +The severe Quaker code of conduct and peaceful contemplation +contains no prohibition against good eating and drinking. Quakers +have been known to have the gout. The opportunities in +Philadelphia to enjoy the pleasures of the table were soon +unlimited. Farm, garden, and dairy products, vegetables, poultry, +beef, and mutton were soon produced in immense quantity and +variety and of excellent quality. John Adams, coming from the +"plain living and high thinking" of Boston to attend the first +meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, was invited +to dine with Stephen Collins, a typical Quaker, and was amazed at +the feast set before him. From that time his diary records one +after another of these "sinful feasts," as he calls them. But the +sin at which he thus looks askance never seems to have withheld +him from a generous indulgence. "Drank Madeira at a great rate," +he says on one occasion, "and took no harm from it." Madeira +obtained in the trade with Spain was the popular drink even at +the taverns. Various forms of punch and rum were common, but the +modern light wines and champagne were not then in vogue. + +Food in great quantity and variety seems to have been placed on +the table at the same time, with little regard to formal courses. +Beef, poultry, and mutton would all be served at one dinner. +Fruit and nuts were placed on the table in profusion, as well as +puddings and desserts numerous and deadly. Dinners were served +usually in the afternoon. The splendid banquet which Adams +describes as given to some members of the Continental Congress by +Chief Justice Chew at his country seat was held at four in the +afternoon. The dinner hour was still in the afternoon long after +the Revolution and down to the times of the Civil War. Other +relics of this old love of good living lasted into modern times. +It was not so very long ago that an occasional householder of +wealth and distinction in Philadelphia could still be found who +insisted on doing his own marketing in the old way, going himself +the first thing in the morning on certain days to the excellent +markets and purchasing all the family supplies. Philadelphia +poultry is still famous the country over; and to be a good judge +of poultry was in the old days as much a point of merit as to be +a good judge of Madeira. A typical Philadelphian, envious New +Yorkers say, will still keep a line of depositors waiting at a +bank while he discourses to the receiving teller on what a +splendid purchase of poultry he had made that morning. Early in +the last century a wealthy leader of the bar is said to have +continued the old practice of going to market followed by a negro +with a wheelbarrow to bring back the supplies. Not content with +feasting in their own homes, the colonial Philadelphians were +continually banqueting at the numerous taverns, from the Coach +and Horses, opposite the State House, down to the Penny Pot Inn +close by the river. At the Coach and Horses, where the city +elections were usually held, the discarded oyster shells around +it had been trampled into a hard white and smooth floor over +which surged the excited election crowds. In those taverns the +old fashion prevailed of roasting great joints of meat on a +turnspit before an open fire; and to keep the spit turning before +the heat little dogs were trained to work in a sort of treadmill +cage. + +In nothing is this colonial prosperity better revealed than in +the quality of the country seats. They were usually built of +stone and sometimes of brick and stone, substantial, beautifully +proportioned, admirable in taste, with a certain simplicity, yet +indicating a people of wealth, leisure, and refinement, who +believed in themselves and took pleasure in adorning their lives. +Not a few of these homes on the outskirts of the city have come +down to us unharmed, and Cliveden, Stenton, and Belmont are +precious relics of such solid structure that with ordinary care +they will still last for centuries. Many were destroyed during +the Revolution; others, such as Landsdowne, the seat of one of +the Penn family, built in the Italian style, have disappeared; +others were wiped out by the city's growth. All of them, even the +small ones, were most interesting and typical of the life of the +times. The colonists began to build them very early. A family +would have a solid, brick town house and, only a mile or so away, +a country house which was equally substantial. Sometimes they +built at a greater distance. Governor Keith, for example, had a +country seat, still standing though built in the middle of the +eighteenth century, some twenty-five miles north of the city in +what was then almost a wilderness. + +Penn's ideal had always been to have Philadelphia what he called +"a green country town." Probably he had in mind the beautiful +English towns of abundant foliage and open spaces. And Penn was +successful, for many of the Philadelphia houses stood by +themselves, with gardens round them. The present Walnut was first +called Pool Street; Chestnut was called Winn Street; and Market +was called High Street. If he could have foreseen the enormous +modern growth of the city, he might not have made his streets so +narrow and level. But the fault lies perhaps rather with the +people for adhering so rigidly and for so long to Penn's scheme, +when traffic that he could not have imagined demanded wider +streets. If he could have lived into our times he would surely +have sent us very positive directions in his bluff British way to +break up the original rectangular, narrow plan which was becoming +dismally monotonous when applied to a widely spread-out modern +city. He was a theologian, but he had a very keen eye for +appearances and beauty of surroundings. + + + +Chapter IV. Types Of The Population + +The arrival of colonists in Pennsylvania in greater numbers than +in Delaware and the Jerseys was the more notable because, within +a few years after Pennsylvania was founded, persecution of the +Quakers ceased in England and one prolific cause of their +migration was no more. Thirteen hundred Quakers were released +from prison in 1686 by James II; and in 1689, when William of +Orange took the throne, toleration was extended to the Quakers +and other Protestant dissenters. + +The success of the first Quakers who came to America brought +others even after persecution ceased in England. The most +numerous class of immigrants for the first fifteen or twenty +years were Welsh, most of whom were Quakers with a few Baptists +and Church of England people. They may have come not so much from +a desire to flee from persecution as to build up a little Welsh +community and to revive Welsh nationalism. In their new +surroundings they spoke their own Welsh language and very few of +them had learned English. They had been encouraged in their +national aspirations by an agreement with Penn that they were to +have a tract of 40,000 acres where they could live by themselves. +The land assigned to them lay west of Philadelphia in that high +ridge along the present main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, +now so noted for its wealthy suburban homes. All the important +names of townships and places in that region, such as Wynnewood, +St. Davids, Berwyn, Bryn Mawr, Merion, Haverford, Radnor, are +Welsh in origin. Some of the Welsh spread round to the north of +Philadelphia, where names like Gwynedd and Penllyn remain as +their memorials. The Chester Valley bordering the high ridge of +their first settlement they called Duffrin Mawr or Great Valley. + +These Welsh, like so many of the Quakers, were of a well-to-do +class. They rapidly developed their fertile land and, for +pioneers, lived quite luxuriously. They had none of the usual +county and township officers but ruled their Welsh Barony, as it +was called, through the authority of their Quaker meetings. But +this system eventually disappeared. The Welsh were absorbed into +the English population, and in a couple of generations their +language disappeared. Prominent people are descended from them. +David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, was Welsh on his mother's +side. David Lloyd, for a long time the leader of the popular +party and at one time Chief Justice, was a Welshman. Since the +Revolution the Welsh names of Cadwalader and Meredith have been +conspicuous. + +The Church of England people formed a curious and decidedly +hostile element in the early population of Pennsylvania. They +established themselves in Philadelphia in the beginning and +rapidly grew into a political party which, while it cannot be +called very strong in numbers, was important in ability and +influence. After Penn's death, his sons joined the Church of +England, and the Churchmen in the province became still stronger. +They formed the basis of the proprietary party, filled executive +offices in the Government, and waged relentless war against the +Quaker majority which controlled the Legislature. During Penn's +lifetime the Churchmen were naturally opposed to the whole +government, both executive and legislative. They were constantly +sending home to England all sorts of reports and information +calculated to show that the Quakers were unfit to rule a +province, that Penn should be deprived of his charter, and that +Pennsylvania should be put under the direct rule of the King. + +They had delightful schemes for making it a strong Church of +England colony like Virginia. One of them suggested that, as the +title to the Three Lower Counties, as Delaware was called, was in +dispute, it should be taken by the Crown and given to the Church +as a manor to support a bishop. Such an ecclesiastic certainly +could have lived in princely state from the rents of its fertile +farms, with a palace, retinue, chamberlains, chancellors, feudal +courts, and all the appendages of earthly glory. For the sake of +the picturesqueness of colonial history it is perhaps a pity that +this pious plan was never carried out. + +As it was, however, the Churchmen established themselves with not +a little glamour and romance round two institutions, Christ +Church for the first fifty years, and after that round the old +College of Philadelphia. The Reverend William Smith, a pugnacious +and eloquent Scotchman, led them in many a gallant onset against +the "haughty tribe" of Quakers, and he even suffered imprisonment +in the cause. He had a country seat on the Schuylkill and was in +his way a fine character, devoted to the establishment of +ecclesiasticism and higher learning as a bulwark against the +menace of Quaker fanaticism; and but for the coming on of the +Revolution he might have become the first colonial bishop with +all the palaces, pomp, and glory appertaining thereunto. + +In spite of this opposition, however, the Quakers continued their +control of the colony, serenely tolerating the anathemas of the +learned Churchmen and the fierce curses and brandished weapons of +the Presbyterians and Scotch-Irish. Curses and anathemas were no +check to the fertile soil. Grist continued to come to the mill; +and the agricultural products poured into Philadelphia to be +carried away in the ships. The contemplative Quaker took his +profits as they passed; enacted his liberalizing laws, his prison +reform, his charities, his peace with the savage Indians; allowed +science, research, and all the kindly arts of life to flourish; +and seemed perfectly contented with the damnation in the other +world to which those who flourished under his rule consigned him. + +In discussing the remarkable success of the province, the +colonists always disputed whether the credit should be given to +the fertile soil or to the liberal laws and constitution. It was +no doubt due to both. But the obvious advantages of Penn's +charter over the mixed and troublesome governmental conditions in +the Jerseys, Penn's personal fame and the repute of the Quakers +for liberalism then at its zenith, and the wide advertising given +to their ideas and Penn's, on the continent of Europe as well as +in England, seem to have been the reasons why more people, and +many besides Quakers, came to take advantage of that fertile +soil. + +The first great increase of alien population came from Germany, +which was still in a state of religious turmoil, disunion, and +depression from the results of the Reformation and the Thirty +Years' War. The reaction from dogma in Germany had produced a +multitude of sects, all yearning for greater liberty and +prosperity than they had at home. Penn and other Quakers had made +missionary tours in Germany and had preached to the people. The +Germans do not appear to have been asked to come to the Jerseys. +But they were urged to come to Pennsylvania as soon as the +charter was obtained; and many of them made an immediate +response. The German mind was then at the height of its emotional +unrestraint. It was as unaccustomed to liberty of thought as to +political liberty and it produced a new sect or religious +distinction almost every day. Many of these sects came to +Pennsylvania, where new small religious bodies sprang up among +them after their arrival. Schwenkfelders, Tunkers, Labadists, New +Born, New Mooners, Separatists, Zion's Brueder, Ronsdorfer, +Inspired, Quietists, Gichtelians, Depellians, Mountain Men, River +Brethren, Brinser Brethren, and the Society of the Woman in the +Wilderness, are names which occur in the annals of the province. +But these are only a few. In Lancaster County alone the number +has at different times been estimated at from twenty to thirty. +It would probably be impossible to make a complete list; some of +them, indeed, existed for only a few years. Their own writers +describe them as countless and bewildering. Many of them were +characterized by the strangest sort of German mysticism, and some +of them were inclined to monastic and hermit life and their +devotees often lived in caves or solitary huts in the woods. + +It would hardly be accurate to call all the German sects Quakers, +since a great deal of their mysticism would have been anything +but congenial to the followers of Fox and Penn. Resemblances to +Quaker doctrine can, however, be found among many of them; and +there was one large sect, the Mennonites, who were often spoken +of as German Quakers. The two divisions fraternized and preached +in each other's meetings. The Mennonites were well educated as a +class and Pastorius, their leader, was a ponderously learned +German. Most of the German sects left the Quakers in undisturbed +possession of Philadelphia, and spread out into the surrounding +region, which was then a wilderness. They and all the other +Germans who afterwards followed them settled in a half circle +beginning at Easton on the Delaware, passing up the Lehigh Valley +into Lancaster County, thence across the Susquehanna and down the +Cumberland Valley to the Maryland border, which many of them +crossed, and in time scattered far to the south in Virginia and +even North Carolina, where their descendants are still found. + +These German sects which came over under the influence of Penn +and the Quakers, between the years 1682 and 1702, formed a class +by themselves. Though they may be regarded as peculiar in their +ideas and often in their manner of life, it cannot be denied that +as a class they were a well-educated, thrifty, and excellent +people and far superior to the rough German peasants who followed +them in later years. This latter class was often spoken of in +Pennsylvania as "the church people," to distinguish them from +"the sects," as those of the earlier migration were called. + +The church people, or peasantry of the later migration, belonged +usually to one of the two dominant churches of Germany, the +Lutheran or the Reformed. Those of the Reformed Church were often +spoken of as Calvinists. This migration of the church people was +not due to the example of the Quakers but was the result of a new +policy which was adopted by the British Government when Queen +Anne ascended the throne in 1702, and which aimed at keeping the +English people at home and at filling the English colonies in +America with foreign Protestants hostile to France and Spain. + +Large numbers of these immigrants were "redemptioners," as they +were called; that is to say, they were persons who had been +obliged to sell themselves to the shipping agents to pay for +their passage. On their arrival in Pennsylvania the captain sold +them to the colonists to pay the passage, and the redemptioner +had to work for his owner for a period varying from five to ten +years. No stigma or disgrace clung to any of these people under +this system. It was regarded as a necessary business transaction. +Not a few of the very respectable families of the State and some +of its prominent men are known to be descended from +redemptioners. + +This method of transporting colonists proved a profitable trade +for the shipping people, and was soon regularly organized like +the modern assisted immigration. Agents, called "newlanders" and +"soul-sellers," traveled through Germany working up the +transatlantic traffic by various devices, some of them not +altogether creditable. Pennsylvania proved to be the most +attractive region for these immigrants. Some of those who were +taken to other colonies finally worked their way to Pennsylvania. +Practically none went to New England, and very few, if any, to +Virginia. Indeed, only certain colonies were willing to admit +them. + +Another important element that went to make up the Pennsylvania +population consisted of the Scotch-Irish. They were descendants +of Scotch and English Presbyterians who had gone to Ireland to +take up the estates of the Irish rebels confiscated under Queen +Elizabeth and James I. This migration of Protestants to Ireland, +which began soon after 1600, was encouraged by the English +Government. Towards the middle of the seventeenth century the +confiscation of more Irish land under Cromwell's regime increased +the migration to Ulster. Many English joined the migration, and +Scotch of the Lowlands who were largely of English extraction, +although there were many Gaelic or Celtic names among them. + +These are the people usually known in English history as +Ulstermen--the same who made such a heroic defense of Londonderry +against James II, and the same who in modern times have resisted +home rule in Ireland because it would bury them, they believe, +under the tyranny of their old enemies, the native Irish Catholic +majority. They were more thrifty and industrious than the native +Irish and as a result they usually prospered on the Irish land. +At first they were in a more or less constant state of war with +the native Irish, who attempted to expel them. They were +subsequently persecuted by the Church of England under Charles I, +who attempted to force them to conform to the English established +religion. Such a rugged schooling in Ireland made of them a very +aggressive, hardy people, Protestants of the Protestants, so +accustomed to contests and warfare that they accepted it as the +natural state of man. + +These Ulstermen came to Pennsylvania somewhat later than the +first German sects; and not many of them arrived until some years +after 1700. They were not, like the first Germans, attracted to +the colony by any resemblance of their religion to that of the +Quakers. On the contrary they were entirely out of sympathy with +the Quakers, except in the one point of religious liberty; and +the Quakers were certainly out of sympathy with them. Nearly all +the colonies in America received a share of these settlers. +Wherever they went they usually sought the frontier and the +wilderness; and by the time of the Revolution, they could be +found upon the whole colonial frontier from New Hampshire to +Georgia. They were quite numerous in Virginia, and most numerous +along the edge of the Pennsylvania wilderness. It was apparently +the liberal laws and the fertile soil that drew them to +Pennsylvania in spite of their contempt for most of the Quaker +doctrines. + +The dream of their life, their haven of rest, was for these +Scotch-Irish a fertile soil where they would find neither Irish +"papists" nor Church of England; and for this reason in America +they always sought the frontier where they could be by +themselves. They could not even get on well with the Germans in +Pennsylvania; and when the Germans crowded into their frontier +settlements, quarrels became so frequent that the proprietors +asked the Ulstermen to move farther west, a suggestion which they +were usually quite willing to accept. At the close of the +colonial period in Pennsylvania the Quakers, the Church of +England people, and the miscellaneous denominations occupied +Philadelphia and the region round it in a half circle from the +Delaware River. Outside of this area lay another containing the +Germans, and beyond that were the Scotch-Irish. The principal +stronghold of the Scotch-Irish was the Cumberland Valley in +Southern Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna, a region now +containing the flourishing towns of Chambersburg, Gettysburg, +Carlisle, and York, where the descendants of these early settlers +are still very numerous. In modern times, however, they have +spread out widely; they are now to be found all over the State, +and they no longer desire so strongly to live by themselves. + +The Ulstermen, owing to the circumstances of their earlier life, +had no sympathy whatever with the Quaker's objection to war or +with his desire to deal fairly with the Indians and pay them for +their land. As Presbyterians and Calvinists, they belonged to one +of the older and more conservative divisions of the Reformation. +The Quaker's doctrine of the inward light, his quietism, +contemplation, and advanced ideas were quite incomprehensible to +them. As for the Indians, they held that the Old Testament +commands the destruction of all the heathen; and as for paying +the savages for their land, it seemed ridiculous to waste money +on such an object when they could exterminate the natives at less +cost. The Ulstermen, therefore, settled on the Indian land as +they pleased, or for that matter on any land, and were +continually getting into difficulty with the Pennsylvania +Government no less than with the Indians. They regarded any +region into which they entered as constituting a sovereign state. +It was this feeling of independence which subsequently prompted +them to organize what is known as the Whisky Rebellion when, +after the Revolution, the Federal Government put a tax on the +liquor which they so much esteemed as a product, for corn +converted into whisky was more easily transported on horses over +mountain trails, and in that form fetched a better price in the +markets. + +After the year 1755, when the Quaker method of dealing with the +Indians no longer prevailed, the Scotch-Irish lived on the +frontier in a continual state of savage warfare which lasted for +the next forty years. War, hunting the abundant game, the deer, +buffalo, and elk, and some agriculture filled the measure of +their days and years. They paid little attention to the laws of +the province, which were difficult to enforce on the distant +frontier, and they administered a criminal code of their own with +whipping or "laced jacket," as they called it, as a punishment. +They were Jacks of all trades, weaving their own cloth and making +nearly everything they needed. They were the first people in +America to develop the use of the rifle, and they used it in the +Back Country all the way down into the Carolinas at a time when +it was seldom seen in the seaboard settlements. In those days, +rifles were largely manufactured in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and +there were several famous gunsmiths in Philadelphia. Some of the +best of these old rifles have been preserved and are really +beautiful weapons, with delicate hair triggers, gracefully curved +stocks, and quaint brass or even gold or silver mountings. The +ornamentation was often done by the hunter himself, who would +melt a gold or silver coin and pour it into some design which he +had carved with his knife in the stock. + +The Revolution offered an opportunity after the Ulstermen's +heart, and they entered it with their entire spirit, as they had +every other contest which involved liberty and independence. In +fact, in that period they played such a conspicuous part that +they almost ruled Philadelphia, the original home of the Quakers. +Since then, spread out through the State, they have always had +great influence, the natural result of their energy, +intelligence, and love of education. + +Nearly all these diverse elements of the Pennsylvania population +were decidedly sectional in character. The Welsh had a language +of their own, and they attempted, though without success, to +maintain it, as well as a government of their own within their +barony independent of the regular government of the province. The +Germans were also extremely sectional. They clung with better +success to their own language, customs, and literature. The +Scotch-Irish were so clannish that they had ideas of founding a +separate province on the Susquehanna. Even the Church of England +people were so aloof and partisan that, though they lived about +Philadelphia among the Quakers, they were extremely hostile to +the Quaker rule and unremittingly strove to destroy it. + +All these cleavages and divisions in the population continue in +their effects to this day. They prevented the development of a +homogeneous population. No exact statistics were taken of the +numbers of the different nationalities in colonial times; but +Franklin's estimate is probably fairly accurate, and his position +in practical politics gave him the means of knowing and of +testing his calculations. About the year 1750 he estimated the +population as one-third Quaker, one-third German, and one-third +miscellaneous. This gave about 50,000 or 60,000 to each of the +thirds. Provost Smith, of the newly founded college, estimated +the Quakers at only about 40,000. But his estimate seems too low. +He was interested in making out their numbers small because he +was trying to show the absurdity of allowing such a small band of +fanatics and heretics to rule a great province of the British +Empire. One great source of the Quaker power lay in the sympathy +of the Germans, who always voted on their side and kept them in +control of the Legislature, so that it was in reality a case of +two-thirds ruling one-third. The Quakers, it must be admitted, +never lost their heads. Unperturbed through all the conflicts and +the jarring of races and sects, they held their position +unimpaired and kept the confidence and support of the Germans +until the Revolution changed everything. + +The varied elements of population spread out in ever widening +half circles from Philadelphia as a center. There was nothing in +the character of the region to stop this progress. The country +all the way westward to the Susquehanna was easy hill, dale, and +valley, covered by a magnificent growth of large forest +trees--oaks, beeches, poplars, walnuts, hickories, and ash--which +rewarded the labor of felling by exposing to cultivation a most +fruitful soil. + +The settlers followed the old Indian trails. The first westward +pioneers seem to have been the Welsh Quakers, who pushed due west +from Philadelphia and marked out the course of the famous +Lancaster Road, afterwards the Lancaster Turnpike. It took the +line of least resistance along the old trail, following ridges +until it reached the Susquehanna at a spot where an Indian +trader, named Harris, established himself and founded a post +which subsequently became Harrisburg, the capital of the State. + +For a hundred years the Lancaster Road was the great highway +westward, at first to the mountains, then to the Ohio, and +finally to the Mississippi Valley and the Great West. Immigrants +and pioneers from all the New England and Middle States flocked +out that way to the land of promise in wagons, or horseback, or +trudging along on foot. Substantial taverns grew up along the +route; and habitual freighters and stage drivers, proud of their +fine teams of horses, grew into characters of the road. When the +Pennsylvania Railroad was built, it followed the same line. In +fact, most of the lines of railroad in the State follow Indian +trails. The trails for trade and tribal intercourse led east and +west. The warrior trails usually led north and south, for that +had long been the line of strategy and conquest of the tribes. +The northern tribes, or Six Nations, established in the lake +region of New York near the headwaters of the Delaware, the +Susquehanna, and the Ohio, had the advantage of these river +valleys for descending into the whole Atlantic seaboard and the +valley of the Mississippi. They had in consequence conquered all +the tribes south of them as far even as the Carolinas and +Georgia. All their trails of conquest led across Pennsylvania. + +The Germans in their expansion at first seem to have followed up +the Schuylkill Valley and its tributaries, and they hold this +region to the present day. Gradually they crossed the watershed +to the Susquehanna and broke into the region of the famous +limestone soil in Lancaster County, a veritable farmer's paradise +from which nothing will ever drive them. Many Quaker farmers +penetrated north and northeast from Philadelphia into Bucks +County, a fine rolling and hilly wheat and corn region, where +their descendants are still found and whence not a few well-known +Philadelphia families have come. + +The Quaker government of Pennsylvania in almost a century of its +existence largely fulfilled its ideals. It did not succeed in +governing without war; but the war was not its fault. It did +succeed in governing without oaths. An affirmation instead of an +oath became the law of Pennsylvania for all who chose an +affirmation; and this law was soon adopted by most American +communities. It succeeded in establishing religious liberty in +Pennsylvania in the fullest sense of the word. It brought +Christianity nearer to its original simplicity and made it less +superstitious and cruel. + +The Quakers had always maintained that it was a mistake to +suppose that their ideas would interfere with material prosperity +and happiness; and they certainly proved their contention in +Pennsylvania. To Quaker liberalism was due not merely the +material prosperity, but prison reform and the notable public +charities of Pennsylvania; in both of which activities, as in the +abolition of slavery, the Quakers were leaders. Original research +in science also flourished in a marked degree in colonial +Pennsylvania. No one in those days knew the nature of thunder and +lightning, and the old explanation that they were the voice of an +angry God was for many a sufficient explanation. Franklin, by a +long series of experiments in the free Quaker colony, finally +proved in 1752 that lightning was electricity, that is to say, a +manifestation of the same force that is produced when glass is +rubbed with buckskin. He invented the lightning rod, discovered +the phenomenon of positive and negative electricity, explained +the action of the Leyden jar, and was the first American writer +on the modern science of political economy. This energetic +citizen of Pennsylvania spent a large part of his life in +research; he studied the Gulf Stream, storms and their causes, +waterspouts, whirlwinds; and he established the fact that the +northeast storms of the Atlantic coast usually move against the +wind. + +But Franklin was not the only scientist in the colony. Besides +his three friends, Kinnersley, Hopkinson, and Syng, who worked +with him and helped him in his discoveries, there were David +Rittenhouse, the astronomer, John Bartram, the botanist, and a +host of others. Rittenhouse excelled in every undertaking which +required the practical application of astronomy, He attracted +attention even in Europe for his orrery which indicated the +movements of the stars and which was an advance on all previous +instruments of the kind. When astronomers in Europe were seeking +to have the transit of Venus of 1769 observed in different parts +of the world, Pennsylvania alone of the American colonies seems +to have had the man and the apparatus necessary for the work. +Rittenhouse conducted the observations at three points and won a +world-wide reputation by the accuracy and skill of his +observations. The whole community was interested in this +scientific undertaking; the Legislature and public institutions +raised the necessary funds; and the American Philosophical +Society, the only organization of its kind in the colonies, had +charge of the preparations. + +The American Philosophical Society had been started in +Philadelphia in 1743. It was the first scientific society to be +founded in America, and throughout the colonial period it was the +only society of its kind in the country. Its membership included +not only prominent men throughout America, such as Thomas +Jefferson, who were interested in scientific inquiry, but also +representatives of foreign nations. With its library of rare and +valuable collections and its annual publication of essays on +almost every branch of science, the society still continues its +useful scientific work. + +John Bartram, who was the first botanist to describe the plants +of the New World and who explored the whole country from the +Great Lakes to Florida, was a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial +times, farmer born and bred. Thomas Godfrey, also a colonial +Pennsylvanian, was rewarded by the Royal Society of England for +an improvement which he made in the quadrant. Peter Collinson of +England, a famous naturalist and antiquarian of early times, was +a Quaker. In modern times John Dalton, the discoverer of the +atomic theory of colorblindness, was born of Quaker parents, and +Edward Cope, of a well-known Philadelphia Quaker family, became +one of the most eminent naturalists and paleontologists of the +nineteenth century, and unaided discovered over a third of the +three thousand extinct species of vertebrates recognized by men +of science. In the field of education, Lindley Murray, the +grammarian of a hundred years ago, was a Quaker. Ezra Cornell, a +Quaker, founded the great university in New York which bears his +name; and Johns Hopkins, also a Quaker, founded the university of +that name in Baltimore. + +Pennsylvania deserves the credit of turning these early +scientific pursuits to popular uses. The first American +professorship of botany and natural history was established in +Philadelphia College, now the University of Pennsylvania. The +first American book on a medical subject was written in +Philadelphia by Thomas Cadwalader in 1740; the first American +hospital was established there in 1751; and the first systematic +instruction in medicine. Since then Philadelphia has produced a +long line of physicians and surgeons of national and European +reputation. For half a century after the Revolution the city was +the center of medical education for the country and it still +retains a large part of that preeminence. The Academy of Natural +Sciences founded in Philadelphia in 1812 by two inconspicuous +young men, an apothecary and a dentist, soon became by the +spontaneous support of the community a distinguished institution. +It sent out two Arctic expeditions, that of Kane and that of +Hayes, and has included among its members the most prominent men +of science in America. It is now the oldest as well as the most +complete institution of its kind in the country. The Franklin +Institute, founded in Philadelphia in 1824, was the result of a +similar scientific interest. It was the first institution of +applied science and the mechanic arts in America. Descriptions of +the first 2900 patents issued by the United States Government are +to be found only on the pages of its Journal, which is still an +authoritative annual record. + +Apart from their scientific attainments, one of the most +interesting facts about the Quakers is the large proportion of +them who have reached eminence, often in occupations which are +supposed to be somewhat inconsistent with Quaker doctrine. +General Greene, the most capable American officer of the +Revolution, after Washington. was a Rhode Island Quaker. General +Mifflin of the Revolution was a Pennsylvania Quaker. General +Jacob Brown, a Bucks County Pennsylvania Quaker, reorganized the +army in the War of 1819. and restored it to its former +efficiency. In the long list of Quakers eminent in all walks of +life, not only in Pennsylvania but elsewhere, are to be found +John Bright, a lover of peace and human liberty through a long +and eminent career in British politics; John Dickinson of +Philadelphia, who wrote the famous Farmer's Letters so signally +useful in the American Revolution; Whittier, the American poet, a +Quaker born in Massachusetts of a family converted from +Puritanism when the Quakers invaded Boston in the seventeenth +century; and Benjamin West, a Pennsylvania Quaker of colonial +times, an artist of permanent eminence, one of the founders of +the Royal Academy in England and its president in succession to +Sir Joshua Reynolds. + +Wherever Quakers are found they are the useful and steady +citizens. Their eminence seems out of all proportion to their +comparatively small numbers. It has often been asked why this +height of attainment should occur among a people of such narrow +religious discipline. But were the Quakers really narrow, or were +they any more narrow than other rigorously self-disciplined +people: Spartans, Puritans, soldiers whose discipline enables +them +to achieve great results? All discipline is in one sense narrow. +Quaker quietude and retirement probably conserved mental energy +instead of dissipating it. In an age of superstition and +irrational religion, their minds were free and unhampered, and it +was the dominant rational tone of their thought that enabled +science to flourish in Pennsylvania. + + + +Chapter V. The Troubles Of Penn And His Sons + +The material prosperity of Penn's Holy Experiment kept on proving +itself over and over again every month of the year. But meantime +great events were taking place in England. The period of fifteen +years from Penn's return to England in 1684, until his return to +Pennsylvania at the close of the year of 1699, was an eventful +time in English history. It was long for a proprietor to be away +from his province, and Penn would have left a better reputation +if he had passed those fifteen years in his colony, for in +England during that period he took what most Americans believe to +have been the wrong side in the Revolution of 1688. + +Penn was closely tied by both interest and friendship to Charles +II and the Stuart family. When Charles II died in 1685 and his +brother, the Duke of York, ascended the throne as James II, Penn +was equally bound to him, because among other things the Duke of +York had obtained Penn's release in 1669 from imprisonment for +his religious opinions. He became still more bound when one of +the first acts of the new King's reign was the release of a great +number of people who had been imprisoned for their religion, +among them thirteen hundred Quakers. In addition to preaching to +the Quakers and protecting them, Penn used his influence with +James to secure the return of several political offenders from +exile. His friendship with James raised him, indeed, to a +position of no little importance at Court. He was constantly +consulted by the King, in whose political policy he gradually +became more and more involved. + +James was a Roman Catholic and soon perfected his plans for +making both Church and State a papal appendage and securing for +the Crown the right to suspend acts of Parliament. Penn at first +protested, but finally supported the King in the belief that he +would in the end establish liberty. In his earlier years, +however, Penn had written pamphlets arguing strenuously against +the same sort of despotic schemes that James was now undertaking; +and this contradiction of his former position seriously injured +his reputation even among his own people. + +Part of the policy of James was to grant many favors to the +Quakers and to all other dissenting bodies in England, to release +them from prison, to give them perfect freedom of worship, and to +remove the test laws which prevented them from holding office. He +thus hoped to unite them with the Roman Catholics in extirpating +the Church of England and establishing the Papacy in its place. +But the dissenters and nonconformists, though promised relief +from sufferings severer than it is possible perhaps now to +appreciate, refused almost to a man this tempting bait. Even the +Quakers, who had suffered probably more than the others, rejected +the offer with indignation and mourned the fatal mistake of their +leader Penn. All Protestant England united in condemning him, +accused him of being a secret Papist and a Jesuit in disguise, +and believed him guilty of acts and intentions of which he was +probably entirely innocent. This extreme feeling against Penn is +reflected in Macaulay's "History of England," which strongly +espouses the Whig side; and in those vivid pages Penn is +represented, and very unfairly, as nothing less than a scoundrel. + +In spite of the attempts which James made to secure his position, +the dissenters, the Church of England, and Penn's own Quakers all +joined heart and soul in the Revolution of 1688, which quickly +dethroned the King, drove him from England, and placed the Prince +of Orange on the throne as William III. Penn was now for many +years in a very unfortunate, if not dangerous, position, and was +continually suspected of plotting to restore James. For three +years he was in hiding to escape arrest or worse, and he largely +lost the good will and affection of the Quakers. + +Meantime, since his departure from Pennsylvania in the summer of +1684, that province went on increasing in population and in +pioneer prosperity. But Penn's quitrents and money from sales of +land were far in arrears, and he had been and still was at great +expense in starting the colony and in keeping up the plantation +and country seat he had established on the Delaware River above +Philadelphia. Troublesome political disputes also arose. The +Council of eighteen members which he had authorized to act as +governor in his absence neglected to send the new laws to him, +slighted his letters, and published laws in their own name +without mentioning him or the King. These irregularities were +much exaggerated by enemies of the Quakers in England. The +Council was not a popular body and was frequently at odds with +the Assembly. + +Penn thought he could improve the government by appointing five +commissioners to act as governor instead of the whole Council. +Thomas Lloyd, an excellent Quaker who had been President of the +Council and who had done much to allay hard feeling, was +fortunately the president of these commissioners. Penn instructed +them to act as if he himself were present, and at the next +meeting of the Assembly to annul all the laws and reenact only +such as seemed proper. This course reminds us of the absolutism +of his friend, King James, and, indeed, the date of these +instructions (1686) is that when his intimacy with that bigoted +monarch reached its highest point. Penn's theory of his power was +that the frame or constitution of government he had given the +province was a contract; that, the Council and Assembly having +violated some of its provisions, it was annulled and he was free, +at least for a time, to govern as he pleased. Fortunately his +commissioners never attempted to carry out these instructions. +There would have been a rebellion and some very unpleasant +history if they had undertaken to enforce such oriental despotism +in Pennsylvania. The five commissioners with Thomas Lloyd at +their head seem to have governed without seriously troublesome +incidents for the short term of two years during which they were +in power. But in 1687 Thomas Lloyd, becoming weary of directing +them, asked to be relieved and is supposed to have advised Penn +to appoint a single executive instead of commissioners. Penn +accordingly appointed Captain John Blackwell, formerly an officer +in Cromwell's army. Blackwell was not a Quaker but a "grave, +sober, wise man," as Penn wrote to a friend, who would "bear down +with a visible authority vice and faction." It was hoped that he +would vigorously check all irregularities and bring Penn better +returns from quitrents and sales of land. + +But this new governor clashed almost at once with the Assembly, +tried to make them pass a militia law, suggested that the +province's trade to foreign countries was illegal, persecuted and +arrested members of the Assembly, refused to submit new laws to +it, and irritated the people by suggesting the invalidity of +their favorite laws. The Quaker Assembly withstood and resisted +him until they wore him out. After a year and one month in office +he resigned at Penn's request or, according to some accounts, at +his own request. At any rate, he expressed himself as delighted +to be relieved. As a Puritan soldier he found himself no match +for a peaceable Quaker Assembly. + +Penn again made the Council the executive with Thomas Lloyd as +its President. But to the old causes of unrest a new one was now +added. One George Keith, a Quaker, turned heretic and carried a +number of Pennsylvania Quakers over to the Church of England, +thereby causing great scandal. The "Lower Counties" or +Territories, as the present State of Delaware was then called, +became mutinous, withdrew their representatives from the Council, +and made William Markham their Governor. This action together +with the Keithian controversy, the disturbances over Blackwell, +and the clamors of Church of England people that Penn was absent +and neglecting his province, that the Quakers would make no +military defense, and that the province might at any time fall +into the hands of France, came to the ears of King William, who +was already ill disposed toward Penn and distrusted him as a +Jacobite. It seemed hardly advisable to allow a Jacobite to rule +a British colony. Accordingly a royal order suspended Penn's +governmental authority and placed the province under Benjamin +Fletcher, Governor of New York. He undertook to rule in +dictatorial fashion, threatening to annex the province to New +York, and as a consequence the Assembly had plenty of trouble +with him. But two years later, 1694, the province was returned to +Penn, who now appointed as Governor William Markham, who had +served as lieutenant-governor under Fletcher. + +Markham proceeded to be high-handed with the Assembly and to +administer the government in the imperialistic style of Fletcher. +But the Assembly soon tamed him and in 1696 actually worried out +of him a new constitution, which became known as Markham's Frame, +proved much more popular than the one Penn had given, and allowed +the Assembly much more power. Markham had no conceivable right to +assent to it and Penn never agreed to it; but it was lived under +for the next four years until Penn returned to the province. +While it naturally had opponents, it was largely regarded as +entirely valid, and apparently with the understanding that it was +to last until Penn objected to it. + +Penn had always been longing to return to Pennsylvania and live +there for the rest of his life; but the terrible times of the +Revolution of 1688 in England and its consequences had held him +back. Those difficulties had now passed. Moreover, William III +had established free government and religious liberty. No more +Quakers were imprisoned and Penn's old occupation of securing +their protection and release was gone. + +In the autumn of 1699 he sailed for Pennsylvania with his family +and, arriving after a tedious three months' voyage, was well +received. His political scrapes and mistakes in England seemed to +be buried in the past. He was soon at his old enjoyable life +again, traveling actively about the country, preaching to the +Quakers, and enlarging and beautifying his country seat, +Pennsbury, on the Delaware, twenty miles above Philadelphia. As +roads and trails were few and bad he usually traveled to and from +the town in a barge which was rowed by six oarsmen and which +seemed to give him great pride and pleasure. + +Two happy years passed away in this manner, during which Penn +seems to have settled, not however without difficulty, a great +deal of business with his people, the Assembly, and the Indian +tribes. Unfortunately he got word from England of a bill in +Parliament for the revocation of colonial charters and for the +establishment of royal governments in their place. He must needs +return to England to fight it. Shortly before he sailed the +Assembly presented him with a draft of a new constitution or +frame of government which they had been discussing with him and +preparing for some time. This he accepted, and it became the +constitution under which Pennsylvania lived and prospered for +seventy-five years, until the Revolution of 1776. + +This new constitution was quite liberal. The most noticeable +feature of it was the absence of any provision for the large +elective council or upper house of legislation, which had been +very unpopular. The Assembly thus became the one legislative +body. There was incidental reference in the document to a +governor's council, although there was no formal clause creating +it. Penn and his heirs after his death always appointed a small +council as an advisory body for the deputy governor. The Assembly +was to be chosen annually by the freemen and to be composed of +four representatives from each county. It could originate bills, +control its own adjournments without interference from the +Governor, choose its speaker and other officers, and judge of the +qualifications and election of its own members. These were +standard Anglo-Saxon popular parliamentary rights developed by +long struggles in England and now established in Pennsylvania +never to be relaxed. Finally a clause in the constitution +permitted the Lower Counties, or Territories, under certain +conditions to establish home rule. In 1705 the Territories took +advantage of this concession and set up an assembly of their own. + +Immediately after signing the constitution, in the last days of +October, 1701, Penn sailed for England, expecting soon to return. +But he became absorbed in affairs in England and never saw his +colony again. This was unfortunate because Pennsylvania soon +became a torment to him instead of a great pleasure as it always +seems to have been when he lived in it. He was a happy present +proprietor, but not a very happy absentee one. + +The Church of England people in Pennsylvania entertained great +hopes of this proposal to turn the proprietary colonies into +royal provinces. Under such a change, while the Quakers might +still have an influence in the Legislature, the Crown would +probably give the executive offices to Churchmen. They therefore +labored hard to discredit the Quakers. They kept harping on the +absurdity of a set of fanatics attempting to govern a colony +without a militia and without administering oaths of office or +using oaths in judicial proceedings. How could any one's life be +safe from foreign enemies without soldiers, and what safeguard +was there for life, liberty, and property before judges, jurors, +and witnesses, none of whom had been sworn? The Churchmen kept up +their complaints for along time, but without effect in England. +Penn was able to thwart all their plans. The bill to change the +province into a royal one was never passed by Parliament. Penn +returned to his court life, his preaching, and his theological +writing, a rather curious combination and yet one by which he had +always succeeded in protecting his people. He was a favorite with +Queen Anne, who was now on the throne, and he led an expensive +life which, with the cost of his deputy governor's salary in the +colony, the slowness of his quitrent collections, and the +dishonesty of the steward of his English estates, rapidly brought +him into debt. To pay the government expense of a small colonial +empire and at the same time to lead the life of a courtier and to +travel as a preacher would have exhausted a stronger exchequer +than Penn's. + +The contests between the different deputy governors, whom Penn or +his descendants sent out, and the Quaker Legislature fill the +annals of the province for the next seventy years, down to the +Revolution. These quarrels, when compared with the larger +national political contests of history, seem petty enough and +even tedious in detail. But, looked at in another aspect, they +are important because they disclose how liberty, self-government, +republicanism, and many of the constitutional principles by which +Americans now live were gradually developed as the colonies grew +towards independence. The keynote to all these early contests +was what may be called the fundamental principle of colonial +constitutional law or, at any rate, of constitutional practice, +namely, that the Governor, whether royal or proprietary, must +always be kept poor. His salary or income must never become a +fixed or certain sum but must always be dependent on the annual +favor and grants of a legislature controlled by the people. This +belief was the foundation of American colonial liberty. The +Assemblies, not only in Pennsylvania but in other colonies, would +withhold the Governor's salary until he consented to their +favorite laws. If he vetoed their laws, he received no salary. +One of the causes of the Revolution in 1776 was the attempt of +the mother country to make the governors and other colonial +officials dependent for their salaries on the Government in +England instead of on the legislatures in the colonies. + +So the squabbles, as we of today are inclined to call them, went +on in Pennsylvania--provincial and petty enough, but often very +large and important so far as the principle which they involved +was concerned. The Legislature of Pennsylvania in those days was +a small body composed of only about twenty-five or thirty +members, most of them sturdy, thrifty Quakers. They could meet +very easily anywhere--at the Governor's house, if in conference +with him, or at the treasurer's office or at the loan office, if +investigating accounts. Beneath their broad brim hats and grave +demeanor they were as Anglo-Saxon at heart as Robin Hood and his +merry men, and in their ninety years of political control they +built up as goodly a fabric of civil liberty as can be found in +any community in the world. + +The dignified, confident message from a deputy governor, full of +lofty admonitions of their duty to the Crown, the province, and +the proprietor, is often met by a sarcastic, stinging reply of +the Assembly. David Lloyd, the Welsh leader of the +anti-proprietary party, and Joseph Wilcox, another leader, became +very skillful in drafting these profoundly respectful but deeply +cutting replies. In after years, Benjamin Franklin attained even +greater skill. In fact, it is not unlikely that he developed a +large measure of his world famous aptness in the use of language +in the process of drafting these replies. The composing of these +official communications was important work, for a reply had to be +telling and effective not only with the Governor but with the +people who learned of its contents at the coffeehouse and spread +the report of it among all classes. There was not a little +good-fellowship in their contests; and Franklin, for instance, +tells us how he used to abuse a certain deputy governor all day +in the Assembly and then dine with him in jovial intercourse in +the evening. + +The Assembly had a very convenient way of accomplishing its +purposes in legislation in spite of the opposition of the British +Government. Laws when passed and approved by the deputy governor +had to be sent to England for approval by the Crown within five +years. But meanwhile the people would live under the law for five +years, and, if at the end of that time it was disallowed, the +Assembly would reenact the measure and live under it again for +another period. + + +The ten years after Penn's return to England in 1701 were full of +trouble for him. Money returns from the province were slow, +partly because England was involved in war and trade depressed, +and partly because the Assembly, exasperated by the deputy +governors he appointed, often refused to vote the deputy a salary +and left Penn to bear all the expense of government. He was being +rapidly overwhelmed with debt. One of his sons was turning out +badly. The manager of his estates in England and Ireland, Philip +Ford, was enriching himself by the trust, charging compound +interest at eight per cent every six months, and finally claiming +that Penn owed him 14,000 pounds. Ford had rendered accounts from +time to time, but Penn in his careless way had tossed them aside +without examination. When Ford pressed for payment, Penn, still +without making any investigation, foolishly gave Ford a deed in +fee simple of Pennsylvania as security. Afterwards he accepted +from Ford a lease of the province, which was another piece of +folly, for the lease could, of course, be used as evidence to +show that the deed was an absolute conveyance and not intended as +a mortgage. + +This unfortunate business Ford kept quiet during his lifetime. +But on his death his widow and son made everything public, +professed to be the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and sued Penn +for 2000 pounds rent in arrears. They obtained a judgment for the +amount claimed and, as Penn could not pay, they had him arrested +and imprisoned for debt. For nine months he was locked up in the +debtors' prison, the "Old Bailey," and there he might have +remained indefinitely if some of his friends had not raised +enough money to compromise with the Fords. Isaac Norris, a +prominent Quaker from Pennsylvania, happened at that time to be +in England and exerted himself to set Penn free and save the +province from further disgrace. After this there was a reaction +in Penn's favor. He selected a better deputy governor for +Pennsylvania. He wrote a long and touching letter to the people, +reminding them how they had flourished and grown rich and free +under his liberal laws, while he had been sinking in poverty. + +After that conditions improved in the affairs of Penn. The colony +was better governed, and the anti-proprietary party almost +disappeared. The last six or eight years of Penn's life were free +from trouble. He had ceased his active work at court, for +everything that could be accomplished for the Quakers in the way +of protection and favorable laws had now been done. Penn spent +his last years in trying to sell the government of his province +to the Crown for a sum that would enable him to pay his debts and +to restore his family to prosperity. But he was too particular in +stipulating that the great principles of civil and religious +liberty on which the colony had been established should not be +infringed. He had seen how much evil had resulted to the rights +of the people when the proprietors of the Jerseys parted with +their right to govern. In consequence he required so many +safeguards that the sale of Pennsylvania was delayed and delayed +until its founder was stricken with paralysis. Penn lingered for +some years, but his intellect was now too much clouded to make a +valid sale. The event, however, was fortunate for Pennsylvania, +which would probably otherwise have lost many valuable rights and +privileges by becoming a Crown colony. + +On July 30,1718, Penn died at the age of seventy-four. His widow +became proprietor of the province, probably the only woman who +ever became feudal proprietor of such an immense domain. She +appointed excellent deputy governors and ruled with success for +eight years until her death in 1726. In her time the ocean was +free from enemy cruisers, and the trade of the colony grew so +rapidly that the increasing sales of land and quitrents soon +enabled her to pay off the mortgage on the province and all the +rest of her husband's debts. It was sad that Penn did not live to +see that day, which he had so hoped for in his last years, when, +with ocean commerce free from depredations, the increasing money +returns from his province would obviate all necessity of selling +the government to the Crown. + +With all debts paid and prosperity increasing, Penn's sons became +very rich men. Death had reduced the children to three--John, +Thomas, and Richard. Of these, Thomas became what may be called +the managing proprietor, and the others were seldom heard of. +Thomas lived in the colony nine years--1732 to 1741-- studying +its affairs and sitting as a member of the Council. For over +forty years he was looked upon as the proprietor. In fact, he +directed the great province for almost as long a time as his +father had managed it. But he was so totally unlike his father +that it is difficult to find the slightest resemblance in feature +or in mind. He was not in the least disposed to proclaim or argue +about religion. Like the rest of his family, he left the Quakers +and joined the Church of England, a natural evolution in the case +of many Quakers. He was a prosperous, accomplished, sensible, +cool-headed gentleman, by no means without ability, but without +any inclination for setting the world on fire. He was a careful, +economical man of business, which is more than can be said of his +distinguished father. He saw no visions and cared nothing for +grand speculations. + +Thomas Penn, however, had his troubles and disputes with the +Assembly. They thought him narrow and close. Perhaps he was. That +was the opinion of him held by Franklin, who led the +anti-proprietary party. But at the same time some consideration +must be given to the position in which Penn found himself. He had +on his hands an empire, rich, fertile, and inhabited by +liberty-loving Anglo-Saxons and by passive Germans. He had to +collect from their land the purchase money and quitrents rapidly +rolling up in value with the increase of population into millions +of pounds sterling, for which he was responsible to his +relatives. At the same time he had to influence the politics of +the province, approve or reject laws in such a way that his +family interest would be protected from attack or attempted +confiscation, keep the British Crown satisfied, and see that the +liberties of the colonists were not impaired and that the people +were kept contented. + +It was not an easy task even for a clear-headed man like Thomas +Penn. He had to arrange for treaties with the Indians and for the +purchase of their lands in accordance with the humane ideas of +his father and in the face of the Scotch-Irish thirst for Indian +blood and the French desire to turn the savages loose upon the +Anglo-Saxon settlements. He had to fight through the boundary +disputes with Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, which +threatened to reduce his empire to a mere strip of land +containing neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburgh. The controversy +with Connecticut lasted throughout the colonial period and was +not definitely settled till the close of the Revolution. The +charter of Connecticut granted by the British Crown extended the +colony westward to the Pacific Ocean and cut off the northern +half of the tract afterwards granted to William Penn. In +pursuance of what they believed to be their rights, the +Connecticut people settled in the beautiful valley of Wyoming. +They were thereupon ejected by force by the proprietors of +Pennsylvania; but they returned, only to be ejected again and +again in a petty warfare carried on for many years. In the summer +of 1778, the people of the valley were massacred by the Iroquois +Indians. The history of this Connecticut boundary dispute fills +volumes. So does the boundary dispute with Maryland, which also +lasted throughout the colonial period; the dispute with Virginia +over the site of Pittsburgh is not so voluminous. All these +controversies Thomas Penn conducted with eminent skill, +inexhaustible patience, and complete success. For this +achievement the State owes him a debt of gratitude. + +Thomas Penn was in the extraordinary position of having to govern +as a feudal lord what was virtually a modern community. He was +exercising feudal powers three hundred years after all the +reasons for the feudal system had ceased to exist; and he was +exercising those powers and acquiring by them vast wealth from a +people in a new and wild country whose convictions, both civil +and religious, were entirely opposed to anything like the feudal +system. It must certainly be put down as something to his credit +that he succeeded so well as to retain control both of the +political government and his family's increasing wealth down to +the time of the Revolution and that he gave on the whole so +little offense to a high-strung people that in the Revolution +they allowed his family to retain a large part of their land and +paid them liberally for what was confiscated. + +The wealth which came to the three brothers they spent after the +manner of the time in country life. John and Richard do not +appear to have had remarkable country seats. But Thomas purchased +in 1760 the fine English estate of Stoke Park, which had belonged +to Sir Christopher Hatton of Queen Elizabeth's time, to Lord +Coke, and later to the Cobham family. Thomas's son John, grandson +of the founder, greatly enlarged and beautified the place and far +down into the nineteenth century it was one of the notable +country seats of England. This John Penn also built another +country place called Pennsylvania Castle, equally picturesque and +interesting, on the Isle of Portland, of which he was Governor. + + + +Chapter VI. The French And Indian War + +There was no great change in political conditions in Pennsylvania +until about the year 1755. The French in Canada had been +gradually developing their plans of spreading down the Ohio and +Mississippi valleys behind the English colonies. They were at the +same time securing alliances with the Indians and inciting them +to hostilities against the English. But so rapidly were the +settlers advancing that often the land could not be purchased +fast enough to prevent irritation and ill feeling. The +Scotch-Irish and Germans, it has already been noted, settled on +lands without the formality of purchase from the Indians. The +Government, when the Indians complained, sometimes ejected the +settlers but more often hastened to purchase from the Indians the +land which had been occupied. "The Importance of the British +Plantations in America," published in 1731, describes the Indians +as peaceful and contented in Pennsylvania but irritated and +unsettled in those other colonies where they had usually been +ill-treated and defrauded. This, with other evidence, goes to +show that up to that time Penn's policy of fairness and good +treatment still prevailed. But those conditions soon changed, as +the famous Walking Purchase of 1737 clearly indicated. + +The Walking Purchase had provided for the sale of some lands +along the Delaware below the Lehigh on a line starting at +Wrightstown, a few miles back from the Delaware not far above +Trenton, and running northwest, parallel with the river, as far +as a man could walk in a day and a half. The Indians understood +that this tract would extend northward only to the Lehigh, which +was the ordinary journey of a day and a half. The proprietors, +however, surveyed the line beforehand, marked the trees, engaged +the fastest walkers and, with horses to carry provisions, started +their men at sunrise. By running a large part of the way, at the +end of a day and a half these men had reached a point thirty +miles beyond the Lehigh. + +The Delaware Indians regarded this measurement as a pure fraud +and refused to abandon the Minisink region north of the Lehigh. +The proprietors then called in the assistance of the Six Nations +of New York, who ordered the Delawares off the Minisink lands. +Though they obeyed, the Delawares became the relentless enemies +of the white man and in the coming years revenged themselves by +massacres and murder. They also broke the control which the Six +Nations had over them, became an independent nation, and in the +French Wars revenged themselves on the Six Nations as well as on +the white men. The congress which convened at Albany in 1754 +was an attempt on the part of the British Government to settle +all Indian affairs in a general agreement and to prevent separate +treaties by the different colonies; but the Pennsylvania +delegates, by various devices of compass courses which the +Indians did not understand and by failing to notify and secure +the consent of certain tribes, obtained a grant of pretty much +the whole of Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna. The Indians +considered this procedure to be another gross fraud. It is to be +noticed that in their dealings with Penn they had always been +satisfied, and that he had always been careful that they should +be duly consulted and if necessary be paid twice over for the +land. But his sons were more economical, and as a result of the +shrewd practices of the Albany purchase the Pennsylvania Indians +almost immediately went over in a body to the French and were +soon scalping men, women, and children among the Pennsylvania +colonists. It is a striking fact, however, that in all the +after years of war and rapine and for generations afterwards the +Indians retained the most distinct and positive tradition of +Penn's good faith and of the honesty of all Quakers. So +persistent, indeed, was this tradition among the tribes of the +West that more than a century later President Grant proposed to +put the whole charge of the nation's Indian affairs in the hands +of the Quakers. The first efforts to avert the catastrophe +threatened by the alliance of the red man with the French were +made by the provincial assemblies, which voted presents of money +or goods to the Indians to offset similar presents from the +French. The result was, of course, the utter demoralization of +the savages. Bribed by both sides, the Indians used all their +native cunning to encourage the bribers to bid against each +other. So far as Pennsylvania was concerned, feeling themselves +cheated in the first instance and now bribed with gifts, they +developed a contempt for the people who could stoop to such +practices. As a result this contempt manifested itself in deeds +hitherto unknown in the province. One tribe on a visit to +Philadelphia killed cattle and robbed orchards as they passed. +The delegates of another tribe, having visited Philadelphia and +received 500 pounds as a present, returned to the frontier and on +their way back for another present destroyed the property of the +interpreter and Indian agent, Conrad Weiser. They felt that they +could do as they pleased. To make matters worse, the Assembly +paid for all the damage done; and having started on this foolish +business, they found that the list of tribes demanding presents +rapidly increased. The Shawanoes and the Six Nations, as well as +the Delawares, were now swarming to this new and convenient +source of wealth. + +Whether the proprietors or the Assembly should meet this +increasing expense or divide it between them, became a subject of +increasing controversy. It was in these discussions that Thomas +Penn, in trying to keep his family's share of the expense as +small as possible, first got the reputation for closeness which +followed him for the rest of his life and which started a party +in the province desirous of having Parliament abolish the +proprietorship and put the province under a governor appointed by +the Crown. + +The war with the French of Canada and their Indian allies is of +interest here only in so far as it affected the government of +Pennsylvania. From this point of view it involved a series of +contests between the proprietors and the Crown on the one side +and the Assembly on the other. The proprietors and the Crown took +advantage of every military necessity to force the Assembly into +a surrender of popular rights. But the Assembly resisted, +maintaining that they had the same right as the British Commons +of having their money bills received or rejected by the Governor +without amendment. Whatever they should give must be given on +their own terms or not at all; and they would not yield this +point to any necessities of the war. + +When Governor Morris asked the Assembly for a war contribution in +1754, they promptly voted 20,000 pounds. This was the same amount +that Virginia, the most active of the colonies in the war, was +giving. Other colonies gave much less; New York, only 5000 +pounds, and Maryland 6000 pounds. Morris, however, would not +assent to the Assembly's bill unless it contained a clause +suspending its effect until the King's pleasure was known. This +was an attempt to establish a precedent for giving up the +Assembly's charter right of passing laws which need not be +submitted to the King for five years and which in the meantime +were valid. The members of the Assembly very naturally refused to +be forced by the necessities of the war into surrendering one of +the most important privileges the province possessed. It was, +they said, as much their duty to resist this invasion of their +rights as to resist the French. + +Governor Morris, besides demanding that the supply of 20,000 +pounds should not go into force until the King's pleasure was +known, insisted that the paper money representing it should be +redeemable in five years. This period the Assembly considered too +short; the usual time was ten years. Five years would ruin too +many people by foreclosures. Moreover, the Governor was +attempting to dictate the way in which the people should raise a +money supply. He and the King had a right to ask for aid in war; +but it was the right of the colony to use its own methods of +furnishing this assistance. The Governor also refused to let the +Assembly see the instructions from the proprietors under which he +was acting. This was another attack upon their liberties and +involved nothing less than an attempt to change their charter +rights by secret instructions to a deputy governor which he must +obey at his peril. Several bills had recently been introduced in +the English Parliament for the purpose of making royal +instructions to governors binding on all the colonial assemblies +without regard to their charters. This innovation, the colonists +felt, would wreck all their liberties and turn colonial +government into a mere despotism. + +The assemblies of all the colonies have been a good deal abused +for delay in supporting the war and meanness in withholding +money. But in many instances the delay and lack of money were +occasioned by the grasping schemes of governors who saw a chance +to gain new privileges for the Crown or a proprietor or to weaken +popular government by crippling the powers of the legislatures. +The usual statement that the Pennsylvania Assembly was slow in +assisting the war because it was composed of Quakers is not +supported by the facts. The Pennsylvania Assembly was not behind +the rest. On this particular occasion, when their large money +supply bill could not be passed without sacrificing their +constitutional rights, they raised money for the war by +appointing a committee which was authorized to borrow 5000 pounds +on the credit of the Assembly. + +Other contests arose over the claim of the proprietors that their +estates in the province were exempt from taxation for the war or +any purpose. One bill taxing the proprietary estates along with +others was met by Thomas Penn offering to subscribe 5000 pounds, +as a free gift to the colony's war measures. The Assembly +accepted this, and passed the bill without taxing the proprietary +estates. It turned out, however, to be a shrewd business move on +the part of Thomas Penn; for the 5000 pounds was to be collected +out of the quitrents that were in arrears, and the payment of it +was in consequence long delayed. The thrifty Thomas had thus +saddled his bad debts on the province and gained a reputation for +generosity at the same time. + +Pennsylvania, though governed by Quakers assisted by noncombatant +Germans, had a better protected frontier than Maryland or +Virginia; no colony, indeed, was at that time better protected. +The Quaker Assembly did more than take care of the frontier +during the war; it preserved at the same time constitutional +rights in defense of which twenty-five years afterwards the whole +continent fought the Revolution. The Quaker Assembly even passed +two militia bills, one of which became law, and sent rather more +than the province's full share of troops to protect the frontiers +of New York and New England and to carry the invasion into +Canada. + +General Braddock warmly praised the assistance which Pennsylvania +gave him because, he said, she had done more for him than any of +the other colonies. Virginia and Maryland promised everything and +performed nothing, while Pennsylvania promised nothing and +performed everything. Commodore Spy thanked the Assembly for the +large number of sailors sent his fleet at the expense of the +province. General Shirley, in charge of the New England and New +York campaigns, thanked the Assembly for the numerous recruits; +and it was the common opinion at the time that Pennsylvania had +sent more troops to the war than any other colony. In the first +four years of the war the province spent for military purposes +210,567 pounds sterling, which was a very considerable sum at +that time for a community of less than 200,000 people. Quakers, +though they hate war, will accept it when there is no escape. The +old story of the Quaker who tossed a pirate overboard, saying, +"Friend, thee has no business here," gives their point of view +better than pages of explanation. Quaker opinion has not always +been entirely uniform. In Revolutionary times in Philadelphia +there was a division of the Quakers known as the Fighting +Quakers, and their meeting house is still pointed out at the +corner of Fourth Street and Arch. They even produced able +military leaders: Colonel John Dickinson, General Greene, and +General Mifflin in the Continental Army, and, in the War of 1812, +General Jacob Brown, who reorganized the army and restored its +failing fortunes after many officers had been tried and found +wanting. + +There was always among the Quakers a rationalistic party and a +party of mysticism. The rationalistic party prevailed in +Pennsylvania all through the colonial period. In the midst of the +worst horrors of the French and Indian wars, however, the +conscientious objectors roused themselves and began preaching and +exhorting what has been called the mystical side of the faith. +Many extreme Quaker members of the Assembly resigned their seats +in consequence. After the Revolution the spiritual party began +gaining ground, partly perhaps because then the responsibilities +of government and care of the great political and religious +experiment in Pennsylvania were removed. The spiritual party +increased so rapidly in power that in 1827 a split occurred which +involved not a little bitterness, ill feeling, and litigation +over property. This division into two opposing camps, known as +the Hicksites and the Orthodox, continues and is likely to +remain. + +Quaker government in Pennsylvania was put to still severer tests +by the difficulties and disasters that followed Braddock's +defeat. That unfortunate general had something over two thousand +men and was hampered with a train of artillery and a splendid +equipment of arms, tools, and supplies, as if he were to march +over the smooth highways of Europe. When he came to drag all +these munitions through the depths of the Pennsylvania forests +and up and down the mountains, he found that he made only about +three miles a day and that his horses had nothing to eat but the +leaves of the trees. Washington, who was of the party, finally +persuaded him to abandon his artillery and press forward with +about fifteen hundred picked men. These troops, when a few miles +from Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), met about six hundred +Indians and three hundred French coming from the fort. The +English maintained a close formation where they were, but the +French and Indians immediately spread out on their flanks, lying +behind trees and logs which provided rests for their rifles and +security for their bodies. This strategy decided the day. The +English were shot down like cattle in a pen, and out of about +fifteen hundred only four hundred and fifty escaped. The French +and Indian loss was not much over fifty. + +This defeat of Braddock's force has become one of the most famous +reverses in history; and it was made worse by the conduct of +Dunbar who had been left in command of the artillery, baggage, +and men in the rear. He could have remained where he was as some +sort of protection to the frontier. But he took fright, burned +his wagons, emptied his barrels of powder into the streams, +destroyed his provisions, and fled back to Fort Cumberland in +Maryland. Here the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia as well +as the Pennsylvania Assembly urged him to stay. But, determined +to +make the British rout complete, he soon retreated to the peace +and quiet of Philadelphia, and nothing would induce him to enter +again the terrible forests of Pennsylvania. + +The natural result of the blunder soon followed. The French, +finding the whole frontier of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and +Virginia abandoned, organized the Indians under French officers +and swept the whole region with a devastation of massacre, +scalping, and burning that has never been equaled. Hurons, +Potawatomies, Ojibways, Ottawas, Mingoes, renegades from the Six +Nations, together with the old treaty friends of Penn, the +Delawares and Shawanoes, began swarming eastward and soon had +killed more people than had been lost at Braddock's defeat. The +onslaught reached its height in September and October. By that +time all the outlying frontier settlers and their families had +been killed or sent flying eastward to seek refuge in the +settlements. The Indians even followed them to the settlements, +reached the Susquehanna, and crossed it. They massacred the +people of the village of Gnadenhutten, near Bethlehem on the +Lehigh, and established near by a headquarters for prisoners and +plunder. Families were scalped within fifty miles of +Philadelphia, and in one instance the bodies of a murdered family +were brought into the town and exhibited in the streets to show +the inhabitants how near the danger was approaching. Nothing +could be done to stem the savage tide. Virginia was suffering in +the same way: the settlers on her border were slaughtered or were +driven back in herds upon the more settled districts, and +Washington, with a nominal strength of fifteen hundred who would +not obey orders, was forced to stand a helpless spectator of the +general flight and misery. There was no adequate force or army +anywhere within reach. The British had been put to flight and had +gone to the defense of New England and New York. Neither +Pennsylvania nor Virginia had a militia that could withstand the +French and their red allies. They could only wait till the panic +had subsided and then see what could be done. + +One thing was accomplished, however, when the Pennsylvania +Assembly passed a Quaker militia law which is one of the most +curious legal documents of its kind in history. It was most aptly +worded, drafted by the master hand of Franklin. It recited the +fact that the province had always been ruled by Quakers who were +opposed to war, but that now it had become necessary to allow men +to become soldiers and to give them every facility for the +profession of arms, because the Assembly though containing a +Quaker majority nevertheless represented all the people of the +province. To prevent those who believed in war from taking part +in it would be as much a violation of liberty of conscience as to +force enlistments among those who had conscientious scruples +against it. Nor would the Quaker majority have any right to +compel others to bear arms and at the same time exempt +themselves. Therefore a voluntary militia system was established +under which a fighting Quaker, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, +or anybody, could enlist and have all the military glory he could +win. + +It was altogether a volunteer system. Two years afterwards, as +the necessities of war increased, the Quaker Assembly passed a +rather stringent compulsory militia bill; but the governor vetoed +it, and the first law with its volunteer system remained in +force. Franklin busied himself to encourage enlistments under it +and was very successful. Though a philosopher and a man of +science, almost as much opposed to war as the Quakers and not +even owning a shotgun, he was elected commander and led a force +of about five hundred men to protect the Lehigh Valley. His +common sense seems to have supplied his lack of military +training. He did no worse than some professional soldiers who +might be named. The valley was supposed to be in great danger +since its village of Gnadenhutten had been burned and its people +massacred. The Moravians, like the Quakers, had suddenly found +that they were not as much opposed to war as they had supposed. +They had obtained arms and ammunition from New York and had built +stockades, and Franklin was glad to find them so well prepared +when he arrived. He built small forts in different parts of the +valley, acted entirely on the defensive, and no doubt checked the +raids of the Indians at that point. They seem to have been +watching him from the hilltops all the time, and any rashness on +his part would probably have brought disaster upon him. After his +force had been withdrawn, the Indians again attacked and burned +Gnadenhutten. + +The chain of forts, at first seventeen, afterwards increased to +fifty, built by the Assembly on the Pennsylvania frontier was a +good plan so far as it went, but it was merely defensive and by +no means completely defensive, since Indian raiding parties could +pass between the forts. They served chiefly as refuges for +neighboring settlers. The colonial troops or militia, after +manning the fifty forts and sending their quota to the operations +against Canada by way of New England and New York, were not +numerous enough to attack the Indians. They could only act on the +defensive as Franklin's command had done. As for the rangers, as +the small bands of frontiersmen acting without any authority of +either governor or legislature were called, they were very +efficient as individuals but they accomplished very little +because they acted at widely isolated spots. What was needed was +a well organized force which could pursue the Indians on their +own ground so far westward that the settlers on the frontier +would be safe. The only troops which could do this were the +British regulars with the assistance of the colonial militia. + +Two energetic efforts to end the war without aid from abroad were +made, however, one by the pacific Quakers and the other by the +combatant portion of the people. Both of these were successful so +far as they went, but had little effect on the general situation. +In the summer of 1756, the Quakers made a very earnest effort to +persuade the two principal Pennsylvania tribes, the Delawares and +Shawanoes, to withdraw from the French alliance and return to +their old friends. These two tribes possessed a knowledge of the +country which enabled them greatly to assist the French designs +on Pennsylvania. Chiefs of these tribes were brought under safe +conducts to Philadelphia, where they were entertained as equals +in the Quaker homes. Such progress, indeed, was made that by the +end of July a treaty of peace was concluded at Easton eliminating +those two tribes from the war. This has sometimes been sneered at +as mere Quaker pacifism; but it was certainly successful in +lessening the numbers and effectiveness of the enemy. + +The other undertaking was a military one, the famous attack upon +Kittanning conducted by Colonel John Armstrong, an Ulsterman from +Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the first really aggressive officer +the province had produced. The Indians had two headquarters for +their raids into the province, one at Logstown on the Ohio a few +miles below Fort Duquesne, and the other at Kittanning or, as the +French called it, Attique, about forty miles northeast. At these +two points they assembled their forces, received ammunition and +supplies from the French, and organized their expeditions. As +Kittanning was the nearer, Armstrong in a masterly maneuver took +three hundred men through the mountains without being discovered +and, by falling upon the village early in the morning, he +effected a complete surprise. The town was set on fire, the +Indians were put to flight, and large quantities of their +ammunition were destroyed. But Armstrong could not follow up his +success. Threatened by overwhelming numbers, he hastened to +withdraw. The effect which the fighting and the Quaker treaty had +on the frontier was good. Incursions of the savages were, at +least for the present, checked. But the root of the evil had not +yet been reached, and the Indians remained massed along the Ohio, +ready to break in upon the people again at the first opportunity. + +The following year, 1757, was the most depressing period of the +war. The proprietors of Pennsylvania took the opportunity to +exempt their own estate from taxation and throw the burden of +furnishing money for the war upon the colonists. Under pressure +of the increasing success of the French and Indians and because +the dreadful massacres were coming nearer and nearer to +Philadelphia, the Quaker Assembly yielded, voted the largest sum +they had ever voted to the war, and exempted the proprietary +estates. The colony was soon boiling with excitement. The +Churchmen, as friends of the proprietors, were delighted to have +the estates exempted, thought it a good opportunity to have the +Quaker Assembly abolished, and sent petitions and letters and +proofs of alleged Quaker incompetence to the British Government. +The Quakers and a large majority of the colonists, on the other +hand, instead of consenting to their own destruction, struck at +the root of the Churchmen's power by proposing to abolish the +proprietors. And in a letter to Isaac Norris, Benjamin Franklin, +who had been sent to England to present the grievances of the +colonists, even suggested that "tumults and insurrections that +might prove the proprietary government unable to preserve order, +or show the people to be ungovernable, would do the business +immediately." + +Turmoil and party strife rose to the most exciting heights, and +the details of it might, under certain circumstances, be +interesting to describe. But the next year, 1758, the British +Government, by sending a powerful force of regulars to +Pennsylvania, at last adopted the only method for ending the war. +Confidence was at once restored. The Pennsylvania Assembly now +voted the sufficient and, indeed, immense sum of one hundred +thousand pounds, and offered a bounty of five pounds to every +recruit. It was no longer a war of defense but now a war of +aggression and conquest. Fort Duquesne on the Ohio was taken; and +the next autumn Fort Pitt was built on its ruins. Then Canada +fell, and the French empire in America came to an end. Canada and +the Great West passed into the possession of the Anglo-Saxon +race. + + + +Chapter VII. The Decline Of Quaker Government + +When the treaty of peace was signed in 1763, extinguishing +France's title to Canada and turning over Canada and the +Mississippi Valley to the English, the colonists were prepared to +enjoy all the blessings of peace. But the treaty of peace had +been made with France, not with the red man. A remarkable genius, +Pontiac, appeared among the Indians, one of the few characters, +like Tecumseh and Osceola, who are often cited as proof of latent +powers almost equal to the strongest qualities of the white race. +Within a few months he had united all the tribes of the West in a +discipline and control which, if it had been brought to the +assistance of the French six years earlier, might have conquered +the colonies to the Atlantic seaboard before the British regulars +could have come to their assistance. The tribes swept westward +into Pennsylvania, burning, murdering, and leveling every +habitation to the ground with a thoroughness beyond anything +attempted under the French alliance. The settlers and farmers +fled eastward to the towns to live in cellars, camps, and sheds +as best they could.* Fortunately the colonies retained a large +part of the military organization, both men and officers, of the +French War, and were soon able to handle the situation. Detroit +and Niagara were relieved by water; and an expedition commanded +by Colonel Bouquet, who had distinguished himself under General +Forties, saved Fort Pitt. + +* For an account of Pontiac's conspiracy, see "The Old Northwest" +by Frederic A. Ogg (in "The Chronicles of America"). + + +At this time the Scotch-Irish frontiersmen suddenly became +prominent. They had been organizing for their own protection and +were meeting with not a little success. They refused to join the +expedition of regular troops marching westward against Pontiac's +warriors, because they wanted to protect their own homes and +because they believed the regulars to be marching to sure +destruction. Many of the regular troops were invalided from the +West Indies, and the Scotch-Irish never expected to see any of +them again. They believed that the salvation of Pennsylvania, or +at least of their part of the province, depended entirely upon +themselves. Their increasing numbers and rugged independence were +forming them also into an organized political party with decided +tendencies, as it afterwards appeared, towards forming a separate +state. + +The extreme narrowness of the Scotch-Irish, however, misled them. +The only real safety for the province lay in regularly +constituted and strong expeditions, like that of Bouquet, which +would drive the main body of the savages far westward. But the +Scotch-Irish could not see this; and with that intensity of +passion which marked all their actions they turned their energy +and vengeance upon the Quakers and semicivilized Indians in the +eastern end of the colony. Their preachers, who were their +principal leaders and organizers, encouraged them in denouncing +Quaker doctrine as a wicked heresy from which only evil could +result. The Quakers had offended God from the beginning by making +treaties of kindness with the heathen savages instead of +exterminating them as the Scripture commanded: "And when the Lord +thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and +utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor +show mercy unto them." The Scripture had not been obeyed; the +heathen had not been destroyed; on the contrary, a systematic +policy of covenants, treaties, and kindness had been persisted in +for two generations, and as a consequence, the Ulstermen said, +the frontiers were now deluged in blood. They were particularly +resentful against the small settlement of Indians near Bethlehem, +who had been converted to Christianity by the Moravians, and +another little village of half civilized basketmaking Indians at +Conestoga near Lancaster. The Scotch-Irish had worked themselves +up into a strange belief that these small remnants were sending +information, arms, and ammunition to the western tribes; and they +seemed to think that it was more important to exterminate these +little communities than to go with such expeditions as Bouquet's +to the West. They asked the Governor to remove these civilized +Indians and assured him that their removal would secure the +safety of the frontier. When the Governor, not being able to find +anything against the Indians, declined to remove them, the +Scotch-Irish determined to attend to the matter in their own +fashion. + +Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run, much to the surprise of the +Scotch-Irish, stopped Indian raids of any seriousness until the +following spring. But in the autumn there were a few +depredations, which led the frontiersmen to believe that the +whole invasion would begin again. A party of them, therefore, +started to attack the Moravian Indians near Bethlehem; but before +they could accomplish their object, the Governor brought most of +the Indians down to Philadelphia for protection. Even there they +were narrowly saved from the mob, for the hostility against them +was spreading throughout the province. + +Soon afterwards another party of Scotch-Irish, ever since known +as the "Paxton Boys," went at break of day to the village of the +Conestoga Indians and found only six of them at home--three men, +two women, and a boy. These they instantly shot down, mutilated +their bodies, and burned their cabins. As the murderers returned, +they related to a man on the road what they had done, and when he +protested against the cruelty of the deed, they asked, "Don't you +believe in God and the Bible?" The remaining fourteen inhabitants +of the village, who were away selling brooms, were collected by +the sheriff and put in the jail at Lancaster for protection. The +Paxtons heard of it and in a few days stormed the jail, broke +down the doors, and either shot the poor Indians or cut them to +pieces with hatchets. + +This was probably the first instance of lynch law in America. It +raised a storm of indignation and controversy; and a pamphlet war +persisted for several years. The whole province was immediately +divided into two parties. On one side were the Quakers, most of +the Germans, and conservatives of every sort, and on the other, +inclined to sympathize with the Scotch-Irish, were the eastern +Presbyterians, some of the Churchmen, and various miscellaneous +people whose vindictiveness towards all Indians had been aroused +by the war. The Quakers and conservatives, who seem to have been +the more numerous, assailed the Scotch-Irish in no measured +language as a gang of ruffians without respect for law or order +who, though always crying for protection, had refused to march +with Bouquet to save Fort Pitt or to furnish him the slightest +assistance. Instead of going westward where the danger was and +something might be accomplished, they had turned eastward among +the settlements and murdered a few poor defenseless people, +mostly women and children. + +Franklin, who had now returned from England, wrote one of his +best pamphlets against the Paxtons, the valorous, heroic Paxtons, +as he called them, prating of God and the Bible, fifty-seven of +whom, armed with rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually +succeeded in killing three old men, two women, and a boy. This +pamphlet became known as the "Narrative" from the first word of +its title, and it had an immense circulation. Like everything +Franklin wrote, it is interesting reading to this day. + +One of the first effects of this controversy was to drive the +excitable Scotch-Irish into a flame of insurrection not unlike +the Whisky Rebellion, which started among them some years after +the Revolution. They held tumultuous meetings denouncing the +Quakers and the whole proprietary government in Philadelphia, and +they organized an expedition which included some delegates to +suggest reforms. For the most part, however, it was a well +equipped little army variously estimated at from five hundred to +fifteen hundred on foot and on horseback, which marched towards +Philadelphia with no uncertain purpose. They openly declared that +they intended to capture the town, seize the Moravian Indians +protected there, and put them to death. They fully expected to be +supported by most of the people and to have everything their own +way. As they passed along the roads, they amused themselves in +their rough fashion by shooting chickens and pigs, frightening +people by thrusting their rifles into windows, and occasionally +throwing some one down and pretending to scalp him. + +In the city there was great excitement and alarm. Even the +classes who sympathized with the Scotch-Irish did not altogether +relish having their property burned or destroyed. Great +preparations were made to meet the expedition. British regulars +were summoned. Eight companies of militia and a battery of +artillery were hastily formed. Franklin became a military man +once more and superintended the preparations. On all sides the +Quakers were enlisting; they had become accustomed to war; and +this legitimate chance to shoot a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian was +too much for the strongest scruples of their religion. It was a +long time, however, before they heard the end of this zeal; and +in the pamphlet war which followed they were accused of +clamorously rushing to arms and demanding to be led against the +enemy. + +It is amusing now to read about it in the old records. But it was +serious enough at the time. When the Scotch-Irish army reached +the Schuylkill River and found the fords leading to the city +guarded, they were not quite so enthusiastic about killing +Quakers and Indians. They went up the river some fifteen miles, +crossed by an unopposed ford, and halted in Germantown ten miles +north of Philadelphia. That was as far as they thought it safe to +venture. Several days passed, during which the city people +continued their preparations and expected every night to be +attacked. There were, indeed, several false alarms. Whenever the +alarm was sounded at night, every one placed candles in his +windows to light up the streets. One night when it rained the +soldiers were allowed to shelter themselves in a Quaker meeting +house, which for some hours bristled with bayonets and swords, an +incident of which the Presbyterian pamphleteers afterwards made +much use for satire. On another day all the cannon were fired to +let the enemy know what was in store for him. + +Finally commissioners with the clever, genial Franklin at their +head, went out to Germantown to negotiate, and soon had the whole +mighty difference composed. The Scotch-Irish stated their +grievances. The Moravian Indians ought not to be protected by the +government, and all such Indians should be removed from the +colony; the men who killed the Conestoga Indians should be tried +where the supposed offense was committed and not in Philadelphia; +the five frontier counties had only ten representatives in the +Assembly while the three others had twenty-six--this should be +remedied; men wounded in border war should be cared for at public +expense; no trade should be carried on with hostile Indians until +they restored prisoners; and there should be a bounty on scalps. + +While these negotiations were proceeding, some of the +Scotch-Irish amused themselves by practicing with their rifles at +the weather vane, a figure of a cock, on the steeple of the old +Lutheran church in Germantown--an unimportant incident, it is +true, but one revealing the conditions and character of the time +as much as graver matters do. The old weather vane with the +bullet marks upon it is still preserved. About thirty of these +same riflemen were invited to Philadelphia and were allowed to +wander about and see the sights of the town. The rest returned to +the frontier. As for their list of grievances, not one of them +was granted except, strange and sad to relate, the one which +asked for a scalp bounty. The Governor, after the manner of other +colonies, it must be admitted, issued the long desired scalp +proclamation, which after offering rewards for prisoners and +scalps, closed by saying, "and for the scalp of a female Indian +fifty pieces of eight." William Penn's Indian policy had been +admired for its justice and humanity by all the philosophers and +statesmen of the world, and now his grandson, Governor of the +province, in the last days of the family's control, was offering +bounties for women's scalps. + +Franklin while in England had succeeded in having the proprietary +lands taxed equally with the lands of the colonists. But the +proprietors attempted to construe this provision so that their +best lands were taxed at the rate paid by the people on their +worst. This obvious quibble of course raised such a storm of +opposition that the Quakers, joined by classes which had never +before supported them, and now forming a large majority, +determined to appeal to the Government in England to abolish the +proprietorship and put the colony under the rule of the King. In +the proposal to make Pennsylvania a Crown colony there was no +intention of confiscating the possessions of the proprietors. It +was merely the proprietary political power, their right to +appoint the Governor, that was to be abolished. This right was to +be absorbed by the Crown with payment for its value to the +proprietors; but in all other respects the charter and the rights +and liberties of the people were to remain unimpaired. Just there +lay the danger. An act of Parliament would be required to make +the change and, having once started on such a change, Parliament, +or the party in power therein, might decide to make other +changes, and in the end there might remain very little of the +original rights and liberties of the colonists under their +charter. It was by no means a wise move. But intense feeling on +the subject was aroused. Passionate feeling seemed to have been +running very high among the steady Quakers. In this new outburst +the Quakers had the Scotch-Irish on their side, and a part of the +Churchmen. The Germans were divided, but the majority +enthusiastic for the change was very large. + +There was a new alignment of parties. The eastern Presbyterians, +usually more or less in sympathy with the Scotch-Irish, broke +away from them on this occasion. These Presbyterians opposed the +change to a royal governor because they believed that it would be +followed by the establishment by law of the Church of England, +with bishops and all the other ancient evils. Although some of +the Churchmen joined the Quaker side, most of them and the most +influential of them were opposed to the change and did good work +in opposing it. They were well content with their position under +the proprietors and saw nothing to be gained under a royal +governor. There were also not a few people who, in the increase +of the wealth of the province, had acquired aristocratic tastes +and were attached to the pleasant social conditions that had +grown up round the proprietary governors and their followers; and +there were also those whose salaries, incomes, or opportunities +for wealth were more or less dependent on the proprietors +retaining the executive offices and the appointments and +patronage. + +One of the most striking instances of a change of sides was the +case of a Philadelphia Quaker, John Dickinson, a lawyer of large +practice, a man of wealth and position, and of not a little +colonial magnificence when he drove in his coach and four. It was +he who later wrote the famous "Farmer's Letters" during the +Revolution. He was a member of the Assembly and had been in +politics for some years. But on this question of a change to +royal government, he left the Quaker majority and opposed the +change with all his influence and ability. He and his +father-in-law, Isaac Norris, Speaker of the Assembly, became the +leaders against the change, and Franklin and Joseph Galloway, the +latter afterwards a prominent loyalist in the Revolution, were +the leading advocates of the change. + +The whole subject was thoroughly thrashed out in debates in the +Assembly and in pamphlets of very great ability and of much +interest to students of colonial history and the growth of +American ideas of liberty. It must be remembered that this was +the year 1764, on the eve of the Revolution. British statesmen +were planning a system of more rigorous control of the colonies; +and the advisability of a stamp tax was under consideration. +Information of all these possible changes had reached the +colonies. Dickinson foresaw the end and warned the people. +Franklin and the Quaker party thought there was no danger and +that the mother country could be implicitly trusted. + +Dickinson warned the people that the British Ministry were +starting special regulations for new colonies and "designing the +strictest reformations in the old." It would be a great relief, +he admitted, to be rid of the pettiness of the proprietors, and +it might be accomplished some time in the future; but not now. +The proprietary system might be bad, but a royal government might +be worse and might wreck all the liberties of the province, +religious freedom, the Assembly's control of its own +adjournments, and its power of raising and disposing of the +public money. The ministry of the day in England were well known +not to be favorably inclined towards Pennsylvania because of the +frequently reported willfulness of the Assembly, on which the +recent disturbances had also been blamed. If the King, Ministry, +and Parliament started upon a change, they might decide to +reconstitute the Assembly entirely, abolish its ancient +privileges, and disfranchise both Quakers and Presbyterians. + +The arguments of Franklin and Galloway consisted principally of +assertions of the good intentions of the mother country and the +absurdity of any fear on the part of the colonists for their +privileges. But the King in whom they had so much confidence was +George III, and the Parliament which they thought would do no +harm was the same one which a few months afterwards passed the +Stamp Act which brought on the Revolution. Franklin and Galloway +also asserted that the colonies like Massachusetts, the Jerseys, +and the Carolinas, which had been changed to royal governments, +had profited by the change. But that was hardly the prevailing +opinion in those colonies themselves. Royal governors could be as +petty and annoying as the Penns and far more tyrannical. +Pennsylvania had always defeated any attempts at despotism on the +part of the Penn family and had built up a splendid body of +liberal laws and legislative privileges. But governors with the +authority and power of the British Crown behind them could not be +so easily resisted as the deputy governors of the Penns. + +The Assembly, however, voted--twenty-seven to three--with +Franklin and Galloway. In the general election of the autumn, the +question was debated anew among the people and, though Franklin +and Galloway were defeated for seats in the Assembly, yet the +popular verdict was strongly in favor of a change, and the +majority in the Assembly was for practical purposes unaltered. +They voted to appeal to England for the change, and appointed +Franklin to be their agent before the Crown and Ministry. He +sailed again for England and soon was involved in the opening +scenes of the Revolution. He was made agent for all the colonies +and he spent many delightful years there pursuing his studies in +science, dining with distinguished men, staying at country seats, +and learning all the arts of diplomacy for which he afterwards +became so distinguished. + +As for the Assembly's petition for a change to royal government, +Franklin presented it, but never pressed it. He, too, was finally +convinced that the time was inopportune. In fact, the Assembly +itself before long began to have doubts and fears and sent him +word to let the subject drop; and amid much greater events it was +soon entirely forgotten. + + + +Chapter VIII. The Beginnings Of New Jersey + +New Jersey, Scheyichbi, as the Indians called it, or Nova +Caesarea, as it was called in the Latin of its proprietary grant, +had a history rather different from that of other English +colonies in America. Geographically, it had not a few +attractions. It was a good sized dominion surrounded on all sides +but one by water, almost an island domain, secluded and +independent. In fact, it was the only one of the colonies which +stood naturally separate and apart. The others were bounded +almost entirely by artificial or imaginary lines. + +It offered an opportunity, one might have supposed, for some +dissatisfied religious sect of the seventeenth century to secure +a sanctuary and keep off all intruders. But at first no one of +the various denominations seems to have fancied it or chanced +upon it. The Puritans disembarked upon the bleak shores of New +England well suited to the sternness of their religion. How +different American history might have been if they had +established themselves in the Jerseys! Could they, under those +milder skies, have developed witchcraft, set up blue laws, and +indulged in the killing of Quakers? After a time they learned +about the Jerseys and cast thrifty eyes upon them. Their +seafaring habits and the pursuit of whales led them along the +coast and into Delaware Bay. The Puritans of New Haven made +persistent efforts to settle the southern part of Jersey, on the +Delaware near Salem. They thought, as their quaint old records +show, that if they could once start a branch colony in Jersey it +might become more populous and powerful than the New Haven +settlement and in that case they intended to move their seat of +government to the new colony. But their shrewd estimate of its +value came too late. The Dutch and the Swedes occupied the +Delaware at that time and drove them out. Puritans, however, +entered northern Jersey and, while they were not numerous enough +to make it a thoroughly Puritan community, they largely tinged +its thought and its laws, and their influence still survives. + +The difficulty with Jersey was that its seacoast was a monotonous +line of breakers with dangerous shoal inlets, few harbors, and +vast mosquito infested salt marshes and sandy thickets. In the +interior it was for the most part a level, heavily forested, +sandy, swampy country in its southern portions, and rough and +mountainous in the northern portions. Even the entrance by +Delaware Bay was so difficult by reason of its shoals that it was +the last part of the coast to be explored. The Delaware region +and Jersey were in fact a sort of middle ground far less easy of +access by the sea than the regions to the north in New England +and to the south in Virginia. + +There were only two places easy of settlement in the Jerseys. One +was the open region of meadows and marshes by Newark Bay near the +mouth of the Hudson and along the Hackensack River, whence the +people slowly extended themselves to the seashore at Sandy Hook +and thence southward along the ocean beach. This was East Jersey. +The other easily occupied region, which became West Jersey, +stretched along the shore of the lower Delaware from the modern +Trenton to Salem, whence the settlers gradually worked their way +into the interior. Between these two divisions lay a rough +wilderness which in its southern portion was full of swamps, +thickets, and pine barrens. So rugged was the country that the +native Indians lived for the most part only in the two open +regions already described. + +The natural geographical, geological, and even social division of +New Jersey is made by drawing a line from Trenton to the mouth of +the Hudson River. North of that line the successive terraces of +the piedmont and mountainous region form part of the original +North American continent. South of that line the more or less +sandy level region was once a shoal beneath the ocean; afterwards +a series of islands; then one island with a wide sound behind it +passing along the division line to the mouth of the Hudson. +Southern Jersey was in short an island with a sound behind it +very much like the present Long Island. The shoal and island had +been formed in the far distant geologic past by the erosion and +washings from the lofty Pennsylvania mountains now worn down to +mere stumps. + +The Delaware River flowed into this sound at Trenton. Gradually +the Hudson end of the sound filled up as far as Trenton, but the +tide from the ocean still runs up the remains of the Old Sound as +far as Trenton. The Delaware should still be properly considered +as ending at Trenton, for the rest of its course to the ocean is +still part of Old Pensauken Sound, as it is called by geologists. + +The Jerseys originated as a colony in 1664. In 1675 West Jersey +passed into the control of the Quakers. In 1680 East Jersey came +partially under Quaker influence. In August, 1664, Charles II +seized New York, New Jersey, and all the Dutch possessions in +America, having previously in March granted them to his brother +the Duke of York. The Duke almost immediately gave to Lord +Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, members of the Privy Council +and defenders of the Stuart family in the Cromwellian wars, the +land between the Delaware River and the ocean, and bounded on the +north by a line drawn from latitude 41 degrees on the Hudson to +latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes on the Delaware. This region was +to be called, the grant said, Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey. The +name was a compliment to Carteret, who in the Cromwellian wars +had defended the little isle of Jersey against the forces of the +Long Parliament. As the American Jersey was then almost an island +and geologically had been one, the name was not inappropriate. + +Berkeley and Carteret divided the province between them. In 1676 +an exact division was attempted, creating the rather unnatural +sections known as East Jersey and West Jersey. The first idea +seems to have been to divide by a line running from Barnegat on +the seashore to the mouth of Pensauken Creek on the Delaware just +above Camden. This, however, would have made a North Jersey and a +South Jersey, with the latter much smaller than the former. +Several lines seem to have been surveyed at different times in +the attempt to make an exactly equal division, which was no easy +engineering task. As private land titles and boundaries were in +some places dependent on the location of the division line, there +resulted much controversy and litigation which lasted down into +our own time. Without going into details, it is sufficient to say +that the acceptable division line began on the seashore at Little +Egg Harbor at the lower end of Barnegat Bay and crossed +diagonally or northwesterly to the northern part of the Delaware +River just above the Water Gap. It is known as the Old Province +line, and it can be traced on any map of the State by prolonging, +in both directions, the northeastern boundary of Burlington +County. + +West Jersey, which became decidedly Quaker, did not remain long +in the possession of Lord Berkeley. He was growing old; and, +disappointed in his hopes of seeing it settled, he sold it, in +1673, for one thousand pounds to John Fenwick and Edward +Byllinge, both of them old Cromwellian soldiers turned Quakers. +That this purchase was made for the purpose of affording a refuge +in America for Quakers then much imprisoned and persecuted in +England does not very distinctly appear. At least there was no +parade of it. But such a purpose in addition to profit for the +proprietors may well have been in the minds of the purchasers. + +George Fox, the Quaker leader, had just returned from a +missionary journey in America, in the course of which he had +traveled through New Jersey in going from New York to Maryland. +Some years previously in England, about 1659, he had made +inquiries as to a suitable place for Quaker settlement and was +told of the region north of Maryland which became Pennsylvania. +But how could a persecuted sect obtain such a region from the +British Crown and the Government that was persecuting them? It +would require powerful influence at Court; nothing could then be +done about it; and Pennsylvania had to wait until William Penn +became a man with influence enough in 1681 to win it from the +Crown. But here was West Jersey, no longer owned directly by the +Crown and bought in cheap by two Quakers. It was an unexpected +opportunity. Quakers soon went to it, and it was the first Quaker +colonial experiment. + +Byllinge and Fenwick, though turned Quakers, seem to have +retained some of the contentious Cromwellian spirit of their +youth. They soon quarreled over their respective interests in the +ownership of West Jersey; and to prevent a lawsuit, so +objectionable to Quakers, the decision was left to William Penn, +then a rising young Quaker about thirty years old, dreaming of +ideal colonies in America. Penn awarded Fenwick a one-tenth +interest and four hundred pounds. Byllinge soon became insolvent +and turned over his nine-tenths interest to his creditors, +appointing Penn and two other Quakers, Gawen Lawrie, a merchant +of London, and Nicholas Lucas, a maltster of Hertford, to hold it +in trust for them. Gawen Lawrie afterwards became deputy governor +of East Jersey. Lucas was one of those thoroughgoing Quakers just +released from eight years in prison for his religion.* + +* Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West Jersey, and +Delaware", p. 180. + +Fenwick also in the end fell into debt and, after selling over +one hundred thousand acres to about fifty purchasers, leased what +remained of his interest for a thousand years to John Edridge, a +tanner, and Edmund Warner, a poulterer, as security for money +borrowed from them. They conveyed this lease and their claims to +Penn, Lawrie, and Lucas, who thus became the owners, as trustees, +of pretty much all West Jersey. + +This was William Penn's first practical experience in American +affairs. He and his fellow trustees, with the consent of Fenwick, +divided the West Jersey ownership into one hundred shares. The +ninety belonging to Byllinge were offered for sale to settlers or +to creditors of Byllinge who would take them in exchange for +debts. The settlement of West Jersey thus became the distribution +of an insolvent Quaker's estate among his creditor fellow +religionists. + +Although no longer in possession of a title to land, Fenwick, in +1675, went out with some Quaker settlers to Delaware Bay. There +they founded the modern town of Salem, which means peace, giving +it that name because of the fair and peaceful aspect of the +wilderness on the day they arrived. They bought the land from the +Indians in the usual manner, as the Swedes and Dutch had so often +done. But they had no charter or provision for organized +government. When Fenwick attempted to exercise political +authority at Salem, he was seized and imprisoned by Andros, +Governor of New York for the Duke of York, on the ground that, +although the Duke had given Jersey to certain individual +proprietors, the political control of it remained in the Duke's +deputy governor. Andros, who had levied a tax of five per cent on +all goods passing up the Delaware, now established commissioners +at Salem to collect the duties. + +This action brought up the whole question of the authority of +Andros. The trustee proprietors of West Jersey appealed to the +Duke of York, who was suspiciously indifferent to the matter, but +finally referred it for decision to a prominent lawyer, Sir +William Jones, before whom the Quaker proprietors of West Jersey +made a most excellent argument. They showed the illegality, +injustice, and wrong of depriving the Jerseys of vested political +rights and forcing them from the freeman's right of making their +own laws to a state of mere dependence on the arbitrary will of +one man. Then with much boldness they declared that "To exact +such an unterminated tax from English planters, and to continue +it after so many repeated complaints, will be the greatest +evidence of a design to introduce, if the Crown should ever +devolve upon the Duke, an unlimited government in old England." +Prophetic words which the Duke, in a few years, tried his best to +fulfill. But Sir William Jones deciding against him, he +acquiesced, confirmed the political rights of West Jersey by a +separate grant, and withdrew any authority Andros claimed over +East Jersey. The trouble, however, did not end here. Both the +Jerseys were long afflicted by domineering attempts from New +York. + +Penn and his fellow trustees now prepared a constitution, or +"Concessions and Agreements," as they called it, for West Jersey, +the first Quaker political constitution embodying their advanced +ideas, establishing religious liberty, universal suffrage, and +voting by ballot, and abolishing imprisonment for debt. It +foreshadowed some of the ideas subsequently included in the +Pennsylvania constitution. All these experiences were an +excellent school for William Penn. He learned the importance in +starting a colony of having a carefully and maturely considered +system of government. In his preparations some years afterwards +for establishing Pennsylvania he avoided much of the bungling of +the West Jersey enterprise. + +A better organized attempt was now made to establish a foothold +in West Jersey farther up the river than Fenwick's colony at +Salem. In 1677 the ship Kent took out some 230 rather well-to-do +Quakers, about as fine a company of broadbrims, it is said, as +ever entered the Delaware. Some were from Yorkshire and London, +largely creditors of Byllinge, who were taking land to satisfy +their debts. They all went up the river to Raccoon Creek on the +Jersey side, about fifteen miles below the present site of +Philadelphia, and lived at first among the Swedes, who had been +in that part of Jersey for some years and who took care of the +new arrivals in their barns and sheds. These Quaker immigrants, +however, soon began to take care of themselves, and the weather +during the winter proving mild, they explored farther up the +river in a small boat. They bought from the Indians the land +along the river shore from Oldman's Creek all the way up to +Trenton and made their first settlements on the river about +eighteen miles above the site of Philadelphia, at a place they at +first called New Beverly, then Bridlington, and finally +Burlington. + +They may have chosen this spot partly because there had been an +old Dutch settlement of a few families there. It had long been a +crossing of the Delaware for the few persons who passed by land +from New York or New England to Maryland and Virginia. One of the +Dutchmen, Peter Yegon, kept a ferry and a house for entertaining +travelers. George Fox, who crossed there in 1671, describes the +place as having been plundered by the Indians and deserted. He +and his party swam their horses across the river and got some of +the Indians to help them with canoes. + +Other Quaker immigrants followed, going to Salem as well as to +Burlington, and a stretch of some fifty miles of the river shore +became strongly Quaker. There are not many American towns now to +be found with more of the old-time picturesqueness and more +relics of the past than Salem and Burlington. + +Settlements were also started on the river opposite the site +afterwards occupied by Philadelphia, at Newton on the creek still +called by that name; and another a little above on Cooper's +Creek, known as Cooper's Ferry until 1794. Since then it has +become the flourishing town of Camden, full of shipbuilding and +manufacturing, but for long after the Revolution it was merely a +small village on the Jersey shore opposite Philadelphia, +sometimes used as a hunting ground and a place of resort for +duelers and dancing parties from Philadelphia. + +The Newton settlers were Quakers of the English middle class, +weavers, tanners, carpenters, bricklayers, chandlers, +blacksmiths, coopers, bakers, haberdashers, hatters, and linen +drapers, most of them possessed of property in England and +bringing good supplies with them. Like all the rest of the New +Jersey settlers they were in no sense adventurers, gold seekers, +cavaliers, or desperadoes. They were well-to-do middle class +English tradespeople who would never have thought of leaving +England if they had not lost faith in the stability of civil and +religious liberty and the security of their property under the +Stuart Kings. With them came servants, as they were called; that +is, persons of no property, who agreed to work for a certain time +in payment of their passage, to escape from England. All, indeed, +were escaping from England before their estates melted away in +fines and confiscations or their health or lives ended in the +damp, foul air of the crowded prisons. Many of those who came had +been in jail and had decided that they would not risk +imprisonment a second time. Indeed, the proportion of West Jersey +immigrants who had actually been in prison for holding or +attending Quaker meetings or refusing to pay tithes for the +support of the established church was large. For example, William +Bates, a carpenter, while in jail for his religion, made +arrangements with his friends to escape to West Jersey as soon as +he should be released, and his descendants are now scattered over +the United States. Robert Turner, a man of means, who settled +finally in Philadelphia but also owned much land near Newton in +West Jersey, had been imprisoned in England in 1660, again in +1662, again in 1665, and some of his property had been taken, +again imprisoned in 1669 and more property taken; and many others +had the same experience. Details such as these make us realize +the situation from which the Quakers sought to escape. So +widespread was the Quaker movement in England and so severe the +punishment imposed in order to suppress it that fifteen thousand +families are said to have been ruined by the fines, +confiscations, and imprisonments. + +Not a few Jersey Quakers were from Ireland, whither they had fled +because there the laws against them were less rigorously +administered. The Newton settlers were joined by Quakers from +Long Island, where, under the English law as administered by the +New York governors, they had also been fined and imprisoned, +though with less severity than at home, for nonconformity to the +Church of England. On arriving, the West Jersey settlers suffered +some hardships during the year that must elapse before a crop +could be raised and a log cabin or house built. During that +period they usually lived, in the Indian manner, in wigwams of +poles covered with bark, or in caves protected with logs in the +steep banks of the creeks. Many of them lived in the villages of +the Indians. The Indians supplied them all with corn and venison, +and without this Indian help, they would have run serious risk of +starving, for they were not accustomed to hunting. They had also +to thank the Indians for having in past ages removed so much of +the heavy forest growth from the wide strip of land along the +river that it was easy to start cultivation. + +These Quaker settlers made a point of dealing very justly with +the Indians and the two races lived side by side for several +generations. There is an instance recorded of the Indians +attending with much solemnity the funeral of a prominent Quaker +woman, Esther Spicer, for whom they had acquired great respect. +The funeral was held at night, and the Indians in canoes, the +white men in boats, passed down Cooper's Creek and along the +river to Newton Creek where the graveyard was, lighting the +darkness with innumerable torches, a strange scene to think of +now as having been once enacted in front of the bustling cities +of Camden and Philadelphia. Some of the young settlers took +Indian wives, and that strain of native blood is said to show +itself in the features of several families to this day. + +Many letters of these settlers have been preserved, all +expressing the greatest enthusiasm for the new country, for the +splendid river better than the Thames, the good climate, and +their improved health, the immense relief to be away from the +constant dread of fines and punishment, the chance to rise in the +world, with large rewards for industry. They note the immense +quantities of game, the Indians bringing in fat bucks every day, +the venison better than in England, the streams full of fish, the +abundance of wild fruits, cranberries, hurtleberries, the rapid +increase of cattle, and the good soil. A few details concerning +some of the interesting characters among these early colonial +Quakers have been rescued from oblivion. There is, for instance, +the pleasing picture of a young man and his sister, convinced +Quakers, coming out together and pioneering in their log cabin +until each found a partner for life. There was John Haddon, from +whom Haddonfield is named, who bought a large tract of land but +remained in England, while his daughter Elizabeth came out alone +to look after it. A strong, decisive character she was, and women +of that sort have always been encouraged in independent action by +the Quakers. She proved to be an excellent manager of an estate. +The romance of her marriage to a young Quaker preacher, Estaugh, +has been celebrated in Mrs. Maria Child's novel "The Youthful +Emigrant." The pair became leading citizens devoted to good works +and to Quaker liberalism for many a year in Haddonfield. + +It was the ship Shields of Hull, bringing Quaker immigrants to +Burlington, of which the story is told that in beating up the +river she tacked close to the rather high bank with deep water +frontage where Philadelphia was afterwards established; and some +of the passengers remarked that it was a fine site for a town. +The Shields, it is said, was the first ship to sail up as far as +Burlington. Anchoring before Burlington in the evening, the +colonists woke up next morning to find the river frozen hard so +that they walked on the ice to their future habitations. + +Burlington was made the capital of West Jersey, a legislature was +convened and laws were passed under the "concessions" or +constitution of the proprietors. Salem and Burlington became the +ports of the little province, which was well under way by 1682, +when Penn came out to take possession of Pennsylvania. + +The West Jersey people of these two settlements spread eastward +into the interior but were stopped by a great forest area known +as the Pines, or Pine Barrens, of such heavy growth that even the +Indians lived on its outer edges and entered it only for hunting. +It was an irregularly shaped tract, full of wolves, bear, beaver, +deer, and other game, and until recent years has continued to +attract sportsmen from all parts of the country. Starting near +Delaware Bay, it extended parallel with the ocean as far north as +the lower portion of the present Monmouth County and formed a +region about seventy-five miles long and thirty miles wide. It +was roughly the part of the old sandy shoal that first emerged +from the ocean, and it has been longer above water than any other +part of southern Jersey. The old name, Pine Barrens, is hardly +correct because it implies something like a desert, when as a +matter of fact the region produced magnificent forest trees. + +The innumerable visitors who cross southern Jersey to the famous +seashore resorts always pass through the remains of this old +central forest and are likely to conclude that the monotonous low +scrub oaks and stunted pines on sandy level soil, seen for the +last two or three generations, were always there and that the +primeval forest of colonial times was no better. But that is a +mistake. The stunted growth now seen is not even second growth +but in many cases fourth or fifth or more. The whole region was +cut over long ago. The original growth, pine in many places, +consisted also of lofty timber of oak, hickory, gum, ash, +chestnut, and numerous other trees, interspersed with dogwood, +sassafras, and holly, and in the swamps the beautiful magnolia, +along with the valuable white cedar. DeVries, who visited the +Jersey coast about 1632, at what is supposed to have been +Beesley's or Somer's Point, describes high woods coming down to +the shore. Even today, immediately back of Somer's Point, there +is a magnificent lofty oak forest accidentally preserved by +surrounding marsh from the destructive forest fires; and there +are similar groves along the road towards Pleasantville. In fact, +the finest forest trees flourish in that region wherever given a +good chance. Even some of the beaches of Cape May had valuable +oak and luxuriant growths of red cedar; and until a few years ago +there were fine trees, especially hollies, surviving on Wildwood +Beach. + +The Jersey white cedar swamps were, and still are, places of +fascinating interest to the naturalist and the botanist. The +hunter or explorer found them scattered almost everywhere in the +old forest and near its edges, varying in size from a few square +yards up to hundreds of acres. They were formed by little streams +easily checked in their flow through the level land by decaying +vegetation or dammed by beavers. They kept the water within the +country, preventing all effects of droughts, stimulating the +growth of vegetation which by its decay, throughout the +centuries, was steadily adding vegetable mold or humus to the +sandy soil. This process of building up a richer soil has now +been largely stopped by lumbering, drainage, and fires. + +While there are many of these swamps left, the appearance of +numbers of them has largely changed. When the white men first +came, the great cedars three or four feet in diameter which had +fallen centuries before often lay among the living trees, some of +them buried deep in the mud and preserved from decay. They were +invaluable timber, and digging them out and cutting them up +became an important industry for over a hundred years. In +addition to being used for boat building, they made excellent +shingles which would last a lifetime. The swamps, indeed, became +known as shingle mines, and it was a good description of them. An +important trade was developed in hogshead staves, hoops, +shingles, boards, and planks, much of which went into the West +Indian trade to be exchanged for rum, sugar, molasses, and +negroes.* + +* Between the years 1740 and '50, the Cedar Swamps of the county +[Cape May] were mostly located; and the amount of lumber since +taken from them is incalculable, not only as an article of trade, +but to supply the home demand for fencing and building material +in the county. Large portions of these swamps have been worked a +second and some a third time, since located. At the present time +[1857] there is not an acre of original growth of swamp standing, +having all passed away before the resistless sway of the +speculator or the consumer." Beesley's "Sketch of Cape May" p. +197. + + +The great forest has long since been lumbered to death. The pines +were worked for tar, pitch, resin, and turpentine until for lack +of material the industry passed southward through the Carolinas +to Florida, exhausting the trees as it went. The Christmas demand +for holly has almost stripped the Jersey woods of these trees +once so numerous. Destructive fires and frequent cutting keep the +pine and oak lands stunted. Thousands of dollars' worth of cedar +springing up in the swamps are sometimes destroyed in a day. But +efforts to control the fires so destructive not only to this +standing timber but to the fertility of the soil, and attempts to +reforest this country not only for the sake of timber but as an +attraction to those who resort there in search of health or +natural beauty, have not been vigorously pushed. The great forest +has now, to be sure, been partially cultivated in spots, and the +sand used for large glass-making industries. Small fruits and +grapes flourish in some places. At the northern end of this +forest tract the health resort known as Lakewood was established +to take advantage of the pine air. A little to the southward is +the secluded Brown's Mills, once so appealing to lovers of the +simple life. Checked on the east by the great forest, the West +Jersey Quakers spread southward from Salem until they came to the +Cohansey, a large and beautiful stream flowing out of the forest +and wandering through green meadows and marshes to the bay. So +numerous were the wild geese along its shores and along the +Maurice River farther south that the first settlers are said to +have killed them for their feathers alone and to have thrown the +carcasses away. At the head of navigation of the Cohansey was a +village called Cohansey Bridge, and after 1765 Bridgeton, a name +still borne by a flourishing modern town. Lower down near the +marsh was the village of Greenwich, the principal place of +business up to the year 1800, with a foreign trade. Some of the +tea the East India Company tried to force on the colonists +during the Revolution was sent there and was duly rejected. It is +still an extremely pretty village, with its broad shaded streets +like a New England town and its old Quaker meeting house. In +fact, not a few New Englanders from Connecticut, still infatuated +with southern Jersey in spite of the rebuffs received in ancient +times from Dutch and Swedes, finally settled near the Cohansey +after it came under control of the more amiable Quakers. There +was also one place called after Fairfield in Connecticut and +another called New England Town. + +The first churches of this region were usually built near running +streams so that the congregation could procure water for +themselves and their horses. Of one old Presbyterian Church it +used to be said that no one had ever ridden to it in a wheeled +vehicle. Wagons and carriages were very scarce until after the +Revolution. Carts for occasions of ceremony as well as utility +were used before wagons and carriages. For a hundred and fifty +years the horse's back was the best form of conveyance in the +deep sand of the trails and roads. This was true of all southern +Jersey. Pack horses and the backs of Indian and negro slaves were +the principal means of transportation on land. The roads and +trails, in fact, were so few and so heavy with sand that water +travel was very much developed. The Indian dugout canoe was +adopted and found faster and better than heavy English rowboats. +As the province was almost surrounded by water and was covered +with a network of creeks and channels, nearly all the villages +and towns were situated on tidewater streams, and the dugout +canoe, modified and improved, was for several generations the +principal means of communication. Most of the old roads in New +Jersey followed Indian trails. There was a trail, for example, +from the modern Camden opposite Philadelphia, following up +Cooper's Creek past Berlin, then called Long-a-coming, crossing +the watershed, and then following Great Egg Harbor River to the +seashore. Another trail, long used by the settlers, led from +Salem up to Camden, Burlington, and Trenton, going round the +heads of streams. It was afterwards abandoned for the shorter +route obtained by bridging the streams nearer their mouths. This +old trail also extended from the neighborhood of Trenton to Perth +Amboy near the mouth of the Hudson, and thus, by supplementing +the lower routes, made a trail nearly the whole length of the +province. + +As a Quaker refuge, West Jersey never attained the success of +Pennsylvania. The political disturbances and the continually +threatened loss of self-government in both the Jerseys were a +serious deterrent to Quakers who, above all else, prized rights +which they found far better secured in Pennsylvania. In 1702, +when the two Jerseys were united into one colony under a +government appointed by the Crown, those rights were more +restricted than ever and all hopes of West Jersey becoming a +colony under complete Quaker control were shattered. Under +Governor Cornbury, the English law was adopted and enforced, and +the Quakers were disqualified from testifying in court unless +they took an oath and were prohibited from serving on juries or +holding any office of trust. Cornbury's judges wore scarlet +robes, powdered wigs, cocked hats, gold lace, and side arms; they +were conducted to the courthouse by the sheriff's cavalcade and +opened court with great parade and ceremony. Such a spectacle of +pomp was sufficient to divert the flow of Quaker immigrants to +Pennsylvania, where the government was entirely in Quaker hands +and where plain and serious ways gave promise of enduring and +unmolested prosperity. + +The Quakers had altogether thirty meeting houses in West Jersey +and eleven in East Jersey, which probably shows about the +proportion of Quaker influence in the two Jerseys. Many of them +have since disappeared; some of the early buildings, to judge +from the pictures, were of wood and not particularly pleasing in +appearance. They were makeshifts, usually intended to be replaced +by better buildings. Some substantial brick buildings of +excellent architecture have survived, and their plainness and +simplicity, combined with excellent proportions and thorough +construction, are clearly indicative of Quaker character. There +is a particularly interesting one in Salem with a magnificent old +oak beside it, another in the village of Greenwich on the +Cohansey farther south, and another at Crosswicks near Trenton. + +In West Jersey near Mount Holly was born and lived John Woolman, +a Quaker who became eminent throughout the English speaking world +for the simplicity and loftiness of his religious thought as well +as for his admirable style of expression. His "Journal," once +greatly and even extravagantly admired, still finds readers. "Get +the writings of John Woolman by heart," said Charles Lamb, "and +love the early Quakers." He was among the Quakers one of the +first and perhaps the first really earnest advocate of the +abolition of slavery. The scenes of West Jersey and the writings +of Woolman seem to belong together. Possibly a feeling for the +simplicity of those scenes and their life led Walt Whitman, who +grew up on Long Island under Quaker influence, to spend his last +years at Camden, in West Jersey. His profound democracy, which +was very Quaker-like, was more at home there perhaps than +anywhere else. + + + +Chapter IX. Planters And Traders Of Southern Jersey + +Most of the colonies in America, especially the stronger ones, +had an aristocratic class, which was often large and powerful, as +in the case of Virginia, and which usually centered around the +governor, especially if he were appointed from England by the +Crown or by a proprietor. But there was very little of this +social distinction in New Jersey. Her political life had been too +much broken up, and she had been too long dependent on the +governors of New York to have any of those pretty little +aristocracies with bright colored clothes, and coaches and four, +flourishing within her boundaries. There seems to have been a +faint suggestion of such social pretensions under Governor +Franklin just before the Revolution. He was beginning to live +down the objections to his illegitimate birth and Toryism and by +his entertainments and manner of living was creating a social +following. There is said also to have been something a little +like the beginning of an aristocracy among the descendants of the +Dutch settlers who had ancestral holdings near the Hudson; but +this amounted to very little. + +Class distinctions were not so strongly marked in New Jersey as +in some other colonies. There grew up in southern Jersey, +however, a sort of aristocracy of gentlemen farmers, who owned +large tracts of land and lived in not a little style in good +houses on the small streams. + +The northern part of the province, largely settled and influenced +by New Englanders, was like New England a land of vigorous +concentrated town life and small farms. The hilly and mountainous +nature of the northern section naturally led to small holdings of +land. But in southern Jersey the level sandy tracts of forest +were often taken up in large areas. In the absence of +manufacturing, large acreage naturally became, as in Virginia and +Maryland, the only mark of wealth and social distinction. The +great landlord was looked up to by the lesser fry. The Quaker +rule of discountenancing marrying out of meeting tended to keep a +large acreage in the family and to make it larger by marriage. A +Quaker of broad acres would seek for his daughter a young man of +another landholding Quaker family and would thus join the two +estates. + +There was a marked difference between East Jersey and West Jersey +in county organization. In West Jersey the people tended to +become planters; their farms and plantations somewhat like those +of the far South; and the political unit of government was the +county. In East Jersey the town was the starting point and the +county marked the boundaries of a collection of towns. This +curious difference, the result of soil, climate, and methods of +life, shows itself in other States wherever South and North meet. +Illinois is an example, where the southern part of the State is +governed by the county system, and the northern part by the town +system. + +The lumberman, too, in clearing off the primeval forest and +selling the timber, usually dealt in immense acreage. Some +families, it is said, can be traced steadily proceeding southward +as they stripped off the forest, and started sawmills and +gristmills on the little streams that trickled from the swamps, +and like beavers making with their dams those pretty ponds which +modern lovers of the picturesque are now so eager to find. A good +deal of the lumbering in the interior pines tract was carried on +by persons who leased the premises from owners who lived on +plantations along the Delaware or its tributary streams. These +operations began soon after 1700. Wood roads were cut into the +Pines, sawmills were started, and constant use turned some of +these wood roads into the highways of modern times. + +There was a speculative tinge in the operations of this landed +aristocracy. Like the old tobacco raising aristocracy of Virginia +and Maryland, they were inclined to go from tract to tract, +skinning what they could from a piece of deforested land and then +seeking another virgin tract. The roughest methods were used; +wooden plows, brush harrows, straw collars, grapevine harness, +and poor shelter for animals and crops; but were the Virginia +methods any better? In these operations there was apparently a +good deal of sudden profit and mushroom prosperity accompanied by +a good deal of debt and insolvency. In this, too, they were like +the Virginians and Carolinians. There seem to have been also a +good many slaves in West Jersey, brought, as in the southern +colonies, to work on the large estates, and this also, no doubt, +helped to foster the aristocratic feeling. + +The best days of the Jersey gentlemen farmers came probably when +they could no longer move from tract to tract. They settled down +and enjoyed a very plentiful, if rude, existence on the products +of their land, game, and fish, amid a fine climate--with +mosquitoes enough in summer to act as a counterirritant and +prevent stagnation from too much ease and prosperity. After the +manner of colonial times, they wove their own clothes from the +wool of their own sheep and made their own implements, furniture, +and simple machinery. + +There are still to be found fascinating traces of this old life +in out-of-the-way parts of southern Jersey. To run upon old +houses among the Jersey pines still stored with Latin classics +and old editions of Shakespeare, Addison, or Samuel Johnson, to +come across an old mill with its machinery, cogwheels, flywheels, +and all, made of wood, to find people who make their own oars, +and the handles of their tools from the materials furnished by +their own forest, is now unfortunately a refreshment of the +spirit that is daily becoming rarer. + +This condition of material and social self-sufficiency lasted in +places long after the Revolution. It was a curious little +aristocracy--a very faint and faded one, lacking the robustness +of the far southern type, and lacking indeed the real essential +of an aristocracy, namely political power. Moreover, although +there were slaves in New Jersey, there were not enough of them to +exalt the Jersey gentlemen farmers into such self-sufficient +lords and masters as the Virginian and Carolinian planters +became. + +To search out the remains of this stage of American history, +however, takes one up many pleasant streams flowing out of the +forest tract to the Delaware on one side or to the ocean on the +other. This topographical formation of a central ridge or +watershed of forest and swamp was a repetition of the same +formation in the Delaware peninsula, which like southern Jersey +had originally been a shoal and then an island. The Jersey +watershed, with its streams abounding in wood duck and all manner +of wild life, must have been in its primeval days as fascinating +as some of the streams of the Florida cypress swamps. Toward the +ocean, Wading River, the Mullica, the Tuckahoe, Great Egg; and on +the Delaware side the Maurice, Cohansey, Salem Creek, Oldman's, +Raccoon, Mantua, Woodberry, Timber, and the Rancocas, still +possess attraction. Some of them, on opposite sides of the +divide, are not far apart at their sources in the old forest +tract; so that a canoe can be transported over the few miles and +thus traverse the State. One of these trips up Timber Creek from +the Delaware and across only eight miles of land to the +headwaters of Great Egg Harbor River and thence down to the +ocean, thus cutting South Jersey in half, is a particularly +romantic one. The heavy woods and swamps of this secluded route +along these forest shadowed streams are apparently very much as +they were three hundred years ago. + +The water in all these streams, particularly in their upper +parts, owing to the sandy soil, is very clean and clear and is +often stained by the cedar roots in the swamps a clear brown, +sometimes almost an amber color. One of the streams, the +Rancocas, with its many windings to Mount Holly and then far +inland to Brown's Mills, seems to be the favorite with canoemen +and is probably without an equal in its way for those who love +the Indian's gift that brings us so close to nature. + +The spread of the Quaker settlements along Delaware Bay to Cape +May was checked by the Maurice River and its marshes and by the +Great Cedar Swamp which crossed the country from Delaware Bay to +the ocean and thus made of the Cape May region a sort of island. +The Cape May region, it is true, was settled by Quakers, but most +of them came from Long Island rather than from the settlements on +the Delaware. They had followed whale fishing on Long Island and +in pursuit of that occupation some of them had migrated to Cape +May where whales were numerous not far off shore. + +The leading early families of Cape May, the Townsends, +Stillwells, Corsons, Leamings, Ludlams, Spicers, and Cresses, +many of whose descendants still live there, were Quakers of the +Long Island strain. The ancestor of the Townsend family came to +Cape May because he had been imprisoned and fined and threatened +with worse under the New York government for assisting his fellow +Quakers to hold meetings. Probably the occasional severity of the +administration of the New York laws against Quakers, which were +the same as those of England, had as much to do as had the whales +with the migration to Cape May. This Quaker civilization extended +from Cape May up as far as Great Egg Harbor where the Great Cedar +Swamp joined the seashore. Quaker meeting houses were built at +Cape May, Galloway, Tuckahoe, and Great Egg. All have been +abandoned and the buildings themselves have disappeared, except +that of the Cape May meeting, called the Old Cedar Meeting, at +Seaville; and it has no congregation. The building is kept in +repair by members of the Society from other places. + +Besides the Quakers, Cape May included a number of New Haven +people, the first of whom came there as early as 1640 under the +leadership of George Lamberton and Captain Turner, seeking profit +in whale fishing. They were not driven out by the Dutch and +Swedes, as happened to their companions who attempted to settle +higher up the river at Salem and the Schuylkill. About one-fifth +of the old family names of Cape May and New Haven are similar, +and there is supposed to be not a little New England blood not +only in Cape May but in the neighboring counties of Cumberland +and Salem. While the first New Haven whalers came to Cape May in +1640, it is probable that for a long time they only sheltered +their vessels there, and none of them became permanent settlers +until about 1685. + +Scandinavians contributed another element to the population of +the Cape May region. Very little is definitely known about this +settlement, but the Swedish names in Cape May and Cumberland +counties seem to indicate a migration of Scandinavians from +Wilmington and Tinicum. + +Great Egg Harbor, which formed the northern part of the Cape May +settlement, was named from the immense numbers of wild fowl, +swans, ducks, and water birds that formerly nested there every +summer and have now been driven to Canada or beyond. Little Egg +Harbor farther up the coast was named for the same reason as well +as Egg Island, of three hundred acres in Delaware Bay, since then +eaten away by the tide. The people of the district had excellent +living from the eggs as well as from the plentiful fowl, fish, +and oysters. + +Some farming was done by the inhabitants of Cape May; and many +cattle, marked with brands but in a half wild state, were kept +out on the uninhabited beaches which have now become seaside +summer cities. Some of the cattle were still running wild on the +beaches down to the time of the Civil War. The settlers "mined" +the valuable white cedar from the swamps for shingles and boards, +leaving great "pool holes" in the swamps which even today +sometimes trap the unwary sportsman. The women knitted +innumerable mittens and also made wampum or Indian money from the +clam and oyster shells, an important means of exchange in the +Indian trade all over the colonies, and even to some extent among +the colonists themselves. The Cape May people built sloops for +carrying the white cedar, the mittens, oysters, and wampum to the +outside world. They sold a great deal of their cedar in Long +Island, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Philadelphia finally +became their market for oysters and also for lumber, corn, and +the whalebone and oil. Their sloops also traded to the southern +colonies and even to the West Indies. + +They were an interesting little community, these Cape May people, +very isolated and dependent on the water and on their boats, for +they were completely cut off by the Great Cedar Swamp which +stretched across the point and separated them from the rest of +the coast. This troublesome swamp was not bridged for many years; +and even then the roads to it were long, slow, and too sandy for +transporting anything of much bulk. + +Next above Cape May on the coast was another isolated patch of +civilization which, while not an island, was nevertheless cut off +on the south by Great Egg Harbor with its river and marshes, and +on the north by Little Egg Harbor with the Mullica River and its +marshes extending far inland. The people in this district also +lived somewhat to themselves. To the north lay the district which +extended to Sandy Hook, also with its distinct set of people. + +The people of the Cape became in colonial times clever traders in +various pursuits. Although in one sense they were as isolated as +islanders, their adventurous life on the sea gave them breadth of +view. By their thrift and in innumerable shrewd and persistent +ways they amassed competencies and estates for their families. +Aaron Leaming, for example, who died in 1780, left an estate of +nearly $1,000,000. Some kept diaries which have become +historically valuable in showing not only their history but their +good education and the peculiar cast of their mind for keen +trading as well as their rigid economy and integrity. + +One character, Jacob Spicer, a prosperous colonial, insisted on +having everything made at home by his sons and daughters--shoes, +clothes, leather breeches, wampum, even shoe thread--calculating +the cost of everything to a fraction and economizing to the last +penny of money and the last second of time. Yet in the course of +a year he used "fifty-two gallons of rum, ten of wine, and two +barrels of cyder." Apparently in those days hard labor and hard +drinking went well together. + +The Cape May people, relying almost entirely on the water for +communication and trade, soon took to piloting vessels in the +Delaware River, and some of them still follow this occupation. +They also became skillful sailors and builders of small craft, +and it is not surprising to learn that Jacocks Swain and his sons +introduced, in 1811, the centerboard for keeping flat-bottomed +craft closer to the wind. They are said to have taken out a +patent for this invention and are given the credit of being the +originators of the idea. But the device was known in England in +1774, was introduced in Massachusetts in the same year, and may +have been used long before by the Dutch. The need of it, however, +was no doubt strongly impressed upon the Cape May people by the +difficulties which their little sloops experienced in beating +home against contrary winds. Some of them, indeed, spent weeks in +sight of the Cape, unable to make it. One sloop, the Nancy, +seventy-two days from Demarara, hung off and on for forty-three +days from December 25, 1787, to February 6, 1788, and was driven +off fifteen times before she finally got into Hereford Inlet. +Sometimes better sailing craft had to go out and bring in such +distressed vessels. The early boats were no doubt badly +constructed; but in the end apprenticeship to dire necessity made +the Cape May sailors masters of seamanship and the windward art.* + +* Stevens, "History of Cape May County," pp. 219, 229; Kelley, +"American Yachts" (1884), p. 165. + + +Wilson, the naturalist, spent a great deal of time in the Cape +May region, because of the great variety of birds to be found +there. Southern types, like the Florida egret, ventured even so +far north, and it was a stopping place for migrating birds, +notably woodcock, on their northern and southern journeys. Men of +the stone age had once been numerous in this region, as the +remains of village plats and great shell heaps bore witness. It +was a resting point for all forms of life. That much traveled, +adventurous gentleman of the sea, Captain Kidd, according to +popular legend, was a frequent visitor to this coast. + +In later times, beginning in 1801, the Cape became one of the +earliest of the summer resorts. The famous Commodore Decatur was +among the first distinguished men to be attracted by the simple +seaside charm of the place, long before it was destroyed by +wealth and crowds. Year by year he used to measure and record at +one spot the encroachment of the sea upon the beach. Where today +the sea washes and the steel pier extends, once lay cornfields. +For a hundred years it was a favorite resting place for statesmen +and politicians of national eminence. They traveled there by +stage, sailing sloop, or their own wagons. People from Baltimore +and the South more particularly sought the place because it was +easily accessible from the head of Chesapeake Bay by an old +railroad, long since abandoned, to Newcastle on the Delaware, +whence sail- or steamboats went to Cape May. This avoided the +tedious stage ride over the sandy Jersey roads. Presidents, +cabinet officers, senators, and congressmen sought the +invigorating air of the Cape and the attractions of the old +village, its seafaring life, the sailing, fishing, and bathing on +the best beach of the coast. Congress Hall, their favorite hotel, +became famous, and during a large part of the nineteenth century +presidential nominations and policies are said to have been +planned within its walls. + + + +Chapter X. Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey + +East Jersey was totally different in its topography from West +Jersey. The northern half of the State is a region of mountains +and lakes. As part of the original continent it had been under +the ice sheet of the glacial age and was very unlike the level +sands, swamps, and pine barrens of West Jersey which had arisen +as a shoal and island from the sea. The only place in East Jersey +where settlement was at all easy was along the open meadows which +were reached by water near the mouth of the Hudson, round Newark +Bay, and along the Hackensack River. + +The Dutch, by the discoveries of Henry Hudson in 1609, claimed +the whole region between the Hudson and the Delaware. They +settled part of East Jersey opposite their headquarters at New +York and called it Pavonia. But their cruel massacre of some +Indians who sought refuge among them at Pavonia destroyed the +prospects of the settlement. The Indians revenged themselves by +massacring the Dutch again and again, every time they attempted +to reestablish Pavonia. This kept the Dutch out of East Jersey +until 1660, when they succeeded in establishing Bergen between +Newark Bay and the Hudson. + +The Dutch authority in America was overthrown in 1664 by Charles +II, who had already given all New Jersey to his brother the Duke +of York. Colonel Richard Nicolls commanded the British expedition +that seized the Dutch possessions; and he had been given full +power as deputy governor of all the Duke of York's vast +territory. + +Meantime the New England Puritans seem to have kept their eyes on +East Jersey as a desirable region, and the moment the Connecticut +Puritans heard of Nicolls' appointment, they applied to him for a +grant of a large tract of land on Newark Bay. In the next year, +1665, he gave them another tract from the mouth of the Raritan to +Sandy Hook; and soon the villages of Shrewsbury and Middletown +were started. + +Meantime, however, unknown to Nicolls, the Duke of York in +England had given all of New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir +George Carteret. As has already been pointed out, they had +divided the province between them, and East Jersey had fallen to +Carteret, who sent out, with some immigrants, his relative Philip +Carteret as governor. Governor Carteret was of course very much +surprised to find so much of the best land already occupied by +the excellent and thrifty Yankees. As a consequence, litigation +and sometimes civil war over this unlucky mistake lasted for a +hundred years. Many of the Yankee settlers under the Nicolls +grant refused to pay quitrents to Carteret or his successors and, +in spite of a commission of inquiry from England in 1751 and a +chancery suit, they held their own until the Revolution of 1776 +extinguished all British authority. + +There was therefore from the beginning a strong New England tinge +in East Jersey which has lasted to this day. Governor Carteret +established a village on Newark Bay which still bears the name +Elizabeth, which he gave it in honor of the wife of the +proprietor, and he made it the capital. There were also +immigrants from Scotland and England. But Puritans from Long +Island and New England continued to settle round Newark Bay. By +virtue either of character or numbers, New Englanders were +evidently the controlling element, for they established the New +England system of town government, and imposed strict Connecticut +laws, making twelve crimes punishable with death. Soon there were +flourishing little villages, Newark and Elizabeth, besides +Middletown and Shrewsbury. The next year Piscatawa and Woodbridge +were added. Newark and the region round it, including the +Oranges, was settled by very exclusive Puritans, or +Congregationalists, as they are now called, some thirty families +from four Connecticut towns--Milford, Guilford, Bradford, and New +Haven. They decided that only church members should hold office +and vote. + +Governor Carteret ruled the colony with an appointive council and +a general assembly elected by the people, the typical colonial +form of government. His administration lasted from 1665 to his +death in 1682; and there is nothing very remarkable to record +except the rebellion of the New Englanders, especially those who +had received their land from Nicolls. Such independent +Connecticut people were, of course, quite out of place in a +proprietary colony, and, when in 1670 the first collection of +quitrents was attempted, they broke out in violent opposition, in +which the settlers of Elizabeth were prominent. In 1672 they +elected a revolutionary assembly of their own and, in place of +the deputy governor, appointed as proprietor a natural son of +Carteret. They began imprisoning former officers and confiscating +estates in the most approved revolutionary form and for a time +had the whole government in their control. It required the +interference of the Duke of York, of the proprietors, and of the +British Crown to allay the little tempest, and three years were +given in which to pay the quitrents. + +After the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680, his province of +East Jersey was sold to William Penn and eleven other Quakers for +the sum of 3400 pounds. Colonies seem to have been comparatively +inexpensive luxuries in those days. A few years before, in 1675, +Penn and some other Quakers had, as has already been related, +gained control of West Jersey for the still smaller sum of one +thousand pounds and had established it as a Quaker refuge. It +might be supposed that they now had the same purpose in view in +East Jersey, but apparently their intention was to create a +refuge for Presbyterians, the famous Scotch Covenanters, much +persecuted at that time under Charles II, who was forcing them to +conform to the Church of England. + +Penn and his fellow proprietors of East Jersey each chose a +partner, most of them Scotchmen, two of whom, the Earl of Perth +and Lord Drummond, were prominent men. To this mixed body of +Quakers, other dissenters, and some Papists, twenty-four +proprietors in all, the Duke of York reconfirmed by special +patent their right to East Jersey. Under their urging a few +Scotch Covenanters began to arrive and seem to have first +established themselves at Perth Amboy, which they named from the +Scottish Earl of Perth and an Indian word meaning "point." This +settlement they expected to become a great commercial port +rivaling New York. Curiously enough, Robert Barclay, the first +governor appointed, was not only a Scotchman but also a Quaker, +and a theologian whose "Apology for the True Christian Divinity" +(1678) is regarded to this day as the best statement of the +original Quaker doctrine. He remained in England, however, and +the deputies whom he sent out to rule the colony had a troublous +time of it. + +That Quakers should establish a refuge for Presbyterians seems at +first peculiar, but it was in accord with their general +philanthropic plan to help the oppressed and suffering, to rescue +prisoners and exiles, and especially to ameliorate the horrible +condition of people confined in the English dungeons and prisons. +Many vivid pictures of how the Scotch Covenanters were hunted +down like wild beasts may be found in English histories and +novels. When their lives were spared they often met a fate worse +than death in the loathsome dungeons into which thousands of +Quakers of that time were also thrust. A large part of William +Penn's life as a courtier was spent in rescuing prisoners, +exiles, and condemned persons of all sorts, and not merely those +of his own faith. So the undertaking to make of Jersey two +colonies, one a refuge for Quakers and the other a refuge for +Covenanters, was natural enough, and it was a very broad-minded +plan for that age. + +In 1683, a few years after the Quaker control of East Jersey +began, a new and fiercer persecution of the Covenanters was +started in the old country, and shortly afterwards Monmouth's +insurrection in England broke out and was followed by a most +bloody proscription and punishment. The greatest efforts were +made to induce those still untouched to fly for refuge to East +Jersey; but, strange to say, comparatively few of them came. It +is another proof of the sturdiness and devotion which has filled +so many pages of history and romance with their praise that as a +class the Covenanters remained at home to establish their faith +with torture, martyrdom, and death. + +In 1685 the Duke of York ascended the throne of England as James +II, and all that was naturally to be expected from such a bigoted +despot was soon realized. The persecutions of the Covenanters +grew worse. Crowded into prisons to die of thirst and +suffocation, shot down on the highways, tied to stakes to be +drowned by the rising tide, the whole Calvinistic population of +Scotland seemed doomed to extermination. Again they were told of +America as the only place where religious liberty was allowed, +and in addition a book was circulated among them called "The +Model of the Government of the Province of East Jersey in +America." These efforts were partially successful. More +Covenanters came than before, but nothing like the numbers of +Quakers that flocked to Pennsylvania. The whole population of +East Jersey--New Englanders, Dutch, Scotch Covenanters, and +all--did not exceed five thousand and possibly was not over four +thousand. + +Some French Huguenots, such as came to many of the English +colonies after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes of 1685, +were added to the East Jersey population. A few went to Salem in +West Jersey, and some of these became Quakers. In both the +Jerseys, as elsewhere, they became prominent and influential in +all spheres of life. There was a decided Dutch influence, it is +said, in the part nearest New York, emanating from the Bergen +settlement in which the Dutch had succeeded in establishing +themselves in 1660 after the Indians had twice driven them from +Pavonia. Many descendants of Dutch families are still found in +that region. Many Dutch characteristics were to be found in that +region throughout colonial times. Many of the houses had Dutch +stoops or porches at the door, with seats where the family and +visitors sat on summer evenings to smoke and gossip. Long Dutch +spouts extended out from the eaves to discharge the rain water +into the street. But the prevailing tone of East Jersey seems to +have been set by the Scotch Presbyterians and the New England +Congregationalists. The College of New Jersey, afterward known as +Princeton, established in 1747, was the result of a movement +among the Presbyterians of East Jersey and New York. + +All these elements of East Jersey, Scotch Covenanters, +Connecticut Puritans, Huguenots, and Dutch of the Dutch Reformed +Church, were in a sense different but in reality very much in +accord and congenial in their ideas of religion and politics. +They were all sturdy, freedom-loving Protestants, and they set +the tone that prevails in East Jersey to this day. Their strict +discipline and their uncompromising thrift may now seem narrow +and harsh; but it made them what they were; and it has left a +legacy of order and prosperity under which alien religions and +races are eager to seek protection. In its foundation the Quakers +may claim a share. + +The new King, James II, was inclined to reassume jurisdiction and +extend the power of the Governor of New York over East Jersey in +spite of his grant to Sir George Carteret. In fact, he desired to +put New England, New York, and New Jersey under one strong +government centered at New York, to abolish their charters, to +extinguish popular government, and to make them all mere royal +dependencies in pursuance of his general policy of establishing +an absolute monarchy and a papal church in England. + +The curse of East Jersey's existence was to be always an +appendage of New York, or to be threatened with that condition. +The inhabitants now had to enter their vessels and pay duties at +New York. Writs were issued by order of the King putting both the +Jerseys and all New England under the New York Governor. Step by +step the plans for amalgamation and despotism moved on +successfully, when suddenly the English Revolution of 1688 put an +end to the whole magnificent scheme, drove the King into exile, +and placed William of Orange on the throne. + +The proprietaries of both Jerseys reassumed their former +authority. But the New York Assembly attempted to exercise +control over East Jersey and to levy duties on its exports. The +two provinces were soon on the eve of a little war. For twelve or +fifteen years East Jersey was in disorder, with seditious +meetings, mob rule, judges and sheriffs attacked while performing +their duty, the proprietors claiming quitrents from the people, +the people resisting, and the British Privy Council threatening a +suit to take the province from the proprietors and make a Crown +colony of it. The period is known in the history of this colony +as "The Revolution." Under the threat of the Privy Council to +take over the province, the proprietors of both East and West +Jersey surrendered their rights of political government, +retaining their ownership of land and quitrents, and the two +Jerseys were united under one government in 1702. Its subsequent +history demands another chapter. + + + +Chapter XI. The United Jerseys + +The Quaker colonists grouped round Burlington and Salem, on the +Delaware, and the Scotch Covenanters and New England colonists +grouped around Perth Amboy and Newark, near the mouth of the +Hudson, made up the two Jerseys. Neither colony had a numerous +population, and the stretch of country lying between them was +during most of the colonial period a wilderness. It is now +crossed by the railway from Trenton to New York. It has always +been a line of travel from the Delaware to the Hudson. At first +there was only an Indian trail across it, but after 1695 there +was a road, and after 1738 a stage route. + +In 1702, while still separated by this wilderness, the two +Jerseys were united politically by the proprietors voluntarily +surrendering all their political rights to the Crown. The +political distinction between East Jersey and West Jersey was +thus abolished; their excellent free constitutions were rendered +of doubtful authority; and from that time to the Revolution they +constituted one colony under the control of a royal governor +appointed by the Crown. + +The change was due to the uncertainty and annoyance caused for +their separate governments when their right to govern was in +doubt owing to interference on the part of New York and the +desire of the King to make them a Crown colony. The original +grant of the Duke of York to the proprietors Berkeley and +Carteret had given title to the soil but had been silent as to +the right to govern. The first proprietors and their successors +had always assumed that the right to govern necessarily +accompanied this gift of the land. Such a privilege, however, the +Crown was inclined to doubt. William Penn was careful to avoid +this uncertainty when he received his charter for Pennsylvania. +Profiting by the sad example of the Jerseys, he made sure that he +was given both the title to the soil and the right to govern. + +The proprietors, however, now surrendered only their right to +govern the Jerseys and retained their ownership of the land; and +the people always maintained that they, on their part, retained +all the political rights and privileges which had been granted +them by the proprietors. And these rights were important, for the +concessions or constitutions granted by the proprietors under the +advanced Quaker influence of the time were decidedly liberal. The +assemblies, as the legislatures were called, had the right to +meet and adjourn as they pleased, instead of having their +meetings and adjournments dictated by the governor. This was an +important right and one which the Crown and royal governors were +always trying to restrict or destroy, because it made an assembly +very independent. This contest for colonial rights was exactly +similar to the struggle of the English Parliament for liberty +against the supposed right of the Stuart kings to call and +adjourn Parliament as they chose. If the governor could adjourn +the assembly when he pleased, he could force it to pass any laws +he wanted or prevent its passing any laws at all. The two Jersey +assemblies under their Quaker constitutions also had the +privilege of making their own rules of procedure, and they had +jurisdiction over taxes, roads, towns, militia, and all details +of government. These rights of a legislature are familiar enough +now to all. Very few people realize, however, what a struggle and +what sacrifices were required to attain them. + +The rest of New Jersey colonial history is made up chiefly of +struggles over these two questions--the rights of the proprietors +and their quitrents as against the people, and the rights of the +new assembly as against the Crown. There were thus three parties, +the governor and his adherents, the proprietors and their +friends, and the assembly and the people. The proprietors had the +best of the change, for they lost only their troublesome +political power and retained their property. They never, however, +received such financial returns from the property as the sons of +William Penn enjoyed from Pennsylvania. But the union of the +Jerseys seriously curtailed the rights enjoyed by the people +under the old government, and all possibility of a Quaker +government in West Jersey was ended. It was this experience in +the Jerseys, no doubt, that caused William Penn to require so +many safeguards in selling his political rights in Pennsylvania +to the Crown that the sale was, fortunately for the colony, never +completed. + +The assembly under the union met alternately at Perth Amboy and +at Burlington. Lord Cornbury, the first governor, was also +Governor of New York, a humiliating arrangement that led to no +end of trouble. The executive government, the press, and the +judiciary were in the complete control of the Crown and the +Governor, who was instructed to take care that "God Almighty be +duly served according to the rites of the Church of England, and +the traffic in merchantable negroes encouraged." Cornbury +contemptuously ignored the assembly's right to adjourn and kept +adjourning it till one was elected which would pass the laws he +wanted. Afterwards the assemblies were less compliant, and, under +the lead of two able men, Lewis Morris of East Jersey and Samuel +Jennings, a Quaker of West Jersey, they stood up for their rights +and complained to the mother country. But Cornbury went on +fighting them, granted monopolies, established arbitrary fees, +prohibited the proprietors from selling their lands, prevented +three members of the assembly duly elected from being sworn, and +was absent in New York so much of the time that the laws went +unexecuted and convicted murderers wandered about at large. In +short, he went through pretty much the whole list of offenses of +a corrupt and good-for-nothing royal governor of colonial times. +The union of the two colonies consequently seemed to involve no +improvement over former conditions. At last, the protests and +appeals of proprietors and people prevailed, and Cornbury was +recalled. + +Quieter times followed, and in 1738 New Jersey had the +satisfaction of obtaining a governor all her own. The New York +Governor had always neglected Jersey affairs, was difficult of +access, made appointments and administered justice in the +interests of New York, and forced Jersey vessels to pay +registration fees to New York. Amid great rejoicing over the +change, the Crown appointed the popular leader, Lewis Morris, as +governor. But by a strange turn of fate, when once secure in +power, he became a most obstinate upholder of royal prerogative, +worried the assembly with adjournments, and, after Cornbury, was +the most obnoxious of all the royal governors. + +The governors now usually made Burlington their capital and it +became, on that account, a place of much show and interest. The +last colonial governor was William Franklin, an illegitimate son +of Benjamin Franklin, and he would probably have made a success +of the office if the Revolution had not stopped him. He had +plenty of ability, affable manners, and was full of humor and +anecdote like his father, whom he is said to have somewhat +resembled. He had combined in youth a fondness for books with a +fondness for adventure, was comptroller of the colonial post +office and clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, served a couple of +campaigns in the French and Indian Wars, went to England with his +father in 1757, was admitted to the English Bar, attained some +intimacy with the Earl of Bute and Lord Fairfax, and through the +latter obtained the governorship of New Jersey in 1762. + +The people were at first much displeased at his appointment and +never entirely got over his illegitimate birth and his turning +from Whig to Tory as soon as his appointment was secured. But he +advanced the interests of the colony with the home government and +favored beneficial legislation. He had an attractive wife, and +they entertained, it is said, with viceregal elegance, and +started a fine model farm or country place on the north shore of +the Rancocas not far from the capital at Burlington. Franklin was +drawing the province together and building it up as a community, +but his extreme loyalist principles in the Revolution destroyed +his chance for popularity and have obscured his reputation. + +Though the population of New Jersey was a mixed one, judged by +the very distinct religious differences of colonial times, yet +racially it was thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and a good stock to build +upon. At the time of the Revolution in 1776 the people numbered +only about 120,000, indicating a slow growth; but when the first +census of the United States was taken, in 1790, they numbered +184,139. + +The natural division of the State into North and South Jersey is +marked by a line from Trenton to Jersey City. The people of these +two divisions were quite as distinct in early times as striking +differences in environment and religion could make them. Even in +the inevitable merging of modern life the two regions are still +distinct socially, economically, and intellectually. Along the +dividing line the two types of the population, of course, merged +and here was produced and is still to be found the Jerseyman of +the composite type. + +Trenton, the capital of the State, is very properly in the +dividing belt. It was named after William Trent, a Philadelphia +merchant who had been speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and +who became chief justice of New Jersey. Long ages before white +men came Trenton seems to have been a meeting place and residence +of the Indians or preceding races of stone age men. Antiquarians +have estimated that fifty thousand stone implements have been +found in it. As it was at the head of tidewater, at the so-called +Falls of the Delaware, it was apparently a center of travel and +traffic from other regions. From the top of the bluff below the +modern city of Trenton there was easy access to forests of +chestnut, oak, and pine, with their supplies of game, while the +river and its tributary creeks were full of fish. It was a +pleasant and convenient place where the people of prehistoric +times apparently met and lingered during many centuries without +necessarily having a large resident population at any one time. +Trenton was so obviously convenient and central in colonial times +that it was seriously proposed as a site for the national +capital. + +Princeton University, though originating, as we have seen, among +the Presbyterians of North Jersey, seems as a higher educational +institution for the whole State to belong naturally in the +dividing belt, the meeting place of the two divisions of the +colony. The college began its existence at Elizabeth, was then +moved to Newark, both in the strongly Presbyterian region, and +finally, in 1757, was established at Princeton, a more suitable +place, it was thought, because far removed from the dissipation +and temptation of towns, and because it was in the center of the +colony on the post road between Philadelphia and New York. +Though chartered as the College of New Jersey, it was often +called Nassau Hall at Princeton or simply "Princeton." In 1896 +it became known officially as Princeton University. It was a hard +struggle to found the college with lotteries and petty +subscriptions here and there. But Presbyterians in New York and +other provinces gave aid. Substantial assistance was also +obtained from the Presbyterians of England and Scotland. In the +old pamphlets of the time which have been preserved the founders +of the college argued that higher education was needed not only +for ministers of religion, but for the bench, the bar, and the +legislature. The two New England colleges, Harvard and Yale, on +the north, and the Virginia College of William and Mary on the +south, were too far away. There must be a college close at hand. + +At first most of the graduates entered the Presbyterian ministry. +But soon in the short time before the Revolution there were +produced statesmen such as Richard Stockton of New Jersey, who +signed the Declaration of Independence; physicians such as Dr. +Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia; soldiers such as "Light Horse" +Harry Lee of Virginia; as well as founders of other colleges, +governors of States, lawyers, attorney-generals, judges, +congressmen, and indeed a very powerful assemblage of +intellectual lights. Nor should the names of James Madison, Aaron +Burr, and Jonathan Edwards be omitted. + +East Jersey with her New England influence attempted something +like free public schools. In West Jersey the Quakers had schools. +In both Jerseys, after 1700 some private neighborhood schools +were started, independent of religious denominations. The West +Jersey Quakers, self-cultured and with a very effective system of +mental discipline and education in their families as well as in +their schools, were not particularly interested in higher +education. But in East Jersey as another evidence of intellectual +awakening in colonial times, Queen's College, afterward known as +Rutgers College, was established by the Dutch Reformed Church in +1766, and was naturally placed, near the old source of Dutch +influence, at New Brunswick in the northerly end of the dividing +belt. + +New Jersey was fortunate in having no Indian wars in colonial +times, no frontier, no point of hostile contact with the French +of Canada or with the powerful western tribes of red men. Like +Rhode Island in this respect, she was completely shut in by the +other colonies. Once or twice only did bands of savages cross the +Delaware and commit depredations on Jersey soil. This colony, +however, did her part in sending troops and assistance to the +others in the long French and Indian wars; but she had none of +the pressing danger and experience of other colonies. Her people +were never drawn together by a common danger until the +Revolution. + +In Jersey colonial homes there was not a single modern +convenience of light, heat, or cooking, and none of the modern +amusements. But there was plenty of good living and simple +diversion--husking bees and shooting in the autumn, skating and +sleighing in the winter. Meetings and discussions in coffeehouses +and inns supplied in those days the place of our modern books, +newspapers, and magazines. Jersey inns were famous meeting +places. Everybody passed through their doors--judges, lawyers, +legislators, politicians, post riders, stage drivers, each +bringing his contribution of information and humor, and the +slaves and rabble stood round to pick up news and see the fun. +The court days in each county were holidays celebrated with games +of quoits, running, jumping, feasting, and discussions political +and social. At the capital there was even style and extravagance. +Governor Belcher, for example, who lived at Burlington, professed +to believe that the Quaker influences of that town were not +strict enough in keeping the Sabbath, so he drove every Sunday in +his coach and four to Philadelphia to worship in the Presbyterian +Church there and saw no inconsistency in his own behavior. + +Almanacs furnished much of the reading for the masses. The few +newspapers offered little except the barest chronicle of events. +The books of the upper classes were good though few, and +consisted chiefly of the classics of English literature and books +of information and travel. The diaries and letters of colonial +native Jerseymen, the pamphlets of the time, and John Woolman's +"Journal," all show a good average of education and an excellent +use of the English language. Samuel Smith's "History of the +Colony of Nova-Casaria, or New Jersey," written and printed at +Burlington and published there in the year 1765, is written in a +good and even attractive style, with as intelligent a grasp of +political events as any modern mind could show; the type, paper, +and presswork, too, are excellent. Smith was born and educated in +this same New Jersey town. He became a member of council and +assembly, at one time was treasurer of the province, and his +manuscript historical collections were largely used by Robert +Proud in his "History of Pennsylvania." + +The early houses of New Jersey were of heavy timbers covered with +unpainted clapboards, usually one story and a half high, with +immense fireplaces, which, with candles, supplied the light. The +floors were scrubbed hard and sprinkled with the plentiful white +sand. Carpets, except the famous old rag carpets, were very rare. +The old wooden houses have now almost entirely disappeared; but +many of the brick houses which succeeded them are still +preserved. They are of simple well-proportioned architecture, of +a distinctive type, less luxuriant, massive, and exuberant than +those across the river in Pennsylvania, although both evidently +derived from the Christopher Wren school. The old Jersey homes +seem to reflect with great exactness the simple feeling of the +people and to be one expression of the spirit of Jersey +democracy. + +There were no important seats of commerce in this province. +Exports of wheat, provisions, and lumber went to Philadelphia or +New York, which were near and convenient. The Jersey shores near +the mouth of the Hudson and along the Delaware, as at Camden, +presented opportunities for ports, but the proximity to the two +dominating ports prevented the development of additional harbors +in this part of the coast. It was not until after the Revolution +that Camden, opposite Philadelphia, and Jersey City, opposite New +York, grew into anything like their present importance. + +There were, however, a number of small ports and shipbuilding +villages in the Jerseys. It is a noticeable fact that in colonial +times and even later there were very few Jersey towns beyond the +head of tidewater. The people, even the farmers, were essentially +maritime. The province showed its natural maritime +characteristics, produced many sailors, and built innumerable +small vessels for the coasting and West India trade--sloops, +schooners, yachts, and sailboats, down to the tiniest gunning +boat and sneak box. Perth Amboy was the principal port and +shipbuilding center for East Jersey as Salem was for West Jersey. +But Burlington, Bordentown, Cape May, and Trenton, and +innumerable little villages up creeks and channels or mere +ditches could not be kept from the prevailing industry. They +built craft up to the limit of size that could be floated away in +the water before their very doors. Plentifully supplied with +excellent oak and pine and with the admirable white cedar of +their own forests, very skillful shipwrights grew up in every +little hamlet. + +A large part of the capital used in Jersey shipbuilding is said +to have come from Philadelphia and New York. At first this +capital sought its profit in whaling along the coast and +afterwards in the trade with the West Indies, which for a time +absorbed so much of the shipping of all the colonies in America. +The inlets and beaches along the Jersey coast now given over to +summer resorts were first used for whaling camps or bases. Cape +May and Tuckerton were started and maintained by whaling; and as +late as 1830, it is said, there were still signs of the industry +on Long Beach. + +Except for the whaling, the beaches were uninhabited--wild +stretches of sand, swarming with birds and wild fowl, without a +lighthouse or lifesaving station. In the Revolution, when the +British fleet blockaded the Delaware and New York, Little Egg, +the safest of the inlets, was used for evading the blockade. +Vessels entered there and sailed up the Mullica River to the head +of navigation, whence the goods were distributed by wagons. To +conceal their vessels when anchored just inside an inlet, the +privateersmen would stand slim pine trees beside the masts and +thus very effectively concealed the rigging from British cruisers +prowling along the shore. + +Along with the whaling industry the risks and seclusion of the +inlets and channels developed a romantic class of gentlemen, as +handy with musket and cutlass as with helm and sheet, fond of +easy, exciting profits, and reaping where they had not sown. They +would start legally enough, for they began as privateersmen under +legal letters of marque in the wars. But the step was a short one +to a traffic still more profitable; and for a hundred years +Jersey customs officers are said to have issued documents which +were ostensibly letters of marque but which really abetted a +piratical cruise. Piracy was, however, in those days a +semi-legitimate offense, winked at by the authorities all through +the colonial period; and respectable people and governors and +officials of New York and North Carolina, it is said, secretly +furnished funds for such expeditions and were interested in the +profits. + + + +Chapter XII. Little Delaware + +Delaware was the first colony to be established on the river that +bears this name. It went through half a century of experiences +under the Dutch and Swedes from 1609 to 1664, and then eighteen +years under the English rule of the Duke of York, from whom it +passed into the hands of William Penn, the Quaker. The Dutch got +into it by an accident and were regarded by the English as +interlopers. And the Swedes who followed had no better title. + +The whole North Atlantic seaboard was claimed by England by +virtue of the discoveries of the Cabots, father and son; but +nearly a hundred years elapsed before England took advantage of +this claim by starting the Virginia colony near the mouth of the +Chesapeake Bay in 1607. And nearly a quarter of a century more +elapsed before Englishmen settled on the shores of Massachusetts +Bay. Those were the two points most accessible to ships and most +favorable for settlement. The middle ground of the Delaware and +Hudson regions was not so easily entered and remained unoccupied. +The mouth of the Delaware was full of shoals and was always +difficult to navigate. The natural harbor at the mouth of the +Hudson was excellent, but the entrance to it was not at first +apparent. + +Into these two regions, however, the Dutch chanced just after the +English had effected the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia. The +Dutch had employed an Englishman named Henry Hudson and sent him +in 1609 in a small ship called the Half Moon to find a passage to +China and India by way of the Arctic Ocean. Turned back by the +ice in the Arctic, he sailed down the coast of North America, and +began exploring the middle ground from the Virginia settlement, +which he seems to have known about; and, working cautiously +northward along the coast and feeling his way with the lead line, +he soon entered Delaware Bay. But finding it very difficult of +navigation he departed and, proceeding in the same careful way up +along the coast of New Jersey, he finally entered the harbor of +New York and sailed up the Hudson far enough to satisfy himself +that it was not the desired course to China. + +This exploration gave the Dutch their claim to the Delaware and +Hudson regions. But though it was worthless as against the +English right by discovery of the Cabots, the Dutch went ahead +with their settlement, established their headquarters and seat of +government on Manhattan Island, where New York stands today, and +exercised as much jurisdiction and control as they could on the +Delaware. + +Their explorations of the Delaware, feeling their way up it with +small light draft vessels among its shoals and swift tides, their +travels on land--shooting wild turkeys on the site of the present +busy town of Chester--and their adventures with the Indians are +full of interest. The immense quantities of wild fowl and animal +and bird life along the shores astonished them; but what most +aroused their cupidity was the enormous supply of furs, +especially beaver and otter, that could be obtained from the +Indians. Furs became their great, in fact, their only interest in +the Delaware. They established forts, one near Cape Henlopen at +the mouth of the river, calling it Fort Oplandt, and another far +up the river on the Jersey side at the mouth of Timber Creek, +nearly opposite the present site of Philadelphia, and this they +called Fort Nassau. Fort Oplandt was destroyed by the Indians and +its people were massacred. Fort Nassau was probably occupied only +at intervals. These two posts were built mainly to assist the fur +trade, and any attempts at real settlement were slight and +unsuccessful. + +Meantime about the year 1624 the Swedes heard of the wonderful +opportunities on the Delaware. The Swedish monarch, Gustavus +Adolphus, a man of broad ambitions and energetic mind, heard +about the Delaware from Willem Usselinx, a merchant of Antwerp +who had been actively interested in the formation of the Dutch +West India Company to trade in the Dutch possessions in America. +Having quarreled with the directors, Usselinx had withdrawn from +the Netherlands and now offered his services to Sweden. The +Swedish court, nobles, and people, all became enthusiastic about +the project which he elaborated for a great commercial company to +trade and colonize in Asia, Africa, and America.* But the plan +was dropped because, soon after 1630, Gustavus Adolphus led his +country to intervene on the side of the Protestants in the Thirty +Years' War in Germany, where he was killed three years later at +the battle of Lutzen. But the desire aroused by Usselinx for a +Swedish colonial empire was revived in the reign of his infant +daughter, Christina, by the celebrated Swedish Chancellor, +Oxenstierna. + + +* See "Willem Usselinx," by J. F. Jameson in the "Papers of the +American Historical Association," vol. II. + +An expedition, which actually reached the Delaware in 1638, was +sent out under another Dutch renegade, Peter Minuit, who had been +Governor of New Netherland and after being dismissed from office +was now leading this Swedish enterprise to occupy part of the +territory he had formerly governed for the Dutch. His two ships +sailed up the Delaware and with good judgment landed at the +present site of Wilmington. At that point a creek carrying a +depth of over fourteen feet for ten miles from its mouth flowed +into the Delaware. The Dutch had called this creek Minquas, after +the tribe of Indians; the Swedes named it the Christina after +their infant Queen; and in modern times it has been corrupted +into Christiana. + +They sailed about two and a half miles through its delta marshes +to some rocks which formed a natural wharf and which still stand +today at the foot of Sixth Street in Wilmington. This was the +Plymouth Rock of Delaware. Level land, marshes, and meadows lay +along the Christina, the remains of the delta which the stream +had formed in the past. On the edge of the delta or moorland, +rocky hills rose, forming the edge of the Piedmont, and out of +them from the north flowed a fine large stream, the Brandywine, +which fell into the Christina just before it entered the +Delaware. Here in the delta their engineer laid out a town, +called Christinaham, and a fort behind the rocks on which they +had landed. A cove in the Christina made a snug anchorage for +their ships, out of the way of the tide. They then bought from +the Indians all the land from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of the +Delaware at Trenton, calling it New Sweden and the Delaware New +Swedeland Stream. The people of Delaware have always regarded New +Sweden as the beginning of their State, and Peter Minuit, the +leader of this Swedish expedition, always stands first on the +published lists of their governors. + +On their arrival in the river in the spring of 1638, the Swedes +found no evidences of permanent Dutch colonization. Neither Fort +Oplandt nor Fort Nassau was then occupied. They always maintained +that the Dutch had abandoned the river, and that it was therefore +open to the Swedes for occupation, especially after they had +purchased the Indian title. It was certainly true that the Dutch +efforts to plant colonies in that region had failed; and since +the last attempt by De Vries, six years had elapsed. On the other +hand, the Dutch contended that they had in that time put Fort +Nassau in repair, although they had not occupied it, and that +they kept a few persons living along the Jersey shore of the +river, possibly the remains of the Nassau colony, to watch all +who visited it. These people had immediately notified the Dutch +governor Kieft at New Amsterdam of the arrival of the Swedes, and +he promptly issued a protest against the intrusion. But his +protest was neither very strenuous nor was it followed up by +hostile action, for Sweden and Holland were on friendly terms. +Sweden, the great champion of Protestant Europe, had intervened +in the Thirty Years' War to save the Protestants of Germany. The +Dutch had just finished a similar desperate war of eighty years +for freedom from the papal despotism of Spain. Dutch and Swedes +had, therefore, every reason to be in sympathy with each other. +The Swedes, a plain, strong, industrious people, as William Penn +aptly called them, were soon, however, seriously interfering with +the Dutch fur trade and in the first year, it is said, collected +thirty thousand skins. If this is true, it is an indication of +the immense supply of furbearing animals, especially beaver, +available at that time. For the next twenty-five years Dutch and +Swedes quarreled and sometimes fought over their respective +claims. But it is significant of the difficulty of retaining a +hold on the Delaware region that the Swedish colonists on the +Christina after a year or two regarded themselves as a failure +and were on the point of abandoning their enterprise, when a +vessel, fortunately for them, arrived with cattle, agricultural +tools, and immigrants. It is significant also that the +immigrants, though in a Swedish vessel and under the Swedish +government, were Dutchmen. They formed a sort of separate Dutch +colony under Swedish rule and settled near St. George's and +Appoquinimink. Immigrants apparently were difficult to obtain +among the Swedes, who were not colonizers like the English. + +At this very time, in fact, Englishmen, Puritans from +Connecticut, were slipping into the Delaware region under the +leadership of Nathaniel Turner and George Lamberton, and were +buying the land from the Indians. About sixty settled near Salem, +New Jersey, and some on the Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, close to +Fort Nassau--an outrageous piece of audacity, said the Dutch, and +an insult to their "High Mightinesses and the noble Directors of +the West India Company. " So the Schuylkill English were +accordingly driven out, and their houses were burned. The Swedes +afterwards expelled the English from Salem and from the Cohansey, +lower down the Bay. Later the English were allowed to return, but +they seem to have done little except trade for furs and beat off +hostile Indians. + +The seat of the Swedish government was moved in 1643 from the +Christina to Tinicum, one of the islands of the Schuylkill delta, +with an excellent harbor in front of it which is now the home of +the yacht clubs of Philadelphia. Here they built a fort of logs, +called Fort Gothenborg, a chapel with a graveyard, and a mansion +house for the governor, and this remained the seat of Swedish +authority as long as they had any on the river. From here +Governor Printz, a portly irascible old soldier, said to have +weighed "upwards of 400 pounds and taken three drinks at every +meal," ruled the river. He built forts on the Schuylkill and +worried the Dutch out of the fur trade. He also built a fort +called Nya Elfsborg, afterward Elsinboro, on the Jersey side +below Salem. By means of this fort he was able to command the +entrance to the river and compelled every Dutch ship to strike +her colors and acknowledge the sovereignty of Sweden. Some he +prevented from going up the river at all; others he allowed to +pass on payment of toll or tribute. He gave orders to destroy +every trading house or fort which the Dutch had built on the +Schuylkill, and to tear down the coat of arms and insignia which +the Dutch had placed on a post on the site of Philadelphia. The +Swedes now also bought from the Indians and claimed the land on +the Jersey side from Cape May up to Raccoon Creek, opposite the +modern Chester. + +The best place to trade with the Indians for furs was the +Schuylkill River, which flowed into the Delaware at a point where +Philadelphia was afterwards built. There were at that time Indian +villages where West Philadelphia now stands. The headwaters of +streams flowing into the Schuylkill were only a short distance +from the headwaters of streams flowing into the Susquehanna, so +that the valley of the Schuylkill formed the natural highway into +the interior of Pennsylvania. The route to the Ohio River +followed the Schuylkill for some thirty or forty miles, turned up +one of its tributaries to its source, then crossed the watershed +to the head of a stream flowing into the Susquehanna, thence to +the Juniata, at the head of which the trail led over a short +divide to the head of the Conemaugh, which flowed into the +Allegheny, and the Allegheny into the Ohio. Some of the Swedes +and Dutch appear to have followed this route with the Indians as +early as 1646. + +The Ohio and Allegheny region was inhabited by the Black Minquas, +so called from their custom of wearing a black badge on their +breast. The Ohio, indeed, was first called the Black Minquas +River. As the country nearer the Delaware was gradually denuded +of beaver, these Black Minquas became the great source of supply +and carried the furs, over the route described, to the +Schuylkill. The White Minquas lived further east, round +Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and, though spoken of as belonging +by language to the great Iroquois or Six Nation stock, were +themselves conquered and pretty much exterminated by the Six +Nations. The Black Minquas, believed to be the same as the Eries +of the Jesuit Relations, were also practically exterminated by +the Six Nations.* + +* Myers, "Narratives of Early Pennsylvania", pp. 103-104. + + +The furs brought down the Schuylkill were deposited at certain +rocks two or three miles above its mouth at Bartram's Gardens, +now one of the city parks of Philadelphia. On these rocks, then +an island in the Schuylkill, the Swedes built a fort which +completely commanded the river and cut the Dutch off from the fur +trade. They built another fort on the other side of Bartram's +Gardens along the meadow near what is now Gibson's Point; and +Governor Printz had a great mill a couple of miles away on Cobb's +Creek, where the old Blue Bell tavern has long stood. These two +forts protected the mill and the Indian villages in West +Philadelphia. + +One would like to revisit the Delaware of those days and see all +its wild life and game, its islands and shoals, its virgin +forests as they had grown up since the glacial age, untouched by +the civilization of the white man. There were then more islands +in the river, the water was clearer, and there were pretty pebble +and sandy beaches now overlaid by mud brought down from vast +regions of the valley no longer protected by forests from the +wash of the rains. On a wooded island below Salem, long since cut +away by the tides, the pirate Blackhead and his crew are said to +have passed a winter. The waters of the river spread out wide at +every high tide over marshes and meadows, turning them twice a +day for a few hours into lakes, grown up in summer with red and +yellow flowers and the graceful wild oats, or reeds, tasseled +like Indian corn. + +At Christinaham, in the delta of the Christina and the +Brandywine, the tide flowed far inland to the rocks on which +Minuit's Swedish expedition landed, leaving one dry spot called +Cherry Island, a name still borne by a shoal in the river. Fort +Christina, on the edge of the overflowed meadow, with the rocky +promontory of hills behind it, its church and houses, and a wide +prospect across the delta and river, was a fair spot in the old +days. The Indians came down the Christina in their canoes or +overland, bringing their packs of beaver, otter, and deer skins, +their tobacco, corn, and venison to exchange for the cloth, +blankets, tools, and gaudy trinkets that pleased them. It must +often have been a scene of strange life and coloring, and it is +difficult today to imagine it all occurring close to the spot +where the Pennsylvania railroad station now stands in Wilmington. + +When doughty Peter Stuyvesant became Governor of New Netherland, +he determined to assert Dutch authority once more on the South +River, as the Delaware was called in distinction from the Hudson. +As the Swedes now controlled it by their three forts, not a Dutch +ship could reach Fort Nassau without being held up at Fort +Elfsborg or at Fort Christina or at the fort at Tinicum. It was a +humiliating situation for the haughty spirit of the Dutch +governor. To open the river to Dutch commerce again, Stuyvesant +marched overland in 1651 through the wilderness, with one hundred +and twenty men and, abandoning Fort Nassau, built a new fort on a +fine promontory which then extended far out into the river below +Christina. Today the place is known as New Castle; the Dutch +commonly referred to it as Sandhoeck or Sand Point; the English +called it Grape Vine Point. Stuyvesant named it Fort Casimir. + +The tables were now turned: the Dutch could retaliate upon +Swedish shipping. But the Swedes were not so easily to be +dispossessed. Three years later a new Swedish governor named +Rising arrived in the river with a number of immigrants and +soldiers. He sailed straight up to Fort Casimir, took it by +surprise, and ejected the Dutch garrison of about a dozen men. As +the successful coup occurred on Trinity Sunday, the Swedes +renamed the place Fort Trinity. + +The whole population--Dutch and Swede, but in 1654 mostly +Swede--numbered only 368 persons. Before the arrival of Rising +there had been only seventy. It seems a very small number about +which to be writing history; but small as it was their "High +Mightinesses," as the government of the United Netherlands was +called, were determined to avenge on even so small a number the +insult of the capture of Fort Casimir. + +Drums, it is said, were beaten every day in Holland to call for +recruits to go to America. Gunners, carpenters, and powder were +collected. A ship of war was sent from Holland, accompanied by +two other vessels whose names alone, Great Christopher and King +Solomon, should have been sufficient to scare all the Swedes. At +New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant labored night and day to fit out the +expedition. A French privateer which happened to be in the harbor +was hired. Several other vessels, in all seven ships, and six or +seven hundred men, with a chaplain called Megapolensis, composed +this mighty armament gathered together to drive out the handful +of poor hardworking Swedes. A day of fasting and prayer was held +and the Almighty was implored to bless this mighty expedition +which, He was assured, was undertaken for "the glory of His +name." It was the absurdity of such contrasts as this running all +through the annals of the Dutch in America that inspired +Washington Irving to write his infinitely humorous "History of +New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch +Dynasty," by "Diedrich Knickerbocker." It is difficult for an +Anglo-Saxon to take the Dutch in America seriously. What can you +do with a people whose imagination allowed them to give such +names to their ships as Weigh Scales, Spotted Cow, and The Pear +Tree? So Irving described the taking of Fort Casimir in mock +heroic manner. He describes the marshaling of the Dutch hosts of +New York by families, the Van Grolls of Anthony's Nose, the +Brinkerhoffs, the Van Kortlandts, the Van Bunschotens of Nyack +and Kakiat, the fighting men of Wallabout, the Van Pelts, the Say +Dams, the Van Dams, and all the warriors of Hellgate "clad in +their thunder-and-lightning gaberdines," and lastly the standard +bearers and bodyguards of Peter Stuyvesant, bearing the great +beaver of the Manhattan. + +"And now commenced the horrid din, the desperate struggle, the +maddening ferocity, the frantic desperation, the confusion and +self-abandonment of war. Dutchman and Swede commingled, tugged, +panted, and blowed. The heavens were darkened with a tempest of +missives. Bang! went the guns; whack! went the broadswords; +thump! went the cudgels; crash! went the musket-stocks; blows, +kicks, cuffs, scratches, black eyes and bloody noses swelling the +horrors of the scene! Thick, thwack, cut and hack, +helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hurly-burly, heads-over-heels, +rough-and-tumble! Dunder and blixum! swore the Dutchmen; splitter +and splutter! cried the Swedes. Storm the works! shouted +Hardkoppig Peter. Fire the mine! roared stout +Rising--Tantarar-ra-ra! twanged the trumpet of Antony Van +Corlear;--until all voice and sound became +unintelligible,--grunts of pain, yells of fury, and shouts of +triumph mingling in one hideous clamor. The earth shook as if +struck with a paralytic stroke; trees shrunk aghast, and withered +at the sight; rocks burrowed in the ground like rabbits; and even +Christina creek turned from its course, and ran up a hill in +breathless terror!" + +As a matter of fact, the fort surrendered without a fight on +September 1, 1655. It was thereupon christened New Amstel, +afterwards New Castle, and was for a long time the most important +town on the Delaware. This achievement put the Dutch in complete +authority over the Swedes on both sides of the river. The Swedes, +however, were content, abandoned politics, secluded themselves on +their farms, and left politics to the Dutch. Trade, too, they +left to the Dutch, who, in their effort to monopolize it, almost +killed it. This conquest by their High Mightinesses also ended +the attempts of the New Englanders, particularly the people of +New Haven, to get a foothold in the neighborhood of Salem, New +Jersey, for which they had been struggling for years. They had +dreams of a great lake far to northward full of beaver to which +the Delaware would lead them. Their efforts to establish +themselves survived in one or two names of places near Salem, as, +for example, New England Creek, and New England Channel, which +down almost into our own time was found on charts marking one of +the minor channels of the bay along the Jersey shore. They +continued coming to the river in ships to trade in spite of +restrictions by the Dutch; and some of them in later years, as +has been pointed out, secured a foothold on the Cohansey and in +the Cape May region, where their descendants are still to be +found. + + + +Chapter XIII. The English Conquest + +It is a curious fact that the ancestor of the numerous Beekman +family in New York, after whom Beekman Street is named, was for a +time one of the Dutch governors on the Delaware who afterwards +became the sheriff of Esopus, New York. His successor on the +Delaware had some thoughts of removing the capital down to Odessa +on the Appoquinimink, when an event long dreaded happened. In +1664, war broke out between England and Holland, long rivals in +trade and commerce, and all the Dutch possessions in the New +World fell an easy prey to English conquerors. A British fleet +took possession of New Amsterdam, which surrendered without a +struggle. But when two British men of war under Sir Robert Carr +appeared before New Amstel on the Delaware, Governor D'Hinoyossa +unwisely resisted; and his untenable fort was quickly subdued by +a few broadsides and a storming party. This opposition gave the +conquering party, according to the custom of the times, the right +to plunder; and it must be confessed that the English soldiers +made full use of their opportunity. They plundered the town and +confiscated the land of prominent citizens for the benefit of the +officers of the expedition. + +After the English conquest on the Delaware, not a few of the +Dutch migrated to Maryland, where their descendants, it is said, +are still to be found. Some in later years returned to the +Delaware, where on the whole, notwithstanding the early +confiscations, English rule seemed to promise well. The very +first documents, the terms of surrender both on the Delaware and +on the Hudson, breathed an air of Anglo-Saxon freedom. Everybody +was at liberty to come and go at will. Hollanders could migrate +to the Delaware or to New York as much as before. The Dutch +soldiers in the country, if they wished to remain, were to have +fifty acres of land apiece. This generous settlement seemed in +striking contrast to the pinching, narrow interference with trade +and individual rights, the seizures and confiscations for private +gain, all under pretense of punishment, bad enough on the +Delaware but worse at New Amsterdam, which had characterized the +rule of the Dutch. + +The Duke of York, to whom Delaware was given, introduced trial by +jury, settled private titles, and left undisturbed the religion +and local customs of the people. But the political rule of the +Duke was absolute as became a Stuart. He arbitrarily taxed +exports and imports. Executive, judicial, and legislative powers +were all vested in his deputy governor at New York or in +creatures appointed and controlled by him. It was the sort of +government the Duke hoped to impose upon all Great Britain when +he should come to the throne, and he was trying his 'prentice +hand in the colonies. A political rebellion against this +despotism was started on the Delaware by a man named Konigsmarke, +or the Long Finn, aided by an Englishman, Henry Coleman. They +were captured and tried for treason, their property was +confiscated, and the Long Finn branded with the letter R, and +sold as a slave in the Barbados. They might be called the first +martyrs to foreshadow the English Revolution of 1688 which ended +forever the despotic reign of the Stuarts. + +The Swedes continued to form the main body of people on the +Delaware under the regime of the Duke of York, and at the time +when William Penn took possession of the country in 1682 their +settlements extended from New Castle up through Christina, Marcus +Hook, Upland (now Chester), Tinicum, Kingsessing in the modern +West Philadelphia, Passyunk, Wicaco, both in modern Philadelphia, +and as far up the river as Frankford and Pennypack. They had +their churches at Christina, Tinicum, Kingsessing, and Wicaco. +The last, when absorbed by Philadelphia, was a pretty little +hamlet on the river shore, its farms belonging to a Swedish +family called Swanson whose name is now borne by one of the +city's streets. Across the river in New Jersey, opposite Chester, +the Swedes had settlements on Raccoon Creek and round Swedesboro. +These river settlements constituted an interesting and from all +accounts a very attractive Scandinavian community. Their +strongest bond of union seems to have been their interest in +their Lutheran churches on the river. They spread very little +into the interior, made few roads, and lived almost exclusively +on the river or on its navigable tributaries. One reason they +gave for this preference was that it was easier to reach the +different churches by boat. + +There were only about a thousand Swedes along the Delaware and +possibly five hundred of Dutch and mixed blood, together with a +few English, all living a life of abundance on a fine river amid +pleasing scenery, with good supplies of fish and game, a fertile +soil, and a wilderness of opportunity to the west of them. All +were well pleased to be relieved from the stagnant despotism of +the Duke of York and to take part in the free popular government +of William Penn in Pennsylvania. They became magistrates and +officials, members of the council and of the legislature. They +soon found that all their avenues of trade and life were +quickened. They passed from mere farmers supplying their own +needs to exporters of the products of their farms. + +Descendants of the Swedes and Dutch still form the basis of the +population of Delaware.* There were some Finns at Marcus Hook, +which was called Finland; and it may be noted in passing that +there were not a few French among the Dutch, as among the Germans +in Pennsylvania, Huguenots who had fled from religious +persecution in France. The name Jaquette, well known in Delaware, +marks one of these families, whose immigrant ancestor was one of +the Dutch governors. In the ten or dozen generations since the +English conquest intermarriage has in many instances inextricably +mixed up Swede, Dutch, and French, as well as the English stock, +so that many persons with Dutch names are of Swedish or French +descent and vice versa, and some with English names like Oldham +are of Dutch descent. There has been apparently much more +intermarriage among the different nationalities in the province +and less standing aloof than among the alien divisions of +Pennsylvania. + +* Swedish names anglicized are now found everywhere. Gostafsson +has become Justison and Justis. Bond has become Boon; Hoppman, +Hoffman; Kalsberg, Colesberry; Wihler, Wheeler; Joccom, Yocum; +Dahlbo, Dalbow; Konigh, King; Kyn, Keen; and so on. Then there +are also such names as Wallraven, Hendrickson, Stedham, Peterson, +Matson, Talley, Anderson, and the omnipresent Rambo, which have +suffered little, if any, change. Dutch names are also numerous, +such as Lockermans, Vandever, Van Dyke, Vangezel, Vandegrift, +Alricks, Statts, Van Zandt, Hyatt, Cochran (originally Kolchman), +Vance, and Blackstone (originally Blackenstein). + + +After the English conquest some Irish Presbyterians or +Scotch-Irish entered Delaware. Finally came the Quakers, +comparatively few in colonial times but more numerous after the +Revolution, especially in Wilmington and its neighborhood. True +to their characteristics, they left descendants who have become +the most prominent and useful citizens down into our own time. At +present Wilmington has become almost as distinctive a Quaker town +as Philadelphia. "Thee" and "thou" are frequently heard in the +streets, and a surprisingly large proportion of the people of +prominence and importance are Quakers or of Quaker descent. Many +of the neat and pleasant characteristics of the town are +distinctly of Quaker origin; and these characteristics are found +wherever Quaker influence prevails. + +Wilmington was founded about 1731 by Thomas Willing, an +Englishman, who had married into the Swedish family of Justison. +He laid out a few streets on his wife's land on the hill behind +the site of old Fort Christina, in close imitation of the plan of +Philadelphia, and from that small beginning the present city +grew, and was at first called Willingtown.* William Shipley, a +Pennsylvania Quaker born in England, bought land in it in 1735, +and having more capital than Willing, pushed the fortunes of the +town more rapidly. He probably had not a little to do with +bringing Quakers to Wilmington; indeed, their first meetings were +held in a house belonging to him until they could build a meeting +house of their own in 1738. + +* Some years later in a borough charter granted by Penn, the name +was changed to Wilmington in honor of the Earl of Wilmington. + + +Both Shipley and Willing had been impressed with the natural +beauty of the situation, the wide view over the level moorland +and green marsh and across the broad river to the Jersey shore, +as well as by the natural conveniences of the place for trade and +commerce. Wilmington has ever since profited by its excellent +situation, with the level moorland for industry, the river for +traffic, and the first terraces or hills of the Piedmont for +residence; and, for scenery, the Brandywine tumbling through +rocks and bowlders in a long series of rapids. + +The custom still surviving in Wilmington of punishing certain +classes of criminals by whipping appears to have originated in +the days of Willing and Shipley, about the year 1740, when a +cage, stocks, and whipping-post were erected. They were placed in +the most conspicuous part of the town, and there the culprit, in +addition to his legal punishment, was also disciplined at the +discretion of passers-by with rotten eggs and other equally +potent encouragements to reform. These gratuitous inflictions, +not mentioned in the statute, as well as the public exhibition of +the prisoner were abolished in later times and in this modified +form the method of correction was extended to the two other +counties. Sometimes a cat-o'nine-tails was used, sometimes a +rawhide whip, and sometimes a switch cut from a tree. Nowadays, +however, all the whipping for the State is done in Wilmington, +where all prisoners sentenced to whipping in the State are sent. +This punishment is found to be so efficacious that its infliction +a second time on the same person is exceedingly rare. + +The most striking relic of the old Swedish days in Wilmington is +the brick and stone church of good proportions and no small +beauty, and today one of the very ancient relics of America. It +was built by the Swedes in 1698 to replace their old wooden +church, which was on the lower land, and the Swedish language was +used in the services down to the year 1800, when the building was +turned over to the Church of England. Old Peter Minuit, the first +Swedish governor, may possibly have been buried there. The Swedes +built another pretty chapel--Gloria Dei, as it was called--at the +village of Wicaco, on the shore of the Delaware where +Philadelphia afterwards was established. The original building +was taken down in 1700, and the present one was erected on its +site partly with materials from the church at Tinicum. It +remained Swedish Lutheran until 1831, when, like all the Swedish +chapels, it became the property of the Church of England, between +which and the Swedish Lutheran body there was a close affinity, +if not in doctrine, at least in episcopal organization.* The old +brick church dating from 1740, on the main street of Wilmington, +is an interesting relic of the colonial Scotch-Irish +Presbyterians in Delaware, and is now carefully preserved as the +home of the Historical Society. + +* Clay's "Annals of the Swedes", pp. 143, 153-4. + + +After Delaware had been eighteen years under the Duke of York, +William Penn felt a need of the west side of the river all the +way down to the sea to strengthen his ownership of Pennsylvania. +He also wanted to offset the ambitions of Lord Baltimore to +extend Maryland northward. Penn accordingly persuaded his friend +James, the Duke of York, to give him a grant of Delaware, which +Penn thereupon annexed to Pennsylvania under the name of the +Territories or Three Lower Counties. The three counties, New +Castle, Kent, and Sussex,* are still the counties of Delaware, +each one extending across the State and filling its whole length +from the hills of the Brandywine on the Pennsylvania border to +the sands of Sussex at Cape Henlopen. The term "Territory" has +ever since been used in America to describe an outlying province +not yet given the privileges of a State. Instead of townships, +the three Delaware counties were divided into "hundreds," an old +Anglo-Saxon county method of division going back beyond the times +of Alfred the Great. Delaware is the only State in the Union that +retains this name for county divisions. The Three Lower Counties +were allowed to send representatives to the Pennsylvania +Assembly; and the Quakers of Delaware have always been part of +the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. + +* The original names were New Castle, Jones's, and Hoerekill, as +it was called by the Dutch, or Deal. + + +In 1703, after having been a part of Pennsylvania for twenty +years, the Three Lower Counties were given home rule and a +legislature of their own; but they remained under the Governor of +Pennsylvania until the Revolution of 1776. They then became an +entirely separate community and one of the thirteen original +States. Delaware was the first State to adopt the National +Constitution, and Rhode Island, its fellow small State, the last. +Having been first to adopt the Constitution, the people of +Delaware claim that on all national occasions or ceremonies they +are entitled to the privilege of precedence. They have every +reason to be proud of the representative men they sent to the +Continental Congress, and to the Senate in later times. +Agriculture has, of course, always been the principal occupation +on the level fertile land of Delaware; and it is agriculture of a +high class, for the soil, especially in certain localities, is +particularly adapted to wheat, corn, and timothy grass, as well +as small fruits. That section of land crossing the State in the +region of Delaware City and Middleton is one of the show regions +in America, for crops of wheat and corn. Farther south, grain +growing is combined with small fruits and vegetables with a +success seldom attained elsewhere. Agriculturally there is no +division of land of similar size quite equal to Delaware in +fertility. Its sand and gravel base with vegetable mold above is +somewhat like the southern Jersey formation, but it is more +productive from having a larger deposit of decayed vegetation. + +The people of Delaware have, indeed, very little land that is not +tillable. The problems of poverty, crowding, great cities, and +excessive wealth in few hands are practically unknown among them. +The foreign commerce of Wilmington began in 1740 with the +building of a brig named after the town, and was continued +successfully for a hundred years. At Wilmington there has always +been a strong manufacturing interest, beginning with the famous +colonial flour mills at the falls of the Brandywine, and the +breadstuffs industry at Newport on the Christina. With the +Brandywine so admirably suited to the water-power machinery of +those days and the Christina deep enough for the ships, +Wilmington seemed in colonial times to possess an ideal +combination of advantages for manufacturing and commerce. The +flour mills were followed in 1802 by the Du Pont Powder Works, +which are known all over the world, and which furnished powder +for all American wars since the Revolution, for the Crimean War +in Europe, and for the Allies in the Great War. + +"From the hills of Brandywine to the sands of Sussex" is an +expression the people of Delaware use to indicate the whole +length of their little State. The beautiful cluster of hills at +the northern end dropping into park-like pastures along the +shores of the rippling Red Clay and White Clay creeks which form +the deep Christina with its border of green reedy marshes, is in +striking contrast to the wild waste of sands at Cape Henlopen. +Yet in one way the Brandywine Hills are closely connected with +those sands, for from these very hills have been quarried the +hard rocks for the great breakwater at the Cape, behind which the +fleets of merchant vessels take refuge in storms. + +The great sand dunes behind the lighthouse at the cape have their +equal nowhere else on the coast. Blown by the ocean winds, the +dunes work inland, overwhelming a pine forest to the tree tops +and filling swamps in their course. The beach is strewn with +every type of wreckage of man's vain attempts to conquer the sea. +The Life Saving Service men have strange tales to tell and show +their collections of coins found along the sand. The old pilots +live snugly in their neat houses in Pilot Row, waiting their +turns to take the great ships up through the shoals and sands +which were so baffling to Henry Hudson and his mate one hot +August +day of the year 1609. + +The Indians of the northern part of Delaware are said to have +been mostly Minquas who lived along the Christiana and +Brandywine, and are supposed to have had a fort on Iron Hill. The +rest of the State was inhabited by the Nanticokes, who extended +their habitations far down the peninsula, where a river is named +after them. They were a division or clan of the Delawares or Leni +Lenapes. In the early days they gave some trouble; but shortly +before the Revolution all left the peninsula in strange and +dramatic fashion. Digging up the bones of their dead chiefs in +1748, they bore them away to new abodes in the Wyoming Valley of +Pennsylvania. Some appear to have traveled by land up the +Delaware to the Lehigh, which they followed to its source not far +from the Wyoming Valley. Others went in canoes, starting far down +the peninsula at the Nanticoke River and following along the wild +shore of the Chesapeake to the Susquehanna, up which they went by +its eastern branch straight into the Wyoming Valley. It was a +grand canoe trip--a weird procession of tawny, black-haired +fellows swinging their paddles day after day, with their freight +of ancient bones, leaving the sunny fishing grounds of the +Nanticoke and the Choptank to seek a refuge from the detested +white man in the cold mountains of Pennsylvania. + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +A large part of the material for the early history of +Pennsylvania is contained of course in the writings and papers of +the founder. The "Life of William Penn" by S. M. Janney (1852) is +perhaps the most trustworthy of the older biographies but it is a +dull book. A biography written with a modern point of view is +"The True William Penn" by Sydney G. Fisher (1900). Mrs. +Colquhoun Grant, a descendant of Penn has published a book with +the title "Quaker and Courtier: the Life and Work of William +Penn" (1907). The manuscript papers of Penn now in the possession +of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, together with much new +material gathered in England, are soon to be published under the +able editorship of Albert Cook Myers. + +There is a vast literature on the history of Quakerism. The +"Journal of George Fox" (1694), Penn's "Brief Account of the Rise +and Progress of the People called Quakers" (1695), and Robert +Barclay's "Apology for the True Christian Divinity" (1678) are of +first importance for the study of the rise of the Society of +Friends. Among the older histories are J.J. Gurney's +"Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of the Society of +Friends" (1824), James Bowden's "History of the Society of +Friends in America," 2 vols. (1850-54), and S.M. Janney's +"History of the Religious Society of Friends," 4 vols. (1860-67). +Two recent histories are of great value: W. C. Braithwaite, "The +Beginnings of Quakerism" (1912) and Rufus M. Jones, "The Quakers +in the American Colonies" (1911). Among the older histories of +Penn's province are "The History of Pennsylvania in North +America," 2 vols. (1797-98), written by Robert Proud from the +Quaker point of view and of great value because of the quotations +from original documents and letters, and "History of Pennsylvania +from its Discovery by Europeans to the Declaration of +Independence in 1776" (1829) by T. F. Gordon, largely an epitome +of the debates of the Pennsylvania Assembly which recorded in its +minutes in fascinating old-fashioned English the whole history of +the province from year to year. Franklin's "Historical Review of +the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its Origin" +(1759) is a storehouse of information about the history of the +province in the French and Indian wars. Much of the history of +the province is to be found in the letters of Penn, Franklin, +Logan, and Lloyd, and in such collections as Samuel Hazard's +"Register of Pennsylvania," 16 vols. (1828-36), "Colonial +Records," 16 vols. (1851-53), and "Pennsylvania Archives" +(1874-). A vast amount of material is scattered in pamphlets, in +files of colonial newspapers like the "Pennsylvania Gazette," in +the publications of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and +in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography" (1877-). +Recent histories of the province have been written by Isaac +Sharpless, "History of Quaker Government in Pennsylvania," 2 +vols. (1898-99), and by Sydney G. Fisher, "The Making of +Pennsylvania" (1896) and "Pennsylvania, Colony and Commonwealth" +(1897). A scholarly "History of Proprietary Government in +Pennsylvania" has been published by William R. Shepherd in the +Columbia University Studies" (1896) and the "Relations of +Pennsylvania with the British Government, 1696-1765" (1912) have +been traced with painstaking care by Winfred T. Root. + +Concerning the racial and religious elements in Pennsylvania the +following books contribute much valuable information: A. B. +Faust, "The German Element in the United States," 2 vols. (1909); +A. C. Myers, "Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, +1682-1750" (1909); S. W. Pennypacker, "Settlement of Germantown, +Pennsylvania, and the Beginning of German Immigration to North +America" (1899); J. F. Sachse, "The German Pietists of Provincial +Pennsylvania, 1694-1708" (1895), and "The German Sectarians of +Pennsylvania, 1708-1800," 2 vols. (1899-1900); L. O. Kuhns, "The +German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania"(1901); H. +J. Ford, "The Scotch-Irish in America" (1915); T. A. Glenn, +"Merion in the Welsh Tract" (1896). + +The older histories of New Jersey, like those of Pennsylvania, +contain valuable original material not found elsewhere. Among +these Samuel Smith's "The History of the Colony of Nova Casaria, +or New Jersey" (1765) should have first place. E. B. +O'Callaghan's "History of New Netherland," 2 vols. (1846), and J. +R. Brodhead's "History of the State of New York," 2 vols. (1853, +1871) contain also information about the Jerseys under Dutch +rule. Other important works are: W. A. Whitehead's "East Jersey +under the Proprietary Governments" (New Jersey Historical Society +"Collections," vol.1, 1875), and "The English in East and West +Jersey" in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America," +vol. III, L. Q. C. Elmer's "The Constitution and Government of +the Province and State of New Jersey" (New Jersey Historical +Society Collections, vols. III and VII, 1849 and 1872. Special +studies have been made by Austin Scott, "Influence of the +Proprietors in the Founding of New Jersey" (1885), and by H. S. +Cooley, "Study of Slavery in New Jersey" (1896), both in the +Johns Hopkins University "Studies;" also by E. P. Tanner, "The +Province of New Jersey" (1908) and by E. J. Fisher, "New Jersey +as a Royal Province, 1738-1776" (1911) in the Columbia University +"Studies." Several county histories yield excellent material +concerning the life and times of the colonists, notably Isaac +Mickle's "Reminiscences of Old Gloucester" (1845) and L. T. +Stevens's "The History of Cape May County" (1897) which are real +histories written in scholarly fashion and not to be confused +with the vulgar county histories gotten up to sell. + +The Dutch and Swedish occupation of the lands bordering on the +Delaware may be followed in the following histories: Benjamin +Ferris, "A History of the Original Settlements of the Delaware" +(1846); Francis Vincent, "A History of the State of Delaware" +(1870); J. T. Scharf, "History of Delaware, 1609-1888," 2 vols. +(1888); Karl K. S. Sprinchorn, Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia +(1878), translated in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and +Biography," vols. VII and VIII. In volume IV of Winsor's +"Narrative and Critical History of America" is a chapter +contributed by G. B. Keen on "New Sweden, or The Swedes on the +Delaware." The most recent minute work on the subject is "The +Swedish Settlements on the Delaware," 2 vols. (1911) by Amandus +Johnson. + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of The Quaker Colonies. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Quaker Colonies +by Sydney G. Fisher + diff --git a/old/quake10.zip b/old/quake10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b32be9a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/quake10.zip |