The principles of a democratic or representative government were brought to America by the earliest colonists. The colonies themselves were founded by private adventure, with very little aid from government. The was for eighteen years a, strict democracy, and afterward a republic under a charter from the crown. A repre sentative and popular government was established in Virginia in 1620. It was not until the protectorate and the reign of Charles II. that the colonies were considered as por tions of the empire, to be governed by parliament, when navigation acts were passed to give English ships a monopoly of commerce, when the produce of the colonies was required to be sent to England, and duties were levied on commodoties sent from one colony to another. Protests were made against these assumptions; Virginia asserted her right of self-government; and it was not until the English revolution of 1688 that settled and uniform relations with the different colonies were established.
In 1713, by the treaty of Utrecht, England, which, since the reign of Elizabeth, had imported slaves from Africa into her American and West Indian colonies, obtained a monopoly of the slave-trade, engaging to furnish Spanish America, in 33 years, with 144,000 negroes. A. great slave-trading company was formed in England, one quarter of the stock being taken by queen Anne, and one-quarter by the king of Spain, these two sovereigns becoming the greatest slave-dealers in Christendom. By this monopoly, slavery was extended in, and to some extent forced upon, all the American colonies.
At this period, there was a general feeling of loyalty toward the mother country. The sons of the more wealthy colonists, especially in the south, were educated in Eng land; English literature pervaded the colonies; the British throne was the fountain of honor; the colonies, though distinct, and differing in origin and character—Puritan in the east, Dutch Reformed in New York, Quaker in Pennsylvania, Catholic in Maryland, and church of England in Virginia—were yet united by language, common ties, fears, and interests. In 1761 the enforcement of the navigation act against illegal traders, by general search-warrants, caused a excitement against the government, especially in Boston. The admiralty enforced the law; many vessels were seized; and the colonial trade with the West Indies was annihilated. In 1765 the passing of an act of parliament for collecting a•colonial revenue by stamps caused general indignation, and led to riots. Patrick Henry, in the Virginia assembly, denied the right of parliament to tax America, and eloquently asserted the dogma, " no taxation without representation." The first impulse was to unite against a common danger; and the first colonial congress of 28 dele gates, representing 9 colonies, made a statement of grievances and a declaration of rights.
The stamps were destroyed or reshipped to England, and popular societies were formed in the chief towns, called "Sons of Liberty." In 1766 the stamp act was repealed, to the general joy of the colonists; but the principle of colonial taxation was not abandoned; and in 1767 duties were levied on glass, paper, printers' colors, and tea. This renewed attempt produced, in 1768, riots in Boston, and governor Gage was furnished with a military force of 700 to preserve order and enforce the laws: In 1773 the duties were repealed, excepting 3d. a pound on tea. It was now a question of principle, and from north to south it was determined that this tax should not be paid. Some cargoes were stored in damp warehouses and spoiled; some sent back; in Boston, a snob, disguised as Indians, threw it into the harbor. To punish this outrage, parliament passed the Boston port bill, 1774, by which the chief town of New England was no longer a port of entry, and its trade transferred to Salem. The people were reduced to great distress, but received the sympathy of all the colonies, and liberal contributions of wheat from Virginia, and rice from Charleston, South Caroliha.
It was now determined to enforce the government of the crown and parliament over the colonies; and a fleet, containing several ships of the line, and 10.000 troops, was sent to America; while the colonists, still asserting their loyalty, and with little or no thought of separation from the mother country, prepared to resist what they considered the unconstitutional assumptions of the government. Volunteers were drilling in every direction, and depots of provisions and military stores were being gathered. A small force being sent from Boston to seize one of these depots at Concord, Mass., led to what is called the battle of Lexington, and the beginning of the war of the revolution, April 19. 1775. The British troops were attacked on their return by the provincials, and com pelled to a hasty retreat. The news of this event summoned 20,000 men to the vicinity of Boston. The royal forts and arsenals of the colonies were taken possession of, with their arms and munitions. Crown point and Ticonderoga, the principal northern forti• fications, were surprised, and their artillery and stores appropriated. A congress of the colonies assembled at Philadelphia, which resolved to raise and equip an army of 20,000• men, and appointed George Washington commander-in-chief. June 17, Bunker hill, in Charleston, near Boston, where 1500 Americans had hastily intrenched themselves, was• taken by assault by the British troops, but with so heavy a loss (1054) that the defeat had for the provincials the moral effect of a victory. After a winter of great privations. the British were compelled to evacuate Boston, carrying away in their fleet to Halifax. 1500 loyal families.