USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 2
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4 Mather, Magnalia, b. I. Ran- dolph computed the number of houses in Boston, in 1676, at two thousand. Hutch. Coll. 487. For further par- ticulars, see Ncal's New England, 588 ; Grahame, i. 292, &c.
5
TRADE AND MANUFACTURES.
a scene which, at a distance, looks desert and rockbound, un- CHAP. folds itself, when visited, into vales of the rarest beauty, so, I. nestled among the hills, were embryo villages, now densely 1680. populated, which, in the Arcadian simplicity of earlier times, presented points of attraction sufficient to allure thither the yeomanry of the land, whose diligent toil caused " the wilder- ness and the solitary place to be glad for them, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose."
The principal trading towns of the colony were Boston, Charlestown, and Salem ; and there was " some little trade for country people at Ipswich and Newberry."1 The buildings in the country -irregular in their shape, and of a rude style of architecture, varying in size and in the quality of their workmanship - were mostly of timber ; and many of them were fortified with strong palisades, as a security from the arrows and small shot of the Indians. In Boston, though most of the houses were of timber, there were several of brick, with " some few of stone, of competent strength and largeness sutable to the condition of the owners ; " and three churches or meeting houses, in different localities, sufficed for the reli- gious accommodation of the people.2
Manufactures of linen and woollen cloth, shoes, hats, and a few other articles, were nowhere extensively conducted, but were principally confined to the family circle, and designed for home consumption. The staple commodities were fish and peltry, with live stock, provisions, and lumber in its various forms. Timber for shipping could be had in abundance, with tar, and pitch, and a variety of naval stores. Iron was smelt- ed in a few places, " though in noe great quantity ;" the man- ufacture of gunpowder had been introduced ; 3 and hemp and flax grew well, though "labor was so deare that it could not bee made a commodity to send to other parts, but was only
1 Comp. Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 484.
2 See Hutch. Col. 487, and Josse- lyn, in 3 M. H. Coll. iii. 319.
3 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 487, says there were six forges in Massachu- setts in 1676. The powder mill was at Dorchester.
6
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS.
CHAP. improved by the country people for their own occasions." 1 I. Articles imported from England were " of all sorts generally 1680. which that land affords," and amounted in value to forty or fifty thousand pounds per annum.2 The number of English merchants within the government, bred to the calling, was estimated, in 1680, at only twenty, though there were " near as many others that do trade and merchandise more or less." Of foreign merchants, at the same date, it is affirmed there were none, though a few years later there were certainly several.3
1678.
There were some slaves in the colony, and had been for many years ; but " there hath been no company of blacks or slaves," it is added, "brought into the country since the beginning of this plantation, for the space of fifty yeares ; only one small vessell, about two yeares since, after twenty months' voyage to Madagasca, brought hither betwixt forty and fifty negros, most women and children, sold here for ten, fifteen, and twenty pounds apiece, which stood the merchants in neer forty pounds apiece, one with another. Now and then, two or three negros are brought hither from Barbados and other of his majesties plantations, and sold here for about twenty pounds apiece ; so that there may be within our gov- ernment about one hundred, or one hundred and twenty ; and it may be as many Scots, brought hither and sold for servants in the time of the warr with Scotland, and most now married and living here; and about halfe so many Irish, brought hither at severall times as servants." Slavery in general, however, was so repugnant to the principles of the Puritans that it was viewed with abhorrence ; and, fortunately for New England, it never reached the dignity of a fixed "insti- tution," to be cherished forever.4
1 See Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 494, 495.
2 Such is Bradstreet's estimate ; that of Randolph is somewhat differ- ent.
3 See Dunton's Journal, in 2 M. H. Coll, ii. 98 et seq.
4 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 485, speaks of two hundred slaves in the colony in 1676. The earliest public
7
POPULATION AND COMMERCE.
Of the English population the estimates vary. Four or five CHAP. hundred whites are said to have been born yearly, taking one I. year with another ; and the number of marriages was esti- 1680. mated at from two to three hundred per annum. The number of births exceeded the number of deaths, except during the prevalence of wars and pestilences.1 The wealth of the peo- ple was quite widely distributed. There were rich merchants in Boston,2 but few planters had great estates ; and he was accounted rich among farmers who was worth from ten to fifteen hundred pounds. The commerce of the country was remarkably extensive. From one to two hundred 3 ships, sloops, ketches, and other vessels, belonging to the colony, either English or home built, were employed in the carrying trade ; and of these, from eight to ten were of a hundred tons burden and upwards ; three or four were of two hundred tons ; the forty or fifty fishing ketches were of from twenty to forty tons ; and six or eight ships, owned in England, annually visited Boston to trade with the people.
Temporary obstructions to trade frequently arose ; and these originated from an overstocked market, the depreda- tions of pirates, the interruption of the fisheries by the French at the eastward, and the double custom paid for sugar, indigo, cotton, wool, and tobacco, first at the places from which these
advertisement of slaves for sale I have met with is in the Boston News Let- ter for 1704, No. 6; but slaves were doubtless sold before that time. The statistics of slavery in Massachusetts do not, at any period of its history, show that the people at large viewed the institution with favor; and the in- crease of the number of slaves in all the New England colonies was always small in comparison with their increase in the colonies at the south. See Annals Am. Stat. Ass. vol. i .; Holmes's Am. Annals; Grahame, vol. ii., &c.
1 I have seen no published esti- mates of the deaths in Massachusetts before 1692 ; but in the Boston News
Letter, No. 11, the deaths in Boston were, in 1701, 146 persons ; in 1702, 441 persons; and in 1703, 159 per- sons.
2 Comp. Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 484, 485, and Josselyn, Voy. 180. Also, Bradstreet, in 3 M. H. Coll. viii. 337.
3 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 496, says there were 730 vessels owned in Massachusetts in 1676. For the es- timate of the General Court in 1665, see 2 M. H. Coll. vii. 72. See also 3 M. H. Coll. i. 98; Frothingham's Hist. Charlestown ; and Brooks's Hist. Medford.
8
. INTERESTS OF EDUCATION.
CHAP. commodities were brought, and again at the places to which I. they were sent.1 No rates or duties were imposed in the col- 1680. ony upon goods exported,2 which were generally the produce of the country, obtained with hard labor, and sold at low prices ; and but one penny per pound value was charged upon goods imported,3 which, with a like tax on real and personal estate, a capitation tax of twenty pence per head,4 and a small excise on wines and other spirituous liquors, pro- duced an income of about fifteen hundred pounds per annum 5 - the sole revenue for the support of the government, the salaries of officers, the charges of fortifications, and the main- tenance of a garrison at the Castle. During the Indian wars, the expenses and taxes were necessarily increased from ten to fifteen fold, much to the impoverishment of the country, which became burdened with a debt which it required years to cancel.6
Besides the college at Cambridge, which was in a compara- tively flourishing condition, the interests of education were fostered in every town ; and each town had its ample church and its settled minister, though "some able schollars fit for the ministery rather wanted imploiment." For the religious instruction of the people, the ministers preached generally twice on the Lord's day, besides lecturing in some of the larger towns on the week days, and catechized " the children and youth of the place as they had oppertunity." The main- tenance of the ministers in Boston was by voluntary contribu- tion ; in the rest of the towns their salaries were raised by a yearly assessment upon all the inhabitants, " the severall courts
1 Comp. 3 M. H. Coll. i. 98.
2 Except horses, on which a duty of sixpence each was charged. Hutch. Coll. 497.
3 For a table of customs, given by Randolph, sce Hutch. Coll. 497.
4 Comp. Hutch. Coll. 496.
5 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 498,
sets the revenue at £20,000 per an-
num; but, as Hutchinson well ob- serves, " he has put one cypher more than he should have done. The an- nual charges never amounted to £2000 until the Indian wars."
6 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 498, estimates this debt at £50,000; Brad- street at "above £40,000."
9
CHARACTER OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
takeing speciall care that all ministers have comfortable main- CHAP. tenance allowed them, according to the poor ability of the I. place and people."1 " We have no beggars," concludes. the 1680. narrative from which most of the foregoing facts have been gleaned, " and few idle vagabonds, except now and then some Quakers from Road Island, &c., that much molest us, and endanger the seducing of the people where they come. And all townes are enjoined by law to take care of and provide for all the poor, decayed, and impotent persons within their respective limits, which accordingly they doe." 2
This picture of the colony in 1680 is of course imperfect as applied to its condition in 1692. There had been some growth 1692. in that period, and some important changes. Yet, as a whole, it is a valuable sketch, emanating from the chief magistrate of Massachusetts, and one who, for more than sixty years, participated in its movements and promoted its prosperity.3 With the imperfect data furnished by scattered and often con- flicting documents, it is obviously difficult to reproduce exactly the condition of the colonies at the time their territory was merged into one ; but the little that is known of that condition is sufficient to impress us with a profound conviction of the eminent worth of the men to whom the destinies of the country had been confided, and of the value of their services in devel- oping its resources and strengthening the basis upon which their commonwealth was built. In their connection with the mother country, every where a strait bond of obedience in- flexibly held them down; their yearnings for freedom were rigidly restrained ; and many and desperate had been their struggles with the Stuarts. Yet it is with colonies as with trees ; the winds which shake serve rather to strengthen their hold upon the soil than to uproot or prostrate them, and
1 Randolph, in Hutch. Coll. 501; Josselyn, Voy. 180; 3 M. H. Coll. iii. 331.
3 M. H. Coll. viii. 332-340.
5 The venerable Simon Bradstreet,
who died at Salem, in 1697, at the advanced age of 94. See Felt's Hist. Salem ; Allen's and Eliot's Biog. Dict's ; N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg. ; Drake's Boston, &c.
10
SPIRIT OF PURITANISM.
CHAP. furnish the exercise which develops their powers, giving to I. them an increase of vitality and beauty.
1692.
That is certainly an amiable weakness, if weakness it may be called, which looks at the past with a slight degree of enthusiasm ; and such weakness may be excused in the histo- rian, if it does not degenerate into indiscriminate eulogy. Especially is it excusable in considering the history of Massa- chusetts ; for much as the Puritans have been decried as illib- eral fanatics, there were traits in their character of inestima- ble worth. In tracing their career, it is too often forgotten that it is necessary to have some toleration for the infirmities of men whose very excesses sprang from profound reverence for God and his word. With the Puritan, religion was a matter of conscience between himself and his God. With a sincere conviction of the truth of Christianity, and an earnest desire to conform to its requirements in the minutest partic- ular, he held it to be his duty, and the duty of all, to be guided by the Scriptures. Life was to be pervaded with the spirit of piety. There was to be an entire consecration of its aims to God. Every thing which weakened the sense of dependence on him was to be scrupulously avoided. Men were to walk with God. The flesh and its lusts were to be subdued and crucified : the body was to be a temple meet for His dwelling. Nothing was innocent which led to forgetful- ness of Him : nothing was irksome which would purchase His favor. Religion, with the Puritan, was the Alpha and the Omega ; the beginning and the end. His faith, it is true, was cast in the sternest mould. It enthroned God as the Sovereign of the universe, and made man as clay in the hands of the potter. To ridicule this creed is to ridicule cherished convic- tions of millions. Yet, to do justice to the Puritans, no one is required to indorse all their doctrines. Their integrity, their piety, their earnestness, will ever be honored, and every thing else which gave to their characters manliness and vigor. It would be singular if they exhausted the fountain of truth :
11
SPIRIT OF THE PURITANS.
it would be singular if we had sounded its utmost depths. CHAP. Honesty of conviction and sincerity of purpose are cheerfully I. conceded to them, and a piety as fervent as ever existed. 1692. They lived in an age of general intolerance, an age of intense and violent excitement. They lived, too, at a time when political theories were imperfectly defined, and when monarchs were grudgingly conceding as privileges what the people afterwards understood to be their own, independent of the favor of royalty. And much that has been condemned, and which it is found difficult to excuse, in their conduct, sprang from this source. As we would be judged by our descend- ants, so should we judge our ancestors.
It is an unfounded charge, however, that the first settlers of New England were universally bigoted ; for many might be named, both in Plymouth and in Massachusetts, who were worthy disciples of the principles of the reformation, and who carried those principles to as high a degree of theoretic per- fection as could have then been expected. And it is, perhaps, true, that the right of exercising private judgment in matters of religion was, in terms at least, more generally recognized than many suppose. It is scarcely possible, indeed, to main- tain more expressly, as a fundamental principle, the right of every man to think for himself and judge for himself than did some of the most approved leaders of the colonies.1 True, the gods of Olympus reigned paramount in the Pan- theon, and heresy was accounted the greatest of all sins. It was hardly realized that no great harm could result from allowing theological speculation to have free course, and to look fearlessly towards all the thirty-two points of the com- pass, whithersoever it listed. Hence dissent was denounced as a direful evil ; and if our ancestors were reluctant to con- cede to others the rights which they claimed for themselves, it was because of their conviction of the truth of their own
1 Quincy's Hist. H. Coll. i. 49, 50.
12
POLITICAL PROGRESS.
CHAP. opinions, and the conceived impossibility of holding different I. opinions without overthrowing as well the pillars of their po-
1692. litical fabric as the fundamentals of Christian faith, and denying doctrines which had been cherished for centuries as sound and evangelical, and for which the fathers of the church and the early reformers had alike zealously contended.
As society advances, however, it carries men onward in the path of progression ; and doctrines once cherished as sacred and venerable give place to new systems, answering to the higher demands of our spiritual nature. The light which at first fitfully gleamed upon a few souls, increases in brilliancy and penetrates other souls, until at last its effulgence, like that of the sun in its meridian splendor, warms and invigorates the whole mass of humanity. The creed of the nineteenth century is not the creed of the seventeenth century, nor is Puritanism in our days what it was in the days of Wilson and Norton.
It is with the political progress of nations, however, that his- tory principally deals. Yet it should never be forgotten that, in all communities, the religious element enters largely into the constitution of civil society, and that the institutions of a coun- try are more or less moulded by the faith of the people upon those subjects which relate to the highest interests of man. Especially is this true of New England, for its foundations were religiously laid.1 Spiritual forces have predominated here, and above all other forces have they shaped our destiny. The con- troversies which have arisen have not been mere sectarian wranglings, fields for the display of theological gladiatorship ;
1 To some, it may seem the height of folly to assert that the foundations of New England were religiously laid ; for, of the hundred passengers of the Mayflower, at least half were women and children ; and the other half was composed of adventurers and servants, as well as of members of Mr. Robin- son's church. But the character of an enterprise should be judged, not
so much by the numbers which es- pouse it, as by the spirit of its lead- ers ; and few will dispute that Car- ver, and Bradford, and Winslow, and Brewster were religious men, and came to these shores for religion's sake. These were the fathers of New England. They gave life to its institutions ; and its foundations were laid by them in reverence to God.
13
POLITICAL PROGRESS.
they are indices of the spiritual activity of the people -an CHAP. activity which, it is hoped, will never degenerate into mere I. latitudinarianism, or cease to exert a healthy and inspiring 1692. influence.
The connection between the colonial and the provincial his- tory of Massachusetts can be fully understood only by an acquaintance with the political opinions of the people. Accord- ing to the maxims of English jurisprudence, the civil organiza- tion of government resembled a living body ; and every indi- vidual existing or arising within that body was part of it as a whole, actually and indissolubly connected with it. No indi- vidual or number of individuals, it was contended, from a dis- tinct principle within themselves, or from their own will, could emigrate and quit that community so as to separate and fly off from the body, and effectually dissolve their connection with the same. Besides, the territory upon which the emigrants set- tled was claimed by the English crown as a part of its domin- ions ; and although a charter was granted them, which permitted them to form a separate and distinct community, and establish a government having sovereign jurisdiction within its own lim- its, yet, being settled on the lands and within the dominions of the parent state, it was claimed that they remained “under a certain relation of allegiance to the general and supreme imperium." True, it was by the consent of the king that this emigration was made ; and the emigrants had license from him to transport themselves, their children, their servants, and their goods, but on the implied condition that their lands were to be held of the king, and that they were to remain under the protection of, and in subordination to, his sovereign power.
If these points were conceded, however, as general maxims, it was at the same time contended, on the part of the colonists, that the circumstances of their emigration were peculiar, and such as warranted a construction of these maxims different from that which was ordinarily received. They affirmed - and the
14
POLITICAL PROGRESS.
CHAP. correctness of their position was afterwards admitted 1 - that, I. though they went forth under a charter from the king, yet, as 1692. their community consisted of individuals possessing the rights, liberties, and franchises of English subjects, they had a right to political liberty, so far as was consistent with a due subordi- nation to the parent state ; that they were entitled to have, to hold, and to enjoy, within the body of their colony, a free gov- ernment, of the like privileges, jurisdictions, and preëminences as those of the state from which they emigrated ; that they were entitled to the like power of reasoning and will in a sim- ilar legislature, and to a like judicature and executive powers within the bounds of their corporation, as the government of the mother country had within its own realm : in short, that the colony, as a politically free being, had a right to all those internal powers which were essential to its being as a free agent. The power of Parliament to tax them without their consent, since they were unrepresented in that body, was gener- ally denied ; and the right of trial by jury in all cases was inflexibly demanded.2
These claims, in their fullest extent, were not, indeed, held valid in England ; for Parliament claimed, if it did not exer- cise, the right to tax the colonies for the benefit of the mother country ; to regulate their commerce ; and to legislate for them in a general way to secure their dependence. The con- viction, however, is forced upon our minds, that the statesmen of England, at this date, had formed no adequate conception of the true nature of the relation of the colonies to the crown. Not only were cabinets at variance in their views, but the advice of eminent jurists was often conflicting.3 The prev- alent opinions, if rigidly applied, would have reduced the colo- nists to vassals rather than have placed them on the footing of
1 Pownal, Admin. of the Br. Col's, pt. 2, from which the abstract in the text is principally drawn.
2 Comp. Franklin's Works, iv. 274; Grahame, Colon. Hist. i. 557. .
3 See the acknowledgment of Chal- mers, Revolt, i. 308, 309.
15
POLITICAL PROGRESS.
subjects. Hence the policy of the monarchs was selfish and CHAP. arrogant ; fatal to the interests of the people, and sure to I. awaken a spirit of resistance. It was feared that the colonies, 1692. if unchecked, would become formidable rivals, and cast off their allegiance. It was not perceived that the ties of consanguinity were sufficient to bind the children to the parent ; and that gratitude was a more powerful motive to obedience than fear. It was supposed that the only way to keep the colonies within bounds was to cripple them by the arm of physical power.
But the founders of New England were experienced states- men ; nor as diplomatists were they inferior to the diplomatists of England. The principal men, of the clergy and of the laity, possessed disciplined minds, and talents which would have dis- tinguished them in any sphere of action. Trained to take part in political discussions, and with a sagacity which intui- tively penetrated the disguises of despotism, they wrought for posterity ; and the cause in which they engaged was emphati- cally the cause of freedom and humanity. Not only is America indebted to them for the blessings of civil liberty, but the world is indebted to them for initiating the work of popular govern- ment and universal improvement : the world is indebted to - them for scattering broadcast the seeds of imperishable politi- cal truths, which have been wafted on the wings of every breeze to the nations of Europe, to ripen in due time to a harvest of blessings.
The provincial history of Massachusetts is a continuation of its colonial history under different circumstances. The charac- ter of the people was formed before the new government was instituted ; and the spirit of liberty was too widely diffused to be easily crushed. The arbitrary reign of the Stuarts was over ; the struggle for the recognition of Episcopacy had ceased ; yet Puritanism was still in the ascendant, and the Puritan principles were as vital as ever. The changes which had taken place had not materially affected the views of the people. Freedom was the beacon light guiding them on ; and
16
CHARTER OF CHARLES THE FIRST.
CHAP. the desire to enjoy it throbbed high in every heart. Not that I. absolute independence was sought ; nor could it probably have 1692. been secured had it been sought. But the motto of all was, all freedom consistent with the acknowledged allegiance of sub- jects. It was impossible to stifle the conviction which had sprung up that freedom is the inalienable birthright of man, not to be parted with on any terms whatever. And it was impossible to check the tendencies towards republicanism which had grown with their growth and strengthened with their strength. Time only was needed, with its varied experience, to lead them to claim freedom in its highest and broadest form. But it is unjust to our fathers to assert that they were insincere in their professions of attachment to England ; that the alle- giance they acknowledged was not real, but nominal ; and that they were studiously and systematically laboring to deceive. If ever men were honest in their views, the people of Massa- chusetts were honest. Nor was it their fault if, maddened by oppression, they felt it to be their duty to assert their natural rights, and to demand what was withheld from them by arbi- trary power alone.
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