mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest hidden recesses of Hudson's Bay. whilst we are looking for them beneath the Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, that they are.. frozen [constellations]... of the south. ... draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others pursue. . . their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil.113

FIRST STUDY ON 1.

engaged under the Whilst some of them

1. What occupations were followed in the Southern Colonies? 2. What occupations in the Middle Colonies? 3. What in New England? 4. What evidences do you find that the colonists were well off? 5. Make a list of the places visited by a Rhode Island merchant vessel, from the time it left Rhode Island until its return; write opposite the name of each place, 1st, what the merchant vessel took to that place, and 2nd, what it took away from that place. 6. What good seaports were there in the colonies? 7. Which group of colonies did most trading? 8. With whom did they trade? 9. Which groups were beginning to manufacture, and what?

SECOND STUDY ON I.

1. Who were the colonial captains? 2. Into what parts of the world did they go? 3. What materials did the colonists use for building houses? 4. Why did the colonists need forts everywhere? 5. Where did they get dry goods? 6. What signs were there that they wished to be free from England? 7. What had England done to make them feel in this way? 8. What was the condition of streets in Charleston and New York?

Supplementary Reading. — A Whaling Song, in Library American Literature, II. 364. Sir William Johnson's Baronial Hall, in Library American Literature, III. 137, or in Thomas Jones' History of New York. New York, 1879.

English "Navigation Laws" and "Acts of Trade.” — As far back as 1660 the English government had begun to pass laws that bore hard on colonial commerce. The first of them declared that no Dutch, French, or Spanish ship should bring anything into the colonies from Asia, Africa, Europe, or the other parts of America; only English ships should be allowed to do this and to sell the products of these countries to the colonists; it was further declared that none of the sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, ginger, . . . and... dyeing woods of his Majesty's plantations in America should be sold to anybody but an Englishman. Then, in 1699, came a law "for the encouragement of the woollen manufacture in the kingdom of England." It read:

Forasmuch as Wooll and the Woollen Manufactures of Cloth, . . . are the greatest and most profitable commodities of this Kingdom, on which the... Trade of the Nation do[es] chiefly depend: And whereas great Quantities of the like Manufactures have of late been made,... in the English Plantations in America, and are exported from thence to foreign Markets, heretofore supplied from England, which will . . . tend to the Ruine of the... Woollen Manufacture of

...

upon

this Realm; ... [Therefore] be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, . . . that . . . no Wooll... Woollen Yarn, Cloth, ... or Woollen manufactures whatsoever, of any of the English Plantations of America, shall be loaden . . . in any ship. any Pretence, whatsoever; as likewise that no such Wooll, . shall be loaden upon any Horse, Cart, or other Carriage. to be exported... out of the said English Plantations to any of the other of the said Plantations, or to any other Place whatsoever.

...

[In 1732, came a law that] Whereas, the Art and Mystery of making Hats in Great Britain hath arrived to great Perfection, and . . . his Majesty's Plantations . . . in America. . . have been wholly supplied with Hats from Great Britain; and whereas great Quantities of Hats have of late Years been made, . . . in America ... : Wherefore, for preventing the said ill Practices for the future, and for promoting. . . the Trade of making Hats in Great Britain, Be it enacted . . . That . . . no Hats [shall hereafter be made in America].115

Writs of Assistance. All these laws had been passed before the French and Indian War. Near the close of that war, in 1760, George III. came to the throne of England, and he was angry enough, when he was told how the colonists were cheating him out of his duties, and that too, just when he was in the greatest need of money, on account of the heavy expenses of the French and Indian War. For these Yankees, instead of carrying their sugar, molasses, and dyeing-wood into the regular ports and paying duties on them, as the law told them to do, were taking them from one colony to another quite as they liked, and landing their goods at little out-of-the-way places, where the king had no custom-house officers to look after them. This was downright smuggling, and King George III. would have none of it, and so he sent out still more officers to catch these Yankee skippers; and he gave these new officers what he

called Writs of Assistance. These were legal papers giving the king's officers a right to hunt for smuggled goods in any place, and at any time. These writs made the colonists very angry, and they held many meetings and made many speeches against the king. The most famous of these speeches was that made by James Otis, a young Boston lawyer, who said:

Every one with this writ may be a tyrant; a person with this writ, in the daytime, may enter all houses, shops, &c., at will, and command all to assist him. . . . Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ. . . would totally. . . [destroy] this privilege. Custom house officers may enter our houses, when they please; we are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and every thing in their way. Bare suspicion . . . is sufficient.. I will men

...

...

tion some facts. . . . Mr. Justice Walley had called . . . [a customhouse officer] before him, by a constable, to answer for a breach of [the] Sabbath-day or... [for] profane swearing. As soon as he had finished [the officer]... said. I will show you a little of my power. I command you to permit me to search your house for uncustomed [smuggled] goods. And went on to search his house from the garret to the cellar. . . . Every man, prompted by revenge, ill humor, or wantonness, to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a writ of assistance.116

STUDY ON 2.

1. What would the colonists want from Asia? From Africa? From other parts of America? 2. Suppose an English merchant ship lay in Boston Harbor with a cargo of tea; and suppose a Dutch merchant ship came in and offered a cargo of the same kind of tea cheaper; of which would the colonists wish to buy? 3. Of which would they have to buy? 4. What price would they have to pay? 5. To which would they have to sell their furs and provisions? 6. What price would they have to take? 7. Why?

8. Who would get the advantage of such a law? 9. Why would the New Englanders prefer to buy sugar where they could pay for it with fish? 10. Why should the colonists wish to make beaver hats and woollen cloths? 11. Why did the English wish them not to make these things? 12. Why were the colonists angry with the Writs of Assistance? 13. What reason had the king to be angry with the colonists?

3. THE STAMP ACT.

In an American tax, what do we do? We... give and grant to your Majesty what? Our own property? No. We give and grant to your Majesty the property of your Majesty's commons in America. . . . The gentleman tells us America is obstinate; America is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. - PITT, to the House of Commons.117

The Act Itself.

In spite of her Writs of Assistance and her Navigation Laws, England did not get as much money as she expected from her American Colonies; and she had a great debt of millions of dollars on hand, after all her wars with France, Holland, and Spain. So in 1765 King George III.

decided to lay a new tax called a Stamp Act, which decreed that on "every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be . . . written, or printed, any... Will," a stamp costing sixpence should be placed; on the same containing permission for a man to practise law, a stamp costing ten pounds; on the same containing a license to sell liquors, one costing from one to four pounds; on every written contract, a stamp costing from one shilling sixpence upward; on "every Pamphlet and upon every News Paper, one Halfpenny . . . to

I SHILLING

A STAMP.