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Untitled Article
numbers were increased by successive emigrations , and they went on prosperously . In the first year of their stay they formed their civil institutions . They were based on the idea of the natural equality of man . The supreme legislative body was at first composea of all the freemen who were members of the church ; it was not until 1639 that they established a house
of representatives . The executive power was committed to a governor and council annually elected by the legislative assembly . Their church was established on a strict Calvin istic model . Their laws were founded on those of England , with some approximation to the Mosaic code . They established a community of labour and property , but in a few years found themselves obliged to introduce separation of possessions .
It was nine years after the foundation of New Plymouth that ftnother body of Puritans settled in a different part of New England , and by taking pains to interest a number of opulent individuals in London in the cause , formed a large company ready to embark in a new colony . They applied for a royal charter which was granted by Charles the first , on a basis so liberal , as to be unaccountable except by supposing he anxiously
wished to be rid of them . It granted to a body of merchants resident in London the power to dispose of the soil they had purchased from the Plymouth Company , and to govern the people who might settle on it . It did not contain a single ordinance as to church government . The first governor and council were named by the king , but the power to elect their successors was vested in the freemen of the corporation , who were empowered to enact statutes and ordinances not
inconsistent with the law of England . With this charter 350 emigrantB sailed for America , and settled on the shores of Massachusetts Bay . They immediately formed a church government similar to that of New Plymouth . To be a freeman , it was necessary to be a member of the church , and to be a member of the church , to siim a confession of faith . Dissenters were ,
therefore , disfranchised , as to the freeman alone belonged the rights of citizenship . The Puritans of New England were strictly intolerant , and one of their first measures was , to expel from their colony two of their number who differed on matters of worship from the rest . This has been lamented and marvelled at as a proof of human weakness , but on the contrary it was only another manifestation of the sectarian enthusiasm
which led them into exile . The constitution of their government was , with slight modifications , precisely similar to that of New Plymouth , and , as their numbers increased , representation instead of personal attendance was adopted , the elections being conducted by ballot . Large and successive bodies of emigrants continued to join them , amongst whose names are those of Hugh Peters and Henry Vane ; and the separate colo-
Untitled Article
# 0 f North America .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 308, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/44/
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