2. The character of the colonists. Character is the product largely of ancestry and circumstances. The ancestors of these people, after a struggle lasting hundreds of years, had established liberty in England and intrenched it in guarantees the wisest ever devised by man. From them the colonists inherited the right of freedom from arbitrary arrest; of giving bail in ordinary offenses; of a speedy, public trial by jury, near the place where the crime was alleged to have been committed; of the writ of habeas corpus; of established rules of evidence; and, indeed, of all the rights mentioned in the first ten amendments to the constitution of the United States. Their ancestors had, in the war between Cromwell and Charles I. laid down their lives to establish the principle that taxes can be laid only by the people or by their representatives. The colonists themselves had been compelled to face difficulties incident to life in a new country, and had developed the power to act independently in matters pertaining to their individual good. And in the management of their several commonwealths they had gained considerable experience in governmental affairs. With such ancestry and such experience they would not tamely endure being imposed upon.

The character of the king. On the death of Queen Anne without an heir, George I., elector of Hanover, had become king of England, and he had been succeeded by his son, George II. To both of these kings England was really a foreign country, of whose institutions, and of whose language even, they were profoundly ignorant. As a consequence, their personal influence in England was small. When, in 1760, young George III. ascended the throne, he resolved to be king in fact as well as in name. This determination, which he adhered to, coupled with his unfamiliarity with English institu

tions, explains many things otherwise difficult to understand. See Fiske's War of Independence, pp. 58-70.

4. The prevailing mode of colonization. Many of the colonies had been founded for commercial reasons merely with no intention of forming governmental institutions. Chartered companies and individuals planted settlements for the profit there was supposed to be in doing so. These colonies were designed to be merely "self-supporting trading outposts of England." Money had been put into these enterprises, and in the effort to secure a profitable return many unjust commercial restrictions. were imposed upon the colonists.

Immediate Causes.-Among the immediate causes of the Revolutionary War may be mentioned:

1. The French and Indian War. In the first place, this war facilitated the union of the colonies. Several attempts at union had failed; there were too many opposing influences. While by far the greater number of the colonists were English, there were many Dutch in New York, and some Swedes remained in Delaware. Moreover, the English themselves differed radically in politics, those in the South having been royalists, while those in New England sympathized with Cromwell and parliament. But more serious than these politial differences, were the differences in religion. The old European quarrels had an echo here, and the catholics of Maryland, the episcopalians of Virginia, the puritans of Massachusetts, the baptists of Rhode Island, the lutherans of New York, and the quakers of Pennsylvania, all had grievances to remember. Travel, which does so much to broaden the mind and free it from prejudice, was both difficult and dangerous. The French and Indian War, bringing together men from all the colonies, was of great service in breaking down intercolonial animosities.

Facing the same dangers, standing shoulder to shoulder in battle, and mingling with each other around the camp fires, the men of the several colonies came to know each other better, and this knowledge ripened into affection. The soldiers on their return home did much to dis seminate the good feeling.

In the second place, the French and Indian War by annihilating all the claims of France to American soil removed the principal enemy that had rendered the protection of England necessary to the colonies.

In the third place, this war gave the colonists an experience in military affairs and a confidence in their own. powers which emboldened them to dare open rebellion.

And in the fourth place, this war produced the debt which led to the taxation which was the most immediate cause of the outbreak.

2.

Various tyrannical acts of the king. These are given explicitly in the Declaration of Independence.

Some Pertinent Questions.

Name a country in the world's history that ever allowed its colonies representation in its home parliament or legislative body. Name one that does it today. Why do territories in this country desire to become states?

Name some country, other than England, which could have given birth to the United States. Prove your proposition.

The Duc de Choiseul, the French minister who signed the treaty whereby France yielded to England her claims to American soil, remarked after doing it, "That is the beginning of the end of English power in America." What did he mean? Upon what did he base his opinion? Why did France help the Americans in the Revolutionary War?

What is meant, in speaking of the colonies, by royal province? Charter government? Proprietary government?

What experience in law making did the colonists have? Where and when did the first representative assembly in America convene? Find in the Declaration of Independence an expression complaining of non-representation in parliament.

To the patriotic and far sighted men who had striven to form a union of the colonies, did the religious differences

which frustrated their plans seem fortunate or unfortunate? Can you see how it came about that we have no state church, that we enjoy religious freedom? Doesn't it seem that there must have been a Planner wiser than any man who was working out His own designs?

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

WHAT PRECEDED THEM.

The Birth of the Nation.-The nation was born July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence, which severed the connection of the colonies with Great Britain, was issued "by the authority of the good people of these colonies;" not, be it observed, by the states but by the people. This is an important distinction, because it helps to determine the real nature of this government. The advocates of the state sovereignty idea, upon which the southern states claimed in 1861 the right to secede, based their doctrine upon the proposition that the states created the general government. If so, they must have had an independent, sovereign existence antedating that of the nation. Upon this point Dr. Pomeroy in his treatise on constitutional law says, "There never was, in fact, a moment's interval when the several states were each independent and sovereign. While colonies they unitedly resisted, revolted, declared their combined political society independent. The blow which severed the connection with the British Empire, did not leave a disintegrated mass made up of thirteen communities now independent; it left an united mass, a nation possessing the high attributes of sovereignty which it had just exercised. The United States was then a fact, and no

power but that which called it into being-the people -is competent to decree the national destruction."

The revolutionary period.-From July 4, 1776, till the adoption of the articles of confederation in 1781, the people of the United States carried on their governmental affairs by means of a congress which was "clothed with undefined powers for the public good."

THE ARTICLES THEMSELVES.

Their history.-When, on the eleventh of June, 1776, a committee of the congress was appointed to draft a declaration of independence, another committee was appointed to frame a plan of government. After a month's deliberation this committee reported its plan, which, after undergoing much discussion and several modifications, was finally adopted by the congress, November 15, 1777. These articles of confederation, as they were called, were not ratified very promptly; but finally on March 1, 1781, Maryland, the last state to ratify, signed the articles, and they became operative. The ratification was done by the delegates to the congress.

Their peculiarities.-The articles of confederation were different in many respects from our present constitution. Among the more important provisions and peculiarities were the following:

1.

The nature of the government formed. The union was declared to be a "firm league of friendship." It was to be perpetual.

2. The departments of government. Only one department was provided for, a congress. No provision was made for executive or judicial officers apart from the congress itself.

3. The structure of the congress. The congress con