A colony is a settlement formed in one country by the inhabitants of another. Colonies may either be formed in dependence on the mother country or in independence. In the latter case the name of colony is retained only in a historical sense. Properly, perhaps, the term should be limited to a settlement which carries on a direct cultivation of the soil, as in the former British colonies of Canada and Australia in contrast to the former in Hindustan or Malta which were the mere superposition on the natives of a ruling race which took little or no part in the general industry of the country.
The motives which lead to the formation of colonies, and the manner of their formation, are various. Sometimes the ambition of extending territory and the desire of increasing wealth have been the chief impulses in colonization; but colonies became a necessity for the redundant population of European states in the 19th century.
Among ancient nations the principal promoters of colonization were the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans; the greatest colonizers in modern times have been the English and the Spaniards, next to whom may be reckoned the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the French. The Germans during the 19th century contributed largely to the tide of emigration, particularly in the direction of America;
but did little directly as colonizers.
The Phoenician colonies were partly caused by political dissensions and redundant population, but were chiefly commercial, serving as entrepots and ports of repair for Phoenician commerce along the coasts of Africa and Spain, in the latter of which they numbered, according to Strabo, more than two hundred. But it was in Africa that the most famous arose, Carthage, the greatest colonizing state of the ancient world.
The Greek colonies, which were widely spread in Asia Minor and the islands of the Mediterranean, the coasts of Macedonia and Thrace, in South Italy and Sicily, were commonly independent, and frequently soon surpassed the mother states in power and importance.
The colonies of Rome were chiefly military, and while the empire lasted were all in strict subordination to the central government. As the Roman power declined the remains of them amalgamated with the peoples among whom they were placed, thus forming in countries where they were sufficiently strong what are known as the Latin races, with languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian) which are merely modifications of the old Roman tongue.
Before America and the way by sea to the East Indies were discovered, the only colonies belonging to European states were those of the Genoese, Pisans, and Venetians in the Levant and the Black Sea, flourishing establishments on which the mercantile greatness of Italy in those days was largely built.
The Portuguese were the first great colonizers among modern states. In 1419 they discovered Madeira, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands; the Congo and the Cape of Good Hope followed; and before the century was out Vasco de Gama had landed at Calicut on the Malabar coast of India. The first Portuguese colonies were garrisons along the coasts where they traded: Mozambique and Sofala on the east coast of Africa, Ormuz and Muscat in the Persian Gulf, Goa and Damao on the west coast of India. Colonies were established in Sri Lanka in 1505, in the Moluccas in 1510. Brazil was discovered in 1499, and this magnificent possession fell to Portugal, and was colonized about 1530. Bad government at home and the subjection of the country to Spain caused the loss of most of the Portuguese colonies.
Soon after the Portuguese the Spaniards commenced the work of colonization. In 1492 Columbus, on board of a Spanish vessel, discovered the island of San Salvador. Haiti, or San Domingo, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba were soon colonized, and before the middle of the 16th century Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, New Granada (Colombia), Peru, and Chili were subdued, and Spain took the first rank amongst the colonizing powers of Europe. But the Spaniards never really attempted to develop the industrial resources of the subject countries. The pursuit of mining for gold or silver occupied the colonists almost exclusively, and the enslaved natives were driven to work themselves to death in the mines. Cities were founded, at first along the coasts, for the sake of commerce and as military posts; afterwards also in the interior, in particular in the vicinity of the mines, as Vera Cruz, Cumana, Porto Bello, Carthagena, Valencia, Caracas; Acapuico and Panama, on the coast of the Pacific; Lima, Goncepcion, and Buenos Aires. The colonial intercourse with Spain was confined to the single port of Seville, afterwards to that of Cadiz, from which two squadrons started annually - the galleons, about twelve in number, for Porto Bello; and the fleet, of fifteen large vessels, for Vera Cruz. When the power of Spain declined, the colonies declared their independence, and thus were formed the republics of Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, etc. Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands passed to the United States in 1898; the Caroline Islands, etc, were sold to Germany in 1899; and by 1900 hardly any colony remained to Spain.
The hate of Philip II, who prohibited Dutch vessels from the port of Lisbon, forced the Dutch to import directly from India or lose the large carrying trade they had acquired. Several companies were soon formed, and in 1602 they were united into one, the Dutch East India Company, with a monopoly of the East Indiatrade and sovereign powers over all conquests and colonies in India. The Dutch now rapidly deprived the Portuguese of nearly all their East Indian territories, settled a colony at the Cape of Good Hope in 1650, established a West India Company, made extensive conquests in Brazil between 1623 and 1660, which were soon lost, and more permanent ones on some of-the smaller West India Islands, as San Eustatia, Curacoa, Saba, etc. The growing power of the British and the loss of Holland's independence during the Napoleonic wars were heavy blows to the colonial power of the nation. But the Dutch still possesed numerous colonies in the East Indies at the start of the 20th century, among which the more important were Java, Sumatra, Dutch Borneo, the Molucca Islands, and part of New Guinea, also several small islands in the West Indies, and Surinam.
No colonizing power of Europe had a career of such uniform prosperity as Great Britain. The English attempts at colonization began nearly at the same time with the Dutch. After many fruitless attempts to find a north-east or north-west passage to the East Indies, English vessels found their way round the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies in 1591. The East India Company was established in 1600. English commerce with India, however, was not at first important, and they possessed only single factories on the continent up until the beginning of the 18th century. The ruin of the Mogul Empire in India after the death of Aurengzebe in 1707 afforded the opportunity for the growth of British power, as the British and French were compelled to interfere in the contentions of the native princes and governors. The French appeared at first to maintain the superiority; but the British in turn got the upper hand, and the victory of Clive at Plassey in 1756 laid the foundation of an exclusive British sovereignty in India. By the middle of the next century the British territory embraced, with the exception of a few dependent states, nearly the whole of India, and this vast territory was still under the government of the East India Company - a mercantile company, controlled indeed by parliament, but exercising many of the most important functions of an independent sovereignty. On the suppression of the Indian mutiny in 1857-1858 the government of India was transferred to the crown by act of parliament in 1858.
The discoveries of the Cabots, following soon after the voyages of Columbus, gave the English crown a claim to North America, which, though allowed to lie dormant for nearly a century, was never relinquished, and which, in the reign of Elizabeth I, led to colonization on a large scale. Walter Raleigh's settlement on Roanoke Island (North Carolina) in 1585 failed to become permanent, but in 1607 the colonists sent out by the London Company to Chesapeake Bay founded Jamestown, on the James River, in Virginia. The next great settlement was that of the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed on the 21st of December 1620, in Massachusetts Bay. The colonization of New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, soon followed. In the State of New York and the Hudson River Territory the British found the Dutch already in possession; but in 1664 they seized the colony of New Amsterdam by force, changing its name to New York in honour of James, Duke of York. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, and colonized with Quakers in 1682; Maryland in 1631 by a party from Virginia; Carolina in 1670 and Georgia in 1732 by colonies from England.
Colonies were early established in the West India Islands, including Barbados, half of St. Christopher's in 1625, and soon after many smaller islands. Newfoundland was taken possession of in 1583, colonized in 1621 and 1633. Canada was surrendered to Britain at the Peace of Paris in 1763. In 1764 began the disputes between Britain and its North American colonies, which terminated with the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, Canada remaining a British dependency.
Australia was discovered in the beginning of the 17th century. The first Australasian settlements of Britain were penal colonies. New South Wales, discovered in 1770, was established as a penal colony in 1788; Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), discovered by Tasman in 1642, followed in 1803; West Australia, also first used as a penal settlement, became a free colony in 1829; Victoria was colonized in 1835, and made an independent colony in 1851; South Australia was settled in 1836. In 1851 the discovery of gold in Victoria gave a great impetus to the Australian Colonies. Queensland was made a separate colony from N.ew South Wales in 1859. New Zealand, discovered by Tasman in 1642, began to be used for whale-fishery about 1790, was settled in 1839, and made a colony in 1840. In 1874 the Fiji Islands, and in 1884 part of New Guinea, were annexed as crown colonies. In South AfricaCape Colony, first settled by the Dutch in 1652, finally became a British colony in 1815. Natal followed in 1843. Later annexations were Bechuanaland in 1885, Zululand in 1887, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1888-89, and the Orange River Colony and Transvaal in 1900. In Western Africa were the colonies of the Gold Coast, Gambia, and SierraLeone - ancient possessions of the British crown; with Lagos and Nigeria acquired in 1885 and after. Other possessions were British East Africa (Kenya), with Uganda and Somaliland. Gibraltar was acquired in 1704, Malta in 1800.
According to their government relations with the crown the colonies were arranged under three heads: (1.) Crown colonies, in which the crown had the entire control of legislation, while the administration was carried on by public officers under the control of the home government. (2.) Colonies possessing representative institutions but not responsible government, in which the crown had no more than a veto on legislation, but the home government retained the control of public officers. (3.) Colonies possessing representative institutions and responsible government, in which the crown had only a veto on legislation, and the home government had no control over any officer except the governor. All colonies were, however, disabled from such acts of independent sovereignty as the initiative in war, alliances, and diplomacy generally.
France was somewhat late in establishing colonies. Between 1627 and 1636 the West Indian islands of St Christopher's, Guadeloupe, and Martinique were colonized by private persons. Champlain was the pioneer of the French in the exploration of the North American continent, and founded Quebec in 1608. Colbert purchased several West India islands, as Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Lucia, etc, and sent out colonists in 1664 to Cayenne. In 1670 the East India Company formed by Colbert founded Pondicherry, which became the capital of extensive possessions in the East Indies. At the beginning of the 18th century France had extensive settlements in Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, the most flourishing of the West India islands, and she seemed to have a prosperous career before her in India. Ere long, however, the rival interests of British and French colonists brought about a conflict which terminated in the loss of Canada and other North American possessions, as well as many of the West India Islands, while the dominion of India passed into the hands of the British.
During the 19th century Germany made an effort to take rank as a colonial power, and acquired in Africa the territories of Damaraland, Great Nama Land, etc, on the south-west coast, north of Cape Colony; the Cameroons District; a large portion of territory formerly claimed by the Sultan of Zanzibar, extending inland to Victoria Nyanza, etc; also in the Pacific a portion of New Guinea, then subsequently called Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, the BismarckArchipelago, Marshall Islands, etc.
The Council for New England was a Council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ordering, ruling and governing of New England in America. It was incorporated on November the 3rd, 1620, and was little else than the reorganization of the Plymouth, or North Virginia Company of 1606. Ferdinando Gorges was the moving spirit of the new corporation. Bradford obtained from this company a patent permitting the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers. In 1631 Gorges obtained an additional grant of territory called Laconia, which comprised parts of the present States of Maine and New Hampshire. The lands of the new company, which now extended from Long Island to the Bay of Fundy, were distributed among twenty noblemen. Research Council For New England
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, was founded by Congregationalists, and chartered in 1769. It is famous in American constitutional history for having supplied the test case as to whether the State Legislature had the power to dissolve private trusts. It originated out of a school for Indians established at Lebanon, Connecticut, by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock. His son, John Wheelock, succeeded him in the presidency. Daniel Webster was graduated here in 1802. The Medical School was founded in 1797, the Chandler Scientific School in. 1852, the New Hampshire College of Agriculture in 1868. Research Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward was a celebrated American legal case brought to the Supreme Court of the United States upon writ of error from the Superior Court of the State of New Hampshire, and decided in 1819. WilliamWoodward had been appointed secretary and treasurer of the corporation of Dartmouth College by the trustees of the college, twelve in number, as designated by the ancient charter granted by George III. in 1769 to Governor Wentworth, Eleazar Wheelock and ten others. Woodward was removed from office by the trustees on August the 27th, 1816, and refused to give up certain goods, chattels and property then in his keeping, but belonging to Dartmouth College. On June the 27th 1816, the New Hampshire Legislature, under the influence of the Democrats, had passed an act amending the charter and enlarging and altering the (Federalist) corporation of Dartmouth College; that is, the number of trustees was increased to twenty-one, there were twenty-five special overseers appointed, and the State was to have a general supervision of the affairs of the college. This act, and a similar one, passed on December the 26th, 1816, to enforce the first, were wholly repugnant to the trustees, who refused to obey them. William Woodward had been appointed secretary and treasurer of the new board of twenty-one trustees selected by the State. Suit was brought against him by the old trustees to recover the property of the college then in his keeping. The Superior Court of New Hampshire gave a verdict for the defendant. The US Supreme Court reversed and annulled this decision, allowing the plaintiffs $20,000 damages. It was decided by the court that the charter of Dartmouth College is a contract within the meaning of that clause of the Constitution which prohibits the States from passing any law impairing the obligation of contracts. Hence the New Hampshire law was declared unconstitutional. Daniel Webster was chief counsel for the plaintiff. Research Dartmouth College Vs Woodward
The Declaration of Independence was made in 1776 by the 13 English colonies in North America breaking away from all allegiance to the British Crown. The Declaration was mainly the work of Thomas Jefferson. Already in December 1775 the Congress had declared itself independent of the English parliament and by this declaration had repudiated allegiance to the Crown.
Absolute separation from Great Britain was not at first contemplated by the colonies. New England favoured it, but the Southern States were opposed. The transfer of the war to the southward in May and June, 1776, brought them to this view. The North Carolina Convention took the first step toward independence by a resolution 'to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independence', April 22, 1776. Virginia, May 17, 1776, prepared the title of the document by directing her Representatives to propose in Congress a 'Declaration of Independence'. Such a resolution was offered by Richard Henry Lee on June the 7th, 1776. This resolution was adopted on July the 2nd. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R Livingston were the committee appointed to draft the Declaration. The draft was formulated almost entirely by Jefferson. Before July the 1st, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey had instructed their delegates to vote against the Declaration. This instruction was rescinded, South Carolina came over to the majority, and Delaware's vote, at first divided, was in the affirmative. The Declaration was, therefore, adopted by the unanimous vote of twelve States, New York alone not voting, on July the 4th, 1776. The New York Convention afterward ratified the Declaration. The engrossed copy was signed on August the 2nd. The Declaration sets forth the rights of man and of the colonists, enumerates their grievances against the British Government, and declares 'that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States'.
A newspaper is a publication reporting and commenting upon news. The first periodicals were published by the Romans., the first newspapers proper were produced in Venice by the government, published monthly during the war of 1563 against the Turks.
The first genuine newspaper established in the United States was the Boston News Letter founded at Boston in 1704 by Postmaster John Campbell, and continued until 1776. Previous to this there had been
issued at Boston three publications of one number each. Of these the first, called a Newspaper Extraordinary consisted wholly of extracts from a letter of Dr. Increase Mather, who was then in London endeavouring to obtain a new charter for Massachusetts. This letter was published by Samuel Green in 1689.
On September the 25th, 1690, appeared the first and only number of
Publick Occurrences Foreign and Domestic issued by Benjamin Harris. The authorities promptly seized and suppressed the paper as 'a pamphlet published contrary to law and containing reflections of a very high nature'. In 1697 B Green and J Allen republished a news letter, bearing no title, which had been issued in London the same year. It was printed on a single page, .and contained small news items from the continent. After the Boston News Letter there appeared in 1719 the Boston Gazette Andrew Bradford issuing the American Weekly Mercury at Philadelphia the same year. James Franklin established the New England Courant at Boston two years later. This was suppressed for its attacks upon the Government and clergy, but was revived by Benjamin Franklin. WilliamBradford began the Gazette at New York in 1725, and John Peter Zenger the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, in the cause of the people against the Colonial Government. Zenger's paper may be regarded as a prototype of the modern news journal. Newspapers were founded in the other American colonies in the following order: In Maryland, at Annapolis, in 1727; in South Carolina, at Charleston, in 1731; in Rhode Island, at Newport, in 1731; in Virginia, at Williamsburg, in 1736; in North Carolina, at New Berne, in 1755; in Connecticut, at New Haven, in 1755; in New Hampshire, at Portsmouth, in 1756; in Georgia, at Savannah, in 1763; in Vermont, at Westminster, in 1781.
Between 1704 and 1775 seventy-eight different newspapers had been printed with varied success in the American colonies. Of these, thirty-nine were in actual process of publication at the outbreak of the American War of Independence. The papers most influential in advancing the revolutionary cause were the Boston Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy, On the British occupation of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, most of the Whig journals were suspended. It has been estimated that the thirty-nine newspapers of 1775 circulated about 1,300,000 copies annually.
After the Federal Constitution was adopted in America the newspapers fell largely into the hands of English immigrants, men of versatility and talent. Violent partisan controversies arose. The most influential papers of this period were the Columbian Centinel, published at Boston during forty years, commencing in 1784, by Benjamin Russell; the New York Minerva, established at New York in 1793 by Noah Webster; the New York Evening Post, established as the central organ of the Federalists in 1801; the Philadelphia Aurora, founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache in 1790, and afterward edited with vindictive partisanship by William Duane, an Englishman; the Philadelphia National Gazette, established in 1791 by Philip Freneau; and the National Intelligencer, established at Washington by Samuel H Smith in 1800.
The first American penny paper was the New York Sun, established in 1833 by Benjamin Day. The first American Sunday paper was the Sunday Courier, appearing in New York in 1825, with but little success. The chief period of the political influence of editors in the United States was that beginning in 1830 and ending after the American Civil War. Before that date the editor was often of little account, but from 1830 to 1870 the paper was often known chiefly as the organ of the individual editor's opinions. Research Newspaper
The New Hampshire Gazette was a newspaper established in 1756 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by D. Fowle. This was the first newspaper in the State. In 1773 it was called the New Hampshire Gazette and Historical Chronicler in 1776 the Freeman's Journal or New Hampshire Gazette; in 1788 the New Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser; in 1796 the New Hampshire Gazette again. At the end of the 19th century it was published as the weekly edition of the Daily Chronicle established in 1852. Research New Hampshire Gazette
Prohibition is usually thought of as the legal ban on the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor. Prohibition is usually promoted by religious fundamentalists, and historically has proven a disastrous experiment.
In America, which has a long history of indulgence in prohibition, it appeared first as an issue in purely State politics in the Maine Legislature in 1837, a prohibitory bill being introduced, but defeated. Later, in 1846 (and permanently in 1851), a prohibitory law was passed in Maine. Following the lead of Maine, prohibitory laws were enacted between 1850 and 1856, in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Michigan, New York, Iowa and Connecticut. Other States tried the experiment and local option has been established in some of the towns and counties of these and many other States.
Prohibition first appeared as a national issue in America during the session of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Good Templars, held in Oswego, New York on May the 25th, 1869. A committee was appointed to issue a call for a convention. This convention assembled at Chicago on September 1st, 1869, and formed the National Prohibition Reform party. The first nominating convention of this party was held at ColumbusOhio on February the 22nd, 1872. James Black, of Pennsylvania, was nominated for President and polled 5608 votes.
Prohibition was largely entered into both national and State politics since that time, but is most influential in the States. In 1876 Henry Blair, of New Hampshire, introduced into the House a joint resolution to amend the Federal Constitution by prohibiting from and after 1900 the manufacture and sale of distilled alcoholic intoxicating liquors. It was not adopted. In national politics the Prohibition vote steadily increased. In 1876 its Presidential candidate, Green Clay Smith, received 9522 votes; in 1880 Neal Dow received 10,305; in 1884 John St John, 150,369; in 1888 Clinton Fiske, 250,290; in 1892 John Bidwell, 268,361.
During the Great War a temporary Wartime Prohibition Act was passed in the USA to save grain for use as food and in 1919 the National Prohibition Act, popularly known as the Volstead Act after its promoter, Congressman Andrew Volstead, was enacted, providing enforcement guidelines and the 18th Amendment was introduced banning the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within and the importation of same into the United States. This resulted in the birth of organised gangs of criminals illegally distilling, importing and selling alcoholic liquor to the masses. This in turn led to gang warfare between rival criminal gangs, a plethora of killings and the notorious gangsters of the 20's. In 1933 prohibition was repealed in the USA by the passing of the 21st Amendment which repealed the 18th Amendment, and once more allowed the manufacture, sale and importation of alcoholic liquor in the United States.
The Stamp Act Congress was a body of delegates from all the American colonies except New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, which met at New York on October the 7th, 1765, and adjourned on October the 25th. The action of this Congress consisted of an address to the king, petitions to Parliament and a declaration of the rights and grievances of the colonies. It protested that the colonies could only be taxed by their own representatives in the colonial assemblies; claimed the inherent right of trial by jury, and declared the Stamp Act to have a manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonies. The House of Commons objected to the declaration as that of an unconstitutional gathering. Research Stamp Act Congress
Suffrage is the right to express an opinion by voting on political questions, applied in particular to the right to vote at parliamentary elections.
Restricted suffrage was the rule in America until well into the 19th century. Massachusetts and New Haven colonies for a time gave the suffrage to none but church members. In most of the colonies a freehold qualification prevailed, sometimes the 'forty-shilling freehold' of English law, sometimes a freehold of so many acres.
The constitutions made in the Revolutionary period mostly provided for the former in the Northern States, for the latter in the Southern, while New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Georgia had simply a requirement of tax-paying. The Constitution of 1787 left this matter entirely to the States, allowing all to vote for Congressmen in a given State who could vote for the members of the State House of Representatives. After 1789, the influence of democratic principles led to the abolition of property qualifications in Georgia in 1798; in Maryland in 1801 and 1809; in Massachusetts in 1821; in New York in 1821; in Delaware in 1831; in New Jersey in 1844; in Connecticut in 1845; in Virginia in 1850; in North Carolina in 1854 and 1868; in South Carolina in 1865; in Rhode Island, except in some municipal elections, in 1888.
The FifteenthAmendment forbids any State, or the United States, to deny the suffrage to any citizen because of race, colour or previous condition of servitude. The new States have mostly provided for manhood suffrage from the first, often even for the suffrage of aliens in process of naturalization. Research Suffrage
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Council For New England
