The thirteen English colonies which in succession had been planted in North America, along the shores of the Atlantic from the French possessions in Acadia to the Spanish possessions in Florida, had each its own "colony flag"; the "United Colonies of New England" had devised the New England flag to distinguish their particular union; but the national flag which declared the union of all the colonies with one another, and with the Motherland beyond the seas, was the "Union Jack" of Great Britain.
It was under the Union Jack that the forces of the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia had marshalled in 1755, and with the English regulars had advanced, under the leadership of Braddock and Washington, to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley, but to meet with such signal disaster on the banks of the Monongahela.
In the same year, under the cross of St. George in their United Colonies flag, the colonists of New England joined in the victories over the French, and changed the name of the lake, by whose shores they fought, from "St. Sacrament" to "Lake George."
Under the successive Jacks the colonies had grown into commonwealths, had expanded their territories, and their sons had written their names in British history by gallant deed and notable achievement.
Thus the crosses in the Union Jack had a vivid meaning, and their local historic record had won for them the attachment of the people in the colonies.
The occupation of Quebec by Wolfe in 1759 and the subsequent retirement of French rule from Canada and the valley of the North Mississippi had freed the colonies from conflict with the power which had hitherto opposed their expansion beyond the Alleghanies. They were now free to exploit the West, which this victory of the parent realm had gained for them, and which was to be the wide field for their subsequent expansion. Combining together for these adventures had brought the separate colonies more into contact with each other and created points of internal union. At length the time came when rifts in the methods of government on this continent began to show themselves.
Troubles had been brewing between the colonies and the Home Government ever since the passing of the obnoxious Stamp Act of 1765, but, although the friction had at times been great, there was no intention on the part of the colonists of severing their allegiance from the parent realm. The cause of the colonists in America was largely espoused among the English people. Lord Effingham, upon his regiment (the 22nd) being ordered to America, resigned his commission in the British army, "rather than consent to bear arms against my fellow-subjects in America."[103]
No more ardent adherents or outspoken advocates for the self-government of the colonies were to be found in America than were Chatham, Burke, and Charles James Fox in the Parliament of England, and under the later and better conditions which have since governed the relations between Great Britain and her outlying colonies there would, in all probability, have been no breaking of the old home ties.
Engaged in the throes of a great European war, Britain had poured her men into Spain and could spare but few of her own for service in America. Forces, consisting largely of hired Hanoverian and Hessian soldiers, had been sent across the sea to enforce the objectionable enactments, and hostilities had broken out in June, 1775, between the resident citizens and these imported "regulars"; but even after this entanglement, the flag, which was introduced for the "United Colonies," was raised, not for the purpose of indicating any alteration in allegiance, but to evidence the local union of the still loyal colonies against the dictation of the impracticable home ministry.