A Short History of the English Colonies in America Quotes

“On the towns rested the whole political structure, and from them came the capacity for practical self-government, the readiness for federation, and the keen sense of local rights. Among all the institutions of the Puritans the town government is pre-eminent, not only as a distinctive mark, but for its strength, usefulness, intrinsic sense, and political importance.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“A company of Irish Presbyterians came out, and Wentworth, brushing aside the old claims which seemed about to revive, gave them lands on the Merrimac, where they founded the thriving town of Londonderry.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“While he thus gained general hatred, he also won universal contempt by his debaucheries and excesses, by his debts, and by his habit of dressing as a woman. He was plunged in one long quarrel with his Assemblies, both in New York and New Jersey, plotted with Dudley, of Massachusetts, to destroy the free - charter governments of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and at last excited such loud and strenuous opposition that he was recalled, but could not return to England until his accession to the Earldom of Clarendon released him from prison, into which he had been thrown for debt.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“At the same time they turned over the whole province to the city of Amsterdam; but the effort was vain; the colony of the south continued feeble and languishing, and the temporary success against Lord Baltimore was soon clouded by events at the north. In the charter which Winthrop obtained from Charles II., Connecticut and New Haven were consolidated, and all Long Island and the northern New Netherlands were declared within the Connecticut boundaries.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“So insignificant were the towns, that in earl times legislation was necessary to compel them to have "ordinaries" for passing strangers. Some of the houses in the New Jersey villages were of wood, but brick was the most usual material.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“In Philadelphia the disorders inaugurated by young Penn broke out at short intervals, assuming not infrequently the proportions of a dangerous riot.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“With matters in this unpromising state, new burdens were thrust upon South Carolina. The pirates, who in earlier days had been welcomed in Charleston, now ruined the commerce of the city, and sapped the prosperity of the province. They were under the lead of Teach, "Black Beard," whose head-quarters were in North Carolina.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“THE colonial history of Maryland offers two points of especial interest. Maryland was the first proprietary government in America, and she lays claim to the distinction of having been the first state where religious toleration not only prevailed in practice, but was established by law.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“Sources of interest and excitement were not lacking during the season. If politics ran high, as in the years when revolution was preparing, society could gather at the capitol and listen to the classic oratory of Richard Henry Lee, or the fervid speeches of Patrick Henry, dressed in his suit of peach-blossom velvet, and defying King George, to the great alarm of the conservative land-owning gentry.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“The houses of the ruling and representative class were very different from those of the great majority of Virginians. When the traveller came to one of the widely separated gaps in the forest and found himself upon the borders of a great plantation, the estate presented the appearance of a small village. In the centre stood the house of the planter, around which were clustered the offices, all separate from the main building, the tobacco-houses, and the numerous huts of the negro quarters. In the fields the slaves were seen sawing wood and making clearings, or cultivating tobacco. Not far away the herds of cattle were at pasture, and the whole scene recalled an English farm.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“At the beginning of the eighteenth century a large number of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians came out, who, with Germans from the middle colonies, pushed out to the frontier, and did much to open up the western country.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“The fluctuations in tobacco caused the first conflict with England, brought on by the violence of the clergy, and paved the way for resistance.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“But this was not enough to check the English. The French stronghold, owing largely to the efforts of Mr. Pitt and the British navy, was doomed, and the brave garrison, deserting their hopeless post, permitted Forbes to march in unmolested, and name his conquest Fort Pitt.”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America

“It may be possible to make the political history of every colony in turn picturesque and exciting;”
― Henry Cabot Lodge, A Short History of the English Colonies in America