representative government in America, another institution was planted
beside it, which, in the course of two hundred and fifty years, almost
destroyed free government. The Burgesses met in July, and a few weeks
later, on an August day, a Dutch ship entered the James and before it
sailed away sold twenty negroes into slavery. The slaves increased in
numbers (there were 2000 in Virginia in 1671), and slavery spread to the
other colonies as they were started, till, in time, it existed in every
one of them.

%24. Virginia loses her Charter, 1624.%--The establishment of popular
government in Virginia was looked on by King James as a direct affront,
and was one of many weighty reasons why he decided to destroy the
company. To do this, he accused it of mismanagement, brought a suit
against it, and in 1624 his judges declared the charter annulled, and
Virginia became a royal colony.[1]

[Footnote 1: On the Virginia colony in general read Doyle's volume on
_Virginia_, pp. 104-184; Lodge's _English Colonies in America_, pp.
1-12; of course, Bancroft and Hildreth. For particular epochs or events
consult Channing and Hart's _Guide to American History_, pp. 248-253.]

%25. Maryland begun.%--A year later James died, and Charles I. came
to the throne. As Virginia was now a royal colony, the land belonged to
the King; and as he was at liberty to do what he pleased with it, he cut
off a piece and gave it to Lord Baltimore. George Calvert, Lord
Baltimore, was a Roman Catholic nobleman who for years past had been
interested in the colonization of America, and had tried to plant a
colony in Newfoundland. The severity of the climate caused failure, and
in 1629 he turned his attention to Virginia and visited Jamestown. But
religious feeling ran as high there as it did anywhere. The colonists