October 9, The four governments of New Hampshire which subscribed to a union with Massachusetts goes into effect, giving New Hampshire representatives a vote in town affairs without regard to religious qualifications. December, "The Body of Liberties.' The Massachusetts body of liberties, the first code of laws ever established in New England Colonies, was compiled by Nathaniel Ward, a leading English Puritan Minister, who had been trained as a lawyer, who came to the colony in 1634, and was for a time pastor at Ipswich. The Liberties were established by the Massachusetts General Court in December of this year as the "Liberties" of Massachusetts Colonies in New England. These laws, ninety-eight in number, were formally adopted.

Act regulating measures and adopting the Winchester bushel as the standard in Maryland.

Trouble of the Massachusetts and Plymouth Colonies with Samuel Gorton begins. Governor Bellingham, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, selects his bride and performs the marriage ceremony himself.

John Haynes, Governor of the Connecticut colony.

New Hampshire united under the government of Massachusetts.

The Grand Remonstrance, a protest by the House of Commons in England against the acts of Charles I.

Sir William Berkeley commissioned Governor of the Virginia colony.

1642

January 2, Nathaniel Bacon, lawyer and leader in Bacon's Rebellion, born in Virginia.

March 1, Gorges founds a city in Agamenticus, which he calls Georgeana, Maine. April 2, Connecticut's fourteen capital laws enacted founded on passages taken from the scriptures.

Boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut first surveyed and run by Woodward and Saffray.

May 18, John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts colony.

Berkeley's administration in Virginia.

First commencement at Harvard College.

John Printz, Governor (New Sweden) New Jersey.

George Wyllys, Governor of the Connecticut colony.

1643

February 15, John Printz, a Swede and Governor of New Sweden (Delaware), arrives at Christiana with two war vessels.

April 11, Governor Calvert, of Maryland, returning to England, appoints Brent, Lieutenant-Governor, admiral, chief magistrate and commander of the colony in his absence.

April 18, Elder William Brewster, of Plymouth, dies.

Apr., Alexander Rigby purchases the abandoned "Plough Patent or Lygonia" and commissions George Cleaver, deputy president. Cleaver opens a court at Saco, Maine, styled “the General Assembly of the province of Lygonia" which extends from Cape Porpoise to Casco.

May 10, Colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, confederate under the name of the United Colonies of New England. May 19, Articles of Union of the four Colonies signed in Boston, Massachusetts. May 29, Rhode Island refused admission into the New England Confederation, November, Gorton and his companions summoned to Boston. On their refusal a detachment of forty men is sent to arrest them. Gorton and his followers, after an unsuccessful attempt to defend themselves, are taken to Boston and tried. Gorton and several others are found guilty.

Second attempt to form a union of the New England Colonies brought forwa and adopted. By the terms of this compact, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and New Haven are joined in a loose confederation called the United Colonies of New England. (See above May 10.)

Massachusetts first incorporated in counties, being divided into four counties, viz., Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, and Norfolk.

Martha's Vineyard settled by some people from Watertown, Mass.
James Briton and Mary Latham put to death for adultery.

One thousand acres of land planted to orchards, 15,000 acres under general tillage, the number of neat cattle estimated at over 12,000 head, and sheep at 3,000. With money scarce, bullets for a time passed for farthings among the inhabitants of New England.

John Haynes and Edward Hopkins, alternately, Governors of the Connecticut Colony.

1644

January, Governor Brent, of Maryland, issues a proclamation for arresting the person and seizing the ship of Richard Ingle to answer the charge of treason in instigating a rebellion against the Maryland Government. Ingle arrested but makes his escape.

1644-46

Ingle's and Claiborne's rebellion in Maryland. Little is known of this instance other than that the great seal of the province at St. Mary's was destroyed in February, 1645 and Hill was appointed Governor of Maryland in the absence of Calvert, who fled from the parliamentary party presumably to Virginia. At the restoration of the authority of Lord Baltimore in 1646 the insurrectionists carried away or destroyed most of the public papers and records of the province.

1644

March 11, Fifth Swedish expedition arrives at Christiana, Delaware.
Mar. 14, Charter granted to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Mar., Gorton and his companions, convicted during the previous year, are ordered to depart from the jurisdiction within fourteen days and not to return to Massachusetts or Shawomet on pain of death.

Reverend John Wheelwright, sentenced to banishment, revoked upon his acknowledgment of his error and asking pardon.

April 10, William Brewster, a Pilgrim father and a signer of the political compact on board of the "Mayflower," dies in Plymouth.

Apr. 18, Indian Massacre in Virginia..

May 29, John Endicott, Governor of Massachusetts, and John Winthrop, DeputyGovernor.

June 5, Edward Winslow, Governor of Plymouth Colony.

September, Roger Williams proceeds to England and obtains a charter, including the shores and islands of Narragansett Bay west of Plymouth and south of Massachusetts as far as the Pequod River, the country to be known as the Providence Plantation and the inhabitants to rule themselves as they shall find most suitable. Anabaptists banished from Massachusetts.

October, William Penn born in London.

Richard Vines, Deputy-Governor of the province of Maine.
Religious liberty granted in Rhode Island.

Colonel George Fenwick purchases the old Connecticut patent for one thousand pounds and assumes jurisdiction over the whole territory.

Arbitrary Government described and the Government of Massachusetts vindicated from the aspersion by John Winthrop, the Deputy-Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A dispute arose in Massachusetts between the magistrates and the deputies as to the respective powers of the two branches of the legislature. The deputies claimed judicial authority. Opposition to this claim brought upon Winthrop and other magistrates the charge of arbitrary government. In order to clear up the situation he drew up a document, imparting his personal views and throwing much light upon the origins of the political institutions of the Commonwealth. Many of his recommendations were later accepted partially or full embodied in the laws or customs of the times.

1645

May 14, William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth colony.
June 4, Thomas Dudley, Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts.

Last Dutch, Governor of New York appointed.

Free schools established at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and other towns, to be sup ported by voluntary allowance or by tax upon those who refuse. Law passed in Massachusetts against slave-stealing.

1646

March, Commissioners appointed for the purpose, decide that the province of Lygonia does not belong to the province of Maine. The Kennebec River is as signed as the boundary between the two provinces as against the contentions of the former.

May 6, John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts.

October 28, John Eliot preaches his first sermon to the Indians near Newtown Corners, afterwards called Nonantum or "Place of Rejoicing."

Thomas Dudley, Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Court of the province of Maine convenes at Wells at the mouth of the Kennebec River. Edward Godfrey elected Governor of the province of Maine.

Governor Calvert, of Maryland, organizes a military force in Virginia, proceeds to St. Marys, and regains that part of his province.

Thomas Morton, of " Merry Mount," dies at Agamenticus, Maine.

Mrs. Oliver is adjudged to be whipped for reproaching the Magistrates and a cleft stick placed upon her tongue for speaking ill of the elders.

Plymouth and Boston, Massachusetts visited by Captain Cornwell, who from a common sailor had come to command three ships. He had amassed wealth as a buccaneer or fighter of the Spaniards.

Peter Stuyvesant, Governor (New Netherlands) New Jersey colony.

1647

April 18, In recovering the Isle of Kent, Governor Calvert, of Maryland, pardons all the inhabitants and appoints Vaughn chief captain and commander of the militia and civil governor.

May 11, Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Governor of New York.

John Coggeshall, President of Warwick, Portsmouth, and Newport, Rhode Island. June 9, Governor Calvert, of Maryland, nominates Thomas Green as his suc

cessor.

June, Epidemic visits New England, which was like a cold with a light fever. It extended throughout the country, among the Indians, English, French, and Dutch settlements alike. Among those who died were Mr. Thomas Hooker, of Hartford, Mrs. Winthrop, wife of the Governor, and over fifty others in Massachu setts alone among the white races.

The "Agreement of the People" in England.

First mention made in the legislative journal of the upper and lower house of the Assembly in Maryland records.

Law passed in Massachusetts requiring every township containing fifty householders to have a school-house and employ a teacher. Each town containing one thousand freeholders must maintain a grammar school.

1648

January, Miss Margaret Brent, administratrix of Governor Calvert, asks from the Maryland Assembly a vote in the House for herself and another as attorney for Lord Baltimore, but is refused.

William Coddington, President of Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, and New port, Rhode Island (May).

June 15, Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, indicted for a witch, found guilty, and executed. (This is said to have been the first trial and

execution for witchcraft in Mass.) August 12, Maryland's new great seal sent over from England by Lord Baltimore. New London, Connecticut, settled, Governor and magistrates receive no salaries until later, when the governor's salary was fixed at thirty pounds.

William Stone, Proprietary Governor of Baltimore.

Governor Green, of Maryland, removed by Lord Baltimore and William Stone, of Virginia, a zealous Protestant, appointed.

Congregational Church Platform established at Cambridge, Mass.

Samuel Gorton, after the second banishment from Massachusetts, proceeds to England to obtain redress. This he partially obtains and, returning again, settles at Shawomet, which he now names Warwick after the Earl of Warwick who had assisted and befriended him.

1649

January, Charles I of England beheaded.

March 26, Governor John Winthrop, in the tenth term of his office as governor of Massachusetts, dies, age sixty-three years, leaving a fourth wife. He also left a journal commencing with his departure from England and containing complete data of happenings and events up to the time of his death.

April, The Tolerance Act" of Maryland, the first act securing religious liberty ever passed by an established legislature. It declared that no person should be molested on account of his religious beliefs or abridged in the free exercise of { his rights within the province.

May 2, John Endicott, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

May, John Smith, President of Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, and Newport, Rhode Island.

September, Commission granted by Lord Baltimore, of Maryland, to Brooks, as commander of Charles County around about and next adjoining to the place which he should settle on the south side of the Patuxent with a colony he was transporting to Maryland.

Catholic worship prohibited in Maryland.

Oliver Cromwell usurps the government of England and Colonies.

Puritan refugees from Massachusetts, under Durand, settle on the site of Annapolis, Maryland.

The Assembly of Maryland grants Lord Baltimore power to seize and dispose of all lands purchased from the Indians, unless the purchaser can show a lawful title thereto from his lordship under the great seal of the province. Mr. Durand, from Massachusetts, elder of a Puritan or Independent church founded in Virginia, which was broken up by that government, obtains permission of the Lord Proprietary's government of Maryland, to settle with his people at Providence or Anne Arundel, now Annapolis, Maryland.

William Pynchon, of Springfield publishes a book upon Redemption and Justification, which the General Court orders to be publicly burned in the market-place as containing doctrines of a dangerous tendency.

1650

May 22, Thomas Dudley, governor, and John Endicott, Deputy-Governor, of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

May, Nicholas Easton, President of Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth and Newport, Rhode Island.

July 30, Settlement at Providence organized into a county called Anne Arundel, now Annapolis, Maryland.

Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

September 11, Governor Stuyvesant, of (New York) New Netherlands, visits Hartford to settle certain boundary questions in dispute with the New England Uited Colonies.

Chowan River, North Carolina, settled by the English.

Act passed by the Assembly of Maryland punishing by death and confiscation of property any compliance with Claiborne in opposition to Lord Baltimore. Estimated population of Maine 1,000, New Hampshire 1,400, Massachusetts 18,000, Rhode Island 800, Connecticut 6,000, New York 3,000, Maryland 4,500, and of Virginia 17,000, an estimated total population of about 51,700 inhabitants.

1651

May 7, John Endicott, Governor, and Thomas Dudley, Deputy-Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

July 19, A deed of land between Christiana Creek and Canarosse, Delaware, secured by the Dutch State General and West India Company from the Indians. The same land had previously been sold by the Indians to the Swedes who erected Fort Casimis near New Castle, Del.

September 20, Council of State in England appoints three officers of the navy with Bennett and Claiborne of Virginia, as a commission to "use their best endeavors to reduce all the plantations upon the bay of Chesapeake to their due obedience to the Parliament and Commonwealth of England."

October, Samuel Gorton, President of Providence and Warwick.

The "Pine Tree" shilling coined in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Maine Colonies annexed to Massachusetts.

Norwalk, Connecticut, settled.

Middletown, Connecticut, settled.

French agents from Quebec visit the Connecticut colonists, asking aid against the five nations of New York, the Iroquois Indians.

Richard Bennett, Colonial Governor, serves as a commissioner to reconcile the Virginians to the Cromwell Administration.

First Navigation Act passed.

The Indian tribes in Maryland having become greatly reduced by continued hostilities, Lord Baltimore grants a tract of land at the head of the Wicomoco River to be known as Calveston Manor and reserved for the Indians.

Rumor of the resignation in England of Lord Baltimore leads the Puritans of Anne Arundel to refuse to send any Burgesses or delegates to the General Assembly at St. Mary's when summoned.

John Clarke, a minister from the Baptist church at Newport, Rhode Island, and two others are arrested at Lynn as Baptists and sent to Boston, where Clarke is sentenced to pay a fine of twenty pounds or be whipped. The fine is paid and he is released with the injunction to leave the colony. Obadiah Holmes, one of Clarke's companions, is fined thirty pounds. Not paying it, he gets thirty strokes with a three corded whip and is sent out of the colony.

Hugh Parsons and his wife, Mary, tried for witchcraft. Mrs. Parsons dies in prison and Parsons is acquitted.

Oliver Cromwell invites people of Massachusetts to Ireland.

French and Canadians appeal in vain to the people of New England for aid against the Iroquois.

1652

March, Commissioners proceed to Maryland engaging Governor Stone and the rest of Lord Baltimore's officers to submit themselves to the government of the Commonwealth of England, thus taking the control from Lord Baltimore. May, John Smith, President Providence and Warwick, Rhode Island. June 28, By proclamation of the commissioners sent from England, Governor Stone, of Maryland, is reinstated as Governor of Maryland. He assumes this office until the pleasure of the state of England be known."

July 5, Treaty with the Susquehannock Indians at the river of Severn, who code their lands from the Patuxent River to Palmer's Island on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay and from Choptank River to the northeast branch northwad of Elke River on the eastern side of the bay.