UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5979 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



within a year, but Parliament also passed the 

 Declaratory Act, restating the principle of 

 colonial taxation. Though the Stamp Act was 

 repealed largely because of a ministerial change 

 at home Pitt became Prime Minister the 

 colonists properly interpreted the repeal as a 

 victory for them, and were quick to appreciate 

 their growing power. 



The repeal of the Stamp Act, however, was 

 followed by the Townshend Acts, one of which 

 provided duties on glass, lead, tea and other 

 commodities. It must be remembered that one 

 of the chief reasons for these numerous taxes 

 was the British government's intention to main- 

 u standing army in the colonies, ostensibly 

 to furnish protection, but also, as a matter of 

 to enforce the acts of Parliament. The 

 r opposition of the colonists to this policy 

 had its climax in the Boston Massacre in 1770. 

 Actual bloodshed seemed to have had a sober- 

 ing effect on both sides for over a year, but in 

 June, 1772, the British schooner Gaspee, which 

 had been trying to suppress smuggling in Nar- 

 ragansett Bay, was destroyed by a band of 

 colonists, and in December, 1773, a crowd of 

 Bostonians, disguised as Indians, threw some 

 340 chests of tea into Boston harbor. As a 

 punishment for such acts, Parliament in 1774 

 passed the Quebec Act and a number of co- 

 ve measures (see INTOLERABLE ACTS), in- 

 doling the Charter Act, which greatly less- 

 ened the degree of popular control of the 

 Massachusetts government, and the Boston 

 Port Bill, which closed the port of Boston to 

 commerce. At the game time General Thomas 

 Gage was appointed governor of Massachusetts, 

 i orders to carry out the terms of these acts, 

 :<>rce if necessary. 



Massachusetts, now sorely beset, asked the 

 ea of the other colonies, and issued a call 

 for a congress, to meet at Philadelphia, to dis- 

 cuss measures for maintaining the rights of tin 

 colonist*. This body, the first Continental 

 -ress, met on September 1, 1774, and after 

 passing resolutions supporting Massachusetts 

 and agreeing not to import goods from Great 

 un, adjourned until May 1, 1775. In the 

 the British government had resolved 

 n force the laws, and had sent 10,000 addi- 

 1 1 1 oops to America. Especially in Massa- 

 chusetts i i was inevitable was 

 trongcr, and General Gage sent sev- 

 'litions tt> seize the stores of military 

 supplies which the colonists were collecting. 

 On April 19, 1775, one of these expeditions, on 

 its way to Concord, met opposition at the vil- 



lage of Lexington, where the first blood in the 

 Revolution was shed (see LEXINGTON, BATTLE 

 OF). 



There was no longer thought of compromise. 

 The news of the encounters at Lexington and 

 Concord brought nearly fifteen thousand u min- 

 utemen" to the vicinity of Boston. So strong 

 was the feeling of resistance that during 1774 

 and 1775 the governors of nearly all the colo- 

 nies resigned or fled to England, and the gen- 

 eral government was now assumed by the 

 second Continental Congress, which resolved to 

 raise an army of 2,000 men. The first impor- 

 tant battle between the British forces and the 

 Americans was at Bunker Hill, where the Brit- 

 ish won a victory, but at such cost that its 

 moral effect on the Americans was good. The 

 history of the war is given in a special article 

 on the REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMERICA. (See, 

 also, articles on the leading soldiers and states- 

 men of the period.) 



The Articles of Confederation. At the begin- 

 ning of the war the colonists insisted that they 

 were fighting merely for their rights, and de- 

 clared themselves loyal subjects of the king. 

 But the course of events led in another direc- 

 tion, and on July 4, 1776. the Declaration of 

 Independence was proclaimed. Even earlier, 

 however, the individual colonies had begun to 

 organize state governments and had adopted 

 constitutions. The great problem now before 

 the Congress was how to form a permanent 

 government which should unite these new 

 states. The first draft of the Articles of Con- 

 federation, which sought to accomplish tin- 

 purpose, was prepared by John Dickinson and 

 submitted to Congress soon after the signing 

 of the Declaration of Independence, but i In- 

 rush of war matters caused it to be laid aside 

 until the autumn of 1777. 



The Articles were a vast improvement over 

 the method of government thru in vogue, but 

 they had many weaknesses. So strong was th< 

 sentiment for state's rights that even this weak 

 national organization was not completed with- 

 out difficulty. All of the large states e\ 

 Pennsylvania had claims to areas west of tl.. 

 Appalachians. The small states New Hamp- 

 shire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware and 

 Maryland hesitated to enter the Confedera- 

 tion if the large states were to be still further 

 enlarged by the addition of this western terri- 

 tory; they insisted that nil the.c claims should 

 be yielded to the United States. Jealousy, and 

 perhaps a fear th.v ild be absorbed by 



die large states, led the small states to take 



