s their
first care to constitute a society, by passing the following Act:

"In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal
subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, etc., etc., Having
undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith,
and the honour of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first
colony in the northern parts of Virginia; Do by these presents solemnly
and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil body politick, for our better
ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid: and by
virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws,
ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, from time to time, as
shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the
Colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience," etc. *i

[Footnote i: The emigrants who founded the State of Rhode Island in
1638, those who landed at New Haven in 1637, the first settlers in
Connecticut in 1639, and the founders of Providence in 1640, began in
like manner by drawing up a social contract, which was acceded to by all
the interested parties. See "Pitkin's History," pp. 42 and 47.]

This happened in 1620, and from that time forwards the emigration went
on. The religious and political passions which ravaged the British
Empire during the whole reign of Charles I drove fresh crowds of
sectarians every year to the shores of America. In England the
stronghold of Puritanism was in the middle classes, and it was from the
middle classes that the majority of the emigrants came. The population
of New England increased rapidly; and whilst the hierarchy of rank
despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother-country, the colony
continued to present the novel spectacle of a community homogeneous in
all its parts. A democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had
dreamt of, started in full size and panoply from the midst of an ancient
feudal society.

Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans--Part II

The English Government was not dissatisfied with an emigration which
removed the elements of fresh discord and of further revolutions. On the
contrary, everything was done to encourage it, and great exertions were
made to mitigate the hardships of those who sought a shelter from the
rigor of their country's laws on the soil of America. It seemed as
if Ne