The History of the United States of North America, till the British Revolution of 1688

548 Pages·1833·30.437 MB·English

by  James Grahame

HISTORY
THE UNITED STATES
NORTH AMERICA,
THE BRITISH REVOLUTION IN 1688,
By JAMES GRAHAME, Esq.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL.
I.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN.
BOSTON:
RUSSELL, ODIORNE, AND COMPANY
1833.
Checketu
May 1913
>> « }l• «
TO
ROBERT GRAHAME, ESQ.
OF WHITEHILL, LANARKSHIRE,
SCOTLAND,
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED,
BY
HIS SON.

PRE A C
1' E.
1HE composition wliicli 1 now deliver to the public,
is the first of athreefold series of works, which, when
completed, will form T'lie History of the United
States of North America^ from the Phmtation of
the En^lisih Colonies to the Kst(tl)lishine)it of their
My
Independence. j)lan is restricted to the history
ofthose provinces of North America (orijrinuting, all
exce])t New York and Delaware, from British colonis-
ation,) which, at the era of the American Revolution,
were included in the confederacy ofthe United States :
the illustration ofthe rise and formation of this great
republic, being the end of my labours.
The present work, the first of the projected series,
embraces therise ofsuchofthose States, comprehended
within my general plan, as were founded prior to the
British Revolution in 1()8S, and traces their ])rogress
till that epoch. In some instances 1 have found it
necessary to carry forward the history of particular
states, somewhat beyond this precise boundary partly
;
because the inHuence of the J5ritish Revolution did
not immediately extend to them, and partly in order
to exhibit a complete view ofcertain interesting trans-
actions, of which the account would otherwise have
A
been broken and defective. second performance,
for which I have already collected a considerable mass
ofmaterials, will embrace the further history of these
earlier states, together with the rise and ])rogress of
those which were subsequently formed, till the com-
mencement ofthe American Revolution. This second
A 8
VI PREFACE.
work, which, like the present, will occupy, I believe,
two volumes, I consider the most difficultand import-
ant portionofmy labours. Two additional volumes, I
trust, willenable me to complete my general plan, and
embrace the history of the revolutionary war, andthe
establishment and consolidation of the North Ame-
rican Republic.
In the collection ofmaterials for thecomposition of
this work, I have been obliged to incur a degree of
labour and expence, which, had I originally foreseen,
I doubt if I could have ventured to encounter. Con-
sidering the connection that so long subsistedbetween
Great Britain and the American States, the inform-
ation concerning the early history of many ofthese
provinces, which the public libraries of Britain are
capable of supplying, is amazingly scanty. Many
valuable works illustrative ofthe history and statistics
both ofparticular states and ofthe whole North Ame-
rican commonwealth, are wholly unknown in the
British libraries * : a defect the more discreditable,
as these works have long enjoyed a high repute at the
seats oflearning on the continent of Europe, and as
the greater part of them might be procured without
difficulty in London or from America.
After boiTOwing all the materials that I could so
procure, ancl purchasing as many more as I could find
my
in Britain, collection proved still so defective in
* Inthe Advocates' LibraryofEdinburgh,forexample,thereisnotasingle
separate history of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine,
Maryland, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania; there is notone of the statistical
worksofPitkinorSeybert; andalthoughtherearethe first volumes, respect-
ively, ofHutchinson's HistoryofMassachusetts, and of Hazard's Historical
Collections, noneoftheposteriorvolumes oftheseinterestingworks haveever
been procured. Butthenegative catalogue oftlie Advocates' Library, in this
depart!,ent,istoocopiousforfurtherquotation.
To theBritishMuseum I am indebted for theperusal ofseveral works of
verygreatrarity; particularlyDenton'sdescriptionof New York, and Arch-
dale's Description ofCarolina. Butthiscollection, though much richerthan
the Advocatcb' !ibrary, isyetexceedingly defective in American history.
PREFACE. vu
many respects, that in the hope of enlarging it, I
undertook ajourney to Gottingen and in the library
;
of this place, as I had been taught to expect, I found
an ampler collection of North American literature,
than any or indeed all the libraries of Britain could
supply. From the resources ofthe Gottingen library,
aidedbythe liberality with which its administratorsare
always willing to render it subservientto the purposes
of literary inquiry, Ihave derived the greatest advan-
tage andassistance. Yet even this admirable repository
ofhistory is not entirely perfect ; and I have still to
lament my inability to procure some worksillustrative
ofmy subject, which, whatever may be their value, it
would have been satisfactory to have had an opportu-
nity ofperusing. Hopkins's History of Providence,'^";
in particular, Vanderdonck's History of New Nether-
lands, and''Holm's History of Swedeland in America,
are books which I have been hitherto unable to pro-
cure. The learned Ebeling has characterised the first
ofthese as a book not easily metwith : and that I am
not chargeablewithnegligent inquiry,may be inferred,
I think, from the fact, that I have succeeded in pro-
curing and consulting various works which Ebeling
confesses his inabilityto obtain, besides manyofwhose
existence he seems not to have been aware.* Even
those which for the present I am obliged to dispense
with, as well as various other works ofinfrequent oc-
currence and applicable to a later portion of time, I
still hope to procure for the elucidation ofthe vast
and varied subject ofmy second composition.
History addresses her lessons to all mankind : but
when she records the fortunes of an existing people,
* I am indebtedtotheprivatecollectionsofvariousindividualsfortheperu-
sal ofsome veryrareandnotlessinteresting works; andin partfcular I beg
leaveto acknowledge the kindness withwhich thevaluablelibrary ofthelate
George Chalmers wassubmittedtomyexamination, by his nephewandexe-
cutor MrJamesChalmersofLondon.
YIU PREFACE.
it is to them that her admonitions are especially di-
rected. There has never been a people on whose
character their own historical recollections were cal-
culated to exercise a more animating or salutaryinflu-
ence, thanthe nation whose history I have undertaken
to relate.
In national societies established afterthemanner of
the United States of North America, history does not
begin with obscure or fabulous legends. The origin
ofthenation, and theriseandprogress ofallits institu-
tions, may be distinctly known. The people may
obtain an accurate and familiar acquaintance with the
character of their earliest national ancestors, and of
every succeeding generation through which the inhe-
ritance ofthe national name and fortunes has devolved
to themselves. When this interesting knowledge is
blended with the information that their existence as a
people originated in the noblestefforts ofwisdom, for-
titude, and magnanimity, and that every successive
acquisition by which their liberty and happiness have
beenextendedandsecured, has arisen from theexercjse
ofthe same qualities, and evincedtheir faithfulpreserv-
—
ation and unimpaired efficacy, respect for antiquity
becomesthemotive andpledge ofvirtue thewhole na-
;
tionfeelsitselfennobled byancestorswhoserenownwill
continue to the end oftime the honour or reproach of
theirsuccessors; and the love ofvirtue is sointerwoven
with patriotism and with national glory, as to prevent
the one from becomingaselfishprinciple, andthe other
asplendidormischievousillusion. Ifaninspiredapostle
might with complacency proclaim himselfa citizen of
no mean city^ a North American may feel grateful
exulta—tion in avowing himselfthenative ofno ignoble
land, but of a land that has yielded as great an in-
crease ofglory to God and ofhappiness to man, as any
otherportion of the world, since the first syllable of
PREFACE. IX
recorded time, has ever had the honour ofproducing.
A
nobler model of human character could hardly be
proposed tothe inhabitants of New England, Pennsyl-
vania, and others ofthe North American States, than
that which their own early history supplies. It is at
once their interest and their honour to preserve with
sacred care a model so richly fraught with the instruc-
tions of wisdom and the incitements of duty. The
memory of the saints and heroes whom they claim as
their natural or national ancestors will bless all those
who account it blessed; and the ashes oftheir fathers
will giveforth a nobler influence than the bones ofthe
prophet of Israel, in reviving piety and invigorating
virtue. So much, at the same time, ofhuman weak-
nessand imperfection is discernible in the conduct, or
is attested by the avowals of these eminent men, and
so steady and explicit was their reference to heavenly
aid, of all the good they were enabled to perform or
attain, that theadmirationthey so stronglyclaimnever
exceeds a just subordination to the glory ofthe Most
High, and enforces the scriptural testimony to the
riches of divine grace, and the reflected lustre ofhu-
man virtue.
The most important requisite of historical com-
positions, and that in which, I suspect, they are com-
—
monly most defective, is truth a requisite, ofwhich
even the sincerity of the historian is insufficient to
assure us. In tracing ascertained and important facts,
either backward into their original, or forward into
theiroperation, the historian frequentlyencounters, on
either hand, a perplexing variety of dissimilar causes
and diverging effects ; among which it is no less dif-
ficult than important to discriminate the peculiar
springs ofaction, and to preserve the moral stream of
events. Indiscriminate detail would produce intole-
rable fatigue and confusion while selection inevitably
;
X PREFACE.
infers the risk of error. The sacred historians often
record events with Httle or no reference to their histo-
rical pedigree and have thus given to some parts of
;
the only historythat is infallibly authentic, an appear-
ance of improbability, which the more reasoning pro-
ductions of uninspired narrators have exchanged, at
least as frequently, for substantial misrepresentation.
Itmaybe thoughtan imprudent avowal, andyet I have
no desire to conceal, that, in examining andcomparing
historical records, I have often been forcibly reminded
of Sir Robert Walpole's assurance to his son, that
"Historymust befalse"* Happily, thisapophthegm
applies, ifnot exclusively, atleastmost forcibly to that
which Walpole probably regarded as the main trunk
of history, b—ut which is really the most insignificant
branch of it, the intrigues ofcabinets, the secret ma-
chinations and designs of ministers, and the contests
oftrading politicians.
In surveying the contests of Innnan beings, it is
difficult, or rather it is impossible, for a man of like
feelings with themselves, to escape entirely the con-
tagion of those passions which the contests arose from
or engendered. Thus partialities are secretly insinu-
ated into the mind ; and in balancing opposite testi-
mony, these partialities find a sure, though secret
means of exerting their influence. I am not desirous
of concealing that I feel such partialities within
—
* HoraceWalpole'sworks. A curiousillustrationofhistorical inaccuracy
wasrelatedbythe late President Jefferson toan intelligent English traveller.
The Abbe Raynal, in his History ofthe British Settlementsin America, has
recounted aremarkable story whichimpliestheexistenceofaparticularlaw in
New England. Some Americansbeing in comiianywith the Abbeat Paris,
questionedthe truth ofth;'story, allegingthatnosuch lawhadeverexistedin
NewEngland. The Abbemaintainedtheauthenticityofhis History, till he
wasinterruptedby Dr. Franklin,whowaspresent,andafterlisteningforsome
timein silencetothe dispute, said, "Ican accountfor all this: you took the
anecdotefromanewspaper,ofwhich I wasatthattimeeditor,and, happening
»obe very shortofnews, I composedand inserted the whole story." Hall's
Travelsin Canadaand the United States, pp. 382, 383.