%44.  “The United Colonies of New England."%—­There were now five colonies in New England; namely, Plymouth, or the “Old Colony,” Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven.  Geographically, they were near each other.  But each was weak in numbers, and if left without the aid of its neighbors, might easily have fallen a prey to some enemy.  Of this the settlers were well aware, and in 1643 four of the colonies, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven[1] united for defense against the Indians and the Dutch, who claimed the Connecticut valley and so threatened the English colonies on the west.

[Footnote 1:  Rhode Island was not allowed to come in, for the feeling against the followers of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson was still very strong.]

The name of this league was “The United Colonies of New England,” and it was the first attempt in America at federal government.  All its affairs were managed by a board of eight commissioners,—­two from each colony,—­who must be church members.  They had no power to lay taxes or to meddle with the internal concerns of the colonies, but they had entire control over all dealings with Indians or with foreign powers.

%45.  The Year 1643.%—­The year 1643 is thus an important one in colonial history.  It was in that year that the New Haven colony was founded; that the league of The United Colonies of New England was formed; and that Roger Williams obtained the first charter of Rhode Island.

%46.  New Charters.%—­During the next twenty years no changes took place in the boundaries of the colonies.  This was the period of the Civil War in England, of the Commonwealth, of the rule of Cromwell and the Puritans; and affairs in New England were left to take care of themselves.  But in 1660 Charles II. was restored to the throne of England, and a new era opens in colonial history.  In 1661 the little colony of Connecticut promptly acknowledged the restoration of Charles II. and applied for a charter.  The application was more than granted; for to Connecticut (1662) was given not only a charter and an immense tract of land, but also the colony of New Haven.[1] The land grant was comprised in a strip that stretched across the continent from Rhode Island to the Pacific and was as wide as the present state.[2] In 1663 Rhode Island was given a new charter.

[Footnote 1:  In 1660, after the restoration of Charles II., Edward Whalley and William Goffe (the regicides, “king-killers,” as they were called), two of the judges who had condemned Charles I. to be beheaded, fled to New Haven and were protected by the people.  This act had much to do with the annexation of New Haven to Connecticut.]

[Footnote 2:  Read Fiske’s Beginnings of New England, pp. 192-196.  Many of the New Haven colonists were disgusted by the union of their colony with Connecticut, and in June, 1667, migrated to New Jersey, where they founded “New-Ark” or Newark.]