of Independence? How did it close? Who signed the document? Why did it require courage to do so? What was done by the people of Philadelphia? What was the position of the loyalists? What is a confederation? What chief authority had the colonies when they broke away from Great Britain? What scope did the articles of confederation have? How did the authority of the Confederation compare with that of the king and Parliament ? What name was given to the Confederation? Why did not Canada join the Confederation? How were affairs with foreign nations conducted? When and why was Franklin sent to Europe? What foreigners came over to help us? Give an account of the leading ones. Of what use were these foreigners?

SEARCH QUESTIONS.

What became of the Bostonians who sided with the British government, when Howe sailed away? Who composed the committee appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence? When the Declaration of Independence is read in public now on the Fourth of July, how much of it pertains to general problems, and how much to the particular historical event of the separation of the colonies from Great Britain? Repeat the exact language of the first two paragraphs. Who was the King of France at the beginning of the American Revolution? How old were the following on July 4, 1776: Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton? What was the contest in Poland that finally brought Kosciusko and Pulaski to this country?

SUGGESTIONS FOR LITERARY TREATMENT.

COMPOSITIONS :

An analysis of the Declaration of Independence, showing its different parts.

Sketch of the life of Lafayette.

A letter from a boy who heard the Declaration read in Philadelphia. The after history of Liberty Bell.

Historical footnotes to the Declaration, giving examples of the several indictments of the king.

DEBATES:

Resolved, That the loyalists were patriots.

Resolved, That it would have been of great advantage to the Confederation if Canada had joined it.

Resolved, That John Hancock was a rebel.

38. King George III. and his Hessians. The people had declared they were independent of Great Britain; they must make good their words by hard fighting, for the king and Parliament had no intention of letting the colonies go. There was indeed a party in England, as we have seen, opposed to the king's policy. It grew stronger year by year. In it were men who said that if the king subdued the Americans he would increase his own personal power. Then Englishmen might lose their liberty, as they had come near losing it under Charles I. and again under Charles II.

1 The most satisfactory work dealing with the war and with the causes that led up to it is John Fiske's The American Revolution. The same writer has, however, written a brief book for young readers entitled The War of Independence. Another useful work is G. W. Greene's A Historical View of the American Revolution. Winsor's Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution is an excellent companion, for it is a bibliography of all the works of various sorts that may be consulted for this period. An admirable narrative is The Boys of '76.

King George III. was an upright man, but narrow-minded and stubborn. He refused to listen to men who counseled conciliation, and was resolved to conquer his rebellious subjects. He did not care where his soldiers came from, so long as they fought for him; and he hired whole regiments of men from German princes, especially from the Prince of HesseCassel, whose subjects were called Hessians.

Such was the miserable condition of the common people in many parts of Europe, that these Hessian soldiers were almost as much the property of the prince as if they had been his slaves. He gave them to King George in return for money. The Americans, fighting for their liberty, were made angry by the sight of armies filled with men who had been hired to fight them.1

39. The Battle of Long Island. In carrying on the war against the colonies, England had the advantage of control of the seacoast. She could transport her troops to America and shift them from one port to another; for there were no forts worth speaking of, and the Americans at the end of 1776 had only thirteen ships in the navy, although some of the colonies had a few active privateersmen. With their navy and their land forces the English undertook to occupy the main points on the seaboard, and from these as bases to move into the interior.

The first campaign was directed toward the occupation of New York and the possession of the Hudson. In August, 1776, Sir William Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British forces, entered New York harbor with an army of twentyfive thousand. His brother, Lord Howe, accompanied him with a great fleet. The troops were landed on Staten Island. The American army, less than ten thousand strong, was in

1 The most thorough account of the part played by the Hessians is in The German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence. Many of the soldiers remained in America after the war and became good American citizens. Many officers turned their experience to good account in the defense of Germany during the French Revolution.