council was held; and they agreed to attack the fort of Detroit, under Pontiac's lead.

tack on

This was Pontiac's plan: he would go some day to Plan of atthe fort, with thirty or forty men, and ask leave to Detroit. come in and show an Indian dance. While they were dancing, a few should stroll about the fort, unnoticed, and observe everything within the walls. Then they would again visit the fort, ask to hold a council, carry weapons under their blankets, and at a given signal strike down the white officers. The first part of the plan succeeded; but the second failed. A warning was given by some Indian women to the English commander; and when Pontiac entered the fort with his fifty warriors, each carrying his gun under his blanket, they found ranks of armed soldiers drawn up within. They saw that their plan had failed, and were glad to be allowed to go out unharmed.

Detroit.

After this, Pontiac collected his allies, and laid siege Siege of to Detroit for many weeks in 1763. It was the longest siege ever conducted by Indians; for they commonly relied on swift and sudden movements; but it failed at last, although several other forts were captured by Indians during this siege. At Michillimackinac, for instance, on a holiday, several hundred unarmed Indians played a game of ball outside the fort, and invited the soldiers out to see them play, while their squaws stood wrapped in their blankets, watching the game. Suddenly the ball was struck so that it fell near the gate of the fort. The warriors pursued it; but, on the way, each snatched one of the hatchets that had been concealed by the women beneath their blankets, then rushed into the fort, and began striking down the gar

Siege

abandoned.

rison. Scarcely twenty men escaped. Thus, in one way or another, almost every fort in the region of the lakes was retaken by the Indians from the English. Detroit, however, held out with great courage; but the garrison had become almost exhausted by famine, when, at the approach of winter, the Indians gradually scattered, and gave up the siege after five months. Nothing but the remarkable power and energy of Pontiac could have carried it on so long. He was at last compelled to make peace with the English, and was afterwards murdered by another Indian in a drunken frolic. This was the end of the long series of French and Indian wars; and the English colonists were now to have a little rest, until the beginning of their own Revolution.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION.

I

Thirteen"

HAVE thus described the early history of the The "Old thirteen original colonies, "the old thirteen," as they were often called. These were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. All the rest of the present States were made from these, or from territory added to these; so that the history of the country down to the Revolution is the history of these thirteen colonies.

history of

It is easy to see that each of the thirteen had Peculiar something peculiar in its history to distinguish it each. from the rest. To begin with, they were established by several different nations. Most of them, it is true, were founded by Englishmen; but New York and New Jersey were settled by the Dutch, and Delaware by the Swedes; while the Carolinas were first explored and named by a French colony. Most of them were founded by small parties of settlers, among whom no great distinctions of rank existed; but two of them, Pennsylvania and Maryland, were founded by a single proprietor in each case, who owned the whole. soil; while New York had its patroons," or large

66

Points of

resemblance.

Loyalty to
England.

landholders with tenants under them. Most of them were founded by those who fled from religious persecution in Europe; yet one of them, Rhode Island, was made up largely from those persecuted in another colony; and another, Maryland, was founded by Roman Catholics. Some had charter governments; some had royal governments without charters; and others were governed by the original proprietors, or those who rep resented them.

But, however differently the thirteen colonies may have been founded or governed, they were all alike in some things. For instance, they all had something of local self-government; that is, each community, to a greater or less extent, made and administered its own laws. Moreover, they all became subject to Great Britain at last, even if they had not been first settled by Englishmen; and finally they all grew gradually discontented with the British Government, because they thought themselves ill treated. This discontent made them at last separate themselves from England, and form a complete union with one another. But this was not accomplished without a war, the war commonly called the American Revolution.

When we think about the Revolutionary War, we are very apt to suppose that the colonies deliberately came together, and resolved to throw off the yoke of Great Britain. But this was not the case at all. When the troubles began, most of the people supposed themselves to be very loyal; and they were ready to shout "God save King George!" Even after they had raised. armies, and had begun to fight, the Continental Congress said, “We have not raised armies with the ambi

tious design of separating from Great Britain, and establishing independent States." They would have been perfectly satisfied to go on as they were, if the British Government had only treated them in a manner they thought just; that is, if Great Britain either had not taxed them, or had let them send representatives to parliament in return for paying taxes. This wish was considered perfectly reasonable by many of the wisest Englishmen of that day; and these statesmen would have gladly consented to either of these measures. But King George III. and his advisers would not consent; and so they not only lost the opportunity of taxing the American colonies, but finally lost the colonies themselves.

for taxa.

There were some reasons why it seemed just that Reasons the Americans should be taxed. The debt of the tion. British Government was very great, and part of this debt had been incurred in defending the American colonies from the French and Indians. So it seemed fair that these colonies should help to pay it; and probably they would not have objected, if they had been represented in the British Government, so that they could at least have had a voice in deciding what their taxes should be. But this was not allowed; and so, when the famous "Stamp Act" was passed, in 1765, the popular indignation was very great.

"Stamp

There was nothing very bad about the law called the The "Stamp Act," in itself; and Englishmen would not have Act." complained of it at home. This famous act required only that all deeds and receipts, and other legal documents, should be written or printed on stamped paper, and that this paper should be sold by the tax-collectors;