Note 424 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 2)

A strong spirit of emulation existed in the early years of the seventeenth century, between the advocates of New England and those of Virginia, as sites for colonization. Morton was always a stanch New Englander, and in this chapter, as well as in those which immediately precede and follow it, he loses no opportunity to assert the superiority of the Massachusetts climate and products over those of the country further south. It is needless to point out that his advocacy led him into ludicrously wild statements.