320

RESTRICTIONS DISREGARDED.

[1761.

foreign trade of the colonies to English and colonial ships, was not enforced in New-England, because it was resisted as opposed to this principle.

Virginia was restricted in commerce almost from her first settlement, by being required to send all her exports to Great Britain. The Navigation Act was passed to prevent the Dutch from having the carrying-trade of the colonies; and in 1663, in the reign of Charles II., the import trade was restricted nearly in like manner and for the same reason. The object avowed was to keep the colonies in a firmer dependance on England. But the restrictions did not stop here. In 1672 a duty was laid on sugar, tobacco, indigo, and cotton sent from one colony to another. Virginia petitioned against this act; Rhode Island declared it unconstitutional; and it was but little regarded in New-England, the vessels of which traded with all countries. 1677 it was reported to the Lord's Committee for the Colonies, that Massachusetts paid no regard to the Navigation Act, but "would have all the world believe that they are a free state." The General Court said, when called to account, that they had never given their assent to the act, as the colony was not represented in Parliament; and, therefore, it was not obligatory. They, however, ordered that the act should in future be observed. So early as 1687, the revenue laws were set at naught in Charleston.

In

The Board of Trade and Plantations was formed in the reign of William, in 1696; and, in connex. ion with acts of Parliament, greatly restricted the commerce of the colonies.

In 1699 began the restrictions on the manufac

tures of the colonies, when it was forbidden to send any woollen manufacture out of the country. In 1719 the House of Commons declared "that the erecting of manufactories in the colonies tended to lessen their dependance upon Great Britain." English hatters, iron manufacturers, and others afterward petitioned that their own trades might be prohibited in the colonies; and this was done to a great extent. Iron forges, furnaces, &c., were even declared by law to be "nuisances ;" and governors were required to abate them in thirty days, under penalty of £500.

The assemblies of most of the colonies were for many years allowed to exercise the power of the highest courts in all civil cases: but in 1680 the king and council claimed the right of hearing ap. peals. Connecticut denied this claim till 1701, when the royal demand was very peremptory. The Lords of Trade called this a "humour ;" and spoke of the "independency" which the colonies "thirsted after" as 66 now notorious." On account of this spirit, a bill was brought into Parliament in 1701, to reunite the government in the crown. In 1702 the controversy began with Connecticut about the law on female heirs to estates, which was confirmed.

Some of the colonies also insisted on the right of appropriating their own money; and Massachusetts had a long contest, beginning in Governor Shute's time, and lasting thirty years, in which the representatives insisted on the right of determining the governor's salary. The question was at length yielded by the king: but the authority was again

322 AN AMERICAN NOBILITY PROPOSED. [1761. claimed by Parliament in 1773, and this step was one of those which brought on the Revolution.

The colonies had long consented to pay external taxes, as they were regarded as designed for the regulation of the commerce of the British empire. But they had resisted internal taxes, or those intended for raising revenue. Walpole and Pitt, in turn, the greatest statesmen of England, had refused to force the latter upon them. Walpole had said that he was too great a friend of commerce to try it, and intimated that he should fear the result. Pitt declared that it could never be effected unless by an overwhelming force; and it would be ungenerous to attempt it so. Pitkin remarks, that England would not have dared to attempt it before the pow. er of France was humbled in America. In 1760, however, the custom-house officers received orders to enforce the acts of trade, by seizing goods imported contrary to them, and even to enter stores, &c., in search of them, and to apply to the supe. rior courts for "writs of assistance," to enable them to accomplish the object. These writs were opposed in Massachusetts with great zeal, and were restricted in their use. In Connecticut it does not appear that they were ever taken out, though they were threatened by the Board of Trade.

In 1762 it was declared that an important change was intended to be made in the government of the colonies; and several persons came from England to travel about the country, and give their opinions on the measures by which it might best be effected. Governor Bernard, of Massachusetts, proposed that an hereditary nobility should be created by the king, and that American representatives should

be admitted into Parliament as a favour, not as a right. In 1764 Lord Grenville, prime minister, informed the agents of the colonies in London that the king was determined to raise money in America to increase the revenue of Great Britain, and that he proposed to do it by a Stamp Act. The plan was, that all public and official documents should be required by law to be written on paper with a royal stamp, and that this paper should be sold at high prices by the government, according to the practice now pursued in many countries of Europe. Lord Grenville, at the same time, in. quired whether any preferable measure could be proposed for the same object by the colonies. Parliament soon declared the duties which had been laid to be perpetual, and made naval commanders on the eastern coast custom-house officers, that they might seize vessels engaged in forbidden trade.

Petitions were sent to the king and Parliament by several of the colonies, including Connecticut ; and, in 1765, Dr. Franklin and Mr. Ingersoll, agents of Pennsylvania and Connecticut in London, with Mr. Garth, of South Carolina, and Mr. Jackson, besought the council, if they must have money from the colonies, to leave it to the people to raise it. The petitions were not read in Parliament, and the Stamp Act was passed, after much opposition, by a large vote; and now a tax was to be paid for almost every paper used in law cases, by merchants in trading with each other, every newspaper and pamphlet except almanacs, and two pounds for every diploma received at a college. It was presumed that the people might not peaceably submit to all this, and another act was passed

324

THE FIRST CONGRESS.

[1765.

to compel them by force, by sending soldiers to the principal towns, whom the colonies were required to supply with provisions and other necessaries.

CHAPTER XXXIX. 1765.

The first General Congress of the Colonies.--Declaration_of Rights. The Sons of Liberty.-The Stamp Act disregarded. -Taxes.-Riots.-Governor Gage sends troops to Boston to enforce the Acts of Parliament.-The Taxes repealed, except that on Tea.-Commerce with Boston forbidden.-The Government of Massachusetts overthrown.-General Gage Governor of that Colony.-Second Congress.-Boston Neck fortified.-Preparations for Defence.-First shedding of Blood at Concord.-Troops assemble around Boston.

VIRGINIA passed resolutions against the Stamp Act; the people of many parts of Connecticut expressed great opposition to it; and Massachusetts invited a Congress, which met in October at New-York, and was attended by commissioners from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. There was much difference of opinion on the measure in the country: some of the rulers as well as others thinking opposition to be treasonable. The Congress (which was the first designed to be a general one) published a Declaration of Rights, and sent an address to the king and petitions to Parliament. Connecticut had only authorized her commissioners to report;