THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHTS OF

ENGLISHMEN

THE QUESTION OF TAXATION

184. Fundamental Cause of the Revolution. The acts of Great Britain which follow were the immediate causes of hostility toward England and of the rapid growth of union among the colonies. The colonists claimed that they were Englishmen, and entitled to all the rights of the British constitution, as if they had been "abiding and born within the realm of England." This was the general principle upon which the Americans opposed every tyrannical measure of king and Parliament up to 1776, but to make this opposition successful the colonies were compelled to unite. The struggle to force king and Parliament to grant the colonists the rights of Englishmen, and hence to repeal the acts which violated these rights, makes up the first part of the Revolution.

185. Enforcing the Navigation Laws. George III.'s new plan of governing America began by a vigorous attempt to break up smuggling and collect the customs duties more regularly.

1. The Writs of Assistance (1761). The custom-house officers in Boston were ordered to use general search warrants, called "writs of assistance," to discover smuggled goods. Armed with these documents the officers could enter any man's house at any time without giving a reason and search it from cellar to garret. The merchants resolved to oppose the use of such writs. With James Otis as their lawyer, they carried the case to the courts. Otis resigned a royal office in order to plead the cause of the merchants. The court's decision, however, was against them, but the speech of Otis sounded the 'keynote" of the contest for the next fifteen years:

"Our ancestors as British subjects, and we their descendants, are entitled to all those rights by the British constitution as much as the inhabitants of London or Bristol. A man's house is his castle, and while he is quiet is as well guarded as a prince in his castle." No more writs were used in Boston.

8 Оле Penny sheet

2. War Vessels and Admiralty Courts. The failure to prevent smuggling by the writs of assistance led England to send ships of war to America to catch smugglers (1763). When caught they were tried in admiralty courts without jury, in violation, the colonists claimed, of one of the oldest English rights. Vessels and cargoes were seized, trade with the West Indies was greatly injured, and American merchants began a correspondence looking toward united opposition. But America was soon in the midst of greater trials and greater excitement.

T

143 AMERI ERIGA

SVIPENG

STAMPS USED

IN 1765

186. The Stamp Act (1765). The above measures were taken to enforce old laws, but the Stamp Act was a new law. It proposed to take money directly from the pockets of the people, because by its terms all licenses to do business or to marry, all bonds, all deeds to property, all bills of merchandise, and all other legal writings, had to be on stamped paper. The cost of this paper varied from one cent to fifty dollars, according to the value of the stamp printed on it.

Such a tax was the more dangerous because the money raised was intended, so the king said, to keep a standing army in America to protect the people against foreign foes and Indians.

The colonists took alarm, and declared that "taxation without representation is tyranny." They did not wish to be represented in Parliament, but wanted the king, when he needed money, to obtain it by the vote of the colonial assemblies, as had been done formerly. They resolved not to give up the right to tax themselves, and quickly united to oppose the Stamp Act.

187. Resistance to the Stamp Act; The Sons of Liberty. The bolder citizens in the larger towns formed a secret society called the "Sons of Liberty," to resist

RESISTANCE TO THE STAMP ACT

In these riots the stamp agent was often compelled to ride a rail
through the streets

the Stamp Act. They compelled stamp officers to resign, posted handbills denouncing the law, and called public meetings. Sometimes mobs paraded the streets, crying: "Liberty, property, and no stamps!" and compelled stamp agents to shout this motto.

In New York, where the royal governor had threatened to order the British soldiers to fire on the people, the "Sons of Liberty" formed a torchlight procession and carried images dressed to represent the governor and Satan. They seized the governor's best carriage,

placed the images in it, side by side, and marched about town. Finally, in full sight of the enraged governor and soldiers, a bonfire was made of the images and carriage.

188. Merchants Sign Non-Importation Agreements. The merchants pledged themselves not to import English goods till the Stamp Act was repealed. This agreement checked manufacturing in England and threw hundreds of English laborers out of work. English merchants began to storm Parliament with petitions calling for the repeal of the Stamp Act.

In the colonies home manufactures became popular largely through the efforts of the mothers and daughters, who met and pledged themselves to make in their

JAMES OTIS

own homes the goods formerly obtained from England. Thus the "Daughters of Liberty" encouraged Americans to begin home manufacture. 189. Correspondence Among Colonial Legislatures. At the first news of the Stamp Act, Massachusetts, led by Samuel Adams and James Otis, sent word to the other legislatures that she had asserted the rights of her citizens as "free-born subjects of Great Britain." Other colonies did likewise, and informed one another of their action.

From a painting by J. D. Blackburn, owned by Mrs. Henry D. Rogers, Bos- In Virginia, Patrick Henry, ton, Mass., and hung in the Bostonian Society rooms, Old State House, Boston a new member of the House of Burgesses, introduced and carried by his fiery eloquence resolutions agreeing in principle with Otis (§ 185). He declared that the people of Virginia had the rights of

Englishmen and were not bound to obey the Stamp Act; that no authority but their own assembly could tax them; and that any person asserting the contrary was an enemy of Virginia.

PATRICK HENRY ADDRESSING THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES

He stirred the burgesses by the fiery words: "Cæsar had his Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third "-["Treason!" shouted the Speaker] -"may profit by their example!"

The sentiment for united action had now grown so strong that a Congress was called for to decide upon the future course of the colonies.

190. The Stamp Act Congress. Delegates from nine colonies met at New York in October, 1765. Among them were James Otis, Christopher Gadsden and John Rutledge of South Carolina, John Dickinson of Pennsyl vania, and Robert and Philip Livingston of New York. Here was a Congress of twenty-eight delegates, representing widely separated colonies, planning open opposition to king and Parliament. The most important act of this meeting was its Declaration of Rights, asserting :