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Historic American Trees Stories of the Washington Oak, Charter Oak, Penn's Treaty Tree, and more
Historic American Trees Stories of the Washington Oak, Charter Oak, Penn's Treaty Tree, and more
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Nook version of vintage magazine article originally published in 1862. Contains lots of great info and illustrations seldom seen in the last 150 years.
Read excerpt -
Doubtless next in age to The Big Tree was the famous Charter Oak, in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, which was standing, in the height of its glory, and estimated to be six hundred years old, when the good Hooker and his followers planted the seeds of a Commonwealth there. It was upon a slope of Wyllys's Hill. During a lull in the storm at the autumnal equinox, in 1848, I stood in Charter Street, sheltered by a friend's umbrella, and sketched that venerable tree—a "gnarled oak" indeed. The gale had been sweeping over the land for thirty hours, and had stripped the oak of nearly all its leaves, covering the ground beneath with foliage and acorns. Its circumference, a foot from the ground, was twenty-five feet.
The orifice through which the charter of the Commonwealth of Connecticut was thrust, on the memorable night of the 31st of October, 1687, was smaller at the time of my visit (scarcely admitting a hand) than in the days of Andross, but the cavity remained the same. Sixty years ago, a lady wrote of the Charter Oak, saying, "Age seems to have curtailed its branches, yet it is net exceeded in the height of its coloring or richness of its foliage. The cavity (orifice), which was the asylum of our Charter, was near the roots, and large enough to admit a child. Within the space of eight years that cavity has closed, as if it had fulfilled the divine purpose for which the tree had been reared." On a stormy night in August, 1854, the old oak was prostrated; and now almost every particle of it is in some pleasing form wrought by the cunning hand of art, and cherished as a memento of a curious episode in our colonial history.
That episode is indeed curious. When James, Duke of York, one of the worst of the Stuart dynasty, ascended the British throne, he took measures, by the advice of unscrupulous courtiers, to suppress the growth of free governments in America, which had been established and fostered under liberal charters given by his brother and predecessor, Charles the Second. He conceived a scheme for making all New England a sort of vice-royalty; and he sent Edmund Andross, a bigot and petty tyrant, to take away the charters from the different colonies, and rule over them all as Governor-General. Connecticut refused to give up her charter. The incensed Andross went to Hartford with a band of soldiers, at the close of October, 1687, while the Assembly was in session, to demand an instant surrender of it. He walked into the As¬sembly chamber with all the assumed dignity of a Dictator. The members received him court-eously. He made his demand with hauteur, and the subject was discussed with dignified freedom until evening and the candles were lighted. The charter, contained in a neat, long box, was placed upon the table. Andross stretched forth his hand to take it, when the lights were suddenly extinguished, loud huzzas went up from a large crowd outside, and many pressed into the Assembly chamber. Captain Wadsworth, according to a concerted plan, had seized the charter, and borne it away in the gloom unperceived. He hid it in the cavity of a venerable oak in front of the mansion of the Honorable Samuel Wyllys a magistrate of the colony.
The candles were soon relighted, order was restored, but the charter could not be found. No one could or would reveal the place of its concealment. Andross stormed, and threatened them with the hot displeasure of the King. The members heard him with calmness, and they uttered no word of remonstrance when he took possession of their records, declared the General Court dissolved, and the Government at an end, writing FINIS upon their journal at the close of such declaration. They knew the value and, power of their preserved Constitution.
Read excerpt -
Doubtless next in age to The Big Tree was the famous Charter Oak, in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, which was standing, in the height of its glory, and estimated to be six hundred years old, when the good Hooker and his followers planted the seeds of a Commonwealth there. It was upon a slope of Wyllys's Hill. During a lull in the storm at the autumnal equinox, in 1848, I stood in Charter Street, sheltered by a friend's umbrella, and sketched that venerable tree—a "gnarled oak" indeed. The gale had been sweeping over the land for thirty hours, and had stripped the oak of nearly all its leaves, covering the ground beneath with foliage and acorns. Its circumference, a foot from the ground, was twenty-five feet.
The orifice through which the charter of the Commonwealth of Connecticut was thrust, on the memorable night of the 31st of October, 1687, was smaller at the time of my visit (scarcely admitting a hand) than in the days of Andross, but the cavity remained the same. Sixty years ago, a lady wrote of the Charter Oak, saying, "Age seems to have curtailed its branches, yet it is net exceeded in the height of its coloring or richness of its foliage. The cavity (orifice), which was the asylum of our Charter, was near the roots, and large enough to admit a child. Within the space of eight years that cavity has closed, as if it had fulfilled the divine purpose for which the tree had been reared." On a stormy night in August, 1854, the old oak was prostrated; and now almost every particle of it is in some pleasing form wrought by the cunning hand of art, and cherished as a memento of a curious episode in our colonial history.
That episode is indeed curious. When James, Duke of York, one of the worst of the Stuart dynasty, ascended the British throne, he took measures, by the advice of unscrupulous courtiers, to suppress the growth of free governments in America, which had been established and fostered under liberal charters given by his brother and predecessor, Charles the Second. He conceived a scheme for making all New England a sort of vice-royalty; and he sent Edmund Andross, a bigot and petty tyrant, to take away the charters from the different colonies, and rule over them all as Governor-General. Connecticut refused to give up her charter. The incensed Andross went to Hartford with a band of soldiers, at the close of October, 1687, while the Assembly was in session, to demand an instant surrender of it. He walked into the As¬sembly chamber with all the assumed dignity of a Dictator. The members received him court-eously. He made his demand with hauteur, and the subject was discussed with dignified freedom until evening and the candles were lighted. The charter, contained in a neat, long box, was placed upon the table. Andross stretched forth his hand to take it, when the lights were suddenly extinguished, loud huzzas went up from a large crowd outside, and many pressed into the Assembly chamber. Captain Wadsworth, according to a concerted plan, had seized the charter, and borne it away in the gloom unperceived. He hid it in the cavity of a venerable oak in front of the mansion of the Honorable Samuel Wyllys a magistrate of the colony.
The candles were soon relighted, order was restored, but the charter could not be found. No one could or would reveal the place of its concealment. Andross stormed, and threatened them with the hot displeasure of the King. The members heard him with calmness, and they uttered no word of remonstrance when he took possession of their records, declared the General Court dissolved, and the Government at an end, writing FINIS upon their journal at the close of such declaration. They knew the value and, power of their preserved Constitution.
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