REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMERICA 4984 REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMERICA 



Causes of the War 



In 1763 King George III is>ued a proclama- 

 tion decreeing that the land between the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains and r ~:ppi River 



should be reserved for the Indians. He desired 

 to limit colonization to the coa- > make 



control by Great Britain an easy matter. The 

 French and Indian wars had cost England 

 about $350,000,000; the king insisted that the 

 American colonies, through taxation, should be 

 forced to pay a part of that sum, notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that they had plunged into debt 

 to the extent of $130,000,000 in behalf of the 

 mother country. Edmund Burke (which see) 

 said in Parliament that this demand was the 

 origin of the quarrel between the home govern- 

 ment and the colonies. 



Moreover, the English government proposed 

 to maintain a standing army of 10,000 men in 

 America, the king declaring it necessary for the 

 purpose of holding the conquered French Cana- 

 dians in subjection and to protect the colonists 

 from the Indians. The colonists were to be 

 asked to meet this expense by stamp taxes, but 

 they protested against the burden on the 

 ground that they were strong enough to protect 

 themselves from the Indians and that they had 

 no direct interest in Canadian affairs. 



The British Prime Minister, Lord Grenville, 

 held the very unpopular view that English 

 colonies were merely places of trade, and that 

 they existed only for the benefit of Great Brit- 

 ain. Many great Englishmen denounced such 

 a "shopkeeper's 

 policy," but the 

 king and his ad- 

 visers determined 

 to maintain the 

 principle. The 

 colonies loyally 

 admitted the 

 home govern- 

 ment's right to 

 levy export and 

 import taxes, but 

 they insisted that 

 local industry was 



AFTER THE YEAR 1763 



(a) English possessions ; 

 (b) claimed by Spain and 

 Kntfland ; (c) Spanish pos- 

 sessions. 



not to be taxed at will. Moreover, the colonies 

 demanded representation in Parliament, that 

 their voice might be heard, if a taxing policy 

 were insisted upon. The rallying cry, "Taxa- 

 tion without representation is tyranny," was 

 taken up with enthusiasm in every colony. 



The Stamp Act. Possibly the manifold evi- 

 dences of loyalty emboldened the king to adopt 



measures which otherwise he would have hesi- 

 tated to enforce. As late as 1768 Samuel 

 Adams of Massachusetts expressed the general 

 feeling that "nothing but unkind usage could 

 sever the ties which bound America to Eng- 

 land." However this may have been, the king 

 ordered his American officials to search in the 

 colonies for smuggled goods, under question- 

 able authority of his Writs of Assistance. In 

 1765 the Stamp Act was passed. This was ex- 

 tremely objectionable and threatened a very 

 serious burden. Its plan of operation was very 

 similar to that of present-day internal revenue 

 laws; the colonists might evade some of Brit- 

 ain's taxing schemes, but there could be no es- 

 cape from a system which made it necessary 

 to affix stamps, valued from a halfpenny to 

 fifty dollars (10), upon all legal papers, insur- 

 ance policies, newspapers and advertising sheets. 

 A year was to elapse before the act was to 

 be effective. Parliament debated the question 

 heatedly. Burke spoke in favor of the colo- 

 nies; William Pitt also denounced the measure. 

 When news of the passage of the act reached 

 America denunciation was bitter. The temper 

 of the people was recorded in a Stamp Act 

 Congress which met in 1765 in New York, with 

 delegations from nine colonies. It affirmed 

 that 



* * * the people of these colonies are not, and 

 from their local circumstances cannot be, repre- 

 sented in the House of Commons in Great Brit- 

 ain, * * * * and that no taxes ever have been, 

 or ever can be, constitutionally imposed on them 

 except by their respective legislatures. 



Merchants threatened not to buy English 

 goods as long as the act was in force. So-called 

 "Sons of Liberty" plundered official stores and 

 burned the obnoxious stamps and forced offi- 

 cers to agree to abide by the will of the people. 

 The resistance of America frightened the king 

 and his ministers, and the Stamp Act was re- 

 pealed in 1766. 



The Townshend Act. In the following year 

 the Townshend Revenue Act was aimed at the 

 colonies. It provided that the colonists should 

 pay the salaries of the governors, vice-govern- 

 ors and judges sent by the king; in the choice 

 of these the people affected had no voice, and 

 they could not control their numbers. The act 

 also legalized the Writs of Assistance, which 

 had been previously declared unlawful. The 

 colonies again threatened to boycott England's 

 merchants, and the protest sent to England was 



