[Footnote: As an illustration of their pious content it is said that Elder Brewster was wont over a meal consisting only of clams to return thanks to God who "had given them to suck the abundance of the seas, and of the treasures hid in the sands.">[
After four years they numbered only 184. The plan of working in common having failed here as at Jamestown, land was assigned to each settler. Abundance ensued. The colony was never organized by royal charter; therefore they elected their own governor, and made their own laws. In 1692, Plymouth was united with Massachusetts Bay colony, under the name of Massachusetts.
MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY.
SETTLEMENT.—John Endicott and five associates having obtained a grant of land about Massachusetts Bay, secured (1628) a royal charter giving authority to make laws and govern the territory. This company afterward transferred all their rights to the colony. It was a popular measure, and many prominent Puritan families flocked to this land of liberty. Some gathered around Governor Endicott, who had already started Salem and Charlestown, some established colonies at Dorchester and Watertown, and one thousand under Governor Winthrop founded Boston (1630).
RELIGIOUS DISTURBANCES.—The people of Massachusetts Bay, while in England, were Puritans, but not Separatists. Having come to America to establish a Puritan Church, they were unwilling to receive persons holding opinions differing from their own, lest their purpose should be defeated. They accordingly sent back to England those who persisted in using the forms of the Established Church, and allowed only members of their own church to vote in civil affairs.
Roger Williams, an eloquent and pious young minister, taught that each person should think for himself in all religious matters, and be responsible to his own conscience alone. He declared that the magistrates had, therefore, no right to punish blasphemy, perjury, or Sabbath-breaking. The clergy and magistrates were alarmed at what they considered a doctrine dangerous to the peace of the colony, and he was ordered (1635) to be sent to England. It was in the depth of winter, yet he fled to the forest and found refuge among the Indians. The next year, Canonicus, the Narraganset sachem, gave him land to found a settlement, which he gratefully named Providence.
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, during the same year, aroused a violent and bitter controversy. She claimed to be favored with special revelations of God's will. These she expounded to crowded congregations of women, greatly to the scandal of the clergy and people. Finally she also was banished.
The Quakers, about twenty years after these summary measures, created fresh trouble by their peculiar views. They were fined, whipped, imprisoned, and sent out of the colony; yet they as constantly returned, glorying in their sufferings. At last four were executed. The people beginning to consider them as martyrs, the persecution gradually relaxed.
A UNION OF THE COLONIES of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut, was formed (1643) under the title of THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND. This was a famous league in colonial times. The object was a common protection against the Indians and the encroachments of the Dutch and French settlers.
KING PHILIP'S WAR.—During the life of Massasuit, Plymouth enjoyed peace with the Indians, as did Jamestown during that of Powhatan. After Massasoit's death, his son, Philip, brooded with a jealous eye over the encroachments of the whites. With profound sagacity, he planned a confederation of the Indian tribes against the intruders. The first blow fell on the people of Swansea as they were quietly going home from church on Sunday (July 14, 1675). The settlers flew to arms, but Philip escaped, and soon excited the savages to fall upon the settlements high up the Connecticut valley.