Map of the war.

pared to vindicate natural rights, and to fashion political and social systems adapted to their position and wants. We view them now,

Point arrived at in our studies.

conscious of their physical and moral strength, possessing clear views of right and justice, and prepared to demand and defend both. This is the point, in the progress of the new and growing nation, to which our observation is now directed, when the great question was to be decided, whether independent self-control should be enjoyed, or continued vassalåge to an ungenerous parent should be endured. Our next topic will be the events connected with the settlement of that question.

CHAPTER V.

THE REVOLUTION.

SECTION I.

1. We have observed, in the course of our studies thus far, the slow but continual and solid growth of democratic ideas, from the time of the first planting of settlements in America which became colonies,' and with that growth a corresponding desire for independence of Great Britain, and the founding of a nation.2 This desire was fostered by unjust and unwise legislation on the part of the mother country, by which the colonists were oppressed. That oppression finally became so severe that the people found it necessary first to complain, then to remonstrate, then to petition for redress, and finally to revolt, take up arms, and fight for their rights.

2. The colonists could not complain of the willful exercise of actual tyranny by the rulers of Great Britain. There was no motive for such conduct. They complained of an illiberal policy toward them, rigidly enforced, concerning manufactures and commerce;' the exactions and haughtiness of the royal governors sent to rule them without their leave; and above all, the exercise, by the home government, of the asserted right to tax the colonists without their consent, and without allowing them representatives in the British

1. Verse 2, page 50.

2. Three forms of government had existed, namely charter, proprietary, and royal. The New England governments were based on royal charters; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Carolinas were owned and governed by individuals or companies; and the remainder were immediately subject to the crown. Notwithstanding this diversity in the source of government, the anti-monarchical spirit pervaded the people of all, from the beginning, and gave birth to popular legislative assemblies.

3. Note 2, page 94.

QUESTIONS.-1. What have we observed?

What desire was felt? What happened?

2. Of what did the colonists complain? What did they declare? What did they do?

Posture of the colonists.

Parliament.

RESENTION IS TYRANNY.

The colonists declared that TAXATION WITHOUT REPIn defense of that position, established on the firm foundation of the rights of man, they finally revolted, and fought seven years for their independence. A history of that Revolution we will now consider.

3. When the treaty of Paris [1763] closed the French and Indian war,' the colonists looked forward to long years of prosperity and repose. A young monarch,' virtuous and of upright intentions, was just seated [1761] upon the British throne. Having confidence in his integrity, and having recently felt the justice of the Government under the direction of Pitt, they were disposed to forget their grievances. But their hopes of happiness were soon destroyed. War had exhausted the British treasury, and the ministers were seeking various means for filling it. The late war had revealed to them the resources of the American colonies, and they determined to get money from them by taxation, direct or indirect. They might have obtained it easily, by asking it as a favor, but they demanded it as a right, and the colonists were offended.

4. The first attempt to exercise this so-called right was the issuing of search-warrants to persons appointed by the king to collect the import duties authorized by the navigation laws." These warrants, which were called Writs of Assistance, empowered the King's officers to enter, peaceably or forcibly, any man's store or dwelling, in search of goods on which the duty had not been paid. It was a common saying and feeling that "every English

1. Verse 43, page 111.

2. George the Third. He was crowned reigned about sixty years, and died in 1820. imbecile, and his son (afterward George the

ruler.

He

in 1761, at the age of twenty-one years. During the latter years of his life, he was an Fourth) was appointed regent, or temporary

3. If a merchant receives from a foreign country goods valued in that country at $1,000, and is required to pay to his Government $100 on the receipt of them, he pays what is called a tariff, or import duty, of ten per cent. on the original cost. He is thus taxed $100 for the support of his Government. This is called, in commercial language, ad valorem duty. When he is required to pay a specified sum on every yard of cloth imported, whatever its cost abroad, it is called specific duty.

QUESTIONS.-3. What hopes did the colonists indulge? Why? How were they disappointed? What did the British Government do? 4. What can you tell about a method of taxation? What about Writs of Assistance ?

Resistance to taxation.

James Otis.

Stamp act proposed.

man's house is his castle." These proceedings violated that sovereignty; and in this form the taxation of the American colonists was first attempted, in the reign of George the Third.

5. The people resisted this violation of their rights. The matter was brought before a general court held in Boston, and there James Otis, then advocate-general of the provinces, came out boldly on the side of the people. He denied the right of the British Government to tax them without their consent, and with his clear, trumpetlike voice, he exclaimed: "To my dying day I will oppose, with all the power and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on one hand and villany on the other!" "Then and there," said John Adams, who was present, "the trumpet of the Revolution was

JAMES OTIS.

sounded-the independence of the colonies was proclaimed."

6. Had the young king listened to the counsels of wise men like Pitt,' the Americans might have been

loyal subjects during his long reign. He listened to the counsels of weak and corrupt men like Bute, whom he placed at the head of his cabinet. Under his counsels a measure was adopted which no former British ministry dare attempt. It was the taxation of the American colonies by the means of a stamp duty. The Stamp Act, as it was called, required the colonists to purchase, for specified sums, and place on all written

1. Verse 24, page 104.

A STAMP.

2. During Walpole's administration [1732], a stamp duty was proposed. He said, "I will leave the taxation of America to some of my successors, who have more courage than I have." Sir William Keith, governor of Pennsylvania, proposed such a tax in 1739. Franklin thought it just, when a delegate in the Colonial Congress at Albany, in 1754 (verse 8, page 98). But when it was proposed to Pitt in 1759, he said, "I will never burn my fingers with an American Stamp Act."

QUESTIONS.-5. What did the people do? Who was their champion? What did Otis say? What did John Adams declare? 6. What should the king have done? What did he do? What measure was adopted?