THE AMERICAN NATION A HISTORY

FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES BY ASSOCIATED SCHOLARS

EDITED BY

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

ADVISED BY VARIOUS HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

IN 27 VOLUMES VOL. 8

THE AMERICAN NATION A HISTORY

LIST OP AUTHORS AND TITLES

Group I.

Foundations of the Nation

Vol. i European Background of American History, by Edward Potts Chey- ney, A.M., Prof. Hist. Univ. of Pa.

" 2 Basis of American History, by Livingston Farrand, M.D., Prof. Anthropology Columbia Univ.

" 3 Spain in America, by Edward Gay- lord Bourne, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Yale Univ.

" 4 England in America, by Lyon Gar- diner Tyler, LL.D., President William and Mary College.

" 5 Colonial Self - Government, by Charles McLean Andrews, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Johns Hopkins Univ,

Group II.

Transformation into a Nation

Vol. 6 Provincial America, by Evarts Boutell Greene, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and Dean of College, Univ. of 111.

" 7 France in America, by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D., Sec. Wis- consin State Hist. Soc.

Vol. 8 Preliminaries of the Revolution, by George Elliott Howard, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Univ. of Nebraska. " 9 The American Revolution, by Claude Halstead Van Tyne, Ph.D.,

" 10 The Confederation and the Consti- tution, by Andrew Cunningham McLaughlin, A.M., Head Prof. Hist. Univ. of Chicago.

Development of the Nation

Vol. ii The Federalist System, by John Spencer Bassett, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist. Smith College.

" 12 The Jeffersonian System, by Ed- ward Channing, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Harvard Univ.

" 13 Rise of American Nationality, by Kendric Charles Babcock, Ph.D., Pres. Univ. of Arizona.

" 14 Rise of the New West, by Freder- ick Jackson Turner, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist. Univ. of Wisconsin.

" 15 Jacksonian Democracy, by Will- iam MacDonald, LL.D., Prof. Hist. Brown Univ.

Group IV.

Trial of Nationality

Vol. 16 Slavery and Abolition, by Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Prof. Hist. Harvard Univ.

Group III.

Vol. 1 7 Westward Extension, by George Pierce Garrison, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Univ. of Texas.

" 1 8 Parties and Slavery, by Theodore Clarke Smith, Ph.D., Prof. Am. Hist. Williams College.

" 19 Causesof the Civil War,by Admiral French Ensor Chadwick, U.S.N., recent Pres. of Naval War Col.

" 20 The Appeal to Arms, by James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D., recent Librarian Minneapolis Pub. Lib.

" 21 Outcome of the Civil War, by James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D., re- cent Lib. Minneapolis Pub. Lib.

Group V.

National Expansion

Vol. 22 Reconstruction, Political and Eco- nomic, by William Archibald Dun- ning, Ph.D., Prof. Hist, and Politi- cal Philosophy Columbia Univ.

" 23 National Development, by Edwin Erie Sparks, Ph.D., Prof. Ameri- can Hist. Univ. of Chicago.

" 24 National Problems, by Davis R. Dewey, Ph.D., Professor of Eco- nomics, Mass. Institute of Tech- nology.

" 25 America as a World Power, by John H. Latane, Ph.D., Prof. Hist. Washington and Lee Univ.

" 26 National Ideals Historically Traced, by Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Prof. Hist. Harvard Univ.

" 27 Index to the Series, by David Maydole Matteson, A.M.

COMMITTEES APPOINTED TO ADVISE AND CONSULT WITH THE EDITOR

The Massachusetts Historical Society

Charles Francis Adams, LL.D., President Samuel A. Green, M.D., Vice-President James Ford Rhodes, LL.D., 2d Vice-Preside Edward Channing, Ph.D., Prof. History Harvard Univ.

Worthington C. Ford, Chief of Division of MSS. Library of Congress

The Wisconsin Historical Society

Reuben G. Thwaites, LL.D., Secretary and Super- intendent

Frederick J. Turner, Ph.D., Prof, of American His- tory Wisconsin University

James D. Butler, LL.D., formerly Prof. Wisconsin University

William W. Wight, President

Henry E. Legler, Curator

The Virginia Historical Society

William Gordon McCabe, Litt.D., President

Lyon G. Tyler, LL.D., Pres. of William and Mary

College Judge David C. Richardson J. A. C. Chandler, Professor Richmond College Edward Wilson James

The Texas Historical Society

Judge John Henninger Reagan, President George P. Garrison, Ph.D., Prof, of History Uni- versity of Texas Judge C. W. Raines Judge Zachary T. Fullmore

/

THE AMERICAN NATION : A HISTORY

VOLUME 8

PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION

i 763-1 775

BY

GEORGE ELLIOTT HOWARD, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

WITH MAPS

NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1905, by Harper & Brothers.

Printed in the United States of America

B—li

c\ ~) 3

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

Editor's Introduction xiii

Author's Preface xvii

i. The French War Reveals an American

People (1763) 3

11. The British Empire under George III.

(1760-1775) 22

Hi. The Mercantile Colonial System (1660-

||; . 1775) . . . ';>■ 47

iv. The First Protest of Massachusetts (1761) 68

v. The First Protest of Virginia (1758-1763) 84

vi. The First Act for Revenue from the

Colonies (1763-1764) 102

vii. The Menace of the Stamp Act (1764-1765) 121

viii. America's Response to the Stamp Act (1765) 140

ix. The Repeal of the Stamp Act (1766) . . 158

x. The Townshend Revenue Acts (1 766-1 767) 174

xi. First Fruits of the Townshend Acts (1768-

1770) 193

xii. The Anglican Episcopate and the Revolu-

tion (1638-1775) 206

xiii. Institutional Beginnings of the West

(1768-1775) 222

xii CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

xiv. Royal Orders and Committees op Corre-

spondence (1770-1773) 242

xv. The Tea-Party and the Coercive Acts

(1773-1774) 259

xvi. The First Continental Congress (1774) . 280

xvii. The Appeal to Arms (17 74-1 775) .... 296

xviii. The Case of the Loyalists (i 763-1 775) . . 313

xix. Critical Essay on Authorities . . . . 327

MAPS

British Possessions in North America,

1765 (in colors) , facing 4

Designation of Members to General Con- gresses (1754-1765) 154

Indian Delimitations Made by Indian

Treaties (1763-1770) (in colors). . . 224

Proposed Western Colonies (1763-1775)

(in colors) 230

Designation of Members to General Con- gresses (1774-1775) 282

British Possessions in North America,

1775 (in colors) 298

Eastern Massachusetts (1775) .... 310

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

FEW periods of American history have been more written upon than the decade preceding the Rev- olution. Nevertheless, there is still room for a brief volume upon the subject ; all the world knows that the Revolution really began almost fifteen years before its beginning, because of the efforts of the British government to give greater unity and stiff- ness to its colonial system, both as to government and as to trade with other nations; but the real motives underlying the uneasiness of the colonies still need enlightenment.

In the arrangement of The American Nation, both Greene's Provincial America (vol. VI.) and Thwaites's France in America (vol. VII.) are in- troductory to this volume: the one showing the organization of government against which they complained, and the other the danger from the French, the removal of which opened the way for revolution; the volume is also most closely linked with Van Tyne's American Revolution (vol. IX.).

Professor Howard opens with two chapters on the conditions and political standards of the Americans on their side of the ocean, and of the

xiv EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

British on their side; then follows (chap, iii.) an account of the system of Navigation Acts as it then existed, which may well be compared with chapters i. and xix. of Andrews's Colonial Self- Government, and chapters iii. and xviii. of Greene's Provincial America. The two preliminary episodes of the Parson's Cause and Writs of Assistance (chaps, iv. and v.) are followed by a discussion of the Sugar Act of 1766, which Professor Howard considers the starting-point of the Revolution. In three chapters (vii., viii., ix.) the Stamp Act, Stamp Act Congress, and repeal are considered; in two more chapters the Townshend Acts and the attempts to enforce them by the military are described.

The narrative then gives way to an indispensable discussion of the Anglican Episcopate, which fits into Greene's discussion of the same subject in an earlier volume (Provincial America, chap. vi.). The first appearance of the West as a distinct factor in national life is described in chapter xiii. and will be resumed in Van Tyne's American Revolution (chap, xv.) ; and, in a later stage, in McLaughlin's Confederation and Constitution (vol. X., chaps, vii.,

... V

m).

The final steps leading up to revolution, from 1773 to 1775, occupy chapters xiv. to xvii. The last chapter of text is the argument of the loyalists, a strong presentation of the reasons which led so many thousand Americans to adhere to the mother- country. It should be compared with Van Tyne's

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

American Revolution (chap. xiv.). The Critical Essay on Authorities is conveniently classified by subjects which do not follow strictly the order of the chapters.

The aim of the volume is to show what the issue really was and why people who had lived under one general government for a century and a half could no longer get on together. Professor Howard's investigations bring him to about the same point as those of earlier writers — viz., that war was inevitable because of long antecedent causes tending to inde- pendence, and was precipitated by the failure of the home government to understand either the sit- uation or the American people ; but that it was not a result of direct and conscious oppression. Yet this fresh study of the evidence results in a clearer view of the difficulties of the imperial problem; and brings out in sharper relief the reasons for the apparent paradox that the freest people then on earth insisted on and deserved a larger freedom.

VOL. VIII. 2

I

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

THE struggle between the English colonies and the parent state resulting in the recognition of a new and dominant nation in the western hemi- sphere is justly regarded as a revolution. Its preliminaries cover the twelve years between the peace of Paris in 1763 and the appeal to arms in 1775; but its causes are more remote. Up to the very beginning of hostilities the colonists disclaimed any desire for independence ; yet it seems clear to us that unconsciously they had long been preparing themselves for that event. The origin of the Revolution is coeval with the earliest dawning of a sentiment of American union. Its assigned causes are, indeed, mainly economic and political. It was not a social revolution in the conventional sense; yet it was profoundly sociological in character. The conditions were favorable to the rise of a more united and a freer society in America ; but this was hindered by the inertia of a colonial system which the American people had outgrown. Hence it is a grave mistake to see in the struggle between Great Britain and her colonies merely a useless contest provoked by the fanaticism, the ambition, or the

xvii

xviii

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

stupidity of a few leaders on either side. A rev- olution cannot be explained on the basis of per- sonal influences alone.

To the friends who have aided me in many ways during the preparation of this book I desire to con- vey my grateful thanks. The maps showing the en- virons of Boston and the Indian delimitations were prepared by Mr. David M. Matteson, of Cambridge. For the other maps I am mainly indebted to the skill and research of Professor Clark Edmund Persinger, of the University of Nebraska. Pro- fessor George Henry Alden, of the University of Washington, has generously placed at my disposal the maps in his New Governments West of the Alle- ghanies before 1780; and for like permission to make use of the map in his Western State-Making in the Revolutionary Era, I am under obligations to Pro- fessor Frederick J. Turner, of the University of Wis- consin. I have had the privilege of reading in manuscript the enlightening dissertation on The Foreign Commerce of the United States during the Confederation, by Professor Guy H. Roberts, of Bowdoin College.

George Elliott Howard.

%

PRELIMINARIES OF THE REVOLUTION

PRELIMINARIES OF THE

REVOLUTION

CHAPTER I

THE FRENCH WAR REVEALS AN AMERICAN

PEOPLE

(1763)

THE Seven Years* War left Great Britain the most powerful state on the globe, and heralded the rise of an English nation in the western hemi- sphere. Scarcely any other military struggle has produced so many events of decisive interest to mankind. At Rossbach Frederick achieved for Prussia the headship of the German people, thus in effect laying the basis of the present imperial union ; at Plassey Clive gained for England an empire in the East, whose borders are still expand- ing; at Quebec the victory of Wolfe won for the English race, though not finally for England, the political leadership of the western continents.

In a very real sense the year 1763 may be taken as marking the beginning of the American Revolu-

3

4 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1690

tion. The causes of that event are indeed far- reaching. They are as old as the colonial system itself. In many ways for more than a century, although they knew it not, the people of the thirteen provinces were being schooled and disciplined for their part in it. Almost in spite of themselves they were becoming moulded into one social body, an American society, which with the attainment of self -consciousness must inevitably demand a larger and freer, if not an entirely independent life. Their social consciousness was, in fact, stirred by the ex- periences of the war; and thereafter it was swiftly quickened and nourished by the blunders of the imperial administration.1

Looked at in this way, the revolutionary struggle reaches over a score of years, beginning with the peace of Paris and ending with the treaty of 1783. It comprises two well-defined stages. The first stage, closing with Washington's entrance upon command of the Continental army in July, 1775, is chiefly devoted to debate, to a contest of arguments, called out by the successive incidents of the halting ministerial policy, and occasionally interrupted by acts of popular or military violence. The second stage, except for the interval following the battle of Yorktown, is filled mainly with the agony of organized warfare, the clash of arms. With the history of the twelve years constituting the first of

1 For the condition and organization of the colonies, see Greene, Provincial America {American Nation, VI.), chap. xii.

1725] AMERICAN PEOPLE

5

these stages, it is the purpose of this book to deal, only now and then, as in the case of the writs of assistance or the navigation laws, reaching back to events of earlier origin.

For the colonists the moral and social results of the French and Indian War were very great. In the first place, they were relieved from the dread of a foreign foe whose garrisons, stretching in irregu- lar line from Quebec to New Orleans, had hemmed them in and checked their westward march. With the cession of the Floridas to England, the Spanish rival was thrust farther from their doors.1 The fall of the French dominion, the weakening of the arm of Spain, and the failure of Pontiac had much lessened the peril from the red race. With the French or Spanish pioneers the English colonists had not feared to compete; nor did they feel them- selves unequal to dealing with the Indian tribes. But there was always the anxiety lest the toma- hawk and the scalping - knife might be raised through intrigues of a white enemy; and they deemed it just that the imperial government should protect them from the encroachments of a foreign soldiery.

That the presence of the French was believed to be a very real danger is revealed by abundant evidence covering the whole period from the sur- prise of Schenectady, in 1690, to the end of the

1 For the French and Indian War, see Thwaites, France in America {American Nation, VII.), chaps, x.-xvi.

6 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1709

war.1 Thus, in 1709, Jeremiah Dummer, who the next year began his term of service as agent of Massachusetts in London, "shows how early and passionate among the English colonies in America was the dread of the American power of France," declaring "that those colonies can never be easy or happy ' whilst the French are masters of Canada.' "2 The effect of the French settlements, reports Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth, of New Hamp- shire, to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, in 1 73 1, "is that the Indians are frequently instigated and influenced by them to disturb the peace and quiet of this province, we having been often put to a vast expense both of blood and treasure, to de- fend ourselves against their cruel outrages/'3 At the close of the war the American colonists found themselves freed from this long-standing menace.

Moreover, their imaginations were quickened and their mental horizon was expanded by the geo- graphical results. For now, with the exception of the island of New Orleans, an imperial domain stretching from the Arctic to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, concealing illimitable riches within its mountains and its plains, was

1 See Monseignat's letter to Madame de Maintenon, in Hart, Contemporaries, II., 337.

2 Dummer, Letter to a Noble Lord, 4, quoted by Tyler, Hist, of Am. Lit., II., 119.

3 N. H. Hist. Soc., Collections, I., 227-230. Regarding the similar danger from the French on the Mississippi, see Spotts- wood, in Va. Hist, Soc., Collections, new series, II., 295.

1760] AMERICAN PEOPLE

7

thrown open to the industrial conquest of the English race. The enlarged view caused by this new environment is a fact of vast significance in estimating the forces underlying the contest for American independence. The colonist had grown in self-reliance, in mental stature. A greater des- tiny seemed to await him, and the friends of pro- vincial subjection were already jealous of the possi- ble consequences of his wider ambition. Before the war the Swedish traveller, Peter Kalm, writing in 1748, records the views of this class. It is "of great advantage to the crown of England," he says, "that the North American colonies are near a country, under the government of the French, like Canada. There is reason to believe that the king never was earnest in his attempts to expel the French from their possessions there; though it might have been done with little difficulty. For the English colonies in this part of the world have encreased so much in their number of inhabitants, and in their riches, that they almost vie with Old England." "I have been told" that "in the space of thirty or fifty years " they " would be able to form a state by them- selves, entirely independent" of the mother-coun- try.1 For like reasons, in 1760, when peace seemed near at hand, the ministry were urged to yield Canada rather than Guadeloupe to the French. According to William Burke, a friend and kinsman of the celebrated statesman, Canada in French hands

1 Kalm, Travels, I., 262-265.

8 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1763

was necessary to preserve the "balance of power in America." If "the people of our colonies," he in- sisted, " find no check from Canada, they will extend themselves almost without bounds into the inland parts. They will increase infinitely from all causes. What the consequences will be to have a numerous, hardy, independent people, possessed of a strong country, communicating little or not at all with England," he leaves to "conjecture."1

Replying to Burke's pamphlet, Franklin, then rep- resenting Pennsylvania in London, with character- istic eloquence and force presented the other side of the case in 1760. With Canada in English hands, "our planters will no longer be massacred by the Indians/ who must then depend upon us for supplies; and in the event of another war with France we shall not be put "to the immense ex- pense of defending that long - extended frontier." True, the colonists would thrive and multiply. In a century, at the present rate of increase, " British subjects on that side the water" would be "more numerous than they now are on this." But with right treatment their growing power would not affect their allegiance. They have different gov- ernments, laws, interests, and even manners. "Their jealousy of each other is so great, that however necessary a union of the colonies has long been, for their common defence and security against their

1 Burke, Remarks on the Letter Addressed to Two Great Men, 30-

1763] AMERICAN PEOPLE

9

enemies, and how sensible soever each colony has been of that necessity," such a union has thus far been impossible. If not against the French and the Indians, "can it reasonably be supposed there is any danger of their uniting against their own nation, which protects and encourages them, with which they have so many connexions and ties of blood, interest, and affection, and which, it is well known, they all love much more than they love one another?" While "the government is mild and just, while important religious and civil rights are secure, such subjects will be dutiful and obedient. The waves do not rise but when the winds blow." On the other hand, nothing is more likely to render "substantial" the "visionary danger of indepen- dence" than the heartless exposure of the colonists again to the "neighborhood of foreigners at enmity" with their sovereign. Will they then "have reason to consider themselves any longer as subjects and children, when they find their cruel enemies hallooed upon them by the country from whence they sprung ; the government that owes them protection, as it requires their obedience ? ' ' Should the ministry take this course, it "would prevent the assuring to the British name and nation a stability and per- manency that no man acquainted with history durst have hoped for till our American possessions opened the pleasing prospect."1 Pitt agreed with

1 Franklin, Interest of Great Britain Considered, with Regard to Her Colonies, in Works (Bigelow's ed.), III., 83.

io PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1698

Franklin, taking a course consistent with broad statesmanship and generous humanism.

In another way the war had prepared the colonists for the approaching contest. They had gained military experience and become aware of their own military strength. Battling side by side with the British regulars against the veterans of France, they had won confidence in themselves. They had tested their own fighting capacity, and had learned the need of modifying European tactics and Euro- pean methods to suit the exigencies of frontier war- fare. Moreover, at the Revolution the colonies possessed some officers and men who had been trained in actual warfare.

Most significant of all the results of the war was its influence in forcing out the already nascent sentiment of social unity. Founded at different times, under separate charters, and for diverse mo- tives, the American provinces were in fact thirteen distinct societies. Except for their allegiance to a common sovereign, they were in theory as inde- pendent as if they had been foreign states. They waged commercial and even physical war upon each other. Political, economic, and religious antago- nisms hindered their healthier growth. Social isola- tion is the mark of colonial as well as of Hellenic history ; and in the one case it was nearly as harmful as in the other. Its evils were early perceived ; and for more than a century before the outbreak of the French war one finds occasional experiments,

1763] AMERICAN PEOPLE

11

plans, or opinions which give expression to the desire for a political union of all or a part of the colonies. Such, in 1643, was the New England Confederation, which, in spite of its defects, served well for a time the needs of its members.1 Even the hated general government of Andros taught its adversaries an unintended lesson which bore fruit after many days.2 The value of federation was suggested, while the arguments, the methods, and the spirit with which the policy of Grenville and Townshend was resisted were then antici- pated.3

From this time onward, as population grew, busi- ness expanded, and the final struggle with France drew near, the need of a common colonial govern- ment was felt more and more keenly by thoughtful men.4 As early as 1698 William Penn prepared "A brief and plain scheme how the English colonies in the North parts of America . . . may be made more useful to the crown and one another's peace and safety with an universal concurrence. " Under the presidency of a royal commissioner a representative congress is to assemble at least once in two years. It is to be composed of two " appointed and stated

1 Tyler, England in America {American Nation, IV.), chap, xviii.

2 Andrews, Colonial Self -Government {American Nation, V.), chaps, xvi., xvii.

3 Letter of "Phileroy Philopatris," Colonial Papers, 1683, December 14, quoted by Doyle, Puritan Colonies, II., 223.

4 Greene, Provincial America {American Nation, VI.), chap. xi.

12 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1701

deputies" from each province; and its "business shall be to hear and adjust all matters of complaint or difference between province and province," in- cluding absconding debtors, extradition, commerce, and ways and means for securing the safety and united action of the colonies against the public enemies.1 In the same year Charles Davenant, praising this "constitution," suggests the creation of a " national assembly " to exercise powers simi- lar to those assigned by Penn to his "congress." "Though he advocated an exercise of the full power of the mother country over the colonies," says Frothingham,2 "yet he urged also a principle con- stantly put forth by them ; namely, that, in any gov- ernment that might be established over them, care should be taken to observe sacredly the charters and terms under which the emigrants, at the hazard of their lives, had effected discoveries and settle- ments" ; and " one of his liberal remarks is, that the stronger and greater the colonies grow, 'the more they would benefit the crown and the kingdom; and nothing but such an arbitrary power as shall make them desperate can bring them to rebel.'" A "Virginian," writing in 1701, criticises the schemes of Penn and Davenant, urging that the colonies ought to have, not an equal number of deputies in the general assembly, but a representa-

1 N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 296.

2 Davenant, Discourse on the Plantation Trade, quoted in Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, 11 1.

1754] AMERICAN PEOPLE

13

tion better apportioned according to their respective numbers and resources.1

In 1722 Daniel Coxe, anticipating some features of Franklin's plan, recommended that " all the col- onies appertaining to the crown of Great Britain on the northern continent of America, be united in a legal, regular, and firm establishment," under a "lieutenant, or supreme governour," and with a representative assembly for control of its finances.2 Plans more favorable to the prerogative were also suggested from time to time, as by Robert Living- ston in 1 701, and by Archibald Kennedy in 175 2. 3 Occasional congresses of governors and other of- ficials for conference with the Indians likewise did something to extend intercolonial acquaintance and to kindle the slowly dawning perception of the es- sential solidarity of provincial interests throughout the continent.4

Finally, in 1754, the famous Plan of Union drafted by Franklin was actually accepted by the Albany convention. This constitution for a united Amer- ican people, proposed by a representative conven- tion, is a new and significant event in the history

1 An Essay upon the Government of the English Plantations, 69, summarized by Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, 109-112.

3 Coxe, Description of the English Province of Carolana, Preface.

3 Livingston, in N. Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist., IV., 874; Kennedy, Importance of the Friendship of the Indians, 7-15, 38; Frothing- ham, Rise of the Republic, 116; part of the texts in American History Leaflets, No. 14.

* Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, chap. iv.

VOL. VIII. — 3

14 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1754

of political science.1 Among its provisions are some far wiser than the corresponding ones in the Articles of Confederation, of which it is the prototype. It never became a law. In America it was rejected as allowing " too much to prerogative, " and in England " as having too much weight in the democratic part."

The assemblies did well to decline an instrument which by one of its provisions, not in Franklin's original draft, would have yielded to Parliament the right to change their local institutions. Yet in its failure Franklin's plan was a lasting success. The educational value of an earnest debate on the great problem of American union, taking place simultaneously throughout the thirteen colonies, should not be underestimated. At the very out- break of the war a problem, which thus far for a few leaders had possessed mainly a literary or speculative interest, had definitively entered the field of practical politics. Still the hope of federa- tion would have to flower before it could yield actual fruit. The heart of the plain people had not yet been touched. This is what the war effected. The experiences of the war called into being a real though inchoate popular opinion re- garding the social destiny of the English race in America — a rudimentary national sentiment which impending events would speedily force into full and unquenchable life.

Hitherto there had not been, and under ordinary

1 Thwaites, France in America {American Nation, VII.) , chap. x.

1763] AMERICAN PEOPLE

15

circumstances there could hardly be, much inter- communication. Travel was then a serious business. By stage, four days were needed to go from Boston to New York, and three days more to reach Phila- delphia. Even the "flying-machine," put on the road in 1766, required two days for the trip between the last-named cities. The newspapers were few, dear, and scant of information. In fair weather, to spread news throughout the colonies took three weeks, and much longer than that in winter. Few of the wealthy or public men of the south had ever seen those of the north. The common people of one colony had the vaguest notions regarding their neighbors in another, and often their intense provincialism was mingled with bitter prejudices bred by earlier antagonisms or rivalries. The war in many ways broke down the barriers and got people to know each other. Legislatures were called upon to discuss the same or similar measures. Men from Virginia or Pennsylvania met those of Massachusetts or Connecticut in council or on the march and by the camp-fire, and they succored one another in battle. The money and troops sent to the north by the southern and less exposed colonies bred " mutual good-will, ' ' and the colonial officers " forgot ' ' their "jealousies" in the contempt shown for them by the British subalterns. The private soldiers, too, resented the patronizing airs of the king's regulars.1

1 Andrews, United States, I., 158; Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New Eng., II., 668.

16 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1754

Negatively, in still another way the colonies were being drawn together and apart from the British government. For it was precisely at this time that alarm was caused by the schemes of the ministry and the suggestions of governors like Shirley of Massachusetts, Bernard of New Jersey, and Din- widdie of Virginia, for raising a war revenue on the colonies and overriding their chartered rights. In 1754, as later in 1756 and 1760, the " British minis- try heard one general clamor from men in office for taxation by act of parliament."1 The governors were ordered to provide for quartering troops on the colonists and for impressing carriages and pro- visions for their support.2 Almost everywhere bit- ter disputes arose between the assemblies and the executive bodies. The proprietors of Pennsylvania selfishly declined to share with the people the bur- den of extra taxation, leading to a prolonged struggle, in which in 1760 the assembly was victori- ous. In Maryland a similar contest with the pro- prietor was carried on.3

Under Newcastle as the nominal head, suggests a recent English scholar, "the two ministers who were practically responsible for the disasters which brought Pitt into office were Halifax, as president

1 Bancroft, United States (ed. of 1885), II., 408-418, 443-449,

529-533-

2 See orders of 1758, in Hubert Hall, "Chatham's Colonial Policy," in Ant. Hist. Review, V., 664.

3 Black, Maryland's Attitude in the Struggle for Canada (Johns Hopkins University Studies, X., No. 7).

1760] AMERICAN PEOPLE 17

of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and Sir Thomas Robinson, as the departmental secretary of state. If we add to these military and naval ad- visers as pedantic as Ligonier and Anson, command- ers such as Braddock and Loudoun, governors of the type of Shirley, and the whole crew of brigadiers and post-captains, attorneys-general, vice-admirals, and revenue officers, all prepared to take their cue from the sententious loyalty which pervaded the optimist despatches from Whitehall, we shall not be surprised if 'the just grievances of his Majesty's loyal and faithful subjects' waited in vain for redress."1 Nor need we wonder if a nagging and hectoring policy, just when there was supreme need of conciliation, should have aided in awakening the social consciousness of America.

Governor Shirley, indeed, in 1755, did not sym- pathize with the "apprehensions" that the colonies "will in time unite to throw off their dependency upon their mother country, and set up one general government among themselves." Their different constitutions, clashing interests, and opposite tem- pers made "such a coalition" seem "highly im- probable." "At all events, they could not main- tain such an independency without a strong naval force, which it must forever be in the power of Great Britain to hinder them from having"; and he makes the sinister suggestion, that "whilst his

1 Hubert Hall, "Chatham's Colonial Policy," in Am. Hist. Review, V., 664.

18 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1730

majesty hath seven thousand troops kept up within them, with the Indians at command, it seems easy, provided his governors and principal officers are independent of the assemblies for their subsistence and commonly vigilant, to prevent any step of that kind from being taken." 1 Others had a keen- er vision. In the same year John Adams, then a village school-teacher, believed that "if we can remove the turbulent Gallicks, our people, accord- ing to the exactest calculations, will in another century become more numerous than England itself. Should this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain the mastery of the seas ; then the united forces of all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us."2

Already, in 1730, Montesquieu had prophesied that because of the laws of navigation and trade England would be the first nation abandoned by her colonies.3 Not long thereafter, in his memoirs, Argenson predicted that the English colonies in America would sometime rise against the mother- country, form themselves into a republic, and astonish the world by their progress.4 In 1750,

1 Shirley to Sir Thomas Robinson, August 15, 1755, in Bancroft, United States (10 vol. ed.), IV., 214.

2 Adams, Works, I., 23.

3 Montesquieu, " Notes sur l'Angleterre," in CEuvres (ed. of 1826), VIII., 452.

4 Argenson, Pensees sur la Reformation de VEtat, I., 55, 56.

1760] AMERICAN PEOPLE

19

twenty-five years before Washington had begun to favor independence, Turgot had likened colonies to fruit which clings to the parent stem only until ripe, and predicted that what Carthage once did "America will sometime do."1 On learning of the terms of the treaty of 1763, Vergennes, then French ambassador at Constantinople, said that "the consequences of the entire cession of Canada are obvious. I am persuaded England will ere long repent of having removed the only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection ; she will call on them to con- tribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her; and they will answer by striking off all dependence."2

The population of the colonies was of first-rate quality for nation - building. The basis was of Anglo-Saxon stock. The New England people were almost pure English, with slight intermixture of Scotch-Irish and other elements. The Scotch were numerous, notably in New Hampshire and North Carolina. There were French Huguenots, partic- ularly in South Carolina, a few Swedes in Dela- ware, Dutch in New Jersey and New York, while perhaps a third of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania were Germans. According to the most careful estimate, the thirteen colonies in 1760 had a total

1 Stephens, Turgot, 165.

2 Vergennes, as quoted in Bancroft, United States (ed. of 1885), II., 564.

20 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1763

population of about 1,600,000; 2,000,000 in 1767; 2,200,000 in 1770; 2,600,000 in 1775; 2,800,000 in 1780.1 In 1763, therefore, the whole number of souls was not far from 1,775,000. Of this number about 360,000 were negroes, slave and free, of whom more than three-fourths were south of Pennsylvania.

In 1775 Massachusetts had about 335,000 in- habitants; Pennsylvania 300,000; New York 190,- 000; North Carolina over 265,000; and Virginia 450,000, of whom one - third were blacks. The colonial population was doubling itself in twenty- three years, and it was very largely rural. As in the Old World, the tide of migration to urban centres was only beginning. In 1763 there were but four towns of considerable size in the country: Boston and Philadelphia 2 each with about 20,000, New York with perhaps 12,000, and Charleston with 9000 persons. Baltimore may have had 5000, Provi- dence 4000, and Albany 3000. Nearly five per cent, of the colonial population was then urban; whereas, by the census of 1900, over forty per cent, of the people of continental United States dwell in towns of at least 2500 inhabitants.

At the beginning of the Revolution servants by indenture were still being advertised for sale. These included free persons, whom necessity forced into

1 Dexter, Estimates of Population in tlie American Colonies, 50; Bancroft, United States (ed. of 1885), II., 390.

'See estimates for 1759 by Burnaby, Travels (ed. of 1775), 76, 133; Lecky, England, III., 30.3, 307.

1775] AMERICAN PEOPLE

21

temporary bondage, as well as banished convicts.1 Thus, in 1753, it was announced that the Greyhound had arrived at the Severn, Maryland, "with 90 persons doomed to stay seven years in his Majesty's American plantations." Two years later the same newspaper informed the public that "more than 100 seven-year passengers have arrived at Annap- olis." Criminals were transported to the same colony as late at least as 17 74. 2 The fact is en- lightening. The propriety of receiving the foul harvest of the London prisons seems scarcely to have been questioned by the colonists. The slight prog- ress made in the knowledge of social as well as economic laws should never be forgotten in trying to understand the origin and long toleration of British colonial policy.

1 Weeden, Econ. and Soc. Hist, of New Eng., II., 520, 695.

1 Boston Gazette, May 8, 1753, and July 10, 1755. Cf. Butler, "British Convicts Shipped to American Colonies," in Am. Hist. Review, II., 29, 3c*

CHAPTER II

THE BRITISH EMPIRE UNDER GEORGE III

(1760-1775)

i \ British Empire comprised the united kingdom of England, Wales, and Scotland; the dependencies of Ireland, Man, and the Channel Islands; the sea fortress of Gibraltar and other stations ; the Asiatic possessions ; and the colonies in America. Together England, Wales, and Scotland had a population of about 8,500,000. Since the union in 1707 Scot- land had enjoyed full commercial and political equality with England, and already she was be- coming somewhat reconciled to the loss of inde- pendent nationality. Ireland, with perhaps 3,500,- 000 people, was a " satrapy" frightfully misgovern- ed. There the seeds of rebellion were already sown, and before the century was out they were to bear their own proper fruit. "Ireland," says a mod- ern English historian, "was absolutely subject to Britain, but she formed no part of it, she shared neither in its liberty nor its wealth." The forms of national life to her were a mere sham, and her peo- ple were ruthlessly exploited for the benefit of an

French and Indian War the

1742] BRITISH EMPIRE 23

1

arrogant and greedy Protestant oligarchy. In "all social and political matters the native Catholics, in other words, the immense majority of the people of Ireland, were simply hewers of wood and draw- ers of water for Protestant masters." 1 The Irish were excluded from the trade privileges enjoyed by Scotchmen and Englishmen: a heavy duty was laid on their woollen cloth; the trade in linen, one of their most important manufactures, was hampered; and they were forbidden to raise tobacco. Thus, in the interest of the colonies and her Scotch and English neighbors, Ireland was hindered from de- veloping even her meagre natural resources. Pov- erty, misery, and social anarchy prevailed.

On the other hand, the prosperity which England enjoyed had for near half a century been unbroken. During the long interval of peace under Sir Rob- ert Walpole (17 21-1742), industry had received a mighty impulse to which it still responded. The colonies flourished through the " salutary neglect" of the mother - country. At home land rents had advanced fifty per cent., and scientific methods of agriculture and stock - breeding were being tried with good results.2 The navigation acts, originally designed to transfer the monopoly of the carrying trade from Dutch to English bottoms and to control the market for colonial products, seemed justified by the vast increase in the volume of commerce.

1 Green, Hist, of English People, IV., 263.

1 Cunningham, English Industrial History, chap. viii.

24 PRELIMINARIES OF REVOLUTION [1760

During the reign of George II. exports had nearly doubled; and between 1760 and 1774, notwith- standing an unwise change in colonial policy, they grew from £14,693,270 to £17,128,029.* Among the nations of the world