Causes of the War.

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SECTION III.

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

Causes of

1. FOR many years England had governed her American colonies in a harsh, unjust, and selfish spirit. The colonies were ruled, not for their good, but for the benefit of English commerce and English work shops. They were forbidden to send their tobacco, rice, lumber, fish, or any of their other products, to any country except England. No foreign ships were permitted to enter their ports. Do we wonder, then, that the colonists were dissatisfied? And can we wonder that when fresh burdens were put upon them, they rebelled?

the war.

2. The French and Indian war had cost a vast sum of money. In order to carry it on, Great Britain had been obliged to borrow three hundred millions of dollars, thus increasing her national debt by that amount. The English government, therefore, asserting that the war had been waged in behalf of the colonies, further asserted that they ought to bear a part of the burden. The right to tax the colonies was boldly proclaimed by Parliament; but the colonists did not agree to this. They claimed that during the war they had performed their full share in defending their territory, that their preservation as English colonies was quite as much for the benefit of England as themselves, and that they could not in jus tice be taxed by a legislature in which they were not represented. "Taxation and representation," they maintained, should go together! "This claim of the right of taxation on the one side, and the denial of it on the other, was the very hinge on which the revolution turned."

A law was pass

3. The remonstrance was all to no effect. ed called the Stamp Act (1765). This required that all busi

ness papers, such as deeds, bonds, and notes, and all such The printed matter as newspapers and almanacs, should Stamp Act. have stamps put upon them. The law, however, could not disguise the intent: it was "taxation by means of a stamp duty." Benjamin Franklin, who was then in Eng

PATRICK HENRY.

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land, said that "America would never submit to the Stamp Act;" and America never did. Indignation meetings were held, and protests were uttered. In the legislature of Virginia, Patrick Henry, a young man highly distinguished for his moral courage," spoke with startling eloquence against the injustice of the measure, exclaiming, "Cæsar had his Brutus ; Charles the First, his Cromwell; and George the Third-" "Treason! Treason!" was shouted from every part of the house. The oraconcluded the sentence : -may If this be treason, make the most

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4. James Otis, a brilliant, bold, and defiant orator, "the creator of the theory of independence," in the Massachusetts Assembly, also eloquently denounced the act, and, on his motion, adopted by the Assembly, a congress of delegates from nine of the colonies met in the city of New York "to consult for the general safety." The Declaration of Rights and the petitions addressed to the king and Parliament, the work of this congress, were as nothing to the fact that a beginning had been made in effecting & union by which the colonies became, as the delegates expressed it," a bundle of sticks which could neither be bent nor broken." While the congress was in session a ship with stamps arrived at New York, and " at once all the vessels in the harbor lowered

1767

The Boston Massacre.

127

their colors. The whole city rose up as one man in opposition to the Stamp Act (Oct. 1765)."

5. "The first Monday of November," the day on which the obnoxious measure was to go into effect, “broke upon a people unanimously resolved cn nullifying the Stamp Act. From New Hampshire to the far south, the day was introduced by the tolling of muffled bells; minute-guns were fired, and penants hoisted at half-staff." Not a stamp was to be seen, for everywhere it was the fixed purpose that the act should not go into effect. As business, therefore, continued to be conducted in the old method, that is without stamps, for all of them had been concealed or destroyed; and as the merchants of all the cities agreed to import no goods while the Stamp Act remained a law, Parliament yielded. The Stamp Act was repealed, but the right to tax America was again asserted and proclaimed (1766). The stamps, what became of them? They were returned to England "where the curious traveler may still see bags of them, cumbering the office from which they were issued.”

The Boston

massacre.

6. The repeal of the Stamp Act caused great rejoicing throughout the colonies. Virginia and New York voted statues to the king. New York also voted a statue to Pitt, who, in Parliament had declared "that the kingdom had no right to levy a tax on the colonies." A second statue was voted to Pitt by Maryland. But the joy was short-lived; for soon another law was passed by Parliament imposing a tax on all glass, painters' colors, and tea, imported into the colonies (1767). Again the spirit of opposition was aroused not unlike that which had been caused by the Stamp Act. The colonists determined to import no more of these articles. Franklin, still in England, advised his countrymen "to light the torches of industry and economy." As the people of Boston showed the most decided opposition to the tax, a body of the king's soldiers were sent to keep them in subjection. The presence of these "redcoats," or "lobsterbacks," as they were called by

the boys in the streets, caused constant affrays, in one of which, known as the "Boston Massacre," the soldiers fired on the people. "A gush of smoke overspread the scene. It rose heavily, as if it were loath to reveal the dreadful spectacle beneath it. Eleven of the sons of New England lay stretched upon the street. Some, sorely wounded, were struggling to rise again. Others stirred not nor groaned; for they were past all pain. Blood was streaming upon the snow; and though that purple stain melted away in the next day's sun, it was never forgotten nor forgiven by the people (1770)."

99 1

The
Boston

7. Before the news of this event reached England, Parlia ment revoked the duty which had been imposed on glass and painters' colors, but retained that of three pence a pound on tea. This concession, however, did not satisfy the people, for they were contending, not against the tea party. amount of the tax but for the principle of "no taxation without representation." They were determined not to be taxed except by their own representatives. Accordingly, the tea brought to New York and Philadelphia was sent back. That which came to Charleston was stored in damp cellars, and as no one would buy or use it, it soon became worthless.

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8. Samuel Adams was the true king in Boston at that time, though honors, emoluments, and even power he never

1 Two years later an affair occurred in Narragansett bay, which, says Arnold, Rhode Island's historian, "is deserving of commendation as it was the first blow, in all the colonies, for freedom.' The Gaspee, a British schooner, was stationed in the bay "to prevent the clandestine landing of goods subject to the payment of duty. The packet Hannah, from New York, while proceeding up the bay was chased by the Gaspee, but the latter ran aground, and the Hannah thus escaped to Providence. The situation of the hated enemy was soon proclaimed at Providence by beat of drum, calling upon those who desired to go and destroy her, to meet that evening. Eight long-boats were provided, and the party embarked. It was past midnight when they approached the Gaspee. The attacking party boarded the schooner, and, after a brief struggle, the crew surrendered and were put on shore, their vessel being set fire to and completely destroyed.

1773

The Boston Tea Party.

129

sought. He was a man of cultivated mind and stainless reputation, a powerful speaker and writer, a man in whose sagacity and moderation all men trusted. He was among the first to see that there was no resting place in this great struggle short of independence. The men of Boston felt the power of his resolute spirit, and manfully followed where Samuel Adams led. With his tongue and pen he made the king of England tremble on his throne." "The king," he said, "has no right to send troops here to invade the country; if they come, they will come as foreign enemies. We will not submit to any tax, nor become slaves. We will take up arms, and spend our last drop of blood before the king and Parliament shall impose upon us. It was not reverence for kings that brought the ancestors of New England to America. They fled from kings and looked up to the King of kings. We are free, and want no king."

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9. Three tea-ships" arrived at Boston, and the agents refused to send them back to London. Public meetings were held. Faneuil (fan'-you'l) Hall' could not contain the people that poured into the town, so they adjourned to the "Old South Meeting House." Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, and other notable patriots conducted the proceedings. The time for action at length arrived and Adams gave the word. On the instant, a cry was heard at the porch; the war-whoop resounded; a body of men, forty or fifty in number, disguised with painted faces and clad in blankets as Indians, each holding a hatchet, passed by the door." The crowd followed. The ships were boarded. Silently and quickly "these grim figures, the painted war

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1 Faneuil Hall, in Boston, was used by the patriots during the revolution, and for that reason is often called the "Cradle of American Liberty.' The original building, comprising a market-place on the ground floor, a town-hall, and other rooms, was erected by Peter Faneuil. In 1761, it was destroyed by fire; but in 1763 it was rebuilt at the expense of the town; and when the British occupied Boston in 1775, they used the Hall for a theatre. In 1805, the building underwent considerable alteration.