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UNITED STATES (HISTORY). 



ing the privileges of the people in regard to taxes 

 and personal services. 



At an early period in the existence of the New Eng- 

 land colonies (1643), a confederacy was established 

 between them for mutual offence and defence, leav- 

 ing to each colony its own peculiar jurisdiction and 

 government, the common affairs of the confederacy 

 being managed by a congress, consisting of two 

 commissioners from each colony. These three mea- 

 sures emanating, the first from a proprietary, the 

 second from a royal, and the third from a charter 

 colony, show that a common spirit pervaded them 

 all ; and they may be considered as the prototypes of 

 the bill of rights, the declaration of independence, 

 and the general confederacy, in which all joined at 

 a later period. Besides the subjects of charters in 

 one set of colonies, and of representation in ano- 

 ther, the question of taxation was a matter of com- 

 mon interest. " There is something curious," says 

 Fox (History of James II., Introduction"), " in dis- 

 covering that even at this early period (1685) a 

 question relative to North American liberty, and 

 even to North American taxation, was considered 

 as the test of principles friendly or adverse to arbi- 

 trary power at home. But the truth is, that among 

 the several controversies which have arisen, there 

 is no other where the natural rights of man, on the 

 one hand, and the authority of artificial institutions 

 on the other, as applied respectively by the whigs 

 and tories to the English constitution, are so fairly 

 put in issue, nor by which the line of separation 

 between the two parties is so strongly and distinctly 

 marked." The common English right of assent to 

 taxes, as the colonists themselves called it, was 

 asserted in the fullest manner by nearly all the co- 

 lonies, as early as the middle of the seventeenth 

 century : and it was a commonly received opinion 

 in America, from that period, that the authority of 

 parliament in the colonies did not extend to taxa- 

 tion or internal legislation, but was confined to the 

 regulation of trade. Restrictions on trade and ma- 

 nufactures were also a cause of vexation and ill- 

 blood in the colonies. For a long time they enjoyed 

 almost unlimited freedom of commerce ; and it was 

 not until they had surmounted the hardships and 

 difficulties incident to their first establishment, and 

 had begun to increase rapidly in wealth, that their 

 commerce began to be submitted to restrictions cal- 

 culated to secure all its benefits to the mother 

 country. The act of 1651 confined the export and 

 import trade of the colonies exclusively to British 

 or colonial vessels, and the navigation act of 1660 

 enacted that certain specified articles (enumerated 

 articles) should not be exported directly from the 

 colonies to any foreign country. Besides compel- 

 ling the colonists to sell their produce exclusively 

 in the English markets, it was next provided (1663) 

 that they should buy such foreign articles as they 

 stood in need of entirely of the merchants and ma- 

 nufacturers in England. In 1672, certain colonial 

 products transported from one colony to another, 

 were subjected to duties. It was further a princi- 

 ple of the colonial policy of England, to discourage 

 all attempts to manufacture such articles in the co- 

 lonies as could be provided for them by the mother 

 country. In 1699, it was enacted, that no wool, 

 yarn, or woollen manufactures, should be exported 

 from the American colonies ; and in 1750, every 

 slitting or rolling mill, platting forge to work with 

 a tilt-hammer, &c., was declared a common nuisance 

 which the governors were directed to cause to be 

 abated. It is true, however, that many of these 



and similar acts of parliament were openly disobeyed 

 or secretly evaded by the colonists. 



Such were some of the features of the colo ial 

 policy of the mother country, and the causes of irri- 

 tation and discontent in the colonies; impositions, 

 requisitions, and restrictions on one side, were met 

 by petitions, remonstrances, and open resistance on 

 the other. " The colonies," said lord Clarendon, 

 at an early period, " are already hardened into re- 

 publics." In time of peace, each colony defrayed 

 the expenses of its civil establishment ; and the 

 money for this purpose was raised by taxes assessed 

 by themselves in such way as they thought proper. 

 In time of war, the crown made requisitions of men 

 and money, and apportioned them among the colo- 

 nies in the ratio of their wealth and population, or 

 with reference to their proximity to the scene of 

 war: the troops were fed, clothed, and paid by the 

 colony raising them. Thus, in the two French 

 wars, 1744 1748, and 17551763, the colonists, 

 who were deeply interested on account of the in- 

 creasing strength and encroachments of the French 

 settlements on their borders, took an active part, 

 and often had more troops in the field than were 

 required of them ; in the latter war they raised 

 25,000 men, and the colonial forces favourably dis- 

 tinguished themselves on several occasions. The 

 various Indian wars which prevailed at intervals 

 all along the extensive and exposed line of frontiers, 

 were in general conducted by the colonists them- 

 selves. Measures had been taken at an early period, 

 in some of the colonies, for providing for the gene- 

 ral education of the people. Primary schools were 

 first established in New England, and it early be- 

 came a favourite object in that part of the country, 

 to enable every individual to read and write. Free 

 schools were instituted in Boston in 1635, and, in 

 1647, the legislature of Massachusetts passed an 

 act requiring every township with fifty families to 

 provide a school where children might be taught to 

 read and write, and every township with 100 fami- 

 lies to provide a grammar school. Colleges were 

 also founded for the higher education of youth ; 

 and, at the beginning of the revolutionary war, there 

 were eight institutions of this kind in the country 

 Harvard college (founded 1638), Massachusetts; 

 William and Mary (1693), Virginia; Yale (1700), 

 Connecticut ; Princeton (1738), New Jersey ; 

 King's (now Columbia), New York, 1754 : Provi- 

 dence (1764), Rhode Island; Dartmouth (1770), 

 New Hampshire ; and Hampden and Sydney college 

 (1774), Virginia. The peace of Paris, in 1763, by 

 annihilating the French power in North America, 

 relieved the colonies from the pressure of foreign 

 hostilities. But a course of policy was now adopt- 

 ed by the British ministry, which finally led to 

 the separation of the American colonies from the 

 British empire. Like all other points of the 

 British constitution, the precise limits of royal and 

 parliamentary authority over the colonies had re- 

 mained unsettled. Many of the acts regulating the 

 trade of the colonies, had been submitted to with 

 reluctance, as violations of their rights, or secretly 

 evaded, or openly disregarded ; but measures were 

 now taken by the ministry, not only rigidly to en- 

 force such acts, but to raise a revenue in America 

 by internal taxation ; and as a part of this scheme, 

 modifications in the colonial governments, calcu- 

 lated to render them more dependent on the 

 crown, were also contemplated.* In 1764, an 



A scheme for taxing the colonies was proposed to Sir R. 

 Walpole. " I will leave that," said he, " for some of my sue- 



