Читать книгу A School History of the United States - John Bach McMaster - Страница 44

%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.