fociety-and as Chriftians. As mere men," they hold, that "they muft follow nature, or they will fink beneath the level of the beafts of the field,"-aud. yet they affert that " all the rightconfuefs 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 state."-That as Chriftians they must be under the direction of Chrift, and do whatsoever he commands them; and thefe 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 Island, and New Hampshire; but the body of them are in Boston, and Gloucefter, in Maffachusetts. They have feveral constituted 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 fect of Chriftians, which have fprung up in America as lately as 1774; when a few of this fect 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 fcattered in different parts of the country.

The head of this party, while she lived,* was Anna Leefe, ftyled the Elect Lady. Her followers afferted, that she was the woman spoken of in the twelfth chapter of the Revelations, and that the fpoke feventy-two tongues and although these tongues were unintelligible to the living, The converfed with the dead who understood her language. They al ledged alfo that he was the mother of all the Ele; that fhe travailed 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, ac cording to her direction.

Their leading doctrinal tenets, as given by one of their own denomination, are, "That the first resurrection is already come, and now is the time to judge themselves. That they have power to heal the fick, to raife the dead, and caft out devils. That they have a correfpondence

This woman afferted, that the fhould never die; but notwithstanding her predictions and affertions to the contrary, he 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.

with angels, the fpirits of the faints and their departed friends. That they speak with divers kind of tongues in their public affemblies. That it is lawful to practise vocal mufic with dancing in the Chriftian churches, if it be practised in praifing the Lord. That their church is come out of the order of natural generation, to be as Chrift was; and that thofe who have wives are as though they had none. That by these 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 those 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 baptifm 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 Elect Lady, it is said, obeys God through Chrift. European elders obey her. American labourers, and common people obey them: while confeffion is made of every fecret thing, from the oldest to the youngelt. 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 state of the dead, and innumerable worlds of fpirits good and bad.

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

more.

This elevation affects the nerves, fo that they have intervals of huddering, as if they were in a strong fit of the ague, they fometimes clap hands and leap fo as to ftrike the joists above their heads. They throw off their outfide garments in thefe exercifes, and fpend their ftrength very cheerfully this way. Their chief speaker often calls for attention; when they an ftop and hear fome harangue, and then fall to dancing again. They affert that their dancing is the token of the great joy and happiness of the new Jerufalem fate, and denotes the victory over VOL, I2 3 E

fin. One of the poftures which increnfes among them, is turning round very fwift 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 roar ing 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, how. ever, fynagogues at Savannah, Charleston, (South Carolina) Philadelphia, New York, and Newport. Pefides thofe who refide at these places, there are others fcattered in different towns in the United States.

The Jews in Charleston, among other peculiarities in burying their dead, have these: After the funeral dirge is fung, and just before the corpfe is depofited in the grave, the coffin is opened, and a fmall bag of earth, taken from the grave, is carefully put under the head of the deceafed; then fome powder, faid to be earth brought from Jerufalem, and carefully kept for this purpose, 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 earth. 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 witneffes of the unity of God in all the nations in the world.

Befides the religious fects here enumerated, there are a few of the Ger man inhabitants in Pennfylvania, who are ftyled SwINSEILDIANS, and, in Maryland, a fmall number called NICOLITES or NEW QUAKERS; but the diftinguishing fentiments of thefe fects are not material, conffing chiefly of a few peculiarities.

H. Adams's "View of Religions." Article Shakers.

HISTORY

HISTORY

OF THE

RISE, PROGRESS, AND ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE

INDEPENDENCE

OF

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

N addition to what we have already written of the difcovery and

late war with Great Britain, with a sketch of the events which preceded and prepared the way for the revolution. This general view of the hiftory of the United States will ferve as a fuitable introduction to the particular hiftories of the feveral ftates, which will be given in their proper places.

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

Henry the Seventh of England granted to John Cabot and his threefons a commiffion, "to navigate all parts of the ocean for the purpose of difcovering iflands, countries, regions, or provinces, either of Gentiles or Infidels, which have been hitherto unknown to all Christian people, with power to set up his standard, and to take poffeffion of the fame as vaffals of the crown of England." By virtue of this commission, in 1498, 3 E 2 Sebaftian

Sebaftian Cabot explored and took poffcffion 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 nume rous 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 queftions of doubtful folution, but it was certain that they had long been fole occupants of the country. In this ftate no Eu ropean prince could derive a title to the foil from difcovery, because that can give a right only to lands and things which either have never been owned or poffeffed, or which, after Leing 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 extend univerfally to Jews and Gen. tiles, to Chriftians and Infidels.

Unfounded, however, as the claims of European Sovereigns to Ame rican 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 discoverer. While they thus fported with the rights of unoffending nations, they could not agree in their refpective shares of the common fpoil. The Portuguese 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 jea loufy, the Dutch and Portuguese fought for the Brazils. Contrary to her genuine interefts, England commenced a war in order that her con traband 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