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THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY CHARTER.

Up to 1620 the Plymouth Company and the London Company were both governed under the charter of the Virginia Company. In 1620 the difficulties between the Virginia Company and King James I., which led to its dissolution in 1623, had begun, and the merchants of the Plymouth Company prudently secured a separate charter, to secure themselves against the probable loss of their land grant and rights.

In 1620 a separate charter, similar to the one given to the Virginia Company, was given to the merchants of the Plymouth Company.

Points in which the Plymouth Company charter differed from the Virginia Company charter.

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Rights

charter.

The same as given in the Virginia Company charter.

PLYMOUTH COLONY had no charter. The Virginia Company gave the colonists a patent, or grant of territory and privileges. This patent was worthless, since the colony did not settle within the limits of the Virginia Company's territory. They afterwards obtained a patent from the council for New England (the Plymouth Company). This patent was never confirmed by the king, and so was not worth very much in law.

The territory granted by

this patent was

All land included between a line drawn north

from the mouth of Narragansett River and one drawn west from the mouth of Cohasset Creek, including fisheries and fur trading.

The Plymouth colonists were too poor to found a colony for themselves, and so they made the following bargain with certain London merchants:

Contract between the Plymouth colonists and certain London merchants.

1. The merchants, or "adventurers," and the colonists were to be a joint stock company.

2. Each adventurer contributing £10 had one share.

3. Each colonist above 16 years old who came out had one share.

4. Each colonist who came out and also contrib-
uted 10 had two shares.

5. Each colonist who brought out one domestic
above 16 years old had one share extra; or
one domestic not 16 years old, one-half share
extra. This included wives and children.
6. The profits of all trade, work, fishing, etc., for
seven years were to be paid into a common
treasury.

7. All colonists were to be provided with the
necessaries of life from the common stock
until division.

8. At the end of seven years both capital and profits were to be divided among the stockholders.

In 1627 the colony bought out the shares of the adventurers for 1800. Eight of the chief men of the colony advanced the amount, and received in return a monopoly of trade with the Indians for six years.

MASSACHUSETTS COLONY.

Massachusetts colony first received a grant from the Plymouth Company; then, because the colonists feared that the Plymouth Company would be dissolved as the Virginia Company had been, they got a separate charter from the king. Soon after the company secretly voted to remove in a body to the new colony, and take its charter with it. This was the first charter ever brought to America.

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Four "General Courts," or meetings, at which all freemen could be present, were to be held each year.

The powers of the Gen

eral Court were

{

I. To make laws.

2. To establish the form of government.

No royal negative upon the acts of these courts was reserved in this charter.

The stockholders of the

company were to have exclusive right to .

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I. The beaver skin trade.

2. Salt-making.

3. Land grants.

4. Trade in furs at 25 per cent, profit on all supplies used.

NOTE. The freemen were all church members who were heads of families.

V. The two parties in England.

Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 122-3. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 14, 27-34. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 371-4. Bancroft's U. S. I. 183-4, 190. Hildreth's U. S. I. 153-6. Coffin's Old Times in Col. 111-115. Montgomery's Amer. Hist. 69. Winsor's Hist. of Amer. III. 257. Eggleston's Household U. S. 37.

a. The difficulty between them.

b. Define Separatist and Puritan.

c. The causes of the Puritan emigration from England.

VI. The Plymouth Company.

Johnston's U. S. 49-50. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 23. See outline given on p. 20.

a. Composition.

b. Government.

c. Charter.

1. Territory granted.

2. Rights and privileges given.

3. Conditions on which they were given.

4. What differences were there between its charter and the Virginia Company's charter?

VII. Plymouth colony.

Coffin's Old Times in Col. chaps. VII., VIII. Morris's Half Hours, 145+. Higginson's U. S. 153–8. Coffin's Story of Lib. 356. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 27-64. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 370-423. Bancroft's U. S. I. 198–214. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 133-42, 147, 153, 221-2, 152-3, 190, 193-4, 155–63, 164, 167, 171, 173-6, 181-2, 184-7, 211-13, 223, 225. Winsor's Hist. of Amer. III. chap. VIII. Moore's Pilgrims and Puritans, maps, front., 24, 29, 33, 44, III. For maps, see Coffin's Old Times in Col.; Front. Doyle's Eng. Col. II.; Winsor's Hist of Amer. III. chap. VIII.; MacCoun's Hist. Geog.

a. The Pilgrims in England and Holland.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 27-30, 33-5. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 133-42, 147. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 370-81. Bancroft's U. S. I. 198-200. Winsor's Hist. of Amer. III. 257-64.

b. Their contract with the London merchants.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 41-2, 61-2. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 153, 221-2, 227-30. Bancroft's U. S. I. 201, 204. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 381, 385, 416, 427.

c. Grant and territory.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 43. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 152-3, 190, 193-4.

d. Location.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 50. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 164, 167, 171. Bancroft's U. S. I. 207-9. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 387.

e. Kind of colonists, outfit, etc.

Winsor's Hist. of Amer. III. 266-70. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 44-9. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 155-63.

f. Government of colony.

Fiske's Civil Govt. 192. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 388. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 49, 54. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 165. Higginson's U. S. 156. Bancroft's U. S. I. 206.

g. Methods of defence and relations with the Indians.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 53, 67. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 178–9.

h. Peculiarities, difficulties, first winter, incidents, etc.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 52, 65. Bancroft's U. S. I. 210-14. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 173-6, 181-2, 184-7, 198-9, 211-13, 223, 225. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 385-7, 388-99, 400-12, 417, 427.

i. Settlements which sprang from Plymouth.

Fill out.

Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 69-70, 74. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 418-23. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 339, 539.

VIII. Massachusetts colony.

Montgomery's Amer. Hist. 78, 79, 80.
530-2. Hildreth's U. S. I. 176-87.
233.
Winsor's Hist. of Amer. III.
Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 287-90, 301.
Eggleston's Household U. S. 42-5.

Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 518, 525-9, Bancroft's U. S. I. 222-4, 226, 230-1, 310-16. Higginson's U. S. 158-64. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 87, 90, 92, 97.

a. From what company did it receive its first grant?

b. Had it a charter from the king? How did the colony get it to America?

c. Colonists.

Bancroft's U. S. I. 223, 226, 231, 233. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 518. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 287+. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 87+.

1. From what places in England? Fill out.

2. Character, religion, property, outfit.

d. The settlements around Massachusetts Bay. Locate exactly five or six.

Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 323. Bancroft's U. S. I. 226, 230, 231, 237, 239. Bryant's Popular Hist. I. 526.

e. Government.

Notice the religious test as a qualification for the franchise.

Bancroft's U. S. I. 224. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 92, 93, 97, 101-3. Hildreth's U. S. I. 180, 183, 186, 187. Doyle's Eng. Col. II. 109, 112. Palfrey's N. Eng. I. 345. Macy's Our Govt. 26. Fiske's Civil Govt. 16–24.

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