A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

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[Illustration: WOLFE'S RAVINE. This shows the gradual ascent of the path
from the river to the top of the bluff.]

[Sidenote: Capture of Quebec, 1759. _Higginson_, 154-156; _Eggleston_,
137-139; _Source-Book_, 105-107.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Quebec.]

101. Capture of Quebec, 1759.--Of all the younger generals James
Wolfe was foremost. To him was given the task of capturing Quebec.
Seated on a high bluff, Quebec could not be captured from the river. The
only way to approach it was to gain the Plains of Abraham in its rear
and besiege it on the land side. Again and again Wolfe sent his men to
storm the bluffs below the town. Every time they failed. Wolfe felt that
he must give up the task, when he was told that a path led from the
river to the top of the bluff above the town. Putting his men into
boats, they gained the path in the darkness of night. There was a guard
at the top of the bluff, but the officer in command was a coward and ran
away. In the morning the British army was drawn up on the Plains of
Abraham. The French now attacked the British, and a fierce battle took
place. The result was doubtful when Wolfe led a charge at the head of
the Louisburg Grenadiers. He was killed, but the French were beaten.
Five days later Quebec surrendered. Montreal was captured in 1760, and
in 1763 the war came to an end.

[Sidenote: Peace of Paris, 1763.]

102. Peace of Paris, 1763.--By this great treaty, or set of
treaties, the French withdrew from the continent of North America. To
Spain, who had lost Florida, the French gave the island of New Orleans
and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi. To Great Britain the
French gave up all the rest of their American possessions except two
small islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Spain, on her part, gave up
Florida to the British. There were now practically only two powers in
America,--the British in the eastern part of the continent, and the
Spaniards west of the Mississippi. The Spaniards also owned the island
of New Orleans and controlled both sides of the river for more than a
hundred miles from its mouth. But the treaty gave the British the free
navigation of the Mississippi throughout its length.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 8

Sec.Sec. 65, 66.--_a_. What government did England have after the execution of
Charles I? Give three facts about Cromwell.

_b_. How did the accession of Charles II affect the colonies?

_c_. What laws were made about the commerce of the colonies?

Sec. 67.--_a_. How did the new government of England regard Massachusetts?
Why?

_b_. Describe the treatment of the Quakers in Massachusetts.

Sec. 68.--_a_. Describe the charters given to Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Why did Connecticut need a charter when she already had a constitution?

_b_. What other colony was united with Connecticut?

Sec.Sec. 69,70.--_a_. Why did England wish to conquer New Netherland? Why did
not the people of New Amsterdam wish to fight the English?

_b_. To whom did Charles give this territory?

Sec.Sec. 71, 72.--_a_. Mark on a map the position of New Jersey.

_b_. Describe the division of New Jersey and its sale to the Quakers.

_c_. Why was the colony prosperous?

Sec.Sec. 73, 74.--_a_. Describe the founding of Carolina.

_b_. Describe northern and southern Carolina, and note the differences
between them.

Sec.Sec. 75, 76.--_a_. What complaints did the people of Virginia make? Was
Bacon a rebel?

_b_. Describe the later government of Virginia.

_c_. Why was the founding of William and Mary College important?

Sec. 77.--_a_. What was the cause of King Philip's War?

_b_. What were the results of the war?

Sec.Sec. 78-80.--_a_. Find out three facts about the early life of William
Penn. Why did colonists come to Pennsylvania?

_b_. What trouble arose with Maryland about the boundary line?

_c_. How was Mason and Dixon's line famous later?

CHAPTER 9

Sec.Sec. 81-84.--_a_. Why did Charles and James dislike the growing liberty of
the colonies?

_b_. What changes did Andros make in New England?

_c_. Describe the "Glorious Revolution" in America.

_d_. What changes did William and Mary make in the colonial governments?

Sec.Sec. 85-88.--_a_. How did the Carolina proprietors treat their colonists?
What was the result of their actions?

_b_. Explain the reasons for the founding of Georgia.

CHAPTER 10

Sec.Sec. 89,90.--_a_. Compare the strength of the English and French colonies.
What is a "despotism"?

_b_. Draw a map showing the position of the English and French colonies.

Sec.Sec. 91-93.--_a_. Mark on a map all the places mentioned in the text.

_b_. Describe the expedition against Louisburg.

_c_. What was the result of these wars?

Sec.Sec. 94-97.--_a_. Which country, England, France, or Spain, had the best
claim to the Mississippi valley? Why?

_b_. Follow route of La Salle on a map, marking each place mentioned.
Describe the settlement of Louisiana.

_c_. Why did the struggle between England and France begin in the Ohio
valley?

_d_. Describe Washington's early training.

Sec.Sec. 98-101.--_a_. Where was Fort Duquesne? Why was its position
important? Describe Braddock's expedition and trace his route.

_b_. Mark on a map the important routes to Canada.

_c_. Describe the capture of Quebec. Why was it important?

Sec. 102.--_a_. What territory did England gain in 1763? What did Spain
gain? What did France lose?

_b_. What was the great question settled by this war?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

_a_. Were the New England colonies difficult to govern? Why?

_b_. In what respects were the colonial governments alike? In what
respects were they unlike?

_c_. What events in any colony have shown that its people desired more
liberty?

TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

_a_. The Revolution of 1688 in England and America.

_b_. Write an account of the life of a boy or girl in any colony; tell
about the house, furniture, dress, school, and if a journey to another
colony is made, how it is made and what is seen on the way.

_c_. Arrange a table similar to that described on p. 18.

SUGGESTIONS TO THE TEACHER

In this period the growing difficulties between England and the colonies
can be traced--especially in commercial affairs and in governmental
institutions. Thus many of the causes of the Revolution may be brought
out as well as the difficulties in the way of colonial union. This may
be emphasized by noting the difference between the English and
French colonies.

[Illustration: A MAP OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.,
ACCORDING TO THE TREATY IN 1763, By Peter Bell, Geographer, 1772.]

IV

COLONIAL UNION, 1760-1774

Books for Study and Reading

References.--Fiske's _War of Independence_, 39-86; Scudder's
_George Washington_; Lossing's _Field-Book of the Revolution; English
History for Americans_, 244-284 (English political history).

Home Readings.--Irving's _Washington_ (abridged edition); Cooke's
_Stories of the Old Dominion_; Cooper's _Lionel Lincoln_; Longfellow's
_Paul Revere's Ride_.

CHAPTER 11

BRITAIN'S COLONIAL SYSTEM

[Sidenote: England's early liberal colonial policy.]

[Sidenote: England's changed colonial policy.]

103. Early Colonial Policy.--At the outset, England's rulers had
been very kind to Englishmen who founded colonies. They gave them great
grants of land. They gave them rights of self-government greater than
any Englishmen living in England enjoyed. They allowed them to manage
their own trade and industries as they saw fit. They even permitted them
to worship God as their consciences told them to worship him. But, as
the colonists grew in strength and in riches, Britain's rulers tried to
make their trade profitable to British merchants and interfered in
their government. On their part the colonists disobeyed the navigation
laws and disputed with the royal officials. For years Britain's rulers
allowed this to go on. But, at length, near the close of the last French
war Mr. Pitt ordered the laws to be enforced.

[Sidenote: Difficulties in enforcing the navigation laws.]

[Sidenote: James Otis. _Eggleston_, 163. His speech against writs of
assistance, 1761.]

104. Writs of Assistance, 1761.--It was a good deal easier to order
the laws to be carried out than it was to carry them out. It was almost
impossible for the customs officers to prevent goods being landed
contrary to law. When the goods were once on shore, it was difficult to
seize them. So the officers asked the judges to give them writs of
assistance. Among the leading lawyers of Boston was James Otis. He was
the king's law officer in the province. But he resigned his office and
opposed the granting of the writs. He objected to the use of writs of
assistance because they enabled a customs officer to become a tyrant.
Armed with one of them he could go to the house of a man he did not like
and search it from attic to cellar, turn everything upside down and
break open doors and trunks. It made no difference, said Otis, whether
Parliament had said that the writs were legal. For Parliament could not
make an act of tyranny legal. To do that was beyond the power even of
Parliament.

[Sidenote: Patrick Henry. _Eggleston_, 162.]

[Sidenote: His speech in the Parson's Cause, 1763.]

105. The Parson's Cause, 1763.--The next important case arose in
Virginia and came about in this way. The Virginians made a law
regulating the salaries of clergymen in the colony. The king vetoed the
law. The Virginians paid no heed to the veto. The clergy men appealed to
the courts and the case of one of them was selected for trial. Patrick
Henry, a prosperous young lawyer, stated the opinions of the Virginians
in a speech which made his reputation. The king, he said, had no right
to veto a Virginia law that was for the good of the people. To do so was
an act of tyranny, and the people owed no obedience to a tyrant. The
case was decided for the clergyman. For the law was clearly on his side.
But the jurymen agreed with Henry. They gave the clergyman only one
farthing damages, and no more clergymen brought cases into the court.
The king's veto was openly disobeyed.

[Sidenote: Proclamation of 1763. _McMaster_, 110.]

106. The King's Proclamation of 1763.--In the same year that the
Parson's Cause was decided the king issued a proclamation which greatly
lessened the rights of Virginia and several other colonies to western
lands. Some of the old charter lines, as those of Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Virginia, and the Carolinas had extended to the Pacific
Ocean. By the treaty of 1763 (p. 69) the king, for himself and his
subjects, abandoned all claim to lands west of Mississippi River. Now in
the Proclamation of 1763 he forbade the colonial governors to grant any
lands west of the Alleghany Mountains. The western limit of Virginia and
the Carolinas was fixed. Their pioneers could not pass the mountains and
settle in the fertile valleys of the Ohio and its branches.

CHAPTER 12

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

[Sidenote: George III.]

[Sidenote: George Grenville.]

[Sidenote: The British Parliament.]

107. George III and George Grenville.--George III became king in
1760. He was a narrow, stupid, well-meaning, ignorant young man of
twenty-one. He soon found in George Grenville a narrow, dull,
well-meaning lawyer, a man who would do what he was told. So George
Grenville became the head of the government. To him the law was the law.
If he wished to do a thing and could find the law for it, he asked for
nothing more. His military advisers told him that an army must be kept
in America for years. It was Grenville's business to find the money to
support this army. Great Britain was burdened with a national debt. The
army was to be maintained, partly, at least, for the protection of the
colonists. Why should they not pay a part of the cost of maintaining it?
Parliament was the supreme power in the British Empire. It controlled
the king, the church, the army, and the navy. Surely a Parliament that
had all this power could tax the colonists. At all events, Grenville
thought it could, and Parliament passed the Stamp Act to tax them.

[Sidenote: Taxation and representation.]

[Sidenote: Henry's resolutions, 1765. _Higginson_, 161-164; _McMaster_,
112-114.]

108. Henry's Resolutions, 1765.--The colonists, however, with one
voice, declared that Parliament had no power to tax them. Taxes, they
said, could be voted only by themselves or their representatives. They
were represented in their own colonial assemblies, and nowhere else.
Patrick Henry was now a member of the Virginia assembly. He had just
been elected for the first time. But as none of the older members of the
assembly proposed any action, Henry tore a leaf from an old law-book and
wrote on it a set of resolutions. These he presented in a burning
speech, upholding the rights of the Virginians. He said that to tax them
by act of Parliament was tyranny. "Caesar and Tarquin had each his
Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III"--"Treason, treason,"
shouted the speaker. "May profit by their example," slowly Henry went
on. "If that be treason, make the most of it." The resolutions were
voted. In them the Virginians declared that they were not subject to
Acts of Parliament laying taxes or interfering in the internal affairs
of Virginia.

[Illustration: HENRY'S FIRST AND LAST RESOLUTIONS (FACSIMILE OF THE
ORIGINAL DRAFT)]

[Sidenote: Opposition to the Stamp Act, 1765. _Higginson_, 164-165;
_McMaster_, 116.]

109. Stamp Act Riots, 1765.--Until the summer of 1765 the colonists
contented themselves with passing resolutions. There was little else
that they could do. They could not refuse to obey the law because it
would not go into effect until November. They could not mob the stamp
distributers because no one knew their names. In August the names of the
stamp distributers were published. Now at last it was possible to do
something besides passing resolutions. In every colony the people
visited the stamp officers and told them to resign. If they refused,
they were mobbed until they resigned. In Boston the rioters were
especially active. They detested Thomas Hutchinson. He was
lieutenant-governor and chief justice and had been active in enforcing
the navigation acts. The rioters attacked his house. They broke his
furniture, destroyed his clothing, and made a bonfire of his books
and papers.

[Sidenote: Colonial congresses.]

[Sidenote: Albany Congress, 1754.]

[Sidenote: Stamp Act Congress, 1765.]

110. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765.--Colonial congresses were no new
thing. There had been many meetings of governors and delegates from
colonial assemblies. The most important of the early congresses was the
Albany Congress of 1754. It was important because it proposed a plan of
union. The plan was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. But neither the
king nor the colonists liked it, and it was not adopted. All these
earlier congresses had been summoned by the king's officers to arrange
expeditions against the French or to make treaties with the Indians. The
Stamp Act Congress was summoned by the colonists to protest against the
doings of king and Parliament.

[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY "I am not a Virginian, but an American."]

[Sidenote: Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists,
1765. _McMaster_, 115.]

111. Work of the Stamp Act Congress.--Delegates from nine colonies
met at New York in October, 1765. They drew up a "Declaration of the
Rights and Grievances of the Colonists." In this paper they declared
that the colonists, as subjects of the British king, had the same rights
as British subjects living in Britain, and were free from taxes except
those to which they had given their consent. They claimed for themselves
the right of trial by jury--which might be denied under the Stamp Act.
But the most important thing about the congress was the fact that nine
colonies had put aside their local jealousies and had joined in
holding it.

[Sidenote: Benjamin Franklin.]

[Sidenote: Examined by the House of Commons.]

112. Franklin's Examination.--Born in Boston, Benjamin Franklin ran
away from home and settled at Philadelphia. By great exertion and
wonderful shrewdness he rose from poverty to be one of the most
important men in the city and colony. He was a printer, a newspaper
editor, a writer, and a student of science. With kite and string he drew
down the lightning from the clouds and showed that lightning was a
discharge of electricity. He was now in London as agent for Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts. His scientific and literary reputation gave him great
influence. He was examined at the bar of the House of Commons. Many
questions and answers were arranged beforehand between Franklin and his
friends in the House. But many questions were answered on the spur of
the moment. Before the passage of the Stamp Act the feeling of the
colonists toward Britain had been "the best in the world." So Franklin
declared. But now, he said, it was greatly altered. Still an army sent
to America would find no rebellion there. It might, indeed, make one. In
conclusion, he said the repeal of the act would not make the colonists
any more willing to pay taxes.

[Sidenote: Fall of Grenville.]

[Sidenote: Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766.]

[Sidenote: The Declaratory Act, 1766.]

113. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766.--It chanced that at this moment
George III and George Grenville fell out. The king dismissed the
minister, and gave the Marquis of Rockingham the headship of a new set
of ministers. Now Rockingham and his friends needed aid from somebody to
give them the strength to outvote Grenville and the Tories. So when the
question of what should be done about the Stamp Act came up, they
listened most attentively to what Mr. Pitt had to say. That great man
said that the Stamp Act should be repealed wholly and at once. At the
same time another law should be passed declaring that Parliament had
power to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. The
Rockinghams at once did as Mr. Pitt suggested. The Stamp Act was
repealed. The Declaratory Act was passed. In the colonies Pitt was
praised as a deliverer. Statues of him were placed in the streets,
pictures of him were hung in public halls. But, in reality, the passage
of the Declaratory Act was the beginning of more trouble.

[Sidenote: The Chatham Ministry.]

[Sidenote: The Townshend Acts, 1767. _McMaster_, 117-118.]

114. The Townshend Acts, 1767.--The Rockingham ministers did what
Mr. Pitt advised them to do. He then turned them out and made a ministry
of his own. He was now Earl of Chatham, and his ministry was the Chatham
Ministry. The most active of the Chatham ministers was Charles
Townshend. He had the management of the finances and found them very
hard to manage. So he hit upon a scheme of laying duties on wine, oil,
glass, lead, painter's colors, and tea imported into the colonies. Mr.
Pitt had said that Parliament could regulate colonial trade. The best
way to regulate trade was to tax it. At the same time that Townshend
brought in this bill, he brought in others to reorganize the colonial
customs service and make it possible to collect the duties. He even
provided that offences against the revenue laws should be tried by
judges appointed directly by the king, without being submitted to a jury
of any kind.

[Sidenote: The Sugar Act.]

[Sidenote: Enforcement of the Navigation Acts.]

115. Colonial Opposition, 1768.--Many years before this, Parliament
had made a law taxing all sugar brought into the continental colonies,
except sugar that had been made in the British West Indies. Had this law
been carried out, the trade of Massachusetts and other New England
colonies would have been ruined. But the law was not enforced. No one
tried to enforce it, except during the few months of vigor at the time
of the arguments about writs of assistance. As the taxes were not
collected, no one cared whether they were legal or not. Now it was plain
that this tax and the Townshend duties were to be collected. The
Massachusetts House of Representatives drew up a circular letter to the
other colonial assemblies asking them to join in opposing the new taxes.
The British government ordered the House to recall the letter. It
refused and was dissolved. The other colonial assemblies were directed
to take no notice of the circular letter. They replied at the first
possible moment and were dissolved.

[Sidenote: Seizure of the sloop _Liberty_, 1768.]

116. The New Customs Officers at Boston, 1768.--The chief office of
the new customs organization was fixed at Boston. Soon John Hancock's
sloop, _Liberty_, sailed into the harbor with a cargo of Madeira wine.
As Hancock had no idea of paying the duty, the customs officers seized
the sloop and towed her under the guns of a warship which was in the
harbor. Crowds of people now collected. They could not recapture the
_Liberty_. They seized one of the war-ship's boats, carried it to the
Common, and had a famous bonfire. All this confusion frightened the
chief customs officers. They fled to the castle in the harbor and wrote
to the government for soldiers to protect them.

[Illustration: ONE OF JOHN HANCOCK'S BILL-HEADS.]

[Sidenote: Virginia Resolves, 1769.]

117. The Virginia Resolves of 1769.--Parliament now asked the king
to have colonists, accused of certain crimes, brought to England for
trial. This aroused the Virginians. They passed a set of resolutions,
known as the Virginia Resolves of 1769. These resolves asserted: (1)
that the colonists only had the right to tax the colonists; (2) that the
colonists had the right to petition either by themselves or with the
people of other colonies; and (3) that no colonist ought to be sent to
England for trial.

[Sidenote: Non-Importation Agreements, 1769.]

[Sidenote: Partial repeal of the Townshend Acts, 1770.]

118. Non-Importation Agreements, 1769.--When he learned what was
going on, the governor of Virginia dissolved the assembly. But the
members met in the Raleigh tavern near by. There George Washington laid
before them a written agreement to use no British goods upon which
duties had been paid. They all signed this agreement. Soon the other
colonies joined Virginia in the Non-Importation Agreement. English
merchants found their trade growing smaller and smaller. They could not
even collect their debts, for the colonial merchants said that trade in
the colonies was so upset by the Townshend Acts that they could not sell
their goods, or collect the money owing to them. The British merchants
petitioned Parliament to repeal the duties, and Parliament answered them
by repealing all the duties except the tax on tea.

[Illustration: THE "RALEIGH TAVERN"]

CHAPTER 13

REVOLUTION IMPENDING

[Sidenote: The British soldiers at New York.]

[Sidenote: Soldiers sent to Boston, 1768.]

119. The Soldiers at New York and Boston.--Soldiers had been
stationed at New York ever since the end of the French war because that
was the most central point on the coast. The New Yorkers did not like to
have the soldiers there very well, because Parliament expected them to
supply the troops with certain things without getting any money in
return. The New York Assembly refused to supply them, and Parliament
suspended the Assembly's sittings. In 1768 two regiments came from New
York to Boston to protect the customs officers.

[Sidenote: The Boston Massacre, 1770. _Higginson_, 166-169; _McMaster_,
118.]

120. The Boston Massacre, 1770.--There were not enough soldiers at
Boston to protect the customs officers--if the colonists really wished
to hurt them. There were quite enough soldiers at Boston to get
themselves and the colonists into trouble. On March 5, 1770, a crowd
gathered around the soldiers stationed on King's Street, now State
Street. There was snow on the ground, and the boys began to throw snow
and mud at the soldiers. The crowd grew bolder. Suddenly the soldiers
fired on the people. They killed four colonists and wounded several
more. Led by Samuel Adams, the people demanded the removal of the
soldiers to the fort in the harbor. Hutchinson was now governor. He
offered to send one regiment out of the town. "All or none," said Adams,
and all were sent away.

[Sidenote: Town Committees of Correspondence.]

[Sidenote: Colonial Committees of Correspondence, 1769.]

121. Committees of Correspondence.--Up to this time the resistance
of the colonists had been carried on in a haphazard sort of way. Now
Committees of Correspondence began to be appointed. These committees
were of two kinds. First there were town Committees of Correspondence.
These were invented by Samuel Adams and were first appointed in
Massachusetts. But more important were the colonial Committees of
Correspondence. The first of these was appointed by Virginia in 1769. At
first few colonies followed Massachusetts and Virginia in appointing
committees. But as one act of tyranny succeeded another, other colonies
fell into line. By 1775 all the colonies were united by a complete
system of Committees of Correspondence.

[Sidenote: The tax on tea. _McMaster_, 119.]

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