of Richard Nichols, for the conquest of the Dutch in America. Nichols appeared in the harbor of New Amsterdam in August, and demanded the surrender of the town and fort from Governor Stuyvesant. Letters and messages were exchanged, and at length the Dutch governor agreed to capitulate. Articles to that end were signed on the 27th of August. By the terms of the surrender the Dutch were to continue free denizens, to retain their estates, to enjoy their ancient customs with regard to inheritances, to enjoy their modes of worship and church discipline, and they were allowed a freedom of trade to Holland. In honor of the Duke of York, New Amsterdam now took the name of New York. On the 24th of September the Dutch garrison and settlement at Fort Orange surrendered to the English, and in honor of the Duke the place was called Albany. On the 1st of October the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware capitulated. The English now exercised dominion over all New Netherlands.

The settlement of Newark, Middletown, Shrewsbury, and Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, was commenced by removals from New England and Long Island.

The Legislature of Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting the establishment of any printing-press, excepting in the town of Cambridge.

Nichols made a treaty with the Indians of the Five Nations, by which they ceded their lands and submitted to the King of England.

1665 The colonies of New Haven and Connecticut formed a union, uniting into one colony under the name of the latter. There were now nineteen towns in the united colonies. The town of Branford dissented from this union, and most of the inhabitants removed to Newark, in New Jersey.

1666

1668

The city of New York was incorporated, and a mayor, five aldermen, and a sheriff were chosen.

Emigrants from Barbadoes commenced a settlement in Carolina under the leadership of John Yeamans, who was appointed Governor of the County of Clarendon, which had lately been laid out by the proprietors of the province.

St. Augustine, in Florida, was sacked and plundered by John Davis, a pirate.

Connecticut established four counties: Hartford, New Haven, New London, and Fairfield, with a court in each county.

The first church built in Brooklyn was erected this year, on the site of Fulton Avenue, near Lawrence Street.

The province of Maine, upon application of some of its inhabitants, was put under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.

The Legislature of Massachusetts granted to Daniel Gookin and others a township of land eight miles square, by the name of Worcester.

The first permanent settlement within the limits of the present State of Michigan was made this year, by Father Marquette, a French missionary, who established a mission at Sault Ste. Marie.

1669 The Old South Church in Boston was erected this year. This was the third church built in Boston.

1670 A colony of settlers arrived in Carolina from England, and commenced a settlement on the neck of land between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, where in the next year they founded a town, which they called Charlestown.

1671 Virginia, at this period, contained about forty thousand inhabitants, of whom two thousand were slaves.

1672

The Assembly of Maryland passed an act encouraging the importation of negro slaves.

The English Parliament passed an act imposing customs upon the colonies, to be collected by revenue-officers to be appointed by the crown.

The whale-fishery business was commenced at Nantucket. 1673 A war having broken out between England and Holland, the Dutch sent an expedition to destroy the commerce of the English colonies in America. After ravaging the coast of Virginia, learning the defenceless_condition of New York, the Dutch proceeded to that city and forced its surrender, and soon after compelled all New Netherlands to submission. This conquest extended to the whole province of New Jersey. Upon the execution of a treaty of peace between the two nations in the following year these possessions were restored to the English.

New England, it was estimated, contained at this time about one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, of whom fifteen hundred families resided in Boston.

The first mail between Boston and New York was established this year, "for a more speedy intelligence and despatch of affairs." The letters were to be carried by a messenger, who was directed to go and return once a month.

The Mississippi River was explored for a considerable portion of its length by Father Marquette, a French missionary, and Joliet, a citizen of Quebec.

1674 The authorities in Massachusetts granted to John Foster the privilege of setting up a printing-press in Boston.

1675 A war commenced between Philip, a king of one of the Indian tribes in New England, and the colonists, which soon extended to other tribes, and lasted more than a year. The colonists experienced great cruelties and suffering, and lost about six hundred, who were either massacred or taken captive. Twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed.

1676

A rebellion broke out in Virginia under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, which cost the colony £100,000. The principal causes of this rebellion are supposed to have been the extremely low price of tobacco, and the ill-treatment of the planters in the exchange of goods for it; the splitting of the colony into proprietaries, contrary to the original charters, and the extravagant taxes to which they were subjected to relieve themselves from those grants; the heavy restraints and burdens laid upon their trade by act of parliament; and the disturbance given by the Indians.

New Jersey was now divided into two parts, called East

1677

Jersey and West Jersey. East Jersey was governed by Carteret, and West Jersey became a dependency of New York.

The province of Maine was purchased of its proprietor by an agent of the Massachusetts Colony in England. From this time Maine formed a part of Massachusetts.

Burlington, in West Jersey, was laid out and soon settled by English emigrants.

A collector of customs was sent from England to Carolina, who rendered himself obnoxious to the people. An insurrection broke out, and the insurgents overturned the government, which they exercised for two years with all the authority of an independent State.

The authorities of Massachusetts passed a new law for the apprehension and punishment of every person found in attendance at a Quaker meeting.

A postal system was inaugurated in Massachusetts to insure regularity in the delivery of mail. Heretofore it had been the custom to deposit letters at the Town House, to be taken and forwarded at the pleasure of those who visited the place. 1678 The province of New York contained at this time about twenty-four towns and villages. There were three hundred and forty-three houses in the city of New York.

1679 A collector of royal customs for New England was now appointed, and Edward Randolph was sent over in that capacity, Upon his arrival at Boston he was considered as an enemy and opposed by the people, who considered their chartered privileges invaded.

A conflagration broke out in Boston about midnight on the 8th of August, and destroyed above eighty dwellings, seventy warehouses, and a large amount of property. The loss was computed to be £200,000.

La Salle built a ship on Niagara River, above the Falls, and sailed into Lake Erie. This was the first vessel ever seen on the great lakes. In this vessel La Salle sailed across Lake Erie and through the strait and lake which he named St. Clair, and through Lake Huron into Lake Michigan, where he constructed a trading house at Mackinaw. Thence he proceeded to Green Bay. From that place he sent his vessel back with a cargo of rich furs, and he proceeded with a part of his company in canoes, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest French settlement, into the Illinois country, where he erected a fort near Lake Peoria.

1680 By orders from England, New Hampshire was now set apart from the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and erected into a sepa rate province, against the will of the inhabitants. The first provincial assembly convened at Portsmouth on the 16th of March. Connecticut contained at this time twenty-six towns, and Rhode Island nine.

The foundation of a new town in Carolina was laid, and called Charlestown. The inhabitants of the old town called by that name removed to the new place, and it was made the seat of government.

1681

1682

1683

The upper part of the Mississippi River was explored this year by Father Hennepin. He discovered the falls which he

named the "Falls of St. Anthony of Padua."

William Penn received on the 4th of March from King Charles II. a charter and grant of the lands in America lying between Delaware Bay and River and the province of Maryland, to which territory was given the name of Pennsylvania. Advertising this fact, many single persons and families, chiefly of the Quaker denomination, prepared to remove from England to the new province. A number of merchants formed an association and purchased from Penn twenty thousand acres for £400. On the 11th of July Penn entered into certain articles with the purchasers and adventurers, which were entitled "Conditions and Concessions." The preliminaries being settled, a colony was sent over during the year, and upon its arrival commenced a settlement above the confluence of the Schuylkill and the Delaware.

William Penn published a frame of government for the new province, with a body of laws agreed upon in England between himself and the purchasers. To prevent all future pretence of claim to the province by the Duke of York, he obtained from him a deed of release for it. In the month of August, Penn, accompanied by about one hundred colonists, chiefly Quakers, embarked for America, and landed at Newcastle on the 24th of October. On the 4th of December he called an assembly of the people at the place since called Chester, and instituted laws for the government of the province. He then entered into a treaty with the Indians, and made purchases of some of their lands. Penn next proceeded to lay out a place for a proposed city, to which he had already assigned the name of Philadelphia. The city was immediately begun, and within less than a year eighty houses and cottages were built.

Newark, in East Jersey, contained at this time about one hundred families. Settlements were commenced this year on the Jersey shore of the Delaware by three hundred and sixty emigrants from Europe.

At this period New Hampshire contained about four thousand inhabitants.

M. de la Salle descended the Illinois into the Mississippi, and down that river to the sea, and formally taking possession of all the country watered by that river for the King of France, named it, in his honor, Louisiana.

The first English settlements west of the Alleghanies were now made on the east side of the Mississippi, near the site of the present city of Alton, in Illinois.

About twenty families from Germany arrived in Pennsylvania, and commenced a settlement about seven miles from Philadelphia, which they called Germantown.

On the 17th of October, the inhabitants of the province of New York convened for the first time in general assembly at the city of New York, and passed several important laws.

A controversy having arisen between Massachusetts and the

1684

crown, principally concerning the collection of royal customs at Boston, an order of council was passed on the 26th of July for issuing a quo warranto against the charter of Massachusetts, with a declaration from the king that if the colony before prosecution would make full submission and resignation to his pleasure, he would regulate their charter for his service and their good, and with no further alterations than should be necessary for the support of his government there. The proposition of the king divided the Massachusetts Legislature. The governor and a majority of the assistants voted not to contend in law, but to submit to the king's pleasure. The representatives, after a fortnight's consideration, refused their concurrence in this vote, and a letter of attorney was sent to an agent in England to appear and answer in behalf of the colony.

The first printing-press set up in the colonies south of Boston was introduced about this time into Virginia, and immediately suppressed by the governor. This action was approved by the king, and he sent positive instructions that no printingpress should be allowed in Virginia.

On the 18th of June the High Court of Chancery, in England, gave judgment for the king against the colony of Massachusetts; their charter was declared forfeited, and the liberties of the colonists seized into the hands of the king.

The Indians composing the Five Nations made a treaty of peace with the English, at a grand convention held at Albany on the 2d of August.

Philadelphia now contained three hundred houses and about two thousand inhabitants.

The French erected a fort at the falls of Niagara.

1685 King Charles II. died, and was succeeded by his brother under the title of James II. The new king caused a quo warranto to be issued against the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut. A collector of royal customs was established in Carolina at the port of Charlestown.

1686

The first printing-press established in Pennsylvania was set up this year, near Philadelphia, by William Bradford. The first publication was an almanac.

The attorney-general of England was ordered to prosecute writs of quo warranto against East and West Jersey. King James, designing to establish an arbitrary government for New York, deprived that province of its immunities. He also ordered that no printing-press should be established there.

Sir Edmund Andros arrived at Boston on the 20th of December, with a commission from the king for the government of New England. Among his instructions was one that no printing-press should be allowed. He was also instructed to give universal toleration in religion but encouragement to the Church of England; to execute the laws of trade, and prevent frauds in customs. To support his authority, two companies of soldiers were sent over from England. Immediately after his arrival Andros proceeded to Rhode Island, dissolved the government, and assumed the administration.