Essays in American history

by Henry Ferguson

ESSAYS
IN
AMERICAN HISTORY

BY
HENRY FERGUSON, M. A.

Northam Professor of History and Political Science in
Trinity College, Hartford.

New York
JAMES POTT AND COMPANY
114 Fifth Avenue.

Copyright, 1894,
BY
JAMES POTT & CO.

CONTENTS.

I.
THE QUAKERS IN NEW ENGLAND	[9]
II.
THE WITCHES	[61]
III.
SIR EDMUND ANDROS	[111]
IV.
THE LOYALISTS	[161]

PREFACE.

These essays are presented to the public in the belief that though what they contain be old, it is worth telling again, and in the hope that by viewing the early history of the country from a somewhat different stand-point from that commonly taken, light may be thrown upon places which have been sometimes left in shadow.

The time has been when it was considered a duty to praise every action of the resolute men who were the early settlers of New England. In the glow of an exultant patriotism which was unwilling to see anything but beauty in the annals of their country, and in a spirit of reverence which made them shrink from observing their fathers’ shortcomings, the early historians of the United States dwelt lovingly on the bright side of the colonial life, and passed over its shadows with filial reticence. It is evident that no true conception of any period is possible when so studied, and it is a matter for congratulation that at the present day the subject can be treated with greater impartiality, and that it is no longer necessary for American writers to make up for the political and literary insignificance of their country by boasting either of the vastness of their continent or of the Spartan virtue of their forefathers.