utward estate." The settlers increased in number, prospered
financially, and scattered to the outlying districts; and Plymouth the
town and Plymouth the colony ceased to be identical. Before 1640, the
latter had become a cluster of ten towns, each a covenanted community
with its church and elder. Though the colony never obtained a charter
of incorporation from the Crown, it developed a form of government
arising naturally from its own needs. By 1633 its governor and one
assistant had become a governor and seven assistants, elected annually
at a primary assembly held in Plymouth town; and the three parts,
governor, assistants, and assembly, together constituted the governing
body of the colony. In 1636, a revision of the laws and ordinances was
made in the form of "The Great Fundamentals," a sort of constitution,
frequently interspersed with statements of principles, which was printed
with additions in 1671. The right to vote was limited at first to those
who were members of the company and liable for its debt, but later the
suffrage was extended to include others than the first-comers, and in
1633 was exercised by sixty-eight persons altogether. In 1668, a voter
was required to have property, to be "of sober and peaceable
conversation," and to take an oath of fidelity, but apparently he was
never required to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown. So rapidly
did the colony expand that, by 1639, the holding of a primary assembly
in Plymouth town became so inconvenient that delegates had to be
chosen. Thus there was introduced into the colony a form of
representative government, though it is to be noted that governor,
assistants, and deputies sat together in a common room and never divided
into two houses, as did the assemblies in other colonies.

The settlement of Plymouth colony is conspicuous in New England history
because of the faith and courage and suffering of those who engaged in
it and because of the ever alluring charm of William Bradford's _History
of Plimouth Plantation_. The greatness of the Pilgrims lay in their
illustrious example and in the influence they exercised upon the church
life of the later New England colonies, for to the Pilgrims was due the
fact that the congregational way of organization and worship became the
accepted form in Massachusetts and Connecticut. But in other respects
Plymouth was vastly overshadowed by her vigorous neighbors. Her people,
humble and simple, were without importance i