Near the coast and some miles beyond, all the Middle Colonies are settled, and new improvements are extending deeper in the interior. In Pennsylvania, where the Penn family own all the land, any one who wants to improve the land, chooses a piece, pays the landlord for 100 acres 10 Pound Sterling local money, and binds himself to pay an annual rent of half a penny for each acre,—he then becomes absolute owner, and the little ground rent can never be increased. Sometimes the hunter builds a wooden hut, and the nearest neighbors in the wilderness help cut the timber, build the log hut, fill the crevices with mud, put on the roof and put in windows and doors, and in return the owner pays them with a gallon of brandy, and by a like good service in turn. Then he lays out his garden and pasture and fields, cuts out the underbrush, tops the big trees and strips the bark, so that he can sow and reap, the trees die and hurt neither land nor crops. Many hunters have thus settled the wilderness,—they are soon followed by poor Scotch or Irish who are looking for homes,—these they find in this half improved condition,—they buy from the hunters, get a patent from the Proprietors, paying the usual charge. The hunter moves off into the wilderness and goes to work again. The Scotch or Irishman completes the half finished task, builds a better house of sawed timber, uses the old log hut for a stable, later builds a house of brick and his timber house is a good barn. Scotch and Irish often sell to the Germans, of whom from 90 to 100,000 live in Pennsylvania, and prefer to put all their earnings into land and improvements. The Scotch or Irish are satisfied with a fair profit, put the capital into another farm, leaving the Germans owners of the old farms. In Pennsylvania there is no law to prevent cutting up a farm into very small holdings nor to forbid the purchase of very large bodies of land. There is no danger from either course, for there is land enough for rich and poor, and the former prefer the larger profits from trade to the small return from land. In New England, unlike Pennsylvania, a good deal of land is let to farmers, for there are many rich owners of large estates,—this is so too in the Carolinas, and in other Colonies where owners of 10 or 20 or more thousands of acres bring settlers at their own expense to improve their land. Kalm mentions similar cases in New York.
When an owner of land dies intestate, and there are many children to inherit the father's farm, it is generally taken by the eldest son, and the younger children get in money their share of its appraised value,—the eldest son gets two shares, the other children only one apiece. The father of a large family takes from the Proprietary a large tract of land, which on his death can be divided among all his children. In New England improvement of the land is made in a more regular way than in Pennsylvania,—whole towns are laid out, and as soon as sixty families agree to build a church and support a Minister and a Schoolmaster, the Provincial government gives them the required privilege, carrying with it the right to elect two deputies to the Legislature, from the grant of 6 English square miles. Then the town or village is laid out in a square, with the church in the centre. The land is divided and each works his own, leaving however the forest in common, and with the privilege of laying out another village in time. In this way new settlements grow in New England in regular order and succession,—every new village touching on an old one, and all steadily increasing in wealth and numbers. Nothing of this kind is done in Pennsylvania, where the Proprietor wants only to sell land and as much as any one wants and wherever he likes. The mistake of this was shown in the Indian wars. On the border were scattered houses and farms, which could not help one another, and they were attacked singly, plundered and destroyed, and the ruined owners with their families took refuge with the older settlements, which became burthened with their care.
Blacks are found in Virginia, Maryland and the two Carolinas in large numbers, but very few in Pennsylvania and further north. In Pennsylvania, on principle they were prevented coming as much as possible, partly because there was no such hard work as they were fitted for in raising tobacco, rice and indigo. In Pennsylvania, every negro must pay a tax of 10 pounds sterling and this the master who brings him must pay. These negroes are protected by law in all the Colonies, as much as free men. A Colonist, even if he is the owner, who kills a blackman, is instantly sentenced to death,—if he overworks or ill treats his slave, the latter can complain to the judge. Then in their own interest the masters are obliged not to give their slaves excessive tasks or insufficient food, for their death is a loss. The negro slaves have all the general rights of humanity except freedom and property, neither of which they possess.
The free in the Colonies are of two kinds, the one servant and maid, bound for a half or a whole year, and the term ends by mutual agreement. The other class consists of poor Scotch, Irish and Germans, who to get to America come without paying their passage, and the ship captain finds them a master who pays it and thus secures their service for food and lodging and clothing, without pay, but only for a term of years, never for life. Sometimes a father sells the services of his children to a master, who must teach them some useful trade, farming, carpentering, cooking. This lasts until majority,—with boys at 21, with girls at 18, and in some cases for 8 years, but not longer. Then the children are by law free, and their master is bound to give them the needful articles for housekeeping, a cow, farming implements, tools etc. In this way all poor children have the hope of establishing themselves on their majority in freedom. The poor fathers find their comfort in this expectation, are relieved of the care of their children in the interval, and know that they are learning something useful and will start out in life with money in hand without having to pay anything to the master. The masters in turn are satisfied with the cheap service. This law has been introduced to cure the old need of servants and apprentices.
There is a special class of servants in the Colonies, between peasants and slaves, those transported from Great Britain for certain crimes for from 7 to 14 years. It is an exile from Great Britain under penalty of prison in case of return. Such an offender is sold by the Courts to a Ship's Captain who takes him to the Colonies and sells him as a slave for a limited period. That over he is free. Formerly such servants were welcomed on account of the demand for laborers, but now they are no longer needed in the populous Colonies, they remain worthless and are soon sent to prison for fresh offences.
The constitutions of the British Colonies differ according to the original grants, 1st Royal, 2nd Proprietary, 3rd Charter Governments, and the British Parliamentary Statutes call them Plantations under Proprietors, under Charters, under his majesty's immediate commission, Stat. 6 Anne, cap. 30, sec. 2. The 1st class are arranged strictly according to the British Constitution, with a Governor, who represents the King, and two legislative branches, 1st the Council, called the Royal Council, 2nd Representatives of towns or counties, belonging to one Colony, these two are like the two houses of the British Parliament, and the Council is called the Upper House, and the body of representatives of the people the Lower House. In these three branches are vested the law making powers of the Colony, but subject to the Crown, hence united they are called the Assembly, although that is popularly limited to the two Houses and often to the Lower or popular House. The King appoints the Governor and recalls him at pleasure. The Council also consists of royal officials dependent on the King as to terms and nature of appointment, but generally selected from the principal persons of the Colony, legal, financial and military officers. Governor and Councillors have fixed salaries and certain fees, the Governor a large fixed salary, provided in advance by the Colonies, thus the Governor of Barbadoes has £2000, the Governor of Virginia £1000. The popular representatives are elected annually and receive a fixed per diem allowance. They look after the rights and privileges of the people, just as do the Council and the Governor after those of the Crown. Every measure approved by the three bodies becomes a law, but only provisionally, for it must be sent to the King for approval, but if not vetoed within three years, it is final. This is the usual rule for Colonial governments, (with some local exceptions) in all the West India Islands, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, both Carolinas, New Georgia, New Scotland, New Hampshire, and I believe Quebec, East and West Florida, and the newly acquired Caribbean Islands, and the English consider it the best way of securing the rights of the Mother Country, that is, Great Britain. The 2nd class is that of hereditary Proprietors, such as those of Pennsylvania and Maryland. In the former the English family of Penn, in the latter the Irish Lords Baltimore are the hereditary Proprietors and Governors, as over lords they draw a certain income from all the Colonists in proportion to their land, and all improved land is sold at a fixed price. Both tax and price are low, but the growth of both Colonies has made both families rich. Lord Baltimore has the right of patron of all churches in Maryland. As hereditary Proprietors both appoint their Lieutenant Governors, who are confirmed by the King, and reside in the Provinces. In both Colonies there are Assemblies,—that in Maryland consists of the Council and the House of Commons, and subject to the right of the Proprietor, has the same jurisdiction as that of any other Colony.
The third kind of government is the Chartered or Free government. This is nearest a Democracy, and is less dependent on the Crown. This form of constitution exists in the three Colonies of New England, completely in Connecticut and Rhode Island,—in Massachusetts with certain restrictions. The two first named Colonies have the right to elect all their own officers, including the Governor and Council, and to make all needful laws without royal approval, nor can the decisions of their Courts be appealed from. In Rhode Island even the ministers of the Churches can be removed at the end of a year, so that they hold office only for one year's salary.
Massachusetts Bay formerly had these popular rights, but owing to abuses their former privileges and freedom were repealed by the King's Bench under Charles the Second, and only partly restored by a new Charter from William the Third. Since then the King appoints the Governor and the chief law and treasury and all military officers. The representatives have the right to elect Councillors, but subject to a negative veto of the Governor. This election in Massachusetts as well as in Connecticut and Rhode Island, is made by both Houses, annually, because the members of the Council hold office only for a year.
Laws passed by the Assembly must have royal approval, and in cases involving over £300, there is an appeal to the Privy Council in London.
The Governor of Massachusetts has no fixed salary, but it is fixed every year by the Assembly. (Kalm says this is so in New York also.) He must therefore be popular with the Assembly or the King will replace him by another likely to be so. This uncertain tenure is unpopular in Europe because it affects unfavorably the interests of the Colony and makes that of Great Britain dependent on the Colony. The Colonists answer that a fixed salary would enable the Governor to live abroad and send only a Lieutenant Governor as substitute.