CHAPTER XX
CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AIDS
Four special bibliographies of American history are serviceable upon the field of this volume. First, most searching and most voluminous, is Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols., 1888-1889). Mr. Winsor has added to the study of the era of colonization by the writers of his co-operative work the vast wealth of his own bibliographical knowledge. The part of Winsor applicable to this volume is found in vol. III., in which most of the printed contemporary material is enumerated. The second bibliography is the Cambridge Modern History, VII. (1903); pages 757-765 include a brief list of selected titles conveniently classified. J.N. Lamed, Literature of American History, a Bibliographical Guide (1902), has brief critical estimates of the authorities upon colonial history. Channing and Hart, Guide to the Study of American History (1896), contains accounts of state and local histories (§ 23), books of travel (§ 24), biography (§ 25), colonial records (§ 29), proceedings of learned societies (§ 31), also a series of consecutive topics with specific references (§§ 92-98, 100, 101, 109-124). For the field of the present volume a short road to the abundant sources of material is through the footnotes of the principal secondary works enumerated below. The critical chapters in The American Nation, vols. III. and V., contain appreciations of many authorities which also bear on the field of vol. IV.
GENERAL SECONDARY WORKS
The "Foundation" period, from 1574 to 1652, is naturally one of the most interesting in the annals of the American colonies. The most important general historians are George Bancroft, History of the United States (rev. ed., 6 vols., 1883-1885); J.A. Doyle, English Colonies in America (3 vols., 1882-1887); Richard Hildreth, History of the United States (6 vols., 1849-1852); George Chalmers, Political Annals of the American Colonies (1780); Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols., 1888-1889); John Fiske, Discovery of America (2 vols., 1892), Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (1900), Beginnings of New England (1898), Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, New France and New England (1902).
Among these writers three have conspicuous merit—Doyle, Winsor, and Fiske. Doyle's volumes manifest a high degree of philosophic perception and are accurate in statement and broad in conclusions. Of his books the volumes on the Puritan colonies are distinctly of a higher order than his volume on the southern colonies. The chief merit of Winsor's work is the critical chapters and parts of narrative chapters, which are invaluable. John Fiske is not wanting in the qualities of a great historian—breadth of mind and accuracy of statement; but his great charm is in his style and his power of vivifying events long forgotten. He has probably come nearer than any one else to writing real history so as to produce a popular effect.
COLLECTIONS OF SOURCES
The main contemporary collectors of materials for the history of the early voyages to America were Richard Eden, Richard Hakluyt, and Samuel Purchas. Eden's Decades of the New World or West Indies (7 vols., 1555) consists of abstracts of the works of foreign writers—Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, Ramusio, Ziegler, Pigafetta, Munster, Bastaldus, Vespucius, and others. Richard Hakluyt first published Divers Voyages (1582; reprinted by the Hakluyt Society) and then his Principal Voyages (3 vols., folio, 1589; reissued 1600). Samuel Purchas's first volume appeared in 1613 under the title, Purchas: His Pilgrimage of the World, or Religions Observed in all Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation unto this Present. The four subsequent volumes were published in 1623 under the title, Hakluytius Posthumous, or, Purchas: His Pilgrimes.
Among these three compilers Hakluyt enjoys pre-eminence, and the Hakluyt Society has supplemented his labors by publishing in full some of the narratives which Hakluyt, for reasons of accuracy or want of space, abbreviated. The Historie of Travaile into Virginia, by William Strachey, secretary to Lord Delaware, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1848, and this book contains excellent accounts of the expeditions sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke, the voyages of Bartholomew Gosnold and George Weymouth, and the settlement made under its charter by the Plymouth Company at Sagadahoc, or Kennebec.
The only official collection of documentary materials that covers the entire period is the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1574-1696 (9 vols., 1860-1903). George Sainsbury, the editor, was a master at catching the salient points of a manuscript. Many of his abstracts have elsewhere been published in full.
The principal private collectors are E. Hazard, State Papers (2 vols., 1792-1794); Peter Force, Tracts (4 vols., 1836-1846); Alexander Brown, Genesis of the United States (2 vols., 1891); Albert Bushnell Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries (4 vols., 1898-1902); Maryland Historical Society, Archives of Maryland; and the series called Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, edited by John Romeyn Brodhead. Two convenient volumes embodying many early writings are Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American Literature, I. (1888); Moses Coit Tyler, History of American Literature During the Colonial Time, 1607-1676, I. (1897).
VIRGINIA
The standard authorities for the history of Virginia are Robert Beverley, History of Virginia (1722) (extends to Spotswood's administration); William Stith, History of Virginia (1747) (period of the London Company); John D. Burk, History of Virginia (4 vols., 1805); R.R. Howison, History of Virginia (2 vols., 1846); Charles Campbell, History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia (1847); and Jonn Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors (1900). For the period Stith is by far the most important. His work covers the duration of the London Company, and as he had access to manuscripts now destroyed the history has the value of an original document. As president of William and Mary College Stith was an accomplished scholar, and his work, pervaded with a broad, philosophic spirit, ranks perhaps first among colonial histories. As a mere collection of facts upon the whole colonial history of Virginia Campbell's work is the most useful. The greatest collection of original material bearing upon the first ten years of the colony's history is in Alexander Brown, Genesis of the United States (2 vols., 1890). This remarkable work contains an introductory sketch of what has been done by Englishmen prior to 1606 in the way of discovery and colonization, and a catalogue of charters, letters, and pamphlets (many of them republished at length) through which the events attending the first foundation of an English colony in the New World are developed in order of time. Dr. Brown's other works, The First Republic in America (1898), and English Politics in America (1901) make excellent companion pieces to the Genesis, though the author has made a great mistake in not supporting his text with foot-notes and references.
Among the contemporary writers, John Smith, Works (1884), edited by Edward Arber, is a compilation rather than a history, and in spite of its partisan coloring contains much that is valuable regarding Virginia affairs from 1607 to 1629. For matters from 1619-1624 we have the sure guide of the London Company's Journal, in Virginia Historical Society, Collections, new series, VII. After that time the main dependence, apart from the Calendar of State Papers, is Hening, Statutes at Large of Virginia (13 vols., 1823). The leading incidents in Virginia connected with Lord Baltimore's colony of Maryland and the Puritan persecution are set forth by J.H. Latané, Early Relations of Maryland and Virginia (Johns Hopkins University Studies, XIII., Nos. iii., iv.) Many documents illustrative of this period may be read in Force, Tracts, and Hazard, State Papers; Virginia history is illuminated by many original documents printed in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (11 vols., 1893-1903); and the William and Mary College Quarterly (12 vols., 1892-1903). The works of Edward D. Neill are also of a documentary nature and of much value. Those which bear upon Virginia are The Virginia Company (1868), Virginia Carolorum (1886), Virginia Vestusta (1885), and Virginia and Virginiola (1878). Many tracts are cited in the foot-notes.
MARYLAND
The standard authorities for the history of Maryland are J.V.L. McMahon, Historical View of the Government of Maryland (1831); John Leeds Bozman, History of Maryland (2 vols., 1837, covering the period of 1634 to 1658); James McSherry, History of Maryland (1849); J.T. Scharf, History of Maryland (3 vols., 1879); William Hand Browne, History of Maryland (1893), and George and Cecilius Calvert (1893); Edward D. Neill, Founders of Maryland (1876), and Terra Mariæ (1867). Of these Bozman's work is an invaluable magazine of information, being, in fact, as much a calendar of documents as a continuous narrative. William Hand Browne's books show great familiarity with the story of Maryland and its founders, but his treatment of the subject is marked by strong bias and partisanship in favor of Lord Baltimore and his government. Neill's books, on the other hand, argue strongly in favor of the Puritan influence on the history of Maryland. There are many interesting pamphlets relating to Maryland in the series of Johns Hopkins University Studies, such as Edward Ingle, Parish Institutions of Maryland, I., No. vi.; John Hensley Johnson, Old Maryland Manors, I., No. vii.; Lewis W. Wilhelm, Maryland Local Institutions, III., Nos. v., vi., vii.; D.R. Randall, The Puritan Colony at Annapolis, Maryland, IV., No. vi.; J.H. Latané, Early Relations of Virginia and Maryland, XIII., Nos. iii., iv., and Bernard C. Steiner, The Beginnings of Maryland.
The documentary material of Maryland is very extensive, as the State has been fortunate in preserving most of its colonial records. The Archives of Maryland (23 vols., 1889-1903), published by the Maryland Historical Society, is composed of the proceedings of the council, legislature, and provincial court. The Fund Publications of the society (36 nos. in 4 vols., 1867-1900), are also valuable in this respect, and contain among other things The Calvert Papers (Fund Publications, No. 34). A complete list of all these publications can be found in the annual report of the society for 1902.
For the controversy between Lord Baltimore and the Puritans the chief authorities are Winthrop, History of New England (2 vols., 1790-1853); Lord Baltimore's Case Concerning the Province of Maryland (1653); Virginia and Maryland, or Lord Baltimore's Case Uncased and Answered (Force, Tracts, II., No. ix.); Leonard Strong, Babylon's Fall in Maryland, a Fair Warning to Lord Baltimore; John Langford, A Just and Clere Reputation of Babylon's Fall (1655); John Hammond, Leah and Rachel (Force, Tracts, III., No. xiv.); Hammond versus Heamans, or an Answer to an Audacious Prophet; Heamans, Brief Narrative of the Late Bloody Designs Against the Protestants. The battle of the Severn is described in the letters of Luke Barber and Mrs. Stone, published in Bozman, Maryland, II., 688.
PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS
The standard authorities for the history of these two colonies are Thomas Hutchinson, History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (3 vols., 1795-1828); John G. Palfrey, History of New England (3 vols., 1858-1890); J.S. Barry, History of Massachusetts (3 vols., 1855-1857). Very lively and interesting are Charles Francis Adams, Massachusetts: Its Historians and Its History (1893); Three Episodes of the History of Massachusetts (2 vols., 1895). The best account of Plymouth is J.E. Goodwin, The Pilgrim Republic (1888).
The chief original authority for the early history of the Puritan colony of New Plymouth is William Bradford, Plimoth Plantation (several eds.); and for Massachusetts, John Winthrop, History of New England (several eds.), which is, however, a journal rather than a history. Edward Arber, Story of the Pilgrim Fathers as Told by Themselves (1897), is a collection of ill-arranged sources. The documentary sources are numerous. Hazard prints many documents bearing upon the early history of Massachusetts, and much valuable matter is found in the Records of Plymouth (12 vols., 1855-1859), and the Records of Massachusetts Bay (5 vols., 1853-1854). Then there are the published records of numerous towns, which throw much light upon the political, social, and economic condition of the colonies. The publications of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society contain much original matter and many interesting articles upon the early history of both Plymouth and Massachusetts. Special tracts and documents are referred to in the foot-notes to chaps, ix.-xiii., above.
RHODE ISLAND
The general histories are J.N. Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation (2 vols., 1878), and Irving B. Richman, Rhode Island, Its Making and Meaning (2 vols., 1902). The chief original authorities for the early history of Rhode Island are John Winthrop, History of New England, and the Colonial Records, beginning in 1636. The publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society consist of Collections (9 vols.), Proceedings (21 numbers), and Publications (8 vols.). In all of these important material for history is preserved. The Narragansett Club, Publications (6 vols.), contain Roger Williams's letters; and there is some important matter in S.S. Rider, Rhode Island Historical Tracts (1877-1895), in the Narragansett Historical Register (9 vols.), and the Newport Historical Reports (4 vols.).
CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN
For Connecticut the standard authority is Benjamin Trumbull, History of Connecticut (2 vols., 1818). Other general histories are by Theodore Dwight, G.H. Hollister, and W.H. Carpenter. Original material is found in the Colonial Records, edited by J.H. Trumbull and C.J. Hoadly; Winthrop, History of New England; Connecticut Historical Society, Proceedings, which contain Hooker's famous letter to Winthrop; and Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections.
For New Haven the reader should consult Edward E. Atwater, History of New Haven (1881); Charles H. Levermore, Republic of New Haven (1886); and the publications of the New Haven Historical Society and the Records of the Colony of New Haven, in which the documentary material is chiefly printed. In connection with this volume the records of Hartford and of Southold are important. Special authorities are cited in chaps, xiv., xv. above.
NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE
The standard authority for the history of New Hampshire is Jeremy Belknap, History of New Hampshire (3 vols., 1784-1813); and that for Maine is William D. Williamson, History of Maine (2 vols., 1832). Documents illustrating the history of New Hampshire can be found in the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers and in John Scribner Jenness, Transcripts of Original Documents in the English Archives Relating to the Early History of the State of New Hampshire (1876).
Important papers occur in the ten volumes of Collections published by the New Hampshire Historical Society. For Maine the reader is referred to the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and those of the Maine Historical Society. Important original material may be found in York Deeds (11 vols., 1642-1726).
For the early history of both colonies John Winthrop, History of New England, is the principal original authority. The narrative of Gorges has some value in connection with both colonies. Special tracts and documents are treated in chap, xvi., above.
DUTCH COLONY OF NEW NETHERLAND
The standard authorities for the early history of this colony are E.B. O'Callaghan, History of New Netherland (2 vols., 1855), and John Romeyn Brodhead, History of the State of New York (2 vols., 1872). The voyage of Henry Hudson is told in Purchas; and the Documents Relating to the History of New York (15 vols., 1856-1861) collected by John Romeyn Brodhead shed light on the early Dutch trading-post at New Amsterdam. The first mention by the English of the Dutch on the Hudson is made in a work republished in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (2d series, IX., 1-25), in which it is stated that an English sea-captain, Dermer, "met on his voyage from [Virginia to New England] with certain Hollanders who had a trade in Hudson River some years before that time, 1619."
For the relations of the Dutch with the English the main authorities are William Bradford, Plimoth Plantation; John Winthrop, History of New England; the "Proceedings of the Federal Commissioners," published in Plymouth Colony Records, IX., X., and New Haven Records, and Hazard, State Papers, II.; and Peter de Vries, Journal (N.Y. Hist. Soc., Collections, 2d series, III.).
NEW SWEDEN
The founding of New Sweden is probably best told in Benjamin Ferris, History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware (1846), extracted from works already published in English, and is interesting and valuable as identifying and describing many of the places mentioned. Winthrop and the records of the federal commissioners set out pretty fully the relations with the English colonies.
NEW FRANCE AND ACADIA
A series of chapters in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (vol. IV., chaps, i.-iv.) tell the story of the founding of the French dominion in America. The chief original authorities are Richard Hakluyt, Voyages; Samuel de Champlain, Les Voyages; Marc Lescarbot, Histoire de la Nouvelle France; and the Jesuit Relations.
For relations with the English the chief original authority is Winthrop. Among the late French writers the pre-eminence is accorded to the Jesuit father Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France.
RIVALRY WITH SPAIN
The rivalry of England with Spain, which is the greatest underlying principle of English colonization, is depicted fully in Hakluyt, Discourses on Western Planting, written at Raleigh's request and shown to Queen Elizabeth; first printed in 1877 by Dr. Charles Deane in the Maine Hist. Soc., Collections (2d series, II.). The lives of Gilbert and Raleigh were manifestations of this spirit of rivalry, and Edward Edwards, Life of Sir Walter Raleigh (2 vols., 1868), contains the fullest and best account extant of the two half-brothers. In an excellent little work, Thomas Hariot and His Associates (1900), developed by Henry Stevens chiefly from dormant material, we have a most entertaining and interesting account of Thomas Hariot, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, Jacques Le Moyne, Captain John White, and other noble spirits associated in the colonization of America. Compare the critical chapter of E.G. Bourne, Spain in America (The American Nation, III.).
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
Religious influences entered largely into the settlement and development of the different colonies in America. The chief authorities on the subject are James Carwithen, History of the Church of England (1849); Daniel Neal, History of the Puritans (1844); Anderson, History of the Church of England in the Colonies (2 vols., 2d ed., 1856); William Stevens Perry, History of the American Episcopal Church (2 vols., 1885); Francis Lister Hawks, Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States (2 vols., 1836-1839). William Meade, Old Churches in Virginia (2 vols., 1857), tells much about the early church in Virginia. In the Johns Hopkins University Studies are Paul E. Lauer, Church and State in New England, X., Nos. ii., iii.; and George Petrie, Church and State in Maryland, X., No. iv.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
For Virginia the economic side has been fully presented by Philip A. Bruce in his Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols., 1896). The social side during the period of the present volume has not been thoroughly covered by any modern writer. For Maryland no detailed statement can be found, but much valuable information is contained in Newton D. Mereness, Maryland as a Proprietary Province (1901). For New England the social and economic status is fully presented by William B. Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England (2 vols., 1891). John G. Palfrey, History of New England (4 vols.), has also several valuable chapters on the subject. Edward Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation (1897) and Transit of Civilization (1900) deal very appreciatively with social elements and conditions.