Class Book. Asa COPYRIGHT DEPOSm A SIIOET HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA BY L. S. ^HIMMELL, Ph.D. DISTRICT SUrEKVlSOR OF SCHOOLS, HARRISBURG, PA. AUTHOR OF "the PENNSYLVANIA CITIZEN," " BORDER WAR- FARE IN.PENNSYLVANFA DURING THE REVOLUTON," AND " THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA AND OF THE UNITED STATES " NEW YORK CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. ^1^^ r* Copyright, 1910, BY CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. @:CI.AJi68443 PREFACE This Short History is intended to give a clear, bird's- eye view of the history of Pennsylvania. A class in the elementary school may use it as a text-book or for sup- plementary reading during a few months. It is for these younger readers that the book is written, though their elders also may find interest in this record of the state from the days of Indian ownership down to con- temporary affairs. A patriotic duty and a worthy pride should move us to study the history of the state in which we live. It is the history of our forefathers, and we can little afford to neglect their deeds. Pennsylvania ranks second among the states in wealth and population, and bears the proud name of the Keystone of the Union. If we would maintain this preeminence, we must not be in- different to our history. The study of state history helps appreciably in arous- ing interest in American history. The United States has a composite history, whether viewed on its political, social, or industrial side. Every state helps to make it, and the original thirteen more than the others, for they have a colonial and a revolutionary history. In Penn- sylvania these periods are especially interesting and important; yet they have been sadly neglected. The persons, places, and events in our state's history are 3 4 PREFACE near in point of pLace, and have a fascination for the mind. To set foot upon historic ground, to stand by an historic grave, and to receive history from the hj^s or the pen of one who hel})ed to make it — all these are powerful adjuncts to teachers and books. The Biographical Sketches (pages 201-251) contain a record of practically every person named in the book. The chronological order of the governors' biographies and the alphabeti(;al order of all others make it easy to hnd them. *AVhen the name of a person is met in the text for the first time, his biograi)hy should be read. L. S. Shimmell. Ilarrisbiir^, Pa. May 14, 1910 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Indians of Pennsylvania 7 II. The Settlement of Pennsylvania 17 The Dutch 17 The Swedes 19 The English • . 22 The Germans 34 The Welsh 40 The Scotch-Irish 42 The French Huguenots 44 III. The Growth of Population and Adjustment of Boundaries 46 IV. The Form of Government 66 V. Some Affairs of the Government: in the Colo- nial Period 72 Under Penn, 1682-1712 72 Under Mrs. Penn, 1712-1733 77 Under the Heirs of Penn, 1733-1776 83 VI. The Revolutionary Period 95 VII. The Period From 1790-1860 , . 133 VIII. The Period of the Civil War 159 IX. The Period Since the Civil War ...... 176 Biographical Sketches .201 Index . 252 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA CHAPTER I THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA Two great families. The Indians who occupied the territory of Pennsylvania at the time of its settlement by Europeans belonged to two great families— the Algon- quins and the Iroquois. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, lived chiefly in the lake region of New York, from Albany to Niagara Falls. Surrounding these dwelt the nu- merous nations and tribes of Algonquins. It was in the language of the Algonquins that Raleigh's colonists were greeted at Roanoke, the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and the Quakers at Shackamaxon. The most important of the Algonquin tribes were the Lenni-Lenapes, or the Delawares as they were called by the English. Their Indian name signifies "the original people"; and nearly forty tribes acknowledged them as "great grandfathers." The Delawares and subtribes. When \\^illiam Penn arrived on the banks of the Delaware, he met there the Lenni-Lenapes. They had made the Delaware River the center of their possessions. They consisted of three main tribes— the Turtle, the Turkey, and the Wolf. 7 8 A SHORT HISTORY OF PEXXSYLVAXIA The first two of tlicsc trilx's lived along the coast from the Hudson to the Potomac, between the sea and the l^lue Mountains. The third, whom the English called Monseys, occupied the mountainous country between the Blue Mountains and the sources of the Delaware and vSusquehanna rivers. These three tribes were divided into numerous subtribes, named after the rivers, creeks, or other ])laces at which they lived. The Delawares as "women." AMien the Iroquois made war on the Delawares, a peculiar agreement was made between them. According to the Delaware story the Irocjuois, feai'ing total extinction, jn-oposed that the Delawares should assume the character of the "woman" among the Indians. "One nation," said they, "shall be the woman," who was not to go to war, but keej) peace with all; and the men were to hear and obey the woman. Th(> Delawares were thenceforth to dress in the woman's long costume, to carry calabashes filled with oil and medicines, and to engage in the cultivation of Indian corn. Tlu* Iro(]uois denied that the Delawares chose will- ingly to ])lay the woman. They claimed to have con- quered the Delawares and forced them to adopt the state and name of woman. Whichever account is true, the fact remains that thc^ Delaware nation was evei- after- ward looked to for the ])reservation of the ])eace. It was entrusted with the great l)elt of ])eace and the chain of friendshi]), the middle of which was said to rest on the shoulders of the Delawares while the other Indian na- tions held one end and the Europeans the other end. THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA 9 The Irociuois, either by strategy or l)y force, were now in a position to command the Delaw^ares. These Indians, though permitted to stay in their old homes, were httle better than serfs. The Iroquois frequently came into the valleys of the Suscjuehanna, roaming about at will and using the waters and forests for hshing and hunting. They put the country in charge of deputy governors, who were appointed by the grand council of the Irocjuois. Shikel- lim3% the noted chief residing at Shamo- kin (now Sunbury), was one of the deputy governors of the Iroquois. The Five Nations. The Iroquois were always considered by the Delawares as only one nation. The name Five Nations (and later Six Nations) was given them by the English. They had formed a league, which consisted originally of the Mo- hawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The Tuscaroras, the sixth and last tribe in the league, joined it about one hundred years after its formation. The Tus- caroras were chiven out of North Carolina by the white settlers in 1713. They moved northward and lived in the Juniata Valley for some ten years. A chain of mountains in that section of Pennsylvania bears their name. The Eries. Another nation of Iroquois in Pennsyl- vania were the Eries; but they were not connected with the Five Nations of New York. The Eries were known Shikellimy, the Iroquois Chief \ 10 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA also as the Cat Nation, by reason of their cats, a sort of small wolf from whose skins they made robes orna- mented with tails. The entire nation occupied the shore of Lake Erie, from Buffalo to Toledo. The Shawanese. The Shawanese tribe was prominent in the early history of Pennsylvania. They belonged to the Algonquin nation. As wanderers they were without rivals among their race. Their original home is not known to a certainty, but they have been traced to the valley of the Cumberland River. A group of the Shawan- ese planted themselves on the Conestoga, and others, at the request of the Monseys, were allowed to settle about the forks of the Delaware. They finally became a numerous and powerful tribe in the })rovince. Indian character: good traits. In describing the character of the Indians of Pennsylvania, we should first go back to a time before they had become greatly changed by the Europeans. Heckewelder, the Moravian apostle to the Indians, has suggested how we should judge the red man; he said, ''Often I have listened to these descriptions of their hard sufferings, until I felt ashamed of being a white man." The Indian known to the missionaries of Pennsyl- vania had sincere religious feelings. An old Delaware once said that it had always been the custom of his fathers to climb upon a high mountain to thank the Great Manitou (spirit) for all his benefits, and to ask that they continue. They felt sure that the prayers wTre heard. They were very hospitable, and expected hos- pitality in return. Some traveling Delawares once put THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA 11 their horses in a meadow of fine grass without permis- sion, and when taken to account repHed, "Can you make the grass grow? The Great Manitou makes it grow, both for your horses and for ours." Civihty was a marked trait in their character. A "good-morning, father," "grandfather," "uncle," and so on down to a small grandchild, was the common form of address. Even the children saluted one another affectionately and respectfully. Quarrels were avoided. Fighting, they said, is only for dogs and other beasts. It was a rare thing to hear of murder among them in the days before the settlement of Pennsylvania. This we know from reliable and well-informed Indians who helped to build the first houses in Philadelphia. The sense of wit was rare among the Indians, yet we hear of some sharp sayings. The Delawares compared the European nations in America to a pair of scissors, which cut what comes between them; they said, "The Europeans do not want to destroy themselves in their wars, but us poor Indians that are between them." In their aboriginal state they were not vain; but they possessed a high-minded pride that was sometimes heroic. A white prisoner taken at Fort Mcintosh (now Beaver) and carried into Ohio, was condemned to die at the stake. Two English traders, acquainted with the Indian's personal pride, said to the chief, "Among all the chiefs there is none to equal you in greatness." "Do you really believe what you say?" asked the chief, in childish simpHcity. "Indeed we do." Then the chief rushed through the crowd, cut the cords around the ■ri Z < 5 z 12 THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA 13 prisoner, and set him free. Before the astonishment was over, the prisoner was out of sigiit. The dark side. The Indian, hke every other savage race, had a dark side to his character. His name be- came a synonym for revenge and cruelty. But are we in a position to "cast the first stone"? Our estimate of his character has been made by white men. Few men ex- cept the missionaries told the Indian's side of a long, cruel story. Columbus, the hrst white man to know the red men, said that ''they love their neighbors as them- selves." The original Indians were not beasts of prey; they were driven to this condition by the Europeans. An important cause of the change in Indian character was drunkenness. When Henry Hudson and his sailors first offered whiskey to the Mohicans on Manhattan Island (now New York City), it was passed around as if they had been taught the lesson — " touch not, taste not, handle not." Ikit they soon grew eager for " fire water." The thoughtful Indians of a century or two ago well knew whom to blame for their drunkenness. A mis- sionary once asked an Indian at Pittsburg who he was. He answered, ''My name is Black Fish; when I am at home with my people, I am a clever fellow, but here I am a hog." William Penn in his letter to the Free So- ciety of Traders in London says, "Since the Europeans came into these parts, the Indians are grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially, and for it exchange the richest of their skins and furs." Surprise was often expressed by these simple children of the forest that a people who believed in the Great Spirit, who claimed to 14 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA have his own word in their houses, could make a Hquor to bewitch and to destroy one another. Alter English traders, soon after Penn's death, went among the In- dians of the Juniata and the Susquehanna valleys, con- stant complaints were made about the sale of rum to their people. Laws and treaties. The Indians had no laws, except a few im written rules of justice and courtesy, which were enforced by the chiefs and their counsellors. Wam- pum, which consisted of beads made from shells, served JM^tttM.tttUetMUntCULtUUUiUllULMtUUC I .ItMIMMllMMIMlMttMfOtlt lllltUltltuiltUllfUtuttuUCckuuiataltEUtit cr-- Wampum Received by Penn from the Indians as money to the Indians, and was necessary to carry into effect an order of the chief. Imi)ortant transactions were ratihed by strings and belts of wampum. Black wampum signified war; white wampum meant peace, friendship, and good-will. The pipe of })eace, which was made of l)lack or red stone, had to b(^ whitened be- fore it was smoked as a sign of peace. To koc]) tr(^ati(>s fresh in the memory, the Indian chiefs met occasionally at some chosen spot in the forest and rehearsed them. Between the years 1770 and 1780, the Delawares could relate very minutely what had passed THE INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA 15 between William Penn and their forefathers years be- fore. On such occasions the Indians sat around a chest, from which they took one string or belt of wampum after another. They handed the wampum to every person present, and repeated the words spoken when it was originally delivered. Education. The Indians had no schools. The parents taught, the children, and the first lessons were about the Great Spirit and about duties to parents and elders. Reading and writing were unknown to them, but the Iroquois and the Delawares understood a little counting. The position of the sun served to show the time of day; and the stages of the corn showed the season of the year. Indian names. The name of a child, as a rule, was given by the father, who generally selected that of some animal. Other names were frequently added. An In- dian who wore torn or patched shoes was called Bad Shoes; one who had large eyes was Great Eye. To the white men the Indians gave descriptive names of their own. When the Delawares had learned the meaning of Penn's name, they at once called him Miquon, meaning feather or quill. The Iroquois called him Onas, for the same reason. Ingenious compounds were invented; for example, the name for Philadelphia was Quequenaku, ''the grove of the long pine trees." Occupations. Hunting was considered the most honorable occupation. The Delawares early trained their boys to run so fast as to overtake a deer, and to shoot small fishes with bows and arrows. Besides meat and fishj the oyster, the land-tortoise, and the locust 16 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA were used for food. Vegetables of various kinds were raised. Maize was one of tlieir chief foods. They planted it after the hazelnut was in bloom, to make sure it would not be killed by frost. The shoulder blade of a deer or the shell of a tortoise was used for hoeing — a work that fell to the women. Amusements. Dancing and singing were the Indian's amusement, though he indulged in them for other pur- poses. He made a grotesque performance of it, and ended with a disagreeable yell. The war dance was in- tended to terrify, not to please. It was performed around a painted post, and the dancers went through all the motions and actions of battle. After a victory, a dance of thanksgiving was performed. It was religious in its nature. CHAPTER II THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA The Dutch The first explorers. The first Europeans to dwell on the banks of the Delaware came from Holland. Henry Hudson, the English explorer in the Dutch service, in 1609 set sail from Holland in the Half Moon, hoping to reach China by way of the northeast. Fogs and ice made him cluinge his course. He touched the mouth of ''a great bay," which was afterward named Delaware Bay in honor of Lord Delaware, who entered it the next year. Hudson spent one day on its waters, and then sailing north, discovered the river which bears his name. He reijorted his discoveries to the people in Holland, and five vessels were sent from Amsterdam to America in 1614. Four of them made explorations around Manhattan and to the eastward. The other vessel, under command of Captain Mey, went south and reached Delaware Bay. The vessels all returned to Holland except the Unrest, which had been built on the Hudson River to take the place of one that had been burned. Its commander. Captain Hendrickson, in 1616 explored the Delaware more carefully, ascending it as far north as the mouth of the Schuylkill River, which he discovered. On his 2 17 18 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA arrival home he gave a glowing account of the land' of the Delaware, describing it as a vast forest which abounded in bucks and does, turkeys and partridges; the climate was temperate, and the trees were mantled by the. vine. First settlements on the Delaware. In the spring of 1623 Captain Mey sailed for Delaware Bay with a party of colonists sent out by the Dutch West India Company. Passing the cape bearing his name, he ascended the river fifty miles, and on the eastern shore erected Fort Nassau, near the present site of Gloucester. This was the first European settlement on the banks of the Delaware. On the west side of the river, an association of pa- troons in Amsterdam in 1030 bought land from the Indians. A settlement of some thirty people — the first in Delaware and older than any in Pennsylvania — was made the next year on Lewes Creek. It was named Swaannendael. A petty quarrel about a piece of tin arose between the commander of the fort here and the Indians, and the settlers w^ere all murdered by the sav- ages. Not even the faithful watchdog escaped. A Dutch settlement in Pennsylvania. There is some evidence, too, of a very early Dutch settlement on the soil of Pennsylvania. It is thought that a company of miners from Holland made their way from Esopus (now Kingston) on the Hudson to the Delaware below Milford, and settled within the present hmits of Mon- roe and Pike counties, principally on the site of Shawnee. There are accounts of "mine-holes" near the Blue THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 19 Mountains, and of a ''mine- road" a hundred miles long. On this road, it is said, the Hollanders of the Minisink Flats took their wheat and cider to Esopus on the Hud- son as late as 1730, without knowing anything about Philadelphia. Large orchards of "ai)ple trees far be- yond the size of any near Philadelphia" were reported to have been seen by some public surveyors about fifty years after the settlement of Pennsylvania. The Swedes A permanent settlement in New Sweden. Before the Dutch could recover the soil of Delaware from the In- dians, a European rival appeared. The king of Sweden in 1626 granted a charter to a Swedish AVest India Com- pany. The charter expressed much love for humanity. All oppressed Christendom was to have a refuge in the New World. The colony was to be ''the jewel of the kingdom." There were no immediate results, but twelve years later the Swedes made the first permanent settlement on the Delaware. Peter Minuit, a German, offered his services to the Swedes, and took out the first colony. In 1638 he landed his little company of Swedes and Finns near Lewes, Delaware. A fort was erected near the mouth of the creek, and both fort and creek were named Christina, in honor of the little girl who had succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden. The country itself was named New Sweden. All the lands from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of Trenton were purchased from the Indians, and stakes and marks were put up. The Dutch protested, 20 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA but without effect. The enthusiastic Scandinavians ex- tended tlieir plantations and their trade with the In- dians, and exported thousands of skins the first year. Swedish settlers in Pennsylvania. AMien Printz, the third governor of New Sweden, anived in 1643, he selected as a place of residence and defense the island of Tinicum, now Tinicum township, Delaware County, a few miles below Philadelphia. This settlement, which w^as named New Gottenberg, was the first European settlement in Pennsylvania of which there is positive knowledge. There had been a few English families, Londoners, who had found the soil of Connecticut too stubborn and had settled on the Schuylkill, but they either left or submitted to Swedish rule. Dutch control. It now became evident to the Dutch on the Hudson that the Swedes on the Delaware were becoming dangerous rivals. Stuyvesant, the governor of New Netherlands (later New York), was ordered to ''drive the Swedes from the Delaware or compel their submission." In 1655 he forced the Swedish colonists to surrender to him. The whole territory from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of Trenton passed under the rule of the Dutch. English control. In 1664 all this territory, together with New Netherlands, was taken by the Duke of York, to whom the king of England had granted it. The Dutch settlers at this time were grouped around New Castle and Lewiston; the Swedes and Finns dwelt at Christina Creek, at Upland (Chester), and about the present site of Philadelphia. These settlements re- THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 21 mained in possession of the Duke of York until he granted them to Wilham Penn. After that, the settle- ments included in the state of Delaware became known as the three Lower Counties or the Territories of Pennsyl- vania. Swedish footprints. The Swedes left some interesting footprints in the history of the state. In the first group of settlers from Sweden many criminals had been sent, but during Printz's administration this practice was for- bidden, "lest Almighty God should let his vengeance fall on the ships and goods and the virtu- ous people that were on board." However, there were also many virtuous and industri- ous Swedes, who are proudly remembered in Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Phila- delphia counties as the first white men to culti- vate the soil. They were a religious people. Their first church was built on Tinicum Island, and was dedicated in 1646. There the first marriage between Europeans in Pennsylvania is supposed to have been solemnized— that of Governor Printz's daughter, in 1644. In Philadelphia the Gloria Dei, or Swedes' Church, stands as a monu- ment to the historic church at Wicaco, which was built for the use of the inhabitants of Passyunk and beyond. Old Swedish Houses in Phila- delphia 22 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA about the year 1669, not far from the site of the navy yard. It had loopholes through which guns might be fired, so that it could be used as a place of safety against the Indians or other enemies. An old poem says: As once, for fear of Indian beating, Our grandsires bore their guns to meeting, Each man equipped, on Sunday morn, With psalm-book, shot, and powder horn. The English The first Quaker settlement. After the territory on the Delaware had passed into the hands of the English, Governor Andros, who represented the Duke of York in America, made numerous grants of these lands. The first permanent English settlement in Pennsylvania was made at this period by some Quakers. They had come from England with fourteen of their brethren who colonized West Jersey, and they settled near the Lower Falls, on land afterward in Bucks County. They had become so well established by the time William Penn founded his colony that he thought of locating his capital at Pennsbury or Bristol. Through correspondence he learned that "the Indian country on the west side of the Delaware is most beautiful to look upon, that it only wanted a wise people to render it, like the ancient Canaan, 'the glory of the earth.'" Penn*s motives in founding the colony. Three things moved Penn to plant a colony in the New World. First, he would get payment for the debt of about $80,000 due his father as an officer of the British navy. Secondly, he THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 23 would (incl a i)lace for his brethren, the Quakers, where they would not be insulted in the streets, dragged from their meetinghouses to jails, and robbed of their last bed or their last cow to pay fines for not attending the estab- lished church. And in the third place, he would satisfy the desire which the enthusiastic accounts of the breth- ren in West Jersey had created in him. Penn's wish to help the Quakers, or Friends, was by far the strongest motive. Penn himself had been tried for preaching to ''an unlawful, seditious, and riotous assembly." The first verdict was "Guilty of speaking in Grace-church street." This verdict was brought in repeatedly, in spite of the judge's threats to starve the jury if they did not say "Guilty" or "Not Guilty." Finally the verdict of "Not Guilty" was given, where- upon the judge fined each of the jurors forty marks and imprisonment till paid, because they had followed their "own judgment" rather than the "good advice" given them by him. Penn also was fined for having his hat on in the presence of the court. William Penn and his people enjoyed neither religious nor civil liberty in Eng- land. Other religious sects in England and on the Con- tinent had similar difficulties. Penn wished to open a new country where all mankind, without distinction of sect or party, could find peace. Here are his own words concerning his purposes: And, because I have been somewhat exercised, at times, about the nature and end of government, it is reasonable to ex- pect, that I should endeavor to establish a just and righteous one, that others may take example by it ; — truly, this my heart 24 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA desires. ... I do, therefore, desire the Lord's wisdom to guide me, and those that may be concerned \\ith me, that we do the thing that is truly wise and just. With this high object in view Penn, in 1680, peti- tioned King Charles II for a grant of land in America. The king agreed at once, because he could thus pay the debt he owed Penn. Name and boundaries of the province. The next year William Penn was made, by charter, proprietor and governor of the province of Pennsylvania. His choice of a name was New Wales; but the king insisted on Penn- sylvania, which means Penn's woods. Penn next pro- posed Sylvania, on the ground that the prefix Penn would appear like vanity on his part, and not as a mark of re- spect for his father; but his suggestion was not accepted. . The extent of the province was three degrees of lati- tude by five degrees of longitude, or about 45,000 square miles. The eastern boundary was the Delaware River, and- the northern was 'Hhe beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward into the beginning of the for- tieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above men- tioned." The three Lower Counties on the Delaware — Kent, Sussex, and the New Castle district — were not in- cluded in the charter. Penn secured these counties from the Duke of York the following year. The purchase from the Indians. Penn drew up a form of government and a code of laws, and sent his cousin. 26 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA William Markham, to take possession of the country and to act as deputy governor. Markham arrived at Upland on the Delaware about July 1, 1()S1. Soon after his arrival the deputy governor was joined by three com- missioners who were sent to help him confer with the Indians about the sale of land and make a treaty of peace with them. The first purchase was made July 15, 1682. The tract extended along the Delaware from the mouth of the Neshaminy to the Blue Mountains. Markham paid for it as follows: 350 ffathoms of Wampum, 20 white Blankits, 20 ffathoms of Strawed waters, 60 ffathoms of Duffields, 20 Kettles, 4 whereof large, 20 gunns, 20 coats, 40 shirts, 40 payre of Stockings, 40 Howes, 40 Axes, 2 Barrels of Powder, 200 Barres of Lead, 200 Knives, 200 small glasses, 12 payre of shoes, 40 Copper Boxes, 40 Tobacco Tonngs, 2 small Barrels of Pipes, 40 j^ayre of Scissors, 40 Combs, 24 pounds of Red Lead, 100 Aules, 2 handfulls of ffishhooks, 2 handfulls of Needles, 40 pounds of Shott, 10 Bundles of Beads, 10 small Saws, 12 Drawing Knives, 4 anchers of To- ])acco, 2 anchers of Rumme, 2 anchers of Syder, 2 anchers of Beere and 300 Gilders. Markham also held some conferences with the Indians, simply to ]3romote peace and friendship. He read to them a letter from Fenn which said: I have great love and regard for you, and desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable liffe; and the people I send are of the same mjnd, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly. Penn's arrival in the colony. Penn took leave of his wife and children and went on board the good ship THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA . 27 Welcome, September 1, 1682. The passengers numbered about one hundred, mostly Quakers who had been his neiglibors in Sussex, England. During the voyage about thirty died of smallpox. Penn greatly endeared hmi- self to the company by his kind and untiring efforts to aid the sick and dying. After six weeks, land was sighted on the coast of New Jersey, near Egg Harbor. As he jDassed up the Delaware, the Dutch and the Swedes, now his subjects, received him with great joy. Penn landed at New Castle, October 27. Here, the next day, he called the people together in the Dutch courthouse and took legal possession of the country, promising the inhabitants liberty of conscience and civil freedom. Two daj's later he w^nt to Upland, which he renamed Chester, and there he called the first General Assembly. Penn's treaty with the Indians. From Chester, Penn with a few others traveled u]) the Delaware in an open boat, in the early days of November, when the banks of the river were brilliant with autumn color. His mission was to meet the Indians and to ratify the Treaty of Eternal Fi'iendshij), which Markham and his associates had previously made. \Mien he ai'rived at Shackamaxon, the Indians had already filled the woods as far as the eye could see. After the chiefs had arranged themselves m the foiTn of a half-moon, Penn, with no mark of power save a blue sash, addressed them in the name of the Great Spirit, who made and rules all mankind: We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be open- 28 . A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA ness and love. I will not call you children, for parents chide their children too severely ; nor brothers only, for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain ; for that the rains might rust or the falling tree might break. We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts; we are all one flesh and blood. After receiving presents from Penn, the Indians gave a belt of wampum and solemnly pledged themselves to live in love with him and his children as long as the sun and moon shall endure. "This/' says Voltaire, "was the only treaty between these people and the Christians that was made without an oath, and that was never broken." Penn had many other conferences of this kind with the Indians, and he was kindly remembered by them for years. One of them forty years afterward said: "We shall never forget the counsel that William Penn gave us; though we cannot write, as the English, yet we can keep in the memory what was said in our councils." So faithful were the Indians to him that not a drop of Quaker blood was shed by them while he lived. The Treaty Elm. The elm tree under which the treaty was made became famous. The British General Simcoe, who was once quartered near it in the Revolutionary War, so respected it that when his soldiers were cutting down trees for firewood, he placed a guard under it. A storm blew it down in 1810, and it was found to be two hundred and eighty- three years old. Its site, marked by a monument erected in 1827, is now surrounded by a beautiful park. The statue of William Penn on the tower of City Hall, Philadelphia, faces in the direction THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 29 of the Elm in Kensington, and silently reminds Penn- sylvanians to be true to the principles of the founder. The Province organized. The first meeting of the General Assembly was held at Chester. During a three- days' session, the machinery of government was planned and put in operation; the Dutch, Swedes, and all other foreigners were made citizens; and the Province of Pennsylvania was thus organized. The "holy experi- ment, " as Penn called his new state, had begun. Hav- ing purchased some land from the natives, he made a survey of it, and divided it into three counties — Phila- delphia, Bucks, and Chester. The first was named after the city then building; the second after Buckingham- shire, the land of Penn's ancestors; and the third after his friend Pearson's native city. The location of Philadelphia. "The great town" in Pennsylvania was to be near the junction of the Delaware and the Schuylkill. The location was desirable because both rivers, especially the Delaware, were navigable. Brick-earth and building-stone were abundant and the surroundings were beautiful. These and other circum- stances led to the choice of a site near the Indian village of Quequenaku, ''the grove of the long pine trees." Its plan and name. With few exceptions, the streets of Philadelphia cross each other at right angles. Those originally running east and west — nine in number — were all named after the various kinds of trees in the forest around, as Vine, Spruce, Pine, Sassafras, Willow, Chestnut, Walnut, etc.; those running north and south — twenty- three altogether — were numbered. According to 30 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA the plan there was to be in the center of the city a square of ten acres, each corner of which was to be reserved for public offices. In each quarter of the city there was to be another square of eight acres, to be used by the people. The city was named after a town in Lydia, Asia Minor, the seat of one of the seven early Christian churches. Philadelphia signifies brotherly love. The first houses in Philadelphia. Few of the settlers of Philadelphia had the time or the means to build William Penn's House Now in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia houses before the winter of 1682-83 set in. Many of them lived like conies, in caves dug under the high bluff on the river-front between Vine and AValnut streets. The next year nearly one hundred houses were built, sheltering more than five hundred inhabitants. Two years afterward six hundred houses had displaced the trees and thickets of the forest. The Swedes and the Indians were very kind to the infant colony, the former sharing their shelter and the latter their game. Some THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 31 well-to-do settlers had brought with them houses in frame, tools, implements, and furniture, as well as food and clothes to last them for some time after their arri- val. The poorer classes had to put up mere huts, made from timber freshly cut in the forest. The country settlers. Not all of Penn's brethren set- tled in Philadelphia. Many, as they landed, distributed themselves through the country. They were thinly scattered from the Falls of Trenton to Chester. For- tunately for those who arrived in the hrst ships, the winter was mild and open, and they all cleared enough land to plant a crop of Indian corn in the spring. The following extract from a letter shows how the rural settlers fared: After our arrival we found the country a wilderness. The in- habitants were Indians and k^wedes, who received us in a friendly manner and brought us provisions at very reasonable rates. After some time, I set up a mill on Chester creek, which I brought ready framed from London, which served for grinding of corn and sawing of boards. Besides, I made a net and caught great quan- tities of fish, which supplied ourselves and many others; so that, not^\ithstanding, it was thought that nearly three thousand persons came in the first year, we were so providentially pro- vided for that we could buy a deer for two shillings, and a large turkey for one shilling, and Indian corn for two shillings and six- pence a bushel. Penn's return to England. The province having been founded, Penn, in August, 1684, sailed for England, with this parting prayer upon his lips: "And thou, Phila- delphia, the virgin settlement of this province, my soul 32 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA prays to God fur thee, that thou inayest stand in the day of trial and that thy children may be blessed." His family, his estate, and certain matters pertaining to his colony kept him in England till 1699. Penn's second visit. When he returned to his province in tliat year, Philadelphia had more than two thousand houses; and he walked the streets al- most a stranger. However, he was warmly welcomed by the Indians. He made two journeys at this time to the interior of the province. In October, 1701, he sailed for England, where a riotous son and an unfaithful steward had plunged him so deeply into debt that he had to mortgage his province and suffer imprisonment besides. He never visited his colony again. He Penn's Clock ^^i^d in 1718, but his name will live as Now in the Phila- long as the history of Pennsylvania is delphia Library l^i^Q^yn. Characteristics of the Friends. The most numerous settlers of Penn's colony were, as we have seen, the Quakers or Friends. The Friends opposed all forms of display, then very common among the upper classes in England. They chose drab as their color because it differed least from the uncolored state of cloth. They respected all honorable occupations alike. William Penn wanted his children to become husbandmen and house- wives, and one of his sons learned the trade of a linen draper. Laborers were not looked upon as drudges. THE SETTLEMExNT OF PENNSYLVANIA 33 The Friends, as early as 1()93, advised that none should "l)uy slaves except to free." Not far from Frankford was an old tombstone, the inscription on which says that the occupant of the grave, Friend Sandiford, '' bore testimony against the Negro trade." Christ Church, Philadelphia Other English settlers. The chief immigration of the Friends took place before the year 1700. Other English settlers, however, had found their way to Pennsylvania. Chief among these were the Episcopalians, or people of 3 34 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA the Church of England, .some of whom arrived .soon after Penn. Christ Church in Philadeljihia, with its first bell hung in the crotch of a tree, wa.s built by them on Second Street, north of Market Street. The present brick build- ing, so full of historic interest, was begun in 1727 and comjjleted in 1755. Benjamin Franklin was one of the managers of the lottery (a method (juite common in those days for raising church funds) by which money was secured for the steeple and the chimes. On July 4, 1776, these chimes, the .second in America, joined the old bell on Independence Hall in proclaiming "liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." The Germans The Mennonites. As William Penn offered Religious liberty to all who WTre under oppres.sion, Pennsylvania was "an asylum to the good and oppressed of every na- tion." The Germans, after the Friends, were the first to become interested in his "holy experiment." Penn, whose mother was a Dutch woman, had twice been trav- eling and preaching in Holland and Germany. There he made many devoted friends in various denominations, and was received with special kindness by the Mennon- ites. These people, like the Friends, never used the sword, never took an oath, and were plain in dress and speech and simple in manners. A.s they were so much alike in their way of thinking and living, it was not strange that the two sects became neighbors in the wilds of x\merica. The Mennonites had been j)ersecuted and were glad to find peace in Penn's colony. THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 35 Germantown settled. On August 20, i(JcS;j, a distin- guished man joined the colony — Francis Daniel Pasto- rius. Like many of the settlers, he dwelt for a time in a cave. He was a great scholar. He had mastered seven or eight languages and was well read in science and philosoi)hy. On October G, in tlie ship Concord, with passports written on parchment in golden ink, thirteen families of Mennonites from the Rhine, just outside of Holland, landed at Philadelphia. With these Pastorius founded Germantown. Fourteen divisions of land were measured off, and the German pioneers repaired to his cave to draw lots for the choice of location. Cellars were at once dug and huts were built. William Penn was present when the first two-story house was erected, and helped to eat the raising dinner. Other immigrants be- gan to arrive in the little town soon afterward. The early dwellers of Germantown had a hard struggle with poverty. Pastorius tells us that the settlement was so poor that it became the subject of a pun and was called Armentown, Armen being the German word for poor. He said that it would not be believed by coming generations in what want, and with what Christian con- tentment and persistent industry, Germantown started. He himself had to use oiled paper to let the light into his house. At the end of the first year, the settlers had im- proved their condition materially: they had harvested a good crop of Indian corn and buckwheat, and had added a few comforts to their houses. Germantown, however, was not a settlement of farmers, but of weavers. Pastorius selected for the town seal a 36 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA clover with a vine on one of its leaves, a stalk of flax on another, and a spool of thread on the third. The motto on it was " Vinum, Linum, et Textrinum " (meaning vine, flax, and thread). It was a place — Where lives High German and Low Dutch, Whose trade in weaving linen cloth is much. There grows the flax, as also you may know That from the same they do divide the tow. The Mennonites of Germantown enjoy one proud dis- tinction. They were the first people in America to sug- gest the abolition of slavery. In 1688, under the lead of Pastorius, they sent a petition to the yearly meeting of the Friends saying, in effect, that it was not a Christian act to buy and keep negroes. The Pietists. Germantown was the hul) of the German settlement in Pennsylvania for many years. In 1694 the Pietists, for whom Pastorius had formed a warm attachment 111 J^^^&i^^ JL^. in Germany, settled on the Wissahickon. They were noted for their piety, learning, and mysticism. They spent much time in prayer and pious medi- tation, and for this purpose they had caves in the rugged ravine of the Wissahickon. They put up a building de- Slavery Protest WAS Signed ^.^.^^^^ ^^^ rehgioUS and educa- tional purposes, on the highest point of their land. It was surmounted with an observatory, the first in the The House in Which the THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 37 province. On top of this was raised the mystic symbol —a cross within a circle— in such a position that the rays of the rising sun flooded it with a rosy hght. Later, in 1734, a massive stone structure was built farther up the stream; it is still known as the monastery on the Wissahickon. One of their associates, Christoph Saur, published a newspaper which circulated among all the Germans in the colonies, from New York to Georgia. He printed the German Bible as early as 1743, about forty years before the English Bible was printed in America. The Tunkers. Germantown also became the original home of the Tunkers, or German Baptists, in America; but they did not arrive until 1719. Christoph Saur, son of Christoph, the publisher, became an elder in this denomination. As the successor to his father's business, the son was a prominent man in the i)rovince. The Getman immigration. After 1700 German immi- gration to Pennsylvania was no longer confined to those who had been influenced by Penn's visit to the Continent. The English government now encouraged the Germans to come to America to add strength to its population. Large numbers of Germans crossed to England and were tem- porarily sheltered in tents on the commons of London while waiting for transportation to America. Pennsyl- vania was the favorite colony with the Germans, and by the year 1725 fifty thousand had made their way hither. Immigrants came from the German side of Switzerland and Holland, from Swabia, Alsace, and Saxony, but most from the Palatinate. 38 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENXSYLVAXIA The Germans on the frontier. These later German settlers pressed out into the wilderness, and left Phila- delphia and the country around it to the English and to the Germans in and about Germantown. They filled the Lehigh and Schuylkill valleys, settling in Easton, Northamptontown (now Allentown), Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster. Thence they pushed on to the Suscjue- hanna, down into the Cumberland \\alley, and up into the Juniata and Susquehanna valleys. The Germans who thus ])uslied into the wilderness were of various religious denominations. The Schwenkfelders settled on adjoining lands in Montgomery, Lehigh, and Berks, in 1734. Like the Friends, Mennonites, and Tunkers, they opposed war, oaths, and display. Their de- scendants live to-day in the same region, number- ing all told less than a thousand. They still cele- brate the anniversary of their arrival as a day of thanksgiving. The Moravians. The Moravians settled in Northamp- ton County, at Nazareth in 1739, and at Bethlehem in 1741. Their leader was Count Zinzendorf, a man well known in Europe and America. The great work of the Moravians for the province was the conversion of Indians; but the results of this work were largely de- stroyed by the French and Inchan War. Much of what we know of Indian life in Pennsylvania was recorded by the Moravian missionaries, notal)ly by Heckewelder. The schools of this pious sect were widely known, and in them many girls and l)()ys from far and wide received their ('(hicnlion. THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 39 Ephrata. A unique settlement was made at Ephrata, Lancaster County, by a branch of the Tunkers of Germantown or the Seventh Day Baptists. Some of its strange buildings are still standing. There was a house for the brothers and a house for the sisters, known as the Monastery of Ephrata. Among the numerous manufactur- ing industries was a printing house. Just before the battle of Ger- mantown, three wagon- loads of books in sheets Brothers' and Sisters' Houses at were seized there for Ephrata making cartridges. While the Continental Congress sat at York, this printing house struck off paper money for the government. The monastery at Ephrata was used as a hospital for American soldiers after the battle of the Brandywine. Peter Miller, second prior of the monastery, was one of the most learned men in America. He translated the Declaration of Independ- ence into seven languages by order of Congress. The Reformed and the Lutherans. Still other groups of German settlers were the Reformed and the Lutherans. They did not arrive in large numbers until about 1725. Some four hundred Reformed settled along the Skippack, in Montgomery County. Others followed, and before long the Reverend Michael Schlatter was able to organize the Reformed Church of Pennsylvania. The Lutherans were much more numerous. Their leader was Henry 40 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Melclioir Muhlenberg. He was the father of IVter, the general of the Revolution; of Frederick, the first Speaker of the House of Representatives; and of Gotthilf, the botanist. Larger companies of Reformed and Lutherans had come to America before these leadei-s, but they had scattered through several counties in search of a place to work, and live, and their organization into congrega- tions w^as a difficult task. The Reformed and Lutherans made an effort to spread the English language among the Germans. Muhlenberg himself taught English, and was careful to have his sons educated in it before sencUng them to Germany. Schlat- ter, the leader of the Reformed, raised a fund in England, Holland, and Germany for teaching English to the Pennsylvania Germans. The Germans as farmers and fighters. In colonial days agriculture was the chief occupation. Then gov- ernors, lawmakers, and judges were farmers. Even in the early history of the Republic, ])residents, congress- men, and makers of constitutions were followers of the plow. In this occupation the Pennsylvania Germans excelled, and they therefore clung to the soil and to rural life. Tlu^y were good judges of land; they worked hard, and j)i'acticed economy. They cleared the land that had the heaviest timber, for they knew it would produce the liea\nest crops; and they often grew rich where others had become ])oor. TluMr farms were not surpassed anywhere in the world. Through their indus- try and economy they have i)roduced a large share of the wealth of the stale. THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 41 In time of war they have hkewise dune tlieir thity. In 1775 they shared, with their Scotch-Irish neighbors on the frontiei", the honor of being among the first troops caUed by the Continental Congress — expert rifle- men from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The rifle, which was then unknown in New England, had been brought to Pennsylvania by the Swiss and Palatines, about 1700. The Welsh The location of the Welsh. The Welsh began to come in 1682, soon after the colony had been planted, but after 1700 few of these people joined the colony. Dr. Thomas AVynne, Penn's friend and physician, and a few other Welshmen came in the Welcome. These people settled on a large tract of land along the ridge extending back from the Schuylkill as far as Paoli. Their settlement was called the Welsh Barony; it has since been known as the Welsh Tract. As their number increased, they spread out into other places. Some went as far west as Lancaster County, and gave their name to the Welsh Mountains there; others located north of Philadelphia. Welsh names of two hundred years ago are preserved in various stations along the Pennsylvania Railroad, beginning with Berwyn. Their purpose. The Welsh, like the settlers of German- town, came to Pennsylvania to form a settlement in which they could regulate their own affairs. Most of them were Friends, and had knowai William Penn in Eng- land. Though at first they could not understand the 42 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA English language, they soon adopted it. Nearly all the early physicians of the colony were Welshmen. George Washington's physician was the great-grandson of Penn's physician. Welsh names. Most names of the Welsh settlers have taken English forms. Thus, ap John {ap meaning son of) became John's (son) or Jones; ap Edward, Edwards; ap William, Williams; ap Robert, Roberts; ap Hugh became Pugh; and ap Howell, Powell. The Scotch-Irish Their location. The Scotch-Irish were people from Scotland who had gone to Ireland to occupy tlie lands taken from Irish people by Queen Elizabeth and James I. In religion they were Presbyterians, and by occupation, farmers. They were drawn to Pennsylvania by its fame for religious liberty and fertility of soil. They began to arrive soon after 17()(), and the earliest comers settled in the lower part of Chester and Lancaster counties. About 1720 the settlement containing the famous Log College was made on the Neshaminy River in Bucks County. Another body located at the Forks of the Delaware, in Northampton County. Donegal in Lancaster County and Paxtang, Derry, and Hanover in Dauphin County, were Scotch-Irish localities at one time; but the Cumberland Valley received the greatest luunber of these peo])le. The officials of the ])rovince encouraged the Germans to locate in the eastein ])arts and the Scotch-Irish to go westward. This lu'rangement was a good one, for the THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 43 Scotch-Irish were the very men to face the wilderness and resist the attacks of wild beasts and savages. Relations with the Indians. As pioneers, theii con- duct toward the Indians was as warlike as that of the Quakers had been peaceful. The experience of their forefathers in Ireland was a good school for frontier life. The Indians had now been driven farther and farther west, and peace was hard to keep. When the French and Indian War broke out, the Scotch-Irish settlers on the frontier had to face many a fatal attack. The Paxtang Boys. At the opening of Pontiac's War in 1763, the Reverend John Elder of the Paxtang church in Dauphin County organized several companies of rangers, known as the Paxtang Boys, to protect the settlers against the Indians. Along the Susquehanna south of the Blue Mountains some Indians committed deed after deed of bloody violence; but where they came from was a mystery. Suspicion rested on certain Indi- ans who lived near Columbia. The governor was asked to remove these Indians. He dechned to do this, on the ground that they were "innocent, helpless, and depend- ent on the government for support." The Paxtang Boys then resolved to take the law into their own hands, against the wishes of Colonel Elder. They went to the settlement at night, but their presence was announced by the dogs. The Indians rushed out of the wigwams, swinging their tomahawks. The rangers leveled their guns and quickly killed the Indians. But not all were at home, and when the absent Indians learned of the fate of their brethren, they hastened to 44 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Lancaster and sought safety in the jail. A few made their way to Philadelphia. The rangers resolved to complete their work. Tliey went to Lancaster, broke into the jail, and shot the fugitive Conestogas. After that, the settlers south of the Blue Mountains had little annoyance from the Indians. However, the end of the excitement had not 3^et come. The governor and the Assembly condemned the action of the Paxtang Boys so severely that the frontiersmen sent a delegation to explain theii' grievances. This looked like a show of force. The authorities in Phila- delphia put the Indian refugees under guard in the garrison, and sent an armed force to Germantown to meet the delegation. The Paxtang Boys stated their case, and were then conducted to Philadelphia. They were put on trial for the killing of the Conestoga Indians, but were never found guilty. The Scotch-Irish as soldiers. The hardshi})s and dangers which the Scotch-Irish endured on the frontier gave them grit and strength; when the Revolution came, they were ready and eager for the struggle. The French and Indian War had been an excellent school for drilling the Revolutionary soldiers; none were better drilled than the Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania — a fact well known to the Continental Congress in 1775. The French Huguenots The French settlement. Pennsylvania became a ref- uge foi" a mmiber of French families of the persecuted Huguenots. They came here, under the influence of THE SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA 45 William Peiin, to plant vineyards and cultivate grapes "up the Schuylkill." Not succeeding there, they re- moved to the Pequea Valley, then in Chester County, now in Lancaster. To this place all the French people went for settlement. They were heartily welcomed by the Delaware Indians there, and when the chief of these Indians died, the Huguenots attended the burial. At his grave, on Lafayette Hill near Paradise, was placed a pile of stones which long remained to mark the spot. The descendants of these French families are found chiefly in Berks, Lancaster, and Dauphin counties. Nationalities disappear. Though the settlers of Penn- sylvania were of various sects, churches, and nationali- ties, which at times had cjuarrels, we, their heirs and descendants, know no such differences in the discliarge of our duties to the government. We are all Pennsyl- vanians now; and the question whether a citizen is Eng- lish, German, Welsh, Scotch-Irish, or French, happily never enters our mind. With us to-day it is — The union of hearts, the union of hands, And the flag of our Union forever. CHAPTER III THE GROWTH OF POPULATION AND THE ADJUST- MENT OF BOUNDARIES The movement of population. In the settlement of Pennsylvania a double wave of population swept in: the Scotch-Irish in advance, and the Germans following and permanently occupying the soil. This movement is most plainly recorded in the Kittatinny Valley. Throughout its length, from Easton to Maryland, are found places and gravestones bearing Scotch-Irish names. These people entered the Kittatinny Valley at various points, about the year 1730. They passed through the gaps west of the Susquehanna. Thence they rapidly followed the main streams toward the north and west. The Germans began to arrive in greatest numbers about the year 1740, the time when the Scotch-Irish immigra- tion had reached its height. It was the onward flow of these two classes of people that caused a demand for land, and made the purchases from the Indians neces- sary. Easton, Allentown (called Northamptontown till about 1800), Reading, Lebanon, Harrisburg, York, Carlisle, and Shippensburg were all founded within these years. Land purchases. Penn's policy in ]3urchasing lands from the Indians was always an honest one. His sons 46 GROWTH OF POPULATION 47 tried to follow their father's example, but they had to deal with a more difficult problem. They had to satisfy the I'ed man when it had become plain that the white man would at last own all the soil of Pennsylvania. Hence some of the later land dealings were not free from injustice. This was the case with the historic ''walk- ing purchase." The "walking purchase." It was the custom of the Indians to measure land by walking or riding on horse- back. In 1()S0 William Penn bought a tract of land along the Delaware, extending "back into the woods as far as man can go in one day and a half." This tract was not actually measured off at that time. As the years went by, the white settlers spread out until they reached the Lehigh hills, below Easton. The Indians then became uneasy, and wanted the walk performed. The time fixed for it was September 19, 1737; and the starting point was a tree near Wrightstown, Bucks County. The goverimient had employed three men, Marshall, Yeates, and Jennings — all fleet on foot; and the Delaware Indians had three men. The walkers were under the supervision of the sheriff of Bucks County and the surveyor general of Pennsylvania, and were accom- panied by a number of spectators, some of whom carried refreshments. The walkers kept a northerly course on the Durham Road to Durham Creek, thence a northwesterly course; they forded the Lehigh at two o'clock in the afternoon, and reached the Hockendauqua at sunset. Jennings and two of the Indians had given out the first day; hence the 48 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA others resumed the walk alone the next morning. Hav- ing passed through the Lehigh Water Gap, Marshall, the only one who finished the walk, reached a spur of the Broad Mountain at twelve o'clock. The distance cov- ered in the day and a half was about sixty miles. Instead of running the shortest line from the end of the walk to the Delaware, the surveyor went northeast and struck the mouth of the Lackawaxen, thus securing for the province the Forks of the Delaware on the south side of the Blue Mountains, and the Minisink Flats on the north side — both rich and desirable tracts of land. The entire 'Svalking purchase" included the upper portion of Bucks, nearly all of Northampton, and parts of Carbon, Monroe, and Pike counties — an area of not less than twelve hundred square miles. The Delawares complained that the walk was not fair — that instead of by the compass across the country, it should have been up the Delaware by the nearest path, as was done by William Penn and their fathers when they tramped leisurely together for a day and a half to fix upon the northern limit of Markham's purchase of 1682. The Indians in the party also objected to the pace of the white walkers, frequently calling to the latter to walk not to run. One of them said afterwards, ''No sit down to smoke, no shoot a scfuirrel, but lim, lun, Inn, all day long." It is stated that it afterward took the surveyor general four days to walk over the same ground. Jennings and Yeates both were supposed to have died from the effects of the walk. Marshall alone was none the worse, for he died at the ripe old age of ninety. GROWTH OF POPULATION 49 The Delaware Indians. At the time of the "walkino; purchase," the Delaware Indians held their council hres at the Minisink Flats. Here, on the Pocono, was born the celebrated chief, Tedyuscung, called "Honest John" by the English. When his lands had l)een taken from him by the "walk," the Six Nations ordered the Dela- wares to remove to Wyoming and Shamokin (now Sun- bury) on the Susquehanna. The Six Nations reminded the Delawares that they were "women," and coidd not sell lands. Tedyuscung protested; but the Irocjuois said, "Don't stop to consider, but remove away." Tlie wrong rankled in the hearts of the Delawares like a smothered fire; and when the French and Indian W'ar broke out, they openly took sides with the French, and helped to ravage the frontier. By the time of the Revolution, they had all been driven to the Ohio River. Connecticut settlers in Wyoming Valley. While Penn- sylvanians were thus ])rcssing forward from the south- east through the Delaware and Lehigh valleys. New Eng- landers advanced from the northeast. The Connecticut colony claimed the land across the northern border of Pennsylvania. This tract had, in fact, been given to both colonies. Near the close of the French and Indian War, some Connecticut settlers arrived in the Wyoming Valley; and before winter set in, extensive fields of wheat had been sow^n upon lands covered with forest trees in Au- gust. But on account of a scarcity of provisions, the settlers returned to Connecticut for the winter. Early the next year, in 1763, they came back, accompanied by 4 50 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA many others. In spite of objections made by Northamp- ton County, which then inchided the Wyoming Vahey, these New Englanders settled at the present site of Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Plymouth, and Hanover. The summer passed with nothing to mar their peace and contentment; but in October the Indians fell upon them like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, and killed about twenty of their number. The others fled — some back to Connecticut, some to New York. This is known in history as the hrst massacre of Wyoming. It was the work of the Delawares, in revenge for the death of their chief, Tedyuscung; for the wily Iroquois had made them believe that he had been killed by the whites. Strife in Wyoming. In 17(38 settlers came from the Pennsylvania settlements to the south and occupied the farms given up by the New Englanders. Early the next year a party of forty Connecticut men came back to their former settlement. They located at Kingston. The ''forty" were under the direction of three men, one of whom was Zebulon Butler; and their fort was known as the Forty Fort. In October the sheriff of North- ampton County appeared, arrested them, and marched them to Easton, where they were lodged in jail. As soon as they had been bailed out, they returned to Wyoming and, wdth new arrivals from Connecticut, again started the settlement. The Pennsylvanians and the New Eng- landers now met in a fierce conflict, known as the Pen- namite and Yankee War. Forts and blockhouses were constructed, and many sieges and skirmishes followed. GROWTH OF POPULATION 51 Both parties led men to prison, drove women and chil- dren away, and committed other outrages. The Connecticut men on the whole were the more successful. They organized a government, made laws, and appointed judges and other officers. Their inten- tion was to form an independent state; but they could not maintain themselves alone against the Pennamites. So in 1774 they attached themselves to the Connecticut colony, as the town of Westmoreland. Wyoming confirmed to Pennsylvania. W ith the out- break of the Revolution there came a lull in the strife in Wyoming. It was resolved at a public meeting "That we will all join our brethren of America in the common cause of defending our liberty." However, as soon as the war was over, the old feud broke out in all its former fury. Pennsylvania now appealed to Congress to settle the dispute. That body appointed a committee for the purpose. It met at Trenton in 1782, and without giving any reasons decided that Connecticut had no right to the land and that it all belonged to Pennsylvania. The Connecticut settlers had to pay a small price per acre in order to keep their lands. The Pennsylvanians who claimed these same lands were paid for the farms they had to give up, or were given land elsewhere in exchange. After the settlement of this land trouble, the Wyoming Valley, which is twenty-one miles long and three miles wide, enjoyed peace. Its rich acres blossomed as the rose. Wilkes-Barre was laid out in 1773 and was named in honor of John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, members of 52 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA the British Parhanient and warm friends of the American colonies in the Revohition. The upper Schuylkill. With the exception of the Dutch on the Minisink Flats, the Moravian mission station near the Lehigh, and a few scattered farms on the Schuylkill, there were no settlements, before the Revolu- tion, between the Wyoming Valley and the Blue Moun- tains. This tract was not much inhabited until after the discovery of anthracite coal. The Susquehanna Valley. The settlement of the Sus- quehanna Valley was begun by John Harris, father of John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg and the first white child known to have been born in Pennsylvania west of the Conewago hiUs. The elder Harris came from England in the early days, and in 1705 got permission as a hcensed trader ''to seat himself on the Susquehanna" and to trade with the Indians. Before the white men came as far as Shamokin (now Sunbury) this part of the province had been occupied by the Delawares and Shawanese, under the control of the Six Nations. They had a town of some fifty houses at the fork of the two branches of the Susquehanna. It was the residence of Shikellimy, the celebrated Oneida chief, who was deputy governor of the Six Nations in Pennsylvania. About 1740 Conrad AVeiser, the Indian agent of the province, visited the place, and Count Zinzen- dorf and one or two others made their way thither and re- ceived a hearty welcome from Shikellimy. The Indians there were rough, drunken, mischievous fellows. The Six Nations asked to have a blacksmith sent to Shamo- GROWTH OF POPULATION 53 kin. One was sent by the Moravians at Bethlehem, and he opened the way for a Moravian mission. Soon afterward white settlers located in the valley below, on both sides of the river. Fort Augusta was erected at Shamokin to protect these settlers. This fort was an important place of defense in the French and Indian War and in the Revolu- tion. During the former war, few settlers ventured l)eyond it, for it was then the most northern fort in the Susquehanna Valley beyond the Blue Mountains. Northumberland had its beginnings in an inn put u}) to accommodate those who came to see the land. The North Branch beyond Bloomsburg was settled by men from the Wyoming Valley. Fort McClure, near Blooms- l)urg, was built by the famous Indian fighter, Van C'ampen. Along the West Branch, (Quakers from the lower countries settled Pennsborough, now Muncy, named after the Mousey Indians, who inhabited that section of the valley. From Sunbury to Lock Haven there was a line of forts, and each of them became the scene of many a legend of Indian warfare. Many Germans and Scotch- Irish found their way into the pine-clad mountains of this region. The fair-play settlement. The government had a dispute with the Indians aJDout the boundaries of this country along the West Branch and forbade settlers to enter the disputed tract, but they paid no attention to the order. They took possession of the land and organ- ized a local government, and annually elected as judges 54 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA three of their number, whom they called "fair-play men." Every newcomer had to apply to the fair- play men for his land. Any person disobeying the fair-play men was placed in a canoe, rowed to the mouth of Lycoming Creek, and there set adrift. A curious thing happened in the history of these fair-play men on July 4, 1776. Early in the summer they had heard that C'Ongress was thinking about independence from Great Britain. So on the above date, far from the sound of the Liberty Bell, without knowing what was being done in Philadelphia, they met on Pine Creek, and after some patriotic speeches, passed a set of resolutions declaring themselves free and independent. Lycoming County. Lycoming County was not formed until 1795, eleven years after the last purchase from the Indians. It extended originally over all the northwestern part of the state. Williamsport was laid out soon after the formation of the county. It was named probably after William, a son of Michael Ross, upon whose land the county seat was located. It is one of the most beautiful towns in Pennsylvania, and is located in a valley of rare attraction. The Juniata Valley. The Juniata Valley was settled about 1740 largely by Scotch-Irish, who made their way from the Cumberland Valley through the gaps in the Blue Mountains. A good many Germans also located within its borders; but they were not encouraged to do so. Settlements were made in Sherman's Valley, in Tuscarora Valley, and in Aughwick Valley. But as the lands north of the Blue Mountains had not yet been GROWTH OF POPULATION 55 bought from the Indians, the natives complained; and the provincial government ordered the trespassers to be driven out and their cabins burned. To this event Burnt Cabins, a village in Fulton County, owes its name. Many of the squatters returned, and aroused bad feeling among the savages, which raged with fury tluring the French and Indian War. The first settlers about Lewistown came from the Conococheague by way of the Aughwick. They built P\)rt Gran\ille, which was destroyed by western Indians who forced its occupants — soldiers and some settlers with their families — to march to Kittanning, whence they never returned. The white men, however, had a strong Indian friend on the Juniata in the i^erson of Logan, the Mingo chief. Huntingdon, long known as Standing Stone, was likewise settled by way of the Aughwick. It is located on the site of the Standing Stone, whose name may be regarded as a translation of an Indian word meaning the Juniata people. Conrad W^eiser mentioned the Standing Stone as a curiosity, and John Harris described it as being fourteen feet high and six inches square and containing Indian writing. The Indians venerated the Standing Stone, and probably carried it with them after the sale of the valley. Jack's Narrows, below Huntingdon, is also a place that suggests interesting history. It was named after Captain Jack Armstrong, who was a friend in need to the people of the Juniata Valley on many occasions, and a terror to the Indians. Bedford had its origin in the 56 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA "Fort at Raystown/' to which tlie settlers could flee for protection against Indian incursions. An interesting spot in what is now Blair County is the Sinking Spring Valley. It contained lead mines, which were probably known to the French as early as 1750. The Indians of this region were always supplied with an abundance of lead, but where they obtained it was long a secret. In the Revolution, some of the bullets fired at the redcoats were made from the Sinking Spring lead. Indian ravages in the Juniata Valley. After Brad- dock's defeat, the Indians feU with merciless fury upon the infant settlements in the Juniata Valley. Carlisle, Ship- pensburg, and Chambersburg were frequently crow^ded with settlers, who had fled with their families, flocks, and furniture to escape the tomahawk and the hrebrand. Crops were harvested under the protection of the militia. On one occasion an entire school in Franklin County — Master Brown and his ten pupils — were murdered while at their books. It was not until the Indians had been driven beyond the Ohio, that the settlers of the Juniata Valley could plow their fields, gather their harvests, and eat their bread, without fear of the scalping knife. The Maryland boundary. In the countries along the southern border east of the mountains, there were numerous settlers w^ho had come from Maryland. The reason for this was that Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland, laid claim to a pai't of Pennsylvania north of the present boundary line, and encouraged his people to occupy that region. The width of a degree was in GROWTH OF POPULATION 57 dispute on account of certain doubtful words in the charters of Lord Baltimore and Ponn. The dispute dragged its weary course through more than eighty years. Three English sovereigns had to deal with the troublesome question. Baltimore and Penn had a few interviews in America, but parted as secret enemies. With Lord Baltimore the aim was to acquire territory; with William Penn it was water front- age on Chesapeake Bay. Penn once offered to buy sufficient territory of Baltimore to get a port on Chesa- peake ]^ay, but met with a refusal. The claims were made with violence and occasional bloodshed. Settlers refused to pay taxes, because they did not know to whom to pay them. These conflicts occurred chiefly in the three Lower ( 'ounties and in York County, then called Lancaster. The border conflict. In 1730 Lord Baltimore sent Thomas Cresap, as a justice of the peace, to Wright's Ferry. Here Cresap began to build boats and erect a house. He came in conflict with the Pennsylvanians across the river, and even sent one to the Annapolis jail. He also attacked John ^^^right, the foremost Quaker in Lancaster County, whik^ the latt(M' was reaping grain on the west side of the Susquehanna. Not being a match for Wright, Ci'esap had the governor of Maryland send the militia to his assistance; but the Quaker farmer and his Scotch-Irish neighbors were too much for the Mary- landers. Nevertheless, Cresaji was a disturbing element for some time. Finally, in 1736, the sheriff of Lancaster County cai~)tured the disturber of the peace by firing his 58 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA house. Cresap was taken to Philadelphia in triumph and lodged in jail. Maryland then sent an armed force of three hundred men into the Susquehanna Valley. After more bloodshed, these men were driven back; and all efforts to colonize that part of Pennsylvania with Mary- landers were abandoned in 1738. Mason and Dixon's line. Though peace existed now between the settlers of Maryland and Pennsylvania, the boundary line was not finally agreed upon until 1761. Two expert English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, were then appointed to run the lines. It took them several years to determine ex- actly the circle between Delaware and Pennsylvania, and locate the beginning of the southern boundary of Pennsylvania. (See p. 24.) This boundary, known as Mason and Dixon's line, was extended westw^ard in latitude 30° 44', for a distance of 230 miles, in the year 1767. At intervals of five miles, the surveyors placed stones marked on the north with the arms of Thomas and Richard Penn, and on the south with the arms of Lord Baltimore. Smaller stones were placed at the end of every mile. Where transportation w^as impossible — beyond the foot of Sideling Hill to the summit of the Alleghenies — heaps of stones marked the line; and thence to the end there were posts surrounded with stones and earth. The stones used as far as Sideling Hill were im- ported from England. On account of fear of the Indians, the remainder of the southern boundarv of the state was not run at this GROWTH OF POPULATION 59 time; other surveyors, in 1782, completed it. Mason and Dixon returned to England, but their names became household words in America. Mason and Dixon's line became famous as the division between the free states and the slave states. This southern boundary line was re-surveyed in 1901 to 1903; and where the old stones were missing or weather- worn, new ones from a marble quarry in Baltimore County, Maryland, were put up. The little triangular piece of land in Chester County, extending down from the eastern terminus of Mason and Dixon's line, known as the ''flat-iron," has been transferred by Pennsylvania to Delaware; but the transaction has not yet been com- pleted by Delaware and Congress. Virginians in western Pennsylvania. Virginia, by reason of her charter, held that the region about the forks of the Ohio belonged to her. In 1749 the Ohio Land Company, most of whose members were Virginians (two of them being brothers of General Washington), secured from George II a grant of half a million acres on the branches of the Ohio. Christopher Gist, after- ward the companion of AVashington on his journey to Fort Le Bceuf, explored the country. With eleven other families, he settled within the present limits of Fayette County. For protection against the French, these Virginians began to build a fort in 1754, on the site of the present city of Pittsburg. The French, however, captured them, finished the fort, and named it Fort Duquesne. The Eng- lish later took it from the French, rebuilt it, and named 60 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA it Fort Pitt, in honor of Pitt, the distinguished Enghsh statesman. First settlements in western Pennsylvania. Before 1758 the western part of Pennsylvania could be ap- proached from the east only by the route of the Juniata and the Kiskiminitas. In that year a road running from Fort Loudon by way of Bedford was finished as far as the Loyalhanna. This opened the way for nu- merous settlers from the eastern counties, notably the Scotch-Irish. They located in the Ligonier Valley, at Hannastown, and about the forks of the Ohio. With settlers from Maryland and Virginia, they possessed the land in comparative quiet till Pontiac's War. Pittsburg was begun in 1760, and the next year had 104 houses, sheltering 332 persons. When Pontiac's conspiracy brought Indian attacks against the frontier settlements, the httle town was cut off from all communi- cation. In 1764, however, the Indians were forced to withdraw from western Pennsylvania and retire beyond the Ohio. Pittsburg remained a very small place until after the Revolution. Virginia's claims to western Pennsylvania. A new difficulty arose just before the Revolution. In 1773 the county of Westmoreland was formed by Pennsylvanians. Hannastown, near the present site of Greensburg, was made the county seat. It was the only collection of houses — about thirty in numl^er — worthy the name of town between Bedford and Pittsburg. Seeing that Penn- sylvania was reaching out to the forks of the Ohio, Vir- ginia renewed her claims to that country. GROWTH OF POPULATION 61 Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, asserted that Pittsburg was outside of the hmits of Pennsylvania. He placed in command Dr. John Connehy, a Pennsyl- vanian but a wilhng tool, who took possession of Fort Pitt and changed its name to Fort Dunmore. Connelly defied the Pennsylvania officers and commanded the people of Westmoreland County to recognize the au- thority of Lord Dunmore. Arthur 8t. Clair, a Pennsyl- vania magistrate, had Connelly arrested and bound over to keep the peace. This the doctor did not do. He got authority from Virginia to act as justice of the peace in Augusta County, which extended over the disputed ter- ritory in Pennsylvania. He then appeared at Hannas- town with 150 men, all armed and with colors flying, placed sentinels at the door of the courthouse, and kept the magistrates from entering. Lord Dunmore now es- tablished a court at Fort Pitt, and demanded obedience to its decrees. Settlement cf the western boundary. The dispute next went before Congress, where such men as Jefferson and Henry, of Virginia, and Franklin, of Pennsylvania, ad\^sed that the troops be withdrawn. By 1779 the \^irginians and Pennsylvanians agreed to extend Mason and Dixon's line to its western hmit of five degrees. There a meridian was drawn as far north as the Ohio. To mark the boundary, wide vistas were cut through the forests over the high hills, and trees were deadened or felled in the valleys. Stones were set up at irregular intervals and marked on the east side with the letter P, and on the west side with the letter V. 62 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Southwestern Pennsylvania. After the Revohition, affairs on the Pennsylvania frontier were generally peaceful. Greensburg was founded on the site of a blockhouse of the Revolution. Hannastown had been wiped off the map of Westmoreland County, July 13, 1782, by one of the most cruel Indian attacks on record. The Indians, under the famous Seneca chief, Kyashuta, arrived from across the Allegheny River early in the morning, applied the torch to the historic village, and carried some of its defenseless inhabitants into captivity. To the Virginia population of southwestern Pennsyl- vania were added many Scotch-Irish and Germans from the older Pennsylvania settlements. Washington and Fayette counties were formed; the latter now has within its borders the historic spots of Great Meadows, Fort Necessity, and Braddock's grave. Allegheny, which at first included all the territory north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, was also formed from West- moreland, the mother county of southwestern Pennsyl- vania. In 1790 Pittsburg contained two hundred houses, two thousand people, one newspaper, and a few manufac- turing establishments. It became a place of trade with the new and ever-increasing settlements, and its future greatness was assured. Remnants of the Indians in Pennsylvania. The northwestern part of the state was known as the Indian Country after the French war. This land, purchased in 1784, was all the Indians then owned in Pennsylvania. However, they continued to invade this section from their retreats beyond the Ohio, until Wayne's treaty in GROWTH OF POPULATION 63 1795. This put an end to their hostihty, and only one chief (Gyantwochia, "the cornplanter/') had dominion thereafter within the state. His reservation remains to- (.hiy. He became the friend of the settlers after the Rev- olution, and the state gave him permission to select 1,500 acres of land for himself and his descendants. He chose 640 acres on the west branch of the Allegheny, about fif- teen miles above Warren, together with two large islands adjoining. There he located permanently with his family, about 1791; and there his descendants live at the present day — the last remnant of the n^d man in Pennsylvania. They farm their land and have a school, which is sup- ported by the stat{\ Northwestern Pennsylvania. The Indian Country was entered by the white settlers by way of the Allegheny River and the border of New York. Erie, the oldest and most historic ])lace in it, can boast of the footprints of La Salk^ and of the fort of Prescjue Lsle, the first of a number of j^osts established by the French. At Fort Le B(x>uf, Washington, at the age of twenty-one, performed his hrst public service. These points are in the triangle along the shore of Lake Erie. The northern boundary of the state was the subject of mild dispute between the Penns and New York for nearly fifty years. Occasionally grants of land within territory claimed by the Penns w^ere made by the governor of New York. The line was finally fixed. It stopped in Lake Erie four miles east of where the western boundary ended, thus giving Pennsylvania only four miles of water frontage. The triangle cut off belonged to the 64 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA United States. In 1792 Pennsylvania bought it from the Federal government for the sum of $151,640.50. Three years later. Erie was laid out on Presque Isle; and a short time afterward Prince Louis Philipi)e, heir to the throne which once held control of the soil where Erie stands, was entertained in the town. Kittanning, another place familiar in the annals of northwestern Pennsylvania, was originally an Indian The Counties in 1800 village. It marked the western terminus of the Indian path across the mountains from Standing Stone and other points in the Juniata Valley. It was destroyed in 1756 by Colonel Armstrong, after whom the county is named. The country around it afterward became the scene of many of Captain Samuel Brady's encounters with the Indians. A noted point on the Kittanning path was Cherry GROWTH OF POPULATION 65 Tree, at the present juncture of Cambria, Clearfield, and Indiana counties. It was the head of canoe naviga- tion on the Susciuehanna. The Indians would take their canoes out of the stream at Cherry Tree and strike the trail through northern Indiana to Kittanning. A monu- ment has been erected at the place to commemorate its historic associations. The Ohio Valley. In the Ohio Valley, west of Pitts- biu'g, the Moravian missionaries were the first white men to lay the foundations of settlement. Zeisberger and Senseman established a mission, called Friedenstadt, in Lawrence County. These pious men had followed their Indian wards all the way from Wyalusing on the Susquehanna, sojourning for a while among the Monseys in Forest County. Neshannock, Mahoning, and other names of streams in this locality were brought by the Indians from the Delaware Valley, where they had known streams of the same names. Eight new counties. After the victory of Wayne. the Indian Country rai)idly became the w^hite man's country. In 1800 ''the great new county act" was passed in the legislature, by which Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, W^arren, Venango, and Arm- strong counties were created. Pennsylvania was now practically settled and organ- ized under thirty-five county governments. 5 CHAPTER IV THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT Forms of colonial government. The English colonial governments in America were of three kinds: first, pro- vincial, under which the Crown established the govern- ment, appointed the governors, and instructed them how to rule; second, proprietary, according to which the Crown granted a tract of land to some individual, called the proprietary, and empowered him to establish the government, appoint the governors, and instruct them how to rule; third, charter, through which the Crown gave the colonists the power to organize a government, elect the governor, and hold him responsible for his acts. All the colonies had a legislature elected by the people. The laws were to conform as nearly as possible to the laws of England. The judges were appointed by the governors. Pennsylvania's government was of the proprietary form. The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania. WilHam Penn, under the powers of his charter, drew up in Eng- land a Frame of Government. It was the constitution under which the province of Pennsylvania was organized. He drew it up before the first company of colonists under Markham, the deputy governor, sailed for America. This small party, who were to take possession of Penn's grant of land and prepare for his own coming the next 66 THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT 67 year, signed the Frame of Government before departing, and before Penn himself signed it. The spirit of Penn's Frame of Government was thoroughly republican. ''I will put the power with the people," he said. In the preface are these words: I know some say, ''Let us have good laws, and no matter about the men that execute them." But let them consider that, though good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws want [be in need of] good men; but good men ^^ill never want good laws nor suffer [allow] ill ones. (puZj^^Cf^^ Signatures to the Frame of Government At another place are found these words— they have been inscribed on the walls of the corridor in Independ- ence Hall, side by side with the Declaration of Inde- pendence : 68 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Any government is free to the people under it, whatever be the form, where the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws; and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy and confu- sion. In speaking of the end of all government, Penn once made use of these words: To support power in reverence vnih the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power: that they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just administration; for liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this eveimess is partly owing to the constitution, and })artly to the magistracy ; where either of these fail, go\'ernment will be subject to convul- sion; but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted; then where both meet, the government is like to endure. Which I humbly pray and hope God will please to make the lot of Pennsylvania. The highest purpose of government, according to Penn's Frame, is to secure to every person the ''free enjoyment of his religious opinions and worshii), so long as it does not extend to licentiousness or the destruction of others; that is, to speak loosely or pro- fanely of God, Christ, and the scriptures or religion, or to commit any moral evil or injury against others." Summing up the principles of government as expressed by Penn, we find that they are about all included in the words — "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence" — written on Pennsylvania's coat of arms. The Council and the General Assembly. The Frame of Government consisted of twenty-four articles and THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT 69 forty laws. The government was vested in the governor and freemen of the province. The freemen were to elect a Provincial Council and a General Assembly. The Council was to have seventy- two members, to serve for three years. The Assembly was to consist of all the freemen the first year, when the Frame was to be accepted, and of two hundred of them the next year — the number to be increased as the population grew, but not The Coat of Arms of Pennsylvania to exceed five hundred. The governor, or his deputy, was to be the jxn-petual president of the Provincial Council, and was to have a treble vote. The General Assembly had no power to make laws and no privilege to debate. The bills originated and passed by the Council were presented to the Assembly for approval or rejection with a plain "Yes" or ''No." It could name candidates for sheriffs and justices of the 70 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA peace, from whom the governor would make his selection, but it had to name twice as many as were to be appointed. The Great Law. When Penn arrived in Pennsylvania, he called the first General Assembly to meet at Chester December 6. He presented the "Laws agreed upon in England," and ninety others. Sixty-one of the latter were embodied in the "great law or body of laws of the province of Pennsylvania." Though more than two hundred years have passed since the Great Law was enacted at Chester, it still remains — modified to some extent, but not greatly — as a part of the government of our commonwealth. It allowed freedom of worship to all who acknowledged one God. All members of the government, as well as the voters, had to be qualified in the belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the Saviour of the world. Swearing, cursing, drunkenness, health-drinking, card-playing, scolding, and lying were all prohibited in the Great Law. The Charter of Privileges. On his return to Philadel- phia in 1699 (see p. 32), Penn found his colonists rather indifferent to him. For a period of fifteen years he had ruled them from England, and many misunderstandings resulted. He soon learned that he must give them a new form of government. So the old Frame was abandoned and the Charter of Privileges was given in its place. Penn signed this in 1701. The new document provided for a General Assembly with much greater powers. It gave the people the power to elect some of the county officers; and contained a strong plea for liberty of con- science. By it, too, Delaware was to have a separate As- THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT 71 sembly. The Charter of Privileges was indeed the env}^ of neighboring colonies, so republican was it in its nature. Under it Pennsylvania was governed until the province became a state in 1776. Constitutional government. The constitution of Penn- sylvania which was made in 1770, provided for a leg- islature of one house only — called the General Assembly. The executive power was vested partly in a president chosen by the General Assembly and the Supreme Ex- ecutive Council, both of which were elected by the j^eople. The other constitutions since 1776 have been that of 1790, that of 1838, and the present one, adopted in 1873. In 1790 the legislature was made to consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Supreme Execu- tive Council with its president was abolished and a gov- ernor elected by the people was substituted. In 1873 the office of lieutenant governor was created. CHAPTER V SOME AFFAIRS OF THE GOVERNMENT: IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD Under Penn, 1682-1712 The governors under Penn. The Frame of Govern- ment having been accepted and the Great Law enacted, the administration of the government began. From 1682 to 1684 Penn himself was governor. Thereafter, mitil 1712, he ruled his province through governors a])pointed by him, except during the two years, 1699-1701, when he again personally filled the office. Most of these gov- ernors proved unsatisfactory both to Penn and to the people. They were generally sent here from abroad, and were English, Scotch, or Irish, and not Pennsylvanians. Political history begins. The Assembly having no power to propose bills, the first political struggle of an}' consequence arose from this defect in the Frame of Government. Bills proposed by the Council were fre- quently voted down by the Assembly for no good reason except to use what power it had. The deadlocks thus produced caused great annoyance to Penn, who, as has been seen, now lived in England and ruled his province through the Council. So in 1688 he sent an entire stran- ger. Captain Blackwell, to act as governor. But a soldier governor was not acceptable to the Quakers, and his administration made matters no better. He had to 72 THE COLONIAL PERIOD 73 be recalled, and the whole Council — with Thomas Lloyd, the chief man among the Quakers, as president — wa;j authorized to carry on the government for Penn. The cave dwellers. Another source of worry to Penn, soon after his first return to England, arose from the bad conduct of the cave dwellers along the Delaware (see p. 30). When the first occupants left their caves and moved into houses, drunkards, thieves, and other bad characters, who had forced their way into the colony, made their home in these caves. Arrests and imprison- ment checked the evil, but finally the caves had to be destroyed. Troubles in Delaware. Delaware, known as the three Lower Counties, was not settled by Quakers. Being exposed to attacks from the sea, its inhabitants, on hearing that war with France was expected, wanted to arm themselves. The Quakers of PiMinsylvania objected on religious grounds, and they also laughed at the idea of a French invasion, saying they could see ''no danger except from bears and wolves." Besides, Thomas Lloyd did not hke the men whom Dela- ware sent to the Council. He said they were profane and immoral. Penn did not want to let Dela- ware go out of his control; l)ut he was obliged for the sake of peace to give the Lower Counties a separate Penn's Book-plate, Showing His Coat OF Arms 74 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Assembly. From 1703 until the Revolution, Delaware made its own laws but was under the same governor as Pennsylvania. Penn loses and regains the government. These and other disturbances in Pennsylvania were used in London to prejudice the king against Penn. His enemies said that the province was in such a state of dissatisfaction and disturbance that the French could easily make a prey of it. So in 1692 the government was taken away from him and given to the governor of New York; but in less than two years, it was restored to Penn. The troubles which Penn's enemies had made for him with the king long detained him in England. At length, he set sail with his family in 1699. He arrived at a time when the people needed his presence, for they were much depressed in spirit by the ravages of yellow fever. He at once took personal charge of the governorship and made James Logan, an Irishman who had come with him, secretary of the province. Logan was an important man in the province for half a century. Penn's second personal rule. The most important act of Penn's second rule as governor was the granting of a new form of government, the Charter of Privileges (see p. 70). It provided that all religions were to exist on terms of equality, and that all Christians were to be eligible for office. But the Assembly soon afterward excluded Catholics, Jews, and unbelievers from all offices. Penn gave some thought to slavery while he was gov- ernor, and secured a law putting slaves under the law instead of under the will of their masters. He tried to THE COLONIAL PERIOD 75 stop the sale of liquor to the Indians; but the traders on the frontier would not give up so profitable a busi- ness. He did succeed, however, in restor- ing a more orderly condition in the colony, settling many of the disputes that had arisen, and breaking up the factions among the ruling classes for the time being. Troubles in the colony. Soon after Penn's return to England in 1701, Queen Anne's War began between England and France, and there was fighting in their colonies. John Evans was then governor. It was feared that French men-of-war would enter the Delaware. Evans knew the doctrine of the Quakers about war, but thought they would fight if they were attacked. So he planned a sham attack. He had a messenger arrive in great haste, with the news that the French were coming up the river. He himself then rode through the streets, entreating the people to arm them- selves. Some people were badly scared, — valuables were thrown into wells, vessels sent up the river, and boats secreted in creeks; but most of the Quakers went about their duties as usual. To the feeling of disgust which this piece of folly called forth, was added bitter resentment when the governor refused to let the Assembly establish a judiciary. Com- plaints were also made by the Quakers because their magistrates had to administer oaths or resign their offices. An order to this effect had been issued by Queen Anne, because it was represented to her that a man might be 76 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA tried in Pennsylvania for his life by a judge, jury, and witnesses, none of whom had been sworn. Governor Evans, having lost the confidence and re- spect of the Quakers, became a source of worry to Penn. The Assembly passed resolutions in 1704 blaming him for not doing right by them. They charged that vice had increased in the colony by the example of Governor Evans and William Penn, Jr. This son of Penn was given to drunkenness and other vices. So Penn sent him to Pennsylvania in the care of Logan and Evans, who were to make something better of him. They were to interest him in hunting and fishing. Penn's man- sion at Pennsbury, Bucks County, was to be the son's residence, and he was made a member of the Council. But the hopes of the father were not realized. Evans and young Penn indulged freely in drink, and late one night, after a row with the police, the two were arrested, greatly to the scandal of the government and of Penn. William, Jr., not long afterward died as a result of his excesses; and Evans, of course, was asked by Penn to resign. Penn bargains to sell Pennsylvania. The financial and political troubles of Penn were so great that he offered to sell Pennsylvania to the Crown. The offer was under consideration for a long time, because Penn would not sell unless the Quakers were guaranteed a share in the government. He was afraid that wluni the Crown got control of his province, the Quakers' scrujoles about taking an oath or bearing arms would no longer be respected. In 1712 Penn's terms were accepted and THE COLONIAL PERIOD 77 he got one thousand pounds cash, the balance (eleven thousand pounds) to be paid when the sale was com- pleted. But before it was completed, he had a stroke of apoplexy and Pennsylvania fortunately remained in his possession. His last words to his colonists, written in a letter to Logan dated 4th 8th month, 1712, were, "My dear love to all my dear Friends. ' ' Though he lived till 1718, his mind was weak, and neither the voice nor the pen of the founder of Pennsylvania ever again took part in the affairs of his prov- ince. His three sons became proprietors of the province, but as they were all young, Mrs. Penn directed the gov- ernment. Penn's Desk Now in the Philadelphia Library Under Mrs. Penn, 1712-1733 The taking of oaths. The Quakers and the German sects objected to taking oath; that is, they would not use the word '^ swear" but would ''affirm" in testifying or in accepting office. The Crown refused to recognize the Quaker affirmation, and so for two years after 1714 justice in Pennsylvania was difficult to administer, because nearly all the judgeships, offices, and juries were filled by people refusing to take an oath. 78 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA In this period, two men in Chester County committed a murder. The governor lield that they could not be tried without oaths; and so tliey were released on bail. They became very insolent in their neighborhood after they got out of jail. Fortunately Sir William Keith, suc- ceeding Governor Gookin, took a different view and brought the men to trial before a jury on which eight Quakers sat. A number of the witnesses, too, " affirmed." The prisoners were found guilty, but their lawyer appealed to England on the ground that a criminal trial without oaths was unlawful. The appeal was turned down and the men were hanged; but the case caused a great stir in England. The Assembly then passed a new law which required the name of "Almighty God" to be in an affirmation. This law was approved by the king. Immigration. Foreign immigration demanded atten- tion in the time of Mrs. Penn's control. The Germans and the Scotch-Irish came in such large numbers that their naturalization was not looked upon with favor. A bill was presented in the Assembly, providing that appli- cants for citizenship must produce a certificate from a justice of the peace stating the amount of property they had and the nature of their religious faith. The gov- ernor objected to these requirements, and the Assembly granted citizenship without them, but laid a duty on all imported foreigners coming to reside in the province. There were many servants among the immigrants; others were vagrants and felons, sent here as well as to the other colonies by England. A duty of five pounds was imposed upon the importer of convicted felons. THE COLONIAL PERIOD 79 Redemptioners. Many of the immigrants to Penn- sylvania, especially the Germans, were too poor to pay for their voyage across the sea. So they agreed with the captain of the vessel that, upon reaching Philadelphia, he should hire them out as servants for a number of years and in that way get his pay for bringing them over. Married men would hire out themselves and their wives and children. Such servants were called redemptioners. They were usually a good class of people. It did not take them long to free themselves, and then they would rent or buy land and become independent and prosperous. Some of the best families in the state have descended from redemptioners. Questions of commerce. Commerce and finance also engaged the attention of the government about this time. There was not a sufficient sale for the products of the province, which consisted chiefly of flour, meats, butter, and eggs. Laws were passed to create a home market; brewers and distillers were required to use nothing but home products, and some of these were made a legal tender (that is, they could be used like money in the payment of debts). Exports were rigidly inspected, with a view to increasing their demand abroad, especially in the West Indies, where Pennsyl- vania flour and salt meats sold well. But these remedies did not create a market for all that grew on the fertile farms so rapidly multiplying. Had England allowed her colonies to engage in manufacture, Pennsylvania might have built up a good trade. As it was, her im- ports of manufactured articles far exceeded her exports; 80 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA gold and silver were drawn off to pay debts abroad, money became scarce, and financial embarrassment fol- lowed. Paper money. Governor Keith now came forward with a proposition to issue paper money. The Assembly, having full knowledge of the disastrous effects of this kind of currency in other colonies, acted with great caution, and issued just so much as would supply the place of the gold and silver sent abroad. The issue un- der Keith amounted to 45,000 pounds. To get this paper money from the government, people had to pledge silver- ware or land as security. Paper money now continued to be used in Pennsylvania from time to time, and it gave rise to many political battles. • Temporary homes of the Assembly. The first meeting of the Assembly of Pennsylvania was held at Chester (see p. 29) in a house that was not built for that purpose. The second session was held in temporary quarters in Philadelphia. Afterward the infant capitol was removed to the old Bank Meeting House on Front Street, above Arch. For ten years longer the great Friends' Meeting House was the home of the Assembly and Council. Then for another period the lawmakers met in the dwellings of wealthy Philadelphians. But when the supply of such residences gave out, the legislature was taken in by a schoolmaster, who was made clerk of the body and was paid twenty shillings a session as rent for the use of his schoolrooms. In 1728 we find the Assembly meeting again in a private house; but before that time several sessions had been held in the Slate Roof House, THE COLONIAL PERIOD 81 once the residence of Penn, and in the county court- house. The State House and the Liberty Bell. When it became evident, after Pennsylvania's government had been going on wheels for forty-seven years, that such temporary arrangements were no longer tolerable, the The Liberty Bell Assembly, in 1729, resolved to build a State House. A\^ork was not begun until 1732. The building was completed in 1741, though the finishing touches were not put on till 1745. A part of it was occupied by the Assembly in October, 1735. In 1750 an addition was ordered "on the south side, to contain the staircase, 6 82 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA with a place therein for hanging a bell." The bell used before this time was probably brought over by Penn. It had hung on a small belfry in front of the l^uildings in which the Assembly met. Members of the Assembly who were not present within half an hour after the bell had rung were to pay " a tenpenny bit." The bell which has come to be known as the Liberty Bell was originally made in London. It was twice recast here; first in 1753, on account of a crack it received when ''hung up to try the sound." It was then that the words "Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof," were added. It was again cracked in 1835, while being tolled in memory of Chief Justice Marshall. It now rests in the hallway of the old State House. Historic associations of the State House. Little did the Assembly of 1729 dream of the historic scenes that were to be enacted in the Pennsylvania State House. Here, June 28, 1774, resolutions were passed, making common cause with Boston, denouncing the Port Bill, and recommending a congress of all the colonies. Here the Second Continental Congress met in 1775, and re- mained, except when the city was held by the British, till 1783. Here the Declaration of Independence was passed July 4, 1776, and first publicly read, July 8. Here the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual l^nion were signed July 9, 1778, and finally ratified March 1, 1781. Here the Constitution was framed, May 25 to September 17, 1787; here the state convention ratified the Constitution of the United States, December 12, 1787. And here, in the city building on the corner of THE COLONIAL PERIOD 83 Sixth and Chestnut streets, Congress sat between 1790 and 1800, and Washington was inaugurated as President in 1793 and Adams in 1797. Under the Heirs of Penn, 1733-1776 Penn's sons as proprietors. Mrs. Penn having died in 1733, the government was carried on by her three sur- vi\dng sons, John, Thomas, and Richard. John and Thomas both came to Pennsylvania. John had to go back to England on account of the boundary dispute^ with Maryland; but Thomas remained in the province nine years. After the death of John in 1746, Thomas was the chief proprietor of Pennsylvania till his death in 1775, when his sous Richard and John succeeded him. Measures of defense. When war was declared between England and Spain in 1739, Governor Thomas passed through the same experiences that Evans and Goo kin had concerning measures of defense. To his request for aid, the Assembly replied that their conscience forbade them to extend it, but that he, as governor, might organize a voluntary militia without consulting them. With the aid of Benjamin Franklin, he soon had a good body of troops; but unfortunately so many of them were redemptioners, anxious to escape from servitude, that the Assembly refused to vote any money unless these were returned to their masters. Governor Thomas was stubborn, and raised funds on the credit of the British government. Then the Assembly had to pay the masters for the loss of their servants. It also gave 3,000 pounds to the Crown in aid of the war, but nothing to Thomas. 84 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA Political divisions now sprang up. Those who sided with Thomas were called the "gentlemen's party "; while those who supported the Assembly were known as the "country party." At an election for the Assembly, in 1742, the "gentlemen's party" was completely defeated. Thomas then made peace with the Assembly. He signed the laws passed, and in return got all arrears of salary. Peace at an end; King George's War. In 1744 King George's War commenced, and Pennsylvania ceased to be a colony of peace. France threatened the province from without, in the effort to take possession of the Ohio Valley; and the Indians threatened it from within, be- cause they had been unjustly deprived of some of their lands. A battery was erected below Philadelphia by means of funds raised by lottery. Conrad Weiser, the provincial interpreter, was Pennsylvania's ggj^^ among the Indians to propose a Provincial Flag . , rr«i t • • i . treaty. I he Iroquois promised to pre- vent the French and their Indian allies (the Delawares and the Shawanese) from marching through Iroquois territory to attack the English settlements. However, the lavishness of French presents and the memories of the ''walking purchase" (see p. 47) made the settlers on the frontier feel very uneasy. Governor Thomas, assisted by Franklin and Logan, had no difficulty in raising a volunteer militia. The men who volunteered were called Associators, a name applied for many years to the mihtia. They carried for the first THE COLONIAL PERIOD 85 time the so-called provincial flag of Pennsylvania. It was designed by Franklin, and consisted of a lion holding a cimeter and the shield of the province. The true provincial flag, the banner of the Penns, was never un- furled in Pennsylvania. But it is represented on the shield of arms in the great seal and on the official acts and proclamations issued by authority of the state. The Assembly, in support of the expedition against Louisburg, voted 4,000 pounds ''to be expended for bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat, and other grain." Fortu- nately Pennsylvania was not molested in King George's War, except to be badly frightened. Indian disturbances. Indian troubles continued dur- ing the governorship of James Hamilton, whose adminis- tration extended to the year 1754. Incited by French presents and promises of lost hunting grounds, the Indians showed 0])en contempt for the white men of Pennsylvania. The Senecas, on a visit to Philadelphia, killed cattle and robbed orchards, not even sparing the property of Conrad Weiser. Such acts were committed to extort presents from the province. In this the wily Indians were successful. The Assembly voted large sums of money on several occasions to quiet them. Nor was this the only expense, for the settlers had to be repaid for their losses. The French in the Ohio Valley. During the years of peace after 1748, the French explored the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. They buried leaden plates at the mouths of a number of tributaries, and nailed pieces of tin to trees standing near by, as evidences of 86 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA French claims to the land drained by these rivers. They then erected forts at various places along the route of exploration, and stationed troops there. One, Presque Isle, was located at the present site of Erie; another, Le Boeuf, at Waterford; and still another, Machault, at Franklin. Fort Duquesne. To resist the progress of the French, the Assembly was asked to build a fort at the junction of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers; but the French had so long confined their hostilities to New York and New England, that Pennsylvania felt at ease. Virginia then began to build the fort; but the French seized it and, after finishing it, gave it the name of Fort Duquesne. Virginia claimed the territory in which the fort was located, and promptly dispatched George Washington on an expedition to drive the French out; but he was defeated at Fort Necessity. Braddock arrives with English troops. England, see- ing the designs of France to take possession of the Missis- sippi Valley, sent two regiments under General Braddock to America, in March, 1755. Pennsylvania was asked for troops, provisions, trans})ortation, and for a part of a common fund to be raised by all the colonies. Franklin undertook the task of getting 150 wagons and 1,500 pack horses. He advertised for these in York, Lancaster, and Cumberland counties, and in two weeks had more than the quota. He gave his bonds for such horses as might be lost in the service. Claims to the amount of 20,000 pounds — enough to ruin him financially — were afterwards presented; and the Assembly, after a long THE COLONIAL PERIOD 87 delay, paid his obligations. Three hundred men were put to work cutting a road from Fort Loudon to unite with Braddock's road coming up from Maryland west of the mountains. Together with New Jersey, the province also furnished a body of troops. Braddock's defeat. It was June before Braddock's army left Fort Cumberland for Fort Duquesne, "over the worst roads in the world." He was accompanied by Washington, two chiefs commanding some Indians, George Croghan, the Indian agent of Pennsylvania, and Captain Jack, the "wild hunter.'' Progress was slow, but without danger till the Monongahela had been crossed, some seven miles from Fort Duquesne, July 9. The army had just finished dinner and resumed the march, when it suddenly came face to face with the French, Canadians, and Indians. The English troo])s were at once confused by the strange manner of battle employed by the enemy, who kept behind trees and logs, while nothing could be seen but puffs of smoke. Wien Braddock rode up and down among his men, urging them to fight, they replied that they would do so if he could show them the enemy. He got angry at Washington for suggesting that they fight the Indians in Indian fashion, and when some of the soldiers did this, he rudely ordered them away from their shelter. The battle lasted for three hours, and had not Washington covered the retreat with his provincial troops, the entire army would have been annihilated. Braddock was shot in the back just after he had ordered a retreat. He died on the summit of Laurel Hill the 88 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA third day afterward. His body was buried in the center of the road, so that the retreating army in marching over it might efface aU signs of the grave. In 1804 the re- mains were reinterred at the foot of a large white oak tree near by. The Indians take revenge. Braddock's defeat caused the greatest consternation in Pennsylvania. The Indians now had the opportunity of avenging the ^^ walking pur- chase/' and other acts of injustice, real and imaginary. They fell upon the frontier of Pennsylvania along its entire length — a distance of two hundred miles. First they disposed of the isolated settler beyond the moun- tains, in the valleys of the Juniata and the Susquehanna. With no neighbors nearer than four or five miles, he was an easy victim. A j^low in the fiu'row, a cabin in ashes, and a family scalped, mutilated, and murdered — such was the usual tale. Then the bloodthirsty Indians broke through the gaps of the Blue Ridge. The French officers who were with them had no control over them. The main body was encamped on the Susquehanna, thirty miles above Har- ris' Ferry. Thence they ravaged the counties of Cum- berland, Lancaster, Berks, and Northampton. Their atrocities were carried to within fifty miles of Philadel- phia; the scalp yells were heard at Nazareth and Bethle- hem, to which towns the Indians carried their prisoners and ])lunder. The defense of the province. Petitions for arms and ammunition came to the Assembly from every part of the province. The frontier counties held public meet- THE COLONIAL PERIOD 89 ings to demand from Philadelphia measures and means of defense. A body of four hundred Germans marched to the city, crowded into the hall of the Assembly, and personally urged their demands. About three hundred Indians who had remained faithful to the memory of Penn also joined in the appeals for help. The proprietors offered a donation of 5,000 pounds for the defense of the province, and the Assembly passed a bill to raise money. A militia law passed. The Assembly also passed a militia law. Although it was against their own scruples to bear arms, the members of the Assembly would allow the arming of those who thought it right. It was to be altogether a volunteer system. Franklin was made commander. He led about five hundred men to Bethle- Jiem, in December, to give much-needed hel]) to the Moravian settlements. He remained in Northampton County till February, and ate, slept, and roughed it with the Associators. The philosopher, scientist, journalist, and statesman became so popular as a soldier that he was made a colonel, and was actually suggested as leader for an expedition against Fort Ducjuesne. Frontier forts. There were so many points along the frontier that needed protection that the Assembly a])pro- priated 85,000 pounds for a chaiu of forts from the Delaware to the Maryland line. At first there were less than twenty forts; but at the close of the French and Indian War, no less than two hundred stockades and blockhouses had been erected, so as to form two distinct lines of defense on the frontier. They commanded the principal passes in the mountains, and were garrisoned 90 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA by the militia or by the rangers. To arouse the energies of the mihtia in the forts and of the frontiersmen, Governor Morris offered a reward for Indian scalps and for the recovery of English prisoners. The settlers frequently Hved in the forts for months at a time, taking their household goods, farm implements, and live stock with them into the inclosure. When there was no danger outside, the men worked in their fields during the day, and returned at night. They always took their rifles with them, and were often accompanied by sentinels. Armstrong's expedition against the Indians. Gov- ernor Morris also planned Colonel Armstrong's famous expedition against the Indian stronghold at Kittanning, which took place under the next governor. The force of three hundred men marched from Fort Shirley, now in Huntingdon County, August 30, 175G, and at daybreak of September 8, attacked Captain Jacobs, the most active chief of that time. Many of the Indians were sleeping in a cornfield, on account of the heat. They were surprised and driven into the town. After two refusals to sur- render, their huts were set on fire, and many of the sav- ages died in the flames, singing and whooping as they perished. Captain Jacobs was shot while trying to escape from a window. Great quantities of powder and other stores which the French had supplied to the Indians were captured. Colonel Armstrong received a medal from the city of Philadelphia in recognition of his services. If he had not destroyed Kittanning, Captain Jacobs and his In- dians would have marclied for Fort Shirley the next day. THE COLONIAL PEKIOD 91 The fall of Fort Duquesne. General John Forbes, in 1758, led an exi^edition against Fort Duquesne. His army gathered at Bedford, and at the suggestion of Colonel Bouquet, a Swiss officer in tae service of the British army, cut a new road from Raystown to Loyal- hanna, a distance of forty-five miles. Loyalhanna was made the base of operations. A small force was sent forward to find out the strength of the enemy at Fort Duquesne. Venturing too far, this detachment was attacked, and fared no better than Braddock. En- couraged by this success, the French and Indians re- solved to make a sudden assault on the camp at Loyal- hanna, but were repulsed twice by Colonel Bouquet. Forbes then sent Washington forward with the Virgin- ians. But the enemy had fled. Flaming timbers and exploding powder were all that was left at Fort Du- quesne to tell the tale of French occupation in the Ohio Valley; and the French and Indian War was over in Pennsylvania. After the treaty of 1763 there was every prospect of a long era of peace. There was no foreign foe beyond the mountains to invade the colonies, or to incite the Indians against the frontier. The settlers returned to their abandoned homes to begin life anew; and the English government fortified the region conquered from the French. Pontiac's conspiracy. The extension of the English defenses, however, and the rapid advance of the settlers caused a fresh uprising among the savages. Pontiac, a veritable Napoleon of the wilderness, organized all the 92 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA tribes from Lake Ontario to Georgia in a grand con- spiracy to repel the English. The attack was to be made on all the forts and settlements on the same day; but the plan miscarried. Fort Pitt was surrounded early in June, 1763, a few days before the war whoop was heard in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. A bundle of sticks had been given to every tribe in the conspiracy, each bundle containing as many sticks as there were days till the time for the attack. One stick was to l)e drawn out every morning; the day on which the last one was removed was to be the time for the attack. A Delaware squaw on the Ohio, who was in sympathy with the whites, had purposely drawn out two or three sticks, unnoticed by the warriors, and so brought about the untimely action. The tomahawk first and the torch next, was the order which Pontiac had given all along the line. Corpses and ashes marked the path of destruction. Although the harvest was ripe, the farmers abandoned their grain fields and fled through the mountain passes to the settle- ments beyond. On July 25 Shippensburg harl)ored over three hundred fugitives; Carlisle, too, was full to over- flowing, and so were other places. The battle of Bushy Run. General Amherst, com- mander of the British army in America, dispatched Colo- nel Bouquet to western Pennsylvania. His command was composed of rangers from Lancaster and Cumber- land counties, and about five hundred regulars, who wei"e worn-out veterans, unfit for hard service, some having to be conveyed in wagons. Starting from Car- THE COLONIAL PERIOD 93 lisle July 21, he marched by way of Fort Bedford and Fort Ligoiiier. On August 5, within a short distance of Bushy Run, near Braddock's Field, the Indians made a savage attack on his advance guard; and when the main army came up, a fierce battle ensued, lasting the greater part of two days. Nothing but a strategy saved Colonel Bouquet's troops from being annihilated. In the night he arranged them in a circle. He then ordered a feigned retreat to be made at the place of the enemy's deadliest fire. The Indians rushed into the circle in pursuit of the retreating lines, but at once received such a fire from all directions that they fled beyond the Ohio in the utmost confusion. Bouquet now led his tired army to Fort Pitt, and in ])lace of the old fort, began to erect a redoubt— a scjuare stone building, which is still standing. It is the last monu- ment of British dominion in Pittsburg. On it is the inscrip- tion, 'Colonel Bouquet, A. D. 17()4." The Indians withdrew beyond the Ohio, and for some months after the battle of Bushy Run, the frontier of Pennsylvania was comparatively quiet. The raid made upon the Conestoga Indians (see p. 43) especially had a whole- some effect upon the savages. But with the first ap- ]:)earance of spring, in 1764, hostilities were renewed. The British government now resolved to carry the war Bouquet's Redoubt at Fort Pitt 94 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA into the Indian country. Bouquet marched bravely into the wilderness of Ohio, completely overawed the Inchans, and made them sue for peace. The Indians had to give up all the white prisoners — more than two hundred in number — many of whom had been in captivity since 1755. Some of the soldiers had relatives and friends among the captives, and the re- union was a touching scene. Many of the children had become so attached to Indian life that they had to be taken back to their homes by force. A few, who had married Indians, never returned, Those who could not be identified at Fort Pitt were brought to Carlisle, in the hope that people east of the mountains might claim them. It was here that the old German widow, Mrs. Hartman, caused her long-lost daughter to recognize her by singing a cradle song. CHAPTER VI THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD The Stamp Act. In 1704 Parliament announced a new doctrine of taxation for the colonies. It was to the effect that in the future revenue for the king's use would be raised in the American colonies by Parliament. Before that time the colonies had raised, through their own legislatures, taxes for the king's use. A bill embodying this doctrine of ''taxation without representation" was passed by Parliament in March, 1765. This was the famous Stamp Act. No sooner had the news reached America than the Stamp Act Congress was called to meet at New York, in order that the colonies might protest against such taxation. John Hughes, a member of the Assembly, was made stamp distributor for Pennsylvania; but when the bells were muffled, the colors hoisted half-mast, and acts of violence threatened, he resigned. A Philadelphia news- paper appeared the day before the act went into effect, with skull and crossbones, spade and shovel. The editor of the paper then stopped publication and asked for the payment of subscriptions due him, that he might live. The storekeepers resolved to buy no more British goods. To increase the product of domestic wool, lambs were no longer killed. Great economy was practiced; even the " pomp of woe " at funerals was checked. Such were the 95 96 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA results accomplished in Pennsylvania by the Sons of Liberty, in opposition to the Stamp Act; and when news of its repeal reached Philadelphia, they were in high glee over the victory. They dined the captain of the brig bringing the news, and presented a gold-laced hat to him. Taxation on imports. In 1767 Parliament passed an act providing for colonial revenue, to be raised from a < 1 The TIMES are Ortatrul. DiTmsl IDoIeful Dolonut, an »fier 1 lhe7,V/r#/ flevfbtr en- 'uing, (\hefmfntmtr. ptw) t>w PubUlhtref UtU Paper uiwble 10 ; I bear lb* Burthen, has thought it expedient TOiToP « while, lit order lodeltberete, wh< iheranyMethodiun befoundio dude the Cheins forged for ue, end efeape Ihc infup< porteble Sleverjr ) which it u hoped, from the Ian Bcpretenistioru ncm made V7 Indrviduel f my Subfcnben men> of alMm hiv* been \orig behind Hand, thai they weuld immediately Difcharge their refpufve Ar rert that I may be able, not onljr to fupDort mjrfelf dunng the Interval, but be beUer prepared to preeeed again with Ihit Paper, whenever en opening ibr that Purpole eppeart. whith 1 hope Mill be ibon WILLIAM SRAOFORD. ■ A Newspaper Heading at the Time ov the Stamp Act duty on wine, oil, glass, paper, lead, colors, and tea, to be collected at the ports of entry. The proceeds were to be used to pay the governors' and judges' salaries in the royal provinces. John Dickinson, in the "Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer," stirred the colonists from New Hampshire to Georgia with his simple, irresistible logic against these duties. The farmers especially — and they were by far the most numerous class of people then THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 97 — were thoroughly aroused from their pohtical sleep by Dickinson. He pointed out that if England could tax the colonies for the support of governors and judges, the salaries of th(\s(> officers would no longer depend on their standing with the Assemblies, but would be fixed by the king to s(n-ve his own ends; that the governors might not call the Assemblies together at all, except " to make laws for the yoking of hogs or the pounding of stray cattle." The tax on tea. The duties imposed by the act of 1767 were removed in 1770 from everything but tea, which was taxed threepence per iwund. This act gave rise to the so-called "tea parties." The East India Company sent several vessels loaded with tea to the colonies, but it was not allowed to be landed. At Phila- delphia, the ships "with the detested tea" got as far as Gloucester Point, where they were met by a committee from a mass meeting of eight thousand people, assembled in the State House yard. The captain was warned not to bring his ships nearer, but was himself allowed to come to town and decide whether he thought it prudent to land. He came, but decided not to land. On the following page is a facsimile of the notice sent to the coUvsignees. An appeal from Massachusetts. When the Boston Port l^ill ^ was passed by Parliament in 1774, Massa- chusetts felt that she could no longer resist Great Britain without the help of the other colonies. Pennsylvania, being next to Virginia and equal to Massachusetts in 1 Consult a United States history to learn about the Port Bill and other details of this period. 7 98 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA population, was sure to influence the middle colonies by her action, as the other two did their neighbors; conse- quently it was important that she should respond promptly and vigorously to the cry from Boston. So in May, 1774, Paul Revere came to Philadelphia to explain the situation. He was received at a public meeting held in the City Tavern. Speeches were made and a letter was drawn up to be carried to Boston by Revere. The j,^ -^-..-... ...4iq : A G A R D. ♦ ^T^HE PUBLIC prefent their Compliments to MelTicurs J X JAMES AND DF-"NKER.— -We are informed that you I have this Day received your Commiftion to cnflave your native i Country, and, as your frivolous Plea of having received no I Advice, rdativc to the fc&ndalous Part you -were to aA, in the i TeA'Scheme, can rto longer ferve your Purpofe, nor divert our i* Attention, we «xp«^^ letter, and a set of resolutions accompanying it, defended the right of the colonies to give and grant their own money through their own Assemblies; the Boston Port Bill was denounced, and deep sympathy expressed for Massachusetts; and a colonial congress was recommended. Copies were sent to the other colonies, in order that a united effort might be made throughout America to let Great Britain know that a principle is far too dear THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 99 to be abandoned by the payment of a petty tax on tea. The people organize. Another and a larger meetnig was held June 28, in the State House. Stirring resolu- tions were again passed, similar to the others; the governor was asked to call the Assembly together; a congress of all the colonies was again recommended; and a committee was appointed to correspond with similar committees then organizing in the other counties of the province. Governor Penn having declined to call the Assembly, these committees were to be the nucleus of a new organization in the movement against the oppressive acts of England. Meetings were held through- out the province "to take the sentiments of the inhab- itants." Those who favored the liberty party were called AMiigs, and those whose sympathies were with Great Britain were called Tories. The First Continental Congress. The Assembly was asked to appoint delegates "to attend a Congress of Deputies from the several colonies." The men appointed were Josej)!! Galloway, Samuel Rhoads, Thomas Mifflin, and John Dickinson, of Philadelphia; John Morton, of Chester; Charles Humphreys, of Haverford; George Ross, of Lancaster, and Edward Biddle, of Reading. These were Pennsylvania's delegates to wliat has since been known as the First Continental Congress, whose sessions were held in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, Septem- ber 5 to October 26. Dickinson was the leading man among them. Of the six papers drawn up by the Congress, he was the author of two — the famous 100 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA petition to the king, and the address to the people of Canada. On the third day, the Congress was opened with prayer, after Samuel Adams had silenced the objections of Jay and Rutledge by declaring: "I am no bigot; I can hear a prayer from a man of piety and virtue, who is at the same time a friend to his countr}^" The man named for this sacred duty was Rev. Jacob Duche, rector of Christ Church, and first chaplain of the Second Continental Congress. News had just been received of a bloody attack on the people by the troops at Boston; and as the collect for the day was read, the members of Congress believed that a rude soldiery was then infesting the dwellings and taking the lives of the people of Boston. Heaven itself seemed to dictate the words of Scripture, the thirty-fifth Psalm, that memorable morning: Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. . . . Carpenters' HaU. Carpenters' Hall was built in 1770 by the Carpenters' Company, an organization formed for giving instruction in architecture and assisting the widows and children of poor members. After the meet- ings of the First Congress, the building was occupied by various bodies representing the province. The British occupied it in 1777, the soldiers using the vane on the cupola for target practice. The First and Second United States Banks both transacted business within its walls for several years. Later it served in all sorts of ca- THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 101 pacities — as customhouse, land office, music hall, meet- inghouse, schoolhouse, horse market, furniture store. In 1857 the Carpenters again took possession of their an- cient hall, and have since kept it open as an historic relic. Half a million people visited the time-honored l)uilding during the Centennial Exhibition, in 1876. The Assembly ratifies the Acts of Congress. The re- port of tlie proceedings of the First Continental Congress was unanimously adopted by the Pennsylvania Assembly early in December; and the province thus became a mem- ber of the American Association designed to enforce non-importation and non-consumption of British goods. Biddle, Dickinson, Mifflin, Galloway, Humphreys, Mor- ton, and Ross were elected delegates to the Second Continental Congress, to meet May 10, 1775. Franklin, on arriving from his ten years' sojourn in England, in the spring of 1775, was at once added to the delega- tion to take the place of Galloway, who would not serve. Redress of grievances sought. Pennsylvania's instruc- tions to her delegates in the Second Congress were that they should combine, if possible, a redress of griev- ances with ''union and harmony between Great Britain and the colonies." In this position Pennsylvania was not alone; for the Americans generally had not yet given up the hope of reconciliation. Independence seemed probable, but not inevitable. Franklin, however, sup- ported the boldest measures. " Make yourselves sheep," he would say, '' and the wolves will devour you." Dick- inson favored a second petition to the king, and drafted 102 A SHORT HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA it; but the king "determined to listen to nothing from the illegal Congress.'' A Continental army formed. On June 14, 1775, Con- gress resolved to raise a Continental army. Its first levy was for "six companies of expert riflemen to be raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and tw() in Virginia." A few days later two more companies were ordered from Pennsylvania. Many persons declined to perform militai'y duty on the ground of conscientious scruples. All such wTre to contribute an equivalent in money for military service. The eight companies of volunteer riflemen, called by Congress, were raised with- out any diflficulty. Lancaster County furnished two instead of one, and so there were nine altogether. They marched for Boston as soon as they were organized. On July 1