tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57124177728093938402024-03-05T21:01:39.810-05:00Women in 17C British Colonial AmericaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-85205931795726844652020-01-12T04:00:00.009-05:002022-07-01T16:04:25.605-04:00The Female Witch Myth - Hanging those "Evil Women" in Britain's Colonies<p> In 1692, a group of young girls, not yet full-grown women, in Salem Village, Massachusetts were accused of witchcraft, & 20 were eventually executed as witches; however, none of the condemned was burned at the stake. In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YSNX3HkOUwDusHtIGfXPYKePhu-iUtQStqK2CFC3l2V_u8Yg649SRjayyMtkjTZV9OK0Cqa1z2HZdnWPyKEQfApVoxZ6bW9kiHoFR19QVOX1UwtDKI-P1Y3BaUgZ3VNg0v0cVMVDL3E/s1600/screen-shot-2013-11-28-at-15-35-21.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6YSNX3HkOUwDusHtIGfXPYKePhu-iUtQStqK2CFC3l2V_u8Yg649SRjayyMtkjTZV9OK0Cqa1z2HZdnWPyKEQfApVoxZ6bW9kiHoFR19QVOX1UwtDKI-P1Y3BaUgZ3VNg0v0cVMVDL3E/s1600/screen-shot-2013-11-28-at-15-35-21.jpg" /></span></a></div><span>An earlier woodcut of the hanging of female witches from Richard Gardiner, <b>England's Grievance Discovered</b>. 1655</span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRa_TAj0DG8/YJ2vnXfL9EI/AAAAAAACYGY/K7F413Ik_8QZ3600dryzO8kL9TDgDOpkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRa_TAj0DG8/YJ2vnXfL9EI/AAAAAAACYGY/K7F413Ik_8QZ3600dryzO8kL9TDgDOpkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div>Note:</div><div><span><span><div><br /></div><div>The Female Witch Myth was strengthened by English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676), whose writings & court rulings on women were/are far-reaching & long-lasting. In 1662, he was involved in one of the most notorious of the 17C English witchcraft trials, where he sentenced 2 women to death for being witches. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases in England & in the British American colonies, & was used in the 1692 Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused's lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676) read<b> Malleus Maleficarum</b> 1486 (translated by Montague Summers 1928 - see Google Books) Written in Latin & first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487, the title is translated as<b> "The Hammer of Witches."</b> Written in 1486 by Austrian priest Heinrich Kramer (also Kraemer) & German priest Jakob (also James) Sprenger, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII. As the main justification for persecution of witches, the authors relied on a brief passage in the <b>Bible</b> (the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse 18), which states:<b><i> "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." </i></b>The <b>Malleus</b> remained in use for 300 years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England & her North American colonies, & on the European continent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Malleus</b> was used as a judicial case-book for the detection & persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence & the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured & put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in the book because of having a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivating medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The <b>Malleus</b> serves as a chilling warning of what happens when intolerance takes over a society.</div></span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-2126580313684923572020-01-10T04:00:00.002-05:002023-02-10T13:44:27.655-05:00Pilgrim Mary Brewster (c1569-1627) arrived arrived on The Mayflower <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Mary Brewster (c 1569-1627) was a Pilgrim & one of the women on the Mayflower. She was the wife of Elder William Brewster.<br />
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Mary Brewster & her husband William married in 1592 & had their first son Jonathan in Scrooby a year later. She next had a daughter Patience, born about 1600 or somewhat earlier.<br />
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About 1606, the church congregation began more formally meeting at the Scrooby manor, where she & husband William resided. About this time, pressure from the English authorities was mounting, & the meetings became more & more secretive. She gave birth to another daughter at this time, which they named Fear.<br />
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The couple fled just over a year later for Holland with the other members of the congregation, & in Leiden they buried an unnamed child: presumably one that had died in infancy. In 1611, she gave birth to a son they named Love, & two or three years later gave birth to their last son, whom they named Wrestling.<br />
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William became the senior elder of the American colony. He was an advisor to Governor William Bradford. She was one of only five adult women from the Mayflower to survive the first winter in the New World, & one of only four such to survive to the "first Thanksgiving" in 1621, which she helped cook.<br />
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As such, she is included in Plimoth Plantation's re-enactment of that Thanksgiving. She is thought to have had six children with William - Jonathan, Patience, Fear, Love, an unnamed child who died young, & Wrestling. The two youngest journeyed with their parents on Mayflower, while the three elder children joined their family on later ships. Her son, Jonathan Brewster (1593-1659) & his wife Lucretia Oldham, had nine children. One of those children was also named Mary Brewster. Her life in England is fairly untraceable in the British records, as is her maiden name.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-90187231142663955252020-01-08T04:00:00.002-05:002022-03-15T12:00:57.904-04:00Colonial Charter - King's Grant of New Jersey to Sir George Carteret, 1674<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Europeans trading with the original inhabitants of New Jersey. No women mentioned in the 1674 Charter, but a couple of them cower behind the doorway here.<br />
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<b><i>His Royal Highness's Grant of New Jersey to the Lords Proprietors, Sir George Carteret, 29th July, 1674</i></b><br />
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<b><i>This Indenture made the ninth and twentieth day of JULY, in the twenty and sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Anno Domini, one thousand six hundred seventy-four. Albany, Earl of Ulster, Lord High Admiral of Scotland and Ireland, of the one part, and Sir George Carteret of Saltrum in the County of Devon, Knight, Vice Chamberlain of his Majesty's household of the other part. WHEREAS his Majesty King Charles the Second, by his Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of: England, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of June, in the twenty-sixth year of his said Majesty's reign, did for the consideration therein mentioned, give and grant unto his said Royal Highness James Duke of York, his heirs and assigns, all that part of the main land of New England, beginning at a certain place called or known by the name of St. Croix next adjoining to New Scotland, in America; and from thence extending along the sea coast unto a certain place called Pemaquine or Pemaquid, and so up the river thereof to the furthest head of the same as it tendeth northward; and extending from thence to the river Kenebeque, and so upwards by the shortest course to the same commonly called by the several name or names of Mattowacks or Long Island, situate and being towards the west of Cape Codd and the Narrow Higansetts, abutting upon the main land between the two rivers there, called or known by the several names of Connecticutt, and Hudson's river; together also with the said river called Hudson's river, and all the lands from the west side of Connecticutt river to the east side of Delaware bay: And also several other islands and lands, in the said Letters Patent mentioned, together with the rivers, harbors, mines, minerals, quarries, woods, marshes, waters, fishing, hawking, hunting, and fowling, and all other royalties, proffits, commodities and hereditaments to the said several islands, lands and premises belonging or appertaining, to have and to hold the said lands, islands, hereditaments and premises, with their and every of their appurtenances, unto his said Royal Highness James Duke of York, his heirs and assigns for ever; to be holden of his said Majesty, his heirs and successors as of the manner of East Greenwich in the County of Kent, in free and common soccage, yielding and paying to his said Majesty his heirs and successors of and for the same, yearly and every year, forty beaver skins, when they shall be demanded, or within ninety days after; with divers other grants, clauses, provisoes, and agreements in the said recited Letters Patents contain'd, as by the said Letters Patents, relation being "hereunto had, it doth and may more plainly appear. Now this indenture witnesseth, that his said Royal Highness James Duke of York, for and in consideration of a competent sum of good and lawful money of England to his Royal Highness in hand paid by the said Sir George Carteret, before the ensealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof his said Royal Highness James Duke of York, doth hereby acknowledge, and thereof doth acquit and discharge the said Sir George Carteret, his heirs and assigns for ever by these presents, hath granted, bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm unto the said Sir George Carteret, his heirs and assigns for ever, all that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of Long Island and Manhitas Island, and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river, and extends southward as far as a certain creek called Barnegatt, being about the middle, between Sandy Point and Cape May, and bounded on the west in a strait line from the said creek called Barnegat, to a certain Creek in Delaware river, next adjoining to and below a certain creek in Delaware river called Renkokus Kill, and from thence up the said Delaware river to the northermost branch thereof, which is forty-one degrees and forty minutes of latitude; and on the north, crosseth over thence in a strait line to Hudson's river, in forty-one degrees of latitude; which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New Caeserea or New Jersey: And also all rivers, mines, minerals, woods, fishings, hawking, hunting, and fowIing, and all royalties, profits, commodities, and hereditaments whatsoever, to the said lands, and premises belonging or appertaining; with their and every of their appurtenances, in as full and ample manner as the same is granted unto the said James Duke of York, by the before recited Letters Patents; and all the estate, right, title, interest benefit, advantage, claim and demand of the said James Duke of York of in and to the said lands and premises, or any part or parcel thereof, and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders thereof: All which said tract of land and premises were by indenture, bearing date the day before the date hereof, bargain'd and sold by the said James Duke of York, unto Sir George Carteret, for the term of one whole year to commence from the eighth and twentieth day of July next before the date hereof, under the rent of one peper corn, payable as therein is mentioned as by the said deed more plainly may appear: By force and virtue of which said indenture of bargain and sale, and of the statute made for transferring of usses into possession, the said Sir George Carteret, is in actual possession of the said tract of land and premises, and enabled to take a grant and release thereof, the said lease being made to that end and purpose, to have and to hold all and singular the said-tract of land and premises; with their, and every of their appurtenances, and every part and parcel thereof, unto the said Sir George Carteret, his heirs and assigns to the only behoof of the said Sir George Carteret his heirs and assigns for ever; yielding and paying therefore unto the said James Duke of York, his heirs and assigns, for the tract of land and premises, yearly the sum of twenty nobles of lawful money of England, if the same shall be lawfully demanded at or in the Inner Temple Hall, I,ondon, at the feast of St. Michael the Arch Angel yearly. And the said Sir George Carteret for himself, his heirs, and assigns, doth covenant and grant to and with the said James Duke of York, his heirs and assigns by these presents, that he the said Sir George Carteret, his heirs and assigns, shall and will well and truly pay or cause to be paid unto his said BoyalHiness James Duke of York, his heirs and assigns, the said yearly rent of twenty nobles at such time and place, and in such manner and formulas before in these presents is express'd and declared. Provided always and upon this condition, that the said Sir George Carteret do cause a copy of this Grant and demise to be entered with the auditor of his said Royal Highness, within one month next after the execution of this present grant and demise. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties to these presents have interchangeably set their hands and seals, the day and year first above written. Sign'd. JAMES.</i></b></span><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lMEQ2_8Btas/YJ2v3ObhOnI/AAAAAAACYGg/pQQWxuwq5FgMNcDzSdr41W9IxO-zGyzcACLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lMEQ2_8Btas/YJ2v3ObhOnI/AAAAAAACYGg/pQQWxuwq5FgMNcDzSdr41W9IxO-zGyzcACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" /></a></div></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-73453871198832525052020-01-06T04:00:00.002-05:002021-05-13T20:18:41.297-04:00Colonial Charter - Fundamental Laws, of West New Jersey, Agreed Upon - 1676<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Europeans trading with the original peoples of New Jersey<br />
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New Jersey’s early colonial history is similar to New York’s. Like New York, the area was first colonized by Dutch settlers around 1613. The colony was called New Netherland, & included parts of modern-day New York & New Jersey. In 1660, the town of Bergen became the first established town in the New Jersey portion of New Netherland. Today, it is named Jersey City.<br />
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By 1664, the British had claimed the entire region & had driven the Dutch out. New Netherland was renamed New Jersey & New Amsterdam was renamed New York. Although King Charles originally gave the region to his brother, the Duke of York, eventually, he decided to divide the region & gave the land between the Hudson & Delaware River (New Jersey) to two of his friends, Sir George Carteret & Lord Berkeley of Stratton.<br />
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Carteret & Berkeley began attracting people to the area by offering land & guaranteeing religious freedom. In return for the land, the settlers were supposed to pay a yearly tax called a quit-rent. The quit-rents proved hard to collect, which prompted the sale of the land to the Quakers in 1673. Upon the sale, New Jersey was divided in West Jersey & East Jersey. However, by 1702, the two divisions were united as the royal colony of New Jersey.<br />
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The Charter or Fundamental Laws, of West New Jersey, Agreed Upon - 1676<br />
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CHAPTER XIII<br />
THAT THESE FOLLOWING CONCESSIONS ARE THE COMMON LAW, OR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, OF THE PROVINCE OF WEST NEW JERSEY<br />
That the common law or fundamental rights and priviledges of West New Jersey, are individually agreed upon by the Proprietors and freeholders thereof, to be the foundation of the government, which is not to be altered by the Legislative authority, or free Assembly hereafter mentioned and constituted, but that the said Legislative authority is constituted according to these fundamentals, to make such laws as agree with, and maintain the said fundamentals, and to make no laws that in the least contradict, differ or vary from the said fundamentals, under what presence or alligation soever.<br />
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CHAPTER XIV<br />
But if it so happen that any person or persons of the said General Assembly, shall therein designedly, willfully, and maliciously, move or excite any to move, any matter or thing whatsoever, that contradicts or any ways subverts, any fundamentals of the said laws in the Constitution of the government of this Province, it being proved by seven honest and reputable persons, he or they shall be proceeded against as traitors to the said government.<br />
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CHAPTER XV<br />
That these Concessions, law or great charter of fundamentals, be recorded in a fair table. in the Assembly House, and that they be read at the beginning and dissolving of every general free Assembly: And it is further agreed and ordained, that the said Concessions, common law, or great charter of fundamentals, be writ in fair tables in every common hall of justice within this Province, and that they be read in solemn manner four times every year, in the presence of the people, by the chief magistrates of those places.<br />
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CHAPTER XVI<br />
That no men, nor number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters, therefore it is consented, agreed and ordained, that no person or persons whatsoever within the said Province, at any time or times hereafter, shall be any ways upon any presence whatsoever, called in question, or in the least punished or hurt, either in person, estate, or priviledge, for the sake of his opinion, judgment, faith or worship towards God in matters of religion. But that all and every such person, and persons may from time to time, and at all times, freely and fully have, and enjoy his and their judgments, and the exercises of their consciences in matters of religious worship throughout all the said Province.<br />
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CHAPTER XVII<br />
That no Proprietor, freeholder or inhabitant of the said Province of West New Jersey, shall be deprived or condemned of life, limb, liberty, estate, property or any ways hurt in his or their privileges, freedoms or franchises, upon any account whatsoever, without a due tryal, and Judgment passed by twelve good and lawful men of his neighborhood first had: And that in all causes to be tryed, and in all tryals, the person or persons, arraigned may except against any of the said neghborhood, without any reason rendered, (not exceeding thirty five) and in case of any valid reason alleged, against every person nominated for that service.<br />
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CHAPTER XVIII<br />
And that no Proprietor, freeholder, freedenison, or inhabitant in the said Province, shall be attached, arrested, or imprisoned for or by reason of any debt, duty, or thing whatsoever (cases felonious criminal and treasonable Excepted) before he or she have personal summon or summons, left at his or her last dwelling place, if in the said Province, by some legal authorized officer, constituted and appointed for that purpose, to appear in some court of judicature for the said Province, with a full and plain account of the cause or thing in demand, as also the name or names of the person or persons at whose suit, and the court where he is to appear, and that he hath at least fourteen days time to appear and answer the said suit, if he or she live or inhabit within forty miles English of the said court, and if at a further distance, to have for every twenty miles, two days time more, for his and their appearance, and so proportionately for a larger distance of place.<br />
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That upon the recording of the summons, and non-appearance of such person and persons, a writ or attachment shall or may be issued out to arrest, or attach the person or persons of such defaulters, to cause his or their appearance in such court, returnable at a day certain to answer the penalty or penalties, in such suit or suits; and if he or they shall be condemned by legal tryal and judgment, the penalty or penalties shall be paid and satisfied out of his or their real or personal estate so condemned, or cause the person or persons so condemned, to lie in execution till satisfaction of the debt and damages be made. Provided always, if such person or persons so condemned, shall pay and deliver such estate, goods, and chattles which he or any other person hath for his or their use, and shall solemnly declare and aver, that he or they have not any further estate, goods or chattles wheresoever to satisfy the person or persons, (at whose suit, he or they are condemned) their respective judgments, and shall also bring and produce three other persons as compurgators, who are well known and of honest reputation, and approved of by the commissioners of that division, where they dwell or inhabit, which shall in such open court, likewise solemnly declare and aver, that they believe in their consciences, such person and persons so condemned, have not werewith further to pay the said condemnation or condemnations, he or they shall be thence forthwith discharged from their said imprisonment, any law or custom to the contrary thereof, heretofore in the said Province, notwithstanding. And upon such summons and default of appearance, recorded as aforesaid, and such person and persons not appearing within forty days after, it shall and may be lawful for such court of judicature to proceed to tryal, of twelve lawful men to judgment, against such defaulters, and issue forth execution against his or their estate, real and personal, to satisfy such penalty or penalties, to such debt and damages so recorded, as far as it shall or may extend.<br />
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CHAPTER XIX<br />
That there shall be in every court, three justices or commissioners, who shall sit with the twelve men of the neighborhood, with them to hear all causes, and to assist the said twelve men of the neighborhood in case of law; and that they the said justices shall pronounce such judgment as they shall receive from, and be directed by the said twelve men in whom only the judgment resides, and not otherwise.<br />
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And in case of their neglect and refusal, that then one of the twelve, by consent of the rest, pronounce their own judgment as the justices should have done.<br />
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And if any judgment shall be past, in any case civil or criminal, by any other person or persons, or ally other way, then according to this agreement and appointment, it shall be held null and void, and such person or persons so presuming to give judgment, shall be severely fin'd, and upon complaint made to the General Assembly, by them be declared incapable of any office or trust within this Province.<br />
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CHAPTER XX<br />
That in all matters and causes, civil and criminal, proof is to be made by the solemn and plain averment, of at least two honest and reputable persons; arid in case that any person or persons shall bear false witness, and bring in his or their evidence, contrary to the truth of the matter as shall be made plainly to appear, that then every such person or persons, shall in civil causes, suffer the penalty which would be due to the person or persons he or they bear witness against. And in case any witness or witnesses, on the behalf of any person or persons, indicted in a criminal cause, shall be found to have borne false witness for fear, gain, malice or favour, and thereby hinder the due execution of the law, and deprive the suffering person or persons of their due satisfaction, that then and in all other cases of false evidence, such person or persons, shall be first severely fined, and next that he or they shall forever be disabled from being admitted in evidence, or into any public office, employment, or service within this Province.<br />
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CHAPTER XXI<br />
That all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall prosecute or prefer any indictment or information against others for any personal injuries, or matter criminal, or shall prosecute for any other criminal cause, (treason, murther, and felony, only excepted) shall and may be master of his own process, and 1lave full power to forgive and remit the person or persons offending against him or herself only, as well before as after judgment, and condemnation, and pardon and remit the sentence, fine and punishment of the person or persons offending, be it personal or other whatsoever.<br />
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CHAPTER XXII<br />
That the tryals of all causes, civil and criminal, shall be heard and decided by the virdict or judgment of twelve honest men of the neighborhood, only to be summoned and presented by the sheriff of that division, or propriety where the fact or trespass is committed; and that no person or persons shall he compelled to fee any attorney or councillor to plead his cause, but that all persons have free liberty to plead his own cause, if he please: And that no person nor persons imprisoned upon any account whatsoever within this Province, shall be obliged to pay any fees to the officer or officers of the said prison, either when committed or discharged.<br />
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CHAPTER XXIII<br />
That in all publick courts of justice for tryals of causes, civil or criminal, any person or persons, inhabitants of the said Province may freely come into, and attend the said courts, and hear and be present, at all or any such tryals as shall be there had or passed, that justice may not be done in a corner nor in any covert manner, being intended and resolved, by the help of the Lord, and by these our Concessions and Fundamentals, that all and every person and persons inhabiting the said Province, shall, as far as in us lies, be free from oppression and slavery.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w43KsPWuIp4/YJ2wJgK7cDI/AAAAAAACYGo/bTI6SjClMM8oEMLlHyulZYjsfOMjWouiACLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w43KsPWuIp4/YJ2wJgK7cDI/AAAAAAACYGo/bTI6SjClMM8oEMLlHyulZYjsfOMjWouiACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-46143695366353291062019-10-14T04:00:00.002-04:002023-02-10T13:46:39.737-05:00Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of German Town, Pennsylvania, to his father in Germany, 1698 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WndzewFISbU/XWx2G7CuukI/AAAAAAACUKM/S5yGF-ixFUED-CLeVPGGYPX4O4BPrEUdACLcBGAs/s1600/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz%2Bthe-life-of-francis-daniel-pastorius-the-founder-of-germantown-illustrated-H303DF%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="964" height="397" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WndzewFISbU/XWx2G7CuukI/AAAAAAACUKM/S5yGF-ixFUED-CLeVPGGYPX4O4BPrEUdACLcBGAs/w640-h397/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz%2Bthe-life-of-francis-daniel-pastorius-the-founder-of-germantown-illustrated-H303DF%2B%25284%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Letter of Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of German Town, Pennsylvania, to his father in Germany, 1698 (excerpts)</div>
<br />
Francis Daniel Pastorius, founder of the first German settlement in Pennsylvania (1683), wrote several accounts of the colony to persuade his countrymen to emigrate. "It is truly a matter for amazement," he exclaims, "how quickly, by the blessing of God, it advances, and from day to day grows perceptibly." In this letter, he answers five questions about German Town and Pennsylvania<br />
submitted to him by his father.<br />
<br />
<b><i> I received in proper condition, on April 25, 1698, my honored father’s latest, of August 15, and I</i></b><br />
<b><i>was greatly rejoiced by the sight of his dear handwriting. But to answer his questions submitted, I would wish that my pen could reach down to the uttermost depth of my soul, for so should I do the same with more satisfaction than is the case now. Nevertheless I do not doubt that my honored father will supply by his keen apprehension that which is not perfectly expressed on this paper:</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>1. Now as to the first question, concerning the ordering of the civil government.</i></b><br />
<b><i> . . . In my German city, Germanton, there is an entirely different condition of things [i.e., different</i></b><br />
<b><i>government than that in Philadelphia]. For, by virtue of the franchise obtained from William Penn, this town has its own court, its own burgomaster and council, together with the necessary officials, and wellregulated town laws, council regulations, and a town seal. The inhabitants of this city are for the most part tradespeople, such as cloth, fustian, and linen weavers, tailors, shoemakers, locksmiths, carpenters, who however at the same time are also occupied with the cultivation of the soil and the raising of cattle. This region would be sufficient to maintain twice as many inhabitants as are now actually there. </i></b><b><i> This town lies two hours’ distance from Philadelphia, and includes not only six thousand acres </i></b><b><i>(morgen) by the survey, but twelve thousand morgen of land have also been assigned to us by William Penn for the establishing of some villages. As to the taxation and tribute of the subjects, in this country, it is treated as it is with the English nation, where neither the king himself nor his envoys, bailiffs, nor governors may lay any kind of burden or tax upon the subjects, unless those subjects themselves have first voluntarily resolved and consented to give a specified amount, and, according to their fundamental laws, no tax may remain in force for longer than a single year.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>2. To come to my honored father’s second question. What form of government have the</i></b><br />
<b><i> so-called savages and half-naked people? Whether they become citizens and intermarry</i></b><br />
<b><i> with the Christians? Again, whether their children also associate with the Christian</i></b><br />
<b><i> children and they play with one another, etc.?</i></b><br />
<b><i> It may be stated in reply, that, so far as I have yet gone about among them, I have found them</i></b><br />
<b><i>reasonable people and capable of understanding good teaching and manners, who give evidence of an </i></b><b><i>inward devotion to God, and in fact show themselves much more desirous of a knowledge of God than are many with you who teach Christianity by words from the pulpit, but belie the same through their ungodly lives, and therefore, in yonder great Day of Judgment, will be put to shame by these heathen. We Christians in Germanton and Philadelphia have no longer the opportunity to associate with them, in view of the fact that their savage kings have accepted a sum of money from William Penn, and, together with their people, have withdrawn very far away from us, into the wild forest, where, after their hereditary custom, they support themselves by the chase, shooting birds and game, and also by catching fish, and dwell only in huts made of bushes and trees drawn together. They carry on no cattle-breeding whatever, and cultivate no field or garden; accordingly they bring very little else to the Christians to market than the pelts, the skins of animals, and the birds which they have shot, and fishes, nor do they associate much with the Christians; and certainly no mutual marriage-contract between us and them has yet taken place. They exchange their elk and deer-skins, beaver, marten, and turkeys, ordinarily, for powder, lead, blankets, and brandy, together with other sweet drinks. In the business of our German Company, however, we now use in trade Spanish and English coins, as also the Dutch thalers; with this difference only, that that which is worth four shillings on the other side of the sea, passes for five here.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>3. Concerning the third question: How our divine worship is regulated and constituted in this place?</i></b><br />
<b><i> The answer is that, as experience testifies that by the coercion of conscience nothing else than</i></b><br />
<b><i>hypocrites and word Christians are made, of whom almost the entire world is now full, we have therefore found it desirable to grant freedom of conscience, so that each serves God according to his best understanding, and may believe whatever he is able to believe. “we have therefore found it desirable to grant freedom of conscience, so that each serves God to his best understanding” It is certain, once for all, that there is only one single undoubted Truth. Sects however are very numerous, and each sectarian presumes to know the nearest and most direct way to Heaven, and to be able to </i></b><b><i>point it out to others, though nevertheless there is surely no more than a single One Who on the basis of truth has said: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. . . .</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>4. Concerning the fourth question: How our German Company </i></b><b><i>and Brotherhood is at present constituted?</i></b><b><i> </i></b><br />
<b><i>It should be stated that this same company was started by some pious and God-fearing persons, not </i></b><b><i>so much for the sake of worldly gain, but rather to have a Pella or place of refuge for themselves and </i></b><b><i>other upright people of their country, when the just God should pour out His cup of wrath over sinful </i></b><b><i>Europe With this intention they arranged to purchase from the proprietor, through me, about thirty thousand acres of land in this country, of which the third part is now cultivated, but two-thirds still lie waste. The principal members are, by name : Doctor Jacob Schiitz, Jacobus von de Walle, Doctor Weilich, Daniel Behagel, Johann Lebrunn, Doctor Gerhard von Maastrich, the Syndic of Bremen, Doctor Johann Willhelm Peters of near Magdeburg, Balthasar Jabert of Lubeck, and Joannes kembler, a preacher at the same place. Of these partners some were to have come over here to me and helped to bring the undertaking to the desired result, but up to this time that has not happened, because they fear the solitude and tediousness, to all of which I, thank God! am now well accustomed, and shall so remain accustomed until my happy end.</i></b><br />
<br />
<b><i>However, that the merciful God has so graciously preserved my honored father together with his</i></b><br />
<b><i>dear ones in this recent devastation of the French war, gives me occasion to extol His everlasting</i></b><br />
<b><i>goodness and fervently to beseech Him to protect you still further, with gentle fatherly care, from all </i></b><b><i>chances of misfortune, but especially that He will bring us ever more and more into His holy fear and </i></b><b><i>obedience, so that we may feel abhorrence to offend Him, and, on the contrary, may strive to fulfill His holy will with happy hearts. . . .</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>5. Concerning the fifth question: Whether William Penn, the proprietor of this country, </i></b><b><i>is easy of access, and if one might address some lines of compliment to him. </i></b><b><i> It may be stated, that this worthy man is a good Christian, and consequently entirely averse to the </i></b><b><i>idle compliments of the world. But he who wishes to exchange sensible and truthful words with him, </i></b><b><i>either by mouth or by letter, will find him not only easy of access, but also prompt in reply, since he is, from his heart, sweet-natured, humble, and eager to serve all men. . . .</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i> . . . All must have an end, and therefore this letter also, in closing which I greet my honored father a </i></b><b><i>thousand times, and kiss him (through the air) with the heart of a child, perhaps for the last time, and most trustingly commend you with us, and us with you, to the beneficent protecting and guiding hand of God; and I remain My honored father’s Truly dutiful son,</i></b><br />
<b><i>Philadelphia F[rancis]. D[aniel]. P[astorius]. 30 May 1698. </i></b><br />
<br />
Francis Daniel Pastorius, Circumstantial Geographical Description of the Lately Discovered Province of Pennsylvania, Situated in the Farthest Limits of America, in the Western World, 1700; in <b>Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630-1707, </b>ed. Albert Cook Myers (New York, Scribner’s, 1912), pp. 360-448; in series Original Narratives of Early American History, gen. ed. J. Franklin Jameson.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pT5aH7yp5Dg/YJ2wZKEzPfI/AAAAAAACYGw/-gfguOvDDeA4dVZIR1fyTyvJM5vaWzTlACLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pT5aH7yp5Dg/YJ2wZKEzPfI/AAAAAAACYGw/-gfguOvDDeA4dVZIR1fyTyvJM5vaWzTlACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-1136039502075067162019-10-12T04:00:00.001-04:002023-02-10T13:51:53.451-05:00The Rev. Mr. John Cotton on Anne Hutchinson & Local Economics. 1639.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AlNNJac5YhU/XWlwVhhccLI/AAAAAAACUJ0/vLJbKnravjwfiAVSGqrDnKElQHGdKvkkACLcBGAs/s1600/zzzzz%2Bjohn%2Bcotton%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1237" data-original-width="870" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AlNNJac5YhU/XWlwVhhccLI/AAAAAAACUJ0/vLJbKnravjwfiAVSGqrDnKElQHGdKvkkACLcBGAs/s1600/zzzzz%2Bjohn%2Bcotton%2B%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
(The Rev. Cotton, born, Derby, England, 1585. BA, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1602. Masters, Emmanuel College, 1606, BD, 1613. Fellow, Head Lecturer, Dean & Catechist, Emmanuel College. First Wife, Elizabeth Horrocks. Vicar, St. Botolph's Parish Church, Boston, Lincolnshire. Arrived New England, 1633. Second Wife, Sarah (Hawkredd-Story) Children: Seaborn, John (Jr), Elizabeth, Maria. FCB, 1633-52. Died in Boston, 1652, age 67.)<br />
<br />
The Rev. John Cotton (1584-1652) of Boston was the leading Puritan minister in the early decades of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He is known for his initial defense of Anne Hutchinson. During his 1st 10 years in the colonies, he actually had a prominent part in the 2 controversies which rocked New England to its core, the exile of Roger Williams and the heresies of Anne Hutchinson. <div><br /></div><div>First, he was at the center of the antinomian controversy that swirled around Anne Hutchinson. Hutchinson, who had followed Cotton to the New World and to Boston, claimed to adhere to Cotton’s emphasis on the primary of grace and divine sovereignty in conversion, and accused all the other New England ministers (except her newly arrived brother-in-law, John Wheelwright) of preaching a covenant of works rather than the covenant of grace. Enthusiastically embracing the doctrine of immediate revelation, she asserted that assurance of faith is experienced by inner feelings of the immediate testimony of the Holy Spirit rather than the evidence of good works. She downplayed the need for sanctification and for the law as a rule of life. </div><div><br /></div><div>The gifted woman attracted many believers into her fellowship and managed to cause friction between Cotton and other ministers, even to the point that some of the ministers began to question Cotton’s orthodoxy. Cotton initially seemed to support Hutchinson and a few of her ideas, particularly a clerical overemphasis on sanctification as evidence of election. Cotton embraced both of these doctrines, but he felt uncomfortable with the amount of emphasis they were receiving among the New England clergy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hutchinson’s views were gradually brought out into the open, however, and when she openly lapsed into mysticism, Cotton sided with the other ministers against her. Cotton’s fellow clergymen presented him with a list of questions to clarify his views in relation to Hutchinson, after which the synod detailed a list of Hutchinson errors. The controversy ended dramatically with Hutchinson’s trial and conviction both by the colony’s general court and by the Boston church, which led to her banishment from the colony. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Williams controversy dealt with the relation between church and state. Magistrates are God's deputies and their power goes as far as life and death, said Cotton. Roger Williams declared that a man's religious loyalties are untouchable by civil power. <br />
<br />
In the document below, Gov. John Winthrop recorded in his <b><i>Journal</i></b> what Cotton's conclusions were in a sermon about fair local economic behavior. <br />
<br />
<b><i>Mo. 9 [Sept. 1639]</i></b><br />
<b><i>At a general court holden at Boston, great complaint was made of the oppression used in the country in sale of foreign commodities; and Mr. Robert Keaine, who kept a shop in Boston, was notoriously above others observed and complained of, and, being convented, he was charged with many particulars; in some, for taking above six-pence in the shilling profit; in some above eight-pence; and, in some small things, above two for one; and being hereof convict, (as appears by the records,) he was fined £200, which came thus to pass: The deputies considered, apart, of his fine, and set it at £200; the magistrates agreed but to £100. So, the court being divided, at length it was agreed, that his fine should be £200, but he should pay but £100, and the other should be respited to the further consideration of the next general court. By this means the magistrates and deputies were, brought to an accord, which otherwise had not been likely, and so much trouble might have grown, and the offender escaped censure. For the cry of the country was so great against oppression, and some of the elders and magistrates had declared such detestation of the corrupt practice of this man (which was the more observable, because he was wealthy and sold dearer than most other tradesmen, and for that he was of ill report for the like covetous practice in England, that incensed the deputies very much against him). And sure the course was very evil, especial circumstances considered: 1. He being an ancient professor of the gospel: 2. A man of eminent parts: 3. Wealthy, and having but one child: 4. Having come over for conscience' sake, and for the advancement of the gospel here: 5. Having been formerly dealt with and admonished, both by private friends and also by some of the magistrates and elders, and having promised reformation; being a member of a church and commonwealth now in their infancy, and under the curious observation of all churches and civil states in the world. These added much aggravation to his sin in the judgment of all men of understanding. Yet most of the magistrates (though they discerned of the offence clothed with all these circumstances) would have been more moderate in their censure: 1. Because there was no law in force to limit or direct men in point of profit in their trade. 2. Because it is the common practice, in all countries, for men to make use of advantages for raising the prices of their commodities. 3. Because (though he were chiefly aimed at, yet) he was not alone in this fault. 4. Because all men through the country, in sale of cattle, corn, labor, etc., were guilty of the like excess in prices. 5. Because a certain rule could not be found out for an equal rate between buyer and seller, though much labor had been bestowed in it, and divers laws had been made, which, upon experience, were repealed, as being neither safe nor equal. Lastly, and especially, because the law of God appoints no other punishment but double restitution; and, in some cases, as where the offender freely confesseth, and brings his offering, onlv half added to the principal. After the court had censured him, the church of Boston called him also in question, where (as before he had done in the court) he did, with tears, acknowledge and bewail his covetous and corrupt heart, yet making some excuse for many of the particulars, which were charged upon him, as partly by pretence of ignorance of the true price of some wares, and chiefly by being misled by some false principles, as 1. That, if a man lost in one commodity, he might help himself in the price of another. 2. That if, through want of skill or other occasion, his commodity cost him more than the price of the market in England, he might then sell it for more than the price of the market in New England, etc. These things gave occasion to Mr. Cotton, in his public exercise the next lecture day, to lay open the error of such false principles, and to give some rules of direction in the case."</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Some false principles were these: </i></b><br />
<b><i>1. That a man might sell as dear as he can, and buv as cheap as he can.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>2. If a man lose by casualty of sea, etc., in some of his commodities, he may raise the price of the rest.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>3. That he may sell as he bought, though he paid too dear, etc., and though the commodity be fallen, etc.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>4. That, as a man may take the advantage of his own skill or ability, so he may of another's ignorance or necessity.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>5. Where one gives time for payment, he is to take like recompense of one as of another.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>The rules for trading-, were these:</i></b><br />
<b><i>1. A man may not sell above the current price, i.e., such a price as is usual in the time and place, and as another (who knows the worth of the commodity) would give for it, if he had occasion to use it: as that is called current money, which every man will take, etc.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>2. When a man loseth in his commodity for want of skill, etc., he must look at it as his own fault or cross, and therefore must not lay it upon another.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>3. Where a man loseth by casualty of sea, or, etc., it is a loss cast upon himself by providence, and he may not ease himself of it by casting it upon another; for so a man should seem to provide against all providences, etc., that he should never lose; but where there is a scarcity of the commodity, there men may raise their price; for now it is a hand of God upon the commodity, and not the person.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>4. A man may not ask any more for his commodity than his selling price, as Ephron to Abraham, the land is worth thus much. </i></b><br />
<br />
Keayne was censured by his church in Boston (in addition to the fine imposed by the General Court). Fourteen years later (1653), Keayne wrote a 158-page justification for his actions as his last will and testament.<br />
<br />
Source: John Winthrop, <b><i>The History of New England from 1630 to 1649</i></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-3204867276429145772019-10-10T04:00:00.001-04:002023-02-10T13:52:51.817-05:00Portrait of an 17C Boston British-American Girl<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC04bnUOTpbmeI7x5vDRmyI7LStHJjuRqZp86_f2D2uXdwCfANu0oc1TWjBND9zAaeCprIfvWP2TMfA4kxo_m4UDoH14jzM_K5QHwnKUSnKiojzu8ePKyArffxvnymip-J4gxdXZk5n8U/s1600/The+Freake+Limner+(American+Colonial+Era+Painter,+active+1670-c+1680)+Margaret+Gibbs+of+Boston+c+1670+(2).jpg" style="color: #888888; font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536848893341178306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC04bnUOTpbmeI7x5vDRmyI7LStHJjuRqZp86_f2D2uXdwCfANu0oc1TWjBND9zAaeCprIfvWP2TMfA4kxo_m4UDoH14jzM_K5QHwnKUSnKiojzu8ePKyArffxvnymip-J4gxdXZk5n8U/s1600/The+Freake+Limner+(American+Colonial+Era+Painter,+active+1670-c+1680)+Margaret+Gibbs+of+Boston+c+1670+(2).jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;" /></a>The Freake Limner (American Colonial Era Painter, active 1670-c 1680) Margaret Gibbs of Boston c 1670 Age 7.<br />
<br />
Not long after Boston was settled, a wealthy merchant named Robert Gibbs commissioned three paintings of his young children. They are among the finest of the few extant portraits made in New England in the seventeenth century. The artist who painted Margaret Gibbs, the eldest at seven, and her brothers—Robert, aged four and a half, and Henry, aged one and a half (Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, Charleston, West Virginia)—is unknown. <div><br /></div><div>However, it is thought that the same artist created likenesses of John and Elizabeth Freake and their baby Mary (in two portraits now at the Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts) in 1674. The artist is thus known as the Freake-Gibbs painter and is considered one of the most skilled portraitists of the seventeenth-century colonies, possessing an exceptional sense of design and an admirable feel for color. Probably trained in provincial England, the Freake-Gibbs painter worked in a typically English flat style derived from Elizabethan art, which emphasized color and pattern. As was customary for portraits at the time, the children, such as Margaret, appear like adults in pose and manner.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-79773008931495888482019-10-08T04:00:00.002-04:002023-02-10T13:55:05.376-05:0017C & 18C Male & Female Slaves & Rice Cultivation in South Carolina<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;">Salves and Rice Cultivation in Georgetown County, South Carolina</span></strong></div>
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The intricate steps involved in planting, cultivating, harvesting, and preparing rice required an immense labor force. Planters stated that African slaves were particularly suited to provide that labor force for two reasons: 1) rice was grown in some areas of Africa and there was evidence that some slaves were familiar with the methods of cultivation practiced there, and 2) it was thought that the slaves, by virtue of their racial characteristics, were better able than white laborers to withstand the extreme heat and humidity of the tidal swamps and therefore would be more productive workers. Rice cultivation resulted in a dramatic increase in the numbers of slaves owned by South Carolinians before the American Revolution.<br />
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In 1680, four-fifths of South Carolina's population was white. However, black slaves outnumbered white residents two to one in 1720, and by 1740, slaves constituted nearly 90% of the population. Much of the growing slave population came from the West Coast of Africa, a region that had gained notoriety by exporting its large rice surpluses.<br />
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While there is no consensus on how rice first reached the American coast, there is much debate over the contribution of African-born slaves to its successful cultivation. New research demonstrates that the European planters lacked prior knowledge of rice farming, while uncovering the long history of skilled rice cultivation in West Africa. Furthermore, Islamic, Portuguese, and Dutch traders all encountered and documented extensive rice cultivation in Africa before South Carolina was even settled. <br />
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At first rice was treated like other crops, it was planted in fields and watered by rains. By the mid-18th century, planters used inland swamps to grow rice by accumulating water in a reservoir, then releasing the stored water as needed during the growing season for weeding and watering. Similarly, prior records detail Africans controlling springs and run off with earthen embankments for the same purposes of weeding and watering.<br />
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Soon after this method emerged, a second evolution occurred, this time to tidewater production, a technique that had already been perfected by West African farmers. Instead of depending upon a reservoir of water, this technique required skilled manipulation of tidal flows and saline-freshwater interactions to attain high levels of productivity in the floodplains of rivers and streams. Changing from inland swamp cultivation to tidal production created higher expectations from plantation owners. Slaves became responsible for five acres of rice, three more than had been possible previously. Because of this new evidence coming to light, some historians contend that African-born slaves provided critical expertise in the cultivation of rice in South Carolina. The detailed and extensive rice cultivating systems increased demand for slave imports in South Carolina, doubling the slave population between 1750 and 1770. These slaves faced long days of backbreaking work and difficult tasks. <br />
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A slave's daily work on an antebellum rice plantation was divided into tasks. Each field hand was given a task--usually nine or ten hours' hard work--or a fraction of a task to complete each day according to his or her ability. The tasks were assigned by the driver, a slave appointed to supervise the daily work of the field hands. The driver held the most important position in the slave hierarchy on the rice plantation. His job was second only to the overseer in terms of responsibility.<br />
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The driver's job was particularly important because each step of the planting, growing, and harvesting process was crucial to the success or failure of the year's crop. In the spring, the land was harrowed and plowed in preparation for planting. Around the first of April rice seed was sown by hand using a small hoe. The first flooding of the field, the sprout flow, barely covered the seed and lasted only until the grain sprouted. The water was then drained to keep the delicate sprout from floating away, and the rice was allowed to grow for approximately three weeks. Around the first of May any grass growing among the sprouts was weeded by hoe and the field was flooded by the point flow to cover just the tops of the plants. After a few days the water was gradually drained until it half covered the plants. It remained at this level--the long flow--until the rice was strong enough to stand. More weeding followed and then the water was slowly drained completely off the field. The ground around the plants was hoed to encourage the growth and extension of the roots. After about three weeks, the field was hoed and weeded again, at which time--around mid-June or the first of July--the lay-by flow was added and gradually increased until the plants were completely submerged. This flow was kept on the field for about two months with fresh water periodically introduced and stagnant water run off by the tidal flow through small floodgates called trunks.<br />
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Rice planted in the first week of April was usually ready for harvesting by the first week of September. After the lay-by flow was withdrawn, just before the grain was fully ripe, the rice was cut with large sickles known as rice hooks and laid on the ground on the stubble. After it had dried overnight, the cut rice was tied into sheaves and taken by flatboat to the threshing yard. In the colonial period, threshing was most often done by beating the stalks with flails. This process was simple but time consuming. If the rice was to be sold rough, it was then shipped to the agent; otherwise, it was husked and cleaned--again, usually by hand. By the mid-19th century most of the larger plantations operated pounding and/or threshing mills which were driven by steam engines. After the rice had been prepared, it was packed in barrels, or tierces, and shipped to the market at Georgetown or Charleston. In 1850 a rice plantation in the Georgetown County area produced an average yield of 300,000 pounds of rice. The yield had increased to 500,000 pounds by 1860.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #38761d;"><a href="http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/3rice/3facts1.htm">See National Park Service</a></span></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-81891461035269824942019-10-05T04:00:00.002-04:002023-02-10T13:58:07.185-05:0017C New England - Ships, Rum, & Slaves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>The northeastern New England colonies had generally thin, stony soil, relatively little level land, and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming. Turning to other pursuits, the New Englanders harnessed water power and established grain mills and sawmills. Good stands of timber encouraged shipbuilding. Excellent harbors promoted trade, and the sea became a source of great wealth. In Massachusetts, the cod industry alone quickly furnished a basis for prosperity.</span><br />
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<span>With the bulk of the early settlers living in villages and towns around the harbors, many New Englanders carried on some kind of trade or business. Common pastureland and woodlots served the needs of townspeople, both men & women, who worked small farms nearby. Compactness made possible the village school, the village church and the village or town hall, where citizens met to discuss matters of common interest.</span><br />
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<span>The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to expand its commerce. From the middle of the 17th century onward it grew prosperous, and Boston became one of America's greatest ports.</span><br />
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<span>Oak timber for ships' hulls, tall pines for spars and masts, and pitch for the seams of ships came from the Northeastern forests. Building their own vessels and sailing them to ports all over the world, the shipmasters of Massachusetts Bay laid the foundation for a trade that was to grow steadily in importance. By the end of the colonial period, one-third of all vessels under the British flag were built in New England. Fish, ship's stores and wooden ware swelled the exports.</span><br />
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<span>New England shippers soon discovered, too, that rum and male & female slaves were profitable commodities. One of the most enterprising -- if unsavory -- trading practices of the time was the so-called "triangular trade." Merchants and shippers would purchase slaves off the coast of Africa for New England rum, then sell the slaves in the West Indies where they would buy molasses to bring home for sale to the local rum producers.</span><br />
<span><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span><b><i>For more, see Outline of U.S. History, a publication of the U.S. Department of State from the website of the United States Information Agency, where it was published in November 2005.</i></b></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-39182810757934429112019-10-03T04:00:00.001-04:002021-05-13T20:11:56.508-04:00The Unhealthy 17C Chesapeake - Desperate for Women<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Life in the American wilderness was nasty, brutish, and short for the earliest Chesapeake settlers; malaria, dysentery, and typhoid took a cruel toll, cutting ten years off the life expectancy of newcomers (half of people born in early Virginia/Maryland did not survive to twenty).</span><br />
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<span>The disease-ravaged settlements of the Chesapeake grew only slowly in the seventeenth century, mostly through fresh immigration from England; the majority of immigrants were single men in their late teens and early twenties, and most perished soon after arrival. And most had left their women behind, when they set sail for the new world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span></span><span>Surviving males competed for the affections of the extremely scarce women, whom they outnumbered nearly six to one in 1650. Although they were still outnumbered by three to two at the end of the century, eligible women did not remain single for long. Families were both few and fragile in this ferocious environment; most men could not find mates and most marriages were destroyed by the death of a partner within seven years. Weak family ties showed in many pregnancies among unmarried young girls (in one area, a third of those married were pregnant).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yet despite these hardships, the Chesapeake colonies struggled on; the native-born inhabitants eventually acquired immunity to the killer diseases that had ravaged the original immigrants. The presence of more women allowed more families to form and by the end of the seventeenth century, the white population of the Chesapeake was growing on the basis of its own birthrate. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Virginia, with some 59,000 people was the most populous colony and Maryland, with about 30,000 people was the third largest colony (after the Massachusetts colony).</span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9Wu5pommsc/YJ3ALjudOJI/AAAAAAACYG4/4r8VnOdXUeQy-A16ls9E5tedQ21A_tyaACLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X9Wu5pommsc/YJ3ALjudOJI/AAAAAAACYG4/4r8VnOdXUeQy-A16ls9E5tedQ21A_tyaACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" /></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-47142229633023792062019-09-29T04:00:00.002-04:002021-05-13T20:14:15.439-04:001698 Pregnant Women & Destructive Lawyers & Physicians - New Jersey, & Pennsylvania<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gabriel Thomas, An Account of 1698 Jersey & Pennsylvania</span></strong></div>
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<span>Gabriel Thomas was a colonist in West Jersey in the late 17th century. The following is his description of the colonies of West Jersey and Pennsylvania. Of particular interest is his description of women in Pennsylania, and running a close 2nd is his opinion of lawyers and doctors.</span><br />
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<strong><span><i>West Jersey:</i></span></strong><br />
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<span><i><strong>West Jersey</strong> lies between the Latitude of Forty, and Forty two Degrees; having the Main Sea on the South, East Jersey on the North, Hudson's Bay on the East, and <strong>Pensilvania </strong>on the West.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The first Inhabitants of this Countrey were the Indians, being supposed to be part of the Ten dispersed Tribes of Israel; for indeed they are very like the Jews in their Persons, and something in their Practices and Worship...</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The Dutch and Sweeds inform us that they are greatly decreased in number to what they were when they came first into this Country: And the Indians themselves say, that two of them die to every one Christian that comes in here...</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The next who came there were the Dutch - which was between Forty and Fifty Years ago, though they made but very little Improvement, only built Two or Three Houses, upon an Island (called since by the English) Stacies-Island; and it remained so, till about the Year 1675. in which King Charles the Second (or the Duke of York, his Brother) gave the Countrey to Edward Billing, in whose time, one Major Fenwick went thither, with some others, and built a pretty Town, and call'd it <strong>Salam</strong> ; and in a few Years after a Ship from London, and another from Hull, sail'd thither with more People, who went higher up into the Countrey, and built there a Town, and called it <strong>Burlington</strong>, which is now the chiefest Town in that Countrey, though <strong>Salam</strong> is the ancientest; and a fine Market-Town it is, having several Fairs kept yearly in it; likewise well furnished with good store of most Necessaries for humane Support, as Bread, Beer, Beef, and Pork; as also Butter and Cheese, of which they freight several Vessels, and send them to Barbadoes, and other Islands.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>There are very many fine stately Brick-Houses built, and a commodious Dock for Vessels to come in...</i></span><br />
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<span><i>A Ship of Four Hundred Tuns may Sail up to this Town in the River Delaware ; for I my self have been on Board a Ship of that Burthen there : And several fine Ships and Vessels (besides Governour Cox's own great Ship) have been built there.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>There are also two handsom Bridges to come in and out of the Town, called London and York-Bridges. The Town stands in an Island, the Tide flowing quite round about it. There are Water-Men who constantly Ply their Wherry [Ferry] Boats from that Town to the City of <strong>Philadelphia</strong> in <strong>Pensilvania</strong>, and to other places. . . .</i></span><br />
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<span><i>There are several Meetings of Worship in this Country, viz. the Presbyterians, Quakers, and Anabaplists: Their Privilege as to Matter of Law, is the same both for Plaintiff and Defendant, as in England.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The Air is very Clear, Sweet and Wholesome; in the depth of Winter it is something colder, but as much hotter in the heighth of Summer than in England...</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The Countrey inhabited by the Christians is divided into four Parts or Counties, tho' the Tenth part of it is not yet peopled; <strong>'Tis far cheaper living there for Eatables than here in England; and either Men or Women that have a Trade, or are Labourers, can, if industrious, get near three times the Wages they commonly earn in EngIand.</strong></i></span><br />
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<strong><span><i>Pennsylvania:</i></span></strong><br />
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<span><i>... I must needs say, even the present Encouragements are very great and inviting, for <strong>Poor People (both Men and Women) of all kinds, can here get three times the Wages for their Labour they can in England or Wales.</strong></i></span><br />
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<span><i>I shall instance a few, which may serve... The first was a <strong>Black-Smith</strong> (my next Neighbour), who himself and one Negro Man he had, got Fifty Shillings in one Day, by working up a Hundred Pound Weight of Iron, which at Six Pence per Pound (and that is the common Price in that Countrey) amounts to that Summ.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>And for <strong>Carpenters</strong>, both House and Ship, <strong>Brick-layers,</strong> <strong>Masons</strong>, either of these Trades-Men, will get between Five and Six Shillings every Day constantly.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>As to Journey-Men <strong>Shoe-Makers</strong>, they have Two Shillings per Pair both for Men and Womens Shoes: And Journey-Men <strong>Taylors</strong> have Twelve Shillings per Week and their Diet. . .</i></span><br />
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<span><i>The Rule for the <strong>Coopers</strong> I have almost forgot; but this I can affirm of some who went from Bristol (as their Neighbours report), that could hardly get their Livelihoods there, are now reckon'd in Pensilvania by a modest Comptation to be worth some Hundreds (if not thousands) of Pounds...</i></span><br />
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<strong><em><span>Of Lawyers and Physicians I shall say nothing, because this Countrey is very Peaceable and Healthy; long may it so continue and never have occasion for the Tongue of the one, nor the Pen of the other, both equally destructive to Mens Estates and Lives; besides forsooth, they, Hang-Man like, have a License to Murder and make Mischief.</span></em></strong><br />
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<span><i>Labouring-Men have commonly here, between 14 and 15 Pounds a Year, and their Meat, Drink, Washing and Lodging; and by the Day their Wages is generally between Eighteen Pence and a Half a Crown, and Diet also; But in Harvest they have usually between Three and Four Shillings each Day, and Diet. </i></span><br />
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<strong><em><span>The Maid Servants Wages is commonly betwixt Six and Ten Pounds per Annum, with very good Accommodation. And for the Women who get their Livelihood by their own Industry, their Labour is very dear...</span></em></strong><br />
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<span><i><strong>Corn and Flesh, and what else serves Man for Drink, Food and Rayment, is much cheaper here than in England,</strong> or elsewhere; but the chief reason why Wages of Servants of all sorts is much higher here than there, arises from the great Fertility and Produce of the Place; besides, if these large Stipends were refused them, they would quickly set up for themselves, for they can have Provision very cheap, and Land for a very small matter, or next to nothing in comparison of the Purchase of Lands in England; and the Farmers there, can better afford to give that great Wages than the Farmers in England can, for several Reasons very obvious.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>As First, their Land costs them (as I said but just now) little or nothing in comparison, of which the Farmers commonly will get twice the encrease of Corn for every Bushel they sow, that the Farmers in England can from the richest Land they have.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>In the Second place, they have constantly good price for their Corn, by reason of the great and quick vent [trade] into Barbadoes and other Islands; through which means Silver is become more plentiful than here in England, considering the Number of People, and that causes a quick Trade for both Corn and Cattle; and that is the reason that Corn differs now from the Price formerly, else it would be at half the Price it was at then; for a Brother of mine (to my own particular knowledge) sold within the compass of one Week, about One Hundred and Twenty fat Beasts, most of them good handsom large Oxen.</i></span><br />
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<span><i>Thirdly, They pay no Tithes, and their Taxes are inconsiderable; the Place is free for all Persuasions, in a Sober and Civil way; for the Church of England and the Quakers bear equal Share in the Government. They live Friendly and Well together; there is no Persecution for Religion, nor ever like to be; 'tis this that knocks all Commerce on the Head, together with high Imposts, strict Laws, and cramping Orders. Before I end this Paragraph, I shall add <strong>another Reason why Womens Wages are so exorbitant; they are not yet very numerous, which makes them stand upon high Terms for their several Services...</strong></i></span><br />
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<span><i>Reader, what I have here written, is not a Fiction, Flam, Whim, or any sinister Design, either to impose upon the Ignorant, or Credulous, or to curry Favour with the Rich and Mighty, but in meer Pity and pure Compassion to the Numbers of Poor Labouring Men, Women, and Children in England, half starv'd, visible in their meagre looks, that are continually wandering up and down looking for Employment without finding any, who here need not lie idle a moment, nor want due Encouragement or Reward for their Work, much less Vagabond or Drone it about. </i></span><br />
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<span><i>Here are no Beggars to be seen (it is a Shame and Disgrace to the State that there are so many in England) nor indeed have any here the least Occasion or Temptation to take up that Scandalous Lazy Life.</i></span><br />
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<strong><em><span>Jealousie among Men is here very rare, and Barrenness among Women hardly to be heard of, nor are old Maids to be met with; for all commonly Marry before they are Twenty Years of Age, and seldom any young Married Women but hath a Child in her Belly, or one upon her Lap.</span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><span>See: Gabriel Thomas, An Historical Description of the Province and Country of West-New-Jersey in America. London, 1698</span></strong></span><div><strong><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iu6Rul58wQ/YF_Qs5PlBTI/AAAAAAACYBY/FSqChE66dLQEP2USIGQTw5I_mRV203BAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s233/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="233" height="176" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5iu6Rul58wQ/YF_Qs5PlBTI/AAAAAAACYBY/FSqChE66dLQEP2USIGQTw5I_mRV203BAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h176/1%2Ba%2Bart%2B%25284%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-26958582882883427402019-09-28T04:00:00.001-04:002021-05-13T20:21:10.350-04:001698 Puritan leader Cotton Mather (1663-1728) on Native Americans in The Story of Squanto <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Smn9qKLluN2usb-H459y1L8q4R2yLa-mYFayO-FMRAuG_eREgk_PD0TUk9x_chUV1eaIS6Dn8oiegwWoMaTg4JSBUwN_0SVGNf1d2eT1e-1Bj3ZIhUuZtE2kzKe1lkIOYb4flTuTu9X1/s1600/CottonMatherIV.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Smn9qKLluN2usb-H459y1L8q4R2yLa-mYFayO-FMRAuG_eREgk_PD0TUk9x_chUV1eaIS6Dn8oiegwWoMaTg4JSBUwN_0SVGNf1d2eT1e-1Bj3ZIhUuZtE2kzKe1lkIOYb4flTuTu9X1/s640/CottonMatherIV.jpg" width="472" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Cotton Mather 1663-1728</span><br />
<span><br /></span><span><b><i>"The Story of Squanto"</i></b> from 1698 <b>Magnalia Christi Americana </b>by Cotton Mather</span><br />
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<span><b><i>A most wicked shipmaster being on this coast a few years before, had wickedly spirited away more than twenty Indians; whom having enticed them aboard, he presently stowed them under hatches, and carried them away to the Streights, where he sold as many of them as he could for Slaves. This avaritious and pernicious felony laid the foundation for grievous annoyances to all the English endeavors of settlements, especially in the Northern parts of the land for several years ensuing. The Indians would never forget or forgive this injury. . .</i></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y9Q469ohwP8/Td_4Yd0FuFI/AAAAAAAAoYo/YG4ko-ALurM/s1600/Squanto.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y9Q469ohwP8/Td_4Yd0FuFI/AAAAAAAAoYo/YG4ko-ALurM/s400/Squanto.jpg" width="627" /></i></b></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><b><i>But our good God so ordered it, that one of the stolen Indians, called Squanto, had escaped out of Spain into England; where he lived with one Mr. Slany, from whom he had found a way to return unto his own country, being brought back by one Mr. Dermer, about half a year before our honest Plymotheans were cast upon this continent. This Indian having received much kindness from the English, who generally condemned the man that first betrayed him, now made unto the English a return of that kindness: and being by his acquaintance with the English language, fitted with a conversation with them, he very kindly informed them what was the present condition of the Indians; instructed them in the way of ordering their Corn; and acquainted them with many other things, which it was necessary for them to understand.</i></b></span><br />
<span><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span><b><i>But Squanto did for them a yet greater benefit than all this: for he brought Massasoit, the chief Sachim or Prince of the Indians within many miles, with some scores of his attenders, to make our people a kind visit; the issue of which visit was, that Massasoit not only entred into a firm agreement of peace with the English, but also they declared and submitted themselves to be subjects of the King of England; into which peace and subjection many other Sachims quickly after came, in the most voluntary manner that could be expressed. It seems that this unlucky Squanto having told his countrymen how easie it was for so great a monarch as K. James to destroy them all, if they should hurt any of his people, he went on to terrifie them with a ridiculous rhodomantado, which they believed, that this people kept the plague in a cellar (where they kept their gunpowder), and could at their pleasure let it loose to make such havock among them, as the distemper had already made among them a few years before. . .</i></b></span><br />
<span><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span><b><i>Moreover, our English guns, especially the great ones, made a formidable report among these ignorant Indians; and their hopes of enjoying some defence by the English, against the potent nation nation of Narraganset Indians, now at war with them, made them yet more to court our friendship. This very strange disposition of things, was extreamly advantageous to our distressed planters: and who sees not herein the special providence of the God who disposeth all?</i></b></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-40948024033292981112019-09-25T04:00:00.001-04:002021-05-13T20:22:36.042-04:001697 William Penn’s Plan of Union "for the good and benefitt of the whole"<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In 1697, William Penn 1644-1718, founder of Pennsylvania, wrote one of the earliest plans for union of the colonies in North America.</span><span><br /></span>
<span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/TMrmDNfl59I/AAAAAAAAbS0/5DA-u1ezEuo/s1600/William+Penn.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533488035014240210" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/TMrmDNfl59I/AAAAAAAAbS0/5DA-u1ezEuo/s640/William+Penn.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="514" /></a>William Penn 1644-1718 </span><br />
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<span>Plan of Union - A briefe and plaine scheam</span><br />
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<strong><em><span>How the English Colonies in the North parts of America Viz: Boston, Connecticut, Road Island, New York, New Jerseys, Pensilvania, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina may be made more usefull to the Crowne, and one anothers peace and safty with an universall concurrence. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>1.st. That the severall Collonies before mentioned, do meet once a year, and oftener if need be, dureing the Warr, and at least once in two yeares in times of Peace, by their Stated and Appointed Deputies, to Debate and Resolve if such Measures, as are most adviseable for their better understanding, and their Public Tranquility and Safety. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>2.dly That in Order to [effect] it two persons, well Qualified, for Sence Sobriety and Substance, be appointed by each Province, as their Representatives or Deputies; which in the whole make the Congresse to Consist of Twenty persons. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>3.dly That the Kings Commander, for that purpose specially appointed, shall have the Chaire, and Preside in the said Congresse. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>4.thly That they shall meet as neer as Conveniently may be, to the most Centrall Colony for ease of the Deputies. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>5.thly Since that may, in all Probability, be New Yorke, both because it is neer the Center of the Collonys, and for that it is a Fronteir, and in the Kings Nomination, the Governour of that Colony may therefore also be the Kings high Commander during the Session, after the manner of Scotland. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>6.thly That their businesse shall be [to] hear and Adjust all matters of Complaint or difference Between Province and Province; as 1st where Persons quit their own province and go to another, that they may avoid their Just debts. Tho' able to Pay them. 2dly where Offenders fly Justice, or Justice cannot well be had upon such offenders in the Provinces that entertaine them. 3dly to prevent or cure Injuries in point of Commerce. 4thly To consider of wayes and meanes to support the Union and safety of these Provinces against the Publick Enemies; In which Congress the Quota's of Men and Charges will be much easier, and more equally sett, then it is Possible for any Establishment made here to do: for the Provinces knowing their own Condition and one anothers, can debate that matter with more freedome and satisfaction, and better adjust and ballance their affaires in all respects for their Common safety. </span></em></strong><br />
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<strong><em><span>7.thly That in times of War the Kings high Commander shall be Genll or Cheife Commander of the severall Quota's upon service against the Common Enemy, as he shall be advised, for the good and benefitt of the whole.</span></em></strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-13177379398154213462019-09-24T04:00:00.001-04:002021-05-13T20:25:03.994-04:00A 17C Mother's Possessions - Margrieta van Varick of New York (1695)<span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><span style="color: #38761d;">Reading a type of Mother's Day Card From 300 Years Ago</span></strong><br />
<span>Text by Louise Mirrer from the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-mirrer/mothers-day-mementoes-and-keepsakes_b_858005.html"><strong><span style="color: #38761d;">Huffington Post May 6, 2011</span></strong></a></span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtbgKyGHtx8/TcQ6jxKdGNI/AAAAAAAAniw/rA6Hn9QFRDw/s1600/From%2Bthe%2BBritish%2BMuseum%2BAttributed%2Bto%2BJacob%2BHoefnagel%2Bfrom%2B1598.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wtbgKyGHtx8/TcQ6jxKdGNI/AAAAAAAAniw/rA6Hn9QFRDw/s1600/From%2Bthe%2BBritish%2BMuseum%2BAttributed%2Bto%2BJacob%2BHoefnagel%2Bfrom%2B1598.jpg" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">
From the British Museum Attributed to Jacob Hoefnagel from 1598<br />
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<b><i>Mother's Day is a time when many of us bring out our keepsakes -- cherished family photos, carefully preserved letters, perhaps a ring or a necklace that's been handed down over the years. These are the tokens we use to construct our personal histories.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>But Mother's Day is also a good time to look at other sorts of items -- the kind that allow us to construct the history of a whole society. We can piece together the lives led by many thousands of people, who were much like us and yet very different. And so I've been looking over a keepsake left behind by a Dutch wife and mother in 17th-century New York.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>What do we know about Margrieta van Varick? That she kept a textile shop in Flatbush (now Brooklyn); that she died a widow in 1695, before reaching the age of 50; and that she left behind two daughters and two sons. They were Johanna (13), Marinus (9), Rudolphus (5) and Cornelia (3). She must have cared about them deeply, because we also know exactly what she bequeathed to them.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>In addition to setting aside gifts for her children, which she wrapped in a napkin, Margrieta left behind 31 items of clothing or bedding suitable for babies or children, along with clothing and household linens meant for her daughters when they grew older. She directed that her holdings of unusual silk and cotton goods and exceptional silver and porcelain be passed on as heirlooms for future generations. And she ordered that half of her remaining goods be sold to provide funds for her orphaned children. We even know about the toys she carefully distributed among Johanna, Marinus, Rudolphus and Cornelia -- silver toys, which she had guarded for years.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>How can we reconstruct so much of the texture of the life of a woman who died more than 300 years ago? How can we understand so precisely what motherhood meant to her? We can do it because the Library of the New-York Historical Society contains a remarkable inventory of her worldly possessions -- more than 2,000 items in all -- drawn up in 1696 so that her will could be fulfilled.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>Before she settled in Flatbush with her husband, a Dutch Reformed minister, Margrieta had traveled the world, going as far as Malacca (now Malaysia). The global breadth of the possessions listed in her inventory is amazing. She had a China basin, an East India silver wrought box, Japanese lacquer boxes, thirteen ebony chairs, Indian textiles, cloth made in Holland. The world revealed to us by Margrieta's inventory has already been the subject of a doctoral dissertation by Marybeth De Filippis and an exhibition co-organized by the New-York Historical Society and the Bard Graduate Center.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>And now, keeping with the Mother's Day theme, the Historical Society is preparing to use the Inventory to bring history to life for children, by re-creating the world of her youngest child, Cornelia.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>In November 2011, the Historical Society will open its new DiMenna Children's History Museum, where young people will see the past through the eyes of seven historical figures -- including little Cornelia van Varick. A chest displayed in Cornelia's section of the main exhibition will show that the homes of New Yorkers in that era often did not have closets, so goods were stored in trunks. The Islamic markings on the chest will suggest that this item may have come from Southeast Asia, where Cornelia's parents had lived. A silver beaker on view will evoke the ministry of Cornelia's father in Brooklyn's Dutch Reformed Church. There will also be games to play in the exhibition. One such activity will involve needlework, to show that if you needed clothes, sheets or napkins in colonial times, you stitched them yourself, by hand. Another activity will be a game that reveals the presence in little Cornelia's life of global trade, in the form of the Spanish pesos, Arabian sultani, Dutch ducats, Massachusetts shillings and even Indian wampum that the child would have seen being used as money in her mother's shop.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>As we celebrate Mother's Day, let's be grateful for the mementos we have from our own mothers, and for the love they keep alive. But let's be grateful as well that the life of a 17th-century mother can open up before our imaginations. We can read the inventory of Margrieta van Varick as a matter-of-fact list of old possessions -- or as a kind of Mother's Day card from three hundred years ago.</i></b></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-39937287231796253172019-09-21T04:00:00.003-04:002021-05-13T20:27:32.435-04:00First Licensed Female Colonial Printer - Dinah Nuthead of 1695 Maryland<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><img alt="" border="0" height="593" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339383772353571170" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/ShlNQG6eqWI/AAAAAAAAIzo/hg5QLdiFKD0/s640/ppress.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In 1695, Dinah Nuthead inherited her husband's printing press in St. Mary's City, Maryland. St. Mary's was the capital of the state at that time, & her husband William acted as the government's printer. Less than a year later, Dinah moved the printing press to Annapolis; when the government relocated there, & she continued to run the printing business. She would become the first licensed female printer in the colonies.</span><br />
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<span>Colonial governments showed little enthusiasm for printing presses & their owners in the 17th century. Printing in England was strictly controlled from the late 16th century; until the <strong>Licensing Act</strong> lapsed in 1695. The number of printers & the size of their shops was regulated. Authorities feared that printing might incite the populace.</span><br />
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<span>Sir William Berkeley, royal governor of Virginia in 1671, wrote, <strong>'I thank God there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them...God keep us from both.' </strong></span><br />
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<span>The instructions of King James II to Governor Edmund Andros of New England, gave him sweeping powers: <strong>"And forasmuch as great inconvenience may arise by the liberty of printing within our said territory under your government you are to provide by all necessary orders that no person keep any printing-press for printing, nor that any book, pamphlet or other matters whatsoever be printed without your especial leave and license first obtained."</strong></span><br />
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<span>John Buckner was the first man to use a printing press in Virginia. He employed William Nuthead to print the laws of the General Assembly under Governor Berkeley, beginning in June 8, 1680. On February 21, 1682-3, he was called before Berkeley's successor Lord Culpepper and the Council for not getting His Excellency's license. Thereupon he and his printer were ordered to give bond in £100 not to print anything thereafter until His Majesty's pleasure should be known. </span><br />
</span><img alt="" border="0" height="415" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339384236318940210" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/ShlNrHUcXDI/AAAAAAAAIzw/2zIS-gC9E14/s640/printing-press.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>William Nuthead (1654-1695) moved to nearby Maryland & had a printing press up & running in St. Mary's City by 1686, when immigration records show him entering the province. After Massachusetts, Maryland was the 2nd colony to establish & sustain a printing press. Archaeologists have found pieces of the Nuthead's printing type on several sites in St. Mary's City. Nuthead's main business was in printing forms for the government.</span><br />
</span><img alt="" border="0" height="301" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339226078846719266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/Shi91I0pFSI/AAAAAAAAIzY/UwN_gTKOMGc/s400/nuthead2.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="400" /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>After the Protestants gained power in Maryland in 1689, they hired Nuthead to print a political tract petitioning the English monarchs for legitimacy. A surviving copy in London, titled <strong>“The Declaration of the Reasons and Motives,”</strong> notes that it was <strong>“printed by William Nuthead at the City of St. Maries.”</strong></span><br />
<strong><span><img alt="" border="0" height="443" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339225508006591618" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/Shi9T6Rv_II/AAAAAAAAIzQ/kT6IhYA0rDc/s640/nuthead3_01.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /></span></strong><span>At his death in 1695, his wife Dinah Nuthead continued operating the press; and when the capital moved to Annapolis later that same year, she moved with the government.</span><br />
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<span>On May 5, 1696, more than a year after her husband's death, <strong><i>"Dinah Nuthead's Petition for License to Print was read & referred to the House that if they have nothing to Object her Paper might be Granted provided she give Security for the same."</i></strong></span><br />
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<span>Eight days later her petition was read to the delegates, & the House expressed its willingness that she should have leave to print if his Excellency pleased. Evidently the Governor offered no objection, for the next day 3 persons described as <strong><i>"Dinah Nuthead of Ann Arundell County Widow, Robert Carvile, and William Taylard of St. Maries County Gentn"</i></strong> gave bond to the Governor to the amount of 100 pounds for the good behavior of Dinah Nuthead in the operation of her press.</span><br />
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<strong><i><span>"Now the Condition of this Obligation is such that if the said Dinah Nuthead shall exercise and Imploy her printing press and letters to noe other use than for the printing of blank bills bonds writts warrants of Attorney Letters of Admrcon and other like blanks as above - sd nor Suffer any other person to make use thereof any otherwise than aforesd Unless by a particular Lycense from his Exncy the Governor first had and obtained And further shall save harmless and indempnifye his sd Exncy the Governor from any Damage that may hereafter Ensue by the said Dinah Nuthead misapplying or Suffering to be misapplyed the aforesd Printing press or letters otherwise than to the true intent & meaning before expressed, Then this Obligation to be Voyd or else to Remain in full force and Virtue." </span></i></strong><br />
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<span>This agreement for the protection of the Province against the evils of indiscriminate printing was signed by witnesses, by the 2 bondsmen, & by the Dinah Nuthead, who made her mark instead of signing her name to the document.</span><br />
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<span>She had agreed <i><strong>"to print blanks, bills, bonds, writs, warrants of attorney, letters of administration and other necessary blanks useful for the public offices of this Province."</strong> </i>And she had agreed to forfeit her license & her bond & go out of business; if she should print anything other than what the government specified. Since Dinah could not write, she probably would not act as compositor & set type with her own hands. She would supply the money & business acumen, leaving the mechanical aspects of operating a printing press to literate employes.</span><br />
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<span>Sometime before December of 1700, Dinah Nuthead remarried widower Manus Deveron (1655-1700) of Anne Arundel County, who dying in that month left his estate to his own daughter Catherine, & to his children-in-law, that is his step-children, William & Susan Nuthead. His wife & executrix submitted her account to the county under the name of Dinah Devoran. In later years, Dinah married again to<i> <strong>"Sebastian Oley of Annarund'l County a German born,"</strong></i> as he was described in his act of naturalization of 1702.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-2519864143735271862019-09-20T04:00:00.000-04:002019-09-20T04:00:00.472-04:001693 Puritan Cotton Mather's "Rules" for Allowing Blacks to Worship in the Puritan Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q71xVgh28uI/UkhthYiCqJI/AAAAAAABjLw/bPMQGYjksZ8/s1600/Cotton_Mather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q71xVgh28uI/UkhthYiCqJI/AAAAAAABjLw/bPMQGYjksZ8/s320/Cotton_Mather.jpg" width="562" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Cotton Mather</strong>, (1663-1728) was a socially & politically influential New England Puritan minister </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>
Cotton Mather's (1663-1728) RULES For the Society of NEGROES. 1693. (Mather's rules for allowing African Americans to worship in the church.)</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">WE the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully Admiring and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, that Offers to Save us from our Miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help, to become the Servants of that Glorious LORD.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our Heavenly Master, we now Join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the following RULES are to be observed.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I. It shall be our Endeavour, to Meet in the Evening after the Sabbath; and Pray together by Turns, one to Begin, and another to Conclude the Meeting; And between the two Prayers, a Psalm shall be Sung, and a Sermon Repeated.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without the Leave of such as have Power over us: And we will be Careful, that our Meeting may Begin and Conclude between the Hours of Seven and Nine; and that we may not be unseasonably Absent from the Families whereto we pertain.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">III. As we will, with the Help of God, at all Times avoid all Wicked Company, so we will Receive none into our Meeting, but such as have sensibly Reformed their Lives from all manner of Wickedness. And therefore, None shall be Admitted, without the Knowledge and Consent of the Minister of God in this Place; unto whom we will also carry every Person, that seeks for Admission among us; to be by Him Examined, Instructed and Exhorted.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">IV. We will, as often as may be Obtain some Wise and of the English in the Neighbourhood, and especially the Offcers of the Church, to look in upon us, and by their Presence and Counsil, do what they think fitting for us.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">V. If any of our Number, fall into the Sin of Drunkenness, or Swearing, or Cursing, or Lying, or Stealing, or notorious Disobedience or Unfaithfulness unto their Masters, we will Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and Forbid his coming to the Meeting, for at least one Fortnight; And except he then come with great Signs and Hopes of his Repentance, we will utterly Exclude him, with Blotting his Name out of our List.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">VI. If any of our Society Dele himself with Fornication, we will give him our Admonition; and so, debar him from the Meeting, at least half a Year: Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a New Creature.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set our selves to do all the Good we can, to the other Negro-Servants in the Town; And if any of them should, at unfit Hours, be Abroad, much more, if any of them should Run away from their Masters, we will afford them no Shelter: But we will do what in us lies, that they may be discovered, and punished. And if any of us, are found Faulty, in this Matter, they shall be no longer of us.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">VIII. None of our Society shall be Absent from our Meeting, without giving a Reason of the Absence; And if it be found, that any have pretended unto their Owners, that they came unto the Meeting, when they were otherwise and elsewhere Employ'd, we will faithfully Inform their Owners, and also do what we can to Reclaim such Person from all such Evil Courses for the Future.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one of our usual Exercises, for one of us, to ask the Questions, and for all the rest in their Order, to say the Answers in the Catechism; Either, The New-English Catechism, or the Assemblies Catechism, or the Catechism in the Negro Christianized.</span></i></b></span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-78063153163891893392019-09-17T04:00:00.000-04:002019-09-17T04:00:02.824-04:001692 Massachusetts Cotton Mather (1663-1728) on Parental Duties & Children's Behavior <div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Duties of Parents To Their Children </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">by </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Cotton Mather</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Gen. 18:19 I know him, That he will command his Children And his Household after him, And they shall keep the way of the Lord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As the Great God, who at the Beginning said, Let Us make man after our Image, hath made man a Sociable creature, so it is evident, That Families are the Nurseries of all Societies; and the First combinations of mankind. Well-ordered Families naturally produce a Good Order in other Societies. When Families are under an ill Discipline, all other Societies being therefore ill Disciplined, will feel that Error in the First Concoction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">To Serve the Families of our Neighborhood, will be a Service to all our Interests. Every serious Christian is concerned, That he may be Serviceable in the World; And many a serious Christian is concerned, because he sees himself to be furnished with no more Opportunities to be Serviceable.
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<span style="font-size: large;">But art thou not a Member of some Family? If that Family may by thy means, O Christian, become a Well-regulated Family, in that point thou wilt become Serviceable; I had almost said, Incomprehensibly Serviceable.
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<span style="font-size: large;">They that have the Government of some Family, do make up no Little part of this Great Assembly. And, Sirs, are there any of you, that would forfeit that Honorable Title, of all the Faithful, The Children of Abraham? Give your Attention, ye Children of Abraham, while I set before you, the Example of your Father for your imitation.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our Glorious Lord-Messiah, is here going to Communicate unto Abraham some of His Heavenly Counsels. And we have a Text before us, that assigns a Reason for that gracious Communication. The Reason is, the care which this Good man, would thereupon take to bring up his Family in the Fear of God.
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<span style="font-size: large;">In this Text there are some Remarkable Things; and things that some Wise men have often remarked. There was an Excellent man, sometimes a Preacher of the Lord Jesus Christ, in this very place; whose custom it was, not only to Read a portion of the Scripture before his Prayers with his Family, but also to Infer and Apply brief Notes out of what he Read. He professed, That he found none of all his weary Studies in Divinity, so profitable to him, as this one Exercise, for the Rare and Rich Thoughts, which he therein found himself supplied withal, And he Declared, "that he looked on it as an accomplishment of this very word; Shall I hide from Abraham, the thing which I do? I know him, that he will command his Children, and his Household.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Moreover, You may here Observe a most comfortable Connection, between, He will, and They Shall. Say's the Lord, He will Command his Children, and They shall keep the way of the Lord. It seems, If every one that is Owner of a Family, would faithfully Command, and manage those that belong unto him, through the Blessing of God, they would generally Keep His Way, and His Law.
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<span style="font-size: large;">I find a famous Writer in the Church, therefore thus expressing himself; "If Parents did their Duties as they ought, the Word Publically Preached would not be the ordinary means of Regeneration in the Church, but only without the Church, among Infidels: God would so pour out His Grace upon the Children of His people, and Hear Prayers for them, and bless Endeavours for their Holy Education, that we should see the Promises made Good unto our Seed."
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<span style="font-size: large;">We will now Dismiss these Reflections; and Repair to that Grand Case, which hence offers itself unto us.
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Case What May Be Done by Pious Parents, to Promote the Piety and Salvation of Their Children?
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Case Inquires, What may be done? You will take it for granted, that the Answer to it will tell you, What Should be done? For you will readily grant, that in such an Important Case as this, All that May be done, Should be done!
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the Case We Inquire after what is to be done, by Pious Parents. Other Parents will take no due Notice, of the Injunctions that God has Laid upon them concerning their Children.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Parents, If you don't first become yourselves Pious, you will do nothing to purpose to make your Children so.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Except you do yourselves walk in the Way of the Lord, you will be very careless about bringing your Children to such a Walk.
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is not a Cain, or a Cham, or any Enemy of God; that will do anything to make his Children become the Children of God. The Psalmist in Psal. 34:1,4,11, could first say I will bless the Lord and I sought the Lord, and then he says, Come ye Children, and I will teach you the Fear of the Lord.
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<span style="font-size: large;">O Parents, In the Name of God, Look after your own miserable Souls; How should those wretched people do anything for the Souls of their Children, that never did anything for their own?
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the Case, we Inquire, after what is to be done by Parents for their Children. But let it be Remembered, That our Servants [others in our home] are in some sort likewise our Children. Our whole Household, as well as the Children that are our Offspring, are to be taught the Way of the Lord. An Abraham will have his Trained Servants. We read concerning a certain Person of Quality, in 2 Ki. 5:13. His servants came near and spake unto him, and said, My Father.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let not those of my Hearers, that are without such Invaluable Blessings of God, as Children, count themselves unconcerned in our Discourse, if they have any Servants under them. A considerable part of what is to be done for our Children, I pray, Masters, think, as we go along; Think, without our particular inculcation, whether nothing. This may be done for your Servants: and, God make Eliezers of them for you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Attend Now To The Counsils of God</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I. Parents, Consider the Condition of your Children; and the loud cry of their Condition unto you, to Endeavour their Salvation! What an Army of powerful Thoughts, do at once now show themselves, to beseige your Hearts, and subdue them unto a just care for the Salvation of your Children!
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<span style="font-size: large;">Know you not, that your Children have precious and Immortal Souls within them? They are not all Flesh. You that are the Parents of their Flesh, must know, That your Children have Spirits also, whereof you are told, in Heb. 12:9. God is the Father of them; and in Eccles. 12:7. God is the Giver of them.
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Souls of your Children, must survive their Bodies, and are transcendently Better and Higher & Nobler Things than their Bodies. Are you sollicitous that their Bodies may be Fed? You should be more sollicitous that their Souls may not be Starved, or go without the Bread of Life.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Are you sollicitious that their Bodies may be Cloath'd: you should be more sollicitious that their Souls may not be Naked, or go without the Garments of Righteousness.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Are you Loath to have their Bodies Labouring under Infimities, or Deformaties? You should be much more Loath to have their Souls pining away in their Iniquities.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Man, Are thy Children, but the Children of Swine? If thou art Regardless of their Souls, truly thou dost call them so!
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the Ancients, namely Cyprian, has a pungent comparison for this matter; Pray, Consider; (said that Great man) He that minds his Childs Body more than his Soul, is like, one, that if his Child and his Dog were like to be drowned, should be sollicitous to save his Dog, but let the Child perish in the water.
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<span style="font-size: large;">How deaf art thou, that thou dost not hear a loud cry from the Souls of thy Children in thine Ears, Oh, my Father, my Mother, look after me!
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<span style="font-size: large;">But more than so; Don't you know, That your Children, are the Children of Death, and the Children of Hell, and the Children of Wrath, by Nature: And that from you, this Nature is derived and conveyed unto them!
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<span style="font-size: large;">You must know, Parents, that your Children are by your means Born under the dreadful Wrath of God: And if they are not New-Born before they die, it had been Good for them, that they never had been Born at all.
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<span style="font-size: large;">The law of equity was in Exodus 21:19 If one man wound another, he shalt cause him to be throughly healed. Your Children are born with deadly wounds of Sin upon their Souls; and they may Thank you for those wounds: Unjust men, will you now do nothing for their Healing?
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<span style="font-size: large;">Man, thy Children are dying of an horrid poison, in their Bowels; and it was thou that poison'd them. What! Wilt thou do nothing for the succour [help]! Thy Children are thrown into a Devouring Fire; and it is from thee that the Fiery Vengeance of God has taken Hold of them. What! Wilt thou do nothing to Help them out!
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a Corrupt Nature in thy children, which is a Fountain of all Wickedness and Confusion. The very Pagans were not insensible of this Corrupt Nature; they styled it our Congenite [congenital] Sin, and our Domestick Evil, and cried out, with Tully, "Simul ac Editi sumus in Lucem, ac suscepti, in omni continue pravitate versamur.
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Jews have been yet more Sensible of this Corrupt Nature; they have Stil'd it, our Evil Frame and the poison of the old Serpent; and This they understand by The Enemy, so often mentioned in the Scripture; And, The Heart of Stone and, the Wicked that watches the Righteous.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Will not you that are Christians, then show your Christianity, by Sensibly doing what you can, that your Children may have a Better Nature infused into them?
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<span style="font-size: large;">What shall I Say? I may say, The Time would fail me to mention a thousanth part of what might be said. But, in short: Is it not a sad Thing to be the Father of a fool?
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<span style="font-size: large;">Alas, man, till thy Children become Regenerate, thou art the Father of a Fool; Thy Children are but the Wild Asses Colt! I add; would it not Break thy Heart, if thy Children, were in Slavery to Turks, or Moors, or Indians?
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<span style="font-size: large;">Devils are worse than Indians, and Infidels: till thy Children are brought home to God, they are the slaves of Devils.
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a word; Can thy Heart Endure, that thy Children, should be Banished from the Lord Jesus Christ, and Languishing under the Torments of Sin among Devils, in outer Darkness throughout Eternal Ages?
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<span style="font-size: large;">Don't call thyself a Parent; Thou art an Ostrich [they care not for their offspring]. Call not these, the Children of thy Bowels; thou hast no Bowels! I will not say, that Zipporah call'd her Husband, A Bloody Husband. But all the Angels in Heaven call thee, A Bloody Father, and A Bloody Mother; and are astonished at the Adamantine Hardness of that Bloody Heart of thine; and those Heartstrings that are Sinewes of Iron!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">II. Improve the Baptism of your children, as an obligation, and an encouragement unto you, parents, to endeavour the salvation of your Baptised little ones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Of your children, you may say, with Jacob, in Gen. 33:5 These are the children that God hath graciously given to me. Now, will not you heartily give back those children to God again: their Baptism is to be the sign and seal of your doing so.
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<span style="font-size: large;">You generally bring your infant children unto the Baptism of the Lord: I suppose, it is because you are satisfied, that the children of believers were in the Covenant with God, in the days of the Old Testament; and, that the children of believers then had a right unto the initial seal of the Covenant, and, that in the days of the New Testament they have not lost this priviledge.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, but when you bring your children to the Sacred Baptism, what is it for? Oh, let it not be done, as an empty formality; as if the Baptism of your children were for nothing, but only a formal and a pompous putting of a name upon them.
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<span style="font-size: large;">No, but let the serious language of your souls, in this action, be that of Hannah, in I Sam 1:28: I have given this child unto the Lord, as long as he lives, he shall be given unto the Lord.
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<span style="font-size: large;">I find in the private writings of an holy man, who died in this place, not much above a year ago; That the day before one of his children was to be Baptised, he spent the time in giving up himself and his child unto the Lord, and in taking hold of the Covenant for both of them, and in praying that he might on the morrow, be able in much faith and love and Covenant obedience, to do it, at the Baptism of the Lord. Oh, which he writes it is not easy, though common, to offer a child unto God in Baptism.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sirs, when you have done this for your Children, you have a singular advantage to plead for the fulfillment of that word upon them in Is. 44:3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy Soul, and my blessing upon thy offspring. You may go before the Lord, and plead, Lord, Was not the Baptismal water poured by thy command upon my children! Oh, do thou now pour upon them the heavenly grace, which that Baptismal water signified.
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<span style="font-size: large;">And now, no sooner let those Children become able to understand it, than you shall make them understand what the design of their Baptism was. Parents, I am to tell you, that if you let your Children grow up, without ever telling them, that, and, why, they were Baptised into the Name of the Lord, you are fearfully guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain.
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was the manner of an excellent minister, upon the Baptising of a child, solemnly to deliver the child into the hands of the Parents, with such words as those, here, take this child now, and bring it up for the Lord Jesus Christ, I charge you.
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<span style="font-size: large;">God from Heaven speaks the like words to you, O Parents, upon all your Baptised Children. And that you may bring up your Children for the Lord Jesus Christ, you must as soon as you can, let them know, that in Baptism, they were dedicated unto Him.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Show them that when they were Baptised, they were listed among the servants and soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if they live in rebellion against Him, Woe unto them!
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<span style="font-size: large;">Show them, from Matthew 28:19 &20. That since they are Baptised into the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they must observe all things, whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ, has commanded them.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Show them from Romans 6:4, that since they are Baptised, they are Buried with Christ in baptism, and must live no longer in sin, but be Dead unto all the Vanities of the World.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Show them from Galatians 3:27, that since they are Baptised, they have put on Christ, and must follow His Example, and be as He was in the World.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Show them from I Peter 3:21, that being Baptised, they must now make the Answer of a good conscience, to all the proposals of the New-Covenant: and God propounding to them, shall my Christ be thine, and wilt thou be His? They must conscientiously answer, Lord, with all my heart!
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<span style="font-size: large;">Put this very solemnly unto your children; My child, shall God the Father, be thy Father? Shall God the Son, be thy Saviour! Shall God the Spirit, be thy Sanctifier; and are thou willing to be the servant of that one God, who is, Father, Son, and Spirit?
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<span style="font-size: large;">Leave them not, until their little hearts are conquered unto that for which they have been Baptised. It has been the judgment of some Judicious men; that If infant baptism were more improved, it would be less disputed. Oh, that it were thus Improved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">III. Instruct your children in the great matters of Salvation; Oh, Parents, do not let them die without instruction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is indeed, an Instruction in Civil Matters which we owe unto our Children. It is very pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ, that our Children be well formed with, and well informed in the rules of Civility, and not be left a Clownish, and Sottish, and Ill Bred sort of Creatures. An Unmannerly Brood is a Dishonour to Religion.
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<span style="font-size: large;">And, there are many points of a Good Education that we should bestow upon our Children; they should Read, and Write, and Cyphar [arithmetic], and be put unto some Agreeable Callings; and not only our Sons, but our Daughters also should be taught such things, as will afterwards make them useful in their places. There is a little Foundation of Religion laid in such an Education. But besides, and beyond all this, there is an Instruction in Divine Matters, which our Children are to be made partakers of.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Parents, Instruct your Children, in the Articles of Religion; and acquaint them with God, and Christ, and the Mysteries of the Gospel, and the Doctrines and Methods of the Great Salvation.
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was Required, in Psalm 78:5 He commanded our Fathers, to make known to their Children, that the Generation to come might know, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their Hope in God, and keep His commandments.
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was required in Eph. 6:4 Fathers, bring up your children in the Nurture and Admonitions of the Lord. Would you have your Children to be Wise and Good? I know not why you should expect it, unless you take abundance of pains, by your Instruction to make them so.
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was a Wise and Good son, who gave that account how he became what he was; in Prov 4:3,4. I was my Fathers son, and he taught me. O Begin betimes, to Tell your Children who is their Maker, and who is their Saviour, and what they are Themselves, and what is like to become of them; and by no means let them want [lack] that Advantage in 2 Tim 3:15 From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cause them to look often into their Bibles, and here and there Single out some special Sentences from those Oracles of Heaven for them to get into their Memories. And for the better management of their Instruction there are especially two Handles, to be laid hold upon; the one is, a Proper Catechism, the other is the Public Ministry.
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<span style="font-size: large;">Be sure that they learn their Catachism very perfectly; but then content not yourselves with hearing them say by Rote the Answers in their Catachism; Question them very distincly over again about every clause in the Answer and bring all to it so plain before them, that by their saying only, Yes, or No, you may perceive that the sense of the Truth is entered into their souls.
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<span style="font-size: large;">And then, what they hear in the Evangelical Ministry, do you Apply it unto them after their coming Home; Confer with them familiarly about the Things that have been handled in the [proper and true] Ministry of the Word: go over one Thing after another, with them, till you see they have got clear Ideas of it; Then put it unto them, Are not you now to Avoid such a thing; or perform such a thing! And must not you now make such and such a prayer unto God? Bid them then, go do accordingly.
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Hence also, 'twere very desireable, that you should watch all opportunities, to be instilling your Instructions into the souls of your little Folks. They are narrow-mouthed Vessles, and things must be drop after drop instilled into them. It was required in Deut. 6:6,7 The words which I command thee, Thou shalt teach them Diligently unto thy Children, and shalt Talk of them, when thou sittest in thine House, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou sittest down and when thou riseth up.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">How often in a week, are we Diverting ourselves, with our Children in our Houses? There thy stand before us; There is nothing to hinder our saying some very profitable thing for them to think upon; well, can you let fall Nothing upon them, that it will be worth their while, for them to think upon?
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What, Nothing of God, and Christ, and of another World, and of their own Souls, and of the Sins that may Endanger them, and of the Ways which they may take to be Happy? Doubtless, you may say something.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And who can tell? It may be after you are gone to behold the Face of the Lord Jesus Christ in Glory, these your Children will Remember Hundreds of profitable Instructions, that you have given them; and Live upon them when you that gave them, are Dead.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">With Two Strokes I will clench this advice. The one is that in Proverbs 22:6 Train up a Child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not Depart from it. The other is that in Prov 17:25. A Foolish Son is a grief to his Father, and a bitterness to her that bare him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">IV. Parents, with a Sweet Authority over your Children, Rebuke them for, and Refrain them from, everything that may prove prejudicial unto their Salvation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sirs, You can do little for the Welfare of your Children, if once you have lost your Authority over them. Would you bring your Children to the Fear of God? Your character then must be that in I Tim 3:4 One that ruleth well his own House, having his Children in subjection, with all gravity.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Don't by your Lightness and Weakness and Folly, suffer them to Trample upon you; but keep up so much Authority, that your Word may be a Law unto them. Nevertheless,
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let not your Authority be strained with such Harshness and Fierceness, as may discourage your Children. To treat our Children like Slaves, and with such Rigour, that they shall always Tremble and Abhor to come into our presence, This will be very unlike to our Heavenly Father.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Our Authority should be so Tempered with Kindness, and Meekness, and Loving Tenderness, that our Children may Fear us with Delight, and see that we Love them, with as much Delight.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, Let our Authority, effectually keep in our Children, from all their unruly Exorbitancies and Extravagancies. If we let our Young Folks grow Head-Strong, and if we grow Afraid of compelling them to the Wholesome Orders of our Families, we have even given them up to Ruin. God brought that Son to an Untimely and a Terrible End, of whom its reported in I Kings 1:6 His Father had not Displeased him at any time, in saying, Why hast thou done so?
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I beseech you, Parents, Interpose your Authority to stop and check the Carrier of your Children, when they will be running into the paths of the Destroyer.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Gratify them with Rewards of Well doing, when they Do well; but let them not be gratified with every Ungodly Vanity, that their Vain Minds may be set upon.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wherefore keep a strict Inspection upon their Conversations; Examine, How they spend their Time; Examine, What Company they keep? Examine, Whether they take no Bad Courses.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Be not such Foolish Enemies to yourselves, and your Children as to count them your Enemies, that shall friendily advise you of their Miscarriages. That wretched Folly, is a very Frequent One!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When you Find out their Miscarriages, effectually Rebuke them, and Restrain them. Incurr not the Indignation of Heaven, once Incurred by a Fond Father, in I Sam 3:13; I will Judge his House forever, for the Iniquity which he knoweth; because his Sons made themselves vile, and he Restrained them not.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ah, Thou Indulgent Parent; if you canst not Cross thy Children, when they are disposed unto that which is for the Dishonour of God, God will make thy Children to become Crosses unto thee.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sirs, When your Children do amiss, call them Aside; set before them the Precepts of God which they have broken, and the Threatenings of God, which they provoked. Demand of them, to profess their sorrow for their fault, and Resolve that they will be no more so Faulty.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, there may be occasion for you, to consider that Word of God in Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his Rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes; and that Word in Proverbs 19:18 Chasten thy son while there is Hope, and let not thy soul spare for his Crying; and that word, in Proverbs 23:13,14. Withold not Correction from the Child; for if thou beatest him with the Rod, he shall not Die; Thou shalt beat him with the Rod, and shalt deliver his Soul from Hell.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But if it must be so, Remember this Counsel; Never give a Blow in a passion. Stay till your passion is over; and let the Offenders plainly see, that you deal thus with them, out of a pure Obedience unto God, and for their true Repentance.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One of the ancients, has this Ingenious gloss In the tabernacle, Aarons Rod, and the Pot of Manna, were together; so (says he) when the Rod is used, the sweetness and goodness of the Manna must accompany it: and Mercy be joined with Severity. Let me leave that premonition with you, in Proverbs 29:15 A child left unto himself, bringeth his Mother to shame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">V. Lay your Charges upon your Children; Parents, Charge them to Work about their own Salvation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Charges of Parents have a great Efficacy upon many Children; To Charge them vehemently, is to Charm them wonderfully.
Command your Children, and it may be they will Obey. Let Gods commands be your commands, and it may be your Children will obey them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Lay upon your Children, the Charges of God, as David once upon his, in I Chron 28:9 My Son, know thou the God of thy Father, and serve Him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, Sirs, You will do well, to single out some singular Charges of God, and calling your Children one by one before you, Lay those Charges upon them, in the Name of the God that made them, and obtain from them, if you can, a promise that they will observe those Charges, with the Help of that God. I will set before you, three or four of those Charges.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let one of your Charges upon your Children, be that in I John 3:23 This is His commandment, that we should believe on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charge them to carry their poor, guilty, ignorant and polluted and Enslaved souls unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that He may Save them from their Sins, and Save them from the Wrath to come.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charge them, to mind how the Lord Jesus Christ Executes the Office of a Prophet, and a Priest, and a King, and Cry to Him, that He would Save them in the Execution of all those Blessed Offices.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let another of your Charges be that in Hag 1:5,7 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Consider Your Ways. Charge them to set apart a few minutes now and then, for Consideration; and in those minutes,
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charge them to Consider, what they have been doing, and what they should have been doing, ever since they came into the World, and if they should immediately go out of the World, what will become of them throughout Eternal Ages.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have read of a Dying Parent, who laid this Charge upon his wild Son, That he would allow one quarter of an Hour every Day to Consider on something or other, any Thing, as his Fancy led him. The Young men having for some while done so, at last began to consider, why his Dying Parent should lay such a Charge upon him. This brought on so many Devout Thoughts, that before long, in the Conversion of the Young man, the Desire of the Dying Parent was accomplished.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh! If you could Engage your Children to Think Upon Their Ways, there would be Hopes of their Turning to God.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, Let a Third of your Charges, be that in Matthew 6:6 Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father that sees in secret.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charge them to retire for Secret Prayer, every Day that comes over their Heads, Talk with them, till you see, that they can tell, what they should Pray for: and then, often Charge them to Pray every day; yea, sometimes Ask them, Do you Remember the charge I Laid upon you?
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ah, Parent, thy children will do well, while it can be said, Behold, They Pray. And thy House filled with thy Childrens Prayers, would be better accommodated , than if it were filled, with all the Riches of the Indies.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let a Fourth of your Charges be That, in Proberbs 9:6, Forsake the Foolish and Live.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Charge them to avoid the snares of Evil Company; Terrify them with Warnings of those Deadly Snares.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Often Repeat this Charge unto them, That if there be any Vicious Company, they shun them, as they would the Plague or the Devil.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Often say, My son, if Sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Often say, My child, walk with the Wise, and thou shalt be wise, but a Companion of Fools shall be destroyed.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, Do Not let the Beasts of prey, carry away thy Children alive.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Shall I add; it is here intimated, That an Abraham, is to Command his Children, very particularly, about, The Way of the Lord. The Way of the Lord, is the Way of his Right, Pure, Instituted Worship. Well, then, Command your Children, that they do not Forsake the Holy Institutions of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Embrace a Vain Worship, consisting of things that He never Instituted.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are some clauses in the Second Commandment, which intimate, That if Parents would see the Mercies of God upon their Children, they must Charge them, to Worship God, only in those Ways of Worship that God hath appointed.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thus keep Charging of your Children, while you Live. And if you are capable so to Do, Do it once more with all possible Solemnity, when you come to Die. The words of a Dying Parent, will probably be Living Words, and Lively Ones.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When our Excellent Mitchel was a Dying, he let fall such a Speech as This, unto a Young Gentleman, that Lodged in his House, My Friend, as a Dying man, I now charge you, that you don't meet me out of Christ in the Day of Christ. This one Speech, brought into Christ, the soul of that Young Gentleman! Truly, if your Dying Lips, may utter such Dying Words unto your Children, who can tell, but they may then be brought into Christ, if they were never so before!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, lest you should have no opportunity to Speak in a Dying Hour, why should you not Write such things, as you would have them to Think upon, when you shall be Dead and Gone? An unknown deal of Good, may your Children reap, from the Admonitions, that a Dying Parent may Leave unto them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">VI. Parents, be Exemplary:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your Example may do much towards the Salvation of your Children, your Works will more Work upon your Children, than your Words; your Patterns will do more than your Precepts; your Copies than your Counsels.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What was then said unto Pastors, may very fitly be said unto Parents, in Titus 2:2, In all Things show thyself a pattern of good works; and in Timothy 4:12 Be thou an Example in Word, in Conversation, in Charity, in Spirit, in Faith, in Purity.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It will be impossible for you to infuse any Good into your Children, if you appear void of that Good yourselves. If the Old Crab go backward, it is to no purpose, for the Young One to be directed to go forward: Sirs, Young Ones, will Crawl after the Old Ones.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Would you have your Children, well principled with the Fear and Faith of God? Mind that passage, in Acts 10:2, Cornelius was a devout man, and one that Feared God, with all his House.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mind that passage in Acts 18:8 Crispus Believed on the Lord, with all his House. It seems, the whole House, is like to do, as the Parents do. It is as Austin [Augustine] expresses it, the ususal cry, Nolumus esse meliores quam patres, We will be no Better than our Parents, If the Parents will make their Cakes to the Queen of Heaven, the Children will kindle their Fires for them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Justin Martyr somewhere Inquires why the Prophet Elisha imprecated the Revenges of Heaven upon the Children that mocked him, when they hardly understood what they did? and he answers, The Children Learned their wicked Language from their Parents, and now God punished both of them together.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Parents, let your Children see nothing by you, but what shall be commendable and imitable. Be able to say unto your Children, My child, follow me, as you have seen me follow Christ.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let them from your Seriousness, and your Prayerfulness, and your Watchfulness, and your Sanctification of the Lord's Day, be taught, how they should walk and please God. You "Bid" them well; "Show" them How!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">VII. Prayer, Prayer, must be the Crown of all:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Parents, is it your Hearts Desire? Let it be also your Prayer, for your Children, that they may be Saved.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Prayer for the Salvation of any Sinners, availith much. How much may it avail for the Salvation of our Sinful Children? Much availed that
Prayer of David in I Chron. 29:19, Lord, Give unto my Son a perfect Heart, to keep thy Commandments.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Parents, Make such a prayer for your Children, Lord, Give unto my Child, a New Heart, and a Clean Heart, and a Soft Heart; and an Heart after thy own Heart.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We have been told, that Children once were brought unto our Lord Jesus Christ, for Him to Put His hands upon them; and He Put His hands upon them, and blessed them. Oh! Thrice, and Four Times Blessed Children! Well, Parent, Bring your Children unto the Lord Jesus Christ; it may be, He will put His Blessing, and Healing, and Saving Hands upon them: Then, they are Blessed, and shall be Blessed for evermore! If Abraham cry to God, O that my son Ishmael may live in thy sight! God will say to Abraham, concerning Ishmael, I have heard thee!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pray for the Salvation of thy Children, and carry the Names of every one of them, every day before the Lord, with Prayers, the Cries whereof shall pierce the very Heavens. Holy Job did so! Job 1:5 He offered according to the number of all his Children; Thus did Job continually.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Address Heaven with daily Prayers, That God would make thy Children the Temples of His Spirit, the Vessels of His Glory; and the Care of His Holy Angels.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Address the Lord Jesus Christ, with Prayers, like them of old, That all the Maladies upon the Souls of thy Children may be cured and that the Evil One may have no possession of them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yea, when thou do cast thine Eyes upon the Little Folks, often in a day dart up an Ejaculatory Prayer to Heaven for them; Lord, let this child be thy servant for ever.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">If your Prayers are not presently answered, be not Disheartened: Remember the Word of the Lord, in Luke 18:1, That men ought always to pray, and not to faint.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Redouble your Importunity, until thou speed for thy child, as the poor Woman of Canaan did.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Join Fasting to thy Prayer; it may be, the evil in the soul of your child, will not go out, without such a Remedy. David sets himself to Fasting, as well as Prayer, for the Life of his Child. Oh, Do as much for the Soul of thy Child!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Wrestle with the Lord. Receive no Denial. Earnestly protest, Lord, I will not let thee go, except thou Bless this poor Child of mine, and make it thy own! Do this, until, if it may be, thy Heart is Raised by a Touch of Heaven, to a particular Faith; that God has blessed this child, and it shall be Blessed and Saved Forever.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But is this all that is to be done? There is more. Parents, Pray with your Children, as well as for them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Family prayer must be maintained by all those Parents, that would not have their Children miss of Salvation, and that would not have the Damnation of their Children horribly fall upon themselves. Man, thy Family is a Pagan Family, if it be a Prayerless Family: And the Children going down to the place of Dragons from this thy Family, will pour out their Execrations upon thee, in the Bottom of Hell, until the very Heavens be no more.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But, besides your Family Prayers, Oh, parents, why should you not now and then, take one capable Child after another, alone before the Lord? Carry the Child with you, into your Secret Chambers; make the Child kneel down by you, while you present it unto the Lord, and Implore His Blessing upon it.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let the Child, hear the Groans, and See the Tears, and be a witness of the Agonies, wherewith you are Travailing for the Salvation of it. The Children will never Forget what you do; it will have a marvelous Force upon them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thus, Oh, Parents, You have been told, what you have to do, for the Salvation of your Children; and certainly, their Salvation is worth all of this!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your Zeal about the Salvation of your Children, will be a symptom of your own Sincerity. A total want of Zeal, will be a Spot upon you, that is not a Spot of the Children of God.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God will Reward the Zeal. It is very probable, That the Children thus cared for, will be the Saved of the Lord. Your Glad Hearts will one day see it, if they are so: it will augment your Heaven, through all eternity, to have These in Heaven with you.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And let it be Remembered, That the Fathers, are not the only Parents obliged thus to pursue the Salvation of their Children: You that are Mothers, have not a little to do for the Souls of your Children, and you have Opportunity to do more than a Little.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Bathsheba the Mother of Solomon, and Eunice the Mother of Timothy, did greately Contribute unto the Salvation of their famous and worthy Sons.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">God has Commanded Children, Forsake not the Law of thy Mother. Then, a Mother must give the Law of God unto them.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is said of the Virtuous Woman, She looks well to the ways of her Household; Then a Virtuous Mother looks well to the Ways of her Children.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Your Children may say, In sin did my Mother Conceive me. Oh, Then let Mothers do what they can, to Save their Children out of Sin!
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And especially, Mothers, do you Travail for your Children over again, with your Earnest Prayers for their Salvation, until it may be said unto you, as it was unto Monica the Mother of Austin, concerning him; Tis impossible, that thy Child should perish, after thou hast Employed so many Prayers and Tears for the Salvation of it.
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Now God give a Good Success to these Poor Endeavours!
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-69835628578461814462019-09-16T04:00:00.002-04:002022-07-01T15:52:02.142-04:001692 Salem Witch Trials - Adolescent Girls with Strange Fits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fBx32ClNNk/WnreZlpnETI/AAAAAAACO7E/nQQNzddHelYBM4j4XNt4IKMYWm7zHQHnwCLcBGAs/s1600/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="766" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--fBx32ClNNk/WnreZlpnETI/AAAAAAACO7E/nQQNzddHelYBM4j4XNt4IKMYWm7zHQHnwCLcBGAs/s1600/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century America and Europe. Town officials convened a court to hear the charges of witchcraft. Within a month, six women were convicted and hanged.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>The hysteria grew, in large measure because the court permitted witnesses to testify that they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. Such "spectral evidence" could neither be verified nor made subject to objective examination. By the fall of 1692, 20 victims, including several men, had been executed, and more than 100 others were in jail (where another five victims died) -- among them some of the town's most prominent citizens. When the charges threatened to spread beyond Salem, ministers throughout the colony called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed. Those still in jail were later acquitted or given reprieves.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Although an isolated incident, the Salem episode has long fascinated Americans. Most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 experienced a kind of public hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witchcraft. While some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults became caught up in the frenzy as well.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Even more revealing is a closer analysis of the identities of the accused and the accusers. Salem Village, as much of colonial New England, was undergoing an economic and political transition from a largely agrarian, Puritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many of the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming and the church, whereas a number of the accused witches were members of a rising commercial class of small shopkeepers and tradesmen. Salem's obscure struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a newer commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout American history. It took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept up by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>The Salem witch trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly consequences of making sensational, but false, charges. Three hundred years later, we still call false accusations against a large number of people a "witch hunt."</span><br />
<span><br /></span><span>For more, see Outline of U.S. History, a publication of the U.S. Department of State from the website of the United States Information Agency, where it was published in November 2005.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><div>Note:</div><div><span><span><div><br /></div><div>The Female Witch Myth was strengthened by English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676), whose writings & court rulings on women were/are far-reaching & long-lasting. In 1662, he was involved in one of the most notorious of the 17C English witchcraft trials, where he sentenced 2 women to death for being witches. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases in England & in the British American colonies, & was used in the 1692 Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused's lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676) read<b> Malleus Maleficarum</b> 1486 (translated by Montague Summers 1928 - see Google Books) Written in Latin & first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487, the title is translated as<b> "The Hammer of Witches."</b> Written in 1486 by Austrian priest Heinrich Kramer (also Kraemer) & German priest Jakob (also James) Sprenger, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII. As the main justification for persecution of witches, the authors relied on a brief passage in the <b>Bible</b> (the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse 18), which states:<b><i> "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." </i></b>The <b>Malleus</b> remained in use for 300 years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England & her North American colonies, & on the European continent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Malleus</b> was used as a judicial case-book for the detection & persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence & the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured & put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in the book because of having a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivating medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The <b>Malleus</b> serves as a chilling warning of what happens when intolerance takes over a society.</div></span></span></div></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-90236991700737864262019-09-13T04:00:00.002-04:002022-07-01T16:36:02.666-04:00The Female Witch Myth - A Condemned 1692 Salem Witch & Her Husband Speak Out<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfE806fPOPhRnMGZpk1NE259M-enWzGqK0tfhfShtb1gWwQic91U3IjIGcsv6raFmrK9STVzt-o75jAQ4HUTwu-RhFPErkMZcno8n-IT_na9KZc9u6xrVnFrmBT63GgjhiijVLwMlxdn-N/s1600-h/Ulrich+Molitor.+De+Lamiis+et+Phitonicis+Mulieribus,+1493.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431396625900632050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfE806fPOPhRnMGZpk1NE259M-enWzGqK0tfhfShtb1gWwQic91U3IjIGcsv6raFmrK9STVzt-o75jAQ4HUTwu-RhFPErkMZcno8n-IT_na9KZc9u6xrVnFrmBT63GgjhiijVLwMlxdn-N/s400/Ulrich+Molitor.+De+Lamiis+et+Phitonicis+Mulieribus,+1493.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="388" /></a><strong><span style="color: black;">Ulrich Molitor. De Lamiis et Phitonicis Mulieribus, 1493</span></strong> </span><br />
</span><div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><br /></span>
<span>Mary Towne Easty, the daughter of William Towne & Joanna Blessing Towne of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, was baptized on August 24, 1634. One of 8 children, she & her family sailed for Massachusettes around 1640.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>Mary married Isaac Eastey in 1655, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Isaac, a successful farmer, was born in England on November 27, 1627. Together the couple had 12 children. Two of Easty's sisters, Rebecca Nurse & Sarah Cloyse, were also accused of witchcraft during the Salem outbreak.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span>At the time of her questioning, Easty was about 58 years old. Her examination followed the pattern of most in Salem: girls had fits & were speechless at times. The magistrate became angry when she would not confess her guilt, which he deemed proven beyond doubt by the sufferings of the afflicted.</span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<strong><span style="color: black;">Easty was condemned to death on September 9, 1692. She was executed on September 22nd, despite an eloquent plea to the court to reconsider & not spill any more innocent blood. On the gallows she prayed for a end to the witch hunt.<br />
</span></strong><br />
<span><strong>Petition of Mary Easty To his Excellency S'r W'm Phipps: Govern'r and to the honoured Judge and Magistrates now setting in Judicature in Salem. <span style="color: #006600;">That whereas your poor and humble petitioner being condemned to die Doe humbly begg of you to take it into your Judicious and pious considerations that your Poor and humble petitioner knowing my own Innocencye Blised be the Lord for it and seeing plainly the wiles and subtility of my accusers by my Selfe can not but Judge charitably of others that are going the same way of my selfe if the Lord stepps not mightily in i was confined a whole month upon the same account that I am condemned now for and then cleared by the afflicted persons as some of your honours know and in two dayes time I was cryed out upon by them and have been confined and now am condemned to die the Lord above knows my Innocence then and Likewise does now as att the great day will be know to men and Angells -- I Petition to your honours not for my own life for I know I must die and my appointed time is sett but the Lord he knowes it is that if it be possible no more Innocent blood may be shed which undoubtidly cannot be Avoyded In the way and course you goe in I question not but your honours does to the uttmost of your Powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches and would not be gulty of Innocent blood for the world but by my own Innocency I know you are in this great work if it be his blessed you that no more Innocent blood be shed I would humbly begg of you that your honors would be plesed to examine theis Afflicted Persons strictly and keep them apart some time and Likewise to try some of these confesing wichis I being confident there is severall of them has belyed themselves and others as will appeare if not in this wor[l]d I am sure in the world to come whither I am now agoing and I Question not but youle see and alteration of thes things they my selfe and others having made a League with the Divel we cannot confesse I know and the Lord knowes as will shortly appeare they belye me and so I Question not but they doe others the Lord above who is the Searcher of all hearts knows that as I shall answer att the Tribunall seat that I know not the least thinge of witchcraft therfore I cannot I dare not belye my own soule I beg your honers not to deny this my humble petition from a poor dying Innocent person and I Question not but the Lord will give a blesing to yor endevers.</span></strong><span style="color: #006600;"><br />
<br />
</span><strong>Petitions for Compensation and Decision Concerning Compensation<br />
</strong></span><br />
<strong><span>Account of Isaac Easty -- Case of Mary Easty<br />
</span></strong><br />
<span>Topsfield Septemb'r 8 th. 1710 </span><strong style="color: #ff6600;"><span style="color: #006600;">Isaac Esty (Senior, about 82 years of age) of Topsfield in the county of Essex in N.E. having been sorely exercis'd through the holy & awful providence of God depriving him of his beloved wife Mary Esty who suffered death in the year 1692 & under the fearfull odium of one of the worst of crimes that can be laid to the charge of mankind, as if she had been guilty of witchcraft a peice of wickedness witch I beleeve she did hate with perfect hatered & by all that ever I could see by her never could see any thing by her that should give me any reason in the lest to think her guilty of anything of that nature but am firmly persuaded that she was innocent of it as any to such a shameful death-Upon consideration of a notification from the Honored Generall Court desiring my self & others under the like circumstances to give some account of what my Estate was damnify'd by reason of such a hellish molestation do hereby declare which may also be seen by comparing papers & records that my wife was near upon 5 months imprisioned all which time I provided maintenance for her at my own cost & charge, went constantly twice aweek to provide for her what she needed 3 weeks of this 5 months she was in prision at Boston & I was constrained to be at the charge of transporting her to & fro. So that I can not but think my charge in time and money might amount to 20 pounds besides my trouble & sorrow of heart in being deprived of her after such a manner which this world can never make me any compensation for.</span></strong><br />
<span><span style="color: #ff6600;">
<br />
</span><span style="color: black;">I order and appoint my son Jacob Esty to carry this to the Honored Committee Appointed by the Honored Generall Court & are to meet at Salem Sept. 12, 1710. Dated this 8th of Sept. 1710.</span></span><br />
<span><br /></span>
<span><span style="color: black;"><strong>Easty's family was compensated with 20 pounds from the government in 1711 for her wrongful execution.</strong></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><strong><br /></strong></span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><div>Note:</div><div><span><span><div><br /></div><div>The Female Witch Myth was strengthened by English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676), whose writings & court rulings on women were/are far-reaching & long-lasting. In 1662, he was involved in one of the most notorious of the 17C English witchcraft trials, where he sentenced 2 women to death for being witches. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases in England & in the British American colonies, & was used in the 1692 Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused's lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676) read<b> Malleus Maleficarum</b> 1486 (translated by Montague Summers 1928 - see Google Books) Written in Latin & first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487, the title is translated as<b> "The Hammer of Witches."</b> Written in 1486 by Austrian priest Heinrich Kramer (also Kraemer) & German priest Jakob (also James) Sprenger, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII. As the main justification for persecution of witches, the authors relied on a brief passage in the <b>Bible</b> (the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse 18), which states:<b><i> "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." </i></b>The <b>Malleus</b> remained in use for 300 years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England & her North American colonies, & on the European continent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Malleus</b> was used as a judicial case-book for the detection & persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence & the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured & put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in the book because of having a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivating medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The <b>Malleus</b> serves as a chilling warning of what happens when intolerance takes over a society.</div></span></span></div></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-76737597970249241062019-09-12T04:00:00.004-04:002022-07-01T15:50:03.011-04:00Puritan Laws on Witches - 1692 Salem's Anti-Woman Witch Hunt<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/TMwQgcOo2tI/AAAAAAAAbVM/BXznfkPbtXw/s1600/1610+Witches+Gather.jpg" style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="404" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533816191650945746" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/TMwQgcOo2tI/AAAAAAAAbVM/BXznfkPbtXw/s640/1610+Witches+Gather.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /></a></span><span style="text-align: left;"></span></span></span></span></div><div>Woodcut of Witches Gathering</div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span>During 1692, formal charges of witchcraft were brought against 156 people & most were women. On both sides of the Atlantic, witchcraft was perceived as a primarily female phenomenon & over ¾ of the accused were women. In Puritan New England by 1692, Christian society, politics, & theology was ripe for a bout of persecution of witches & witchcraft, which some claim was an attempt to suppress women & feminine influences. <br /></span></span></span><div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span>Puritans did not believe that women were by nature more evil than men, but they did see them as weaker & thus more susceptible to sinful impulses. Ministers regularly reminded New England congregations, that it was Eve who first gave way to Satan & then seduced Adam, when she should have continued to serve his moral welfare in obedience to God. </span></span><span style="color: #444444;">Some women were much more likely than others to be suspected of witchcraft. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Throughout the 17C New England women became especially susceptible to accusation, if they were seen as challenging their prescribed place in a gendered hierarchy that Puritans held to be ordained by God. Women who fulfilled their allotted social roles as wives, mothers, household mistresses, & church members without threatening assumptions about appropriate female comportment were respected and praised as the handmaidens of the Lord; but those whose circumstances or behavior seemed to disrupt social norms could easily become branded as the servants of Satan. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Especially vulnerable were women who had passed menopause & no longer served the purpose of procreation; women who were widowed & so neither fulfilled the role of wife nor had a husband to protect them from malicious accusations; & women who had inherited or stood to inherit property in violation of society's expectations that wealth would be transmitted from man to man. </span><span style="color: #444444;">Women who seemed unduly aggressive & contentious were also likely to be accused; behavior that would not have struck contemporaries as particularly egregious in men seemed utterly inappropriate in women. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;">Bridget Bishop & Susannah Martin, both executed in 1692, exemplifed these characteristics. Both had been widowed. Bishop had assumed control of her first husband's property before remarrying. Martin had engaged in protracted litigation over her father's estate in an unsuccessful attempt to secure what she considered her rightful inheritance. Both women had displayed an assertiveness & fiery temper that some of their neighbors found deeply troubling.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><span><img alt="" border="0" height="497" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533818463987164386" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CvDCiEFbNy8/TMwSktVz5OI/AAAAAAAAbVs/pULrqskzuRE/s640/woodcut57.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="640" /></span></span><br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Events in Salem Village in 1692</span></div>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="color: #444444;"><span>January 20</span><br /><span>
Nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams began to exhibit strange behavior, such as blasphemous screaming, convulsive seizures, trance-like states and mysterious spells. Within a short time, several other Salem girls began to demonstrate similar behavior.</span><br />
<br /><span>
Mid-February</span><br /><span>
Unable to determine any physical cause for the symptoms and dreadful behavior, physicians concluded that the girls were under the influence of Satan.</span><br />
<br /><span>
Late February</span><br /><span>
Prayer services and community fasting were conducted by Reverend Samuel Parris in hopes of relieving the evil forces that plagued them. In an effort to expose the <b><i>"witches"</i></b>, John Indian baked a witch cake made with rye meal and the afflicted girls' urine. This counter-magic was meant to reveal the identities of the <b><i>"witches"</i></b> to the afflicted girls. </span><span>Pressured to identify the source of their affliction, the girls named three women, including Tituba, Parris' Carib Indian slave, as witches. On February 29, warrants were issued for the arrests of Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.</span><br />
<br /><span>
Although Osborne and Good maintained innocence, Tituba confessed to seeing the devil who appeared to her <b><i>"sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog."</i></b> What's more, Tituba testified that there was a conspiracy of witches at work in Salem.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 1</span><br /><span>
Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examined Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne in the meeting house in Salem Village. Tituba confessed to practicing witchcraft. </span><span>Over the next weeks, other townspeople came forward and testified that they, too, had been harmed by or had seen strange apparitions of some of the community members. As the witch hunt continued, accusations were made against many different people. </span><span>Frequently denounced were women whose behavior or economic circumstances were somehow disturbing to the social order and conventions of the time. Some of the accused had previous records of criminal activity, including witchcraft, but others were faithful churchgoers and people of high standing in the community.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 12</span><br /><span>
Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 19</span><br /><span>
Rebecca Nurse was denounced as a witch.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 21</span><br /><span>
Martha Corey was examined before Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 24</span><br /><span>
Rebecca Nurse was examined before Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin.</span><br />
<br /><span>
March 28</span><br /><span>
Elizabeth Proctor was denounced as a witch.</span><br />
<br /><span>
April 3</span><br /><span>
Sarah Cloyce, Rebecca Nurse's sister, was accused of witchcraft.</span><br />
<br /><span>
April 11</span><br /><span>
Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyce were examined before Hathorne, Corwin, Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, and Captain Samuel Sewall. During this examination, John Proctor was also accused and imprisoned.</span><br />
<br /><span>
April 19</span><br /><span>
Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey, and Mary Warren were examined. Only Abigail Hobbs confessed. </span><span>William Hobbs <b><i>"I can deny it to my dying day."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
April 22</span><br /><span>
Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Easty, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes, and Mary English were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Only Nehemiah Abbott was cleared of charges.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 2</span><br /><span>
Sarah Morey, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, and Dorcas Hoar were examined by Hathorne and Corwin. </span><span>Dorcas Hoar <b><i>"I will speak the truth as long as I live."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
May 4</span><br /><span>
George Burroughs was arrested in Wells, Maine.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 9</span><br /><span>
Burroughs was examined by Hathorne, Corwin, Sewall, and William Stoughton. One of the afflicted girls, Sarah Churchill, was also examined.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 10</span><br /><span>
George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Margaret confessed and testified that her grandfather and George Burroughs were both witches.</span><br /><span>
Sarah Osborne died in prison in Boston. </span><span>Margaret Jacobs <b><i>"... They told me if I would not confess I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my life."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
May 14</span><br /><span>
Increase Mather returned from England, bringing with him a new charter and the new governor, Sir William Phips.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 18</span><br /><span>
Mary Easty was released from prison. Yet, due to the outcries and protests of her accusers, she was arrested a second time.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 27</span><br /><span>
Governor Phips set up a special Court of Oyer and Terminer comprised of seven judges to try the witchcraft cases. Appointed were Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, John Richards, John Hathorne, and Jonathan Corwin. </span><span>These magistrates based their judgments and evaluations on various kinds of intangible evidence, including direct confessions, supernatural attributes (such as <b><i>"witchmarks")</i></b>, and reactions of the afflicted girls. Spectral evidence, based on the assumption that the Devil could assume the <b><i>"specter"</i></b> of an innocent person, was relied upon despite its controversial nature.</span><br />
<br /><span>
May 31</span><br /><span>
Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth Howe, and Phillip English were examined before Hathorne, Corwin, and Gedney.</span><br />
<br /><span>
June 2</span><br /><span>
Initial session of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Bridget Bishop was the first to be pronounced guilty of witchcraft and condemned to death.</span><br /></span><br />
<span><span style="color: #444444;"><span>Early June</span><br /><span>
Soon after Bridget Bishop's trial, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned from the court, dissatisfied with its proceedings.</span><br />
<br /><span>
June 10</span><br /><span>
Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem, the first official execution of the Salem witch trials. </span><span>Bridget Bishop <b><i>"I am no witch. I am innocent. I know nothing of it."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
Following her death, accusations of witchcraft escalated, but the trials were not unopposed. Several townspeople signed petitions on behalf of accused people they believed to be innocent.</span><br />
<br /><span>
June 29-30</span><br /><span>
Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, Sarah Good and Elizabeth Howe were tried for witchcraft and condemned.</span><br /><span>
Rebecca Nurse <b><i>"Oh Lord, help me! It is false. I am clear. For my life now lies in your hands...."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
Mid-July</span><br /><span>
In an effort to expose the witches afflicting his life, Joseph Ballard of nearby Andover enlisted the aid of the accusing girls of Salem. This action marked the beginning of the Andover witch hunt.</span><br />
<br /><span>
July 19</span><br /><span>
Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes were executed. E</span><span>lizabeth Howe <b><i>"If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent..."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
Susannah Martin <b><i>"I have no hand in witchcraft."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
August 2-6</span><br /><span>
George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and John Willard were tried for witchcraft and condemned. </span><span>Martha Carrier <b><i>"...I am wronged. It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
August 19</span><br /><span>
George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Proctor, and John Willard were hanged on Gallows Hill.</span><br /><span>
George Jacobs <b><i>"Because I am falsely accused. I never did it."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
September 9</span><br /><span>
Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, and Mary Bradbury were tried and condemned.</span><br /><span>
Mary Bradbury <b><i>"I do plead not guilty. I am wholly innocent of such wickedness."</i></b></span><br />
<br /><span>
September 17</span><br /><span>
Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster, and Abigail Hobbs were tried and condemned.</span><br />
<br /><span>
September 19</span><br /><span>
Giles Corey was pressed to death for refusing a trial.</span><br />
<br /><span>
September 21</span><br /><span>
Dorcas Hoar was the first of those pleading innocent to confess. Her execution was delayed.</span><br />
<br /><span>
September 22</span><br /><span>
Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker were hanged.</span><br />
<br /><span>
October 8</span><br /><span>
After 20 people had been executed in the Salem witch hunt, Thomas Brattle wrote a letter criticizing the witchcraft trials. This letter had great impact on Governor Phips, who ordered that reliance on spectral and intangible evidence no longer be allowed in trials.</span><br />
<br /><span>
October 29</span><br /><span>
Governor Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer.</span><br />
<br /><span>
November 25</span><br /><span>
The General Court of the colony created the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases which took place in May, 1693. This time no one was convicted.</span><br />
<br /><span>
Mary Easty <b><i>"...if it be possible no more innocent blood be shed...I am clear of this sin."</i></b></span><br /><br /><span>
By early October, when the court proceedings were halted amid acrimonious controversy, 19 people had been hanged. Over 100 individuals were in prison awaiting trial, & 4 died during their confinement.</span><br />
<br /><span>
The Salem trials were halted primarily because of controversy over the court's reliance upon problematic testimony, which reaffirmed & intensified judicial concerns regarding evidentiary issues. Such concerns combined with embarrassment & distress over the deaths that resulted from the trials that year to discourage future prosecutions, though an end to witch trials in New England by the century's close did not signify an end to the belief in & fear of witches.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XtlCZDyi0Ec/WfndD4vGiVI/AAAAAAACN4Q/ri7ulbFj1wM1zHZDfl_jRS95deiYaG3AQCLcBGAs/s1600/Witch-burning%2Bin%2Bthe%2BCounty%2Bof%2BRegenstein%252C%2B1550.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="768" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XtlCZDyi0Ec/WfndD4vGiVI/AAAAAAACN4Q/ri7ulbFj1wM1zHZDfl_jRS95deiYaG3AQCLcBGAs/s1600/Witch-burning%2Bin%2Bthe%2BCounty%2Bof%2BRegenstein%252C%2B1550.jpg" /></span></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Earlier Witch-burning in Europe, 1550</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div>Note:</div><div><span><span><div><br /></div><div>The Female Witch Myth was strengthened by English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676), whose writings & court rulings on women were/are far-reaching & long-lasting. In 1662, he was involved in one of the most notorious of the 17C English witchcraft trials, where he sentenced 2 women to death for being witches. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases in England & in the British American colonies, & was used in the 1692 Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused's lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676) read<b> Malleus Maleficarum</b> 1486 (translated by Montague Summers 1928 - see Google Books) Written in Latin & first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487, the title is translated as<b> "The Hammer of Witches."</b> Written in 1486 by Austrian priest Heinrich Kramer (also Kraemer) & German priest Jakob (also James) Sprenger, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII. As the main justification for persecution of witches, the authors relied on a brief passage in the <b>Bible</b> (the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse 18), which states:<b><i> "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." </i></b>The <b>Malleus</b> remained in use for 300 years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England & her North American colonies, & on the European continent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Malleus</b> was used as a judicial case-book for the detection & persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence & the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured & put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in the book because of having a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivating medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The <b>Malleus</b> serves as a chilling warning of what happens when intolerance takes over a society.</div></span></span></div></div></div><span style="color: #444444;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="color: #444444;">
<br />
</span><span style="color: #444444;">See: </span></span><br />
</span><span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Salem Witches & their Accusers. Richard Godbeer<br />
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004</span><br />
</span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-26856896519065411122019-09-09T04:00:00.001-04:002019-09-10T11:58:32.183-04:00Portrait of an 17C Virginia British-American Woman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QSGdkETwXI/WTDKjCstFvI/AAAAAAACM8I/DHNk0ujmwk4jegd35OyBrEJpJOsuTGrcQCLcB/s1600/1690-1700%2BRebecca%2BBonum%2BEskridge%252C%2BVirginia%2BHistorical%2BSociety.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="672" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QSGdkETwXI/WTDKjCstFvI/AAAAAAACM8I/DHNk0ujmwk4jegd35OyBrEJpJOsuTGrcQCLcB/s1600/1690-1700%2BRebecca%2BBonum%2BEskridge%252C%2BVirginia%2BHistorical%2BSociety.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1690-1700 Rebecca (Bonum) Eskridge (1658 - 1715), Unknown Artist, Virginia Historical Society</div>
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It is reported that her husband, Col. George Eskridge, played an important part in the life of the first US President, George Washington. It is recorded that Col. George Eskridge came from Lancaster, England, & in 1670 was seized in Wales by press gang and who carried him aboard a ship bound for Virginia where he was sold to a planter as an indentured servant for 8 years. When freed, he returned to England to get his law degree and then came back to northern neck of Virginia between the Potomac and Rappahannock. He settled in Westmoreland County, VA in 1696. He was an eminent lawyer, served ten years as member of the house of Burgess and a member of Quorum and King's Attorneys. His plantation of many thousand acres (land grants show 12,644 acres) was called Sandy Point and was located on the historic Potomac River. George Washington's mother's name was Mary Ball. Her father referred to her as <i>"his little rose of Epping Forest."</i> He died when she was about 3 years old. Her mother died a few years later, and in her will she named Col. George Eskridge as the guardian of Mary. She spent her girlhood in the Eskridge home and later married a neighbor, Augustine Washington. The marriage took place at Sandy Point. Her son was named George for Mary's much-loved guardian. Col. Eskridge was a vestryman of Yeocomico Episcopal Church (est 1655) in Virginia. His portrait, together with that of his wife Rebecca Bonum, hung for several years at Mount Vernon plantation.<br />
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Rebecca Bonum was the daughter of Samuel Bonum and Margaret Philpot. Samuel Bonham, (not a son), b. 1621, Kinsale, Co Cork, d. Bef 25 May 1692, Westmoreland Co, Virginia Mother Margaret Philpott, b. Abt 1640, d. Bef 28 Mar 1694, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 54 years) Married c 1675 George Eskridge, Col, b. 30 Sep 1655, Lancastershire, England d. 25 Nov 1735, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 80 years)<br />
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Children <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
1. Martha Eskridge, b. 1676, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. 25 Feb 1729, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 53 years)<br />
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2. (daughter) Eskridge, b. Abt 1697, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. Bef 1722, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 25 years)<br />
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3. William Eskridge, b. Abt 1698, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. Bef 1745, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 47 years)<br />
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4. George Eskridge, b. Abt 1700, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. Bef 1735, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 35 years)<br />
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5. Daniel Eskridge, b. 1706, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. Aft 1727, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 22 years)<br />
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6. Sarah Eskridge, b. 1708, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. 2 Dec 1753, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 45 years)<br />
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7. Margaret Eskridge, b. 19 May 1712, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. 8 Oct 1801, Fauquier Co, Virginia (Age 89 years)<br />
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8. Robert Eskridge, b. Abt 1714, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. 16 Jul 1747, Westmoreland Co, Virginia (Age 33 years)<br />
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9. Samuel Eskridge, b. Abt 1715, Westmoreland Co, Virginia d. Aft 1750, of, Northampton Co, Virginia (Age 36 years)<br />
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See
Online: Family Tree Maker, World Family Tree Vol. 6, #3663, by Paula M. Radican: "George Washington was undoubtedly named for him. Douglas S. Freeman so stated in his biography of Washington. Mary Hewes the mother of Mary Ball and of Mary's older half-sister, Elizabeth Johnson who married Samuel Bonum...named Colonel Eskridge as the guardian of Mary Ball. He served in this capacity from the time Mary was 13 years old until she married Augustine Washington. Mary Ball was reared in the home of Colonel Eskridge and her marriage to the father of the "Father of our Country" took place from our ancestor's home. It was George Eskridge who held their first born as he was christened George Washington. A highway marker near Sandy Point, Westmoreland County, VA attests to this fact." quoted from the book<i> Kin of my Grandchildren</i> by Judge Noble Littell.<br />
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Online: Family Tree Maker, World Family Tree Vol. 17, #1968, submitted by Alan D. Sparks: "Starting in 1720, was guardian of Mary Ball, daughter of Colonel Johnson Ball and Mary Johnson Ball. Mary Ball was Augustine Washington's second wife; in 1732 they named their first son George in honor of her guardian George Eskridge." source: <i>Jobe Journal</i><br />
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Online: Family Genealogy Forum, submitted by Sara Washburn: "Colonel George Eskridge, a Deputy to the Virginia House of Burgesses for many years in the first half of the 18th century, was guardian to Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington. It is stated that Col. Eskridge, who died in 1735, came to America about 1670, probably from Lancashire. He married, first, Rebecca, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Philpot) Bonum. Rebecca (Bonum)Eskridge had a brother, Samuel Bonum, whose wife was Elizabeth Johnston, the half-sister of Mary Ball. Col. Eskridge married, second, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Vaulx.<br />
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Online: http://sherrysharp.com/gentree/getperson.php?personID=I10163&tree=Roots From a story about George Washington's baptism (where he is named George after Col. Eskridge) "One of these is a certain important gentleman from "down the river", Col. George Eskridge of Sandy Points--he so belongs in the picture. He is a full-faced, dignified man, an eminent lawyer, and of high standing in the community. He long was the faithful guardian of young Mary Ball, now the wife of Augustine, and the mother of the child to be baptized. Much honor is come to him this day.'"
From <i>George Washington Man and Monument</i> by Marcus Cunliffe, 1958, A Mentor Book, New York and Scarborough, Ont., The New English Library Limited, London, p 33: speaking of the mother of George Washington, "...Mary was much attached to her guardian, a genial lawyer named George Eskridge; and it was apparently after him that she named her first-born child: George Washington. Otherwise he might perhaps have been given the family name of John; Lawrence and Augustine had already been used for his half brothers." Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-36981198169727994732019-09-08T04:00:00.000-04:002019-09-10T11:44:34.520-04:00Portrait of an 17C New York Dutch or British-American Woman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unknown Woman New York, 1690–1700 Attributed to Gerret Duyckinck from New York, (New Amsterdam) 1660–1710)</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-28177767954830990342019-09-06T04:00:00.000-04:002019-09-09T10:22:12.628-04:00Colonial Charter - 1672 Grant for the Province of New Jersey (by men, of course)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1602-1678) & Sir George Carteret (c.1610-1680) </b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>A Declaration of the True Intent and Meaning of us the Lords Proprietors, and Explanation of There Concessions Made to the Adventurers and Planters of New Caesarea or New Jersey-1672</i></b><br />
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<b><i>I. That as to the 6th Article, it shall be in the power of the Governor and his Council to admit of all persons to become planters and free men of the said Province, without the General Assembly; but no person or persons whatsoever shall be counted a freeholder of the said Province, nor have any vote in electing, nor be capable of being elected for any office or trust, either civil or military, until he doth actually hold his or their lands by patent from us, the Lords proprietors.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>II. As to the 8th article, it shall be in the power of the Governor and Council, to constitute and appoint such ministers and preachers as shall be nominated and chosen by the several corporations, without the General Assembly, and to establish their maintenance, giving liberty besides any person or persons to keep and maintain what preachers or ministers they please.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>AS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY</i></b><br />
<b><i>I. That is shall be in the power of the Governor and his Council to appoint the times and places of meeting of the General Assembly, and to adjourn and summon them together again when and where he and they shall see cause.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>II. To the third; that it is to be understood, that it is in the power of the Governor and his Council to constitute and appoint courts in particular corporations already settled, without the General Assembly; but for the courts of sessions and assizes to be constituted and established by the Governor Council and representatives together: and that all appeals, shall be made from the assizes, to the Governor and his Council, and thence to the Lords proprietors; from whom they may appeal to the king, and that no more corporations be confirm'd but by or with the special order of us the Lords proprietors.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>III. To the ninth article: that the Governor and his Council may dispose of the allotments of land to each particular person, without the General Assembly according to our directions, as he and they shall think fit.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>CONCERNING THE GOVERNOR</i></b><br />
<b><i>I. As to the second and third article; all officers civil and military (except before excepted) be nominated and appointed by the Governor and Council, without the General Assembly, unless he the said Governor and Council shall see occasion for their advice and assistance.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>II. As to the fourth article, in case of foreign invasion or intestine mutiny or rebellion; it shall be lawful for the Governor and his Council to call in to their aid, any persons whatsoever whether freeholder or not.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>III. That in the sixth article, concerning the regular laying out of lands; rules for building each street in townships, and quantities of ground for each house lot, the same is left to the freeholders or first undertakers thereof, as they can agree with the Governor and Council, and not to the General Assembly, but to be laid out by the surveyor general.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>IV. That all warrants for lands not exceeding the proportions in the concessions, being only sign'd by the Governor and Secretary shall be effectual in case his Council or any part of them be not present.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>We the Lords proprietors do understand that in all General Assembly's, the Governor and his Council are to set by themselves, and the deputies or representatives by themselves, and whatever they do propose to be presented to the Governor and his Council, and upon their confirmation to pass for an act or law when confirm'd by us. Witness our hands and seals the 6th day of December, 1672.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>JOHN BERKLEY, G. CARTERET.</i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-16508788831207755102019-09-05T04:00:00.002-04:002022-07-01T16:48:48.935-04:00The Female Witch Myth - Cotton Mather on Witches 1689In 1692, at the Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, & Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados, were charged with the illegal practice of witchcraft. Later that day, Tituba, possibly under coercion, confessed to the crime, encouraging the authorities to seek out more Salem witches.<br />
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Just 3 years before this New England minister Cotton Mather (1663-1728) published his 1689 <b><i>Memorable Providences</i></b> about witches, which I read in my 1st year of grad school. I thought it was hilarious--the invisible horse was my absolute favorite. I realize that it eats up a lot of room, but once you begin reading it, you might see why I just have to post it.<br />
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Cotton Mather 1663-1728<br />
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Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions... Written by Cotton Mather, Minister of the Gospel, and Recommended by the Ministers of Boston, and Charleston. Printed at Boston in N. England by R.P. 1689.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Witchcrafts and Possessions.</div>
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The First Exemple.<br />
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Section I. There dwells at this time, in the south part of Boston, a sober and pious man, whose Name is John Goodwin, whose Trade is that of a Mason, and whose Wife (to which a Good Report gives a share with him in all the Characters of Vertue) has made him the Father of six (now living) Children. Of these Children, all but the Eldest, who works with his Father at his Calling, and the Youngest, who lives yet upon the Breast of its mother, have laboured under the direful effects of a (no less palpable than) stupendous Witchcraft...<br />
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Sect. II. The four Children (whereof the Eldest was about Thirteen, and the youngest was perhaps about a third part so many years of age') had enjoyed a Religious Education, and answered it with a very towardly Ingenuity....<br />
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Sect. III. About Midsummer, in the year 1688, the Eldest of these Children, who is a Daughter, saw cause to examine their Washerwoman, upon their missing of some Linnen ' which twas fear'd she had stollen from them; and of what use this linnen might bee to serve the Witchcraft intended, the Theef's Tempter knows! This Laundress was the Daughter of an ignorant and a scandalous old Woman in the Neighbourhood; whose miserable Husband before he died, had sometimes complained of her, that she was undoubtedly a Witch, and that whenever his Head was laid, she would quickly arrive unto the punishments due to such an one. This Woman in her daughters Defence bestow'd very bad Language upon the Girl that put her to the Question; immediately upon which, the poor child became variously indisposed in her health, an visited with strange Fits, beyond those that attend an Epilepsy or a Catalepsy, or those that they call The Diseases of Astonishment.<br />
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Sect. IV. It was not long before one of her Sisters, an two of her Brothers, were seized, in Order one after another with Affects' like those that molested her... for one good while, the children were tormented just in the same part of their bodies all at the same time together; and tho they saw and heard not one anothers complaints, tho likewise their pains and sprains were swift like Lightening, yet when (suppose) the Neck, or the Hand, or the Back of one was Rack't, so it was at that instant with t'other too.<br />
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Sect. V. The variety of their tortures increased continually... Sometimes they would be Deaf, sometimes Dumb, and sometimes Blind, and often, all this at once. One while their Tongues would be drawn down their Throats; another-while they would be pull'd out upon their Chins, to a prodigious length. They would have their Mouths opened unto such a Wideness, that their Jaws went out of joint; and anon they would clap together again with a Force like that of a strong Spring-Lock. The same would happen to their Shoulder-Blades, and their Elbows, and Hand-wrists, and several of their joints. They would at times ly in a benummed condition and be drawn together as those that are ty'd Neck and Heels;' and presently be stretched out, yea, drawn Backwards, to such a degree that it was fear'd the very skin of their Bellies would have crack'd. They would make most pitteous out-cries, that they were cut with Knives, and struck with Blows that they could not bear. Their Necks would be broken, so that their Neck-bone would seem dissolved unto them that felt after it; and yet on the sudden, it would become, again so stiff that there was no stirring of their Heads; yea, their Heads would be twisted almost round; and if main Force at any time obstructed a dangerous motion which they seem'd to be upon, they would roar exceedingly...<br />
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Sect. VI. It was a Religious Family that these Afflictions happened unto; and none but a Religious Contrivance to obtain Releef, would have been welcome to them. ...<br />
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Sect. VII. The Report of the Calamities of the Family for which we were thus concerned arrived now unto the ears of the Magistrates, who presently and prudent y apply'd themselves, with a just vigour, to enquire into the story... when she was asked, Whether she believed there was a God? her Answer was too blasphemous and horrible for any Pen of mine to mention. An Experiment was made, Whether she could recite the Lords Prayer; and it was found, that tho clause after clause was most carefully repeated unto her, yet when she said it after them that prompted her, she could not Possibly avoid making Nonsense of it, with some ridiculous Depravations...<br />
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Sect. VIII. It was not long before the Witch thus in the Trap, was brought upon her Tryal... Order was given to search the old womans house, from whence there were brought into the Court, several small Images, or Puppets, or Babies, made of Raggs, and stuff't with Goat's hair, and other such Ingredients. When these were produced, the vile Woman acknowledged, that her way to torment the Objects of her malice, was by wetting of her Finger with her Spittle, and streaking of those little Images... when they asked her, What she thought would become of her soul? she reply'd "You ask me, a very solemn Question, and I cannot well tell what to say to it." She own'd her self a Roman Catholick; and could recite her Pater Noster in Latin very readily; but there was one Clause or two alwaies too hard for her, whereof she said, " She could not repeat it, if she might have all the world." In the up-shot, the Doctors returned her Compos Mentis; and Sentence of Death was pass'd upon her.<br />
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Sect. IX. Diverse dayes were passed between her being Arraigned and Condemned. In this time one of her Neighbours...had seen Glover sometimes come down her Chimney; That she should remember this, for within this Six years she might have Occasion to declare it. This Hughes now preparing her Testimony, immediately one of her children, a fine boy, well grown towards Youth, was taken ill, just in the same woful and surprising manner that Goodwins children were. One night particularly, The Boy said he saw a Black thing with a Blue Cap in the Room, Tormenting of him; and he complained most bitterly of a Hand put into the Bed, to pull out his Bowels. The next day the mother of the boy went unto Glover, in the Prison, and asked her, Why she tortured her poor lad at such a wicked rate? This Witch replied, that she did it because of wrong done to her self and her daughter. Hughes denied (as well she might) that she had done her any wrong. "Well then," sayes Glover, "Let me see your child and he shall be well again." Glover went on, and told her of her own accord, "I was at your house last night." Sayes Hughes, "In what shape?" Sayes Glover, "As a black thing with a blue Cap." Saye's Hughes, "What did you do there?" Sayes GIover, "with my hand in the Bed I tryed to pull out the boyes Bowels, but I could not..."<br />
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Sect. X. While the miserable old Woman was under Condemnation, I did my self twice give a visit unto her. She never denyed the guilt of the Witchcraft charg'd upon her; but she confessed very little about the Circumstances of her Confederacies with the Devils; only, she said, That she us'd to be at meetings, which her Prince and Four more were present at. As for those Four, She told who they were; and for her Prince, her account plainly was, that he was the Devil...<br />
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Sect. XI. When this Witch was going to her Execution, she said, the Children should not be relieved by her Death... It came to pass accordingly, That the Three children continued in their Furnace as before, and it grew rather Seven times hotter than it was. All their former Ails pursued them still, with an addition of (tis not easy to tell how many) more, but such as gave more sensible Demonstrations of an Enchantment growing very far towards a Possession by Evil spirits.<br />
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Sect. XII. The Children in their Fits would still cry out... the Boy obtain'd at some times a sight of some shapes in the room. There were Three or Four of 'em... A Blow at the place where the Boy beheld the Spectre was alwaies felt by the Boy himself in the part of his Body that answered what might be stricken at; and this tho his Back were turn'd; which was once and again so exactly tried, that there could be no Collusion in the Business. But as a Blow at the Apparition alwaies hurt him, so it alwaies help't him too; for after the Agonies, which a Push or Stab of That had put him to, were over, (as in a minute or 2 they would be) the Boy would have a respite from his Fits a considerable while ' and the Hobgoblins disappear...<br />
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Sect. XIII. The Fits of the Children yet more arriv'd unto such Motions as were beyond the Efficacy of any natural Distemper in the World. They would bark at one another like Dogs, and again purr like so many Cats. They would sometimes complain, that they were in a Red-hot Oven, sweating and panting at the same time unreasonably: Anon they would say, Cold water was thrown upon them, at which they would shiver very much. They would cry out of dismal Blowes with great Cudgels laid upon them; and tho' we saw no cudgels nor blowes, yet we could see the Marks left by them in Red Streaks upon their bodies afterward. And one of them would be roasted on an invisible Spit, run into his Mouth, and out at his Foot, he lying, and rolling, and groaning as if it had been so in the most sensible manner in the world; and then he would shriek, that Knives were cutting of him. Sometimes also he would have his head so forcibly, tho not visibly, nail'd unto the Floor, that it was as much as a strong man could do to pull it up. One while they would all be so Limber, that it was judg'd every Bone of them could be bent. Another while they would be so stiff, that not a joint of them could be stir'd. They would sometimes be as though they were mad, and then they would climb over high Fences, beyond the Imagination of them that look'd after them. Yea, They would fly like Geese; and be carried with an incredible Swiftness thro the air, having but just their Toes now and then upon the ground, and their Arms waved like the W'ings of a Bird. One of them, in the House of a kind Neighbour and Gentleman (Mr. Willis) flew the length of the Room, anout 20 foot, and flew just into an Infants high armed Chair; (as tis affirmed) none seeing her feet all the way touch the floor.<br />
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Sect. XIV. Many wayes did the Devils take to make the children do mischief both to themselves and others... "They say, I must do such a thing!" Diverse times they went to strike furious Blowes at their tenderest and dearest friends, or to fling them down staires when they had them at the Top, but the warnings from the mouths of the children themselves, would still anticipate what the Devils did intend. They diverse times were very near Burning, or Drowning of themselves...When they were tying their own Neck-clothes, their compelled hands miserably strangled themselves, till perhaps, the standers-by gave some Relief unto them. But if any small Mischief happen'd to be done where they were. as the Tearing or Dirtying of a Garment, the Falling of a C'up, the breaking of a Glass or the like; they would rejoice extremely, and fall into a pleasure and Laughter very extraordinary...<br />
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Sect. XV. They were not in a constant Torture for some Weeks, but were a little quiet, unless upon some incidental provocations; upon which the Devils would handle them like Tigres, and wound them in a manner very horrible. Particularly, Upon the least Reproof of their Parents for any unfit thing they said or did, most grievous woful Heart-breaking Agonies would they fall into... It would sometimes cost one of them an Hour or Two to be undrest in the evenin , or drest in the morning. For if any one went to unty a string, or undo a Button about them, or the contrary; they would be twisted into such postures as made the thing impossible. And at Whiles, they would be so managed in their Beds, that no Bed-clothes could for an hour or two be laid upon them; nor could they go to wash their Hands, without having them clasp't so odly together, there was no doing of it. But when their Friends were near tired with Waiting, anon they might do what they would unto them. Whatever Work they were bid to do, they would be so snap't in the member which was to do it, that they with grief still desisted from it. If one ordered them to Rub a clean Table, they were able to do it without any disturbance; if to rub a dirty Table, presently they would with many Torrnents be made uncapable. And sometimes, tho but seldome, they were kept from eating their meals, by having their Teeth sett when they carried any thing unto their Mouthes.<br />
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Sect. XVI. But nothing in the World would so discompose them as a Religious Exercise. If there were anv Discourse of God, or Christ, or any of the things which are not seen qnd are eternal, they would be cast into intolerable Anguishes... Once, those two Worthy Ministers Mr. Fisk' and Mr. Thatcher bestowing some gracious Counsils on the Boy, whom they there found at a Neighbours house, he immediately lost his Hearing, so that he heard not one word... Yea, if any one in the Room took up a Bible to look into it, tho the Children could see nothing of it, as being in a croud of Spectators, or having their Faces another way, yet would they be in wonderful Miseries, till the Bible were laid aside...<br />
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Sect. XVII...I took the Eldest of them home to my House. The young Woman continued well at our house, for diverse dayes... But on the Twentieth of November in the Fore-noon, she cry'd out, "Ah, They have found me out! I thought it would be so!" and immediately she fell into her fits again. ..<br />
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Sect. XVIII. Variety of Tortures now siez'd upon the Girl... she often would cough up a Ball as big as a small Egg, into the side of her Wind-pipe, that would near choak her, till by Stroking and by Drinking it was carried down again. At the beginning of her Fits usually she kept odly Looking up the Chimney, but could not say what she saw. When I bad her Cry to the Lord Jesus for Help, her Teeth were instantly sett; upon which I added, "Yet, child, Look unto Him," and then her Eyes were presently pulled into her head, so farr, that one might have fear'd she should never have us'd them more. When I prayed in the Room, first her Arms were with a strong, tho not seen Force clap't upon her ears; and when her hands were with violence pull'd away, she crted out, " They make such a noise, I cannot hear a word!" She likewise complain'd, that Goody Glover's Chain was upon her- Leg, and when she essay'd to go, her postures were exactly sluch as the chained Witch had before she died...<br />
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Sect. XIX. In her ludicrous Fits, one while she would be for Flying; and she would be carried hither and thither, tho not long from the ground, yet so long as to exceed the ordinary power of Nature in our Opinion of it: another-while she would be for Diving, and use the Actions of it towards the Floor, on which, if we had not held her, she would have throwrn her self...<br />
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Sect. XX. While she was in her Frolicks I was willing to try, Whether she could read or no; and I found, not only That If she went to read the Bible her Eyes would be strangely twisted and blinded, and her Neck presently broken, but also that if any one else did read the Bible in the Room, tho it were wholly out of her sight, and without the least voice or noise of it, she would be cast into very terrible Agonies...<br />
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Sect. XXI. ... A few further Tryals, I confess, I did make; but what the event of 'em was, I shall not relate, because I would not offend...<br />
Woodcut of Devil Snatching Woman on Pitchfork<br />
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Sect. XXII. There was another most unaccountable Circumstance which now attended her... Ever now and then, an Invisible Horse would be brought unto her, by those whom she only called, "them," and, "Her Company... "They say, I am a Tell-Tale, and therefore they will not let me see them." Upon this would she give a Spring as one mounting an Horse, and Settling her self in a RidingPosture-she would in her Chair be agitated as one sometimes Ambleing, sometimes Trotting, and sometimes Galloping very furiously...<br />
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Sect. XXIII. One of the Spectators once ask'd her, Whether she could not ride up stairs; unto which her Answer was, That she believe'd she could, for her Horse could do very notable things. Accordingly, when her Horse came to her again, to our Admiration she Rode (that is, was tossed as one that rode) up the stairs: there then stood open the Study of one belonging to the Family, into which entring, she stood immediately upon her Feet, and cry'd out, "They are gone; they are gone! They say, that they cannot,-God won't let 'em come here! "<br />
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Sect. XXIV. ...Presently upon this her Horse returned, only it pestered her with such ugly paces, that she fell out with her Company, and threatned now to tell all, for their so abusing her. I was going abroad, and she said unto them that were about her, "Mr. M. is gone abroad, my horse won't come back, till he come home; and then I believe"...<br />
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Sect. XXV. From this day the power of the Enemy was broken; and the children, though Assaults after this were made upon them, yet were not so cruelly handled as before...<br />
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Sect. XXVI. Within a day or two after the Fast, the young Woman had two remarkable Attempts made upon her... Another time, they putt an unseen Rope with a cruel Noose about her Neck, Whereby she was choaked, until she was black in the Face; and though it was taken off before it had kill'd her, yet there were the red Marks of it, and of a Finger and a Thumb near it, remaining to be seen for a while afterwards.<br />
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Sect. XXVII. This was the last Molestation that they gave her for a While...<br />
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Sect. XXVIII. ... I was in Latin telling some young Gentlemen of the Colledge, That if I should bid her Look to God, her Eyes would be put out, upon which her eyes were presently served so. I was in some surprize, When I saw that her Troublers understood Latin, and it made me willing to try a little more of their Capacity. We continually found, that if an English Bible were in any part of the Room seriously look'd into, though she saw and heard nothing of it, she would immediately be in very dismal Agonies.<br />
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Sect. XXIX. Devotion was now, as formerly, the terriblest of all the provocations that could be given her...During the time of Reading, she would be laid as one fast asleep; but when Prayer was begun, the Devils would still throw her on the Floor, at the feet of him that prayed. There would she lye and Whistle and sing and roar, to drown the voice of the Prayer; but that being a little too audible for Them, they would shutt close her Mouth and her ears, and yet make such odd noises in her Threat as that she her self could not hear our Cries to God for her. Shee'd also fetch very terrible Blowes with her Fist, and Kicks with her Foot at the man that prayed; but still (for he had bid that none should hinder her) hei, Fist and Foot would alwaies recoil, when they came within a few hairs breadths of him just as if Rebounding against a Wall; so that she touch'd him not, but then would beg hard of other people to strike him, and particularly she entreated them to take the Tongs and smite him; Which not being done, she cryed out of him, "He has wounded me in the Head." But before Prayer was out, she would be laid for Dead, wholly sensless and (unless to a severe Trial) Breathless; with her Belly swelled like a Drum, and sometimes with croaking Noises in it; thus would she ly, most exactly with the stiffness and posture of one that had been two Days laid out for Dead...When Prayer was ended, she would Revive in a minute or two, and continue as Frolicksome as before.<br />
Woodcut of Witch Riding a Cat Backwards<br />
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Sect. XXX. After this, we had no more such entertainments. The Demons it may be would once or twice in a Week trouble her for a few minutes with perhaps a twisting and a twinkling of her eyes, or a certain Cough which did seem to be more than ordinary...<br />
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Sect. XXXI. ...We could cheat them when we spoke one thing, and mean't another. This was found when the Children were to be undressed. The Devils would still in wayes beyond the Force of any Imposture, wonderfully twist the part that was to be undress't, so that there was no coming at it. But, if we said, untye his neckcloth, and the parties bidden, at the same time, understood our intent to be, unty his Shooe! The Neckcloth, and not the shooe, has been made strangely inaccessible...<br />
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Sect. XXXII. The Last Fit that the young Woman had, was very peculiar. The Daemons having once again seiz'd her, they made her pretend to be Dying; and Dying truly we fear'd at last she was: She lay, she tossed, she pull'd just like one Dying, and urged hard for some one to dy with her, seeming loth to dy alone... Anon, the Fit went over; and as I guessed it would be, it was the last Fit she had at our House...<br />
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Sect. XXXIII. This is the Story of Goodwins Children, a Story all made up of Wonders! I have related nothing but what I judge to be true. I was my self an Eye-witness to a large part of what I tell...<br />
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Following the publication of Mather's 1689 treatise, the 1692 hysteria in the small Puritan community of Salem began when 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris & 11-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter & niece of the Reverend Samuel Parris, began experiencing fits & other mysterious maladies. A doctor concluded that the children were suffering from the effects of witchcraft, & the young girls corroborated the doctor's diagnosis. With encouragement from a number of adults in the community, the girls, who were soon joined by other "afflicted" Salem residents, accused a widening circle of local residents of witchcraft, mostly middle-aged women but also several men and even one four-year-old child. During the next few months, the afflicted area residents incriminated more than 150 women & men from Salem Village and the surrounding areas of Satanic practices.<br />
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In June 1692, the special Court of Oyer, "to hear," & Terminer, "to decide," convened in Salem under Chief Justice William Stoughton to judge the accused. The first to be tried was Bridget Bishop of Salem, who was found guilty & executed by hanging on June 10. Thirteen more women & 4 men from all stations of life followed her to the gallows; & one man, Giles Corey, was executed by crushing. Most of those tried were condemned on the basis of the witnesses' behavior during the actual proceedings, characterized by fits & hallucinations that were argued to be caused by the defendants on trial.<br />
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In October 1692, Governor William Phipps of Massachusetts ordered the Court of Oyer and Terminer dissolved & replaced with the Superior Court of Judicature, which forbade the type of sensational testimony allowed in the earlier trials. Executions ceased, & the Superior Court eventually released all those awaiting trial and pardoned those sentenced to death. The Salem witch trials, which resulted in the executions of 19 innocent women & men, had effectively ended.<div><br /></div><div><div>Note:</div><div><span><span><div><br /></div><div>The Female Witch Myth was strengthened by English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676), whose writings & court rulings on women were/are far-reaching & long-lasting. In 1662, he was involved in one of the most notorious of the 17C English witchcraft trials, where he sentenced 2 women to death for being witches. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases in England & in the British American colonies, & was used in the 1692 Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused's lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps English Jurist Matthew Hale (1609-1676) read<b> Malleus Maleficarum</b> 1486 (translated by Montague Summers 1928 - see Google Books) Written in Latin & first submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487, the title is translated as<b> "The Hammer of Witches."</b> Written in 1486 by Austrian priest Heinrich Kramer (also Kraemer) & German priest Jakob (also James) Sprenger, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII. As the main justification for persecution of witches, the authors relied on a brief passage in the <b>Bible</b> (the book of Exodus, chapter 22, verse 18), which states:<b><i> "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." </i></b>The <b>Malleus</b> remained in use for 300 years. It had tremendous influence in the witch trials in England & her North American colonies, & on the European continent. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <b>Malleus</b> was used as a judicial case-book for the detection & persecution of witches, specifying rules of evidence & the canonical procedures by which suspected witches were tortured & put to death. Thousands of people (primarily women) were judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described in the book because of having a strange birthmark, living alone, mental illness, cultivating medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser). The <b>Malleus</b> serves as a chilling warning of what happens when intolerance takes over a society.</div></span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5712417772809393840.post-45447818092426981742019-09-04T04:00:00.001-04:002019-09-04T04:00:01.222-04:001688 Mennonites Against Slavery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong style="color: #333300;"><span style="color: #993300; font-size: 130%;">Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1688.</span></strong><br />
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These are the reasons why we are against the traffic of men-body, as followeth:<br />
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Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful and faint-hearted are many at sea, when they see a strange vessel, being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken, and sold for slaves into Turkey. Now, what is this better done, than Turks do?<br />
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Yea, rather it is worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that the most part of such negers are brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen.<br />
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Now, though they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we should do to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent, or colour they are.<br />
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And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike? Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of the body, except of evil-doers, which is another case. But to bring men hither, or to rob and sell them against their will, we stand against.<br />
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In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed which are of a black colour.<br />
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<span style="color: #6600cc;"><strong>And we who know that men must not commit adultery some do commit adultery in others, separating wives from their husbands, and giving them to others: and some sell the children of these poor creatures to other men.</strong></span><br />
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Ah! do consider well this thing, you who do it, if you would be done at this manner and if it is done according to Christianity! You surpass Holland and Germany in this thing.<br />
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This makes an ill report in all those countries of Europe, where they hear of [it], that the Quakers do here handel men as they handel there the cattle. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither.<br />
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And who shall maintain this your cause, or plead for it? Truly, we cannot do so, except you shall inform us better hereof, viz.: that Christians have liberty to practice these things. <span style="color: #6600cc;"><strong>Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse towards us, than if men should rob or steal us away, and sell us for slaves to strange countries; separating husbands from their wives and children.</strong></span><br />
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Being now this is not done in the manner we would be done at; therefore, we contradict, and are against this traffic of men-body. And we who profess that it is not lawful to steal, must, likewise, avoid to purchase such things as are stolen, but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing, if possible. And such men ought to be delivered out of the hands of the robbers, and set free as in Europe.<br />
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Then is Pennsylvania to have a good report, instead, it hath now a bad one, for this sake, in other countries; Especially whereas the Europeans are desirous to know in what manner the Quakers do rule in their province; and most of them do look upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done well, what shall we say is done evil?<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6600cc;">If once these slaves (which they say are so wicked and stubborn men,) should join themselves fight for their freedom, and handel their masters and mistresses, as they did handel them before; will these masters and mistresses take the sword at hand and war against these poor slaves, like, as we are able to believe, some will not refuse to do? Or, have these poor negers not as much right to fight for their freedom, as you have to keep them slaves?</span></strong><br />
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Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad. And in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks in that manner, we desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us herein, which at this time never was done, viz., that Christians have such a liberty to do so. To the end we shall be satisfied on this point, and satisfy likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our native country, to whom it is a terror, or fearful thing, that men should be handelled so in Pennsylvania.<br />
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This is from our meeting at Germantown, held ye 18th of the 2d month, 1688, to be delivered to the monthly meeting at Richard Worrell's.<br />Garret Henderich,<br />
Derick op de Graeff,<br />
Francis Daniel Pastorius,<br />
Abram op de Graeff.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com