The people were so scattered that churches and schools could not be maintained; and there was less local political activity than in the more densely populated colonies.

GEORGIA.

Grant to Trus

tees.

Georgia was not only settled last of the thirteen colonies, but it differed from them all in its early civil relations. A number of philanthropic gentlemen received from the king a charter, vesting in them as trustees, for twenty-one years, the territory between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers (1732). Their object was, to provide a home for those unfortunate persons whom failure in trade and other causes had brought to poverty, and upon whom the laws of England pressed with most unjust severity.

Administration.

The trustees were to grant small portions of land to settlers of this class whom they should induce to emigrate. There were to be no large estates, and no slavery was to be tolerated. The trustees received the whole power of legislation. The affairs of the corporation were to be in the hands of a council; and such officers as were necessary were to be appointed for the colony by this council. Beside the English poor, the colony was increased by German Protestants, by Scotch Highlanders, and by Moravians. The government by the council having proved unsatisfactory, a single executive officer was appointed, styled president, acting with whom were four councillors.

After about twenty years, a colonial assembly was called, not to legislate, but to advise. In

Royal Govern1751 the trustees surrendered their char- ment.

ter to the crown; and a provincial government of the

usual form was at once established, and continued until the Revolution.

SUMMARY.

1. Virginia. was settled under the direction of the London Company.

2. At first the king controlled the affairs of the company, and the colonists were wholly without political privileges.

3. In 1621 the colony received a written constitution establishing a representative assembly. The consent of this body was required to make any law of the company valid. Trial by jury was also established.

4. The assembly early declared that no tax could be levied without its consent, and assumed the right to control the expenditure of the public money.

5. In 1624 the colony became a royal province, and continued so until the Revolution.

6. Local administration early came to be intrusted to parish officers: afterward it was vested in county officers appointed by the governor.

7. Political power came to be chiefly in the hands of the wealthy landholders.

8. The territory of the Carolinas was granted by Charles II. to eight English noblemen.

9. The colonists were few and widely scattered, and could not be governed by the complicated constitution made by the proprietors. In each colony the proprietors were represented by a governor, and the people by an assembly.

10. The colony finally became a royal province, governed like the others.

11. The people always guarded their liberty jealous

ly, and resisted all attempts of the proprietors to tax

them.

12. Georgia was founded as a refuge for the poor of England. The land, at first, was held by trustees, who governed the people arbitrarily.

13. Afterward a better class of settlers came; the king assumed control; and the colony was governed like the other royal provinces.

CHAPTER XVII.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

FROM the beginning of colonial history, as we have seen, there had been disputes between the home government and the colonies concerning their respective authority. At first Massachusetts had been the chief defender of colonial claims; but after the revolution of 1689 had settled political affairs in England, and both parties united in a general colonial policy, all the colonies were strenuous in asserting their rights.

Colonies.

During all their history, the colonists acknowledged Claims of the themselves subjects of England, and successively proclaimed the Commonwealth and the sovereigns who followed it. They admitted the authority of Parliament.in general legislation, and adopted the English statutes and the common law as far as their local circumstances made it possible to do so. They were willing to defend the person and territory of their sovereign against foreign enemies to the extent of their means.

On the other hand, they claimed, that, in emigrating to America, they had not forfeited any of the rights of English subjects. Foremost of these were those conferred by Magna Charta, trial by jury, and the writ of habeas corpus. Beside these, they claimed the right of

making their own laws, not repugnant to laws of England, through their representatives freely chosen; and especially they insisted, as Englishmen, that no tax should be imposed upon them but such as they freely voted in their local assemblies. Massachusetts, through all her early history, claimed the right of ultimate judicial decision in all cases whatsoever, and denied the legality of appeal to any English authority.

The sovereigns of the Stuart family, who had little respect for the rights of Englishmen at English View of home, could hardly be expected to treat American these claims of their American subjects Claims. with much more consideration. They had some pretext for their arbitrary measures in the complaints and petitions that were continually urged upon their notice. The restrictive policy of the Massachusetts colonies made them many enemies. The friends of Episcopacy complained that the acts of supremacy and uniformity were set at naught; Baptists and Quakers, that they were persecuted and banished; Mason and Gorges, that their authority had been usurped, and their chartered rights infringed; Rhode Island, that Massachusetts was grasping and bigoted; and the London merchants, that the navigation acts were openly violated. All united in the assertion that the people of Massachusetts Bay were disloyal, and only waiting a favorable opportunity to dissolve their allegiance, and set up for themselves. In consequence of these calumnies, Massachusetts lost her original charter; but her misfortune was soon shared by all the northern colonies. When, under James II., popular government ceased to exist in England, all colonial rights were suspended.

Soon after the accession of William and Mary, a more