as members of civil fociety-and as Chriftians. As mere men," they hold, that "they must follow nature, or they will fink beneath the level of the beafts of the field,"—and yet they affert that "all the righteoufnefs found in the best of mere human nature is but a filthy rag"-That as members of civil fociety they muft fubmit to the laws, or if thought too fevere, they may avoid them by a removal from the ftatc."-That as Chriftians they muft be under the direction of Christ, and do whatfoever he commands them; and these are his commandments, "that we believe in him, and love one another."

This denomination of Univerfalifts, are not very numerous in the United States, fome are in Pennfylvania-fome in different parts of New-York, Connecticut, Rhode-Ifland, and New-Hampfhire; but the body of them are in Boston, and Gloucester, in Maffachusetts. They have feveral conftituted churches, which are governed by an ecclefiaftical conftitution, formed in 1789 by a convention of their minifters at Philadelphia,

SHAKERS.

This is a fmall and fingular feet of Chriftians, which have fprung up in America as lately as 1774; when a few of this feft went from England to New-York, and there being joined by a few others, they fettled at Nifqueunia, above Albany, which is their principal fettlement: a few others are scattered in different parts of the country,

The head of this party, while fhe lived, was Anna Leese, ftyled the Elec Lady, Her followers afferted, that she was the woman spoken of in the twelfth chapter of the Revelations, and that the spoke feventy-two tongues: and although thefe tongues were unintelligible to the living, fhe converfed with the dead who understood her language. They alledged alfo that fhe was the mother of all the Elect; that fhe travalled for the whole world that no bleffing could defcend to any perfon but only by and through her, and that in the way of her being poffeffed of their fins, by their confeffing and repenting of them, one by one, according to her direction.

Their leading doctrinal tenets, as given by one of their own denomination, are, "That the firft refurrection is already come, and now is the time to judge themfelves. That they have power to heal the fick, to raise the dead, and caft out devils. That they

*This woman afferted, that fhe fhould never die; but notwithstanding her predictions and affertions to the contrary, fhe died in 1784; and was fuc ceeded by one James Whitaker, who alfo died in 1787. Jofeph Meacham, who has attained the reputation of a prophet among them, is at prefent their leader.

1

have a correspondence with angels, the fpirits of the faints and their departed friends. That they fpeak with divers kind of tongues in their public affemblies. That it is lawful to practife vocal mufic with dancing in the Chriftian churches, if it be prac tifed in praifing the Lord. That their church is come out of the order of natural generation, to be as Chrift was; and that those who have wives are as though they had none. That by thefe means heaven begins upon earth, and they thereby lofe their earthly and fenfual relation to Adam the first, and come to be tranfparent in their ideas, in the bright and heavenly visions of God. That fome of their people are of the number of the hundred and forty-four thoufand, who were redeemed from the earth, and were not defiled with women. That the word everlafting, when applied to the punishment of the wicked, means only a limited period, except in the cafe of thofe who fall from their church; and that for fuch there is no forgiveness, neither in this world nor that which is to come. That it is unlawful to fwear, game, or use compliments-and that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are abolished. That Adam's fin is not imputed to his pofterity-and that the doctrines of election and reprobation are to be rejected."

The difcipline of this denomination is founded on the fuppofed perfection of their leaders. The Mother, or the Ele&t Lady, it is faid, obeys God through Chrift. European elders obey her. American labourers, and common people obey them: while con. feffion is made of every fecret thing, from the oldeft to the youngeft. The people are made to believe that they are feen through and through in the gospel glass of perfection, by their teachers, who behold the ftate of the dead, and innumerable worlds of fpirits good and bad.

Thefe people are generally instructed to be very industrious, and to bring in according to their ability, to keep up the meeting. They vary in their exercifes. Their heavy dancing, as it is called, is performed by a perpetual fpringing from the house floor, about four inches up and down, both in the mens and womens apartment, moving about with extraordinary tranfport, finging fometimes one at a time, fometimes more.

This elevation affects the nerves, fo that they have intervals of fhuddering, as if they were in a strong fit of the ague, th fometimes clap hands and leap fo as to ftrike the joifts above thei heads. They throw off their outfide garments in th

and spend their ftrength very cheerfully this way. fpeaker often calls for attention; when they ar fome harangue, and then fall to dancin

that their dancing is the token of t

Vol. I.

3 E

of the new Jerufalem ftate, and denotes the victory over fin One of the poftures which increafes among them, is turning round very swift for an hour or two. This, they fay, is to fhow the great power of God.

They fometimes fall on their knees and make a found like the roaring of many waters, in groans and cries to God, as they fay, for the wicked world who perfecute them.*

JEWS.

The Jews are not numerous in the United States. They have, however, fynagogues at Savannah, Charleston, (SouthCarolina) Philadelphia, New-York, and Newport. Befides those who refide at thefe places, there are others fcattered in different towns in the United States.

The Jews in Charleston, among other peculiarities in burying their dead, have thefe: After the funeral dirge is fung, and just before the corpfe is depofited in the grave, the coffin is opened, and a small bag of earth, taken from the grave, is carfully put under the head of the deceased; then fome powder, faid to be earth brought from Jerufalem, and carefully kept for this purpofe, is taken and put upon the eyes of the corpfe, in token of their remembrance of the holy land, and of their expectations of returning thither in God's appointed time.

The articles of their faith are well known, and therefore need no defcription. They generally expect a glorious return to the Holy Land, when they fhall be exalted above all the nations of the carth. And they flatter themselves that the period of their return will speedily arrive, though they do not venture to fix the precife time.

The whole number of perfons who profefs the Jewish religion, in all parts of the world, is fuppofed to be about three millions, who, as their phrafe is, are witnesses of the unity of Ged in all the nations in the world.

Befides the religious fets here enumerated, there are a few of the German inhabitants in Pennfylvania, who are ftyled SWINSEILDIANS, and, in Maryland, a fmall number called NICOLITES OR NEW QUAKERS; but the diftinguishing fentiments of these fects are not material, confifting chiefly of a few peculiarities.

*H. Adams's "View of religions." Article Shakers

OF THE

RISE, PROGRESS, AND ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE

INDEPENDENCE

OF

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

IN addition to what we have already written of the difcovery and fettlement of North America, we fhall give a brief hiftory of the late war with Great Britain, with a fketch of the events which preceded and prepared the way for the revolution. This general view of the hiftory of the United States will serve as a fuitable introduction to the particular hiftories of the several ftates, which will be given in their proper places.

America was originally peopled by uncivilized nations, which lived mostly by hunting and fishing. The Europeans, who first vifited these fhores, treating the natives as wild beasts of the foreft, which have no property in the woods where they roam, planted the ftandard of their refpective mafters where they firft landed, and in their names claimed the country by right of dif

covery.

Henry the Seventh of England granted to John Cabot and his three fons a commiffion, "to navigate all parts of the ocean for the purpose of discovering iflands, countries, regions, or provinces, either of Gentiles or Infidels, which have been hitherto unknown to all Chriftain people, with power to set up his ftandard, and to take poffeffion of the fame as vaffals of the crown of England," By virtue of this commiffion, in 1498,

Sebaftian Cabot explored and took poffeffion of a great part of the North American continent, in the name and on behalf of the King of England.

The country thus difcovered by Cabot, was poffeffed by numerous tribes or nations of people. As these had been till then unknown to all other princes or ftates, they could not poffibly have owed their allegiance or fubjection to any foreign power on earth; they must have therefore been independent communities, and as fuch, capable of acquiring territorial property, in the fame manner as other nations. Of the various principles on which a right to foil has been founded, there is none fuperior to immemorial occupancy. From what time the Aborigines of America had refided therein, or from what place they migrated thither, were questions of doubtful folution, but it was certain that they had long been fole occupants of the country. In this ftate no European prince could derive a title to the foil from dif covery, because that can give a right only to lands and things which either have never been owned or poffeffed, or which, after being owned or poffeffed, have been voluntarily deferted, The right of the Indian nations to the foil in their poffeffion was founded in nature. It was the free and liberal gift of heaven to them, and fuch as no foreigner could rightfully annul. The blinded fuperftition of the times regarded the Deity as the partial God of Chriftians, and not as the common father of faints and favages. The pervading influence of philofophy, reafon, and truth, has, fince that period, given us better notions of the rights of mankind, and of the obligations of morality. Thefe unquestionably are not confined to particular modes of faith, but extended univerfally to Jews and Gentiles, to Chriftians and Infiuels.

Unfounded, however, as the claims of European Sovereigns. to American territories were, they feverally proceeded to act upon them. By tacit confent they adopted as a new law of nations, that the countries which each explored fhould be the abfolute property of the difcoverer. While they thus fported with the rights of unoff nding nations, they could not agree in their respective fhares of the common fpoil. The Portuguele and Spaniards, inflamed by the fame fpirit of national aggrandizement, contended for the exclufive fovereignty of what Columbus had explored. Animated by the rancour of commercial jealoufy, the Dutch and Portuguefe fought for the Brazils. Contrary to her genuine interefts, England commenced a war in order that her contraband traders on the Mexican coaft claimed by the King of Spain, might no longer be fearched. No farther back than the middle of the prefent century, a conteft concern