[IMPORTANT CHARACTERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD IN AMERICAN HISTORY.]
To make a subject interesting and beneficial to us we must have a personal interest in it. This is brought about in three ways: It touches our pride, if it be our country; it excites our curiosity as to what it really is, if it be history; and we desire to know what part our ancestors took in it, if it be war.
So, we see the period of the Revolutionary war possesses all three of these elements; and was in reality the beginning of true American life—"America for Americans."
Prior to this time (during the Colonial period) America was under the dominion of the lords proprietors—covering the years of 1663 to 1729—and royal governors—from 1729 to 1775—the appointees of the English sovereign, and whose rule was for self-aggrandizement. The very word "Revolutionary" proclaims oppression, for where there is justice shown by the ruler to the subjects there is no revolt, nor will there ever be.
We usually think of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775,) as being the bugle note that culminated in the Declaration of Independence and reached its final grand chord at Yorktown, October 19, 1781; but on the 16th of May, 1771, some citizens of North Carolina, finding the extortions and exactions of the royal governor, Tryon, more than they could or would bear, took up arms in self-defense and fought on the Alamance River what was in reality the first battle of the Revolution.
The citizens' loss was thirty-six men, while the governor lost almost sixty of his royal troops. This battle of the Alamance was the seed sown that budded in the Declaration of Mecklenburg in 1775, and came to full flower in the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
There were stages in this flower of American liberty to which we will give a cursory glance.
The determination of the colonies not to purchase British goods had a marked effect on England. Commercial depression followed, and public opinion soon demanded some concession to the Americans.
All taxes were remitted or repealed except that upon tea; when there followed the most exciting, if not the most enjoyable party in the world's history—the "Boston Tea Party," which occurred on the evening of December 16, 1773.