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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 124, Colonies Two:
August 8, 2005:
New Hampshire was one of the original 13 colonies. The settlement was founded by John Mason in 1623 as a result of a grant to Mason by the crown. It was a fishing and trading settlement at first, populated mostly by Massachusetts settlers. Then it was expanded and acquired the name of New Hampshire after the English county of Hampshire. A colonial government was administered by Massachusetts from 1641until 1679. After that there were some snorting contests between Mason's heirs and Massachusetts and New Hampshire became a separate royal province. The dispute was partly about religion, but mainly about the border territory between New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts. That territory eventually became Vermont.
By 1767 the colony had grown to more than 50,000 people according to their own census. It continued to grow though the colonial times. With a capital at Portsmouth the colony boasted 147 chartered towns. By 1774 the pot of revolution had boiled over in New Hampshire. The colonists managed to seize fort William and Mary at New Castle. Following that New Hampshire stole the march by declaring its own independence a few weeks before the Declaration of July 4.
The colony of Massachusetts, another of the original 13, was founded by puritans in 1628. We have already looked at the settlement at Plymouth Rock that occurred in 1620. That did not go well at all. It later became Plymouth colony also know as the Old Colony. By 1640, they still could only boast about 3000 people. Their government was kind of iffy being based on what we call the Mayflower compact. This was just an agreement signed by some of the passengers during the voyage.
The more important settlement was established by the very Puritan Massachusetts Bay Company. Understand that religious conditions in England were a bit chaotic at the time. These puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious and political refuge. We might find that impressive until we remember that this colony was the location of the infamous witch trials of Salem. So much for the religious refuge.
This colony was aggressive right from the get-go. By 1640 it had a population of about 20,000 people and they began absorbing their neighbors, including the Old Colony, Maine, and parts of New Hampshire. Their leader was one John Winthrop who was a contentious Puritan. He interpreted the settlement's charter in a somewhat loose way to favor what he saw as the Puritan mission.
Well, the colony kept up with the high handed methods until it ticked off Charles II. Charles abolished the colonies charter after they established their own mint and got into their own foreign affairs. In 1691, following the ascension of William an Mary, a new charter was issued for the Province of Massachusetts Bay which included all of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. It was not until 1820 that Maine managed to wiggle out of that and became a separate state.
Not everything was rosy for Massachusetts. There were Indians about and they became quite hostile around 1675. There ensued one heck of a bloody war between a local Indian chief called King Philip and the settlers. That war ended when Philip was killed, but the toll was quite high. Fifty towns had been raided and trashed and hundreds of settlers were killed. For sure, the killing was not all one sided. Many Massachusetts settlers joined with th British to fight against the French and the Indians. This was still in the times when the settlers thought of themselves as British subjects. That was soon to change.
Another of the original 13 colonies was Maryland which was granted to Cecilius Calvert, the 2nd. Baron Baltimore in 1634. The colony was actually established by his younger brother Leonard Calvert. This was not the first attempt by a Calvert to establish a presence in the New world. In 1621 Cecilius' father, Geroge Calvert, the 1st. Baron Baltimore had established a small colony called Ferryland at Newfoundland. Two years later he managed to get a charter for the colony under the name Avalon. This was to be a Catholic sanctuary. The 1st Baron arrived around 1627.
It did not go well. The climate was bad and a number of settlers died. In addition, the locals did not like Catholics at all. They objected to Baltimore's priests and his masses. So, the Lady Baltimore decided to bug out to Virginia. With that, Baltimore petitioned for a grant in the Chesapeake Bay area. That was no go. Because of his religion, he was barred from settling in Virginia. Not to be deterred, he went home to petition for a Maryland charter. Unfortunately, he kicked the bucket before that happened. The charter was granted to his son, the 2nd Lord Baltimore. Is that complicated enough?
Leonard arrived in 1634 and set up business on St. Clements Island in the lower Potomac. In time the settlers made peace with the local Indians and established farms and trading posts as they expanded inland. With all of the water about them, they built few roads maintaining contact by water. As in Virginia, the big crop was tobacco.
In 1649 a unique Act was passed by the Maryland General Assembly called, at first, an Act Concerning Religion. This was later changed to the Act of Religious Toleration. This act granted a limited degree of religious tolerance and established a precedent for Maryland and eventually for all of the colonies. It even carried over into the Constitution as part of the First Amendment. Although there was turmoil from time to time and scrimmages with Quakers and others, Maryland remained a sanctuary for dissidents from the other less tolerant colonies.
Later, as the settlers moved inland, the capital was moved
to Annapolis where it remains. The Marylanders were not a docile
bunch and they resisted British Dominance vigorously. They repudiated
the hated stamp act in 1765 and later burned a British ship at
the dock of Annapolis. When the fat went into the fire, these
Marylanders were ready to take part and they did. Annapolis is
where the Treaty of Paris was ratified in 1783.
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