wards "a
schoole or Colledge,"[19] to be built at Newtown (Cambridge). In 1638
John Harvard died within a year after his arrival, and left his
library and "one-half his estate, it being in all about L700, for the
erecting of the College." In recognition of this kindly act the
general court fitly gave his name to the institution,[20] the first
founded in the United States.

In 1650 Connecticut copied the Massachusetts law of 1647, and a clause
declared that the grammar-schools were to prepare boys for college.
The results, however, in practice did not come up to the excellence of
the laws, and while in some towns in both Massachusetts and
Connecticut a public rate was levied for education, more generally the
parents had to pay the teachers, and they were hard to secure. When
obtained they taught but two or three months during the year.[21] Bad
spelling and wretched writing were features of the age from which New
England was not exempt. Real learning was confined, after all, to the
ministers and the richer classes in the New England colonies, pretty
much as in the mother-country. In Plymouth and Rhode Island, where the
hard conditions of life rendered any legal system of education
impracticable, illiteracy was frequent. The class of ignorant people
most often met with in New England were fishermen and the small
farmers of the inland townships.

Scarcity of money was felt in New England as in Virginia, and resort
was had to the use of wampum as a substitute,[22] and corn, cattle,
and other commodities were made legal tenders in payment of debts.[23]
In 1652 a mint was established at Boston, and a law was passed
providing for the coinage of all bullion, plate, and Spanish coin into
"twelve-penny, sixpenny, and threepenny pieces." The master of the
mint was John Hull, and the shillings coined by him were called
"Pine-Tree Shillings," because they bore on one side the legend
"Massachusetts" encircling a tree.[24]

Marriage was a mere civil contract, and the burials took place without
funeral service or sermon. Stern laws were made against card-playing,
long hair, drinking healths, and wearing certain articles, such as
gold and silver girdles, hat-bands, belts, ruffs, and beaver hats.
There were no Christmas festivals and no saints' days nor recognized
saints, though special feasts and thanksgiving days were frequent.[25]
The penal legislation of New England was harsh and severe, and in
Massachusetts and Connecticut there