States of
America--was simply a league of independent provinces, as were the
thirteen states under the "Articles of Confederation," each jealously
guarding its own privileges and rights against any encroachments of the
general government. That central body was in reality no government at
all. It was composed of a board of commissioners consisting of two
church members from each colony, who were to meet annually, or oftener
if required. Their duty was to consider circumstances and recommend
measures for the general good. They had no executive or independent
legislative powers, their recommendations becoming laws only after they
had been acted upon and approved by the colonies. The doctrine of state
supremacy was controlling. Though it was not a government, or at least
only a government in embryo, yet the student can see from these
separate colonies, jealous of their rights, the outcoming of the
United States.

Of that famous league, Massachusetts assumed control because of her
greater population and her superiority as a "perfect republic." It
remained in force more than forty years, during which period the
government of England was changed three times. When trouble arose
between King Charles I. and Parliament, the New Englanders, being
Puritans, were in sympathy with the roundheads. In 1649 King Charles
lost his throne and life, and England for a brief time became a
commonwealth. Unlike the Virginians, the New Englanders sympathized with
the English republicans, and found in Oliver Cromwell, the ruler of
England next to the beheaded Charles I., a sincere friend and protector.
The growth of the colony of Massachusetts was particularly healthy. A
profitable commerce between the colony and the West Indies, now that the
obnoxious navigation laws were a dead letter, was created. That trade
brought bullion, or uncoined gold and silver, into the colony, which
led, in 1652, to the exercise of an act of sovereignty on the part of
the authorities of Massachusetts by the establishment of a mint. It was
authorized by the general assembly, in 1651, and the following year
"silver coins of the denomination of threepence, sixpence and
twelvepence, or shilling, were struck. This was the first coinage
within the territory of the United States."

There lived in Boston at this time a family named Stevens. The head of
the family was a white-haired old man named Mathew, whose dark eyes and
complexion indicated southern blood. He was a fost