French Explorations and Settlements
CHAPTER V.
development of the colonies, 1690–1765.
COLONIAL DISPUTES.
91. Character of the Period.—During the first quarter, or indeed the first half of the eighteenth century, colonial history contains few salient features apart from boundary disputes, quarrels with royal governors, and struggles with the French and Indians. There was a steady growth in numbers, which may be measured by the fact that from the first to the middle of the century New England increased fourfold, the Middle colonies sixfold, and the Southern colonies sevenfold in population. Wealth and general prosperity increased in fair proportion also. During such a period of development historians rarely find events of a startling or romantic nature to chronicle.
92. Charters in Danger.—The people of the various colonies were, however, disturbed from time to time by political events that were of considerable importance to them, as, for instance, by the attacks made in England upon their charters. These were in the main successfully warded off by the colonial agents in London, but they sometimes became serious. For example, it was proposed in 1715 to annex Rhode Island and Connecticut, which had liberal charters, to the royal colony of New Hampshire, which had no charter at all. In the case of the Carolinas, the proprietors, when threatened with a writ of quo warranto on account of popular disturbances in their territories, surrendered their charters to the Crown for a compensation. Thereafter royal governors were sent to both South and North Carolina, the latter province having to that time been under a deputy of the governor of the former.
93. Boundary Disputes.—Boundary disputes were very bitter between the colonies and continued, after they became states, into the nineteenth century. Connecticut especially was involved in frequent quarrels with her neighbors. New York and New Hampshire also had disputes with regard to the territory adjoining Lake Champlain. Some of the settlers of this region revolted just before the Revolution, in order to establish an independent government, which was recognized in 1777 as the state of Vermont. Pennsylvania and Maryland likewise had a dispute, which was settled by the drawing of the famous Mason and Dixon Line (1763–1767). To the south there were boundary disputes with Spain and to the west with France. The latter were to lead to serious results.
94. Quarrels with Governors.—The disputes between the colonies and their governors were numerous and bitter. Frequently the point at issue touched upon the payment of a regular salary to the governor by the colony, the colonists preferring to keep him dependent upon them by voting him supplies at irregular intervals. They argued correctly that fixed payments would be equivalent to a tax levied by the Crown, and they held out bravely, especially in Massachusetts, against all efforts on the part of the English government to force them to submit. We have already seen that some disagreements were based upon the corruption of governors, their dealings with pirates, and their general tendency to tyranny. Sometimes, as in South Carolina after the middle of the century, the governor would oppose a pernicious policy like the rash issuing of paper money, and would thus incur popular displeasure. Or he would become unpopular merely as the instrument through which the English government or the proprietors endeavored to carry out some obnoxious measure. Religious persecution of dissenters, when attempted by the governor, was sure to earn him hatred in all quarters, as in the case of Lord Cornbury in New York and New Jersey (1702–1708). Probably the disputes carried on by the Pennsylvanians against their executives over questions of taxation, etc., were more heated than those of any other colony.