LITMIR.BIZ

      William Penn.

68. Disturbances in the Jerseys.—Other settlers came in, and by 1668 a code of laws of remarkable severity was adopted by the delegates of the people. Disturbances arose over the subject of the quit-rents paid by freeholders in discharge of services, and Lord Berkeley was so disgusted that he sold his share in the province to certain Quakers who wished to secure for their co-religionists a place of refuge in the New World. William Penn^[40] and some associates shortly afterward acquired this interest. Then a division was made between Carteret and the new proprietors, the Quakers getting less than half, which formed West New Jersey. Here they set up a liberal government, which attracted several hundred immigrants. In 1682, two years after Carteret’s death, William Penn and others purchased his interest in East New Jersey, and established another liberal government. Governor Andros of New York endeavored to assert his jurisdiction over both the Jerseys, but his attempts were defeated until 1686, when James II., by writs of quo warranto,^[41] forced the surrender of the patents. The Jerseymen, however, resisted all Andros’s attempts to tax them, and also quarreled with the proprietors, whose land rights had not been affected by the loss of their political powers. Finally, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the proprietors, worn out with the struggle, surrendered all their rights to the Crown, and the two provinces were united into the royal colony of New Jersey.^[42]

      69. The Founding of Pennsylvania.—William Penn’s interest in the colonization of West Jersey led to his taking a greater part in American affairs. In 1670 his father, an admiral in the English navy, died, and left him a claim against the government, in compensation for which he induced Charles II. to give him a charter for forty thousand square miles in America (1681). This region was named Pennsylvania in honor of the admiral, against the modest wishes of the proprietor. Penn at once offered liberal terms to colonists, and promised a thoroughly equitable government. Later in 1681, three shiploads of Quakers emigrated, and the next year Penn himself came over and founded Philadelphia. He soon convened an assembly, and a code of laws was drawn up, allowing considerable religious freedom and providing for the humane treatment of the Indians. With these savages Penn, through his shrewdness and kindness, was always successful in his negotiations, and as a result Pennsylvania did not suffer from border warfare.

      70. Mixture of Population.—The mixed population for which Pennsylvania has been always noted was present from the beginning. The Dutch had a church within the region now known as Delaware, and settlements of Swedes also existed. This Delaware region came into Penn’s hands through a special grant from the Duke of York. When the whole province was divided into counties, three were made in Pennsylvania proper, and three in the small strip covered by the Duke’s grant, which became known as “The Territories.”

      71. Delaware made a Province.—Penn was soon obliged to return to England, and did not come back again till the end of the century, when he paid a two years’ visit. His absence was marked by considerable political disturbance. There were boundary disputes with Maryland, and there was so much trouble in “The Territories” that in 1703 Penn made the latter the separate province of Delaware. Disputes in both provinces continued, however, and lasted, under both him and his heirs, down to the Revolution. Nevertheless, there was a marked and continuous growth in material prosperity.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES.

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      72. The Settlement of the Carolinas.—As we have seen, attempts had been made to settle in the region between Spanish Florida and Virginia, both by French Huguenots and by Englishmen sent out by Raleigh. But all such efforts had failed. After the founding of Jamestown, hunters and other adventurous spirits wandered through southern Virginia into what Charles I. subsequently granted to Sir Robert Heath as “The Province of Carolina.” This grant was not used, but the Virginia Burgesses authorized exploring expeditions into the new region, and in 1653 some Virginian dissenters who had been harshly treated formed a colony in North Carolina, which they called Albemarle. Other parties, including Quakers and individual settlers, gradually pushed into the section.

      73. Grant of the Carolinas to Clarendon and Berkeley.—In 1663 Charles II. turned over the province to a group of favorites, among whom were the famous historian, the Earl of Clarendon, and Sir William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia. The settlers of Albemarle had their land claims recognized, and were given a governor in the person of William Drummond, a Scotchman who had settled in Virginia. South of Albemarle, on the Cape Fear River, a number of emigrants from the island of Barbadoes had planted a colony, known as Clarendon, under the leadership of Sir John Yeamans, who continued as governor under the new proprietors. Thus there were a northern and a southern Carolina almost from the first.

      74. Liberality of Proprietors.—The proprietors were very liberal to their colonists. Indeed, in the northern province the first legislature actually felt bold enough to decree that no debts contracted by settlers previous to their coming to Carolina could be collected within its borders—a proceeding which naturally attracted some not very desirable immigrants.

      75. Locke’s Constitutions.—But the proprietors made a great mistake when they intrusted to the celebrated philosopher, John Locke, the task of drawing up a scheme of government for their provinces. He prepared a document known as the “Fundamental Constitutions,” in which he seemed to forget most of the advances toward individual and popular liberty that had been made since the Middle Ages. Various divisions of the territory were to be presided over by orders of nobility known as Landgraves, Caciques, etc. The tenants were called “leetmen,” and could not leave the estate of their lord without his permission, nor could their children be anything but leetmen through all generations. It is needless to say that this scheme for a mediæval aristocracy in a land not yet cleared of forests was doomed to failure, for it at once produced discontent in the settlements, to which that of Charleston (originally Charlestown, founded in 1670) was now added.

      76. Progress of the Carolinas.—For some time the proprietors left the settlers of Albemarle, or the North Carolinians, as we may now call them, severely alone, and the people managed to live by means of a rude sort of agriculture and by trade with New England. When governors were appointed for them, troubles at once ensued, and the legislature in 1688 actually drove out Governor Seth Sothel, who by his corruption and tyranny had amply deserved his fate. At Charleston, however, things went much better, and population and trade increased, while the arrival of considerable numbers of French Huguenots added greatly to the moral and intellectual advancement of the settlers. But there were some troubles. For example, the Scotch settlement at Port Royal was completely destroyed by the Spaniards; yet the proprietors would not allow the Carolinians to chastise their enemy. Then, too, the Huguenots were for some time denied political rights, and the numerous dissenters had trouble with the Church of England people. Trade restrictions and the constant presence of pirates in the harbor of Charleston and on the coast were also a source of embarrassment. Finally, there was a series of bad governors, and it was not until 1695, when one of the proprietors, John Archdale, a shrewd and good Quaker, came from England as governor, that things began to improve.

      References.—The bibliography is much the same as for Chapter II., with the addition of: David Ramsay, History of South Carolina (2 vols.); Edward McCrady, History of South Carolina (3 vols.);

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