SECTION III. REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. Causes of the War. 1. We now come to the time in the history of the colonies when they begin in earnest to complain of the unjust treatment that is inflicted upon them by England's selfish laws. This kind of treatment is not new. It began when colonization began, its roots being in the notion that colonies are planted for the special benefit of the parent country. English laws forbid the tobacco of Virginia, the rice and tar of the Carolinas, the lumber of New England, and the other products of the colonies, from being sent to any ports except those of Great Britain. The colonists, thus prevented from finding the best markets for their goods, are compelled to accept whatever pay the English trader is willing to give. 2. Nor are the colonists allowed to set up any factories for the making of such things as are made in England. Hence, if a man in New York wants to build a house, he must send to England for the needed nails, locks, bolts, hinges, and window glass. None of these things can be legally manufactured in the colonies. Said one of England's great lords: "If the colonists are allowed to make as much as a hobnail, the consequences will be fatal to us." Even the liberty of free traffic between the colonies is taken away. Georgia cannot freely buy of New Hampshire, nor can New Jersey buy of Delaware. Commanders of the king's ships 1. What notion as to colonization did England have? How did England's laws affect the commerce of the colonies ? 2. How did England's laws affect manufactures ? Traffic between the colonies ? What said one of England's lords? What said Adam Smith ? can stop merchant ships on their way to the colonies, and take possession of them, if, in their opinion, the vessels are engaged in trade contrary to law. The king's officers in the colonies can not only forcibly go into a house and search for goods, on which, they suppose, no duty has been paid, but, armed with a paper called a Writ of Assistance, they can compel any man they chance to meet to go with them and assist in making the search. Said the learned Scotchman, Adam Smith, England has founded an empire on the other side of the Atlantic for the sole purpose of raising a people of customers for her shop-keepers." " 3. These harsh and unjust laws, as we may suppose, create crimes as a consequence of dissatisfaction. It is a crime to erect a factory and make ploughs; it is a crime to build ships and sell them to England's rivals; it is a crime to exchange by direct means the tobacco of Virginia, or the whale oil procured by the fishermen of New England, for the wine and silk of France. Many persons, including John Hancock, one of Boston's honored citizens, also Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, whom Washington at a later period delights to call "Brother Jonathan," are law-breakers. Will the colonists submit to any further wrong? They love England, and England's king. Can they turn against both if the royal foot is pressed upon them with greater weight? 4. "England was enormously in debt at the close of the French and Indian War. It was pretended that the great bulk of this debt had been contracted for the defence of the American colonies; therefore the English contended that a part of it ought to be paid by them. The colonists replied that they had also contracted a large debt in the war; that they had spent their money to get Canada for King George, and that nearly thirty thousand of their young men had laid 3. What were the effects in the colonies of these unjust laws? 4. State the arguments for and against taxing the colonies. down their lives for the king's honor. But the king and his ministers would not listen to reason or good advice." The Stamp Act. 5. "In 1765 the British Parliament passed a law known as the Stamp Act. All deeds, bonds, and other papers of the same kind, were ordered by it to be marked with the king's stamp; and without this mark they were declared illegal and void. Now, in order to get a blank sheet of paper with the king's stamp upon it, people were obliged to pay threepence more than the actual value of the paper. This extra sum of threepence was a tax, and was to be paid into the king's treasury. Threepence was not worth quarrelling about, but it was not for that nor for any other amount of money that Americans quarrelled with England. It was for a principle. The colonists were determined not to be taxed except by their own representatives. They said that neither the king, nor Parliament, nor any other power on earth had a right to take their money out of their pockets unless they freely gave it." 6. "It was indeed amazing and terrible to see what a change came over the aspect of the people when they heard that the English Parliament had passed the unjust act. The moment before they appeared like humble and loyal subjects of the crown, the next instant they showed the dark features of king-resisting freemen." Virginia rang the alarm bell. In her legislature, Patrick Henry, "wearing a brown wig, a peach-blossom coat, leather knee-breeches, and yarn stockings," rose to support some resolutions which he had written on a blank leaf torn from an old law-book. With fiery eloquence he denounced the injustice of England, exclaiming as he ended his speech: "Cæsar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third-" "Treason!" 5. When was the Stamp Act passed, and what were its provisions? What great principle was involved? 6. State the particulars of Patrick Henry's speech. What have we already heard about him (§ 140, p. 123)? Describe the picture on page 144. cried the presiding officer. "Treason! Treason!" echoed from every part of the house. Pausing a moment, the young orator, in a firm voice, slowly pronounced the words: "May PATRICK HENRY. If profit by their example. 7. No less earnest were the opposition and words of James Otis, whose eloquence gained him the title of the "Great Incendiary of New England. With him, in the legislature of Massachusetts, originated the idea of calling a congress of delegates from the several 7. Who was James Otis, and what did he do? Tell what you can of the Colonial Congress. Of the Liberty Tree. colonies. The delegates met in New York, and sent a petition to the king. They also sent a memorial to Parliament, asking to have the Stamp Act repealed. "It was a most important and memorable event, this first coming together of the American people by their representatives; and if England had been wise, she would have trembled at the first word that was spoken in such an assembly (1765)." On the branches of an old elm in Boston, which became famous as the "Liberty Tree," were hung in effigy the persons who were supposed to be most favorable to the Stamp Act. One of these was Andrew Oliver, whom the king had appointed stamp-distributor. The people frightened him so by hanging him in effigy, breaking the windows of his house, and destroying his furniture, that he promised to have nothing to do with the stamps. 66 8. As the Royal George, the ship having on board the stamps for Philadelphia, hove in sight of the city, all the vessels in the harbor dropped their flags to half-mast, and all the bells were tolled as if for the death of Liberty. "In New York, the whole city rose up as one man in opposition to the Stamp Act." In New Jersey the stamp distributor was burned in effigy. North Carolina would neither receive a stamp man nor use a stamp. So it was in every colony. No stamps were sold; business was conducted without them. The king and Parliament seeing that nothing could be gained by the Stamp Act, it was speedily repealed (1766). 9. Great was the joy of the colonists when they heard the good news. They lighted bonfires, raised banners, fired guns, rang bells, and, in their gratitude, voted statues to England's great statesman, William Pitt, who had boldly said in Parliament that England had The Tea Tax. 8. How did the colonies resist the execution of the Stamp Act? With what result? Tell of Franklin in England (note). 9. What did the colonists do when they heard that the Stamp Act had been repealed? In what way did Parliament and king assert their right to tax the colonies? |