"LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND NO STAMPS"
%105. The New Provinces.%--The acquisition of Canada and the
Mississippi valley made it necessary for England to provide for their
defense and government. To do this she began by establishing three new
provinces.
In Canada she marked out the province of Quebec, part of the south
boundary of which is now the north boundary of New York, Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine.
In the South, out of the territory given by Spain, she made two
provinces, East and West Florida. The north boundary of West Florida was
(1764) a parallel of latitude through the junction of the Yazoo and
Mississippi rivers. The north boundary of East Florida was part of the
boundary of the present state. The territory between the Altamaha and
the St. Marys rivers was "annexed to Georgia."
%106. The Proclamation Line.%--By the same proclamation which
established these provinces, a line was drawn around the head waters of
all the rivers in the United States which flow into the Atlantic Ocean,
and the colonists were forbidden to settle to the west of it. All the
valley from the Great Lakes to West Florida, and from the proclamation
line to the Mississippi, was set apart for the Indians.
%107. The Country to be defended.%--Having thus provided for the
government of the newly acquired territory, it next became necessary to
provide for its defense; for nobody doubted that both France and Spain
would some day attempt to regain their lost possessions. Arrangements
were therefore made to bring over an army of 10,000 regular troops,
scatter them over the country from Canada to Florida, and maintain
them partly at the expense of the colonies and partly at the expense of
the crown.
[Illustration: THE BRITISH COLONIES IN 1764]
The share to be paid by the colonies was to be raised
1. By enforcing the old trade and navigation laws.
2. By a tax on sugar and molasses brought into the country.
3. By a stamp tax.
%108. Trial without Jury.%--In order to enforce the old laws, naval
vessels were sent to sail up and down the coast and catch smugglers.
Offenders when seized were to be tried in some vice-admiralty court,
where they could not have trial by jury.[1]
[Footnote 1: This is one of the things complained of in the Declaration
of Independence.]
%109. The Sugar Act and Stamp Tax.%--The Sugar Act was not a new
grievance. In 1733 Parliament laid a tax of 6_d_. a gallon on molasses
and 5_s_. per hundredweight on sugar brought into this country from any
other place than the British West Indies. This was to force the
colonists to buy their sugar and molasses from nobody but British sugar
planters. After having expired five times and been five times reënacted,
the Sugar Act expired for the sixth time in 1763, and the colonies
begged that it might not be renewed. But Parliament merely reduced the
molasses duty to 3_d_. and laid new duties on coffee, French and East
Indian goods, indigo, white sugar, and Spanish and Portuguese wines. It
then resolved that "for further defraying the expense of protecting the
colonists it would be necessary to charge certain stamp duties in the
colonies."
At that time, 1764, no such thing as an internal tax laid by Parliament
for the purpose of raising revenue existed, or ever had existed, in
America. Money for the use of the King had always been raised by taxes
imposed by the legislatures of the colonies. The moment, therefore, the
people heard that this money was to be raised in future by parliamentary
taxation, they became much alarmed, and the legislatures instructed
their business agents in London to protest.
This the agents did in February, 1765. But Grenville, the Prime
Minister, was not to be persuaded, and on March 22, 1765, Parliament
passed the Stamp Act[1].
[Footnote 1: The exact text of the Stamp Act has been reprinted in
_American History Leaflets_, No. 21. For an excellent account of the
causes and consequences of the Stamp Act, read Lecky's _England in the
Eighteenth Century_, Vol. III., Chap. 12; Frothingham's _Rise of the
Republic of the United States_, Chap. 5; Channing's _The United States
of America, 1765-1865_, pp. 41-50.]
%110. The Stamp Distributors.%--That the collection of the new duty
might give as little offense to the colonists as possible, Grenville
desired that the stamps and the stamped paper should be sold by
Americans, and invited the agents of the colonies to name men to be
"stamp distributors" in their colonies. The law was to go into effect on
the 1st of November, 1765. After that day every piece of vellum, every
piece of paper, on which was written any legal document for use in any
court, was to be charged with a stamp duty of from three pence to ten
pounds sterling. After that day, every license, bond, deed, warrant,
bill of lading, indenture, every pamphlet, almanac, newspaper, pack of
cards, must be written or printed on stamped paper to be made in England
and sold at prices fixed by law. If any dispute arose under the law, the
case might be tried in the vice-admiralty courts without a jury.[2]
[Footnote: The stamps were not the adhesive kind we are now accustomed
to fasten on letters. Those used for newspapers and pamphlets and
printed documents consisted of a crown surmounting a circle in which
were the words, "One Penny Sheet" or "Nine Pence per Quire," and were
stamped on each sheet in red ink by a hand stamp not unlike those used
at the present day to cancel stamps on letters. Others, used on vellum
and parchment, consisted of a square piece of blue paper, glued on the
parchment, and fastened by a little piece of brass. A design was then
impressed on the blue paper by means of a little machine like that used
by magistrates and notaries public to impress their seals on legal
documents. When this was done, the parchment was turned over, and a
little piece of white paper was pasted on the back of the stamp. On this
white piece was engraved, in black, the design shown in the second
picture on p. 113, the monogram "G. R." meaning Georgius Rex, or
King George.]
[Illustration: Stamps used in 1765]
The money raised by this tax was not to be taken to England, but was to
be spent in America for the defense of the colonies. Nevertheless, the
colonists were determined that none should be raised. The question was
not, Shall America support an army? but, Shall Parliament tax America?
%111. The Virginia Resolutions.%--In opposition to this, Virginia now
led the way with a set of resolutions. In the House of Burgesses, as the
popular branch of her legislature was called, was Patrick Henry, the
greatest orator in the colonies. By dint of his fiery words, he forced
through a set of resolutions setting forth
1. That the first settlers in Virginia brought with them "all the
privileges and immunities that have at any time been held" by "the
people of Great Britain."
2. That their descendants held these rights.
3. That by two royal charters the people of Virginia had been declared
entitled to all the rights of Englishmen "born within the realm
of England."
4. That one of these rights was that of being taxed "by their own
Assembly."
5. That they were not bound to obey any law taxing them without consent
of their Assembly.[1]
[Footnote 1: These resolutions, printed in full from Henry's manuscript
copy, are in Channing's _The United States of America, 1765-1865, _pp.
51, 52. They were passed May 29, 1765.]
Massachusetts followed with a call for a congress to meet at New York
city.
%112. Stamp-act Congress.%--To the congress thus called came
delegates from all the colonies except New Hampshire, Virginia, North
Carolina, and Georgia. The session began at New York, on the 5th of
October, 1765; and after sitting in secret for twenty days, the
delegates from six of the nine colonies present (Massachusetts, New
York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland) signed a
"Declaration of Rights and Grievances." [1]
[Footnote 1: This declaration is printed in full in Preston's _Documents
Illustrative of American History_, pp. 188-191.]
%113. Declaration of Rights.%--The ground taken in the declaration
was:
1. That the Americans were subjects of the British crown.
2. That it was the natural right of a British subject to pay no taxes
unless he had a voice in laying them.
3. That the Americans were not represented in Parliament.
4. That Parliament, therefore, could not tax them, and that an attempt
to do so was an attack on the rights of Englishmen and the liberty of
self-government.
%114. Grievances.%--The grievances complained of were: 1. Taxation
without representation. 2. Trial without jury (in the vice-admiralty
courts). 3. The Sugar Act. 4. The Stamp Act. 5. Restrictions on trade.
%115. The English View of Representation.%--We, in this country, do
not consider a person represented in a legislature unless he can cast a
vote for a member of that legislature. In Great Britain, not individuals
but classes were represented. Thus, the clergy were represented by the
bishops who sat in the House of Lords; the nobility, by the nobles who
had seats in the House of Lords; and the mass of the people, the
commons, by the members of the House of Commons. At that time, very few
Englishmen could vote for a member of the House of Commons. Great cities
like Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, did not send even one member. When
the colonists held that they were not represented in Parliament because
they did not elect any members of that body, Englishmen answered that
they were represented, because they were commoners.
%116. Sons of Liberty.%--Meantime, the colonists had not been idle.
Taking the name of "Sons of Liberty," a name given to them in a speech
by a member of Parliament (named Barré) friendly to their cause, they
began to associate for resistance to the Stamp Act. At first, they were
content to demand that the stamp distributors named by the colonial
agents in London should resign. But when these officers refused, the
people became violent; and at Boston, Newark, N.J., New Haven, New
London, Conn., at Providence, at Newport, R.I., at Dover, N.H., at
Annapolis, Md., serious riots took place. Buildings were torn down, and
more than one unhappy distributor was dragged from his home, and forced
to stand before the people and shout, "Liberty, property, and
no stamps."
%117. November 1, 1765.%--As the 1st of November, the day on which
the Stamp Act was to go into force, approached, the newspapers appeared
decorated with death's-heads, black borders, coffins, and obituary
notices. The _Pennsylvania Journal_ dropped its usual heading, and in
place of it put an arch with a skull and crossbones underneath, and this
motto, "Expiring in the hopes of a resurrection to life again." In one
corner was a coffin, and the words, "The last remains of the
_Pennsylvania Journal_, which departed this life the 31st of October,
1765, of a stamp in her vitals. Aged 23 years." The _Pennsylvania
Gazette_, on November 7, the day of its first issue after the Stamp Act
became law, published a half sheet, printed on one side, without any
heading, and in its place the words, "No stamped paper to be had."
During the next six months, every scrap of stamped paper that was heard
of was hunted up and given to the flames. Thus, when a vessel from
Barbados, with a stamped newspaper published on that island, reached
Philadelphia, the paper was seized and burned, one evening, at the
coffeehouse, in the presence of a great crowd. A vessel having put in
from Halifax, a rumor spread that the captain had brought stamped paper
with him, and was going to use it for his Philadelphia clearance. This
so enraged the people that the vessel was searched, and a sheet of paper
with three stamps on it was found, and burned at the coffee-house.
%118. Non-importation Agreements.%--Meantime, the merchants in the
larger towns, and the people all over the country, had been making
written agreements not to import any goods from England for some
months to come.
The effect of this measure was immense. Not a merchant nor a
manufacturer in Great Britain, engaged in the colonial trade, but found
his American orders canceled and his goods left on his hands. Not a ship
returned from this country but carried back English wares which it had
brought here to sell, but for which no purchaser could be found.
%119. Stamp Act repealed.%--When Parliament met in December, 1765,
such a cry of distress came up from the manufacturing cities of England,
that Parliament was forced to yield, and in March, 1766, the Stamp Act
was repealed. In the outburst of joy which followed in America, the
intent and meaning of another act passed at the same time was little
heeded. In it was the declaration that Parliament did have the right to
tax the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
%120. The Townshend Acts.%--If the people thought this declaration
had no meaning, they were much mistaken, for next year (1767) Parliament
passed what have since been called the Townshend Acts. There were three
of them. One forbade the legislature of New York to pass any more laws
till it had provided the royal troops in the city with beds, candles,
fire, vinegar, and salt, as required by what was called the Mutiny Act.
The second established at Boston a Board of Commissioners of the Customs
to enforce the laws relating to trade. The third laid taxes on glass,
red and white lead, painter's colors, paper, and tea. None of these
taxes was heavy. But again the right of Parliament to tax people not
represented in it had been asserted, and again the colonists rose in
resistance. The legislature of Massachusetts sent a letter to each of
the other colonial legislatures, urging them to unite and consult for
the protection of their rights. Pennsylvania sent protests to the King
and to Parliament. The merchants all over the country renewed their old
agreements not to import British goods, and many a shipload was sent
back to England.
%121. Colonial Legislatures dissolved.%[1]--The letter of
Massachusetts to the colonial legislatures having given great offense to
the King, the governors were ordered to see to it that the legislatures
did not approve it. But the order came too late. Many had already done
so, and as a punishment the assemblies of Maryland and Georgia were
dismissed and the members sent home. To dissolve assemblies became of
frequent occurrence. The legislature of Massachusetts was dissolved
because it refused to recall the letter. That of New York was repeatedly
dissolved for refusing to provide the royal troops with provisions. That
of Virginia was dismissed for complaining of the treatment of New York.
[Footnote 1: One of the charges against the King in the Declaration of
Independence.]
%122. Boston Riot of 1770.%--And now the troops intended for the
defense of the colonies began to arrive. But Massachusetts, North
Carolina, and South Carolina followed the example of New York, and
refused to find them quarters. For this the legislature of North
Carolina was dissolved. Everywhere the presence of the soldiers gave
great offense; but in Boston the people were less patient than
elsewhere. They accused the soldiers of corrupting the morals of the
town; of desecrating the Sabbath with fife and drum; of striking
citizens who insulted them; and of using language violent, threatening,
and profane. In this state of feeling, an alarm of fire called the
people into the streets on the night of March 5, 1770. The alarm was
false, and a crowd of men and boys, having nothing to do, amused
themselves by annoying a sentinel on guard at one of the public
buildings. He called for help, and a corporal and six men were soon on
the scene. But the crowd would not give way. Forty or fifty men came
armed with sticks and pressed around the soldiers, shouting, "Rascals!
Lobsters! Bloody-backs!" throwing snowballs and occasionally a stone,
till in the excitement of the moment a soldier fired his gun. The rest
followed his example, and when the reports died away, five of the
rioters lay on the ground dead or dying, and six more dangerously
wounded.[1]
[Footnote 1: The soldiers were tried for murder and were defended by
John Adams and Josiah Quincy. Two were found guilty of manslaughter. The
rest were acquitted. On the massacre read Frothingham's _Life of
Warren,_ Chaps. 6, 7; Kidder's _The Boston Massacre_; Joseph Warren's
Oration on March 6, 1775, in _Library of American Literature_, Vol.
III., p. 256.]
This riot, this "Boston Massacre," or, as the colonists delighted to
call it, "the bloody massacre," excited and aroused the whole land,
forced the government to remove the soldiers from Boston to an island in
the bay, and did more than anything else which had yet happened, to help
on the Revolution.
%123. Tea sent to America and not received.%--While these things were
taking place in America--indeed, on the very day of the Boston riot--a
motion was made in Parliament for the repeal of all the taxes laid by
the Townshend Acts except that on tea. The tea tax of 3d. a pound,
payable in the colonies, was retained in order that the right of
Parliament to tax America might be vindicated. But the people held fast
to their agreements not to consume articles taxed by Great Britain. No
tea was drunk, save such as was smuggled from Holland, and at the end of
three years' time the East India Company had 17,000,000 pounds of tea
stored in its warehouses (1773). This was because the company was not
permitted to send tea out of England. It might only bring tea to London
and there sell it at public sale to merchants and shippers, who exported
it to America. But now when the merchants could not find anybody to buy
tea in the colonies, they bought less from the company, and the tea lay
stored in its warehouses. To relieve the company, and if possible tempt
the people to use the tea, the exportation tax was taken off and the
company was given leave to export tea to America consigned to
commissioners chosen by itself. Taking off the shilling a pound export
tax in England, and charging but 3d. import tax in America, made it
possible for the company to sell tea cheaper than could the merchants
who smuggled it. Yet even this failed. The people forced the tea
commissioners to resign or send the tea ships back to England. In
Charleston, S.C., the tea was landed and stored for three years, when it
was sold by South Carolina. In Philadelphia the people met, and having
voted that the tea should not be landed, they stopped the ship as it
came up the Delaware, and sent it back to London.
%124. The Boston Tea Party.%--At Boston also the people tried to send
the tea ships to England, but the authorities would not allow them to
leave, whereupon a band of young men disguised as Indians boarded the
vessels, broke open the boxes, and threw the tea into the water.
%125. The Five Intolerable Acts.%--When Parliament heard of these
events, it at once determined to punish Massachusetts, and in order to
do this passed five laws which were so severe that the colonists called
them the "Intolerable Acts." They are generally known as
1. The Boston Port Bill, which shut the port of Boston to trade and
commerce, forbade ships to come in or go out, and moved the customhouse
to Marblehead.
2. The Transportation Bill, which gave the governor power to send
anybody accused of murder in resisting the laws, to another colony or to
England for trial.
3. The Massachusetts Bill, which changed the old charter of
Massachusetts, provided for a military governor, and forbade the people
to hold public meetings for any other purpose than the election of town
officers, without permission from the governor.
4. The Quartering Act, which legalized the quartering of troops on the
people.
5. The Quebec Act, which enlarged the province of Quebec (pp. 111, 124)
to include all the territory between the Great Lakes, the Ohio River,
the Mississippi River, and Pennsylvania. This territory was claimed by
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia under their "sea to sea"
charters (pp. 33, 46, 52, 156).
%126. A Congress called.%--When the Virginia legislature in May,
1774, heard of the passage of the Boston Port Bill, it passed a
resolution that the day on which the law went into effect in Boston
should be a day of "fasting, humiliation, and prayer" in Virginia. For
this the governor at once dissolved the legislature. But the members met
and instructed a committee to correspond with the other colonies on the
expediency of holding another general congress of delegates. All the
colonies approved, and New York requested Massachusetts to name the time
and place of meeting. This she did, selecting Philadelphia as the place,
and September 1, 1774, as the time.
%127. The First Continental Congress.%--From September 5 to October
26, accordingly, fifty-five delegates, representing every colony except
Georgia, held meetings in Carpenter's Hall at Philadelphia, and issued:
1. An address to the people of the colonies.
2. An address to the Canadians.
3. An address to the people of Great Britain.
4. An address to the King.
5. A declaration of rights.
%128. The Declaration of Rights.%[1]--In this declaration the rights
of the colonists were asserted to be:
1. Life, liberty, and property.
2. To tax themselves.
3. To assemble peaceably to petition for the redress of grievances.
4. To enjoy the rights of Englishmen and all the rights granted by the
colonial charters.
[Footnote 1: Printed in Preston's _Documents_, pp. 192-198. The best
account of the coming of the Revolution is Frothingham's _Rise of the
Republic of the United States,_ Chaps. 5-11.]
These rights it was declared had been violated:
1. By taxing the people without their consent.
2. By dissolving assemblies.
3. By quartering troops on the people in time of peace.
4. By trying men without a jury.
5. By passing the five Intolerable Acts.
Before the Congress adjourned it was ordered that another Congress
should meet on May 10, 1775, in order to take action on the result of
the petition to the King.
SUMMARY
1. As soon as Great Britain acquired Canada and the eastern part of the
Mississippi valley from France, and Florida from Spain, she did
three things:
A. She established the provinces of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida,
and the Indian country.
B. She drew a line round the sources of all the rivers flowing into the
Atlantic from the west and northwest, and commanded the colonial
governors to grant no land and to allow no settlements to be made west
of this line.
C. She decided to send a standing or permanent army to America to take
possession of the new territory and defend the colonies.
2. A part of the cost of keeping up this army she decided to meet by
taxing the colonists. This she had never done before.
3. The chief tax was the stamp duty on paper, vellum, etc. This the
colonists refused to pay, and Parliament repealed it.
4. The colonists having denied the right of Parliament to tax them, that
body determined to establish its right and passed the "Townshend Acts."
But the colonists refused to buy British goods, and Parliament repealed
all the Townshend duties except that on tea.
5. As the Americans would not order tea from London, the East India
Company was allowed to send it. But the people in the five cities to
which the tea was sent destroyed it or sent it back.
6. Parliament thereupon attempted to punish Massachusetts and passed the
Intolerable Acts.
7. These acts led to the calling and the meeting of the First
Continental Congress.
/---------------------------------------------\
France Spain
/----------------\ /-------\
Cape Breton. Florida
Canada.
Louisiana east of
the Mississippi.
\--------------------------------------------
and cuts the new territory (1763) into
Province of Quebec,
East Florida,
West Florida,
Indian country,
and draws proclamation line
limiting colonies in the west.
\-------------------------------/
New colonial policy necessary.
/----------------------------------------------\
Country to be defended by 10,000 royal troops.
Cost of troops to be paid
|
|---------------------------------------------
Partly by crown. Partly by colonies.
|
/----------------------------------
Share of colonies to be raised by
Enforcing acts of trade and navigation.
Taxes on sugar and molasses.
Stamp tax (1765).
/---------------------------^--------------------------------\
Resisted. Principle involved.
Action of Virginia and Massachusetts.
Stamp Act Congress.
Act repealed (1766).
Declaratory Act (1766).
--------------- / \
| | Glass. |
| | Red and white lead. |
--------------- | Painters' colors | Resisted and repealed (1770)
Townshend Acts | Paper. |
(1767). | Tea. /
\
/--------^-------\
Enforced.
Resisted (1773).
Resistance / \
punished by | Five Intoler- | Continental
| able Acts. | Congress called(1774).
\ /