CHAPTER IV INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1760-1774 Books for Consultation General Readings. - Fiske's War of Independence, 39-86; Higginson's Larger History, 223-249; Winsor's America, VI, 1-62; Lodge's English Colonies, 476–494. On this period in England, Gardiner's Student's History, 765–782, or Higginson and Channing's English History for Americans. Special Accounts. - Sloane's French War and the Revolution, 116–191; Greene's Historical View; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic; Fiske's American Revolution; *Lecky's England, III, ch. xii; *Bancroft's United States; *Hildreth's United States; Roosevelt's Winning of the West; Larned's History for Ready Reference, under United States and the several states. Sources. Local Records and Histories, Guide, § 133; Biographies, Guide, § 135, especially Tudor's Otis; Hutchinson's Massachusetts; Henry's Patrick Henry; Niles's Principles and Acts; *Force's American Archives; Hart's Contemporaries; American History Leaflets. Maps. Hart's Epoch Maps, No. 5; Mac Coun's Historical Geography; Winsor's America, VI. Bibliography.- Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, §§ 56 a and 56 b (General Readings), §§ 133-136 (Topics and References). Illustrative Material. Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution; Adams's Three Episodes; Parton's Jefferson and Franklin; Schouler's Jefferson (M.A.); Seeley's Expansion of England; *Merivale's Colonization; Tyler's American Literature; *Baird's Huguenot Emigration; Ann Maury's Huguenot Family; John Adams's Diary; Winsor's Memorial History of Boston; Wilson's Memorial History of New York; Egle's Pennsylvania; Scharf's Philadelphia and Maryland; Campbell's Virginia; Jones's Georgia; Weeden's Economic and Social History of New England; Mahon's England, ch. xliii; Hosmer's Samuel Adams (S.S.); *Ford's True George Washington, and his Many-sided Franklin; Franklin's Autobiography; Tyler's Patrick 1760] Change in British Policy 131 Henry (S. S.); Hosmer's Thomas Hutchinson; Mrs. Child's The Rebels; INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1760-1774 - In the 113. Change in the Colonial Policy of Britain. forty years between 1720 and 1760 there had been incessant political strife between the colonists and the representatives of the British government. These disputes had been essentially local and personal,- in regard to such matters as the The colonies and Britain before 1760. Winsor's America, Fiske's taxation of proprietaries' lands, the extension of the fran- Revolution, chise, the importation of convicts, the raising of troops, I, 1-6. the issue of paper money, the organization of banks on insecure foundations, and the establishment of courts of law. Generally the opposition of the colonists had taken. the form of a refusal to vote money for salaries or for soldiers until their demands were complied with; but sometimes, as, for example, in the dispute over the taxation of proprietaries' lands in Pennsylvania and the establishment of a religious test for voting in South Carolina, the colonists had carried the matter to England and had won their point; in other cases the home government had interfered and had forbidden the colonists to do what they wished, as in the case of the Massachusetts land-banks. But no serious opposition had been aroused, probably because the colonists felt confidence in the justice of the British government; this feeling was due to the prudent colonial policy of Sir Robert Walpole and his immediate successors. They were mainly interested in securing the safe establishment of the monarchs of the House of Hanover on the throne of England, and had carefully avoided all measures which seemed likely to arouse opposition at home or in the colonies. In 1760 George III ascended the throne. Born in George III and his policy. Restrictions manufac tures. Winsor's England, he was ambitious to rule well and to regain for the monarchy the power which the kings had once wielded in the state. The execution of this project brought about the fall of the old governing aristocracy and the employment of inferior men, who would do their master's bidding. They heedlessly adopted a policy from which Walpole had recoiled. The opposition championed the cause of the colonists, and the re-establishment of the king's power in Britain became inextricably bound up with the maintenance of his authority in the colonies. These considerations will enable the student of the revolutionary epoch to understand more clearly the history of that memorable period. The first conflict, however, arose out of an attempt to enforce the Navigation Acts, and the impulse to this movement was given by William Pitt. 114. The Colonial System, 1688-1760. The principal From that time the list of enu on trade and features of the colonial system before the Revolution of 1688 have been already traced (p. 90). restrictions were gradually increased, and merated goods was constantly enlarged. On the other hand, bounties and premiums were provided for the encouragement of the production of commodities for which the colonies were well suited. VI, 7-10. Restrictions were also laid on colonial manufactures which were likely to come into competition with English interests. The earliest of these laws was passed in 1699; it prohibited the exportation of wool or any manufacture of wool from any American colony to any other colony, to Great Britain, or to any foreign country. Subsequently, an attempt was made to limit the iron industry of the colonies to the production of crude iron alone; all the later stages of its manufacture were to be performed in Britain. Adam Smith, England's greatest economist, wrote of this part of the colonial system, that it was "a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." Regarding the system as a whole, it is impossible to say that it was to the disadvantage of the colonists: it is true that the 1760] Difficulties in Enforcing the Laws 133 Virginians were forbidden to ship their tobacco to a foreign port, but they were given a monopoly of the British tobacco markets; the New England shipowners could not legally engage in foreign trade, but they enjoyed a share in the monopoly of the carrying trade of the British Empire; the South Carolinians could not ship their rice to European ports north of Cape Finisterre, but they were paid a large bounty on all the rice they exported. The act which might have inflicted hardship was the The Sugar "Sugar Act" of 1733. This law provided for the collection Act, 1733. of high duties on foreign sugar, molasses, or rum imported into any colonial port on the continent of North America. Had this been carried out, it would have brought disaster to New England, as the African trade of that section depended on a supply of cheap molasses, which was made into rum and then exchanged on the Guinea coast for slaves, gold, and palm oil. 115. Difficulties in Enforcing the Laws. It proved to Opposition be well-nigh impossible to enforce these laws. The New of the New Englanders. Englanders, who were mainly concerned in their evasion, were hostile to them, and the royal customs officials in the colonies found that the easiest road to the acquisition of wealth lay in combining with the importers: collectors of customs in the English West Indies granted fraudulent clearances, which were accepted by the collectors of customs in the New England ports, and merchants were permitted to discharge vessels laden with dutiable goods in the absence of the customs officials. During the last war with France, northern merchants engaged in an unpatriotic and illegal trade with the French, supplying their posts with provisions. Pitt ordered the customs officials to do their duty, and, by a display of zeal, they endeavored to atone for their former laxity. It was found to be most difficult to carry out Pitt's instructions: it was not easy to seize goods on which no duty had been paid; it was practically impossible to secure a conviction from a colonial jury. Search warrants. Writs of VI, 11-15. The ordinary method to secure the seizure of suspected goods was to issue a search warrant. This warrant empowered the person named in it to go to a designated place and seize certain goods therein deposited, which on the information of some person named in the warrant were believed to be smuggled. The document was afterwards deposited in the records of the court, with a statement of what had been done in accordance with its provisions. In this way the name of the informer became known; and in a community where the general sentiment was one of fierce opposition to the enforcement of these laws, he was sure to be dealt with most severely, and other persons who might be willing to inform were likely to be frightened into silence. The owners of suspected goods also received early notice of an intended seizure, and removed them to another warehouse or across the street. The customs officials were powerless, as the warrant authorized them to seize only particular goods in a stated place. 116. Writs of Assistance, 1761. To avoid these complications, the customs officers armed themselves with a species of warrant called a "writ of assistance," that authorized them to seize any goods which they suspected to be smuggled, wherever found. This power might easily be misused for purposes of personal revenge and undoubtedly was so abused. The first warrants were issued by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, who had no authority to grant them. Accordingly, in 1761, the customs officers applied to the Superior Court for new warrants. The king's advocate in the province at that time was James Otis, an ardent, able, and patriotic man. He resigned his office, and appeared for the merchants of Boston in opposition to the issuance of the writs. He made a speech which had great effect upon the popular mind, and is often and rightly regarded as the first act in the American Revolution. Unfortunately, it has been preserved only in the form of fragmentary notes taken by John Adams, then a student of law at Boston. The matter really turned on narrow technical points which |