5. New towns may join the three original towns and live under the same government.

A Model Constitution.—This first constitution became the model for all constitutions that have since been adopted in America. Everywhere in the United States and in other republics the teachings of Thomas Hooker and Roger Ludlow have shown men how to form good governments. To-day the names of these two men are honored by lawmakers throughout the civilized world.

1. Why did the first colonists find it necessary to make laws? 2. What is a constitution?

3. Where was the first written constitution made? When?

4. How did states and nations grow in the Old World?

5. In those states who made the form of government?

6. If the people were dissatisfied, what must they do?

7. Why did the early settlers of Connecticut leave England? 8. Who was their leader?

9. What had his experience proved to him?

10. What happened in Connecticut in 1637 ?

11. What did Thomas Hooker say to the General Court in Hartford in 1638? What were his reasons?

12. How was the first constitution made?

13. What were its most important principles?

14. For what did this constitution become the model?

CHAPTER VIII

LIFE IN THE COLONIES

Trouble with the Indians.-Many of the colonists had trouble with the Indians and had to fight for their lives. and for their homes. The Indians lived partly by raising corn, beans, squash, and other vegetables, but they got most of their food by hunting and fishing. When the white people settled on their hunting grounds and their corn lands, many of them were angered and wanted to kill the settlers.

In Virginia the Indians were at first friendly to the settlers and sold them food. Then one of the Indian chiefs thought the whites were taking too much land for their settlements, and he planned to kill them all. In 1622 the Indians suddenly murdered 347 men, women, and children in a single day. The settlers made war on the Indians and destroyed many of their villages and warriors. In 1644 the Indians again tried to destroy the whites and murdered 500 persons. This time the settlers drove them into the forest far from the English settlements.

In Connecticut a tribe of Indians called the Pequots tried to destroy the first settlers. Ninety men from Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor marched to their village and destroyed nearly all the tribe.

The worst of the Indian troubles was King Philip's War. King Philip was chief of a Rhode Island tribe. He persuaded nearly all the New England Indians to make war on the settlers. Terrible fighting followed in the Plymouth Colony and in the Connecticut Valley. Twelve

settlements were destroyed, and many hundred settlers were killed. But so many of the Indians were slain that they never again made war on the New England settlers.

Some of the Indians treated the white people as friends. They were kind to Roger Williams in Rhode Island and

to the first settlers in Maryland. In Pennsylvania also William Penn had peace with the Indians. He paid them for their land, made them presents, and treated them like brothers. They in turn were friendly to the Quakers as long as Penn lived and for years afterward. In most of the other colonies the early settlers kept their guns close at hand for fear of Indian attacks.

Occupations.-In New England most of the people who lived on the sea-coast were engaged in fishing, building ships, and trading with the West Indies. Their ships carried horses, oxen, meat, and fish to the West Indies and brought back sugar and molasses. Some of the ships went to Africa for slaves which were sold to farmers in the Southern Colonies.

Most of the people who lived inland were farmers. They planted corn, potatoes, and garden vegetables, and also raised many horses and cattle.

Every family had a loom, and the women wove cloth from flax raised on the farm or from wool brought from England or cut from their own sheep. In all the colonies the women also span their own yarn and thread.

In New York most of the people were traders who engaged in many kinds of commerce. They did a good business in furs, lumber, and flour.

The people of the Middle Colonies were farmers. They also did much trading at Philadelphia, which was then the most important city in the country. All the Southern Colonies, except South Carolina, raised and sold tobacco, which was sent in ships to Europe. In South Carolina rice was the main crop of the settlers.

Slavery. In 1619 a Dutch ship brought twenty negroes from Africa and sold them to the farmers of Virginia as slaves. This first cargo was so profitable that more slaves were soon brought to America and sold in all the colonies. This was the beginning of slavery in this country. The

Northern and Middle colonies bought only a few slaves, because none but the wealthy could afford to keep them for servants; but in the South the farmers bought thousands of them to work in the tobacco and rice fields.

Religion.-A large part of the people were very religious. Many of them had come to America in order to have the kind of church they wished. In New England a minister had come with almost every group of people that formed one of the early settlements. At first most of the colonies

tried to have only one church and to keep out settlers who would not attend that church.

Maryland and Rhode Island gave the people religious freedom. Pennsylvania and Georgia treated all sects. kindly, and after a time all the colonies saw that this was the right thing to do. Every man wanted to choose his own church and to be free himself, and it was seen to be best to give others the right to choose for themselves. The ministers were usually the best educated men in the settlements and everybody went to them for advice.

Education. At first there were only a few free schools. The ministers taught the children reading, writing, and