.042 Copy 1 NEW ENGLAND Old and ^h(ew 162O-I92O lipupmiM iappipjHW ^^PS^fS^SiS^HI^^B^^^S^^PSKSSSSffiSSf^ ^k HE first sawmill — ereSied near -*■ Portsmouth about l6jl. Prob- ably New England' s first water-power development. New England Old and jA^ A Brief Review of some historical and industrial incidents in the Puritan "New English Canaan," still the Land of Promise Published by the Old Colony Trust Company of Boston, commemorating the Tercentenary of the First Landing at Plymouth in 1620 .© Copyright, 1920, by Old Colony Trust Company Second edition By Transfer APR 18 1921 The University Press, Cambridge, Mass. Foreword «^^"-^^OD sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain into m ' the wilderness," said William Stoughton in 1688. I ^W" This grim old Puritan did not exaggerate. The founders of ^1^ ^ New England were not restless soldiers of fortune attrafted by promises of plunder. They were not traders attracted by the prosped of inordinate profits. They were not poor people seeking to improve their economic condition. They were drawn from the very best elements of the English nation — landed proprietors, yeomen, merchants, religious leaders — a large proportion university graduates, the progressives of their day who had the courage of their convidlions. They came to the savage wilderness to establish homes for themselves and their children, where they would be free from the cramping restric- tions on religious faith and forms of worship that had led many of them to leave England and seek sandtuary in the Netherlands. To establish a New England founded on their ideals of religious and civic rights, they braved the perils of the stormy Atlantic, the ferocious red men, the priva- tions and sufferings of pioneer life in a land whose soil is " not sterile unto death nor fruitful unto luxury" — a land which nevertheless appealed to them as a New Canaan. The very names " Puritan " and " Pilgrim " summon a vision of stern men and brave women battling against Nature's relentless rigors through the cold winters, in daily peril from the savage denizens of the forest — industrious, God-fearing, independent, aggressive. This is the New England of history — the men and women whose figures stalk across the pages of American song and story like giants and saints — Bradford, Winthrop, Roger Williams, Priscilla Mullins, the brilliant Anne Hutchinson, the stout soldier Miles Standish ; and later, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Israel Putnam, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell — patriots, poets, statesmen. But New England, with her glorious traditions of a great past, does not rest on her laurels. Her people have made New England the Switzerland of America for skilled workmanship. Here, where the mechanic arts first took root in America, lives the greatest concentration of skillful, adapt- able labor in America. Arms and munitions manufactured during the Great War demonstrated this most vividly. And yet, after the roll of three centuries. New England is only partially developed. In her water powers she possesses wonderful potentialities. At many points her rivers only wait the harness of dams to start the music of the turbines. For industries that require an abundance of cheap power, skilled crafts- men, cheap transportation to the world's markets, and a short haul to the greatest centers of population in America, New England is indeed the land of promise. Her chambers of commerce and other quasi-public institutions will gladly furnish definite information, advice, and assistance to enterprises seeking location in richly endowed, conservative, practical, aggressive New England. Glorying in her past, she presses forward to a still greater future. Chapter I Settlement THE historic voyage of the Mayflower in the fall of 1620 marks the beginning of a new era in social and political development. From Christ- mas Day, 1620, as recorded in Bradford's "History of Plymouth Plantation," — "and ye 25 day begane to ere6te ye first house for comone use to receive them and their goods," — dates the effedive history of New England. The Mayflower voyage appeals strongly to the imagina- tion. A cockleshell of i 80 tons, crowded with a hundred pilgrims, it was tossed about like a cork on the wild Atlantic. Saved in mid-ocean by a big iron screw when a cracked The Mayflonver lO New England — Old and New The First Winter The Indians timber threatened destruftion, the Mayflower was driven hundreds of miles out of its course. Instead of coming to land in Delaware, the snow-shrouded coast of New England was sighted on the ninth of November, In Provincetown harbor the battered Mayflower cast anchor. Here Dorothy Bradford met death by drowning, and Peregrine White, the first Pilgrim child, was born. Here the Mayflower compadl was signed. Five weary weeks were consumed in the search for a site suitable for founding the first town in the new Engli'sh Canaan. The Mayflower s open shallop went exploring up and down the coast in the bitter cold. FinaHy the place that had been named Plymouth on Captain John Smith's map was seleded. Out of the hundred who landed, fifty-one succumbed to disease, exposure, and privation that first winter. At one time only Brewster, Miles Standish, and five others were well enough and strong enough to care for the sick and bury the dead. But there was no thought of surrender. Brewster spoke the truth when he said, " It is not with us as with men whom small things can discourage or small discontentments cause to wish themselves at home again." Work went on. By the end of the following summer we find a rude fortress topping the hill, twenty-six acres cleared and planted, and seven houses forming the village street, with others building. The settlement of Plymouth was effeded without any loss of life through Indian attack. Though the bow twanged and the blunderbuss barked on several occasions, no blood /N 1646 the Boston shoemakers pe- titioned for a consolidation of their craft, that "all boots might be alike made well." 1 2 New England — Old and New was spilled. Good relations were established with the Indians towards the end of the first winter. The First Treaty The first treaty was made with Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags, who inhabited the shores of Massachusetts Bay. He came accompanied by a score of befeathered braves. With Miles Standish and a few musketeers stand- ing quietly by, the pipe of peace was smoked and a treaty made that was faithfully kept on both sides for half a cen- tury. This quality of probity runs like a golden thread through New England's history. Canonicus, the sachem of the Narragansetts, however, threatened trouble. He sent a snake-skin filled with arrows. Governor Bradford's answer to this challenge was the snake- skin stuffed with gunpowder and bullets. Boldness won. Against the fifty English settlers, the Narragansett chief could have mustered two thousand warriors. The same spirit of indomitable courage came to the surface a century and a half later, when New England rose, almost like one man, to proted: the rights which a tyrant king and govern- ment threatened to extinguish. The Fortune During the fall of 1 62 1, the Fortune arrived with a wel- come reinforcement of fifty. However, as she was not very well provisioned, the daily ration was scanty during the second winter. First Export The Fortune carried back with her the first exports of the infant colony — some beaver skins and choice wood for wainscoting — worth about five hundred pounds sterling. This was to have been the first payment to the London " merchant adventurers " who financed the colony. But the Fortune fell in with a French cruiser and was robbed of New England — Old and New 1 3 everything worth carrying away. This little cargo, of slight importance in itself, illustrates the sturdy integrity of the founders of New England, and their determination to be- come financially independent. In 1627 the colony bought up all the stock of the " merchant adventurers." Within seven years they had paid for it in full, through the fruits of their labor. The history of Plymouth is vital in its Importance. The Plymouth's first settlers, and those like them who followed, had an "iportance incalculable influence in determining the civilization and the ideals that were to govern the building of the nation. But the colony itself was never large. Even in the early days its growth was slow. Ten years after settlement, Plymouth numbered but three hundred souls. In 1643, when the New England Confederacy was formed, the popu- lation of Plymouth was but three thousand. It is in the light of what came afterward that the found- ^^^ Gre^x. ing of Plymouth assumes its importance as marking the beginning of a new era. The Plymouth pilgrims were but the advance guard of a mighty Puritan host that ten years later rolled over New England and planted settlements all along the New England coasts. The sailing of John Winthrop and his company, in April, 1630, led to the founding of Boston, Charlestown, Newtown, Watertown, Roxbury, and Dorchester. By Christmas of that year, seventeen ships had arrived, bring- ing over a thousand passengers. By 1640 not less than twenty-six thousand had made their homes in New Eng- land. For more than a century afterwards there was little emigration to this part of the country. lA New England — Old and New Colonial New England's Racial Unity Vitality of Inherited Ideals The historian John Fiske records that up to the time of the Revolution, no county in England was more thoroughly- English than the New England colonies. On three occa- sions only was there any considerable infusion of non- English stock. In 1652, after his vidories at Dunbar and Worcester, Cromwell sent 270 of his Scottish prisoners to Boston. After the revocation of the Edid: of Nantes in 1685, 150 families of Huguenots came to Massachusetts. In 1 71 9, 120 Presbyterian families came over from the north of Ireland and settled at Londonderry, New Hamp- shire. Weeden reports the arrival at Newport, Connedicut, of sixteen Hebrew families from Holland in 1658. While modern New England no longer possesses the racial unity of colonial days, the ideals of her Puritan founders still dominate. A recent occurrence in Massachu- setts demonstrated their vitality, when civil and property rights were menaced. The instant response of her citizens, of all racial antecedents, was a striking revelation of the devotion of present-day New England to those principles of law and order which the early settlers reverenced. Chapter II Qolonial T)ays NEW ENGLAND was a land of towns. Big plantations and extensive holdings were the ex- ception. Agriculture, fishing, and trading were the principal occupations. For years it was forbidden to build a house more than two miles from the meetinghouse. This centralization served several purposes. Besides keeping the population compad: and in good posture for defense against the Indians, it made easier the enforcement of the strid: laws on church attendance. Public order was more readily maintained. Community spirit developed that found ready expression and definite dired:ion. Effefts of New England Town Life i6 New England — Old and New Colonial Industries Boston Boot- makers' Petition First American Iron Foundry- New England never drifted. She always stood up for her rights, and resisted outside interference in colonial affairs, whether of government or trade. Hardly had houses been built and a few fields ploughed and planted before manufadlure and trade began. Thirty years after Plymouth was settled we find a wide variety of manufactures prospering in the infant colonies — sawmills, gristmills, glassworks, ropewalks, iron foundries, textile mills, gun shops, shipyards, tanneries, brickyards. Cattle and sheep were pastured under the care of a cow-keeper or herdsman in Boston, Cambridge, Salem, Dorchester, Windsor, Conneftlcut, and other towns. Corn, pork, fish, and lumber were exported. The bootmakers of Boston in 1646 complained to the General Court of " much bad work produced by their craft," and petitioned for permission to join themselves into one large company, so that " all boots might be alike made well." In this attitude of the Boston bootmakers we find an ex- planation and a reason for New England's supremacy In many lines of manufacture to this day — good work and pride in it. To the initiative of John Winthrop, Jr., and the skill of Joseph Jenks, belongs the credit of establishing the first iron foundry and machine shop in the western world. It began operation at Lynn in 1643. Tradition says that the first successful casting was a quart iron pot. The iron de- posits of the Saugus bog furnished the ore. In 1645 J^^*^ Winthrop, Jr., reports its successful operation. " Their furnace runs 8 tons per week and their bar iron is as good as Spanish." New England — Old and New 17 Joseph Jenks was a man of unusual skill and intelligence. In 1646 he petitioned and the Court granted him a patent for fourteen years " to build a mill for the making of scythes, and also a new invented saw mill and divers other engines for making of divers sorts of edge tools, whereby the country may have such necessaries in short time at far cheaper rates than now they can." These scythes were a great improvement over the type then in general use. They were much lighter and narrower — the type that superseded all others for use in America until another American revolutionized harvesting by the invention of the mowing machine. t In this first New England foundry and machine shop we find the true quality of craftsmanship- — brains plus skill and care — that has made New England the finishing shop of the nation, whence come tools of precision, fine silverware, improved machinery, watches, phonographs, and a host of similar produds. Colonial produdion of textiles — wool, linen, and cotton — was the objed: of several orders of the General Court during 1640. Towns were dire6led to ascertain what seed was necessary for the growing of flax, who among the in- habitants were skilled in braking, operating spinning wheels, and in weaving. Boys and girls were to be taught spinning, A bounty of threepence in the shilling was provided for wool and linen cloth produced from colony-grown materials. Boston increased the number of sheep that might be grazed in place of one cow from four to five. But the real beginning of New England's textile indus- try — mill manufadure — dates from 1643. In that year Brains Plus Skill and Care Bounty on Spinning and Weaving New England — Old and New a fulling mill was imported from England, and at Rowley, where twenty or more families trained in the cloth manu- facture of Yorkshire had settled, the machinery was set up and put in operation. It marks the inception of an Industry in which New England leads the nation. Not only in volume and quality of produd: does New England excel, but also In the manufafture of improved textile machinery. First Sawmills in Jn England and Holland sawmills were not regularly ew ng an operated until about a hundred years after the first American sawmill was started at Piscataqua (near Portsmouth) in 163 1. In Europe, during this time, the sawyers and laborers suc- cessfully fpught the adoption of power on the ground that it would deprive many of them of a livelihood. This pioneer among American sawmills employed thirty people. It was, perhaps, the first industrial use of New England's unrivaled water powers. Grants for sawmills usually provided that the town should have a certain proportion of the total as rental or royalty. On such other supply as was required, the town enjoyed a preferred price. Gloucester, in 1650, obliged the grantee to sell boards to the Inhabitants at one shilling per hundred — "better cheap than to strangers." Other towns provided that their Inhabitants should have preference over strangers in the matter of work at the mills ; and supplies must be bought from the townsmen. No timber was to be cut within three miles of the meetinghouse, etc. Shipbuilding Abundance of cheap timber, " fit for shipping, planckes, and Shipping ^^ knees," etc., and skilled shipbuilders made New Eng- land a big faftor In shipbuilding and commerce early in her history. New England could build ships at a cost per « c T/iy^E whose Names are underzorit- r ' ten. . . Having undertaken. . . to plant the first Colony in the Northern farts of Virginia ; Do by these Presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another. Covenant and Combine our selves together into a Civil Body Politick for our better ordering and preservation ..." From the '^Mayfloioer Compact.''^ in Fish and Lumber New England — Old and New 1 1 ton that was twenty-five dollars below the European price. Ships soon became a principal New England export. Fish and lumber formed the keystone of early New ^^^'y Commerct England commerce and wealth. In 1641 New England exported 300,000 dried fish to the West Indies and to the Catholic countries of Europe. During this year eleven vessels sailed to the West Indies loaded with lumber and pipe-staves, bringing back, sugar, indigo, and other tropical produds. Year by year this trade grew and the number of vessels Foreign Ships increased. At first trade was carried on largely by Dutch ships; but after 1651 it was legally open only to colonial ships and English, Scotch, or Irish vessels. A later law forbade commerce with any but^ English possessions. The growth of New England ships and shipping can be ^^'^ England judged by the statistics of ships around Boston as given by Governor Hutchinson in 1676 — thirty vessels between 100 and 200 tons, two hundred between 50 and 100 tons, and five hundred smaller ships. By the middle of the eighteenth century Boston had become one of the world's busiest ports, with about a thousand arrivals and departures of ships in foreign trade annually, and a big coastwise ton- nage and commerce. In 1770 Massachusetts alone con- structed half of all the vessels built in America. New England mastery in shipping and trade is of long standing. During the " golden age " of American shipping, from the Revolution to the decline of the clipper ships in i860. New England led the world. In the new era of American shipping — of motor ships, of coal- and oil- burning steamers — New England, with her magnificent Vessels 22 New England — Old and New Beginning of Popular Education harbors and modern facilities, is doing a bigger, more profit- able business than in the palmiest days of her clipper ships. She is adively competing for a larger share in modern commerce that her geographical situation, industrial ex- pansion, and terminal facilities enable her to handle. The life of colonial New England was many sided. While she was building up her commerce and manufa6hires she was also planting new milestones along the road of progress. In 1647 Massachusetts passed a law requiring each town of fifty householders to " appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read." Eleven years before, the General Court had appropriated four hundred pounds towards the establishment of a college at Newtown. It is said of this assembly that it was " the first body in which the people gave their own money to found a place of education." Two years later, in 1638, John Harvard, dying childless, bequeathed his library and half of his estate to the college. Here we see the establish- ment of the distindly American system of the " little red schoolhouse," and of higher education stimulated by the use of the public's money. Money in the modern sense was never plentiful in colo- nial New England. The native American money, wampum, was legal tender until 1661. It remained current in small transadtions till late in the eighteenth century. Its value ranged from five shillings to twenty shillings a fathom. Much of the early income of Harvard College came from the ferry privilege between Boston and Charlestown which Colonial Money /N 1642, the first iron works were put in operation — near Lynn, Mass- achusetts. Tradition says an iron quart pot was the first casting. 24 New England — Old and New Coins in Circulation Legal Punishments the General Court granted to Harvard College in 1640. Shortly afterward, we find the ferrymen complaining of loss from passengers who paid in " peag " (a common name for wampum) that was in such bad condition that they lost two- pence in the shilling. Metal coins of English, French, Dutch, and Spanish origin circulated in New England. There were ninepences, fourpence-ha'pennies, bits and half-bits, pistareens, pica- yunes and fips, doubloons, moidores, and pistoles, English and French guineas, carolins, ducats, and chequins. But there was not enough currency to keep pace with re- quirements for domestic and foreign trade. In 1652 Massa- chusetts eredled " a mint for coining shillings, sixpences, and three pences." The most famous of these coins was the " pinetree shilling." From making these coins the mint master piled up such a fortune that he gave his daughter her weight in silver shillings as a dowry. The ducking stool, stocks, bilboes, whipping post, and gallows faced wrongdoers throughout New England's colo- nial history. Scolding wives and quarrelsome wives and husbands were the most frequent occupants of the ducking stool. A few dips in cold water were reported as extremely efficacious in remedying conjugal infelicity. Intoxication, more than any other misdemeanor, brought people into the stocks. This penalty was not entirely abandoned till early in the nineteenth century. The bilboes consisted of a strong iron bar parallel to the ground and supported at a height of a yard or less. To this bar were fastened shackles. The culprit lay on his back, with his ankles securely shackled to this bar, while undergoing punish- New England — Old and New 25 ment. The whipping post was used for many offenses which now seem trivial in comparison to the penalty. Sleeping during the sermon occasioned the use of the whipping post in at least one recorded case. Among the famous New England hangings were those of six pirates who made a gruesome sped:acle for Boston's citizens on Friday, June 30, 1704. It is recorded that the pirate cap- tain, John Quelch, stepped^ forward and, taking his hat off, made a short speech before his execution, warning the spectators to have a care " how they brought money into New England, to be hanged for it." On the statute books there were fifteen capital crimes, in- cluding blasphemy, witchcraft, idolatry, marriage within the Levitical degrees, " presumptuous sabbath breaking," and cursing or smiting one's parents. The court had a wide discretion, however, and hanging was rarely inflidted except in cases of murder or other serious crime. To the end of the seventeenth century witchcraft was a witchcrah statutory offense throughout the civilized world. Execu- ^ Statutory tions for witchcraft occurred in England as late as 171 2, in Scotland in 1722, and in Germany the year Goethe was born, 1749. Martin del Rio reports that in the year 151 5 not less than five hundred witches were executed in the single city of Geneva. In Scotland from 1560 to 1600, the average annual number of victims was two hundred. During the first sixty years in New England's history about a dozen cases of witchcraft were prosecuted. The outbreak of hysterical fear of witches, which resulted in the execution of nineteen people in Salem in 1692, has held a position of undeserved prominence in American 26 New England — Old and New history. It ended witchcraft in America for all time — dec- ades earlier than in the most advanced countries of Europe. Sanity and Enlightened progress is written large on every page of rogress New England's history. A spirit of sanity and humani- tarianism early led New England to abolish human slavery. Massachusetts, by her constitution of 1790, became the first free state. She fought hard to end slavery in the nation. In 1784 Rhode Island enfranchised Roman Catholics. Maine was three-quarters of a century in advance of the nation in adopting prohibition. She was one of the first states to abolish the penalty of capital punishment for crime. In the protection of children, too. New England has made a proud record by the enactment of model child labor laws. Basis of In the fadories of New England were first developed ea ers ip ^^^ machinery and the efficient organization of effort which laid the foundations for America's industrial supremacy. In every department of intellecftual, social, and industrial activity New England has been ever in the forefront. She has fulfilled the promise which her adlivities during colonial days prophesied. Chapter III Independence FROM the signing of the Mayflower Compad to the day, a hundred and fifty years later, when the battle of Lexington opened the Revolution, New England never willingly, or with good grace, ac- knowledged the jurisdidion of king or parliament in American affairs. To be sure, the treaty with " King " Massasoit was made King's in the name of King James ; but no royal official had any- "' °"*^ thing to do with it. Likewise, neither King James nor the English parliament did anything to assist in founding New England. Not until late in the seventeenth century did the colonists consent to administer justice in the king's name. 28 New England — Old and New The New England Confederation of 1643 was formed as between sovereign states. No permission was asked. Coins were minted which bore neither the name nor the likeness of the English king. They were authorized and circulated without his consent or permission. When the king showed anger at the lack of any recognition of royal authority on these coins, a quick-witted friend of New England mollified the vain monarch by explaining that the pine tree was the royal oak in which a Stuart king had once hidden. Indian Wars Xhe wars with the Indians were fought and won at New England's expense — of blood and money. The first war with the murderous Pequots, in 1637, was won in an hour's battle. Seventy-seven colonists from Connedticut, Plym- outh, and Massachusetts attacked the palisaded fort of the savages near Stonington, Connediicut. Out of more than seven hundred red men, it is said but five escaped. The thoroughness of this vidlory proved a salutary objed: lesson. It stilled the war whoop for forty years. King Philip's From 1675 to 1^7^ ^^^ England fought for her life. This was the period of the terrible King Philip's War. During its course twelve New England towns were utterly destroyed. Forty out of ninety towns were the scene of fire and slaughter. Over a thousand staunch men lost their lives, and scores of gentle women and helpless children perished. But it saw the end of Indian power in New England. When it ended, most of the warriors were dead. Hence- forth, the Indians figured no more in New England history, except as allies of the French in bloody frontier raids. War, 1675-1678 I /^iV" a chill December day, 1620, ^^ the Pilgrims landed on the snow- clad shore of New England; and, ac- cording to Governor Bradford'' s account, "Te 2$ day begane to ereile ye first house for comone use to receive them and their goods, " // marked the dawn of a new era. New England — Old and New 31 Eliminating a Fighting Frontier The end of this war found. Plymouth Colony with a debt greater than the value of all the personal property in the colony. The same was true of Massachusetts and Connefti- cut. Pradically every family was in mourning. Payment in full meant years of unremitting toil, thrift, and self- denial. But the New England tradition was maintained. Every penny was finally paid. To protect themselves against French encroachment was the objed: of the expedition in 1745 against Louisburg, the French Gibraltar, on whose fortifications over ten million dollars had been expended. This extraordinary enterprise was urged and organized by Governor Shirley, of Massa- chusetts. New England raised and officered the army. Not an English redcoat was present, though English naval forces . cooperated efficiently in the later stages of the siege and contributed to its successful conclusion. In recognition of this vidory, the commander. Colonel William Pepperel], of Kittery, Maine, was made baronet — the only colonial American who ever received that honor, says John Fiske. This, and the capture of Quebec, in which the southern colonists assisted, meant to New England the elimination of a fighting frontier. For this purpose they gladly served side by side with the redcoats, who constituted about half of Wolfe's force at the siege of Quebec in 1759. With the exception of these military enterprises, the record of New England resistance to English authority runs through every page of colonial history. The Navigation Ad: of 1651 aroused bitter opposition Navigation Ads not only in New England, but in all the colonies. It was the application of protedion and worked severe hardships. 3^ New England — 0/J and New Seeds of the Kevolution Why the Stamp Aft Was Passed By limiting the countries the colonies could trade with and the nationality of the ships by which the trade could be conduced, this law enabled the buyer of colonial produce to set the price. By shutting out foreign competition it gave the English, Scotch, and Irish merchants a monopoly of the market' They could regulate the price at which goods were sold to the colonists. The result was low prices for colonial produds and high prices for Imported goods. In addition, a later law forbade any trade between the colonies and foreign countries or possessions. This restric- tive law, which aimed to give English ships monopoly in English trade, was not abolished till 1 849. The Navigation Ads, annulling the charter of Massa- chusetts in 1648, the tyrannous rule and final overthrow of Sir Edmund Andros as Viceroy of New England, in 1689, the eredion of Massachusetts into a royal province which included Plymouth, Maine, and Arcadia, the Stamp Ad, the import duties— these were the seeds of the Revolution! Inasmuch as the war with the French in America had been largely beneficial to the colonies — their war. In fad — both parliament and the king decided that the colonies should be taxed to support the army of ten thousand men which the enlarged dominions required. They would have preferred that the colonies lay the necessary taxes; but there was no general assembly of the colonies with which the home government could treat. Besides this, experience had shown that each colony was always unwilling to make a grant for the common service of the colonists as a whole. TT/'HIRR, whirr, whirr " sang the rr old colonial spinning wheels — • humble predecessors of the great power looms of present-day New England. 34 New England — Old and New Import Duties Duty on Tea Retained It was accordingly thought that the only authority to which all the colonies would bow was that of the British parliament. In 1765, therefore, parliament passed a Stamp A<5t which was calculated to raise about a hundred thousand pounds. The stamped papers were to be used for all legal documents. The colonists refused to accept the stamped papers and attacked the officers whose duty it was to distribute them. In 1766 this a6t was repealed; but the repeal was accom- panied by a Declaratory Ad: which asserted the right of the British parliament to tax the colonies, as well as to legislate for them. The following year an ad of parliament levied duties on glass, red and white lead, painters' colors, paper, and tea. New England's answer was a general refusal to use these articles, and failure to convid colonists accused of ads of violence against the revenue officers. In these ads of resistance they were upholding the Englishman's ancient right to a voice in all matters of taxation. The denial of this right stood as the principal and dired cause of the Revolution — - taxation without representation. The violent opposition to these ads left the British government two alternatives — treating with the Americans as a virtually independent people, or compelling obedience by military force. A halfway method was sought. In 1770 all duties were repealed, except that of threepence a pound on tea. This duty was retained, not for the revenue it would affiDrd, but simply to assert the right of England to tax the colonies — a challenge and an irritant. :»j»;>-.^*si4ffl^iJt'»^w■i^^as4w^»s^s»saM^^ GOFERNOR Bradford answered the threat of the savage Canon- icus, a snake-skin filled with arrows, by returning the same snake-skin stuffed with gunpowder and bullets. He de- fined New Englana^s attitude towards disturbers of the peace — fearless, un- compromising maintenance of law and order. New England — Old and New 37 Sullen resistance and defiance to English rule continued. Boston Massacre In 1770 a street riot broke out in King Street [now State Street], Boston, in the course of which the soldiers fired on a threatening mob, killing four people. This is known as the " Boston Massacre." It caused tremendous excite- ment and extreme exasperation. Samuel Adams, as spokesman for the townspeople, de- manded the immediate removal of all the soldiers. The governor wisely decided to acquiesce. These regiments at once became known as " Sam Adams' regiments." The entire loss of the support of public opinion ren- The Gaspee dered government less efFedlive. Lawlessness ran riot. Revenue officers were tarred and feathered and otherwise outraged with impunity. In 1772 a small vessel of war, the Gaspee, was captured and burnt. The following year when a number of ships loaded with "Boston Tea tea arrived in Boston harbor, the inhabitants met and re- P^ny" quested the governor to have them sent away. He refused. A few days later, a number of young men disguised as Indians boarded the ships and, breaking the chests open with tomahawks, threw all the tea into the harbor. England regarded these a6ts as practical anarchy so far as English law was concerned. Burke's advice, " revert to your old principles — leave America, if she have taxable matter in her, to tax herself," was disregarded. Force was decreed. In 1774 parliament passed the Boston Port Ad. It Repressive Aas prohibited the landing or shipping of goods at Boston. Parliament then passed the Massachusetts Government A6t which transferred the appointment of the Council, or upper 38 New England — Old and New The Continental Congress Minute Men Lexington and Concord house, together with that of all judges and administrative officers from a popular electorate to the Crown. Another a6t forbade public meetings without the leave of the gov- ernor. A soldier, General Gage, was appointed governor. These measures roused all the colonies. What was being done in New England might later be done elsewhere. A congress, attended by deputies from all the colonies but Georgia, met at Philadelphia under the name of the Con- tinental Congress. This congress declared for the stoppage of all export and import trade with England till such time as the grievances should be redressed. The adive spirits were fully determined to resist unless concessions were made. In New England extensive preparations for resistance were made. Officers were seledied and "minute men" — who offered to fly to arms at a minute's notice — were en- rolled in large numbers. Most of the colonists thought that by a strong demon- stration of preparedness and determination to resist coercion they would be able to secure the repeal of the obnoxious laws. England was blind to American power of resistance. Hostilities opened without any official declaration of war, and quite unexpectedly. The night of April i8, 1775, a small British force set out from Boston to seize some arms and stores at Concord. Passing through Lexington, they were fired on. The next day, April 19, occurred the "Con- cord Fight," and the march of the red coats back to Boston through an aroused country side, with walls and hedges lined with minute men who inflidted heavy losses on the retreating column. New England — ■ Old and New 39 Blood had been spilled. Conciliation became more difficult. On June 1 7 came the battle of Bunker Hill. An offer to abandon the right of the British parliament to tax any colony which would provide for its own defense and civil government had been dispatched in March. It did not arrive till after the affair at Lexington, and was sum- marily rejedled. The Revolution was under way. Nothing less than independence, full and complete — political, social, and economic — would now satisfy New England. On March 16, 1776, the British evacuated Boston. The city of John Winthrop and the English Puritans had passed forever from British control, almost four months before the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress. From this time until the end of the Revolution, New England's fighting was principally naval. Seamen bred in New England manned the gun decks and the fighting tops. They swarmed over the sides in many a close adlion, and determined the issue with cutlass and pistol. They served the guns when John, Paul Jonies, with three poorly fitted ships, one a half-rotten hulk, boldly attacked and captured two British men-of-war, and " bearded the lion in his den." With the Bonne Homme Richard sinking under their feet, they jumped to the deck of the Serapis and captured her. Not all the Yankee frigates were New England built; but their crews were largely New Englanders. Conciliatory Offer Evacuation of Boston Naval Warfare A Prophecy Chapter IV