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COLONIAL IMMIGRATION 
 
 LAWS 
 
 A STUDY OF THE REGULATION OF IMMIGRATION BY 
 THE ENGLISH COLONIES IN AMERICA 
 
 BY 
 
 EMBERSON EDWARD PROPER, A. M. 
 
 Instructor in History, Boys^ High School, Brooklyn 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Faculty of Political Science 
 CoLUMBu University 
 
 IGOO 
 
fe'V^^ 
 
 ^ '^ >* 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. GENERAL SURVEY 
 
 PACK 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Introductory 7- 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 Encouragement of Immigration ,. .11 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Restriction and Prohibition of Immigration . . . . .17 
 
 PART II. DETAILED SURVEY 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Immigration Laws of the New England Colonies , . .21 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Immigration Laws of the Middle Colonies .. .. . .38 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Immigration Laws of the Southern Colonies 56 
 
 (V) 
 
 86589 
 
Vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Attitude of England toward Immigration . . . .73 
 
 FAGB 
 
 PART III. REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Distribution and Characteristics of Nationalities . . .77 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Conclusion 88 
 
PART I GENERAL SURVEY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The settlement and growth of the American Colonies, • 
 though carried on under EngHsh control and largely sup- 
 plied by British subjects, was by no means confined to the 
 inhabitants of that realm, America offered attractions to 
 the daring and discontented, the oppressed and persecuted 
 of all Europe. Especially to the thrifty of all classes did 
 the new world hold out tempting inducements. And so 
 people of many nationalities and widely varying customs 
 and creeds were among the early settlers ; the lowlands of 
 Holland, the plains of France and the valleys of Germany 
 and Switzerland each contributed to that band of sturdy im- 
 migrants, the American colonists. 
 
 It is doubtful whether England could have held this vast 
 territory if she had pursued a policy of exclusion in its col- 
 onization. True, the other maritime powers of Europe, at 
 the beginning of the seventeenth century, were in no condi- 
 tion to compete with her in this field ; but it is improbable, 
 when we consider how comparatively feeble the colonies 
 would have been had they depended for settlers on England 
 alone, that she could have resisted the encroachments of 
 France and Holland, or that she would have deemed it 
 worth the efi^ort. 
 
 The early idea that America was the much desired East, 
 or, at least, a country of marvelous resources, whose river 
 1331 7 
 
8 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [134 
 
 beds were lined with gold and precious gems, led to a very 
 natural national exclusiveness. Every new discovery was 
 thought to be a veritable treasure house, and naturally the 
 sovereigns of the different countries deemed it prudent to 
 reserve all rights for themselves and their liege subjects. 
 
 With the abandonment of the pursuit of gold, however, 
 after a century of mutual encroachments and petty warfare, 
 came greater liberality in the admission of foreigners. Eng- 
 lish leaders began to realize that there were fortunes in the 
 natural products of their American grants, if properly devel- 
 oped. But this meant a permanent residence by actual set- 
 tlers instead of temporary occupation by bands of adventur- 
 ers, and the early years of the seventeenth century were rife 
 with schemes of colonization. Settlements were made in the 
 face of the greatest obstacles and received every encourage- 
 ment from the crown. 
 
 The economic theories of the time, however, made national 
 greatness depend on a dense population, and England could 
 ill afford to spare the requisite quotas of people to build up 
 prosperous and populous colonies ; accordingly we find the 
 genesis of American cosmopolitanism in the early charters 
 granted to the colonizing companies, which gave the pro- 
 moters permission to transport not only liege subjects, but 
 all such strangers as might be willing to present themselves.' 
 
 * " And we do further . . . grant by these presents, to and with the said Treas- 
 urer and Company and their Successors, that it shall be lawful and free for them 
 and their assigns at all and every time and times hereafter, out of our realm of 
 England, and out of all other our Dominions, to take and lead into the said voy- 
 ages, and for and toward the said plantation . . . and to abide and inhabit there 
 in the said Colony and Plantation all such and so many of our loving subjects, or 
 any other strangers that will become our loving subjects, and live under our 
 obedience, as shall willingly accompany them in the said voyage and Plantation," 
 Charter of 1609 granted to London Co. by James I. Oiarie> s and Constitutions 
 of the U. S., ii, 1900. 
 
 The charter granted to the Mass. Bay Company in 1629 by Chas. I. contains a 
 •imilar clause. Hid., i, 983. 
 
135] /iVrJ? OD UCTOR y g 
 
 Some one has aptly said that the seventeenth century ^ 
 found the old world and its people so heartily tired of each 
 other, that a partial separation was inevitable. The condi- 
 tions in Europe were such that many of its inhabitants were 
 moved to abandon their country, their homes, and their 
 friends, and to seek a habitation in some other land ; and so, 
 like their ancestors before them, they turned their faces west- 
 ward, with the great immigration to America as the result. '^ 
 
 It is a part of the work of every historian who writes a 
 history of America to point out the general conditions in 
 Europe which induced thousands, during the seventeenth 
 and eighteenth centuries, to forsake their old homes and to 
 seek new ones beyond the ocean. It will be our purpose to 
 study this immigration from the American side ; especially 
 to ascertain the attitude of the colonial governments, which 
 were for the most part controlled by English settlers, toward 
 the immigrants from other countries or toward those of re- 
 ligious and political creeds different from their own ; in short, 
 to ascertain their efforts to encourage, or to regulate and 
 restrict immigration. 
 
 ' Historians have classified the European conditions which 
 led to the great migration under three categories : Religious, 
 Political and Economic. In like manner we may group the 
 American conditions, both natural and artificial, which at- 
 tracted or discouraged immigration, under the same heads, 
 and find the exact opposites of the European conditions. 
 Thus religious intolerance and persecution in Europe was 
 one of the prime factors for the discontent, the unrest, and 
 the widespread desire for emigration, in many cases making 
 the latter an absolute necessity for self-preservation 
 
 On this side of the water we shall find that toleration in 
 matters of religion was one of the strong and attractive 
 inducements held out by the founders and afterward by the 
 governments of the colonies to draw settlers to their juris- 
 
I o COL ONI A I. IMMIGRA TION LAWS [135 
 
 dictions, while at the same time we shall see that intolerance 
 in some of the colonies served as a most effective check to 
 restrict and even prohibit the immigration of settlers who 
 might otherwise have been attracted to those places. 
 Again, while despotic governments and political and legal 
 inequalities drove thousands from their homes in the old 
 world, the promise of mild government and a guarantee of 
 political and civil rights were held out by several of the 
 colonies as special inducements to encourage the peopling 
 of their lands. Similarly the economic conditions of 
 America were the exact counterpart of the European : 
 There unoccupied land was scarce and subject to a thou- 
 sand petty and vexatious burdens; here the poorest peasant 
 might obtain more than he could cultivate, and subject to 
 no burdens except a mere pittance as quit-rent. In Europe 
 labor was cheap and in the distribution of wealth secured 
 barely enough to maintain itself; while America offered not 
 only a maintenance, but a competence to the industrious 
 and thrifty laborer. 
 
 Although our purpose is to study the regulation of this 
 colonial immigration exclusively from the American stand- 
 point, we shall find ourselves compelled to observe it more 
 or less in connection with the European conditions, for the 
 reason that the colonial governments were not free to deal 
 with this question as they chose. Subject, as most of them 
 ! were, to the control of some proprietor or proprietors, and 
 in the last resort, as all of them were, to the Crown of 
 England, their legislation on immigration must of necessity 
 conform to the ideas and wishes of these superior powers, 
 and in many cases was but the continuation or elaboration 
 of the founders' policy, or a co-operation with some project 
 of the home government. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION 
 
 The practical question which confronted the colonizing 
 companies or proprietors, after securing the Royal Patent, 
 was how to induce persons to leave their European homes 
 and settle in America. Obviously this could be efTected 
 only by offering to better their pecuniary condition, either 
 immediately or prospectively, or by promising freedom from 
 certain intolerable restraints and burdens. These are about 
 the only inducements which will lead most people to leave 
 their native heath and undergo the privations and uncer- 
 tainties of establishing themselves in remote and strange 
 countries. Accordingly one of the greatest attractions 
 offered by the founders of the colonies and later by the 
 colonial governments was land. This they possessed in 
 abundance and of unexampled fertility. To the European 
 of that period it meant even more than it does to-day. The 
 great industrial movements of these times were then un- 
 known, and land was the basis of society in a sense hardly 
 appreciable by us. Associated with it was not only material 
 wealth, but political privileges and social rank. Naturally, 
 therefore, the offer of fifty or one hundred acres to every 
 settler, even counting the children and servants in many 
 cases, was an alluring prize to the middle and lower classes 
 of the old world. 
 
 The matter of land grants by the colonial governments is, 
 however, a somewhat complicated subject. It is difficult to 
 determine just what authority the colonial assemblies exer- 
 137] II 
 
1 2 COL ON I A L IMMIGRA TION LAWS [138 
 
 cised over the unsettled lands of the several colonies. Their 
 control varied as the government was Charter, Proprietary, or 
 Royal. 
 
 In the first, as in Massachusetts, the legislature apparently 
 had full control over the public domain of the colony, and 
 authorized the disposal of all unsettled lands. 
 
 In the second class there seems to have been a joint or 
 separate control on the part of the proprietor and of the as- 
 sembly ; ' as we find several legislative acts granting lands to 
 settlers already in the country, or as an inducement to en- 
 courage the immigration of others; though there are fre- 
 quent instances of the proprietor or his representative dis- 
 posing of lands independently of the assembly. 
 
 In the last class the same condition of afTairs existed, there 
 being several instances where the colonial legislature made 
 grants of land for the encouragement of immigration ; though, 
 of course, their action was subject to the disapproval of the 
 Royal Governor, as he was supposed to exercise the right 
 of disposing finally of the unsettled lands of the jurisdiction.' 
 
 It is evident that the colonial authorities fully compre- 
 hended what a great attraction ownership of land was to the 
 people of Europe ; for we find their records full of acts grant- 
 ing lands on such conditions as would offer the greatest in- 
 ducements to settlers. 
 
 These took a variety of forms : An exemption from taxes 
 for a term of years ; 3 special facilities for surveying and 
 plotting; security and guarantee of title, were some of the 
 most frequent of these inducements. These favors were so 
 generous in many cases as to attract, not only immigrants 
 from Europe, but from some of the other colonies as well ; 
 and so, along with the great immigration from the old world, 
 
 ^ Alary land Assembly Proceedings (1637). 
 
 * Hening's Statutes, iii, 304. 
 
 ^ Acts of the Assembly of A^orth Carolina (1715). 
 
1 2 pi EN CO URA CEMENT OF IMMIGRA TION 1 3 
 
 there was maintained a very considerable inter-colonial mi- 
 gration.' 
 
 Next to land the greatest inducement was tolerance i?t re- 
 ligion. Indeed, most historians credit the latter with being 
 the more powerful attraction of the two. It appears as an 
 important factor in the settlement of the first permanent 
 English colonies, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries America was regarded as a place of refuge from 
 the religious intolerance and persecution of Europe. But, 
 although religious tolerance was one of the prime motives 
 for colonization, it is nevertheless a matter of common J 
 knowledge that the first colonists did not welcome others 
 difTering from them in beliefs. We shall see further along 
 how effectually this attitude served as a check to immigra- 
 tion, which would have otherwise flowed into those provinces. 
 
 Maryland was the first colony to lay especial emphasis on 
 the matter of religious tolerance ; and the Act of her 
 Assembly of 1649 is the first colonial legislation offering 
 anything like a broad toleration. Not until the founding of 
 Pennsylvania was a more liberal policy advocated. In fact, 
 the high stand taken by Maryland was not maintained ; and 
 the eighteenth century found most of the colonies with very 
 harsh statutes against the Roman Catholics,^ though tolerant 
 of Protestant creeds. Curiously enough these acts restricted 
 the immigration of British subjects ; for it was England that 
 persecuted the Catholics and encouraged the coming of the 
 Protestants from other countries where the former were 
 cruelly intolerant. 
 
 The condition of Europe in this respect during the seven- 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries is well known. It needs 
 only a cursory knowledge of the situation to understand what 
 an inducement even a partial freedom from religious perse- 
 
 ' Ramsay, South Carolina, i, 20. 
 
 * Shea, History of Catholics in the Colonies, 357. 
 
1 4 COL ONI A L IMMIGRA TION LAWS f" j 40 
 
 cution would be to the people of the continent. We have 
 here the key to the enormous immigration of Germans, 
 French, and Swiss during the first half of the eighteenth 
 century. By the Act of Succession, England had formally 
 decided her religious character and made herself the ac- 
 knowledged champion of Protestantism among the nations 
 of Europe. Nor did she falter in her trust. An official 
 invitation was extended to the persecuted Protestants of all 
 countries, announcing that England's colonies in America 
 would welcome them and grant them freedom in religious 
 worship.' Thousands accepted the offer. A large part of 
 them sought the colonies direct; but many first made their 
 way to England, and were sent over under government 
 supervision and patronage.* In this policy the colonial 
 governments, as a rule, heartily co-operated with the author- 
 ities in England, and entered into competition for the secur- 
 ing of a fair share of this immigration. 3 
 
 Another inducement used by the colonies to attract 
 settlers was naturalization. According to the laws of 
 England, under which the colonies were theoretically 
 governed, no alien could hold or bequeath property. The 
 trouble and delay avoided by securing these rights, which 
 the colonies offered through naturalization or denization, 
 became an important factor in attracting alien settlers. That 
 the colonists were conscious of this, is seen in the preambles 
 of their Naturalization Acts, which set forth as a distinctive 
 object the encouragement of new settlers. ■♦ There was, 
 however, apparently no attempt at uniformity among the 
 
 ' Proclamation of Queen Anne to the Protestants of Germany. Rupp's Collec- 
 tions, 5. 
 
 ' Documentary Hist, of N. Y., iii, 423. 
 
 ^ Baird, Huguenot Emigration to America, ii, 169. 
 
 * Maryland Archives, iii, 466. Documents relating to the Colonial History of 
 New York, v, 469. 
 
1 4 1 1 EN CO URA CEMENT OF IMMICKA TION \ 5 
 
 colonies, as regards the time of residence necessary before 
 naturalization was conferred. It varied all the way from 
 twenty years to a few months ; and, in many cases, letters of 
 naturalizatfon were even issued to aliens in England ; so that 
 they landed in the colonies with all the rights and privileges 
 of British subjects.' 
 
 Still another expedient adopted by the colonies to pro- 
 mote the peopling of their lands was the offering of bounties. 
 This took the form either of money payments to the actual 
 settlers or of rewards to agents who would induce a certain 
 number of foreigners to immigrate and to settle in the col- 
 ony. In some instances it was a reward to the master of the 
 vessel ; '^ and again it was given to the settlers in the form of 
 tools and agricultural implements. 3 
 
 The great demand for labor led to various expedients for 
 encouraging the importation of servants and laborers. In 
 Pennsylvania and in some of the southern colonies the im- 
 migration of white servants was fostered by paying their 
 passage money, and thereby securing their services for a 
 term of years. These " Redemptioners " as they were 
 called, were thus enabled to make their way to the colonies, 
 and in a few years to establish homes of their own.'* The 
 importation of Negro and Indian servants received both en- 
 couragement and restriction, depending, of course, upon the 
 colony and the period of time. 
 
 The New England and Middle Colonies never officially 
 encouraged the importation of slaves ; the Southern Colonies 
 on the other hand were somewhat vacillating in their legis- 
 
 ^ Baird, Httguenot Emigration to America, ii, 173. In 1740 Parliament passed 
 a general Naturalization Act for the Colonies. 13 Geo. II. c. 4. Acis 0/ Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 ' Ramsay, South Carolina, i, 10. 
 
 ' Rupp's Collections, 14. 
 
 * Watson's Annals, ii, 266. 
 
1 6 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [142 
 
 lation on this matter; sometimes encouraging and then 
 passing measures to restrict greatly and even to prohibit the 
 importation of slaves.' 
 
 As has already been intimated, the colonial legislatures, 
 especially under Royal and Proprietary control, were not free 
 to act as they chose in the matter of encouraging or restricting 
 immigration. The ownership of the land being in the hands 
 of either the King or the Proprietor, they sold or allotted it 
 at their pleasure, made contracts for the immigration of set- 
 tlers, and otherwise carried on matters to further their own 
 interests. Much of the correspondence between the Colon- 
 ial Governors and the home authorities relates to the dispo- 
 sition of new settlers ; and their messages to the assemblies 
 frequently urge greater care and attention to the peopling of 
 unoccupied lands.^ The colonists themselves, or their repre- 
 sentatives in the Assembly could do little in the matter, 
 other than attempt friendly co-operation with the King or 
 Proprietors ; and most of their legislation on the subject 
 either was due to the expressed wish of these authorities, or 
 was in line with their general policy. 
 
 The Charter Governments, on the contrary, assumed a 
 more independent attitude. Although we find very few meas- 
 ures expressly intended to encourage immigration, yet we 
 shall see that they took very decided ground on the ques- 
 tion of anti-immigration. 
 
 ^ Du Bois, Suppression of the African Slave Trade, Harvard Historical 
 Studies, i. 
 
 * fournal of the Assembly oj N. V., i, 756. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ANTI-IMMIGRATION LAWS 
 
 As might naturally be supposed, the anti-immigration 
 laws passed by the American colonists were few in number, 
 and very Hniited in their application. During the first cen- 
 tury of English colonization, when but comparatively few 
 people were scattered along the Atlantic coast, when labor 
 was everything, land nothing, and the lives of the settlers 
 were in imminent danger from wild beasts and wilder men, 
 it could hardly be expected that the colonists would place 
 many restrictions on any immigrants who were daring 
 enough to endure the hardships of making a home in this 
 new country, and who could aid them in repelling hostile 
 foes, and bear a share of the common burdens. And, in- 
 deed, we shall find our supposition quite correct. 
 
 Although most of the settlements were made by English- 
 men, they nevertheless differed fundamentally in character 
 and purpose, and pursued, in some instances, widely varying 
 policies in the admission of new settlers. Massachusetts 
 discouraged the coming of all who did not agree with her 
 policy of ecclesiastical domination.' Virginia, whose found- 
 ers were avowed Episcopalians, wanted no Non-Conformists, 
 and took active measures to enforce this policy.^ 
 
 The fact that England undertook the colonization of this 
 country made it certain that Protestantism was to be the 
 dominating religion of the colonies ; and the records of their 
 
 ^ Winthrop, Life and Letters of Gov. Winthrop, 1 82. 
 ' Ilening's Statutes, i, 155. 
 
 143] 17 
 
J 
 
 1 8 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS [144 
 
 legislation show a general tendency to restrict the immigra- 
 tion of Catholic settlers. These statutes vary in purpose 
 from absolute prohibition, in the Puritan colonies, to petty 
 regulations and annoyances, as practiced in some of the mid- 
 dle colonies. 
 
 Many of the early charters expressly, or impliedly, for- 
 bade the admission of Catholics,' and during the first part 
 of the seventeenth century the immigration of this sect was 
 so unimportant that no especial attention was given to them 
 outside a few of the colonies. But with the final commit- 
 ment of England to the cause of Protestantism there were 
 severe parliamentary statutes passed against the Catholics, 
 which were soon, either wholly or partially, embodied in 
 colonial legislation. The colonial archives of the period 
 are filled with laws placing restrictions in the way of Catholic 
 settlers. These took the form of a duty on Irish Catholic 
 servants ; a positive prohibition of the Roman worship ; a 
 double tax on their lands ; and the " Abjuration Oath," 
 which practically excluded members of this faith, unless 
 they chose to break their vows.^ 
 
 Strangers were legitimate objects of suspicion in the early 
 colonization days, apparently as much from the fear that 
 they might become a burden on the community, because of 
 indigence, as from their possible hostile attitude to the relig- 
 ious and secular government of the colony. The New Eng- 
 land colonies were especially circumspect in the admission 
 of strangers, and passed heavy fines on those who brought 
 in or entertained strangers without leave from the authori- 
 ities.3 This cautious attitude was quite generally maintained 
 
 ^ Charter of 1609. Charters and Constitutions uf U. S., ii, 1902. 
 
 * See Maryland Archives and Hening's Statutes for the last quarter of the sev- 
 enteenth century and the first half of the eighteenth. 
 
 ^ A\, II. Prov. Papers, \, OfOn. Acts and Resolves (Mass.), iii, 982. Brigham's 
 Laws (Plymouth), 150. 
 
1 4 5 j ANTI'IMMIGRA TION LAWS I^ 
 
 by the Puritan settlements, and in the eighteenth century- 
 Massachusetts passed several elaborate acts regulating the 
 admission of immigrants, practically excluding those whose 
 personal effects were not sufficient to enable them to begin 
 life in the colony without the aid of the older settlers.' 
 
 The great influx of Germans into the middle states from 
 1700 to 1750 raised problems which have a familiar sound 
 to those who have followed the arguments on the immigra- 
 tion question of our own times. The immigration of foreign- 
 ers into Pennsylvania became so great that the danger of its 
 degenerating into a foreign colony was openly proclaimed,* 
 and for a few months in the year 1729 the Quaker province 
 had on her statute book the most comprehensive anti-immi- 
 gration act ever passed in America, namely, a tax on all 
 foreigners coming into the colony. 3 
 
 One of the most instructive and interesting phases of col- 
 onial immigration is that which concerns the transportation of 
 convicts. Some of the earliest tracts in advocating the 
 further exploration and settlement of America by the Eng- 
 lish, set forth the possibility of relieving the mother country 
 of her indigent and criminal classes by transporting them 
 to the new world. '^ This system of deportation of crim- 
 inals was quite possibly suggested by the fact that the nat- 
 ural products of the southern colonies rendered the " planta- 
 tion system" the most efTective, and created a demand for 
 servant labor. From a very early date, therefore, the im- 
 portation of convicts was adopted as a wise economic and 
 
 ^ Acts and Resolves, ii, 337. 
 
 ' Douglass' Summary, ii, 326. 
 
 ■' Colonial Records of Penna,, iii, 395. 
 
 * " We might inhabit some part of those countries and settle there such needy 
 of our own which now trouble the Commonwealth, and through want here at 
 home are enforced to commit outrageous offences, whereby they are daily con- 
 sumed by the gallows." " A Discourse lo prove a passage by the A'orthivest to 
 Cataya and the hast Indies^'' by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Hakluyt, iii, 32. 
 
20 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [ j 46 
 
 social scheme. England would thus be relieved of the bur- 
 den ; the changed environment would have a tendency to 
 improve the character of the criminal, and the planters 
 would have the benefit of their labor. 
 
 But, however admirable as a theory, the practical results 
 were far from satisfactory. When the system began to as- 
 sume a definite organization, and finally received parliamen- 
 tary sanction, a vigorous protest went up from the colonists.' 
 Absolute prohibition, restrictive duties, and systematic regu- 
 lation were at different times embodied in colonial legisla- 
 tion ; but, for the most part, all were disallowed by the 
 English authorities. Thousands of these convicts were thus 
 forced on the colonies, and not until they had secured their 
 political independence were they able to prohibit the traffic. 
 
 * It was expected that Geo. III. would relieve them from this burden, and when 
 he showed no endeavor in that direction, Franklin is said to have observed that 
 the colonists ought to send a rattlesnake for the King's garden as a suitable pres- 
 ent in return. 
 
PART II DETAILED SURVEY 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IMMIGRATION LAWS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 
 
 It is a remarkable coincidence that the portion of America 
 to which, in 1614, John Smith gave the name of New Eng- 
 land, should prove to be the place which, on account of its 
 future inhabitants and institutions, most appropriately de- 
 served the name. To no other colony or group of colonies 
 could the designation have been so aptly applied ; for in 
 none of them did the English blood remain so pure, and the 
 English traits of character continue so unchanged. 
 
 Palfrey, in his "History of New England," says: "The 
 founders of the commonwealths of New England were Eng- 
 lishmen. Their immigration to this section began in 1620. 
 It was inconsiderable till 1630. At the end of ten years 
 more it had almost ceased. A people at that time of about 
 20,000 persons thenceforward multiplied on their own soil 
 in remarkable seclusion from other communities for nearly 
 a century and a half." During these years hundreds of 
 thousands of Europeans of various nationalities sought 
 homes in the English colonies of America, bringing with 
 them their diversified customs and creeds, amalgamating 
 with the earlier settlers, and greatly modifying their distinct- 
 ive traits ; but very few of this great throng made their way 
 to the colonies of New England, and the few who did left no 
 mark of their existence on the community life. 
 
 One reason for this almost universal neglect of New Eng- 
 147] 21 
 
22 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS [i^g 
 
 land, after 1640, by the immigrants from Europe is very ap- 
 parent. It was due to the quality and comparative scarcity 
 of the land, and to the rigor of the climate. To the south 
 of these shores were vast tracts of unappropriated land, 
 incomparably more fertile and productive, and possessing a 
 climate almost tropical in comparison with that of this lati- 
 tude. Naturally such places would attract the immigrants 
 from Europe who were desirous of establishing homes in 
 America, and whose only capital was strong bodies and a 
 willingness to work. But this reason, while fundamental, 
 does not adequately explain the phenomenon. A study of 
 the history of the Englishmen who settled in this section 
 reveals the fact that it was not wholly involuntary, on their 
 part, that no appreciable portion of the great migratory wave 
 touched their shores. Indeed, we shall find that it was their 
 avowed policy and studied efTort to prevent any considerable 
 influx of foreigners, differing from them in language and cus- 
 toms. The admission of a body of foreigners, such as poured 
 into Pennsylvania and the southern colonies, during the first 
 half of the i8th century, they would have deemed a great 
 calamity. In various ways, therefore, they set up barriers 
 which repelled many who might otherwise have settled 
 among them ; and thus, while to the south there was devel- 
 oping a cosmopolitan nation, the inhabitants of New Eng- 
 land lived on practically untouched by the great ethnic cur- 
 rents until the present century. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 It seems a fair inference, from the writings of the founders 
 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and from a careful study 
 of their early government, that it was their aim to found a 
 state based on the Scriptures, interpreted strictly according 
 to their own ideas. Accordingly, it seemed wise and even 
 essential that all persons differing in matters of faith and 
 
149] OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES \ 23 
 
 worship should be prohibited from settling amongst them. 
 One of the earliest laws of the colony restricted political ^ 
 franchise to members of the established church, and for a 
 few years the little commonwealth seemed in a fair way to 
 develop along the lines of its leaders. But gradually dissent 
 and even opposition arose; and, in May of 1637, the Gen- 
 eral Court passed an order to the efTect that no town or 
 person in the colony should receive or entertain any new- 
 comer wihout permission of the authorities.' The famous 
 "Antinomian Controversy" was at its height; and, accord- 
 ingly, the order called forth bitter criticism from the oppo- 
 sition, it being urged that the object of the measure was to 
 prevent any additions, from abroad, to their faction. Gov- 
 ernor Winthrop felt called upon to defend the action of the 
 Court, which he did in a somewhat lengthy, but exceedingly 
 able argument.- The charter gave them authority to pro- 
 tect themselves " by all fitting ways and means whatsoever, 
 from all such persons as should attempt the destruction, in- 
 vasion, detriment, or annoyance of any of the plantations or 
 inhabitants thereof." 
 
 Winthrop evidently had that clause in mind when he 
 penned his defense, though he makes no reference to it. 
 
 ^ " It is ordered that no Town or person shall receive any stranger resorting ^ 
 hither with intent to reside ... or entertain any such above three weeks, except 
 such persons shall have allowance under the hands of some one of the counsel- 
 lors, or two other magistrates . . . upon pain that every Town shall forfeit ^100 
 for every offense." Records of Mass. Bay Colony, i, 196. 
 
 Plymouth Colony had passed a similar law the preceding year. Brigham's 
 Laws, 57. 
 
 ''"... If we heere be a corporation established by free consent, if the place 
 of our cohabitation be our owne, then no man hath a right to come into us with- 
 out our consent ... If we are bound to keep off whatsoever appears to tend to 
 our ruine or damage, then may we lawfully refuse to receive such whose dis- 
 positions suite not with ours and whose society (we know) will be hurtful to us." 
 A Defence of an order of the Court, 1637. ^i/^ and Letters of John Winthrop, 
 182. 
 
COLONIAL IMMIGRA TION LA WS 
 
 [150 
 
 This early law contained nothing whatever of persecution or 
 any attempt to interfere with freedom of conscience. It was 
 \ simply a decree of non-admission for the purpose of pre- 
 ' venting political strife or an economic burden, and to make 
 more secure the success of their enterprise. The magis- 
 trates apparently had few occasions to refuse admission to 
 new-comers. By the year 1640 immigration had practically 
 ceased, and the policy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was 
 becoming pretty well known in England.' Until the arrival 
 of the Quakers about fifteen years later, but few persons 
 sought these shores who were not in sympathy with the aim 
 and purpose of the colony. The only exception to this 
 statement was in 1645, when some of the towns made com- 
 plaint that they were being burdened with the increasing 
 number of poor and indigent settlers. The General Court 
 appointed a committee of three to formulate a law in regard 
 to this matter.^ The report of the committee does not 
 appear in the proceedings ; but ten years later the matter 
 was again brought to the notice of the court, which enacted 
 an order to prevent the growing evil.3 
 
 I ' "Twenty thousand persons had removed thither before the year 1641, when 
 the ardor of emigration cooled, owing no less to the meeting of Parliament than 
 to apprehensions from her rigour and to the folly of her laws; which preferred 
 
 1 orthodoxy of faith to augmentation of numbers." Chalmer's America, 79. 
 
 ^Records of Mass. Bay Colony, iii, 15. 
 
 ^ " There being complaint to this Court of very great change arising in several 
 Towns by reason of strangers pressing in without the consent or approbation of 
 the inhabitants, and there being no law to prevent the same; this Court doth 
 therefore order, that henceforth all Towns in this jurisdiction shall have liberty 
 to prevent the coming in of such as come from other parts of these jurisdictions, 
 and all such persons as shall bee brought into any such Town without the consent 
 and allowance of the prudential men shall not be chargeable to the Town where 
 they dwell, but if necessity require shall be relieved and maintained by those that 
 were the cause of their coming in, of whom the Town or Selectmen are hereby 
 empowered to require security at their entrance or else forbid their entertain- 
 ment." Records of Mass. Bay Colony, iii, 376. 
 
I 5 I ] OF THE NE W ENGLAND COLONIES 2 5 
 
 It is not our purpose to dwell at any length on that 
 tragical period in the history of New England which has 
 since called forth so many discussions and controversies, 
 both of defense and denunciation — the persecution of the 
 Quakers. 
 
 For a period of several years, beginning with 1656, the 
 records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and indeed of all 
 of the New England Colonies, except Rhode Island, are 
 filled with legislation designed to prevent the coming of the 
 Quakers and the spread of their " accursed tenets." Whip- 
 pings, imprisonment, banishment, and in a few instances 
 capital punishment, were the order of the day.' To what 
 extent these various laws restricted the immigration of this 
 sect, it is, of course, impossible to ascertain. That they 
 were not prohibitive, and consequently did not meet the 
 expectations of the authorities, is painfully evident ; for, in 
 spite of the severe penalties, members of that sect continued 
 to come, and under the provisions of the laws were enacted 
 cruelties, the justification of which calls for a generous stretch 
 of historical charity. There can be but little doubt, how- 
 ever, that many Quakers were deterred from immigrating to 
 these inhospitable shores ; while, judging from the throngs 
 that afterward poured into Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, it 
 is fair to presume that, had they received a welcome to the 
 New England Colonies, instead of persecution and banish- 
 ment, a very considerable number would have found homes 
 in'that section. 
 
 The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company contained 
 no direct or implied reference to Catholics, and nearly a 
 quarter of a century passed before laws aimed at their 
 exclusion were passed ; though it is very probable that none 
 
 '^Records of Mass. Bay Colony, 1656-1661. Brigham's Laws (Plymouth Col- 
 ony). Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies. Plymouth Col. Records, 
 X, 155- 
 
 V 
 
d' 
 
 V( 
 
 26 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [1^2 
 
 of that persuasion were permitted to live in either of the 
 Massachusetts Colonics. The order giving magistrates full 
 authority over the admission of immigrants, could easily be 
 made to exclude all persons professing obedience to the 
 Church of Rome. The French Catholics had made settle- 
 ments in the valley of the St. Lawrence and on the shores of 
 Nova Scotia long before the establishment of permanent 
 colonies in New England ; and ten years before the landing 
 of the Pilgrims, the Jesuits had made their way to the 
 French settlements. From that time until the American 
 Revolution, this strange sect, largely because of their 
 influence over the Indians, became the terror of the frontier 
 settlers, and their presence in any of the colonies was an 
 occasion for alarm and distrust. 
 
 The first act passed by the Massachusetts Colony against 
 them was in 1647, ^i^d the fear with which they were re- 
 garded may be inferred from the preamble of the law.' The 
 Act itself ordered that all Jesuits and other ecclesiastical 
 persons ordained by the Pope should not enter the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Colony; persons suspected of belonging to that 
 order were to be subjected to banishment, and if taken a 
 second time the penalty was death. However, if Provi- 
 dence saw fit to inflict just punishment, the authorities evi- 
 dently did not presume to add the effects of their wrath ; 
 and to this end it was provided that all Jesuits and Priests 
 cast ashore by shipwreck should be allowed sufficient time 
 to take passage for some other port. 
 
 Nothing further is found on this subject until the year 
 
 ^ " This Court taking into consideration the great wars, combustions and divisions 
 which are this day in Europe, and that the same are observed to bo raised and 
 fomented chiefly by the secret undermining and solicitations of those of the 
 Jesuitical Order, men brought up and devoted to the religion and Court of Rome, 
 which hath occasioned divers states to expel them from their territories, for the 
 prevention whereof among ourselves: It is ordered," etc. Records of Mass., \\, 
 
 193- 
 
153] OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 2/ 
 
 1700, when the Court again declared that the Jesuits and 
 Popish Priests had " by subtile insinuations seduced and 
 withdrawn the Indians from obedience, and stirred them up 
 to sedition and open rebellion."' To prevent this threat- 
 ened calamity, all such persons then within the jurisdiction 
 should immediately depart or suffer " perpetual punish- 
 ment." 
 
 In a letter published among the Hutchinson Papers, a 
 writer of that period declares, " The aim of the Jesuits is to 
 engage the Indians to subdue New England."^ The wonder- 
 ful influence which they exerted over the Indians, and the fear 
 that they would incite the savages to massacre the English 
 settlers seems to have been the chief motive in all the colon- 
 ies for the severe laws which were passed against that Order. 
 Whether these laws likewise served to restrict the immigra- 
 tion of Catholic laymen can only be conjectured. It is cer- 
 tain that no appreciable number of that sect were to be 
 found in Massachusetts prior to the Revolution. They / 
 could not become citizens or voters, being unable to take 
 the necessary oath of allegiance ; and in various other ways 
 the Massachusetts Colony manifested her unwillingness to 
 
 receive settlers of that persuasion. 
 
 Slavery was a small factor in New England because eco- 
 nomic laws forbade its growth ; nevertheless, it was recog- 
 nized as an institution in the "Body of Liberties" (1641) — 
 " There shall be no bond slavery, villainage, or captivity 
 amongst us, unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars, 
 and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are sold to 
 us." The Puritan authorities, however, were sticklers for 
 conscience; and, in 1646, we find an order of the General 
 Court protesting against the crime of man-stealing, and or- 
 dering that certain negroes, who had been surreptitiously 
 
 ^ Acts and Resolves, i, 423. 
 
 '^ Hutchinson Papers: Mass. Historical Coll., 3d series, i, 108, 
 
 \ 
 
2 8 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [154 
 
 captured and brought into the Colony be returned to their 
 own country, " Ginny," ' VvT'^ <*^ '^ '' f 
 
 But, although economic laws forbade the growth of slav- 
 ery in New England, her merchants and ship-owners found 
 the slave-trade profitable ; and scores of their vessels were 
 engaged in a triangular trade, carrying negroes from Africa 
 to the West Indies, molasses from the Indies to New Eng- 
 land, and rum to Africa. On this account there was a 
 limited importation of slaves into this section. 
 
 In 1705 the Court took cognizance of this matter, and in 
 a measure entitled, " An act for the better preventing of a 
 spurious and mixed issue," inserted a clause designed to 
 restrict the importation of slaves.^' Masters of vessels 
 were required to pay £/\. duty on every negro imported. 
 Whether this act was never transmitted to England, or 
 whether its title deceived the home authorities, is a matter 
 of doubt; for in 1609, the Lords of Trade wrote to Gov. 
 Dudley concerning the tax on negroes, reprimanding him 
 for not reporting the measure.3 In 1718 a committee ap- 
 pointed by the Governor and Council to consider some 
 expedient for raising the value of the bills of credit of the 
 Province reported, "that the importation of white servants 
 
 ^ Mass. Records, ii, 168. 
 * Acts and Resolves, i, 578. 
 
 ' " We take notice that you say the Assembly of Mass. have by an Act passed 
 about three years ago laid a duty of £,i, per head upon negroes. You ought to 
 have acquainted us with the year the said Act was passed and given us the title, 
 
 for we can find none such among those we have One of the reasons you give 
 
 why negroes are not desired in New England is because it being on the continent 
 the negroes have thereby an opportunity of running away. The same reason will 
 hold in Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, which are also upon the Continent 
 where negroes are so valuable." In reply Gov. Dudley wrote : " Though the 
 reason that I formerly assigned of negroes running from us seems to be equal 
 with Carolina and the other colonies, the force of it continues, because they will 
 run to the southward for warmer weather, as the cold is disagreeable to them." 
 Acts and Resolves, i, 5 78. 
 
155] ^^ '^^^^ ^^^ ENGLAND COLONIES ■ 29 
 
 be encouraged, and that the importation of black servants be 
 discouraged." ' 
 
 The economic side of the question appealed strongly to 
 them. Among the first arguments used against slavery was 
 the proposition that blacks, coming in to be bought, kept 
 out white laborers who would come owning themselves ; 
 therefore, the true capital of the community was diminished 
 by a bond slave, while it might be increased by a free ser- 
 vant coming in. Other laws, tending toward the total pro- 
 hibition of the importation of slaves, were enacted during 
 the first part of the eighteenth century; and these together 
 with the unfavorable physical environment prevented any 
 considerable development of the institution in Massachusetts. 
 
 Nine years after the union of the two Massachusetts 
 colonies ( 1700) an elaborate law regulating immigration was 
 enacted.^ Masters of vessels were required to furnish the 
 receiver of imports with a complete list of passengers, and 
 also an account of their circumstances, as far as could be 
 ascertained, " No lame, impotent, or infirm persons, incapa- 
 ble of maintaining themselves, should be received without 
 first giving security that the town in which they settled 
 would not be charged with their support." In default of this 
 security the master of the vessel was obliged to carry such U^ 
 persons back to their former 1 homes. This law of 1700 
 made further provisions for the listing of immigrants by 
 the ships' officers only where there was a port of entry; and 
 thus, at many places where imposts were not collected, the 
 people complained of the landing of objectionable persons 
 in spite of their protests. Accordingly, in June, 1722, the 
 Act was amended giving the Selectmen of any town 
 authority to receive a passenger list from captains of vessels, 
 and also to demand security for the maintenance of paupers, 
 
 ' Acis and Resolves, i, 580. Council Records, x, 259, 260. 
 * Acts and Resolves, i, 452. 
 
3 o COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LA WS [ i^^ 
 
 or even to refuse their admission.' This measure seems not to 
 have given entire satisfaction ; and two years later, it being 
 found " that the Act of 1722 laid difficulties in the way of 
 trade, when the intent was only to prevent the importation 
 of poor, vicious and infirm persons," another law was passed. 
 This new act provided, as before, for the presentation of a 
 passenger list; but all immigrants who brought with them 
 effects to the value of ^50 (not including necessary house- 
 hold goods and wearing apparel), likewise all able-bodied 
 husbandmen, marines, hand carpenters, laborers, and in- 
 dented servants provided they were not persons of vicious 
 habits, were to be admitted without giving security.'' 
 
 The last act of this nature was passed in 1756,3 and ex- 
 pressly prohibited the landing of sick, impotent or infirm 
 persons " from foreign parts or other colonies," unless by 
 the consent of the Selectmen of the town, and after the 
 usual security from the master of the vessel. 
 
 In his very interesting sketch of the American Colonies, 
 written about i76o,'* the English traveler Burnaby, after vis- 
 iting the Southern and Middle Colonies, notes the extreme 
 exclusiveness of the New England Colonies in their attitude 
 toward European immigrants, and refers to the above laws 
 as being very "impolitic;" though another writer of the 
 same period observes " that the New England Colonists are 
 prosperous and happy, and there are no beggars in the 
 country." 5 
 
 We have thus studied the laws of the Massachusetts Col- 
 onies to regulate and restrict immigration ; their enactments 
 to foster and encourage the coming of new settlers remain 
 to be presented. As has already been intimated, their 
 
 ^ Acts and Resolves, ii, 244. 
 
 ^ Acts and Resolves, ii, 337. ' Ibid,, iii, 982. 
 
 * Burnaby's Trazels, 112. 
 
 * Major Rogers, Concise Account of North America, 65. 
 
) 
 
 \ 
 
 I57I ^^ ^^^ NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 31 
 
 efforts in that direction were extremely meagre. With 
 proper inducements they might have secured a considerable 
 portion of the great Protestant emigration of the eighteenth 
 century ; but such evidently was not their desire ; and it was 
 with no jealous eye that they beheld the multitudes pass 
 them by and pour into the colonies further south. 
 
 There are several acts found in the Records of the Colonial 
 Assembly which may be interpreted as direct or indirect en- 
 couragement to settlers, such as the granting of lands and 
 special privileges ; but nothing beyond this, until the peti- 
 tion from the French Refugees in 1682. In response to this 
 appeal the General Court set aside a substantial amount of 
 land (the present town of Oxford.) The people of Boston, 
 likewise, generously succored the little company of Hugue- 
 nots, until they felt able to remove to their lands.' 
 
 About 1730, Massachusetts had sufficiently thawed out 
 from what a recent writer has termed her "glacial period" 
 to pass an act naturalizing the French Protestants then re- 
 siding in the colony, even going so far as to announce that 
 the first " lot" had conducted themselves so " seemly," that 
 they would be pleased to receive others.^ 
 
 In 1750 Massachusetts, in common with several of the 
 colonies, enacted a measure regulating the importation of 
 German immigrants. 3 This, however, was practically a san- 
 itary measure and possessed nothing in the way of encour- 
 agement. There are no evidences that any appreciable 
 number of Germans made their home in Massachusetts. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 The settlements of Connecticut and New Haven were, to a 
 certain extent, offshoots from the Massachusetts Bay Col- 
 ony, and would naturally partake of the characteristics of 
 
 ' Baird, l^he Huguenots in America, i. 
 
 ^ Acts and Nesolves, ii, 586. ^ Ibid., iii, 982. 
 
3 2 C'<9Z ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS T j 5 g 
 
 the parent settlement. Their records do not show as great 
 an activity as do those of the Bay Colonies, in the matter of 
 regulating imnr.iigration ; but this may be explained by the 
 fact that many of their settlers landed at Boston, and also, 
 that to the Europeans all of the New England Colonies (ex- 
 cept Rhode Island) were tainted with the exclusiveness and 
 intolerance of Massachusetts. Nor was this judgment far 
 from wrong, for the Records of the Connecticut Colonies 
 show that they maintained practically the same attitude to- 
 ward newcomers as did the Massachusetts Colonies. 
 
 Although possessed of the choicest land in New England, 
 and desirous of building prosperous settlements, they never- 
 theless refused to attain this end by jeopardizing what to 
 them seemed the most important purpose of their enterprise, 
 namely, the preservation of the religious and moral tone of 
 their government. Accordingly, they found it expedient to 
 regulate carefully the admission of new settlers, for, as we 
 have already seen in the case of Massachusetts, not all the 
 immigrants were, as a modern orator has said, " the sifted 
 grain of a continent." 
 
 The truth of the matter was, that considerable "chaff" 
 had gotten mixed in with the wheat, and a careful winnow- 
 ing was necessary ; while, on the other hand, many worthy 
 settlers were denied admission who would gladly have 
 availed themselves of the fertile lands, but who were not in 
 entire sympathy with the moral and religious system of gov- 
 ernment which the founders deemed so precious. 
 
 The New Haven Colony was the first to take action on the 
 admission of settlers. In 1644 the Governor and Magistrates 
 drew up a form of oath which they imposed on themselves and 
 all the inhabitants, and furthermore ordered that no settlers 
 should thereafter be admitted until they had subscribed to 
 the oath.' Again, in 1657, it was ordered that masters of 
 
 ' New Haven Colonial Records, i, 1 30. 
 
159] 
 
 OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 
 
 vessels should be forced to carry away all passengers whom 
 the towns refused to receive.' The same year Quakers were 
 forbidden to come into the jurisdiction of the Colony.^ 
 About two years before her union with Connecticut the 
 Court enacted that no person should be admitted to dwell 
 within the jurisdiction, without first securing a license from 
 the Magistrates of the Town where they chose to settle.3 
 
 Connecticut appears to have had no serious trouble, until 
 1660, when an Act was passed, ordering that none should 
 be received as inhabitants but such as were known to be of 
 an " honest conversation," and accepted by a major part of 
 the town.-* Seven years later there was considerable com- 
 plaint manifested, owing to the fact " that divers persons had 
 thrust themselves into several of the towns much to the dis- 
 turbance and distrust of the better portion of the citizens," 
 and it was enacted that such persons should forfeit 20 s. per 
 week to the Town Treasurer, after being warned by the Se- 
 lectmen to depart, and, in default of payn^ent should be 
 placed in the stocks for one hour, or be corporally pun- 
 ished.s This measure with some unimportant modifications 
 was re-enacted in 1682 and again in 1707.^ 
 
 The foreign immigration into the Connecticut valley was 
 very meagre. In r68o, the Secretary of State for England 
 sent to the colonies a table of inquiries, among which was a 
 question relating to the increase of population, as follows : 
 " What number of English, Scotch and Irish foreigners have, 
 during the past seven years, or during any other space of 
 time, come yearly to plant and inhabit within your corpora- 
 tion ; and also what blacks and slaves have been brought 
 in within the said time, and at what rates?" To this query 
 
 ^New Haven Colonial Records, 217. 
 =" Ibid., ii, 215. * Ibid., ii, 610. 
 
 *Conn. Colonial Records, i, 351. ^Ibid., ii, 66. 
 
 ^ Ibid., iii, III; v, 21. 
 
34 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA Tl ON LA WS [ j 60 
 
 the Connecticut authorities responded "for English, Scotch 
 and Irish, there are so few come in that we cannot give a 
 certain account : some years come none ; sometimes a family 
 or two in a year. As for blacks, there come sometimes three 
 or four in a year from Barbadoes, and they are sold usually 
 at the rate of 22;^ apiece." ' 
 
 Connecticut of all the English colonies in America, prob- 
 ably received the smallest number of immigrants from 
 Europe. Her population at the breaking out of the Revo- 
 lution was practically of pure English descent, and had mul- 
 I tipHed by natural increase from the few thousands who made 
 their way thither during the Puritan immigration.^ 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 Had Roger Williams and his associates been possessed of 
 a tract of land as large and fertile as that granted to William 
 Penn, it is very probable that Rhode Island would have 
 become one of the most populous of the colonies. Estab- 
 lished, as it was, on the broad basis of perfect religious 
 freedom, and with but few restraints on civil liberty, it 
 apparently lacked nothing but wider boundaries to have 
 proved one of the great Meccas for European immigration 
 during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 
 records of the colony contain almost nothing in the way of 
 legislation obviously intended to regulate immigration. The 
 •great variety of nationalties and religious sects which existed 
 there, and which always struck the attention of foreign 
 
 ' Conn. Colony Records, iii, 298. 
 
 '' Nearly one hundred years after the questions above referred to, the Secretary 
 of Conn., in 1774, replied to a similar list sent out from the Heme Government as 
 follows: "The inhabitants have increased 52,266 in ten years, . . . which increase 
 we attribute to industrious temperate life and early marriages. And it would 
 probably have been greater had it not been for losses sustained during the war, 
 and frequent and numerous emigrations from hence to his Majesties newly con- 
 quered or evacuated countries in America." Conn. Col. Records, iii, 299. 
 
l6i] OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 35 
 
 travellers as contrasting with most of the other provinces, 
 are evidence that the authorities gave little or no attention 
 to the admission of settlers. The one exception to this 
 general statement is found in the law of 1700' which im- 
 posed a bond of ;^50 on masters of vessels bringing in 
 foreigners from places outside of '* Great Britain, Ireland, 
 Jersey and Guernsey," as a guarantee that the passengers 
 whom they landed would not prove a burden to the colony. 
 
 The much-disputed clause in the statute of 1663, denying 
 the privileges of freemen to Roman Catholics, may be con- 
 strued as an attempt to restrict the coming of that sect; but 
 even if it were enacted and enforced as a law of the colony, 
 compared to the laws against Roman Catholics in most of 
 the other colonies it was mild indeed, and hardly served as 
 a formidable barrier to any of that faith who might be desir- 
 ous of settling there.* 
 
 Rhode Island, as did the other New England Colonies, 
 attempted to prohibit the importation of slaves, and in 1652 
 passed an act looking in that direction ; = but as several of 
 her merchants had vessels engaged in the trade there were 
 as many negroes imported as the unfavorable economic 
 conditions would allow. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 Having studied with some detail the attitude of the New 
 
 ' Colonial Laws of K. I., 1 663-1767. This was re-enacted in 1729. 
 
 ''■ One, Major Rogers, in his Concise Account of North America, written in 1765 
 speaks of Rhode Island as follows : " There are in this colony men of almost every 
 religious persuasion in the world. The greatest number are Quakers, and many 
 have no religion at all, at least profess none. On which account no questions are 
 here asked, every man being left to think and act for himself, of which neither the 
 laws nor his neighbors take cognizance. So greatly is their liberty degenerated 
 into licentiousness that this province is also infested with a rascally set of Jews 
 who fail not to take advantage here given to men of all professions and religions." 
 Major Rogers, Concise Account of N. A., 58, 59. 
 
 • R. I. Colonial Records, i, 243. 
 
36 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS \\62 
 
 England settlements toward European immigration,' let us 
 before passing to the other colonies take a summary view of 
 the field thus far covered. We have seen that among the 
 motives of the founders of these commonwealths the reli- 
 j^'^^ious elein£iilL_4iredominated. - The early settlers were 
 almost wholly from the ranks of the Puritan party in Eng- 
 land, who under pressure of actual or threatened persecution 
 had left their native country and established themselves in 
 that part of America. The leaders of the movement, those 
 who directed its early course, and whose influence for a cen- 
 / tury after their death shaped the policy of the colonies, had 
 j well-defined ideas of the aim and purpose of their enterprise. 
 T'o realize these ends it seemed to them necessary to ascer- 
 tain carefully the character of the prospective settlers and to 
 exclude those whom they, for any reason, deemed unfit to 
 become associates in their project. While anxiously atten- 
 tive to the worldly prosperity of their colonies, yet the 
 religious and moral character seeming to them most im- 
 portant, they naturally preferred orthodoxy of faith to 
 augmentation of numbers. Accordingly we find their 
 early records full of laws against the admission of all persons 
 differing from them in matters of faith and worship, which 
 practically amount to an exclusion ntit only of all other 
 nationalties, but of many persons from Great Britain as well. 
 Having made their settlements at times sufificiently late to 
 profit by the disastrous failure of former attempts, espe- 
 cially in those cases where the colonists were indigent or 
 immoral and vicious, they wisely refused to receive any of 
 those classes. We cannot help but feel, however, that they 
 were too careful on the point of indigency during the first 
 half of the eighteenth century, when thousands of poor but 
 thrifty settlers from the continent were seeking homes in the 
 
 ' There is practically nothing in the records of New Hampshire bearing on the 
 subject of immigration. 
 
 (^ 
 
163] OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES ^pr 
 
 colonies — men who demonstrated that they needed but the 
 opportunity in order to bring forth abundant wealth from 
 the resources of the country; but who, when they emigrated, 
 could hardly have passed the requirements of admission in 
 the New England Colonies. But the specific laws we have 
 been considering were, perhaps, less effective as barriers to 
 foreign immigration than the rigor and harshness of Puritan 
 legislation along other lines. Puritanism in New England ^ 
 was too austere, too painfully conscientious and moral to 
 attract many settlers ; while her sumptuary laws and barbar- 
 ous punishments were repelling even to the persecuted 
 peasant of Continental Europe. 
 
 Assuming that their policy and its results were for the best, 
 it was fortunate that they chose to settle in New England, 
 where the scanty soil and rigorous climate aided them in 
 their efforts toward exclusion. Indeed, it seems hardly pos- 
 sible that their experiment could have succeeded at all fur- 
 ther south, where inexhaustible acres of fertile land and a 
 mild climate invited the industrious settler to generous re- 
 wards. Had Winthrop and his associates settled in Penn- 
 sylvania or further south, it is highly improbable that a 
 scriptural code or an occasional banishment or hanging 
 would have deterred the hardy Germans, Scotch and Irish 
 from settling on their unappropriated lands, and the Puritan 
 commonwealth would probably have died with its founders. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IMMIGRATION LAWS OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 
 
 Lying between the Puritan Commonwealths of New Eng- 
 land and the Provinces of the South was the group of Middle 
 Colonies, embracing New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey 
 and Delaware. Possessing ample territory of great fertility, 
 magnificent harbors and rivers, and maintaining a generous 
 policy in religious and political affairs, these colonies proved 
 extremelyinviting to_the immigrants from Europe. Especi- 
 ally during the Protestant migration of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury new settlers liberally flocked to this section, attracted 
 thither by the favorable conditions in the granting of land, 
 and by the liberal treatment accorded to them in other ways. 
 
 At the close of the colonial period this group possessed 
 the most mixed population of any of the colonies. Besides 
 Englishmen, there were representatives from almost every 
 country in Europe : Scotch, Highlanders and Lowlanders, 
 Scotch- Irish, French Huguenots, Germans from various parts 
 of the Empire, Dutch, Swedes, Finns and a few Jews. Quite 
 naturally, amid such a variety of nationalities, there existed 
 a diversity of religious persuasions which shows clearly the 
 tolerant spirit that must have existed in those colonies.' 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 New York, the most northern of the group, was originally 
 settled by the Dutch, who established settlements along the 
 
 * " Toleration made Pennsylvania a religious museum. In it, besides the 
 Quakers, were Anglicans, Lutherans, Scotch Presbyterians, Palatines, Bunkers, 
 Pietists, and Roman Catholics, though the latter, there as elsewhere, were under 
 a ban of suspicion." 
 
 38 [164 
 
ige] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 39 
 
 Hudson river early in the seventeenth century. For the forty 
 or more years, during which they controlled the Colony, no 
 plans seem to have been attempted to make it anything 
 more than an exclusively Dutch settlement. To encourage 
 the peopling of the country, an elaborate system of patroon- 
 ships was adopted by the Company owning the territory. 
 Persons transporting a certain number of settlers were in- 
 vested with vast grants of land over which they exercised 
 seignorial sway. 
 
 In 1664, England had put a stop to the constant strife 
 which had been going on between her colonies and New 
 Netherlands by forcibly assuming the government of the lat- 
 ter colony and granting the territory to the Duke of York, 
 afterwards James I. The Dutch inhabitants were natural- 
 ized, the name of their settlement changed in honor of its 
 proprietor, and New York soon became one of the Royal' 
 Provinces. During the remainder of the 17th century immi- 
 gration to this colony was comparatively slight. No especial 
 efiforts seem to have been put forth, to that end, either by 
 the home government or by the colonial authorities.' It is 
 difificult to ascertain whether or not Catholics were excluded 
 from the Colony during these years. In 1700 Governor 
 Bellamont mentioned the existence of a law against Jesuits 
 
 ^ A glimpse of the situation, about 1687, is afforded by Governor Dongan's re- 
 port to the Commissioners of Plantations, In answer to their inquirers concern- 
 ing the number and character of new settlers, he replied : " I believe for these 
 seven years last past there has not come into this province twenty English, Scotch 
 or Irish families. But, on the contrary, on Long Island the people increase so 
 fast that they complain for want of land, and many remove from thence into the 
 neighboring province. But of French there have been, since my coming here, 
 several families, both from St. Christophers and England, and a great many more 
 are expected. (Probably French Huguenots.) Also from Holland are come 
 several Dutch families, which is another great argument for the necessity of add- 
 ing to this Government the neighboring English colonies, that a more equal bal- 
 ance may be kept between his Majesties natural-born subjects and foreigners, 
 which latter are the most prevailing part of this Gov't." Documentary History 
 of N. v., i, 103. 
 
i^- 
 
 40 <^0L ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [ 1 65 
 
 and Catholics, and offered a reward to the Indians for the 
 capture and delivery of any of these persons to the Governor 
 at Albany.' The temper of the people is likewise shown in 
 an address of the Assembly to the Governor in 1698, in 
 which they say, " We hope to lay the foundation of a lasting 
 happiness to this province by uniting the minds of the peo- 
 ple, supporting the dignity of the government, and estab- 
 lishing such a constitution of laws as may forever exclude 
 Popery and Slavery.^" 
 
 An interesting and instructive experiment in immigration 
 conducted by the joint efforts of the home government and 
 colonial authorities of New York was begun in 1709. As 
 the champion of Protestantism, England had extended a 
 general invitation to the persecuted Protestants of the conti- 
 nent to seek homes in her colonies, and offered to assist 
 those who were too poor to pay their own way. In 1708 
 j*^ several thousand Germans, on special invitation from the 
 English Government,^ made their way to London, from 
 which point they were sent to various parts of the empire. 
 Many of these were in destitute circumstances, and wholly 
 dependent upon the charity of the people of that city.^ 
 
 In 1709 the Board of Trade for England, to whom was 
 referred the matter of devising ways and means for trans- 
 porting the exiles, presented a scheme for their removal.^ 
 
 * New York Colonial Manuscript, iv, 736. 
 ' New York Colonial Laws, i, 86. 
 
 * " There were books and papers dispersed in the Palatinate ... to encourage 
 the Palatines to come to England, in order to be sent to Her Majesty's Colonies 
 in America." yournals of the House of Commons, xvi, 467. 
 
 * " Under various auspices a large part were transported to the colonies, several 
 hundred were transferred to Ireland, where their descendants still reside; many 
 of them after suffering great privation returned to their former homes, and thous- 
 ands died for want of sustenance, medical attention, and from other causes." 
 Rupp's Collections, 5. 
 
 * Documents relating to the Colonial LListory of N. V., v, 87. 
 
1 6;] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 4 1 
 
 The report recommended that they be settled in the royal 
 province of New York ; that they be suppHed with necessary 
 tools ; have land granted to them, and be not allowed to en- 
 gage in manufactures prejudicial to those of England. 
 
 After some correspondence with the colonial authorities, 
 the scheme resolved itself into the following specific plans : 
 That 3,000 of the Palatines were to be transported to the 
 colony, settled on the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and em- 
 ployed in making tar and rosin for the use of the British 
 Navy. Governor Hunter was instructed to seat them all 
 either in a body or in different settlements, and to encourage 
 them to work more or less in partnership, i. e., three or four 
 families in common. And, finally, they were to be natural- 
 ized and enjoy all the privileges and advantages of the other 
 inhabitants of the colony.' Ten vessels, carrying upwards 
 of three thousand Germans, left England on the 25th day 
 of December, 1709, and after a stormy voyage of several 
 months arrived at New York. Many died on the passage 
 or soon after landing. The entire party were quartered in 
 tents on Governor's Island, where they remained for the en- 
 tire summer, being supplied with food at public expense. 
 Many of them hired out as servants, and the Governor ap- 
 prenticed the orphans to the citizens of New York and New 
 Jersey. 
 
 In the fall of 1710 an attempt was made to carry out the 
 instructions of the Board of Trade, but with disastrous 
 results. Fourteen hundred of the new arrivals were settled 
 at Livingston Manor on the Hudson river and set to making 
 tar ; but they soon grew dissatisfied with their condition, 
 seeing that their labors were resulting in nothing permanent 
 either for themselves or their children. "We came to 
 America to establish our families, to secure lands for our 
 children on which they may be able to support themselves 
 
 ' Documentary History of New York, iii, 382. 
 
42 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS \\tZ 
 
 after we die." ' Thus they addressed the authorities. They 
 were promised lands, but the governor seemed more anxious 
 to secure enough tar to repay the home government for its 
 loan than to settle the Germans on lands of their own, and 
 even resorted to violent measures to secure obedience to his 
 demands. In the dead of winter one hundred and fifty 
 families left Livingston Manor to settle upon lands in 
 Schoharie Valley, sixty miles distant. " They had no open 
 road, no horses to carry or haul their luggage, and were 
 compelled to tug this themselves on rudely constructed 
 sleds." "" Here they remained about ten years, when owing 
 to some defect in their titles they were deprived of both 
 lands and improvements, and induced by the generous offers 
 of the Pennsylvania authorities, they removed to that 
 Province. Thus there was added another to the long list of 
 failures on part of governments and individuals to establish 
 settlements in America on a community basis. The long 
 line of disasters, from Raleigh's first attempts to Oglethorpe's 
 philanthropic scheme in Georgia, fully demonstrated that it 
 was practically impossible to devise plans in Europe for the 
 successful management of a settlement in America. 
 
 Whatever defects the " laissez-faire " doctrine may have 
 had in older communities, it was proved time after time to 
 be the best theory for the colonists of the new world. VVith 
 boundless opportunities for individual effort, it was clearly 
 going against nature for governments or companies to 
 attempt to restrain or direct the enterprise of the colonists. 
 Wherever the government encouraged individual effort by 
 generous grants of land and freedom from obnoxious 
 restraints, there was success ; but in every case where the 
 settlers were restricted or compelled to labor in common or 
 along a given plan, there resulted failure. Even when the 
 
 ^ Documentary History of New York, iii, 394. 
 * Rupp's Collection 0/20,000 Names, i, 270. 
 
l^gl OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 43 
 
 disastrous outcome of their experiment was apparent, the 
 colonial authorities of New York did not make the best of 
 the situation, and, by liberal grants of land and hospitable 
 treatment, aid the German immigrants to establish them- 
 selves in the province; on the contrary, they grudgingly 
 doled out a mere scrap from their vast domain, and then 
 refused to protect the settlers in their rights after they had 
 spent years of labor on their lands. The Germans did not 
 soon forget their inhospitable treatment, and later in the 
 century when their countrymen were emigrating by the 
 thousands, few of them could be induced to settle in New 
 York.' Even when they were landed at the port of that 
 province they soon made their way into Pennsylvania or re- 
 shipped for the southern colonies. 
 
 In 1 718 the Assembly made a feeble effort to encourage 
 immigration by passing an act naturalizing all foreigners 
 then residing in the colony."* 
 
 Several years later the authorities seemed to awaken to 
 the situation; for we find the Governor (Crosby) admon- 
 ishing the Assembly for their carelessness and neglect in 
 
 ' " Though," says Peter Kahn (an eminent Swedish naturalist and philosopher 
 who traveled in America, 1748-51), " the province of New York has been in- 
 habited by Europeans much longer than Pennsylvania, yet it is not, by far, so 
 populous as that colony. This cannot be ascribed to any particular discourage- 
 ment arising from the nature of the soil, for that is good, but from a very different 
 reason. (He then proceeds to relate the story of the Palatines sent over to New 
 York, and their subsequent ill-treatment by the authorities of the colony, and 
 their later removal to Pennsylvania.) They were exceedingly well received in 
 Pennsylvania, got a considerable tract of land, and were indulged in great privi- 
 leges, which were given them forever. Not satisfied with being themselves re- 
 moved from New York, they wrote to their relations and friends in Europe and 
 advised them, if ever they intended to emigrate to America, not to go to New 
 York, where the Gov't had shown itself so inequitable. This advice had such in- 
 fluence that the Germans who afterwards went in great numbers to North Amer- 
 ica constantly avoided New York." See Rupp's Collection 0/20,000 names, i, 270. 
 
 ' Documents relating to Col. Hist, of N. Y., v, 496. 
 
44 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [ 1 7 O 
 
 the matter of encouraging new settlers." But the subsequent 
 records do not show that the province received any consid- 
 erable proportion of the great emigration from Europe 
 during the first half of the eighteenth century. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The territory of Pennsylvania was primarily purchased and 
 founded as a safe retreat for the persecuted Quakers, but 
 not for them exclusively. Liberty of conscience was granted 
 to all who professed the Christian religion ; and the most 
 favorable terms, as regards lands and government, were 
 offered to all who would settle in the Province. From a re- 
 port of the Council Proceedings, in 1683, it appears that a 
 resolution was introduced to the effect that no felons should 
 be brought into the Colony ;=" but no action seems to have 
 been taken on this proposition. A period of almost forty years 
 passed, during which no measures against immigration were 
 passed ; and, under the freedom of religious worship and 
 favorable guarantees of civil liberty, the Colony attracted 
 more than its share of settlers. 
 
 In the year 1722, the question of prohibiting the impor- 
 tation of felons again appears, and the Records of the As- 
 sembly for that year contain "An act for imposing a duty on 
 persons convicted of heinous crimes and imported into this 
 province as servants or otherwise."^ 
 
 '"I see with concern that whilst the neighboring provinces are filled with 
 honest, useful and laborious white people; the truest riches and surest strength 
 of a country; this Province seems regardless of the vast advantage which such 
 acquisition might bring to them, and of the disadvantages that attend to the too 
 great importation of negroes and convicts. These things are worthy of your con- 
 sideration, and require your speedy attention, as the greatest good is to be 
 expected from the one and the greatest evil from the other." Journal of Geti'l 
 Assetnbly of N. Y., i, 654. 
 
 ' Colonial Records of Penn''a, i, 72. 
 
 ' Colonial Records, iii, 163. 
 
j^i] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 45 
 
 Five years before (1717), in the 4th year of George I., 
 Parliament had passed an act for the transportation of felons 
 into the colonies.' It recited that their laws against rob- 
 bery, larcen3% ^/<;., had not proved effectual; and, "realiz- 
 ing " that there was a great want of servants in the colonies, 
 ParHament generously decided to part with these classes for 
 the benefit of the settlers on this side of the Atlantic. The 
 colonists, however, failed to perceive the kindly intent of 
 this action, as their legislative records for the next half cen- 
 tury bear witness. In February, 1730, the Act of 1722 was 
 repealed, and a more complete and specific measure was 
 substituted.^ 
 
 The practice in our times of evading the anti-Chinese law 
 by landing the Chinamen at other than American ports, and 
 afterward transporting them across the borders, is evidently 
 not of modern invention ; for one clause of the above act 
 provided a heavy penalty on persons who landed convicts 
 outside the colony, and afterward " stealthily removed," them 
 into the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The will left by Penn is proof that the philanthropic 
 founder of Pennsylvania owned slaves ; and, while the peo- 
 ple of that state refer with pride to the strong denunciation 
 of the slave system by the early Mennonites and Quakers, 
 yet it is very probable that economic conditions rather than 
 moral standards were the prime reasons for its meagre de- 
 
 ' Parliamentary Statutes, 4th Geo. I., c. 11. 
 
 ' A duty of ;^5 was imposed on each convict imported, and the masters of ves- 
 sels required to give a bond for their good behavior for one year. Dallas' Laws, 
 i, 250. 
 
 Twelve years later the law was re-enacted with some amendments, but on pre- 
 sentation to the King and Pri\'y Council was disallowed on the ground that it 
 conflicted with the Act of Parliament regarding the importation of convicts. 
 This action of the Privy Council seems to have caused considerable feeling in 
 the colony; a vigorous correspondence was carried on between the colonial 
 authorities and the Proprietor in England, through whose influence the matter 
 was amicably settled. See Penti'a. Col. Records, v, 499. 
 
46 COLOXIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS {^72. 
 
 velopment in that province. Laws placing a duty on the 
 importation of negroes were passed in 1705 and 17 10, and 
 the following year absolute prohibition was attempted, but 
 the measure was disallowed by the Privy Council. From 
 that time until the further importation of negroes was pro- 
 hibited, a uniform duty of ^20 per head was levied on all 
 slaves imported into the colony.' 
 
 The German immigration into Pennsylvania during the 
 first half of the i8th century is by far the most interesting 
 and instructive phase of our subject, involving, as it does, 
 the most extensive immigration of colonial times, and pre- 
 senting many of the phenomena which our own age has wit- 
 nessed, as the millions of Europeans have flocked to these 
 shores. Many investigators have attempted to discover the 
 cause of this unprecedented immigration into Pennsylvania, 
 and with the uniform result that no one cause has been found 
 adequate to explain all the phenomena. There were many 
 causes, equally important, some operative in Europe and 
 others in the colony. Penn's travels in Holland and Ger- 
 N many as a Quaker missionary ; the broad and liberal invita- 
 tion which he extended to all Europe ; the generous terms 
 ,v^V on which lands were offered, together with religious and 
 political guarantees, were among some of the attractions ; " 
 while the unsettled conditions in Europe, especially the wars 
 of Louis XIV., were the repellent forces on the other side. 
 
 There was a small party of Germans among the first 
 settlers sent over by Penn ; but during the first twenty years 
 of the existence of the colony only a few hundred of that 
 nationality arrived. Early in the i8th century, however, the 
 ravages and desolations by the troops of Louis XIV. in the 
 Protestant states of Germany drove thousands from their 
 homes ; and from that time until the middle of the century 
 a constant stream of German immigrants poured into the 
 
 1 Dallas' Laws, i, 87. Watson's Annals, ii, 163. 
 
 ^ 
 
 J 
 
173] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES ^y 
 
 Quaker province. The hospitable treatment accorded to 
 the first settlers induced them to encourage their friends to 
 immigrate to Penn's colony, and, once started in that direc- 
 tion, the stream continued to flow with increasing volume. 
 Penn had agents in the Palatinate country for the purpose 
 of inducing the people to emigrate; and there are instances 
 of communities, already settled in the province, sending over 
 one of their number to induce their friends to emigrate and 
 share in their prosperity. 
 
 We have already noted the interest which the home 
 government under Queen Anne had taken in the peopling 
 of her colonies by ofifering to aid and protect all Protestants 
 who might settle there. This policy was continued under 
 George I., and during the early years of his reign, his 
 Majesty dispatched an agent to the Palatinate with a special 
 invitation for the Mennonites who were proposing to leave 
 their native land to settle in Pennsylvania west of the 
 Allegheny mountains.' No systematic attempt on the part of 
 the government to carry out the above plans seems to have 
 been made; but undoubtedly it stimulated emigration and 
 proved a great advertisement for Pennsylvania, as it was 
 about this time that the arrivals of German settlers became 
 so numerous as to attract the notice of the colonial au- 
 thorities. 
 
 ' This invitation is of interest to the historian as a typical emigration document 
 of the iSth century. After mentioning the persecutions to which these people 
 were subjected, it continues, " the King offers to them for a habitation the coun- 
 try west of thtf Allegheny Mountains, usually considered a part of Pennsylvania, 
 but not yet belonging to it. Each family shall have fifty acres of land in fee 
 simple, and for the first ten years the use, without charge, of as much as they shall 
 want, subject only to the stipulation that after that time the yearly rent of one 
 hundred acres shall be two shillings. There is land enough for 100,000 families, 
 and they shall have permission to live there, not as foreigners, but on their engage- 
 ment, under oath, to be true and ( bedient to the King, and to have the same 
 rights as his natural-born subjects." Then follows a highly drawn picture of the 
 country and its resources. I^enn'a. Magazine of History, ii, 126. 
 
48 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS \^1A 
 
 At a meeting of the Governor and Council, September 
 17th, 1 717, the Governor (Keith) informed the Board "that 
 great numbers of foreigners from Germany, strangers to our 
 language and constitution were lately imported into the 
 Province and daily dispersed themselves without producing 
 any certificates from whence they came or what they were." 
 The Governor further observed that they made no applica- 
 tion to himself or any of the magistrates, and that such 
 " practices might be dangerous since by the same method 
 any number of foreigners from any nation whatever, enemies 
 as well as friettds might throw themselves upon the present 
 settlers." After due consideration by the Council it was 
 ordered that the masters of vessels who had " imported " the 
 immigrants should be summoned to appear and render an 
 account of the number and character of their passengers ; 
 and that those already landed should take an oath of 
 allegiance to his Majesty and the government. The naval 
 officer of the port was likewise instructed to secure from 
 masters of vessels an exact list of all their passengers.' 
 
 Thousands now began to pour into the colony, and ten 
 years later (1727) the Governor (Patrick Gordon) informed 
 the Council of the possible dangers arising from such a 
 large influx of foreigners. " A vessel has just arrived," he 
 said, " with four hundred Palatines on board, and they are 
 soon to be followed by a much greater number. , . . They 
 transport themselves without any leave obtained from the 
 Crown of Great Britain, and settle themselves upon the 
 proprietor's lands without any application to his commis- 
 sioners or the government. Measures ought to be taken at 
 once for the peace and security of the province which may 
 be endangered by such numbers of strangers daily poured 
 
 ^ Colonial Records, iii, 29. Owing to the adoption of this measure, the names 
 of most of the immigrants who came into Pennsylvania for the next fifty years 
 have been preserved. Rupp's Collections, 
 
175] ^^' -^^^ MIDDLE COLONIES 49 
 
 in, who being ignorant of our language and laws, and 
 settling in a body together, make, as it were, a distinct 
 people from his Majesty's subjects." 
 
 The Board of Councillors seriously discussed the situa- 
 tion, and decided that, until some proper remedy could be 
 had from England " to prevent the importation of such num- 
 bers of strangers," all these " new comers" should be exam- 
 ined as to their intentions, and that an instrument should be 
 drawn up for them to sign, declaring their allegiance and 
 subjection to the King of Great Britain, and fidelity to the 
 Proprietary of the Province.^ 
 
 It is difficult to ascertain what encouragement or aid, if 
 any, these immigrants received from the Home Government, 
 It is apparent from the records that many of them first made 
 their way to England, and thence took passage for the Col- 
 onies. Most of them were very poor, and many, unable to 
 pay all or even a part of their passage money, agreed to 
 bind themselves as servants to settlers who would pay the 
 Master of the vessel for their fare. These were known as Re- 
 demptioners, and many, who could not otherwise have trans- 
 ported themselves, were thus enabled to make their way to 
 America and after a few years to acquire land and to become 
 prosperous settlers.^ 
 
 ^ Colonial Records, iii, 283. " We the Subscribers, natives and late inhabitants 
 of the Palatinate upon the Rhine and places adjacent, having transported our- 
 selves into this Province of Pennsylvania, a colony subject to the Crown of Great 
 Britain, in hopes and expectation of finding a retreat and peaceable settlement 
 therein : Do solemnly promise and engage that we will be faithful and bear true 
 allegiance to his present Majesty King George II. and his successors, and will be 
 faithful to the Proprietors of this Province; and that we will demean ourselves 
 peaceably to all his said Majesty's subjects, and strictly obser\'e and conform to 
 the laws of England and of this Province to the utmost of our power and best of 
 our understanding." 
 
 ' We read of Palatine Servants (1722) being disposed of at L\o each for five 
 years servitude, and advertisements like the following were frequent : " Lately 
 imported, and to be sold cheap, a parcel of likely men and women servants."" 
 These were probably Redemptioners. Watson's Annals, ii, 266. 
 
50 COLONIAL IMMIGRATTON LAWS [176 
 
 In addition to these Germans, a considerable number of 
 Irish servants, the forerunners of the hundreds of thousands 
 who have since left their native home for America, began to 
 arrive in the Colony. 
 
 The year 1728-29 witnessed such an influx of Germans 
 J and Irish that the colonists became alarmed ; and in May, 
 1729, the Assembly passed an Act laying a duty on for- 
 eigners and Irish servants imported into the Province. The 
 printed records of the Colony give only the bare title of the 
 law; but Oldmixon, in his "British Empire in America," 
 alludes to the measure, and says that the duty was 5 s. per 
 head on all "new comers." A modern writer is authority 
 for the statement that it was 40 s. This latter amount 
 seems more probable, as several shiploads of immigrants, 
 destined for Pennsylvania, were repelled by the duty, and 
 put in at New Jersey ; while others went south to the Caro- 
 linas.' The obvious intent of the measure was to restrict the 
 settling of such a host of foreigners among them, and to pre- 
 vent the importation of too many Irish servants, probably 
 for religious reasons.'' However, the law was repealed 
 within a very few months, and thenceforth the usual encour- 
 agements were offered to new settlers. 
 
 The Germans were principally farmers. They settled on 
 the fertile lands along the Susquehanna, and with untiring 
 industry and great frugality soon provided themselves with 
 comfortable homes ; while the abundance of their products 
 made the trade of Pennsylvania equal to that of the older 
 colonies. Governor Thomas, in his message to the Assembly 
 in 1738, asking for an appropriation to build a hospital for 
 immigrants, attributed the flourishing condition of the Prov- 
 ince to the thrift and industry of the German settlers ; but 
 
 ^ Oldmixon, British Empire in A'ortk America, i, 321. 
 
 * It is hardly possible that the act applied to English settlers. 
 
177] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 51 
 
 the legislature evidently did not wholly agree with their 
 executive, and replied somewhat sharply to his insinuation.' 
 During the years from 1720 to 1750 no less than 60,000 
 German settlers arrived in the Colony, and in addition to 
 these a considerable number of Scotch and Irish. The 
 pamphlets of that period contain frequent allusions to this 
 prodigious immigration, and many fears, not unfamiliar in 
 our own time, were publicly expressed. One writer ex- 
 pressed anxiety lest they " would produce a German Colony 
 there, and perhaps such a one as Britain received from Sax- 
 ony in the 5th century."'' In his " Summary," Douglass, 
 writing about 1750, refers to their " laborious and penurious 
 manner of living," and fears lest they " out the British from 
 the Colony." Speaking of the immense immigration, he 
 writes, "there were imported into that Province (1750) 
 4,317 Germans, and only about 1,000 British and Irish, If 
 this be not soon limited by a Provincial Act, or by the der- 
 nier resort, an Act of Parliament, the Province will soon de- 
 generate into a foreign colony, endangering the quiet of our 
 adjacent colonies."^ Another writer of the period complains 
 that they settle in communities, and have schools taught, 
 books printed, and even newspapers printed in their own 
 
 ' From the Governor's Message : " This Province has been for some years the 
 asylum of the distressed Protestants of the Palatinate and other parts of Germany, 
 and I believe it may, in truth, be said that the present flourishing condition of it 
 is in a great measure owing to the industry of those people; and should any dis- 
 couragement divert them from coming hither, it may well be apprehended that 
 the value of your lands will fall, and your advances to wealth be much slower, for 
 it is not altogether the goodness of the soil, but the number and industry of the 
 people that make a flourishing country." The Assembly replied as follows : " We 
 are of the opinion with the Governor, that the flourishmg condition of this 
 Prt)vince is in part owing to the importation of Germans and other foreigners; 
 but we beg leave to say that it is chiefly to be ascribed to the lenity of our gov- 
 ernment, and to the sobriety and industry of the first settlers of this country, and 
 the other British subjects inhabiting the same." Colonial Records, Penna., iv, 315. 
 
 ' Watson's Annals, ii, 255. 
 
 " Douglass, Sutnmary, ii, 326. 
 
5 2 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS ("178 
 
 language, thus constituting a foreign colony and likely to 
 continue so for many generations.^ 
 
 By this time a regular fleet of vessels was in service engaged 
 in transporting settlers to the various colonies ; and it is need- 
 less to say that, owing to the long trip and poor accommo- 
 dations, the hardships of immigrant passengers to-day are as 
 nothing compared with those who came over in the crowded 
 sailing vessels of the eighteenth century. Foul air and in- 
 sufficient food bred disease, and vessels arrived in port with 
 half of their passengers sick. A quarantine was established 
 at Philadelphia, and a pest-house provided at public expense ; 
 but not until after a deal of bitter correspondence between 
 the Governor and the Assembly. 
 
 In 1755 the latter passed a measure, entitled "An act for 
 preventing the importation of Germans or other passengers 
 in too great numbers in any ship." The measure evidently 
 had a wider scope than its mere title would imply ; for the 
 Governor returned it with his veto, observing that several 
 parts of the bill militated against the principles of humanity, 
 and in general amounted " to an absolute prohibition of Ger- 
 mans which might not look well at home nor be for the inter- 
 est of the Province." 
 
 It will be noted that in all these contests the Governor 
 
 ^Burke's European Settlements in America, ii, 201. "Pennsylvania is in- 
 habited by upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand jjeople, half of whom are 
 Germans, Swedes and Dutch It was certainly a very right policy to encour- 
 age the importation of foreigners into Pennsylvania, as well as into our other 
 
 colonies I do by no means think that this sort of transplantations ought 
 
 to be discouraged; I only observe along with others that the manner of their 
 settlement ought to be regulated, and means sought to have them naturalized in 
 reality." 
 
 It is worthy of note that exactly the same complaints have been made in Con- 
 gress within recent years by representatives from some of the Northwestern States, 
 and similar remedies proposed ; namely, some governmental regulation in their 
 settlement, so as to prevent any considerable body of them from settling in one 
 place. 
 
y^^ \ U H A ft y;*'*^ 
 
 [ V ERSITY I 
 
 "^itiSjSi^' 
 
 / 
 
 179] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES 53 
 
 is invariably found on the side of the immigrants ; and quite 
 naturally, as he was appointed by, and represented, the Pro- 
 prietary whose interests were best served by a large popula- 
 tion and the consequent disposal of his lands. It seems not 
 an unfair inference from the attitude of the colonists that, 
 left to their own free will, they would have prevented the 
 settling of such a large body of foreigners amongst 
 them.' 
 
 The Seven Years' War and its side-play in America shut 
 off for a time the stream of immigration. It revived some- 
 what during the decade from 1760 to '70, when, owing to 
 the hostilities between the colonies and the mother country, 
 it again subsided and Pennsylvania received no appreciable 
 additions from Europe until the great movements of the 
 present century. 
 
 Despite the fears and forebodings of the English settlers 
 no serious evils resulted from the great body of foreigners 
 who settled in Pennsylvania.^ They proved to be industrious, 
 faithful citizens and loyal subjects of the king, until the War 
 for Independence began, when they generously and patrioti- 
 cally supported their state governments and the Continental 
 
 ^ The messages of the governors frequently allude to the jealousy with which 
 the Germans and Irish were regarded by the English settlers, and although the 
 Assembly as frequently deny the allegation, yet their actions usually belie their 
 words. On one occasion, replying to the Governor's charges, they wrote, " the 
 Protestant part of the new arrivals we look upon as laborious, industrious peo- 
 ple, and all such we gladly welcomed," thus presumably leaving to the Catholics 
 ■whatever comfort might be contained in the necessary inference. Colonial 
 Records, iv, 507. 
 
 ''■ The governments of New Jersey and Delaware, for many years after their 
 settlement, were so intimately associated with those of New York and Pennsyl- 
 vania that no individual policies toward immigration seem to have been instituted. 
 The Proprietors and companies interested in these territories adopted the custom- 
 ary plans of attracting settlers, and were successful in securing a fair share of the 
 Continental as well as British immigrants. Their Assembly Records, howeven 
 aside from certain religious measures, contain no specific acts either encouraging 
 or restricting immigration. 
 
54 COLONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [ i 8o 
 
 Congress, contributing in no small measure to the successful 
 issue of the struggle. 
 
 SUMMARY 
 The striking contrast between the New England and the 
 Middle Colonies in their attitude toward the admission of 
 immigrants is due to several causes. The territory of New 
 
 \ York did not come under English control until 1664, and it 
 was nearly twenty years later when the Quakers made their 
 first settlement in Pennsylvania. Thus, both of these colo- 
 nies were inaugurated at a time when the bigotry and nar- 
 rowness that had characterized the first half of the century 
 
 V were on the wane. The Englishman of 1664, whether Puri- 
 tan or Cavalier, was liberal, in matters both civil and reli- 
 gious, compared to his ancestors of 1620, and this liberality 
 naturally reflected itself in the colonies established there- 
 after. The idea of founding colonies on a theocratic basis, 
 with narrow restrictions along all lines, so strongly mani- 
 fested in New England, was abandoned, and instead a com- 
 paratively liberal policy toward settlers of dififcrent creeds 
 and nationalities was adopted. Pennsylvania was especially 
 fortunate in this respect, in having as its founder a man of 
 noble character, whose tolerant attitude toward all religious 
 faiths, and whose generous treatment of settlers from all parts 
 of Europe was continued by his successors and became the 
 settled policy of the colony. The few restrictive measures 
 that were passed did not long remain on the statute books, 
 
 \ and served only to divert for a time the tide of immigration 
 to other colonies. The ungenerous policy of the New York 
 authorities toward the Palatines was an unfortunate affair for 
 the prosperity of the colony, as it resulted in keeping thou- 
 sands of those worthy settlers from locating in that province. 
 Again, the political events in Europe favored the rapid set- 
 tlement of these colonies. The revocation of the Edict of 
 
l8i] OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES ^^ 
 
 Nantes and the wars of Louis XIV resulted in driving thou- 
 sands of Protestants from their native lands, and gladly they 
 turned to the English colonies, where they might enjoy civil 
 and religious freedom and share in the generous bounty 
 which rewarded the industrious settler. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 IMMIGRATION LAWS OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 
 
 The Southern Colonies, extending in their founding from 
 that of Virginia in 1607 to that of Georgia in 1732, exhibit 
 in their legislation on immigration the progress and develop- 
 ment of over a century of experience. However, the phil- 
 anthropic motives apparent in the founding of the latter col- 
 ony were virtually a return to old ideas, and the partial failure 
 of Oglethorpe's venture might have been predicted from a 
 study of similar attempts more than a century before. Like 
 the Middle Colonies, this group was naturally attractive to 
 European immigrants ; an abundance of fertile land, naviga- 
 ble rivers, and a genial climate, nothing was wanting to en- 
 courage immigration but liberality in the granting of lands 
 and an equable government. With but few exceptions these 
 artificial inducements were offered. i^V 
 
 The commercial idea seems to have been the predominat- 
 ing motive in the settlement and management of these colo- 
 nies, and consequently their efiforts to foster and encourage 
 im.migration show a marked activity, especially in case of 
 the Carolinas and Georgia. 
 
 Owing to natural conditions, moreover, a system of agri- 
 culture was begun and developed, which created a great de- 
 mand for servant labor, and accordingly a considerable part 
 of theirimmigratimT_con^^ this class. Indeed, so great 
 
 was the demand that unscrupulous contractors, encouraged 
 by imperial legislation, imported thousands of convicts and 
 
 sold them to the planters. There was undoubtedly a de- 
 56 [182 
 
183] OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 57 
 
 mand for this labor, but it is worthy of note that the major- 
 ity of the colonists did not favor their importation and 
 yielded only to superior sanction. But worse than this even, 
 at least in its later results, was the importation of negroes. 
 Slave labor was found to be profitable, and, early in the his- 
 tory of the provinces, negro slaves were introduced, and 
 continued to be imported during the entire period under 
 consideration. A few attempts were made at restriction, 
 but for the most part demand regulated the supply. 
 
 Thus, while many of the best people who immigrated to 
 America settled in the Southern Colonies, it must be con- 
 fessed that, taken as a mass, their immigration was inferior 
 to that of the ruritan and Middle Colonies. •• There was, 
 relatively, a greater number of actual settlers among the im- 
 migrants to the northern groups ; men with families, who 
 brought some substance and whose efforts from the begin- 
 ning were directed toward the acquirement of land and the 
 establishment of homes. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 It is commonly supposed, and in fact passes as a matter of 
 history, that the Province of Maryland was founded as an 
 asylum for the Roman Catholics. Whatever may have been 
 the primary motive of the originator, it is quite evident that 
 it was not his intention to establish the colony exclusively for 
 that class. The circumstances indicate that if any of the 
 American Colonies were instituted with the idea of religious 
 toleration, Maryland seems to have been that colony. 
 
 The charter was a compact between Charles I., a member 
 of the English Church, and Lord Baltimore, a Roman Cath- 
 olic. From a study of the instrument itself and a considera- 
 tion of the circumstances attending the grant, it seems fair 
 to infer that to the confessors of each faith it was a pledge 
 of religious freedom. Lord Baltimore had strenuously en- 
 
5 8 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [184 
 
 deavored to secure a large body of colonists, and, as shown 
 by the papers of " Father White," a Catholic priest who ac- 
 companied the first settlers, the invitation of Calvert was in 
 no way limited to the members of his own church. Indeed, 
 the writings of this good father indicate that a majority of 
 the original colonists were Protestant, for, in reporting to 
 Rome, he speaks with evident disappointment about most of 
 the settlers being " hercticks." ' 
 
 In 1656, one of Lord Baltimore's friends wrote that "the 
 population of the colony was composed of Conformists, 
 Non-conformists, and a few Papists,"^ It is well to bear 
 these facts in mind in studying the anti-immigration laws 
 of Maryland, for, as has been intimated, the opinion is 
 quite general that the Catholics were subsequently perse- 
 cuted and restricted from settling in the very colony which 
 had been founded exclusively for their benefit. For several 
 years Catholics and Protestants lived together without any 
 serious trouble. 
 
 The offers of Lord Baltimore to new settlers were most 
 generous, and Maryland grew rapidly from the start. The 
 Assembly took an active interest in the material progress of 
 the colony, and at one of its early sessions passed a meas- 
 ure entitled " An Act for the better peopling of this Prov- 
 ince," 3 and in other ways cooperated with the Proprietary 
 and the Governor in their efforts to attract settlers. 
 
 In 1649 was passed an act granting toleration to all be- 
 lievers ; but a few years later, during the Commonwealth 
 period, it was enacted that none who professed the " Popish 
 Religion " would be protected.'* This was only five years 
 
 ' Maryland Hist. Soc. Collection, 
 ' Maryland Archives, v, 133. 
 •"•Maryland Assembly Proceedings, 1637. 
 * Maryland Archives, 340. 
 
185] OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 59 
 
 after the Toleration Act, and is the first intimation of any 
 hostility between the two sects. Although it was soon re- 
 pealed and no definite act against the Catholics was passed 
 until the beginning of the eighteenth century, yet it is appa- 1 
 rent that indirectly the Protestants did everything short of 1 
 enacting such a measure to discourage immigrants of that \ 
 religious faith. 
 
 During these years the Assembly and Council were very 
 active in encouraging the coming of foreigners by passing 
 numerous naturalization and denization acts, whereby set- 
 tlers from European countries were made secure in their 
 land titles and given protection of the laws.^ 
 
 About 1667 the establishment of the Church of England 
 must have been proposed, for Lord Baltimore writing to the 
 King concerning the colony referred to the act concerning 
 freedom of conscience as a great inducement to settlers, and 
 added, " The greatest part of the inhabitants of that Prov- 
 ince, three-fourths at least, consist of Presbyterians, Inde- 
 pendents, Anabaptists, and Quakers, those of the Church of 
 England and those of the Romish Church being fewest; so 
 that it will be a difficult task to draw such persons to consent 
 
 ^ Maryland ^rf/«'z/^j, iii, 476, (^Council Proceedings) : "Whereas Isaac Bedlo, 
 late of England, and of Dutch parents, having transported himself into this province* 
 here to inhabit and as a free denizen freedom land to him and his heirs to pur- 
 chase; know ye that we willing to give due encouragemetit to the subjects of that 
 nation do hereby declare him, the said Isaac Bedlo to be a free denizen of this 
 our province." 
 
 These Acts of Denization conferred civil but not political rights. The naturali- 
 zation laws were in the hands of the Lower Assembly. A good instance is 
 the Petition of Naturalization, 1674 (Maryland Assembly Proceedings, ii, 461). 
 After stating the places of their birth and the fact that they were induced to 
 come to Maryland through the offers of the Governor as regards land, the petition 
 reads: "but for that your petitioners are not of British or Irish descent may to 
 their great loss, prejudice or hindrance, as also to the deterring of divers others of 
 the said foreign nations aforesaid from coming into this province and by conse- 
 quence foreslowing the people of this province with useful artificers and handi- 
 craftsmen, etc., etc." . . . The petitioners ask that they be naturalized. 
 
5o COL ONIAL IMMIGEA TION LAWS [ 1 86 
 
 to a law which shall compel them to maintain ministers of a 
 contrary persuasion."' 
 
 The Act of Establishment was not finally passed until 
 1692, and from that time the Assembly Proceedings are 
 filled with Acts curtailing the religious and political rights 
 of Catholics, and in many other ways restricting their fur- 
 ther immigration. The first step was taken in 1704, when 
 priests were forbidden to hold any public service or engage 
 in the work of education;^ and in 171 5 the Assembly placed 
 a fine of 20 s. on every Irish servant brought into the prov- 
 ince, its avowed purpose being " to prevent the too great 
 importation of Papists." ^ A few years later an additional 
 tax of 20s. was laid on Irish Catholic servants, and provision 
 made for the better discovery of that class by means of cer- 
 tain test oaths, ^ and members of that faith were also rendered 
 ineligible to hold ofifice and disfranchised. 
 
 It is, of course, very apparent that all these laws were but 
 an echo of the Parliamentary Statutes concerning Roman 
 Catholics. Lord Baltimore had been deprived of the gov- 
 ernment of his colony, and for several years Maryland was 
 under the general regulations of the other Royal Provinces. 
 Thus the Catholics of Great Britain fared worse than their 
 persecuted Protestant brethren on the continent. The latter 
 found a warm welcome in America, while the former were 
 harassed both at home and in the colonies. During the 
 French and Indian War the feeling against the Catholics was 
 very bitter. A double tax was placed on their lands, and in 
 
 ' Maryland Archives, v, 133. 
 
 * Maryland Laws, 108. 
 
 * Ibid., 108. As every insurrection or suspected plot was charged to the CathO' 
 lies, and as the same law taxing Irish servants placed a duty on rum, it may be 
 observed that the famous alliteration Rum, Romanism and Rebellion might have 
 been more appropriately and perhaps less disastrously associated at that time than 
 at a more recent period of our history. 
 
 * Bacon's Laws, 171 5. 
 
ig^] OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 6 1 
 
 many ways their position in the colony was rendered haz- 
 ardous and their further immigration discouraged.' 
 
 There was, however, another kind of immigrant of a far 
 more objectionable type than the Catholics, namely, the 
 convicts from English prisons. Maryland, like the other 
 colonies, was unwilling to accept them, and considered it 
 gross injustice on part of the home government to ship that 
 class into the colony. The custom of transporting felons 
 into the Provinces had been in vogue many years before 
 Parliament gave it legal sanction. As early as 1676, the 
 Maryland Assembly passed an act forbidding the importa- 
 tion of any convicts and imposing a fine of 2,000 lbs. of 
 tobacco on any person violating its provisions.^ 
 
 A few years after the Parliamentary Act regulating the 
 transportation of felons,3 the authorities of Maryland again 
 considered the " alarming evil," and the question of again 
 imposing a duty was referred to the Attorney-General of 
 England, who reported adversely. '^ The Assembly then 
 contented itself with passing some minor regulations, which 
 apparently had no effect in restricting the traffic, for they 
 were brought in by the hundreds every year.s 
 
 Slave labor was found to be profitable in Maryland, and 
 negroes were brought into the colony soon after its settle- 
 ment. As in case of the other Southern Colonies, a tax was 
 
 ^ Maryland Archives, vi, 496. Much of the correspondence of Governor Sharpe 
 relates to this subject. The worthy Governor was apparently very much annoyed 
 by the continual rumors concerning the Catholics, sent over to England by the 
 Protestants; for at the close of one of his letters he writes: " I must say that if I 
 were asked whether the conduct of the Protestants or Catholics in this province 
 had been most unexceptionable since I have had the honor to serve your Lord- 
 ship I should not hesitate to answer in favor of the latter." 
 
 ' Maryland Archives, ii, 540 (continued by several surviving acts until 1692). 
 "4 Geo. I, c. II. 
 *Chalmer's Opinions, 2,^^' 
 ^ Douglass' Summary. 
 
62 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS [i88 
 
 frequently levied on negroes brought into the colony, but for 
 purposes of revenue rather than as restrictive measures.' 
 A report to the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, 
 made about 1720, computes the population as " consisting 
 of 35,000 whites and 25,000 blacks, from whence it appears 
 that the inhabitants have doubled in fifteen years, and al- 
 though some part of this increase may have been occasioned 
 by the transportation of the rebels from Preston, by the pur- 
 chase of slaves, as well as by the arrival of convict persons 
 y and many poor families who have transported themselves 
 from Ireland, yet it must be allowed that Maryland is one of 
 the most flourishing provinces upon the continent of Amer- 
 ica." 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 The settlement of Virginia may be traced to a curious 
 mixture of social, economic and missionary motives. When 
 the first Assembly met in 1619, the population of this colony 
 consisted of a few middle class English gentlemen, either 
 owners or managers of extensive plantations, and several 
 hundred male servants, collected from various parts of Brit- 
 ain, and of doubtful reputation. A resident of the colony 
 during that period complains " that the people sent to in- 
 habit in Virginia are most of them the scum and ofif-scouring 
 of the nation, vagrants or condemned persons, or such others 
 as by the looseness and viciousness of their lives have dis- 
 abled themselves to subsist any longer in England.' This 
 condition of affairs improved after the first twenty years ; 
 
 'In 1 67 1 a curious law was placed on the Statute Book of Maryland, entitled 
 " An Act for encouraging the itnpprtation of negroes and slaves." It stated that 
 many persons were discouraged from purchasing slaves lest the slaves by embrac- 
 ing Christianity became free. For the reassurmg of all such the law set forth that 
 Slavery and Christianity were entirely compatible, and that the owner still retained 
 his property even after the baptismal ceremony. 
 
 ^ Neill's Virginia Carolorum, 278. 
 
ivv.-Rsiirz ] 
 
 
 189] (^^ THE SOUTHERN COLONIES $3 
 
 more free settlers began to immigrate, bringing their fam- 
 ilies and establishing homes of their own. 
 
 The charter of 1609 gave the Company permission to 
 transport British subjects, or any strangers who were willing 
 to swear allegiance to the Crown ; but all persons who " af- 
 fected the superstitions of the Church of Rome " were di- 
 rectly prohibited from settling in the Province.' Thus the 
 colony was placed on the basis of intolerance from the very 
 beginning. Not' were they less strongly opposed to the im- 
 migration of "Dissenters or Non-conformists." As early as 
 1631, an act was published making the " customs, canons 
 and constitution of the Church of England" obligatory on 
 all the inhabitants, and some years later a company of Non- 
 conformists were banished from the Province and took refuge 
 in Maryland."* 
 
 The poor Quakers found these sunny climes almost as in- 
 hospitable as the bleak shores of New England. A fine of 
 ;^ioo was imposed on any person bringing a Quaker into 
 the colony, and those already settled there were ordered to 
 depart on pain of punishment.^ 
 
 During the first fifty or sixty years of the existence of the 
 colony there seems to have been no specific act on the part 
 of the Assembly to encourage immigration. Several highly 
 drawn accounts of the Province had been published and cir- 
 culated in England and on the continent, which served to 
 attract many settlers, and persons in England who were com- 
 mercially interested were likewise active in schemes for in- 
 creasing the population.4 In 1671, however, the House of 
 
 ' Charters ami Coftstitution of the U. S., 1900. 
 
 ^ Hening's Statutes, i, 277. 
 
 ■' Hening's Statutes, ii, 131. A well known writer of Virginia says: "If no 
 capital punishment took place here as in New England, it was not owing to the 
 moderation of the church or the spirit of the legislature." 
 
 * Virginia Carolorum, 128. 
 
64 COL OaWIal immigra tion la WS [ 1 90 
 
 Burgesses took action in the matter, and their records for that 
 session contain a Naturalization Act, the specific purpose of 
 which was to encourage immigration." Nine years later 
 they testified to the efificiency of this method in speedily 
 "settling and peopling" the Province, and in order to facili- 
 tate matters, they conferred power on the Governor to grant 
 letters of naturalization.^ 
 j Governor Berkley's answers to the Commissioners of 
 Trade in 1670 give an idea of the immigration of this 
 period: "Yearly," he says, "there comes in about 1500 
 persons, of which the most are English, few Scotch and 
 fewer Irish, and not above two or three shiploads of negroes 
 \ in seven years." 3 
 
 At the end of a Tariff Act, passed in 1691, appears a 
 clause to the effect that, in order to encourage the immigra- 
 tion and settling of sea-faring men in the colony, a half-rate 
 duty on liquors would be allowed them.-^ The success of 
 this device is not indicated in any subsequent documents. 
 
 The beginning of the eighteenth century found Virginia, 
 like her neighboring colonies, anxious to secure a share of 
 the European immigrants who were flocking to America. 
 The Assembly realized that generosity in the granting of 
 land was an effective measure, and in the "Land Act" of 
 1705 the following inducements were offered: 
 
 («) Every person, male or female, "imported" and com- 
 ing into the colony free had the right to 50 acres of land. 
 
 ' Hening's Statutes, ii, 289. " Whereas nothing can tend more to the advance- 
 ment of a new plantation either to its defence or prosperity, nor nothing more 
 add to the glory of a prince than being a gracious master to many subjects." * * 
 Strangers to become naturalized by petitioning the Grand Assembly, taking oath 
 of allegiance to His Majesty. The fee was 800 lbs. tobacco to the Speaker and 
 400 lbs. to the clerk. 
 
 '^ Hening, ii, 464. 
 
 " Virginia Carolorum, 335. 
 
 * Hening's Statutes, iii, 91. 
 
igj-l OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 65 
 
 (^) Every Christian servant, on becoming free, had the 
 right to 50 acres. 
 
 {c) Every person "importing" a wife or children under 
 age had a right to 50 acres for the wife and each child. 
 
 (d) A charge of 5s. for every 50 acres was the only fee 
 imposed.' 
 
 The subsequent records show that these generous offers 
 brought a large "influx" of settlers, not only from Europe, 
 but from other colonies. 
 
 As in the case of Maryland, the importation of convicts 
 gave the colonists much anxiety. The Assembly Records 
 indicate that numerous complaints were made by the inhabi- 
 tants, and in 1671 it was decreed that " no person trading 
 with Virginia, either by land or sen, should bring in any 
 'jail-birds.'"' The records contain numerous acts prohibit- 
 ing at first, and later restricting and regulating the importa- 
 tion of convicts, but for the most part they were disallowed 
 by the home authorities, on the ground that they conflicted 
 with the Parliamentary Statute on that subject.^ 
 
 An Act of 1699 is indicative of the religious intolerance 
 of the times. A tax of 20s. was imposed on every servant 
 brought into the colony not born in England or Wales. The 
 object as set forth in the title purported to be the raising of 
 funds to build a capitol, but one cannot avoid suspecting 
 
 ' Hening's Statutes, iii, 304. 
 
 ^ Hening's Statutes, ii, 509. 
 
 •'"A contemporarj' writer states that many thousands of these convicts were im- 
 ported into Maryland and Virginia during the period 1700-1775. An interesting 
 study in sociology might be made if materials were availalile for tracing the sub- 
 sequent development of this class. Pruf. Shaler believes that the " poor whites," 
 of the south are largely the descendants uf the convicts imported into the southern 
 colonies. However, after witnessing, in our own time, the marvelous assimilating 
 qualities of American life and the civilizing tendencies of American opportunities 
 it is not improbable thnt a large part of them were absorbed into the industrious 
 and respectable portion of the community. 
 
^^ COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS [192 
 
 that there were other motives in the case, not the least of 
 which was the restriction of Irish CathoHc servants.' 
 
 The final struggle for supremacy in America between the 
 English and French had the same effect in Virginia as in the 
 other colonies, an intensified dislike for Catholics, especially 
 the Jesuits, so that additional safeguards were provided to 
 prevent their coming into the Province, This feeling was so 
 strong that a company of neutral French Catholics, who 
 had been conveyed into the colony by the home authorities, 
 were ordered to be removed and their transportation paid for 
 out of the public purse. It was believed that their presence 
 would greatly endanger the peace and safety of the colony.' 
 
 THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA. 
 Virginia held much the same relation to the Carolinas as 
 did Massachusetts to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The 
 first settlers in that territory were emigrants from Virginia, 
 and for many years she maintained a position as feeder to 
 the less populous settlements south of her boundaries. In- 
 deed, one of the aims of the proprietors seems to have been 
 to attract settlers from their northern neighbors ; for they 
 made such conditions in regard to the disposal of lands that 
 many emigrants from the older colonies found their way 
 thither. New England, Virginia and the Barbadoes each 
 had a share in furnishing the population of the Carolinas. 3 
 
 ' Hening, iii, 193. 
 
 * Hening's Statutes, vii, 35, 39. 
 
 ^ " The Lords Proprietors do immediately grant to all persons that come thither 
 to inhabit, the following terms: For each master or mistress of a family 50 A., and 
 for every able-bodied son or man-servant 50 A., and the like to each daughter and 
 woman-servant that is marriageable, and for every child, or man or woman ser- 
 vant under the age of sixteen years 40 A. and 50 A., to each servant so soon as 
 time of service with their master is expired : which land is to be enjoyed by them 
 and their heirs forever, upon payment of only one penny an acre quit-rent to the 
 Lords Proprietors, which is not to commence until two years after their first taking 
 up of land." Moore's North Carolina, i. 
 
ip3] OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES 67 
 
 The earliest recorded legislation was effected about 1669, 
 apparently with a view to increase the population. One of 
 these laws forbade the collection of debts from settlers who 
 had contracted them before coming to the colony ; a some- 
 what doubtful expedient, it would seem, to increase their 
 population by the addition of dishonest debtors.' A limited 
 exemption from taxation was likewise extended to new set- 
 tlers. These and other liberal measures were passed in order 
 to attract any who might chafe under the restraints of the 
 older colonies, but unfortunately the class thus appealed to 
 were not the most desirable, and for a long time the people 
 of Virginia referred to Carolina as "Rogues' Harbor." 
 
 The records of the northern and southern settlements of 
 Carolina are inextricably confused for many years. Al- 
 though they each had separate assemblies, yet they were 
 under the same proprietors, and at times under the same 
 governor; and not until the early years of the i8th century 
 are the two governments clearly distinguished from one 
 another in the reports sent over to England. 
 
 The Huguenot emigration, following the Revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes, helped to swell the population of the Caro- 
 linas, especially the southern territory. The Proprietors were 
 especially anxious to secure these industrious, worthy people 
 as settlers, and were active in securing their removal to South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Several thousand of these " refugees " fled to England, as 
 did the Palatines later; and, through public and private aid, 
 
 * Moore's History of North Carolina, i. " The Gov't of this Province having 
 for many years been a very disorderly one, this becomes a place of Refuge for all 
 vagabonds, whom either debt or breach of the laws have driven from the other 
 colonies on the continent; and Pirates having too frequently found entertainment 
 amongst them." 
 
 Report of Com. Trade and Plant's (1721) Doc. Col. Hist. N. J', v, 609. See 
 Reply to Mr. John Fiske by Mr. Wheeler, of N. C. (Pamphlet, Harvard Coll. 
 Library.) 
 
58 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA T ION LAWS T 1 94 
 
 many of them were transported to the colonies. North Caro- 
 lina attracted several shiploads of these settlers by generous 
 grants of lands ; and the southern province had an agent in 
 England, through whose efforts several hundred families were 
 induced to settle on the fertile lands of that colony.' 
 
 In 1693, one Christopher de Grafenried, through arrange- 
 ments with the Government of North Carolina and by the 
 aid of money from the English Government, transported six 
 hundred Swiss Palatines to the colony. They soon became 
 a flourishing community, and attracted others of their exiled 
 countrymen.' 
 
 With the overthrow of the Proprietary Government in the 
 Carolinas, both colonies put forth strenuous efiforts to in- 
 crease their population by securing a portion of the Euro- 
 pean immigrants who were then flocking to the New World. 
 The printed records show frequent evidences of this activity. 
 but unfortunately seldom give more than the bare title of the 
 acts, as, e.g.: " An Act to encourage the further settlement of 
 this Province." 3 The full text would no doubt disclose many 
 varied and interesting expedients for the encouragement to 
 immigration. 
 
 About 1732 Monsieur Jean Pury, of Neuchatel, Switzer- 
 land, visited North Carolina, and made a proposition to set- 
 tle a colony of his countrymen in the Province. The As- 
 sembly highly approved of the scheme, and, to assist him in 
 the execution of it, they passed an act offering him a re- 
 ward of ii^400 upon his bringing over to Carolina one hun- 
 dred effective men. The Government further promised to 
 furnish provisions, tools, etc., for three hundred persons for 
 one year. * 
 
 ' Baird's Huguenots in America. ^ Rupp's Collections. 
 
 ^Records 0/ the Assembly of N. C. 
 
 * This is but one of many similar instances in the history of the Carolinas. 
 There seems to have been considerable rivalry among the colonies in the matter 
 of securing new settlers. See Rupp's Collections, 
 
RA f? 
 
 air TMl' 
 
 
 jgr-J C>i^ r/Zi? SOUTHERN COLONIES 69 
 
 The first permanent settlement in South Carolina was 
 made about 1670 by immigrants from England and a few 
 from Barbadoes. These were supplemented by others from 
 Scotland, and, in 1679, as has already been stated, two ves- 
 sels sent out under the patronage of the English Government 
 brought a number of French Protestants. No considerable 
 group of settlers arrived from 1696 until the overthrow of 
 the Proprietary Government about 1719, when vigorous 
 measures were adopted for securing a large immigration. 
 Contracts with private agents were made, bounties offered, 
 free lands assigned, and many other inducements offered to 
 allure settlers.' 
 
 The plan of offering bounties to " importers," as the im- 
 migration agents were designated, seems to have been quite 
 popular. As early as 1678 an Act was passed offering a 
 
 ' The printed records of So ;th Carolina, as in case of her northern neighbor, 
 give only the bare titles of many of these acts. From 1696 until 1741 the follow- 
 ing are to be found : 
 
 ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 1696. An Act for the encouragement of the better settlement of South Carolina. 
 An Acifor making aliens free of this part of this Province, and for granting 
 liberty of conscience to all Protestants. 
 
 1698. An Act for the encouragement of the importation of white settlers. 
 
 1 71 2. An Act for the better strengthening of this Province by increasing the 
 number of inhabitants thereof. 
 
 1 713. An Act to encourai;e strangers to come to this port by making Sullivan's 
 Island more remarkable by building a new outlook and buoying the channels. 
 
 1 7 1 6. An Act to encourage the importation of white servants into this Province. 
 
 1 71 7. An Act to gra7it several privileges, exemptions and encouragements to 
 such of his majesties protestant subjects as are desirous to come into and settle in 
 this Province. 
 
 1719. An Act. for the encouragement of planting, and the relief of debtors. 
 
 1725. An Act to encourage persons to become settlers of the Province of South 
 Carolina. 
 
 An Act for the better settling and strengthening of this Province. 
 
 1735. An Act to provide a full supply for subsisting poor Protestants coming 
 from Europe and settling his Majesty's New Toivttships in this Province, 
 
 1 741. An Act for further securing his Majesty's province of South Carolina, 
 by encouraging Protestants to become settlers therein. 
 
70 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LA VVS [ 1 96 
 
 bounty for the importation of white servants, Irish excepted, 
 with a view to counteracting the large number of negroes. 
 The law further provided that these white servants should be 
 distributed among the planters in the ratio of one to every 
 six negro slaves. A few years later the Assembly passed a 
 similar measure, directing the Treasurer to pay £,\\ to "im- 
 porters " for each healthy male British servant, not a crimi- 
 nal, between twelve and thirty years of age. 
 
 The report of Governor James Glen, about 1750, to the 
 Lords of Trade and Plantation indicates the number and 
 general character of the immigration into South Carolina. 
 He writes, "We have had betwixt two hundred and three 
 hundred Germans withi^n these three or four years and about 
 the same number of families from other provinces. As num- 
 bers of people well employed make the riches and strength 
 of every country, I am determined from the time of the pro- 
 clamation of peace to observe very particularly the increase, 
 either in the natural way, or by the accession from other 
 provinces, or by the accession of foreigners . . . which I 
 think may be several thousands in a few years." ' 
 
 The close of the French and Indian War witnessed activity 
 on the part of the Carolinas and Georgia ^ to attract settlers. 
 The Assembly of South Carolina appropriated a large fund 
 for bounties to foreign Protestants and settlers from the 
 British Isles who should come to the colony within three 
 years.3 Georgia passed a similar law, and was surprised 
 when the measure was disallowed by the King and Privy 
 Council.'* 
 
 ' Documents of South Carolina, 92. The historian Ramsay is authority for the 
 statement that in a single year one thousand families resorted to South Carolina 
 from the other colonies, driving their live stock overland before them. 
 
 * The Records of Georgia concerning immigration follow so closely the policy 
 and measures of the Carolinas that it has not been deemed worth while to give 
 them in detail. 
 
 *S. C. Historical Records, ii, 75. * Jones' Georgia, ii, 120. 
 
igy-\ OF THE SOUTHERN COLONIES yi 
 
 We learn from a letter of Governor Bull, written about 
 1764, that the South Carolina Act attracted a large number 
 of settlers from the various countries of Europe. The Euro- 
 pean immigration to the Carolinas and Georgia during these 
 years was largely from Scotland and Ireland, although many 
 Germans found homes in those provinces. It is undoubtedly 
 true that the three Southern colonies, at the breaking out of 
 the revolution, had a greater number of foreign-born inhabi- 
 tants than any other three of the colonies. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The colonization of the Southern colonies extended in \ 
 point of time over both the periods which have been noted, 
 namely, the first half of the seventeenth century, when civil 
 and religious exclusiven ess was the prevailing condition, and j 
 the latter half of the century, when a more Jiberal^spirit ob- 
 tained. Our study of Virginia and the Carolinas reveals 
 these two phases of colonization quite as strikingly as do 
 Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Maryland began well, but 
 did not long maintain the generous policy of her founder. 
 The plans for the founding of Georgia do not reveal that 
 wisdom which an experience of a century and a quarter in 
 colonization ought to have given the English. The first set- 
 tlers were men who had been unable to cope with their en- 
 vironment at home, and numerous failures in the past at- 
 tested to the utter futility of sending such persons to begin 
 a colony in the New World. 
 
 Oglethorpe's ideas were philanthropic but impracticable. 
 He demonstrated theoretically that those who at home were 
 unable to earn a living and who were a positive incubus 
 upon the fortunes and industry of others, might in a new 
 country maintain themselves in comfort and enrich the 
 mother country with the product of their labor ; but a few 
 years of experience taught him that individual effort and in- 
 
72 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS ["i^g 
 
 dustry on part of the settlers were more essential to the suc- 
 cess of a colony than the most elaborate plans, be they never 
 so charitably conceived and admirably carried out. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND TOWARD IMMIGRATION 
 
 The attitude of England toward colonial immigration has 
 been more or less apparent, as we have traced the movement 
 from the American side. We have noticed how the early 
 charters not only gave British subjects permission to leave 
 the country (for without such permission of the Crown no 
 subject had a legal right to leave the kingdom), but also al- 
 lowed the colonization companies to transport all foreigners 
 who might be willing to swear allegiance to the English 
 Crown. The charter of 1628 granted permission to the 
 Massachusetts Bay Company to transport British subjects to 
 New England, but with the proviso " that none of the said 
 persons be such as shall be especially restrained," ' and pre- 
 vious to 1622 James I. had, on application from the Plymouth 
 Company, ordered that none should frequent the coast of 
 New England but the " adventurers and planters of that 
 Company." 
 
 The removal of the Puritans stirred up some opposition. 
 Limits on the emigration were proposed, but never took 
 practical effect. In 1634 Henry Dade, writing to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury concerning the departure of so many 
 citizens, says, " trade will be overthrown, and persons in- 
 debted will fly into New England and be accounted religious 
 men for leaving the kingdom." ^ Other contemporary writers 
 took note of the migration, and complained that such a num- 
 
 ' Chalmers' Opinions, 91. 
 
 * Weeden's Economic History of N. /:., 91. 
 
 199] 73 
 
74 COLONIAL IMMIGRA TION LA WS [20O 
 
 ber of persons of " good abilities " should be allowed to 
 " depart the country." Thus, while the emigration of the 
 Puritans was a relief to the king and his archbishop, yet many 
 looked on the withdrawal of so many persons as a serious 
 loss to England. It is apparent from some of the pamphlet 
 literature of the times that there was a considerable opposi- 
 tion to colonies. The mercantile doctrines of the 17th cen- 
 tury attached a high value to a dense population, as an ele- 
 ment of national strength ; and it was argued that colonies 
 would weaken the parent country by lessening the popula- 
 tion. The experience of Spain was frequently mentioned as 
 an argument against colonization. Indeed, as late as 1760, 
 it was questioned whether colonies were worth the trouble 
 and expense necessary to govern and protect them. 
 
 Until the reign of James II. the welfare of the colonies, as 
 regards new settlers, was for the most part in the hands of 
 the proprietors and land companies; but, with the ambitious 
 design of that monarch to unite all the colonies under one 
 government, the idea seems to have developed of using the 
 resources of Parliament and the crown to foster foreign im- 
 migration. Under William III. and Anne this idea took 
 practical shape. Parliament voted considerable sums of 
 money to assist Protestant refugees from France, Germany 
 and other countries, in making their way to the English 
 colonies. These efforts were due partly to political and 
 commercial motives, and partly to the genuine interest 
 which England took in championing the Protestant cause 
 in Europe. 
 
 The colonies had already passed naturalization laws, both 
 special and general, and the provincial governors and their 
 councils had assumed the right to issue letters of denization. 
 This latter, however, was forbidden by an order in council, 
 February 5, 1699. 
 
 Many of the refugees who first sought England were nat- 
 
20 1 ] ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND 75 
 
 uralized or granted letters of denization before leaving that 
 country. It was frequently urged upon the home govern- 
 ment to pass a general naturalization act for the colonies ; 
 but it was not until 1740 that such a measure was enacted. 
 Until the accession of George III. the British Government 
 was very active in fostering foreign immigration ; and nothing 
 but the fear of offending the home authorities restrained 
 some of the colonies from taking steps to restrict the influx 
 of foreign settlers. 
 
 The fears of the English colonists, however, were soon 
 allayed. They came to realize that instead of introducing 
 a hostile element into their midst the foreigners had proved 
 an element of strength. 
 
 The home authorities realized this too ; and, accordingly, 
 when the spirit of resistance began to show itself they en- 
 deavored to restrict immigration, as the first repressive meas- 
 sure under the policy of colonial discipline. The first move 
 in this direction was to disallow certain acts of the colonial 
 assemblies for the encouragement of immigration.' Gov- 
 ernors were instructed from time to time to grant no lands 
 to new settlers. These prohibitory instructions increased 
 until 1773, when all naturalization was abruptly ended by an 
 order in council, forbidding the colonial governors to assent 
 to any bills of that nature;^ and about the same time they 
 were instructed to issue no warrants to surveyors, nor to pass 
 any patents for lands, nor to grant any licenses to private 
 persons to purchase lands from the Indians.^ 
 
 Not finding these prohibitory regulations sufficient. Parlia- 
 ment, in 1774, passed a bill for securing the " dependency" 
 of the colonies, the preamble of which sets forth that " the 
 great increase of people in the said colonies has an imme- 
 diate tendency to produce independency,'' after which in the 
 
 1 Documents relating to Colonial History of N. K, vii, 474. "^Ibid., x, 411. 
 * New Jersey Archives, x, 402. 
 
76 COLONIAL IMMtGRATlON LAWS [202 
 
 first clause it proceeded to enact what was practically an 
 anti-immigration regulation. All persons leaving Great 
 Britain and Ireland for America with intent to settle were 
 obliged to pay ^^50 per capita (children and servants not 
 exempted) ; while ship-masters were liable to a fine of ;^ioo 
 for transporting any who took passage without complying 
 with the regulations.' The former restrictions had prac- 
 tically shut ofT foreign immigration, and thus the develop- 
 ment of the colonies from an outside population was for the 
 time being at an end. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence sets forth the feeling of 
 the colonists in this matter. One of the charges against the 
 King is that he endeavored to prevent the populating of 
 " these states," by forbidding naturalization and issuing 
 other restrictive measures. The primary object of these 
 regulations was of course to estabHsh the supremacy of 
 Parliament. Had matters turned out dififerently, had the 
 colonists yielded and continued in their dependency, we 
 cannot but believe that England would have repealed or 
 at least greatly modified these measures. From the begin- 
 ning of her attempts at colonization down to the years just 
 preceding the Revolution, the policy of England toward 
 foreign immigration was one of enlightenment and generos- 
 ity. She took steps to restrict it only when her own sov- 
 ereignty was questioned. 
 
 'American Archives (i774-75)> 673. 
 
PART III REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIONALITIES 
 
 The foregoing sketch of Colonial Immigration Laws has 
 indicated to some extent the race and national elements that 
 entered into their immigration and their distribution among 
 the colonies. A more detailed study of this part of the sub- 
 ject seems properly to belong to our essay, and will prove 
 interesting and instructive to those who would understand 
 the varied social and religious characteristics presented by 
 the American colonies at the close of the colonial period. 
 
 It will be unnecessary, therefore, in this connection to do 
 more than to mention the English settlers. With but one or 
 two exceptions, they were the founders of the colonies and 
 so formed the basis of all secondary immigration. As we 
 have seen, almost the entire population of New England was 
 English; and in most of the other colonies they outnum- 
 bered, or at least equaled, the settlers of any other single 
 nationality. 
 
 Next to the English the Germans were probably the most 
 numerous. They first began to immigrate to the colonies, 
 in appreciable numbers, during the closing years of the 17th 
 century. About 1764 the troops of Louis XIV overran that 
 part of Germany called the Palatinate, a country lying on 
 both sides of the Rhine. Religious persecution followed 
 and thousands of Germans were practically driven from their 
 homes. We have already shown how England championed 
 203] 77 
 
78 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS [204 
 
 the Protestant cause, and extended a general invitation to 
 the persecuted Protestants of all Europe to find homes for 
 themselves in her American colonies. The well-intentioned 
 but disastrous attempt to settle a colony of Germans in New 
 York, and the various plans to divert them to Virginia and 
 the Carolinas, have already been described ; but Pennsyl- 
 vania was the central point of settlement for the Germans. 
 A few of that nationality were among the Quaker colonists 
 who founded Philadelphia ; and these, from time to time, 
 were joined by others. About 1715 the larger immigration 
 set in, and for the next forty years a constant stream of Ger- 
 mans landed at the ports of Pennsylvania. The bulk of this 
 comparatively enormous immigration, as already stated, 
 settled in the Quaker colony, but many of the original immi- 
 grants and thousands of their children migrated to Maryland 
 and Virginia. The Carolinas also attracted large numbers 
 of these settlers ; and about the middle of the century, when 
 these colonies began to offer generous inducements in grant- 
 ing lands, large bodies of settlers gave up their homes in 
 Pennsylvania, and, driving their flocks and herds before 
 them, made their way overland to the Southern colonies. 
 The only considerable settlement of Germans in New Eng- 
 land was made at Waldoborough, in Maine, about 1739, and 
 there are still many descendants of those settlers to be 
 found in that State. 
 
 Next to the Germans the Scotch, Scotch- Irish and Irish 
 contributed the largest number of immigrants to the 
 American colonies. After the execution of Charles I., 
 the Scots took up the cause of his son, with the under- 
 standing that, if successful, he would protect them in 
 their religious worship. Cromwell's victories soon put an 
 end to their hopes, and several hundred Scottish prisoners 
 were shipped to the colonies. A ship load of them were 
 transported to Boston and became worthy citizens of the 
 
205 J CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIONALITIES jg 
 
 Puritan colony, though they seem to have made no visible 
 impression on the community-life. The restoration of 
 Charles II. failed to improve the condition of the Scotch. 
 Presbyterianism was abolished and Episcopacy established 
 in its stead. Stringent laws were enacted, soldiers quartered 
 on the defenceless inhabitants, and fines and imprisonment 
 inaugurated to suppress their former worship. This severe 
 ordeal drove thousands from their native country into 
 Ireland ; many emigrated to America, and years later a 
 large proportion of the descendants of the former sought 
 homes in the colonies, being known as the Scotch-Irish. 
 
 New York was not especially inviting to these immigrants 
 on account of the established church of that colony. Still a 
 considerable number of them located there during the sec- 
 ond quarter of the eighteenth century, being planted on the 
 lands along what was then the frontier of the colony. 
 
 Pcnn and eleven other Quakers, several of whom were 
 Scotch, purchased East Jersey, with the view to securing as 
 extensive an immigration from Scotland as possible. Nor 
 were they disappointed ; many from that country and from 
 the north of Ireland were induced to immigrate and settle in 
 that section. In point of virtue, education and piety the 
 Jersey settlers were the equal of any that sought these shores. 
 Bancroft says "they gave the colony a character which 150 
 years have not effaced." Princeton University is a monu- 
 ment to their intellectual capacity. But, as in case of the 
 Germans, Pennsylvania received the bulk of the Scotch and 
 Irish immigration. The records show that nearly 6,000 
 Irish servants arrived in that colony in 1729, and that up to 
 the middle of the century the arrival of settlers from these 
 countries was in the thousands each year. The provincial 
 historian Proud writes, " They have flowed in from the north 
 of Ireland in very large numbers." They settled chiefly in 
 the eastern and middle parts of the colony. Cumberland 
 
8o COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS r2o6 
 
 county was almost wholly peopled with these emigrants. 
 But they or their descendants also migi^ated in large num- 
 bers, the western parts of Maryland, Virginia and the Caro- 
 linas receiving the principal share. 
 
 Besides these migrations, many Scotch and Irish settlers 
 removed to the Southern colonies directly from their native 
 countries. About 1690 Maryland received two hundred 
 Scotch-Irish, who located near the present site of Washing- 
 ton. Five or six hundred Scotch settled near Fayetteville, 
 N. C, in 1749, and there was a second arrival from the same 
 country some six years later,' As early as 1684 a small 
 company of Scotch settled in South Carolina. About 1737 
 multitudes of husbandmen and laborers from Ireland em- 
 barked for that Province.^ Indeed, Ramsay is authority for 
 the statement that of all European countries Ireland fur- 
 nished South Carolina with the greatest number of her in- 
 habitants. 3 Georgia, too, was partially colonized by the 
 Scotch and Irish, some of whom emigrated from Pennsylva- 
 nia, although a shipload of Scotch Highlanders went directly 
 there soon after the settlement of the colony. 
 
 The immigration of the French Huguenots to America is 
 an exceedingly interesting event in the history of the col- 
 onies. Their name is associated with many romantic efTorts 
 to plant settlements on their own account during the sixteenth 
 century ; and their arrival in the English colonies began 
 much earlier than is generally supposed. Massachusetts 
 passed an act in 1662 permitting a company of French 
 Huguenots to reside in that colony ; and later a considerable 
 number of them were granted lands and made a settlement 
 at Oxford in that Province. Rhode Island also received a 
 company of these exiles. New York at an early date be- 
 
 ' Hodge's Con's History of the Presbyterian Church in America, i, 66. 
 
 'Bancroft, ii, 173. 
 
 * Ramsay, i, 20; ii, 23, 548. 
 
207] CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIOXALITIES gj 
 
 came an asylum for the French Protestants. Even before 
 the English conquest of New Netherlands its population 
 contained a considerable number of Huguenot refugees 
 who had fled to Holland and thence made their way to the 
 Dutch colony. New Rochelle on the East River was settled 
 almost wholly by these immigrants ; and Gov. Dongan, 
 writing about 1687, mentions the arrival of Huguenot fam- 
 ilies in considerable numbers. Wm. Penn had agents in 
 London for the purpose of inducing some of these desirable 
 settlers to locate in his province; but not many availed 
 themselves of his ofTer. 
 
 Every great European event affected the fortunes of the 
 colonies. Especially is this observable in case of the Revo- 
 cation of the Edict of Nantes. Thousands of Huguenots left 
 France for Holland and England. Collections were taken up 
 for them in the latter country, and Parliament assisted in 
 their transportation to America by a generous grant of 
 money. In 1679 Charles H. sent two shiploads of them to 
 South Carolina, in order to introduce the cultivation of 
 grapes, olives and the silkworm. This was only the begin- 
 ning of a considerable stream of French Huguenots who 
 continued to pour into the Carolinas down to the time of the 
 Seven Years' War. 
 
 The foregoing nationalities constituted the important for- 
 eign elements that entered into the colonial immigration. 
 There were, however, other nations represented in lesser 
 degrees. The Dutch were numerous enough in eastern New 
 York to give that region a characteristic social atmosphere. 
 The Swedes once had a flourishing settlement on the Dela- 
 ware ; but their numbers were too small to make any impres- 
 sion on the colonial population. A small colony of Polish 
 Protestants during the early years of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury made their way to New Jersey and settled in the valleys 
 of the Passaic and Raritan. A few Jews found homes in 
 
i' ^^ <» Tan * „ 
 
 82 COLONIAL IMMIGRATION LAWS [208 
 
 some of the larger cities, and in Newport were numerous 
 enough to support a synagogue.' 
 
 Briefly summarizing the distribution of these nationalities, 
 we observe that the Germans as a rule settled along the head- 
 waters of the rivers flowing into the Chesapeake and Dela- 
 ware Bays, and along the eastern slope of the Appalachian 
 mountains, as far south as Georgia. The bulk of the Scotch- 
 Irish entered the colonies at the same ports as the Germans, 
 namely, those on the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays and 
 their tributaries, and located in about the same sections and 
 their future migrations took practically the same direction. 
 The French Huguenots made the seaboard districts of the 
 Carolinas their main point of immigration, though thty have 
 left their impress on the other colonies in which they settled. 
 
 Such were the race elements and their general distribution 
 in the colonies. It is not the purpose of this essay to enter 
 into any detailed sociological study which this part of the 
 subject naturally suggests; but a brief presentation of a few 
 of the more obvious conclusions may not seem amiss. For 
 general excellence first place must be awarded to the English 
 settlers themselves. Nor was their supremacy due wholly, 
 or in any considerable part, to external circumstances, such 
 as priority of settlement or the backing of a strong power in 
 Europe. When we consider the elements of character which 
 experience time and again proved to be essential to the suc- 
 cessful development of the American colonies, it is clearly 
 apparent that in none of the other nationalities were these 
 traits found so completely developed as in the Anglo- 
 Saxon settlers. The moral and religious nature of this 
 race, its characteristic perseverence, its spirit of personal 
 freedom and independence, its inherent capacity for indus. 
 
 ' In this sketch I have omitted speaking of the negroes, although their presence 
 as an element in the colonial population has proved to be the most important and 
 insolvable factor in the problem. 
 
209] CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIONALITIES 813 
 
 trial and political life, easily placed the English settler ahead 
 of those from other countries. 
 
 The Germans surpassed them in laborious thrift and fru- 
 gality ; but they lacked the political and commercial instincts 
 which centuries of training gave to the Englishman. A well- 
 tilled farm and a well-filled barn completely filled the horizon 
 of the Teuton immigrant ; he did not aspire to build cities, to 
 found colleges or to create governments. The French Hue- 
 guenots excelled in simple and sincere piety, in refinement 
 of character, in the ability to cultivate and enjoy the luxuries 
 of life. But they lacked the indomitable energy of the Eng- 
 lishman who pushed his way into the forests, felled the trees, 
 tilled the ground, and overcame all obstacles by force or tact. 
 The French immigrant seldom isolated himself from his fellows. 
 For the most part he settled in a town or village, usually 
 near the coast where the settlements were older, and where 
 there were more opportunities for social intercourse. 
 
 The Scotchman and Scotch-Irishman probably came near- 
 est to the Englishman in his general equipment, mental and 
 physical, for the life of an American settler. He was brave 
 and courageous, inured to hardships and capable of enduring 
 the life of a frontier colonist, or, if settled in a town, of sharing 
 in the political and intellectual life of the community. The 
 Scotch-Irish rivalled the English themselves in all those 
 essential elements which went to make up the typical colo- 
 nist. They took their places among the leaders in all the 
 activities of colonial life. The Irish immigrant, on the other 
 hand, was obviously no competitor of the Anglo-Saxon 
 settler. His former life had not trained him in that spirit of 
 self-reliance and independent action which the successful 
 colonist needed. He was poorly fitted to begin the life of 
 an independent farmer, especially when thrown on his own 
 resources. As a hired laborer he proved himself capable 
 and industrious, and usually began life in his American 
 home in that capacity. 
 
$4 COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS \2\Q 
 
 But comparisons aside, the unprejudiced student can have 
 naught but praise for the foreign immigrants who came to 
 America during the colonial period. Taken as a whole, it is 
 doubtful if the world had ever witnessed an immigration 
 superior to this in point of numbers and character. "They 
 were not composed of the rich and efTeminate, nor the poor 
 and profligate. They rather came from that middle class of 
 society which occupies the happy medium between sordid 
 poverty and overgrown wealth. They knew that whatever 
 of comfort or enjoyment they might hope for in the New 
 World was only to be attained by their own labor and in- 
 dustry." They were not an ignorant class ; many of them 
 were well educated, and their general average of learning was 
 high for the age in which they lived. They were a religious 
 people and believed in Christianity, not as a philosophy but 
 as a life. But why eulogize them further? Much that is best 
 and noblest in America is a monument to the superior 
 mental and physical constitution, the vigor, and deep relig- 
 ious faith of the foreign immigrants. 
 
 It would seem, on first thought, that the intermixture of 
 nationalities that settled in the colonies could have had but 
 one possible result, an inextricable confusion of languages, 
 customs and institutions, a continual clashing of race pre- 
 judices and religious beliefs. But no such result took place. 
 Indeed, the rapidity with which these people blended has 
 excited the wonder of later historians. One reason for this 
 phenomenon is to be found in the fact that notwithstanding 
 the different nationalities represented yet, broadly speaking, 
 they all belonged to the same race-stock or at least to two 
 branches closely related ; namely, the Teutonic and Celtic. 
 A rough classification of the colonists under these heads 
 would be as follows : 
 
 English ^ Scotch > ^ ,,. ^ ,5 Teutonic. 
 
 German J Teutonic. ... ^Celtic. French^ 
 
 i Irish > C Celtic. 
 
 Dutch } 
 
2 1 1 ] CHAR A C 7'£/?/S7VCS OF NA 7 lONALITIES g 5 
 
 It has been demonstrated time and again that these 
 nationaHties when occupying the same country amalgamate 
 readily ; that they possess inherent instincts for industrial 
 and political life, and, though differing widely in language, 
 customs, and political institutions, yet when brought in con- 
 tact have that affinity for one another that they easily blend 
 into a composite whole or readily accept the life and institu- 
 tions of the stronger nation/ This, it seems to me, explains 
 to a considerable extent the rapid and easy fusion and 
 blending of these divers nationalities. 
 
 There were of course other causes, chiefly external. 
 Among the most important of these was the economic en- 
 vironment. Generally speaking, the new settlers were im- 
 mediately dependent upon their own exertions for a liveli- 
 hood. This fact made it necessary that they should adjust 
 themselves to the conditions, and as the economic life of 
 the colonists was comparatively simple, it meant a rapid 
 development toward uniformity. Again the political and 
 social environment tended to the same end. It was a new 
 world ; each settler seemed to feel that he was helping to 
 build up a new civilization. Though perhaps largely un- 
 conscious of it, they had common aims, common hopes, 
 and consequently common ties. The foreigner who set- 
 tled in Massachusetts or in Virginia felt very different from 
 one who settled in England, although the former was sur- 
 rounded by people as purely English as those of the mother 
 country itself. The difference lay in the social environment. 
 In England he was a stranger and had no interest beyond 
 that of obtaining a livelihood ; while in America every oppor- 
 tunity was open to him, every interest appealed to him, and 
 
 ' See Essays of Henry Cabot Lodge on Immigration. Recent political writers 
 have noted this fact in connection with the immigration from 1820 to 1880, and 
 have pointed out the danger of permitting too great an influx of Latin and Slavic 
 races that have formed a very considerable part of our immigration since 1880. 
 
86 COL ON I A L IMMIGRA TION LAWS f 2 1 2 
 
 he felt that his brother colonist, though of another nation- 
 ality, had similar opportunities and interests. In such 
 an atmosphere national ties or even race lines counted for 
 little. 
 
 Again, these were British colonies, and the ofBcial lan- 
 guage was of course English. In order fully to enjoy their 
 opportunities, the foreign immigrants had to learn the Eng- 
 lish language. In some few instances they maintained their 
 own schools, but for the most part their children were 
 taught in the English language. Thus a generation sufficed 
 to obliterate to a great degree race prejudices and foreign 
 languages. 
 
 Broadly speaking, the foreign immigrants contributed 
 nothing to the forms of colonial political institutions. Aside 
 from the Dutch manors on the Hudson and a few politico- 
 religious communities in Pennsylvania, the political institu- 
 tions, both local and provincial, were Anglo-Saxon, modi- 
 fied, of course, by economic and physical environment, but 
 losing or gaining nothing in form from the thousands of for- 
 eigners who immigrated to the colonies. That their pres- 
 ence greatly modified the character of legislation is of 
 course obvious. 
 
 When we pass to the social life of the colonists, the influ- 
 ence of the foreign element is strongly marked. The Ger- 
 man immigrant could easily accept the English political in- 
 stitutions of Pennsylvania, but not so readily could he adopt 
 the social life of the Quaker settlers. He dressed differ- 
 ently, he ate dififerent food, his home, his habits and his 
 physique were all different ; and this, to a considerable ex- 
 tent, was true of the other foreign settlers. Obviously the 
 general aspect of the social life of the colonists was far from 
 that of the Anglo-Saxon. Physical environment alone 
 would have greatly modified it, and, when subjected to the 
 influence of such a variety of nationalities, the result was a 
 composite product, distinctly American. 
 
213] CHAR A C TERIS TICS OF NA TIONALITIES g 7 
 
 Turning now to the religious character and institutions of 
 the colonists, it is apparent that the large immigration of for- 
 eigners exerted a powerful influence. Though they were 
 chiefly Protestant, yet as a rule they held different beliefs 
 and worshipped under different forms from those of the 
 English settlers. The Germans represented a variety of 
 sects, but were mostly Lutherans ; the Scotch and Scotch- 
 Irish were Presbyterians, and the Huguenots were divided 
 among several sects. The presence of so many denomina- 
 tions made religious toleration almost a necessity. The let- 
 ters of the Provincial Governors in Maryland and Virginia 
 reveal the embarrassment of their position in endeavoring to 
 maintain a State religion. The power to uphold such an in- 
 stitution came from without ; the spirit of the colonists them- 
 selves was against it, and it was largely owing to this diver- 
 sity of religious persuasions that the movement began which 
 led to the final separation of Church and State. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 In conclusion, the question naturally suggests itself: to 
 what extent did the efforts of the colonists serve to foster or 
 to restrict immigration. When we consider the character and 
 extent of foreign immigration into the colonies, and realize 
 its important and far-reaching effects on the destiny of 
 America, the query, how far the colonists (say from 1660) 
 had it in their power to modify the result, and how far they 
 are to be praised or blamed for the outcome, is one of some 
 interest. 
 
 As has before been intimated, England abandoned her 
 policy of exclusion from the time of the first permanent set- 
 tlements. The way, therefore, for a foreign immigration was 
 opened from the very beginning. The founding of the colo- 
 nies, outside of New England, was largely prompted by com- 
 mercial motives, and the companies or proprietors were 
 anxious to secure settlers, regardless of their nationality. 
 Thus, when the first popular assemblies met and the colonists 
 began to exercise some discretion in their own affairs, there 
 were already enough foreigners in the country to make an 
 appreciable factor in the community life. In other words, 
 America has been a cosmopolitan community from the very 
 beginning. The efforts of the colonies to foster immigration 
 were unquestionably effective in increasing it. The experi- 
 ence of Pennsylvania and some of the Southern colonies 
 during the first half of the eighteenth century clearly demon- 
 strate that proposition. Yet, it must not be forgotten that 
 
 the colonies were dependent; and, as we have seen from our 
 88 [214 
 
2 I r "I CONCL USION 89 
 
 Study, it is to the English government and to the Proprietors 
 of the provinces, that the larger share of credit must be 
 given for fostering immigration. 
 
 But, although the colonists were not free to deal with the 
 matter as they saw fit, they did occasionally pass, and might 
 to a much greater extent have passed, measures considerably 
 restricting or discouraging this movement. That they rarely 
 assumed such an attitude, but on the contrary welcomed and 
 encouraged the coming of the foreigners must forever redound 
 to their credit. 
 
 Omitting, for the moment, the Catholics, the anti- immi- 
 gration laws passed by the colonial legislatures were, broadly 
 speaking, very meagre in their efTect as restrictive or prohi- 
 bitive measures. While they effected in many instances a 
 temporary check or diverted certain immigrants to other 
 sections than the ones they might otherwise have chosen, 
 yet, considering the colonies as a whole, it is not apparent 
 that they produced any appreciable effect. It must not, 
 however, be inferred from this statement that these laws 
 were therefore useless. On the contrary, they were an im- 
 portant factor in the development of colonial life. It was on 
 account of these restrictions and prohibitions that the differ- 
 ent colonies were enabled to maintain their characteristic 
 existence and preserve their political and religious ideals. 
 It was because of these measures that there has been a 
 Massachusetts and a Virginia. 
 
 The rigorous measures of the New England colonies, 
 practically excluded immigrants from other nations than 
 England, and even limited those from the mother country 
 to persons of a definite political and religious belief. While 
 they have called forth bitter denunciation, it was by virtue 
 of these very measures that New England has given to the 
 country the ideals of government and social order that 
 have made America what she is to-day, and has preserved 
 
go COL ONIAL IMMIGRA TION LAWS \2\6 
 
 until the present day the characteristic local institutions of 
 the Puritans, 
 
 Turning now to the Catholics, it is at once evident that the 
 colonial regulations against them were very effective. Had 
 encouragement been offered or even had there been no pro- 
 hibitions placed on their immigration, it is not an unfair as- 
 sumption to make that a very considerable number of that 
 class would have found their way to the colonies. As it was, 
 the drastic measures along various lines that were passed 
 against them practically amounted to an exclusion. 
 
 There are those who consider this the most important fact 
 ift colonial history, and assert that America was possible 
 only on a Protestant basis. What effect the presence of a 
 large Catholic population distributed throughout the colo- 
 nies or of a strong Catholic colony might have had during 
 the critical periods of American history in the eighteenth 
 century is only a matter of conjecture. So much is certain 
 during one period : they were hostile to George III., and 
 American independence had no more staunch supporters 
 than the Catholics of Maryland. 
 
 Their political independence secured, and vast tracts of 
 unsettled lands added to their boundaries, it is not surprising 
 that the American people again looked to Europe for settlers 
 to people these extensive domains ; and so they continued 
 to offer free homes and political privileges to foreign immi- 
 grants. There were, however, some who favored restrictions 
 on further immigration. To their minds the problem had 
 changed since 1760, A new government had been created 
 with institutions essentially unlike anything the European 
 immigrant had ever experienced. It was feared that they 
 would misunderstand and misuse the liberties granted to 
 them. 
 
 Jefferson, writing to a friend about 1783, touched on the 
 problem thus : " But are there no inconveniences to be 
 
217] CONCL USION 9 1 
 
 thrown into the scale against any advantage expected from 
 a multiplication of numbers by the importation of foreigners? 
 It is for the happiness of those united in society to harmon- 
 ize as much as possible in matters which of necessity they 
 must transact together. Civil government being the sole 
 object of forming societies, its administration must be con- 
 ducted by common consent. Every species of government 
 has its specific principles. Ours, perhaps, are more peculiar 
 than those of any other. It is a composition of the freest 
 principles of the English Constitution with others derived 
 from natural right and natural reason. To these nothing 
 can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute mon- 
 archies. Yet, from such we are to expect the greatest 
 number of immigrants. They will bring with them the 
 principles of the governments they leave, or if able to throw 
 them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentious- 
 ness, passing, as usual, from one extreme to the other. 
 These principles, with their language, they will transmit to 
 their children. In proportion to their numbers, they will 
 share legislation with us. They will infuse into it their 
 spirit, warp or bias its direction, and render it a heterogen- 
 eous, incoherent, distracted mass." ' 
 
 Thus reasoned the " Sage of Monticello." In such a 
 menacing aspect did the problem of immigration present 
 itself to his mind. It is rather curious that the question 
 did not come up in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. 
 Jefferson was out of the country at the time, but there must 
 have been others who shared his views. If there were any 
 such, they apparently took no steps to embody their ideas 
 in the Constitution ; and the new government was wisely or 
 unwisely launched on its career free to the nations of the 
 world. 
 
 ' Notes on Virginia, 152. 
 
VITA 
 
 The author of this dissertation, Emberson Edward Proper, 
 was born in Western Pennsylvania, Aug. 14th, 1864, and 
 received his early education in the public schools of Titus- 
 ville. Pa., graduating from the High School in 1882. After 
 spending the three following years in North Dakota, 
 engaged at first in teaching and afterward in business, he 
 returned to his native state, and in the fall of 1885 entered 
 Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., from which institution he 
 was graduated with the class of '89. During the years '90 
 and '91 Mr. Proper was employed as instructor in the 
 Titusville High School, and in the fall of '91 entered the 
 Graduate School of Harvard University, taking courses in 
 History, Economics and Administrative Law, He received 
 the degree A. M. in '92, and was appointed to a Thayer 
 Scholarship and also Assistant in Colonial History under 
 Prof. Channing. Mr. Proper was a member of the Harvard 
 Graduate Club, the International Law Club, and the 
 Seminar in American History and Institutions. 
 
 During the campaign of 1892, in co-operation with Mr. 
 Dallinger, now a state senator of Massachusetts, Mr. Proper 
 compiled and published the " Voters' Pocket Manual," 
 which enjoyed a wide circulation throughout the country. 
 In 1894 he was elected instructor in history in Murdock 
 Academy, Winchendon, Mass., and the following year was 
 appointed to the chair of history in Lawrence Univ., Canton, 
 N. Y. In 1897 Mr. Proper came to New York, and for the 
 
 (93) 
 

 V 
 
 94 
 
 y/TA 
 
 past three years has held the position of teacher of history 
 in the Boys' High School, Brooklyn. 
 
 Mr, Proper entered Columbia University in the fall of 
 1899, taking courses under Professors Mayo-Smith, Good- 
 now and Osgood. The foregoing dissertation was begun, 
 while a student at Harvard University, as a study of the 
 attempts of the colonists to restrict and prohibit immigra- 
 tion ; but so much interesting material, on the side of the 
 encouragement of immigration, came to light that it was 
 deemed advisable to treat the subject in both phases under 
 the title of " Colonial Immigration Laws." 
 
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