A ROYAL CHARTER was obtained (1662) which united both these colonies and guaranteed to all the rights upon which the Connecticut colonists had agreed. This was a precious document, since it gave them almost independence, and was the most favorable yet granted to any colony. Twenty-four years after, Governor Andros marching from Boston over the route where the pious Hooker had led his little flock fifty years before, came "glittering with scarlet and lace" into the assembly at Hartford, and demanded the charter. A protracted debate ensued. The people crowded around to take a last look at this guarantee of their liberties, when suddenly the lights were extinguished. On being relighted, the charter was gone. William Wadsworth had seized it, escaped through the crowd and hidden it in the hollow of a tree, famous ever after as the Charter Oak. However, Andros pronounced the charter government at an end. "Finis" was written at the close of the minutes of their last meeting. When the governor was so summarily deposed in Boston the people brought the charter from its hiding-place, the general court reassembled, and the "finis" disappeared.
[Footnote: Another attempt to infringe upon charter rights occurred in 1693. Governor Fletcher ordered the militia placed under his own command. Having called them out to listen to his royal commission, he began to read. Immediately Captain Wadsworth ordered the drums to be beaten. Fletcher commanded silence, and began again. "Drum, drum!" cried Wadsworth. "Silence!" shouted the governor. "Drum, drum, I say!" repeated the captain; and then turning to Fletcher, with a meaning look, he added: "If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you." The governor did not press the matter.—The story of the Charter Oak is denied by some, who claim that contemporary history does not mention it, and that probably Andros seized the charter, while the colonists had previously made a copy.]
RHODE ISLAND.
[Footnote: An island of a reddish appearance was observed lying in the bay. This was known to the Dutch as Roode or Red Island. Hence the name of the island and State of Rhode Island.—Brodhead.]
SETTLEMENT. Roger Williams settled Providence Plantation in 1636, the year in which Hooker came to Hartford. Other exiles from Massachusetts followed, among them the celebrated Mrs. Hutchinson. A party of these purchased the island of Aquiday and established the Rhode Island Plantation. Roger Williams stamped upon these colonies his favorite idea of religious toleration, i.e., that the civil power has no right to interfere with the religious opinions of men.
[Footnote: William Blackstone, being as dissatisfied with the yoke of the "lords brethren" in Boston as with that of the "lord bishops" in England, some time before this removed to the banks of what is now called the Blackstone, near Providence. He, however, acknowledged the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.]
[Footnote: Persecuted refugees from all quarters flocked to Providence; and Williams shared equally with all the lands he had obtained, reserving to himself only two small fields which, on his first arrival, he had planted with his own hands.]
A CHARTER.—The colonists wished to join the New England Union, but were refused on the ostensible plea that they had no charter. Williams accordingly visited England and obtained a charter uniting the two plantations. On his return the people met, elected their officers, and (1647) agreed on a set of laws guaranteeing freedom of faith and worship to all,—"the first legal declaration of liberty of conscience ever adopted in Europe or America."
NEW YORK.
SETTLEMENT.—Soon after the discovery of the Hudson, as previously described (p. 39), Dutch ships began to visit the river to traffic in furs with the Indians. Afterward the West India Company obtained a grant of New Netherland, and under its patronage permanent settlements were made at New Amsterdam and also at Fort Orange (Albany). The company allowed persons who should plant a colony of fifty settlers to select and buy land of the Indians, which it was agreed should descend to their heirs forever. These persons were called "patroons" (patrons) of the manor.