_I venture the prophecy that for countless years to come and to untold thousands these mute pages shall eloquently speak of high resolve, great suffering and heroic endurance made possible by an absolute faith in the over-ruling providence of Almighty God._ Governor Roger Wolcott of Massachusetts, at the Bradford History Presentation, May 26, 1897. _Quae patres difficillime adepti sunt nolite turpiter relinquere._ (_What the Fathers with greatest difficulty effected do not basely abandon._) Inscription on the monument of William Bradford at Plymouth. _Sicut patribus, sit Deus nobis._ (_As with the Fathers, so may God be with us._) SEAL OF BOSTON. In their personal visitation the colonial leaders had opportunity to confer on matters of mutual interest, before there was any thought of their respective territories becoming merged indissolubly into a noble Commonwealth. In 1630 Bradford had received in his name a patent, which ten years later the Plymouth court requested to have; but on his ready compliance, it returned the same at once to him, to whom and his heirs it had been made out by the authorities in England. This charter specified the area of the Old Colony, which, under the jurisdiction of Plymouth, extended from Scituate, considerably below Boston harbor, to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, with Cape Cod on the east. Not long after this it included ten towns. Soon a decided forward step was taken, toward unity. In September 7, 1643, a confederation was formed, composed of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven, and named The United Colonies of New England. Probably this coalition was in the minds of those who founded the United States of America. There are similarities in the very constitutions of the two governmental organizations, small and large. The four colonial sections were associated on a basis of political equality. A federal congress was formed, there being two representative delegates from every Colony, who were called commissioners, with one of them presiding. William Bradford was four times a commissioner from Plymouth; and twice he was chosen president, the second time in 1656, the last full year of his life. The preamble to this federal constitution thus commences: "Wheras we all came into these parts of America with one and y^e same end and aime, namly, to advance the kingdome of our Lord Jesus Christ, & to injoye y^e liberties of y^e Gospell in puritie with peace; and wheras in our setling (by a wise providence of God) we are further disperced upon y^e sea coasts and rivers then was at first intended, so y^t we cannot, according to our desires, communicate in one governmente & jurisdiction;--"