Pilgrim Guide Book to Plymouth, Massachusetts / With a Brief Outline of the Pilgrim Migration and Settlement at Plymouth

by William Franklin Atwood

THEY CARRY ON

Fortified by faith and grim determination the colonists carried on in the face of great adversity, yet getting more and more firmly established.

In 1636, owing to the growth of the original colony or plantation and the establishment of separate settlements at Scituate and Duxbury, the purely democratic rule which had obtained under the Mayflower Compact, wherein matters pertaining to the interests of the colony were settled in general assembly, was superseded by a law passed providing for government by deputies representing the several towns.

The first legislative body met in 1639 and brought together representatives from the outlying towns of Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Taunton, Scituate, Duxbury and Plymouth.

In 1643, for mutual interests and against the menace of Indian attack, a confederation was formed between the Plymouth and Massachusetts colonies in combination with Connecticut and New Haven as separate units, with authority vested in commissioners.

This remained in force until 1672 when a new compact was made upon the union of Connecticut and New Haven, which gave less authority to the commissioners.

In 1686 Sir Edmund Andros was sent by King James to rule over the Dominion of New England, to which in 1688 New York and New Jersey were added, the seat of government remaining in Boston.

Conditions under Andros with his autocratic assumptions and restrictions were not pleasant. It is interesting to note in this connection that Clark’s Island which had for some time been used for the support of the poor, was turned over by Andros to one of his followers who had been attracted by its natural beauties.

The ascension of William III to the throne of England in 1689 had much to do with shaping the destinies of the colonists. The regime of Andros continued until word was received that the landing of William, Prince of Orange, in England threatened the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty when the citizens of Boston revolted, took possession of a British ship in the harbor and overthrew the crown’s despotic representative. Plymouth again acquired Clark’s Island and later the proclamation of William and Mary established once more the freedom the colonists had previously enjoyed.

In 1692 came the union of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. Sir William Phipps was appointed by the crown chief magistrate over the Massachusetts Colony with which the Plymouth Colony was united under one royal charter.