The treaty concluded between Great Britain and France in 1748 produced no peace, but only a hollow truce, during which both parties were digesting and maturing more extensive plans of war ; and in 1753 the French crossed the Ohio in force, and entrenched themselves ou the upper waters of the Ohio. Orders from England had by this time reached the governors of all the colonies, instructing them, in the event of encroachments on the part of the French, to repel force by force, and recommending union for defence. In compliance with this recommendation, a general convention of delegates from all the colonies was summoned for the purpose of holding a conference with the chiefs of the Indian tribes north of New York, called the Six Nations. The convention met at Albany, on the 14th of June, 1754. It was composed of delegates from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvauia, and Maryland, with the lieutenant-governor and council of New York, and it was met by 150 men of the Six Nations. This assembly constitutes an epoch in the history of the United States. A plan was presented to it for a permanent union of all the colonies under one government, so far as might bo necessary for defence and other important general purposes.
Several of the commissioners came prepared with plans for a union of the colonies to be submitted to the congress. A vote was taken whether a union should be established, which passed unanimously iu the affirmative; a committee was then appointed of one from each colony, to report on the different plans, and that which had been drawn up by Franklin was preferred, and with a few amendments reported. Franklin's proposal was, that application should be made for an Act of Parliament to include all the British colonies in North America .within one government, under which each colony might retain its own constitution ; that this general government should be administered by a president-general, appointed and supported by the crown, and a council nominated by the legislative assemblies of the different colonies; that the general government should have the power to purchase Indian lands for the crown, to make new settle ments on those lands, to make laws for the new settlements till the crown should form them into particular governments, to raise and pay soldiers, build forts and equip vessels for the defence of the colonies, to make peace or declare war with the Indians, to regulate the Indian trade, to levy duties for these purposes, and to appoint a treasurer. After lengthened debates this plan was agreed to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the board of trade and the assemblies of the several provinces. The board of trade disapproved of it as too democratic—the assemblies as too favourable to prerogative. That such a plan should be proposed was however an indication of the direction which the minds of the American leaders had taken, and its discussion in the provincial assemblies riveted men's minds upon a tangible and practical measure of union. It formed public opinion;
for, with the exception of an elective president, it embodies all the essential features of the constitution ultimately adopted by the United States.
Time British ministers devised a scheme of their own, whereby the governors of the provinces, with some members of their respective councils, were to meet and make arrangements for the common defence; they were to draw on the treasury of Great Britain fur the expense, which was afterwards to be refunded by a tax levied iu America by Act of Parliament; but no immediate arrangements were made for realising this project.
Hostilities had been carrying on in America in 1754 and 1755; but war was not formally declared between Britain and France till 1756. It was ended in 1763 with the cession of Canada to Great Britain by France. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty of peace, the intention of the British ministers to quarter troops in America and support them by taxes levied on the colonies was announced. On the 10th of March 1764, tho House of Commons adopted a resolution " That it was proper to charge certain stamp-duties in the colonies and plantations ;" and on the 5th of April an act was passed granting certain duties in the colonies. This act was in substance only a renewal of the Sugar Act of George IL, but instead of the reason (commercial regulations) assigned in the preamble of the old statute, the new was avowedly intended for the raising of revenue. Instruc tions were at tho same time very unwisely given by the British ea.
government to the commanders of king's ships stationed in America to enforce the law against smuggling, which had hitherto been very generally connived at by the authorities. Both the act and the instructions were met in a spirit of the most determined resistance.
The Assembly of Massachusetts protested against the Sugar Act and the quartering of troops as unconstitutional; and appointed a committee to sit during the recess, to write to other governments to inform them of the resolutions, and to invite all the colonial assemblies to join with them to obtain a repeal of the Sugar Act and prevent the enactment of a Stamp Act. In Virginia the House of Burgesses, on receiving information of the declaratory act, prepared an address to the king, a memorial to the House of Lords, and a remonstrance to the House of Commons. The confiscations of the naval commanders put a stop to the commerce which the English colonies had carried on with the French islands and the Spanish settlements. The conse quence of these acts and discussions was a universal ferment through out the colonies ; nevertheless the Sugar Act, being regarded as a commercial regulation, was not openly disobeyed.