cause of King and Parliament, should be tried in England or Nova Scotia - where, of course, every influence would operate in favor of their acquittal."

443

Fourthly, the "Quebec Act" extended the boundaries of the Canadian province of Quebec so as to embrace the territory northwest of the Ohio (excepting only such portion as the colonies could prove they held under royal grants), and virtually established the Roman Catholic Church in that vast province. The debates in Parliament show that the object of this act was to secure the allegiance of the French Catholics in Canada in the approaching war, and to exclude the offending English colonists from making settlements in the West."44

The King now temporarily removed Governor Hutchinson (May, 1774), and appointed General Gage, commander-in-chief of the British forces on the American continent, Governor of Massachusetts.

196. Unity of the colonies; the First Continental Congress (1774). When the news of the passage of the Port Act reached Boston, Massachusetts sent an appeal for sympathy and help to all of her sister colonies. Paul Revere, mounted on a swift horse, started to carry this appeal to New York, but before he arrived there a committee of the "Sons of Liberty," composed mainly of the mechanics and workingmen of that city, had recommended the calling of a general or continental congress. South Carolina expressed the feeling of the patriots of all the colonies when she said: "The whole country must be animated with one great soul, and all Americans must resolve to stand by one another, even unto death.” 446

445

447

The first American or Continental Congress met in the Carpenters' Hall at Philadelphia in the autumn of 1774." It was composed of fifty-five delegates, representing all the colonies except Georgia, where the Tory Governor contrived to block the way.449 The congress, while cheerfully acknowledging His Majesty George the Third to be their "rightful sovereign," adopted (October 14, 1774) a "Declaration of Colonial Rights."

" 450

This declaration admitted the authority of Parliament to enact measures for the regulation of trade for the mutual advantage of the mother-country and of the colonies, but it affirmed (1) that the colonial legislatures alone had the right to make all laws and levy all taxes; 451 (2) that the colonists were entitled to the common law. of England, and especially to the inestimable privilege of trial by jury, and that they had the right to hold public meetings for the consideration of grievances and to petition the King; (3) they protested against the keeping of a standing army in the colonies without their consent; (4) finally, they condemned eleven acts of Parliament, including the tax on tea and the "four intolerable acts," and declared that Americans would never submit to them.

The congress, in its "olive-branch petition," humbly besought the King "as the loving father" of his "whole people to relieve their wrongs. 452 But before sending that petition Congress signed the articles of an "American Association." Those articles pledged the colonies they represented not to import British goods, and not to export any merchandise or products of the colonies to Great Britain unless their wrongs should be redressed.453

In the action of the American people thus far we may trace three progressive steps: (1) Otis's claim (1761): No direct taxation without representation in Parliament (§ 187); (2) Declaration of the Stamp-Act Congress (1765): No direct taxation except by the colonial assemblies (§ 189); (3) Declaration of the First Continental Congress (1774): No legislation whatever (save in regard to trade and commerce for mutual advantage) except by the colonial assemblies (§ 196).

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197. Parliament retaliates; action of Massachusetts; General Gage's expedition. When Parliament met (1775), Lord Chatham urged that body to repeal the "four intolerable acts." He said: "You will repeal them, I stake my reputation on it, that you will in the end repeal them." 454 He was right; but the repeal came too late. Meanwhile in retaliation

for the adoption by Congress of the articles of the "American Association," Parliament passed a bill by which all the colonies that had agreed to the articles were summarily cut off from foreign trade and prohibited from taking any part in the fisheries of Newfoundland. Thus at one blow the chief industry of New England and the most important commerce not only of New England but of the other offending colonies were paralyzed."

455

While the First Continental Congress was sitting, Governor Gage suspended the Assembly of Massachusetts. That body at once resolved itself into a provincial congress, adjourned to Concord (1774), and there organized, choosing John Hancock for president. This provincial congress appointed a committee of safety to provide for the defence of the colony.456 It furthermore authorized the enrollment of 12,000 "minute men," who were to hold themselves ready to meet any emergency. The other colonies organized similar provincial congresses or conventions, and prepared to maintain their rights by force of arms if necessary.457

Patrick Henry urged the Virginia convention to prepare for the inevitable conflict: "We must fight!" said he ; " I repeat it, sir, we must fight!" Virginia heeded the advice, and at once began to arm. General Gage attempted to seize some cannon at Salem, but failed. Hearing that the Massachusetts Committee of Safety had collected cannon and military stores at Concord, about twenty miles from Boston, he sent out a secret expedition of eight hundred troops to destroy them. The commander was ordered to stop at Lexington on his way to Concord and seize those "arch-rebels," Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were suspected of being in the village-as in fact they

were.

198. British expedition to Lexington and Concord; beginning of the siege of Boston. Paul Revere, mounting a fleet horse, rode to Lexington in advance of the British, rousing the country as he passed with his "midnight cry," "The regulars are coming!" Adams and Hancock, warned in time, escaped

across the fields. Meanwhile Captain John Parker of Lexington gathered a company of sixty or seventy men on the village green, ready to meet the British. "Don't fire first," said he,

"but if they want a war let it begin here." 458

Just before daybreak (April 19, 1775) the regulars appeared. "Disperse, ye rebels," shouted Pitcairn, the British commander; the Americans did not move; they were "too few to resist, too brave to fly." "Fire!" cried Pitcairn. Seven patriots fell. Then Parker ordered his men to leave the field; as they did so they fired a few scattering shots at the enemy.

439

Proceeding to Concord the regulars destroyed such military stores as they could find. At Concord Bridge the patriots met the British; a fight ensued, and several fell on each side. It was the opening battle of the Revolution.

Then the British began the return march to Boston; the enraged farmers pursued them, firing from behind every bush, fence, and tree. An English officer says that the British fled before the Americans like sheep.460 At Lexington the flying regulars were reinforced by a thousand fresh troops sent out by Gage. By the time they reached Charlestown they had lost nearly three hundred of their number.

All the following night "minute men" were pouring into Cambridge. Every New England colony speedily began to raise and send men under such leaders as Putnam, Stark, Arnold, and Greene; in all, an army of about sixteen thousand was gathered.461 They surrounded Boston on the land side, and General Gage, with his force of less than four thousand troops, found himself effectually "bottled up."

199. Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point; meeting of the Second Continental Congress (1775). In order to get a supply of arms and powder an expedition was sent to capture Fort Ticonderoga, which controlled the water-way between New York and Canada. This expedition, led by Ethan Allen, was made up of "Green Mountain Boys" with some volunteers from Connecticut and western Massachusetts.