THE BEGINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND

OR THE PURITAN THEOCRACY IN ITS RELATIONS TO CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

BY

JOHN FISKE

"The Lord Christ intends to achieve greater matters by this little
handful than the world is aware of." EDWARD JOHNSON, _Wonder-Working
Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England_ 1654

1892




To

MY DEAR CLASSMATES,


BENJAMIN THOMPSON FROTHINGHAM,

WILLIAM AUGUSTUS WHITE,

AND

FREDERIC CROMWELL,

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.




PREFACE.


This book contains the substance of the lectures originally given at
the Washington University, St. Louis, in May, 1887, in the course of my
annual visit to that institution as University Professor of American
History. The lectures were repeated in the following month of June at
Portland, Oregon, and since then either the whole course, or one or more
of the lectures, have been given in Boston, Newton, Milton, Chelsea,
New Bedford, Lowell, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield, Mass.;
Farmington, Middletown, and Stamford, Conn.; New York, Brooklyn, and
Tarrytown, N.Y.; Philadelphia and Ogontz, Pa.; Wilmington, Del.;
Chicago, 111.; San Francisco and Oakland, Cal.

In this sketch of the circumstances which attended the settlement of New
England, I have purposely omitted many details which in a formal history
of that period would need to be included. It has been my aim to give the
outline of such a narrative as to indicate the principles at work in
the history of New England down to the Revolution of 1689. When I was
writing the lectures I had just been reading, with much interest, the
work of my former pupil, Mr. Brooks Adams, entitled "The Emancipation of
Massachusetts."

With the specific conclusions set forth in that book I found myself
often agreeing, but it seemed to me that the general aspect of the case
would be considerably modified and perhaps somewhat more adequately
presented by enlarging the field of view. In forming historical
judgments a great deal depends upon our perspective. Out of the very
imperfect human nature which is so slowly and painfully casting off the
original sin of its inheritance from primeval savagery, it is scarcely
possible in any age to get a result which will look quite satisfactory
to the men of a riper and more enlightened age. Fortunately we can learn
something from the stumblings of our forefathers, and a good many
things seem quite clear to us to-day which two centuries ago were only
beginning to be dimly discerned by a few of the keenest and boldest
spirits. The faults of the Puritan theocracy, which found its most
complete development in Massachusetts, are so glaring that it is idle to
seek to palliate them or to explain them away. But if we would really
understand what was going on in the Puritan world of the seventeenth
century, and how a better state of things has grown out of it, we must
endeavour to distinguish and define the elements of wholesome strength
in that theocracy no less than its elements of crudity and weakness.

The first chapter, on "The Roman Idea and the English Idea," contains a
somewhat more developed statement of the points briefly indicated in the
thirteenth section (pp. 85-95) of "The Destiny of Man." As all of the
present book, except the first chapter, was written here under the
shadow of the Washington University, I take pleasure in dating it from
this charming and hospitable city where I have passed some of the most
delightful hours of my life.

St. Louis, April 15, 1889.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

THE ROMAN IDEA AND THE ENGLISH IDEA.

When did the Roman Empire come to an end? ... 1-3

Meaning of Odovakar's work ... 3

The Holy Roman Empire ... 4, 5

Gradual shifting of primacy from the men who spoke Latin, and their
descendants, to the men who speak English ... 6-8

Political history is the history of nation-making ... 8, 9

The ORIENTAL method of nation-making; _conquest without incorporation_
... 9

Illustrations from eastern despotisms ... 10

And from the Moors in Spain ... 11

The ROMAN method of nation-making; _conquest with incorporation, but
without representation_ ... 12

Its slow development ... 13

Vices in the Roman system. ... 14

Its fundamental defect ... 15

It knew nothing of political power delegated by the people to
representatives ... 16

And therefore the expansion of its dominion ended in a centralized
Despotism ... 16

Which entailed the danger that human life might come to stagnate in
Europe, as it had done in Asia ... 17

The danger was warded off by the Germanic invasions, which, however,
threatened to undo the work which the Empire had done in organizing
European society ... 17

But such disintegration was prevented by the sway which the Roman Church
had come to exercise over the European mind ... 18

The wonderful thirteenth century ... 19

The ENGLISH method of nation-making; _incorporation with representation_
... 20

Pacific tendencies of federalism ... 21

Failure of Greek attempts at federation ... 22

Fallacy of the notion that republics must be small ... 23

"It is not the business of a government to support its people, but of
the people to support their government" ... 24

Teutonic March-meetings and representative assemblies ... 25

Peculiarity of the Teutonic conquest of Britain ... 26, 27

Survival and development of the Teutonic representative assembly in
England ... 28

Primitive Teutonic institutions less modified in England than in Germany
... 29

Some effects of the Norman conquest of England ... 30

The Barons' War and the first House of Commons ... 31

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty ... 32

Conflict between Roman Idea and English Idea begins to become clearly
visible in the thirteenth century ... 33

Decline of mediaeval Empire and Church with the growth of modern
nationalities ... 34

Overthrow of feudalism, and increasing power of the crown ... 35

Formidable strength of the Roman Idea ... 36

Had it not been for the Puritans, political liberty would probably have
disappeared from the world ... 37

Beginnings of Protestantism in the thirteenth century ... 38

The Cathari, or Puritans of the Eastern Empire ... 39

The Albigenses ... 40

Effects of persecution; its feebleness in England ... 41

Wyclif and the Lollards ... 42

Political character of Henry VIII.'s revolt against Rome ... 43

The yeoman Hugh Latimer ... 44

The moment of Cromwell's triumph was the most critical moment in history
... 45

Contrast with France; fate of the Huguenots ... 46, 47

Victory of the English Idea ... 48

Significance of the Puritan Exodus ... 49


CHAPTER II.

THE PURITAN EXODUS.

Influence of Puritanism upon modern Europe ... 50, 51

Work of the Lollards ... 52

They made the Bible the first truly popular literature in England ...
53, 54

The English version of the Bible ... 54, 55

Secret of Henry VIII.'s swift success in his revolt against Rome ... 56

Effects of the persecution under Mary ... 57

Calvin's theology in its political bearings ... 58, 59

Elizabeth's policy and its effects ... 60, 61

Puritan sea-rovers ... 61

Geographical distribution of Puritanism in England; it was strongest in
the eastern counties ... 62

Preponderance of East Anglia in the Puritan exodus ... 63

Familiar features of East Anglia to the visitor from New England ... 64

Puritanism was not intentionally allied with liberalism ... 65

Robert Brown and the Separatists ... 66

Persecution of the Separatists ... 67

Recantation of Brown; it was reserved for William Brewster to take the
lead in the Puritan exodus ... 68

James Stuart, and his encounter with Andrew Melville ... 69

What James intended to do when he became King of England ... 70

His view of the political situation, as declared in the conference at
Hampton Court ... 71

The congregation of Separatists at Scrooby ... 72

The flight to Holland, and settlement at Leyden in 1609 ... 73

Systematic legal toleration in Holland ... 74

Why the Pilgrims did not stay there; they wished to keep up their
distinct organization and found a state ... 74

And to do this they must cross the ocean, because European territory was
all preoccupied ... 75

The London and Plymouth companies ... 75

First explorations of the New England coast; Bartholomew Gosnold (1602),
and George Weymouth (1605) ... 76

The Popham colony (1607) ... 77

Captain John Smith gives to New England its name (1614) ... 78

The Pilgrims at Leyden decide to make a settlement near the Delaware
river ... 79

How King James regarded the enterprise ... 80

Voyage of the Mayflower; she goes astray and takes the Pilgrims to Cape
Cod bay ... 81

Founding of the Plymouth colony (1620) ... 82, 83

Why the Indians did not molest the settlers ... 84, 85

The chief interest of this beginning of the Puritan exodus lies not so
much in what it achieved as in what it suggested ... 86, 87


CHAPTER III.

THE PLANTING OF NEW ENGLAND.

Sir Ferdinando Gorges and the Council for New England ... 88, 89

Wessagusset and Merrymount ... 90, 91

The Dorchester adventurers ... 92

John White wishes to raise a bulwark against the Kingdom of Antichrist
... 93

And John Endicott undertakes the work of building it ... 94

Conflicting grants sow seeds of trouble; the Gorges and Mason claims ...
94, 95

Endicott's arrival in New England, and the founding of Salem ... 95

The Company of Massachusetts Bay; Francis Higginson takes a powerful
reinforcement to Salem ... 96

The development of John White's enterprise into the Company of
Massachusetts Bay coincided with the first four years of the reign of
Charles I ... 97

Extraordinary scene in the House of Commons (June 5, 1628) ... 98, 99

The King turns Parliament out of doors (March 2, 1629) ... 100

Desperate nature of the crisis ... 100, 101

The meeting at Cambridge (Aug. 26, 1629), and decision to transfer the
charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and the government established
under it, to New England ... 102

Leaders of the great migration; John Winthrop ... 102

And Thomas Dudley ... 103

Founding of Massachusetts; the schemes of Gorges overwhelmed ... 104

Beginnings of American constitutional history; the question as to
self-government raised at Watertown ... 105

Representative system established ... 106

Bicameral assembly; story of the stray pig ... 107

Ecclesiastical polity; the triumph of Separatism ... 108

Restriction of the suffrage to members of the Puritan congregational
churches ... 109

Founding of Harvard College ... 110

Threefold danger to the New England settlers in 1636:--

1. From the King, who prepares to attack the charter, but is foiled by
dissensions at home ... 111-113

2. From religious dissensions; Roger Williams ... 114-116
Henry Vane and Anne Hutchinson ... 116-119
Beginnings of New Hampshire and Rhode Island ... 119-120

3. From the Indians; the Pequot supremacy ... 121

First movements into the Connecticut valley, and disputes with the Dutch
settlers of New Amsterdam ... 122, 123

Restriction of the suffrage leads to disaffection in Massachusetts;
profoundly interesting opinions of Winthrop and Hooker ... 123, 124

Connecticut pioneers and their hardships ... 125

Thomas Hooker, and the founding of Connecticut ... 120

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (Jan 14, 1639); the first written
constitution that created a government ... 127

Relations of Connecticut to the genesis of the Federal Union ... 128

Origin of the Pequot War; Sassacus tries to unite the Indian tribes in a
crusade against the English ... 129, 130

The schemes of Sassacus are foiled by Roger Williams ... 130

The Pequots take the war path alone ... 131

And are exterminated ... 132-134

John Davenport, and the founding of New Haven ... 135

New Haven legislation, and legend of the "Blue Laws" ... 136

With the meeting of the Long Parliament, in 1640, the Puritan exodus
comes to its end ... 137

What might have been ... 138, 391


CHAPTER IV.

THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERACY.

The Puritan exodus was purely and exclusively English ... 140

And the settlers were all thrifty and prosperous; chiefly country
squires and yeomanry of the best and sturdiest type ... 141, 142

In all history there has been no other instance of colonization so
exclusively effected by picked and chosen men ... 143

What, then, was the principle of selection? The migration was not
intended to promote what we call religious liberty ... 144, 145

Theocratic ideal of the Puritans ... 146

The impulse which sought to realize itself in the Puritan ideal was an
ethical impulse ... 147

In interpreting Scripture, the Puritan appealed to his Reason ... 148,
149

Value of such perpetual theological discussion as was carried on in
early New England ... 150, 151

Comparison with the history of Scotland ... 152

Bearing of these considerations upon the history of the New England
confederacy ... 153

The existence of so many colonies (Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
New Haven, Rhode Island, the Piscataqua towns, etc.) was due to
differences of opinion on questions in which men's religious ideas were
involved ... 154

And this multiplication of colonies led to a notable and significant
attempt at confederation ... 155

Turbulence of dissent in Rhode Island ... 156

The Earl of Warwick, and his Board of Commissioners ... 157

Constitution of the Confederacy ... 158

It was only a league, not a federal union ... 159

Its formation involved a tacit assumption of sovereignty ... 160

The fall of Charles I. brought up, for a moment, the question as to the
supremacy of Parliament over the colonies ... 161

Some interesting questions ... 162

Genesis of the persecuting spirit ... 163

Samuel Gorton and his opinions ... 163-165

He flees to Aquedneck and is banished thence ... 166

Providence protests against him ... 167

He flees to Shawomet, where he buys land of the Indians ... 168

Miantonomo and Uncas ... 169, 170

Death of Miantonomo ... 171

Edward Johnson leads an expedition against Shawomet ... 172

Trial and sentence of the heretics ... 173

Winthrop declares himself in a prophetic opinion ... 174

The Presbyterian cabal ... 175-177

The Cambridge Platform; deaths of Winthrop and Cotton ... 177

Views of Winthrop and Cotton as to toleration in matters of Religion ...
178

After their death, the leadership in Massachusetts was in the hands of
Endicott and Norton ... 179

The Quakers; their opinions and behavior ... 179-181

Violent manifestations of dissent ... 182

Anne Austin and Mary Fisher; how they were received in Boston ... 183

The confederated colonies seek to expel the Quakers; noble attitude of
Rhode Island ... 184

Roger Williams appeals to his friend, Oliver Cromwell ... 185

The "heavenly speech" of Sir Harry Vane ... 185

Laws passed against the Quakers ... 186

How the death penalty was regarded at that time in New England ... 187

Executions of Quakers on Boston Common ... 188, 189

Wenlock Christison's defiance and victory ... 189, 190

The "King's Missive" ... 191

Why Charles II. interfered to protect the Quakers ... 191

His hostile feeling toward the New England governments ... 192

The regicide judges, Goffe and Whalley ... 193, 194

New Haven annexed to Connecticut ... 194, 195

Abraham Pierson, and the founding of Newark ... 196

Breaking-down of the theocratic policy ... 197

Weakening of the Confederacy ... 198


CHAPTER V.

KING PHILIP'S WAR.

Relations between the Puritan settlers and the Indians ... 199

Trade with the Indians ... 200

Missionary work; Thomas Mayhew ... 201

John Eliot and his translation of the Bible ... 202

His preaching to the Indians ... 203

His villages of Christian Indians ... 204

The Puritan's intention was to deal gently and honourably with the red
men ... 205

Why Pennsylvania was so long unmolested by the Indians ... 205, 206

Difficulty of the situation in New England ... 207

It is hard for the savage and the civilized man to understand one
another ... 208

How Eliot's designs must inevitably have been misinterpreted by the
Indians ... 209

It is remarkable that peace should have been so long preserved ... 210

Deaths of Massasoit and his son Alexander ... 211

Very little is known about the nature of Philip's designs ... 212

The meeting at Taunton ... 213

Sausamon informs against Philip ... 213

And is murdered ... 214

Massacres at Swanzey and Dartmouth ... 214

Murder of Captain Hutchinson ... 215

Attack on Brookfield, which is relieved by Simon Willard ... 216

Fighting in the Connecticut valley; the mysterious stranger at Hadley