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They Came From Ireland
by
F.W. Thorlton

 

Payment of this debt by the crown, in money seemed unlikely, since it had very little. There was however, something that the crown possessed in abundance, and that was the wild new land in America. So it occurred to William Penn that Charles could retire the debt by granting him land in the new world. This seemed mutually beneficial to William Penn, and to the Crown. The Quaker Church was experiencing habitual discrimination at the hands of the Church of England. So a new home where they would be free to practice their faith without interference was a very appealing idea. From the Crown's point of view, this plan had much to recommend it for would rid them of a bothersome religious sect.

Penn concluded that since Lord Berkeley and Lord Carteret had been given tracts of land because they had helped to restore the Stuart family to the Throne, the debt owed him should entitle him to an even more favorable grant, a larger tract of land. After all, his father not only had given support to the restoration of the Struat line, but had deferred payments for so long.

So the Crown, knowing little of the value of the land, granted William Penn the most magnificent domain of mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and fertile soil, that was ever given a single proprietor. In addition Penn was given control of Delaware and, with certain other Quakers, New Jersey as well. The Crown placed, at the disposal of William Penn, over 55,000 square miles of a most valuable, fertile territory, lacking only 3,000 square miles of being as large as England and Wales itself. And, even when later cut to 45,000 square miles, in a border dispute with Maryland, it was still larger than Ireland. Kings have possessed such large tracts of lands, but never a private citizen such as William Penn. A man who had scorned all titles, and belonged to a hated religious sect that exalted peace and spiritual contemplation above all the wealth in the world. This reality would come to the fore in a later confrontation with the Scotch-Irish, who were seeking military protection on the frontier. The Quakers, wishing to avoid military adventures, would ignore the pleadings of the Scotch-Irish. Later this inability to defend their charges, would lead to their downfall as the dominant political force in Pennsylvania.

Whether the obtaining of this enormous tract of the best land in Colonial America was due to what may be called, the internal thriftiness of the Quaker mind, or perhaps by divine intervention, or due simply to the intense desire of the British Government to rid themselves of these people and their religion, at all costs, would be hard determine. Nevertheless, William Penn received his Charter in 1681, and in it he was very careful to avoid the mistakes of the New Jersey grants. Where the Jersey grants allowed for many proprietors, Penn established himself as the sole proprietor. Rather than receiving title to the land, and remaining silent as to the form of government established there, Penn's charter clearly defined his position as its political head. It further described the principles of the government so clearly that there was little room for doubt or dispute.

It was decidedly feudal in nature, very much like that granted Lord Baltimore fifty years earlier, and yet it also secured civil rights and liberty, as well as a representative government for the people. Penn owned the land and the colonist were his tenants. He chose however, to give the people a free form of government. He made the laws, with the assent of the people, or their delegates, but he retained veto power. He appointed all magistrates, judges, and most other officials. And, he possessed the power to grant pardons for crimes. By modern definition Penn would have been president, and the people the legislative branch.

Pennsylvania, as well as being the largest in area of the proprietary colonies was also the most successful, not only from the proprietors point of view, but also from the view of its inhabitants. The proprietors of Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and the Carolinas were largely failures. Maryland was only partially successful, but not particularly profitable and the Crown deprived Lord Baltimore of his control for twenty years. Penn would also be deprived of control of his province, but only for two years. Except for this brief interval (1692-1694), William Penn and his grandsons Thomas, and Richard after him, held control of their province down to the time of the American Revolution in 1776, a period of ninety-four years.

A feudal proprietorship of this nature, collecting rents from all the people may seem to modern minds, as grievously wrong, and yet it would be very difficult to show it so in practice. Under it, the people of Pennsylvania flourished in, wealth, peace, and happiness. William Penn won undying fame for the liberal principles of his feudal enterprise. He was a fair and just proprietor. Unfortunately, expenses incurred by Penn in England were such that he was seldom free from debt. But his children grew rich from his, "Holy Experiment." A new idea in the governing of people was founded by William Penn: the provision of constitutional amendment. It proved so successful that it was established in all American constitutions. His method of impeachment, by which the lower house would bring the charge, and the upper house would try the charge, was universally adopted. His view that an unconstitutional law was void, was a step toward our modern system. Capital punishment was confined to murder and treason, unlike England, where it was applied too many minor offenses. The property of murderers instead, of being forfeited to the state, was divided among the heirs of the victim, and all children were taught a useful trade. Prison workhouses became places of rehabilitation rather than dungeons of dirt, idleness, and disease. William Penn forever ended the fallacy, that prosperity and moral living was possible only under one particular faith established by law, and controlled by the state. There is little wonder that Pennsylvania was the favorite colony of the Scotch-Irish immigrants. They found here, a greater degree of political, economic, social, and religious liberty, than existed anywhere else in America. Only in Rhode Island, was religious liberty equally secure, but that was a small colony already settled, and land was neither as abundant, nor as fertile, as that of Pennsylvania.

Furthermore the inhospitable reception they had received in New England, especially in Massachusetts, convinced them they were not wanted there. Maryland had actively sought the immigration of the Palatinate Germans. New York's disreputable governors, politicians, and leading businessmen, had secured over three quarters of the available land in that colony and distributed it among thirty persons setting up the Patroon system. A system no better than what they left behind in Ireland, an insidious scheme that would endure well into the 19th century. It was obviously no place for the Scotch-Irish. But in Pennsylvania the Penns had; "invited all people to come and settle their province." The excellent laws, low taxes, and general reputation of Pennsylvania throughout the world for its liberal institutions, together with favorable reports of the first settlers to the colony, persuaded the Scotch-Irish that this was the haven they had long sought. Consequently, Pennsylvania became their headquarters and camping ground in the New World, and the center for their distribution westward and southward in succeeding generations. It was estimated that by 1790 there were 100,000 Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania. There was however, a fly in the ointment. The Quaker and the Scotch-Irish had no love for each other. The position of the Quakers was summed-up in a letter written by James Logan, then Secretary of the Province, who was himself Scotch-Irish, but also a Quaker:

"These Scotch-Irish if kindly used, will provide a buffer up and down the Susquehanna, against attack by the Indians on our eastern settlements"

The Scotch-Irish, however, did not lend themselves to "being used" by anyone. These men and women, the Caldwells, and their fellow immigrants, had not crossed the ocean, and endured suffering, death, and privation, to now passively submit to servitude in any degree. They were committed from this time forward to be the molders of their own destiny. They knew all to well, from their own bitter experience, the folly of submitting any portion of their human rights. Never again would they be restrained beneath the heel of a tyrant's boot. They, by their hardy and self-reliant nature, soon became very proficient backwoodsmen, and quickly learned the Indian's skill of bushfighting, and even acquired a taste for scalping.

Swarms of Scotch-Irish immigrants passed through the Port of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and Newcastle, and Lewes (pronounced Lewis), in Delaware. There were other, lessor, points of entry, Boston (here they were dislike and scorned), New York, Baltimore, and Norfolk, and many southern ports were likely to receive a few. The largest number, as with Robert and Charles Caldwell, however came through Philadelphia. Later in the colonial period the preferred port of entry was switched to Baltimore. By then the most convenient route to the western frontier was over "Forbes Road" rather than "Braddock's Road" which was the more mountainous route. The ships, like the one which brought Robert and Charles to America commonly carried from 120 to 140 passengers. The voyage was long and hazardous ordinarily taking eight to ten weeks. We know of the horrors of the Negro slave ships. How the slaves were captured in Africa, herded aboard ships, chained, and transported across the sea. But except for the chains and the fact that most, though not all, were freemen, the Scotch-Irish, and even the Germans fared little better. On these voyages the food was often so rotten and filled with maggots it was not edible. All to often delay from calms brought the danger of death from starvation, or thirst. Often the passenger fought over dead rats. There were almost no sanitary provisions making the filth, and vermin, unbelievable, and mortality on board the ships were appalling. On one ship, of the 400 passengers, which sailed from Ireland only 150 reached the New World. Sometimes, when the passages were not paid on the ones that died, the living incurred the debt. If the survivors were unable to meet the obligation, they could be sold into bondage. As with their black counterpart, families were sometimes torn apart and sold to different owners. Add to this Captains that, in many cases, were inexperienced. And, their lack of navigational skills could add to an even longer trip. Pirates were a common and ever present danger. There are instances on record of voyages taking as long as five months, and disheartening accounts of starvation on board were all too numerous. The conditions aboard these ships were described in the Philadelphia Gazette from the period.

"It is to be observed that to complete their misfortunes they have commonly long and miserable passages, occasioned probably by the unskillfulness of the mariners; the people, earnest to be gone, being obliged to take any vessel that will go; and tis frequently with such as have been before only coasters, and cannot always get those that have been used to long voyages to these parts of the world; and being besides meanly provided, many starve for want, and many die of sickness by being crowded in such numbers on board one vessel"

A fellow immigrant landing in Philadelphia referring to the miseries said of the voyage;

"...the water was unfit to drink, the salt meat was putrid, excessive heat and crowding produced lice in such quantities that they could be scrapped from the skin, with the hatches battened down, the air became so fowl that everyone vomited. The passengers died of dysentery, scurvy, typhus, canker, and mouth-rot."

These emigrants were forced by circumstances to carry with them their provisions for the voyage, together with such household goods as could be transported conveniently. Craftsmen brought along the tools of their trade. All took what money they possessed, though most had very little. Indentured servants had none, and were forced to sell their labors for passage. There is little wonder that when they finally reached the frontier, after surviving every kind of swindler and cheat, they had little regard for land titles or binding documents of any kind.

The Ulster Scots emigrating to America, included all classes; well to do, as well as the needy. The great majority were, as with all other racial groups, in the needy classification. However, as among all other racial groups there were doubtless some idle, and worthless among them. The Scotch-Irish, however were composed principally of a sturdy, enterprising, self-respecting, and liberty loving group second to none, proof of which are their achievements in America. As was common among the immigrant groups of the day, the Scotch-Irish were composed of farmers, tradesmen, laborers, craftsmen, and a small number of professional men. But seething within all, was an intense hatred for the English Government, which had encouraged, used, and then betrayed them. The first great settlement of Scotch-Irish in Pennsylvania was in the Cumberland Valley. This area, west of the German and Quaker settled eastern counties, would become the headquarters of the Scotch-Irish race in Pennsylvania, as well as America. A seed plot and nursery, which when filled to overflowing, would send forth a constant stream of emigrants to the north, south, and west filling our census books with the names of this wonderfully hardy race.

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