The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-02-20
Daughters of the Confederacy

| DAVIDSON, IludE, t Gu = - L'A T. L ~
members are requested to answer roll
call with a colonial statesman. Fol
| lowing is the beginning OF Miss Mil
dred Rutherfords speech to the
delegates in New Orleans.
Let us now begin with the early
| colonial period, the first of our his
tory.
Not only was the jamestown colo
ny in Virginia the first permanent
English colony in America, but it was
the first to have an assembly, writ
ten constitution, a trial by jury, an
endowed college, a school house, a
school for Indians, miss Onary to
the Indians. First to have a preach
er, to build a church, to have mar
riage ceremony, a baptism, a thanks
giving day (1609), a hospital, a ply
stefan, an orphan asylum. First to
christianiZe the negro, to stand Tor
liberty of conscience, to stand for re-
ligious freedom, to demand the right
to will ones property, to have Ii
brary, to have a free library, to have
a circulating library, to have free
schools, TO have a colonial currency,
to write a book, to have a Sunday
school, to have a hymn book, TO have
q court house, to have a post office.
First to have a tavern, to have an
iron furnace, to plant cotton, rice,
indigo, potatoes and grapes, to dis
cover the loye-apple, now our tomato,
to build a ship, to build Masonic
temple, to make bricks, to leave a
legacy to the pOOr-yes, first in many
things | have not time to mention.
'Whitaker's Good News was
the first book ever written on Amer
lea s soil, although it had to be print
ed in England. Edwin Sandys wrote
the first book ever printed in Amer
lea, although it was printed on a
New England press. Dryden said
Sandys was the best versitier Of his
age" and Alexander Pope gave him
high praise. William Strachey in
1909 wrote his "Shipwreck at Sea,
which suggested to William Shakes
peare his great play, THE Tempest"
The first literary society in the United
States was at Charleston in 1748, and
it is in existence today.
John Smith, of the jamestown
colony, not only discovered New Eng
land and Plymouth, but named them,
and advised the Pilgrim Fathers to
come to them There were eleven
plantations or burgesses in Virginia
with negroes on them, and pOpula-
ton of more than 1000 people before
the MayflOwer ever sailed for Ameri-
ca. So we must not believe that eV-
erything good and great in the early
days originated in the Plymouth
Rock colony. as history represents it.
-, tho n1dnCf OifU
in the United States, st. Augustine,
and Jamestown you know was The
Cradle Of the Republic"
Had it not been for the victory at
Bloody Marsh in 1742 there would
have been no colonies TO declare their
independence. The Spaniards in
Florida had fully determined to take
possession of ali the land claimed by
the English from the boundary OF
Florida to the St. Lawrence river, and
this they could easily have done.
Ogleth0rpe with his brave 682 Geor-
gians and two poorly equipped ships
met 5000 Spaniards, Well-disciplin-
ed and well-equipped, with Sc ships
well prOyisioned, at Bloody Marsh on
St. Simon's island, not far from Fred
erica, and trailed, for the first time
on Americas soil the Spanish flag in
the dust.
George Whitfield said THAT victo-
ry was like one of the Bible victories
where God fought the battle for his
people" But for this battle there
would probably have been no Bunker
Hill, no Saratoga, no CoWpenS, no
Kings mountain, no Yorktown, and
Spain would be ruling where Amerl-
ca rules today. New York acknoWl-
edged this, Pennsylvania acknowled g
ed it, so did New Jersey, and the 9TH
err colonies and wrote to Oglethorpe
testifying their Indebtedness to Geor-
gia for the victory he had achieved.
Surely the South may claim to be
in this the first period
of our history!
Turning now to the second or later
colonial period. 1t had ever been a
principle with the British government
that those governing only could levy
taxes. 1t was with this understand
ing that all of the colonies were set
tied. When England, contrary to TINS
agreement, began her acts OF oppres-
sion. such as the importation acts,
navigation acts, acts forblddlng the
colonies to trade with the West lndes
or even among themselves, the colo
MES began to show a spirit of resist
ance. But this resistance began with
no thought of separation from the
mother country, and this thought
came only when they we're denied
voice in the levying of their taxes.
AS far back as 1859 Gov. Fendall OF
Maryland, outraged by the arbitrary
acts Of the Lords Proprietors at
meeting held at Robert Slye's house
declared Mary and a republic. Cul-
pepper Of North Carolina, appointed
courts Of justice, and imprisoned the
president of this colony 100 years
before the declaration. IN 1919 South
Carolina dismissed her Lords Proprl-
etors and chose her own governor.
You well remember Nathaniel Ba-
cons rebellion in Virginia, and North
Cardinals trouble with her governor,
and Georgia's arrest of hers.
But the Child of Independence,
was really born in 1875 when Charles
Pinckney in the South Carolina as
sembly said: South Carolina has
as much right to make her laws and
levy her taxes as England" You were
- = .o..c~1,4 +J,c+ -, history 1Vprp Won ?