NEW ENGLAND, the name of the northern states of the North American union, namely, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The physical characteristics, and the social and commercial relations, of these states, will be found described each under its individual head. But the history of the several states has not yet been given, because, since an account of one state involves to a considerable extent that of another, it was considered as most judicious to give a narration of the whole transactions which have taken place in this part of the American union under one head. In 1606, the portion of North America lying between the thirty-fourth and fortyfifth degrees of latitude was divided into two parts, called North and South Virginia, and granted to two companies. The London Company were allowed to make settlements anywhere between 34° and 41°, and the Plymouth Company received the same privilege in regard to the country between 38° and 45°. Previously to the survey of the coasts by Captain Smith, in 1614, the country went by the name of North Virginia; but in 1660 Prince Charles changed it to that which it now bears, at the same time granting a patent to the Plymouth Company, comprehending that part of the country which lies between 40° and 48° from north to south, and extending throughout the mainland from sea to sea. The name of New England has, ever since the landing of the first settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in December 1620, continued to designate the country lying east of New York; and although it has never, properly speaking, formed a political whole, it possessed from the first, and still possesses, certain characteristics which distinguish it from the rest of the Union. Most of the colonies planted in New England were founded on the same principles of government, by men closely associated with each other from similarity of political and religious views. Before landing, they signed a solemn covenant, forming themselves into a body politic for the purpose of making laws for the general good. The governments which were erected in these colonies were chartered governments, the ownership and administration of affairs being vested in the colonists, whilst the governments of the other colonies were royal or proprietary, civil authority and property being vested, the one in the crown, and the other in the colonists. The New England settlers were republicans before their arrival in North America, and being afterwards joined by those who fled thither as to a city of refuge during the civil commotions in the mother country, and also after the Restoration, the body became very numerous, and they may be said to have adhered to their principles ever since. The early and general provision for common education in New England was another peculiarity of that part of the country. Laws were soon passed commanding the establishment of schools in every town, and these enactments laid the foundation of the New England system of free schools. The organization of the church government is entirely democratical, and the municipal system is in many respects peculiar.

In consequence of the representations made by Martin Pring, an English navigator, who explored part of the shore of New England in 1603 and 1606, a settlement was attempted to be formed at the mouth of the Kennebec, in the state of Maine. But accidental circumstances frustrated this design, and it was not until 1622, when Sir Ferdinando Georges, conjointly with one Mason, obtained a grant of the territory lying between the rivers Merrimac and Kennebec, that such measures were taken as secured a permanent settlement in this part of the country, which commenced the year following at the mouth of the Pascataqua. Several patents of inferior extent were subsequently issued, one of which conveyed the Pemaquid tract of country, now Bristol, which is regarded as the oldest permanent settlement in Maine. In 1635 the council conveyed to Georges a separate title to the portion of the former grant east of the Pascataqua, having previously confirmed in the possession of the western part Mason, from whom it received the name of New Hampshire. Georges obtained for himself, by royal charter, the powers of lord palatine, as exercised by the Bishop of Durham; appointed a board of counsellors; and in 1640 assembled a court, at which the inhabitants of the several plantations appeared, and renewed their oath of allegiance to the lord proprietor. Sir Ferdinando, who was a royalist, had his share of the disasters with which the adherents of Charles I. were overwhelmed; and dying in 1645, he left his estate to his son John Georges. During the civil commotions which confounded alike titles and property/ one Colonel Rigby laid claim to forty square miles of the best part of Georges’ inheritance, which claim was recognised in 1646; and the small remaining portion of Maine, having elected a governor, petitioned parliament in 1650 to constitute them a distinct jurisdiction, “a part of the commonwealth of England,” but without success. Their apprehensions of falling into the hands of the Puritans were soon realized. In the year 1652, nearly the whole of Maine was claimed by the colony of Massachusetts Bay, under the pretext that it was embraced in their charter; and they succeeded for a time in exercising supreme control over it. In 1665, after the restoration of Charles II., commissioners were appointed to visit Maine, who declared the province to be under the protection and government of the king, and nominated a magistracy. No sooner had they quitted the country, however, than the authorities of Massachusetts resumed their sway, and the inhabitants were compelled to yield an unwilling submission. But Georges, the legal proprietor, at length succeeded in obtaining a restitution of his title, and the authorities of Massachusetts Bay were summoned to appear at Whitehall. Determined to retain possfession of the cφuntry, they instructed their agents to make a purchase of it should the decision go against them, which happening to be the case, Georges disposed of his title to the province for L.1250. This transaction took place in 1677-78. Immediately after purchasing Maine, the council of Massachusetts proceeded to organize a provincial jurisdiction, constituting it a county under the name of York; an arrangement which lasted, without any change, till 1760, when the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln were incorporated, and the county of York was reduced to nearly its present limits. After the independence of the colonies was established, Maine was styled a district, although its connection with Massachusetts remained the same until it was erected into an independent state in the year 1820. See the article Maine.

Plymouth, the next colony, was founded by a body of Puritans, who had removed from England to avoid religious persecution, and landed at a place in the new world, to which, in 1620, they gave the name of Plymouth. They entered into a voluntary compact, by which they bound themselves to observe certain laws and ordinances which should be framed and issued to promote the general good of the colony. This is the earliest American constitution, and is dated the 11th of November 1620, and signed by forty-one persons. The government was administered by a governor, chosen annually by the people, and by seven persons called assistants, elected in the same way. It was at first a pure democracy, but in the year 1639 a house of representatives was established. The political affairs of this colony are closely interwoven with those of Massachusetts, with which it was incorporated in 1772. 1

The colony of Massachusetts Bay, which has acted so conspicuous a part in the affairs of New England, originated in a number of individuals having, in 1628, obtained from the Plymouth Company a grant of that part of New England lying three miles south of Charles River, [7:16:157]and the same distance north of the Merrimac, and extending from the Atlantic to the South Sea. In the following year they obtained from Charles I. powers as the company of Massachusetts Bay, being authorized to elect a governor and eighteen assistants annually, to hold courts, and to make laws and regulations for the colony. Settlements were immediately formed at Salem, Charleston, Boston, and other places, and the settlers soon obtained permission to transfer the charter and government to New England, thus rendering that the constitution of a state which was merely designed to constitute the organization of a company. In 1634 the people claimed a participation in the government, and declared that the general court (the name which the two houses of legislature in Massachusetts still bear) alone had power to frame laws, levy taxes, and fill up offices. This, therefore, became a fundamental part of the constitution; but disputes arising between the assistants and the deputies of the people, who met in the same room, it was determined, in 1644, that the legislature should consist of two separate bodies, each having a negative on the other. No judicial authority was given by the charter, but the power was in fact assumed and acted upon. Courts of justice were created, and in criminal cases the Mosaic law was mainly followed.

Connecticut was an offshoot from Massachusetts, and at first was governed by magistrates empowered by the legislature of the parent colony. But in 1639 they framed a constitution for themselves, the substance of which was contained in the charter granted by Charles II. in 1662, and continued, without any material alteration, to be the fundamental law of the state until 1818. New Haven, which was settled in 1637 by a body of Puritans, continued to exercise powers of government as a separate body until 1662, when the colony was by charter included in Connecticut.

In the year 1634, a minister of the name of Williams having been banished from Massachusetts on account of his religious creed, settled at Providence, whither he was followed by a few adherents. Four years afterwards, a lady, banished from the same place for the same reason, purchased Rhode Island from the Indians; and thus two new communities, with distinct governments, were formed. In 1643, commissioners of plantations had been created,; and from these a charter of incorporation was obtained for the inhabitants of the towns of Newport, Portsmouth, and Providence, under the designation of the Providence Plantations, with full powers to adopt a form of government, and to rule themselves. In the same year in which the commission was appointed, the colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, formed a confederacy, under the title of the United Colonies of New England, which lasted about forty years, when James II. deprived them of their charters. This confederation was exactly the future union of states in miniature. According to the articles of the confederacy, the colonies bound themselves by a perpetual league of friendship and amity for offence and defence, whilst individually they managed their own affairs. Two commissioners of each of the confederates formed a board for transacting the affairs of the confederacy generally. This was just congress in embryo. During the ascendency of Cromwell the New England colonies were highly favoured; but the restoration of royalty subjected them to suspicion, and, as we have seen, to scrutiny. In the year 1664, royal commissioners were appointed to visit them, and hear and decide all their complaints, and appeals, civil, criminal, and military, thus bringing the whole under the immediate superintendence of the crown. But, as Lord Clarendon expressed it, the colonies were already hardened into republics, and the commissioners found it impossible to execute their powers. Arbitrary measures were resorted to, to bring the refractory provinces under proper control, but without effect; so that, by the year 1687, it had been declared that they had forfeited their charters and their liberties, which were accordingly seized by the crown. Sir Edmund Andros, the governor, put himself at the bead of a body of troops, and advanced to Connecticut for the purpose of seizing the charter. The assembly was convened, and the charter was conveyed to the room, where they met to confer with Andros. The conference was prolonged till night, when the people without made a rush into the room, extinguished the lights, and secreted the charter in an oak, which is still shown at Hartford. In many places the inhabitants refused to pay taxes, and a rumour having been circulated that the Prince of Orange had landed in England, the people of Boston rushed to arms, seized the governor, and the captain of a frigate which lay in the harbour, compelled the castle to surrender, and thus effected a complete revolution. Subsequently to these events, Connecticut and Rhode Island resumed their former charters; but, in 1672, a new one was granted to Massachusetts, by which the appointment of the governor was vested in the crown. It is superfluous to narrate the wars with the Indian tribes in which these colonies were involved, or those in which Britain finally annihilated the power of France in America. An account of these belongs more to the general history of the United States than to the present sketch. Vermont, the only New England state which remains to be mentioned, took no lead in these transactions; and any event of importance in which it was concerned will be found related in the article New York. (r. r. r.)