The State of Virginia was also inclined to an aristocratic form of government; its people boasted themselves “staunch advocates of the Church of England and partisans of the King.” When Charles I was executed, they accepted the Commonwealth without a pretense of enthusiasm, and when Charles II came to the throne they welcomed the change with great rejoicings. Shortly afterward, however, a royal governor, Sir William Berkley, was sent out to them, and such a tyrant he proved to be that the people became exasperated. Commercial laws were instituted that bade fair to beggar the planters; tobacco, for instance, could be sent to none but English ports, and it had not only to pay a large duty on reaching England, but it was taxed heavily before leaving. The government took no steps to repress the Indian outrages which were constantly occurring; the Assembly, instead of being elected every two years, was kept permanently in session, and the country was overrun with office-seekers. The culmination of these troubles was the outbreak known as the Bacon Rebellion, which commenced in 1675, and grew principally out of the indifference of the authorities on the Indian question. Nothing decisive was gained by this rebellion, but it is mentioned to show the disposition of the people against tyranny.
The other English colonies were instituted under conditions of liberality, and, in spite of their bigotry and intolerance, they enjoyed far more religious and political liberty than any European country of that day. The home government took no part in their original formation, except in the very easy requirements of the charters granted the proprietors. Lord Baltimore was left at full liberty to establish his own form of government in Maryland, and his preference was extremely liberal. William Penn was not interfered with in Pennsylvania. The government of Plymouth was formed without any restriction or even suggestion from abroad, by a party of self-reliant men, who were well fitted by temperament and experience for self-government. All the New England colonies gradually assumed the prerogatives of government, even to the power of capital punishment. In 1643 a further step in the evolution of a republic was made; the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth united under the title of The United Colonies of New England. Rhode Island was not admitted, because she would not consent to be incorporated with Plymouth. Rhode Island differed from all the colonies, in that there was no religious restriction to the rights of citizenship. New Hampshire was then a part of the Massachusetts colony. The governing body of the confederacy consisted of an annual Assembly of two deputies from each colony—whose local government continued as before. This independence was scarcely interfered with by the mother country until after the death of Cromwell. With the re-establishment of the monarchy came the desire to restrict the liberties of the colonies, grown flourishing and important. Charles II granted his brother James, the Duke of York, the whole territory from the Connecticut River to the shores of the Delaware, and this grant was followed by the illegal seizure of New Amsterdam, thereafter New York. The Duke of York made Edmund Andros governor of the province, and began a series of tyrannies, which only increased with the accession of the Duke to the throne. Andros was now made governor of all the New England provinces, his rule extending over New York. On arriving in Boston, in 1686, he immediately demanded a surrender of all the charters of the colonies, while edicts were issued annuling the existing liberties of the people. Connecticut refused to give up its charter, and Andros marched to Hartford with a body of soldiers to enforce the order. This was in 1687. An entirely new order of things now began. The liberty of the press was restrained, and the laws for the support of the clergy were suspended. Magistrates only were allowed to perform marriage ceremonies. The people were taxed at the governor’s pleasure, and, above all, titles of the colonists to their lands were declared of no value. Indian deeds Sir Edmund esteemed no better than a “scratch of a bear’s claw.” Even grants by charter and declarations of preceding kings were insufficient. The owners were obliged to take out patents for their estates, and in some cases a fee of fifty pounds was demanded. People were fined and imprisoned in the most arbitrary way; all town meetings were prohibited, except the one in May; no person was permitted to leave the country without leave from the governor. Despite his pains, however, petitions were sent to England, but if they were read they were not heeded. Early in 1689 came the news of the accession of William of Orange. The people immediately rose up against Andros, and forced him to leave the country. In New York State a similar uprising against their tyrant, the lieutenant of Andros, took place at the same time, known as the Leisler Revolt.
The people renewed their former mode of government, without being interfered with, at first, by the new monarch. In 1692 a new charter was granted Massachusetts, which differed from the original one in little, except that the King reserved the right to appoint a royal governor.
About this time the influence of the several wars which had raged in Europe between England and France began to manifest itself in the colonies of those countries in America. Invasions of each other’s territory became frequent, in which the Indians took part, glad of a chance to give vent to their savage instincts in murdering the white men. King William’s war raged from 1689 to 1697. In 1702 another war broke out between France and England, and was marked by much bloodshed in America. The Iroquois were neutral in this contest, thus preserving New York from danger, the weight of suffering falling upon New England. The English invasion of Canada was begun in 1710, when Port Royal was captured and its name changed to Annapolis. Nova Scotia—or Acadia—was permanently added to the English possessions. In 1713 the war ended, with the peace of Utrecht, and in the succeeding thirty years of tranquillity the colonies gained rapidly in population and importance. Hostilities broke out again in 1744, and scarcely ceased until the close of the French and Indian war.
This war, unlike the others, had its origin in America and ended in a decided change in the relative positions of the French and English colonies. The original basis of the contest was a dispute as to the ownership of the territory bordering on the Ohio. The real merits of the case may be summed up in the pertinent inquiry sent by two of the Indian chieftains to inquire “where the Indians’ land lay, for the French claimed all the land on one side of the river and the English on the other.” Neither of the colonial contestants had the slightest right to the territory.
The first offensive act was committed by the French, who seized three British traders who had advanced into the disputed country. The Indians, aroused by these evident hostilities, began their border ravages, instigated by the French. Orders now arrived from England to the Governor of Virginia, directing him to build two forts near the Ohio to prevent French encroachments and to check Indian depredations. But the order came too late; the French had already built forts and had taken possession of the territory. It was decided to send a messenger to the commander of the French forces on the Ohio and demand his authority for invading the territory of Virginia. For this mission was selected a young man of only twenty-one years, but who was already a Major in the Virginia militia and a man of note in the colony—the man was George Washington. His journey occupied forty-one days and was full of exciting adventure. His consultation with the French authorities left no doubt as to their martial attitude, and Major Washington returned at once to Virginia, where efforts were immediately begun to raise a colonial army. The other colonies took little interest in the affair and Virginia had to depend mainly on herself. As soon, however, as it became apparent that war with France was inevitable, the necessity for co-operation in the colonies was demonstrated, and the English government recommended that a convention be held at Albany for the purpose of forming a league with the Iroquois, and also of devising a plan of general defense against the enemy. The convention met in June, 1754, made a treaty with the Six Nations, and considered the subject of colonial union. A plan was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, Postmaster-General of America, and even then regarded as one of the ablest thinkers in the colonies. This plan was adopted—by odd coincidence—on the 4th of July. It provided a general government for the American colonies, presided over by a governor-general appointed by the King, and conducted by a council chosen by the colonial legislatures. The council was to have the power to raise troops, declare war, make peace, collect money, and pass all measures necessary for public safety. The veto power was relegated to the governor-general, and all laws were to be submitted for approval to the King.
But the plan was rejected, both by the colonial Assemblies and by the King; by the former because it gave too much power to the King, and by the latter because it gave too much power to the colonies. Then the British ministry took the control of the war into its own hands and determined to send out an army strong enough to force the French within their rightful lines. It was early in 1755 that Braddock was dispatched from Ireland with two regiments of infantry to co-operate with the Virginia forces. Fighting began at once, although no actual declaration of war between the two countries was made until a full year and a half later.
The interesting and important events of this war must be merely alluded to; the result was victory for the English, the treaty of peace being signed in Paris, February 10th, 1763. By its terms, Canada, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton were to belong to England; France relinquished all claim to the territory east of the Mississippi, and was confirmed in her title to the country west; Spain ceded to Great Britain Florida and all its title to country east of the Mississippi River. The most important result of the war was felt in the colonies, rather than in England. It educated a nation of soldiers; it taught the Americans how strong they really were, and how little they need depend on Great Britain for defense. The hard feeling engendered by the superiority assumed by the English officers and the enforced subordination of the Americans was the beginning of a breach which was destined never to be healed. A vast amount of debt is always a result of war. The colonies had lost above thirty thousand men, and their debt amounted to nearly four million pounds. Massachusetts alone had been reimbursed by Parliament. England herself was smothered in debts—she had been through four wars in seventy years—and her indebtedness reached the appalling sum of one hundred and forty million pounds. The scheme of colonial taxation to provide a certain and a regular revenue began to be agitated. But the colonies already had a heavy burden of taxation. They were in no mood to receive patiently any further encroachments on their civil rights. Many of the old laws of restriction on commerce—the duties on sugar and molasses, for example—had long been openly evaded. Until the accession of George III the authorities made no resistance to this opposition, but in 1761, when the third George came to the throne—that “very obstinate young man,” as Charles Townshend described him—determined to enforce the law, and “writs of assistance”—that is, search warrants—were issued, by which custom-house officers were empowered to search for goods which had avoided the payment of duty. The people of Boston resented these measures vigorously, and in spite of official vigilance smuggling increased, while the colonial trade with the West Indies was well-nigh destroyed.
In 1764 the sugar duties were reduced, but new duties were imposed on articles hitherto imported free. At the same time Lord Grenville proposed the stamp tax. All pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, all bonds, leases, notes, insurance policies—in a word, all papers used for legal purposes—in order to be valid, were to be drawn up on stamped paper, purchasable only from King’s officers appointed for the purpose. The plan met with the entire approval of the British Parliament, but its enactment was deferred until the next year, in order that the colonies might have an opportunity to express their feelings on the subject.
This deference to the wishes of the Americans was a mere blind, however. The preamble of the bill openly avowed the intention of raising revenue from “His Majesty’s dominion in America;” the act also gave increased power to the admiralty courts, and provided more stringent means for enforcing the payment of duties. The colonies received the news of these proposed enactments with indignation. The right of Parliament to impose duties and taxes on an unrepresented people was denied. In Boston, always the seat of democratic sentiment, the protest was made in no uncertain tone. New York also expressed her feelings strongly. Even Virginia was loud in her disapproval. Nevertheless, the bill passed the House of Commons five to one; in the Lords, it met with no opposition whatever.