1493—October 12, Christopher Columbus discovered land belonging the Western Hemisphere—one of the Bahama Islands. He touches at Cuba and Hayti before his return.1497—John Cabot, master of an English vessel, and his son Sebastian, touched at Newfoundland in June, and soon after explored the coast of Labrador.1498—Columbus, on his third voyage, discovers the American Continent, near the mouth of the Orinoco river, in South America.—Sebastian Cabot, in a second voyage, first of Europeans, explores our Atlantic coast as far south as Maryland.1499—Amerigo Vespucci, or Americus Vespucius, a Florentine merchant, conducts a vessel to the coast of South America. Returning to Europe he publishes a book, claiming to have first discovered the continent, and it receives his name, America.1500—Columbus is sent to Spain in chains by a Spanish officer whom the jealousy of Ferdinand, the Spanish King, placed over him. Treated with injustice and neglect, he died at Valladolid, Spain, in 1506.1512—Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard in search of the “Fountain of Youth,” discovers Florida, near St. Augustine.1524—John Verrazani, a Florentine, commanding a French vessel, touches the coast near Wilmington, North Carolina,and explores it north to Nova Scotia. He wrote a narrative describing the country and the Indians.1535—James Cartier, a French navigator, discovers the St. Lawrence.1541—He builds a Fort at Quebec, but soon abandons it.—De Soto, a Spaniard, discovers the Mississippi. He traveled, with six hundred men, through Georgia and Alabama, and fought a bloody battle with the Indians near Mobile. These Indians had a walled town of several thousand inhabitants. Thence he traveled west to the Mississippi and Red Rivers. He died at the mouth of the Red river, May 21, 1542.1553—Persecution of the English Puritans commences.1562—French Huguenots attempt a settlement in Florida. They gave the name Carolina to the coast on the north. The first colony is discouraged, and returns. In the year 1564 another Huguenot colony is founded on the River May.1565—Melendez, a Spaniard, founds St. Augustine, September 8th, with five hundred colonists. It was the first permanent settlement in the United States.—Melendez destroys the French colony.1567—The Chevalier Gouges (French) attacks St. Augustine, and puts to death two hundred Spaniards in retaliation.1578—The first English settlement contemplated. Queen Elizabeth grants a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert “to such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands as he should find in North America.” He makes two attempts to plant a colony—in 1579 and in 1583—fails in each, and perishes with his vessel, September 23, 1583.1584—Sir Walter Raleigh receives a similar patent, and sends two vessels to the shores of Pamlico Sound. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia.1585—Raleigh sends a colony to Roanoke Island, but it is unfortunate, and returns home.1587—He sends another colony, but the Spanish Armadathreatening England, he could not send it supplies for some time, and when visited, later, no trace of it could be found. Discouraged, he gives up his patent to a London company of merchants, who content themselves to trade with the Indians.1602—Bartholomew Gosnold visits New England.1603—Henry IV., King of France, grants Acadia (Nova Scotia) to Sieur de Monts, who founds a colony on the Bay of Fundy, at Port Royal in 1605.1606—James I., King of England, establishes the London and Plymouth companies for settling North America.1607—The Plymouth company land a colony at the mouth of the Kennebec river. It is unfortunate, and returns to England.—The London company send out an expedition, which, accidentally discovering Chesapeake Bay, enter, and found a colony on James River, at Jamestown. The romantic Captain John Smith was one of the colonists. This was the first permanent English settlement in North America.1608—Smith seeking, by orders from the London company, a passage to the Pacific ocean, up the Chickahominy, is taken prisoner by the Indians, condemned to death, and saved by Pocahontas.—Quebec founded by the French under Champlain.—The English Puritans, persecuted in England, take refuge in Holland.1609—Lord Delaware is appointed Governor of Virginia, which receives a new charter, and a considerable accession of numbers.—Part of the expedition, however, was shipwrecked, and the colony, embracing a large unruly and indolent element, is near perishing. Pocahontas repeatedly saves them from the Indians. Hudson river and Lake Champlain discovered.1610—Lord Delaware, having been delayed, arrives (after thediscouraged colonists had embarked to return to England) with supplies, and saves the settlement.1613—Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, an Englishman.—The Dutch erect a fort at New York.1615—They build Fort Orange, near Albany.1619—The first General Assembly elected by the people is called in Virginia, by Governor Yeardley. Eleven boroughs, or towns, were each represented by two Burgesses, or citizens. It was the dawn of civil liberty in Virginia, and a germ of the future republic.1620—Convicts are sent to Virginia, and negro slaves introduced.—September 6th, the Puritans, discontented in Holland, set sail in the Mayflower, from Plymouth, England, for America, under the auspices of the “Plymouth Company.”—December 21st they land on Plymouth Rock, and, amid great hardships, found a religious colony.—James I. grants a charter to the Grand Council of Plymouth for governing New England.1621—A district called Mariana granted to John Mason.—Plymouth colony makes a treaty with Massasoit.—Cotton first planted in Virginia.1622—Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason obtain a charter of Maine and New Hampshire. They plant a colony on the Piscataqua river.—An Indian conspiracy nearly proves fatal to the Virginia colony. March 22d, at noon, an attack is made on all the settlements, and in an hour nearly a fourth part of the colony is massacred. The colonists, in a bloody war, thoroughly chastise the Indians.1624—Virginia becomes a royal province, but stoutly maintains its legislative authority.1625—Death of Robinson, the distinguished Puritan divine, in Holland.1629—Massachusetts colony patented, and settlement made at Salem, by John Endicott.—Charlestown, Mass., founded.—The Dutch colonize the west side of Delaware river.1630—Patent of Carolina made to Sir Robert Heath.1631—Massachusetts General Court confines the privilege of voting to church members.—Clayborne plants a colony on Kent Island.—The Dutch erect a trading fort at Hartford.1632—Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore.1633—Connecticut colony founded.1636—Roger Williams founds Providence.1637—Pequod war in Connecticut.1638—Rhode Island settled by followers of Anne Hutchinson.—Harvard college founded.—Swedes and Finns settle Delaware.—Colony of New Haven founded. Persecution in Massachusetts.1640—Montreal, Canada, founded.1641—New Hampshire united to Massachusetts.1643—The germ of the American Union is planted by a confederation of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. It was for mutual protection and support, and was kept alive about forty years.1645—Clayborne causes an insurrection in Maryland.—The Mohawks mediate between the Dutch and Algonquins.—Witchcraft superstition commences.1646—John Elliott becomes a missionary to the Indians.1649—The Mohawk war on the French settlements and Jesuits.1650—Common School laws passed in Connecticut.1651—English “Navigation Act” forbids colonists to trade with any country but England, and restricts trade among the colonies. Thus the English make all theprofits. English merchants set the price of purchases and sales.1651—Persecution of the Quakers in Massachusetts.—Proprietary government subverted in Maryland.1657—Elliott translates the Bible into the Indian language.1662—Winthrop obtains a liberal charter for Hartford and New Haven.1663—Carolina granted to a company of Noblemen.1664—The Dutch conquer the Swedes on the Delaware.New York granted to the Duke of York, who sends a force to dispossess the Dutch. It is done without fighting.New Jersey granted to Berkely and Carteret.1665—Lake Superior discovered by Father Allouez.1668—St. Mary’s, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the first French settlement within the boundaries of the United States, founded.1670—Mr. Locke’s philosophical constitution introduced in Carolina. It soon proved an absurd failure.1673—The Upper Mississippi discovered by Marquette.1675—King Philip’s war in New England. He was a warrior of great ability and activity. Fourteen towns were destroyed by the Indians, and six hundred inhabitants killed. Philip is killed August 12, 1676, and the Indian tribes very nearly destroyed.1676—Three of the Regicides (Judges of Charles I., King of England) came to New England.—New Jersey divided into East and West Jersey, at the suggestion of Wm. Penn.Bacon’s rebellion in favor of popular rights, in Virginia.1677—Virginia obtains a new charter.Massachusetts purchases Maine.1678—Sir Edmund Andross, royal governor of New York, usurps the government of the Jerseys.1679—New Hampshire becomes a royal province, but thepeople make a successful stand for their legislative privileges.—Massachusetts having disregarded the Navigation Act, Edward Randolph was sent as Inspector of Customs. He failed to enforce the act, and in 1682 the charter of Massachusetts was annulled.1680—Charleston, South Carolina, founded.1681—Wm. Penn receives a grant of Pennsylvania from Charles II.—Penn restores the proprietary government in the Jerseys.—He founds Philadelphia; makes a treaty with the Indians; and governs East Jersey.1682—La Salle visits and names Louisiana.1686—Sir Edmund Andross being made Governor-General over New England, proceeds in a very tyrannical manner. He endeavored to get possession of the charter of Connecticut, but failed, though he took possession of the government.1688—New York and New Jersey came under the jurisdiction of Andross; but James II., the tyrannical King of England, being deposed, Massachusetts imprisoned Andross. Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed their charter governments; but Massachusetts, having given offense by resistance to the Navigation Act, never recovered her original charter.—France having espoused the cause of the dethroned king, a war broke out between France and England, known as “King William’s” war.1689—The government of New York is seized by Jacob Leisler for King William.1690—May 1st, a Congress of colonial delegates meets at New York to concert measures for the common defense.February 18th, destruction of Schenectady, N. Y., and massacre of the inhabitants by the Indians, sent by the French, from Canada.—March 18th, Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, on thePiscataqua river, is destroyed by the French and Indians. Casco, Maine, is also destroyed.—Sir William Phipps, Governor of Massachusetts, invades Canada, unsuccessfully.—French Protestants settle in Virginia and Carolina.1691—Slaughter becomes Governor of New York. He executes Leisler.1692—Massachusetts receives a new charter. Her limits are enlarged, but her privileges restricted.—Texas settled by the Spaniards, at Bexar.1695—Rice brought to Carolina, from Africa.1697—The Peace of Ryswick terminates King William’s war.1698—Piracies of Captain Kidd. He was tried and executed in England, in 1701.1699—Pensacola is settled by the Spaniards.1701—William Penn grants a new charter to Pennsylvania.1702—The Jerseys united and joined to New York.“Queen Anne’s war” breaks out. New England suffered much from the ravages of the Indians.—Governor Moore, of South Carolina, attacks St. Augustine, but without success.—Mobile founded by d’Iberville, with a colony of Canadian French.—The Massachusetts Assembly contend with the royal governor for their former liberties. Their charter is still further restricted.1703—Delaware (called The Territories) is separated from Pennsylvania.1706—The French and Spaniards invade Carolina. They are repulsed with loss.1707—Detroit, Michigan, settled by the French.1710—Many thousand Germans, from the Palatinate, settle in the colonies, from New York to the Carolinas.1712—A war with the Tuscaroras, in North Carolina, results in their complete defeat. They unite with the Iroquois.1713—Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, and Niagara, are fortified by the French.The Peace of Utrecht closes Queen Anne’s war.1715—In a war with the Yamassees, South Carolina loses four hundred inhabitants, but expels the Indians.1716—Natchez founded by the French.1717—Father Rasles, a Jesuit Missionary at Norridgwock, Maine, excites the Indians to drive out the English from Maine. He is the last of the Jesuit missionaries, and is slain in the capture of Norridgwock, in August, 1724, by New England troops.1718—New Orleans founded by the French.1720—A royal government supersedes the proprietary, in Carolina.1723—First settlement made in Vermont.1729—North and South Carolina erected into separate governments.1732—A company in England prepare to settle Georgia.1733—General Oglethorpe, with a colony, arrives in Georgia.1736—Many Scotch Highlanders and Germans settle in Georgia.1738—Insurrection of the slaves in South Carolina.1740—General Oglethorpe invades Florida. He is repulsed. The Moravians settle in Pennsylvania.1742—The Spanish invade Georgia, but retire with loss.1744—“The Old French War” begins.1745—The New England colonies raise a force and capture Louisburg, the “Gibraltar of America,” from the French.1748—The treaty of peace of Aix la Chapelle, restores Louisburg to France, to the great disgust of the colonies.1750—The French and English both claim the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Lawrence Washington, and others form the Ohio Company. Parliament grants it six hundred thousand acres of land on, or near, the Ohio river.The French dispute the possession, and threaten summary ejectment.1753—George Washington is sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, as an envoy to the French and Indians in Ohio.1754—The French build Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh). Washington defeats a French party headed by De Jumonville. The French are reinforced by fifteen hundred men, and Washington with four hundred men, after defending himself one day, capitulates.—The British government, in expectation of a speedy war with France, recommend the colonies to form a Union for defense. Delegates from seven colonies meet at Albany, June 14, 1754. A plan of Union was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. Connecticut rejected it as giving too much power to the English government. Parliament rejected it as giving too much to the colonies.1755—Braddock’s defeat in Pennsylvania.—War with the Cherokees, in Tennessee.—The French, under Dieskau, are defeated at Lake George.1756—War was formally declared, two years after it actually begun.1757—Fort William Henry, being attacked by an overwhelming force of French and Indians, surrenders, and the garrison are massacred by the Indians.1758—July 6, Louisburg captured by the English under General Amherst.—General Abercrombie is repulsed in an attack on Fort Ticonderoga, and Lord Howe, much liked in the colonies, is killed.—August 27, Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Canada, taken by Col. Bradstreet.—November 25, Fort Du Quesne taken by the English, under General Forbes.1759—General Wolfe, commander of the English, and General Montcalm, of the French army, meet in battle on the Heights of Abraham, near Quebec. Wolfe’s army conquered, but both commanders lost their lives. Quebec capitulated.George III. ascends the throne of England.1760—September 8th, Canada surrendered to the English.Massachusetts vigorously opposes “Writs of Assistance” (search warrants for goods that had not paid the duty).1761—The Cherokees reduced to peace by Colonel Grant.In October, Mr. Pitt, the English Prime Minister, always a friend of the colonies, resigns.
1493—October 12, Christopher Columbus discovered land belonging the Western Hemisphere—one of the Bahama Islands. He touches at Cuba and Hayti before his return.
1497—John Cabot, master of an English vessel, and his son Sebastian, touched at Newfoundland in June, and soon after explored the coast of Labrador.
1498—Columbus, on his third voyage, discovers the American Continent, near the mouth of the Orinoco river, in South America.
—Sebastian Cabot, in a second voyage, first of Europeans, explores our Atlantic coast as far south as Maryland.
1499—Amerigo Vespucci, or Americus Vespucius, a Florentine merchant, conducts a vessel to the coast of South America. Returning to Europe he publishes a book, claiming to have first discovered the continent, and it receives his name, America.
1500—Columbus is sent to Spain in chains by a Spanish officer whom the jealousy of Ferdinand, the Spanish King, placed over him. Treated with injustice and neglect, he died at Valladolid, Spain, in 1506.
1512—Ponce de Leon, a Spaniard in search of the “Fountain of Youth,” discovers Florida, near St. Augustine.
1524—John Verrazani, a Florentine, commanding a French vessel, touches the coast near Wilmington, North Carolina,and explores it north to Nova Scotia. He wrote a narrative describing the country and the Indians.
1535—James Cartier, a French navigator, discovers the St. Lawrence.
1541—He builds a Fort at Quebec, but soon abandons it.
—De Soto, a Spaniard, discovers the Mississippi. He traveled, with six hundred men, through Georgia and Alabama, and fought a bloody battle with the Indians near Mobile. These Indians had a walled town of several thousand inhabitants. Thence he traveled west to the Mississippi and Red Rivers. He died at the mouth of the Red river, May 21, 1542.
1553—Persecution of the English Puritans commences.
1562—French Huguenots attempt a settlement in Florida. They gave the name Carolina to the coast on the north. The first colony is discouraged, and returns. In the year 1564 another Huguenot colony is founded on the River May.
1565—Melendez, a Spaniard, founds St. Augustine, September 8th, with five hundred colonists. It was the first permanent settlement in the United States.
—Melendez destroys the French colony.
1567—The Chevalier Gouges (French) attacks St. Augustine, and puts to death two hundred Spaniards in retaliation.
1578—The first English settlement contemplated. Queen Elizabeth grants a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert “to such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands as he should find in North America.” He makes two attempts to plant a colony—in 1579 and in 1583—fails in each, and perishes with his vessel, September 23, 1583.
1584—Sir Walter Raleigh receives a similar patent, and sends two vessels to the shores of Pamlico Sound. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia.
1585—Raleigh sends a colony to Roanoke Island, but it is unfortunate, and returns home.
1587—He sends another colony, but the Spanish Armadathreatening England, he could not send it supplies for some time, and when visited, later, no trace of it could be found. Discouraged, he gives up his patent to a London company of merchants, who content themselves to trade with the Indians.
1602—Bartholomew Gosnold visits New England.
1603—Henry IV., King of France, grants Acadia (Nova Scotia) to Sieur de Monts, who founds a colony on the Bay of Fundy, at Port Royal in 1605.
1606—James I., King of England, establishes the London and Plymouth companies for settling North America.
1607—The Plymouth company land a colony at the mouth of the Kennebec river. It is unfortunate, and returns to England.
—The London company send out an expedition, which, accidentally discovering Chesapeake Bay, enter, and found a colony on James River, at Jamestown. The romantic Captain John Smith was one of the colonists. This was the first permanent English settlement in North America.
1608—Smith seeking, by orders from the London company, a passage to the Pacific ocean, up the Chickahominy, is taken prisoner by the Indians, condemned to death, and saved by Pocahontas.
—Quebec founded by the French under Champlain.
—The English Puritans, persecuted in England, take refuge in Holland.
1609—Lord Delaware is appointed Governor of Virginia, which receives a new charter, and a considerable accession of numbers.
—Part of the expedition, however, was shipwrecked, and the colony, embracing a large unruly and indolent element, is near perishing. Pocahontas repeatedly saves them from the Indians. Hudson river and Lake Champlain discovered.
1610—Lord Delaware, having been delayed, arrives (after thediscouraged colonists had embarked to return to England) with supplies, and saves the settlement.
1613—Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, an Englishman.
—The Dutch erect a fort at New York.
1615—They build Fort Orange, near Albany.
1619—The first General Assembly elected by the people is called in Virginia, by Governor Yeardley. Eleven boroughs, or towns, were each represented by two Burgesses, or citizens. It was the dawn of civil liberty in Virginia, and a germ of the future republic.
1620—Convicts are sent to Virginia, and negro slaves introduced.
—September 6th, the Puritans, discontented in Holland, set sail in the Mayflower, from Plymouth, England, for America, under the auspices of the “Plymouth Company.”
—December 21st they land on Plymouth Rock, and, amid great hardships, found a religious colony.
—James I. grants a charter to the Grand Council of Plymouth for governing New England.
1621—A district called Mariana granted to John Mason.
—Plymouth colony makes a treaty with Massasoit.
—Cotton first planted in Virginia.
1622—Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason obtain a charter of Maine and New Hampshire. They plant a colony on the Piscataqua river.
—An Indian conspiracy nearly proves fatal to the Virginia colony. March 22d, at noon, an attack is made on all the settlements, and in an hour nearly a fourth part of the colony is massacred. The colonists, in a bloody war, thoroughly chastise the Indians.
1624—Virginia becomes a royal province, but stoutly maintains its legislative authority.
1625—Death of Robinson, the distinguished Puritan divine, in Holland.
1629—Massachusetts colony patented, and settlement made at Salem, by John Endicott.
—Charlestown, Mass., founded.
—The Dutch colonize the west side of Delaware river.
1630—Patent of Carolina made to Sir Robert Heath.
1631—Massachusetts General Court confines the privilege of voting to church members.
—Clayborne plants a colony on Kent Island.
—The Dutch erect a trading fort at Hartford.
1632—Maryland granted to Lord Baltimore.
1633—Connecticut colony founded.
1636—Roger Williams founds Providence.
1637—Pequod war in Connecticut.
1638—Rhode Island settled by followers of Anne Hutchinson.
—Harvard college founded.
—Swedes and Finns settle Delaware.
—Colony of New Haven founded. Persecution in Massachusetts.
1640—Montreal, Canada, founded.
1641—New Hampshire united to Massachusetts.
1643—The germ of the American Union is planted by a confederation of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. It was for mutual protection and support, and was kept alive about forty years.
1645—Clayborne causes an insurrection in Maryland.
—The Mohawks mediate between the Dutch and Algonquins.
—Witchcraft superstition commences.
1646—John Elliott becomes a missionary to the Indians.
1649—The Mohawk war on the French settlements and Jesuits.
1650—Common School laws passed in Connecticut.
1651—English “Navigation Act” forbids colonists to trade with any country but England, and restricts trade among the colonies. Thus the English make all theprofits. English merchants set the price of purchases and sales.
1651—Persecution of the Quakers in Massachusetts.
—Proprietary government subverted in Maryland.
1657—Elliott translates the Bible into the Indian language.
1662—Winthrop obtains a liberal charter for Hartford and New Haven.
1663—Carolina granted to a company of Noblemen.
1664—The Dutch conquer the Swedes on the Delaware.
New York granted to the Duke of York, who sends a force to dispossess the Dutch. It is done without fighting.
New Jersey granted to Berkely and Carteret.
1665—Lake Superior discovered by Father Allouez.
1668—St. Mary’s, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the first French settlement within the boundaries of the United States, founded.
1670—Mr. Locke’s philosophical constitution introduced in Carolina. It soon proved an absurd failure.
1673—The Upper Mississippi discovered by Marquette.
1675—King Philip’s war in New England. He was a warrior of great ability and activity. Fourteen towns were destroyed by the Indians, and six hundred inhabitants killed. Philip is killed August 12, 1676, and the Indian tribes very nearly destroyed.
1676—Three of the Regicides (Judges of Charles I., King of England) came to New England.
—New Jersey divided into East and West Jersey, at the suggestion of Wm. Penn.
Bacon’s rebellion in favor of popular rights, in Virginia.
1677—Virginia obtains a new charter.
Massachusetts purchases Maine.
1678—Sir Edmund Andross, royal governor of New York, usurps the government of the Jerseys.
1679—New Hampshire becomes a royal province, but thepeople make a successful stand for their legislative privileges.
—Massachusetts having disregarded the Navigation Act, Edward Randolph was sent as Inspector of Customs. He failed to enforce the act, and in 1682 the charter of Massachusetts was annulled.
1680—Charleston, South Carolina, founded.
1681—Wm. Penn receives a grant of Pennsylvania from Charles II.
—Penn restores the proprietary government in the Jerseys.
—He founds Philadelphia; makes a treaty with the Indians; and governs East Jersey.
1682—La Salle visits and names Louisiana.
1686—Sir Edmund Andross being made Governor-General over New England, proceeds in a very tyrannical manner. He endeavored to get possession of the charter of Connecticut, but failed, though he took possession of the government.
1688—New York and New Jersey came under the jurisdiction of Andross; but James II., the tyrannical King of England, being deposed, Massachusetts imprisoned Andross. Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed their charter governments; but Massachusetts, having given offense by resistance to the Navigation Act, never recovered her original charter.
—France having espoused the cause of the dethroned king, a war broke out between France and England, known as “King William’s” war.
1689—The government of New York is seized by Jacob Leisler for King William.
1690—May 1st, a Congress of colonial delegates meets at New York to concert measures for the common defense.
February 18th, destruction of Schenectady, N. Y., and massacre of the inhabitants by the Indians, sent by the French, from Canada.
—March 18th, Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, on thePiscataqua river, is destroyed by the French and Indians. Casco, Maine, is also destroyed.
—Sir William Phipps, Governor of Massachusetts, invades Canada, unsuccessfully.
—French Protestants settle in Virginia and Carolina.
1691—Slaughter becomes Governor of New York. He executes Leisler.
1692—Massachusetts receives a new charter. Her limits are enlarged, but her privileges restricted.
—Texas settled by the Spaniards, at Bexar.
1695—Rice brought to Carolina, from Africa.
1697—The Peace of Ryswick terminates King William’s war.
1698—Piracies of Captain Kidd. He was tried and executed in England, in 1701.
1699—Pensacola is settled by the Spaniards.
1701—William Penn grants a new charter to Pennsylvania.
1702—The Jerseys united and joined to New York.
“Queen Anne’s war” breaks out. New England suffered much from the ravages of the Indians.
—Governor Moore, of South Carolina, attacks St. Augustine, but without success.
—Mobile founded by d’Iberville, with a colony of Canadian French.
—The Massachusetts Assembly contend with the royal governor for their former liberties. Their charter is still further restricted.
1703—Delaware (called The Territories) is separated from Pennsylvania.
1706—The French and Spaniards invade Carolina. They are repulsed with loss.
1707—Detroit, Michigan, settled by the French.
1710—Many thousand Germans, from the Palatinate, settle in the colonies, from New York to the Carolinas.
1712—A war with the Tuscaroras, in North Carolina, results in their complete defeat. They unite with the Iroquois.
1713—Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, and Niagara, are fortified by the French.
The Peace of Utrecht closes Queen Anne’s war.
1715—In a war with the Yamassees, South Carolina loses four hundred inhabitants, but expels the Indians.
1716—Natchez founded by the French.
1717—Father Rasles, a Jesuit Missionary at Norridgwock, Maine, excites the Indians to drive out the English from Maine. He is the last of the Jesuit missionaries, and is slain in the capture of Norridgwock, in August, 1724, by New England troops.
1718—New Orleans founded by the French.
1720—A royal government supersedes the proprietary, in Carolina.
1723—First settlement made in Vermont.
1729—North and South Carolina erected into separate governments.
1732—A company in England prepare to settle Georgia.
1733—General Oglethorpe, with a colony, arrives in Georgia.
1736—Many Scotch Highlanders and Germans settle in Georgia.
1738—Insurrection of the slaves in South Carolina.
1740—General Oglethorpe invades Florida. He is repulsed. The Moravians settle in Pennsylvania.
1742—The Spanish invade Georgia, but retire with loss.
1744—“The Old French War” begins.
1745—The New England colonies raise a force and capture Louisburg, the “Gibraltar of America,” from the French.
1748—The treaty of peace of Aix la Chapelle, restores Louisburg to France, to the great disgust of the colonies.
1750—The French and English both claim the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. Lawrence Washington, and others form the Ohio Company. Parliament grants it six hundred thousand acres of land on, or near, the Ohio river.The French dispute the possession, and threaten summary ejectment.
1753—George Washington is sent by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, as an envoy to the French and Indians in Ohio.
1754—The French build Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburgh). Washington defeats a French party headed by De Jumonville. The French are reinforced by fifteen hundred men, and Washington with four hundred men, after defending himself one day, capitulates.
—The British government, in expectation of a speedy war with France, recommend the colonies to form a Union for defense. Delegates from seven colonies meet at Albany, June 14, 1754. A plan of Union was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. Connecticut rejected it as giving too much power to the English government. Parliament rejected it as giving too much to the colonies.
1755—Braddock’s defeat in Pennsylvania.
—War with the Cherokees, in Tennessee.
—The French, under Dieskau, are defeated at Lake George.
1756—War was formally declared, two years after it actually begun.
1757—Fort William Henry, being attacked by an overwhelming force of French and Indians, surrenders, and the garrison are massacred by the Indians.
1758—July 6, Louisburg captured by the English under General Amherst.
—General Abercrombie is repulsed in an attack on Fort Ticonderoga, and Lord Howe, much liked in the colonies, is killed.
—August 27, Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Canada, taken by Col. Bradstreet.
—November 25, Fort Du Quesne taken by the English, under General Forbes.
1759—General Wolfe, commander of the English, and General Montcalm, of the French army, meet in battle on the Heights of Abraham, near Quebec. Wolfe’s army conquered, but both commanders lost their lives. Quebec capitulated.
George III. ascends the throne of England.
1760—September 8th, Canada surrendered to the English.
Massachusetts vigorously opposes “Writs of Assistance” (search warrants for goods that had not paid the duty).
1761—The Cherokees reduced to peace by Colonel Grant.
In October, Mr. Pitt, the English Prime Minister, always a friend of the colonies, resigns.
In February, 1763, The Peace of Paris, concluded between the governments of England and France, closed the war in America that had been so painful to the colonies from the part which the French persuaded the Indians to take in it. But, while the colonies bore a large part of the burden, (they had raised $16,000,000 of its expenses, and had lost, in battle or in hospital, 30,000 men,) of a war that drove the French out of all their possessions in Canada and east of the Mississippi river; they were, at the same time, trained to act in concert, which paved the way for a future confederation, and hardened them to war. Being called into battle under celebrated English commanders, and to fight side by side with European veterans, they had opportunity to learn the art of war, as well as to compare themselves with the soldiers of the mother country and of France. This comparison was favorable to them, and inspired them with confidence in their own ability.
The fatal blunders of Gen. Braddock, and the skill and bravery of Washington and his provincial troops which, alone, saved the British army from entire annihilation in the Pennsylvania wilderness, was never forgotten. They felt themselves, even as raw militia, equal to the best European soldiers, when on their own ground.
It was a great mistake of the Home Government to put on an arrogant tone with them just when they had learned their strength. In the year 1764 that government, plunged in debt by its long wars with the continental powers, (it amounted to$700,000,000,) and on the plea that the colonies who had been protected, should bear a fair share of the pecuniary burden, determined to impose taxes on them. Previously they had restricted their commerce to English ports, had laid duties on various imports, and assumed authority to change the governments of the colonies without their consent. This had produced much dissatisfaction, but had no further immediate effect than to lead them to remonstrance, evasion, or legal resistance. The proposal to layinternal taxeswas quite another affair. Submission to this they thought would be fatal to their liberties. They resisted with general moderation, respectfully, but with determined resolution.
The British ministry were provoked by this resistance, holding it to be rebellion; and determined to put it down, by force, if need be. The struggle continued for ten years with growing obstinacy on either side. The home government was exceedingly obtuse or it would have either proceeded to extremes at once or yielded the whole case, as it finally determined to do in 1776, when it was too late. In this period of lively discussion, and of organization to secure the strength of union in resistance, the separate colonies were gradually moulded into a nation, imbued with common sympathies and ideas, and moved by common interests. They had not thought of independence during all this preliminary struggle. The war had lasted a year before that idea became prominent. That was not, even then, regarded as anend, so much as an indispensablemeansto secure their liberties. Thus we see that no taint ofconspiracyattached to the revolutionary struggle. The colonies were thoroughly loyal, until loyalty came to mean loss of liberty, and the rights enjoyed by Englishmen in England. The exercise of arbitrary power they felt it right to resist; but they exhausted all other modes and means of resistance before they resorted to arms.
They did not even make a first attack. They waited till armies were sent to subjugate them, and until those armiescommenced the attack; then the whole country rose in the stern resolve to right their wrongs.
The Peace of Paris was signed in February of this year. July 7th began “Pontiac’s War,” with the simultaneous attack on all the forts in the peninsula of Michigan, and the whole frontier of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Pontiac was an Ottawa chief, of great ability, and had drawn many Indian tribes into the war. It was virtually ended in September of the same year.
The Peace of Paris was signed in February of this year. July 7th began “Pontiac’s War,” with the simultaneous attack on all the forts in the peninsula of Michigan, and the whole frontier of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Pontiac was an Ottawa chief, of great ability, and had drawn many Indian tribes into the war. It was virtually ended in September of the same year.
April 5.—“The Sugar Act” was passed in the English Parliament. This levied duties on coffee, pimento, French and East India goods, and forbade iron and lumber to be exported except to England. It was for the avowed purpose of raising a revenue, and raised instead a storm of indignation. The Massachusetts House of Representatives said: “If we are taxed and not represented, we are slaves.”
April 5.—“The Sugar Act” was passed in the English Parliament. This levied duties on coffee, pimento, French and East India goods, and forbade iron and lumber to be exported except to England. It was for the avowed purpose of raising a revenue, and raised instead a storm of indignation. The Massachusetts House of Representatives said: “If we are taxed and not represented, we are slaves.”
Feb. 27—Was passed the obnoxious Stamp Act. Also the military law was made to authorize the ministry to send any number of troops to the colonies, for whom the colonists were to find “quarters, fire-wood, bedding, drink, soap, and candles.”May 29—Patrick Henry introduced five “Resolutions” into the Virginia House of Burgesses, claiming for Virginians the rights of British subjects; that only their own representatives could lawfully tax them; declaring the attempt to vest that power in any other hands subversive of both British and American liberty.Sept. 1—The Pennsylvania Assembly passed similar resolutions.Oct. 7—A congress of delegates, or committees, from nine colonies, met in New York. It was the first ContinentalCongress. Its spirit harmonized with that of Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and its “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” was cordially approved by all the colonial assemblies.
Feb. 27—Was passed the obnoxious Stamp Act. Also the military law was made to authorize the ministry to send any number of troops to the colonies, for whom the colonists were to find “quarters, fire-wood, bedding, drink, soap, and candles.”
May 29—Patrick Henry introduced five “Resolutions” into the Virginia House of Burgesses, claiming for Virginians the rights of British subjects; that only their own representatives could lawfully tax them; declaring the attempt to vest that power in any other hands subversive of both British and American liberty.
Sept. 1—The Pennsylvania Assembly passed similar resolutions.
Oct. 7—A congress of delegates, or committees, from nine colonies, met in New York. It was the first ContinentalCongress. Its spirit harmonized with that of Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and its “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” was cordially approved by all the colonial assemblies.
Mar. 29—The Stamp Act could not be enforced in America, and it was repealed by Parliament; but the repeal was followed by another act asserting the power and right of Parliament “to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” Thus yielding thethingand asserting theprinciple, they both strengthened the colonies by a sense of their power, and exasperated them by a total denial of their Declaration of Rights.May—Yet their triumph filled the colonies with joy, and gratitude toward the King and their English friends. Virginia voted the King a statue.
Mar. 29—The Stamp Act could not be enforced in America, and it was repealed by Parliament; but the repeal was followed by another act asserting the power and right of Parliament “to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” Thus yielding thethingand asserting theprinciple, they both strengthened the colonies by a sense of their power, and exasperated them by a total denial of their Declaration of Rights.
May—Yet their triumph filled the colonies with joy, and gratitude toward the King and their English friends. Virginia voted the King a statue.
June—But their exultation was short-lived. In this year taxes were levied on tea, paints, paper, glass, and lead. This led to the determination, on the part of the colonies, to pay no more taxes or duties at all.Oct. 28—The Governor of Massachusetts having refused to call the General Court (or legislative body of the colony) together, a public meeting was held and resolutions passed to encourage “economy, industry, and manufactures,” and a committee appointed to get subscribers to an agreement to discontinue the importation of British goods not absolute necessaries. This was imitated in other colonies.
June—But their exultation was short-lived. In this year taxes were levied on tea, paints, paper, glass, and lead. This led to the determination, on the part of the colonies, to pay no more taxes or duties at all.
Oct. 28—The Governor of Massachusetts having refused to call the General Court (or legislative body of the colony) together, a public meeting was held and resolutions passed to encourage “economy, industry, and manufactures,” and a committee appointed to get subscribers to an agreement to discontinue the importation of British goods not absolute necessaries. This was imitated in other colonies.
Feb. 11—Massachusetts General Court issues a general circular to other colonial assemblies, inviting coöperation for the defense of colonial rights. Those bodies mostly gave cordial replies. This General Court havingJuly—been dissolved, the new one being called on to rescind this circular, refused by a vote of ninety-twoto seventeen. These seventeen became the butt of public scorn.Sept. 12—Four regiments of British troops ordered to Boston.” 22—The governor had been desired, by a Boston “town meeting,” to call a General Court. He refused, and the “meeting” issued a call for delegates from the towns to a colonial convention. More than a hundred towns were represented in the convention meeting this day. Their main effort was to vindicate the” 28—colony from the charge of a rebellious spirit. The day after this meeting adjourned two regiments of British troops arrived in Boston.
Feb. 11—Massachusetts General Court issues a general circular to other colonial assemblies, inviting coöperation for the defense of colonial rights. Those bodies mostly gave cordial replies. This General Court havingJuly—been dissolved, the new one being called on to rescind this circular, refused by a vote of ninety-twoto seventeen. These seventeen became the butt of public scorn.
Sept. 12—Four regiments of British troops ordered to Boston.
” 22—The governor had been desired, by a Boston “town meeting,” to call a General Court. He refused, and the “meeting” issued a call for delegates from the towns to a colonial convention. More than a hundred towns were represented in the convention meeting this day. Their main effort was to vindicate the” 28—colony from the charge of a rebellious spirit. The day after this meeting adjourned two regiments of British troops arrived in Boston.
Jan’y—Parliament severely censures all the colonial acts, and directs that persons arrested in the colonies for treason be sent to England, to be tried.May—The Virginia Assembly take strong ground against this, and agree with the Massachusetts Convention.” 31—The Massachusetts General Court assembles, but refuses to transact business in the midst of an armed force. After long contest with them the Governor adjourned them to Cambridge.June 13—Required to support the troops, they respectfully and temperately, but firmly, refuse, and decline to vote any supplies for government till their grievances are redressed.July 15—All the colonies manifest the same spirit.
Jan’y—Parliament severely censures all the colonial acts, and directs that persons arrested in the colonies for treason be sent to England, to be tried.
May—The Virginia Assembly take strong ground against this, and agree with the Massachusetts Convention.
” 31—The Massachusetts General Court assembles, but refuses to transact business in the midst of an armed force. After long contest with them the Governor adjourned them to Cambridge.
June 13—Required to support the troops, they respectfully and temperately, but firmly, refuse, and decline to vote any supplies for government till their grievances are redressed.
July 15—All the colonies manifest the same spirit.
Mar. 5—The indignation of Boston at the presence of troops breaks out into an affray. The troops fire on the citizens. Three are killed and five wounded. It was called the “Boston Massacre.”April—British Parliament repeals the last tax on all articles but tea. The non-importation agreements had exerted a great influence in promoting economy, encouraging manufactures, and bringing “home-made” into fashion.The graduating class in Harvard College took their degrees in “home-spun” this year.
Mar. 5—The indignation of Boston at the presence of troops breaks out into an affray. The troops fire on the citizens. Three are killed and five wounded. It was called the “Boston Massacre.”
April—British Parliament repeals the last tax on all articles but tea. The non-importation agreements had exerted a great influence in promoting economy, encouraging manufactures, and bringing “home-made” into fashion.The graduating class in Harvard College took their degrees in “home-spun” this year.
Throughout this year the same disputes were maintained between the governors and colonial legislatures as formerly; but as the home government did not push the struggle to an issue, there was comparative quiet, but no yielding.
Throughout this year the same disputes were maintained between the governors and colonial legislatures as formerly; but as the home government did not push the struggle to an issue, there was comparative quiet, but no yielding.
June 10—The Gaspe, a British revenue schooner, burned by a party from Providence, Rhode Island. Parliament offers six hundred pounds sterling and a pardon to any accomplice who will confess and give up the offenders. They were well known by colonists, but no legal evidence could ever be obtained.Oct. 28—A committee appointed in Boston to state the rights of the colonists and correspond with other sections on this subject. They publish an address, which is extensively circulated. Franklin, agent for the colonies in England, republishes it there.
June 10—The Gaspe, a British revenue schooner, burned by a party from Providence, Rhode Island. Parliament offers six hundred pounds sterling and a pardon to any accomplice who will confess and give up the offenders. They were well known by colonists, but no legal evidence could ever be obtained.
Oct. 28—A committee appointed in Boston to state the rights of the colonists and correspond with other sections on this subject. They publish an address, which is extensively circulated. Franklin, agent for the colonies in England, republishes it there.
March—This address led to the first measures for a political union of the colonies.July—The British ministry attempt to import tea into the colonies.Oct. 2—The people of Philadelphia declare that any one who shall “aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the tea is an enemy to his country.”Nov. 3—The Boston consignees required by the people to resign. They refuse.” 5-19—A legal town meeting takes them in hand, and at length they resign.Dec’r—Three ships loaded with tea having arrived, the people labor for near a month to have them sent back. Not succeeding, the cargoes are all emptied into the sea.
March—This address led to the first measures for a political union of the colonies.
July—The British ministry attempt to import tea into the colonies.
Oct. 2—The people of Philadelphia declare that any one who shall “aid or abet in unloading, receiving, or vending the tea is an enemy to his country.”
Nov. 3—The Boston consignees required by the people to resign. They refuse.
” 5-19—A legal town meeting takes them in hand, and at length they resign.
Dec’r—Three ships loaded with tea having arrived, the people labor for near a month to have them sent back. Not succeeding, the cargoes are all emptied into the sea.
Mar. 25—Parliament retaliated by the “Boston Port Bill,” closing it to commerce.May 13-20—Meetings held in the principal cities to consider the state of affairs, recommended the assembly of a Continental Congress. This body was appointed in all the provinces but Georgia. There were fifty-three delegates.Sept. 4—These assemble at Philadelphia, and Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, is chosen President. They publish a “Declaration of Colonial Rights.” They agree on fourteen articles as the basis of an “American Association” to support these rights. This body was henceforth the real government, all their directions being obeyed by the people. They completed the organization of the Union and took preliminary measures for defense in case of attack.
Mar. 25—Parliament retaliated by the “Boston Port Bill,” closing it to commerce.
May 13-20—Meetings held in the principal cities to consider the state of affairs, recommended the assembly of a Continental Congress. This body was appointed in all the provinces but Georgia. There were fifty-three delegates.
Sept. 4—These assemble at Philadelphia, and Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, is chosen President. They publish a “Declaration of Colonial Rights.” They agree on fourteen articles as the basis of an “American Association” to support these rights. This body was henceforth the real government, all their directions being obeyed by the people. They completed the organization of the Union and took preliminary measures for defense in case of attack.
Feb. 1—Lord Chatham introduced a bill in Parliament which might have accommodated all differences, but it was treated with great discourtesy. Parliament determines to humble and subdue the colonies.April 19—Battle of Lexington. General Gage sends eight hundred British troops to destroy some colonial military stores at Concord, twenty miles from Boston. The “minute men” assembled at Lexington, are fired on and dispersed. The troops march to Concord, destroy the stores, and hastily retreat before the gathering minute men, who assail them on all sides. They would have been completely destroyed but for a timely reinforcement at Lexington of nine hundred men and two cannon. The loss of British killed and wounded was nearly three hundred; of the provincials eighty-five. Boston is immediately beleagured by some twenty thousand minute men.” 22—Massachusetts Legislature assembles. It sends depositions,proving that the soldiers fired first, to England, with an address to the English people, declaring that they will “die or be free.” This body voted a levy of thirteen thousand men for the protection of the colony.May 10—The second Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia.Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprise the fortress of Ticonderoga, on Lake George, New York. Its small force of three officers and forty-four privates cannot defend it, and they surrender without fighting. Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, is occupied without resistance.Peyton Randolph again chosen President of Congress.” 24—Peyton Randolph being called home, John Hancock, of Massachusetts, is chosen President of Congress.” 25—Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, with large British reinforcements, arrived at Boston.June 15—George Washington unanimously chosen commander-in-chief of the Continental forces.” 17—The battle of Bunker Hill (or Breed’s Hill), near Boston. The British were twice repulsed, with great loss, when the ammunition of the Americans failing, they retreated in safety. British loss over one thousand; American, four hundred and fifty. British forces engaged, three thousand; American, less than fifteen hundred. The British commander burned Charlestown during the battle. General Warren, American, was killed.” 23—Congress issue bills of credit for $2,000,000.” 30—Articles of War are agreed to in Congress.July 8—A last petition to the King is sent by Richard Penn, grandson of William Penn.” 17—Another million dollars in bills of credit is issued. The liability for these was distributed among the Colonies.” 26—Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster General.Aug. 30—General Schuyler embarks on Lake Champlain, for an expedition against Canada. He leaves the command with General Montgomery. Early in September General Arnold starts with eleven hundred men to Canada by Maine.Sept. 24—Ethan Allen is taken prisoner, near Montreal.Oct. 18—Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) burned by the British.” 22—Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, died. He was the first President of Congress.Nov. 3—Montgomery captures St. Johns, Canada.” 13—Montreal surrendered to the Americans under Montgomery.” 20—$3,000,000 more in bills of credit issued by Congress, payable in eight years.Dec. 7—Lord Dunmore, British Governor of Virginia, defeated near Norfolk, Virginia.” 13—A navy of thirteen vessels created by Congress. Letters of marque and reprisal granted.” 21—The British Parliament pass a bill declaring all American vessels and goods, and those of all persons trading with them, a lawful prize, and authorizing the impressment of American sailors into the royal navy, where they might be required to fight against their own cause and friends.” 31—General Montgomery and Colonel Arnold make an unsuccessful attack on Quebec. Montgomery is killed, Arnold wounded, and four hundred men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Arnold withdrew, but kept Quebec blockaded through the winter.
Feb. 1—Lord Chatham introduced a bill in Parliament which might have accommodated all differences, but it was treated with great discourtesy. Parliament determines to humble and subdue the colonies.
April 19—Battle of Lexington. General Gage sends eight hundred British troops to destroy some colonial military stores at Concord, twenty miles from Boston. The “minute men” assembled at Lexington, are fired on and dispersed. The troops march to Concord, destroy the stores, and hastily retreat before the gathering minute men, who assail them on all sides. They would have been completely destroyed but for a timely reinforcement at Lexington of nine hundred men and two cannon. The loss of British killed and wounded was nearly three hundred; of the provincials eighty-five. Boston is immediately beleagured by some twenty thousand minute men.
” 22—Massachusetts Legislature assembles. It sends depositions,proving that the soldiers fired first, to England, with an address to the English people, declaring that they will “die or be free.” This body voted a levy of thirteen thousand men for the protection of the colony.
May 10—The second Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia.
Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprise the fortress of Ticonderoga, on Lake George, New York. Its small force of three officers and forty-four privates cannot defend it, and they surrender without fighting. Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, is occupied without resistance.
Peyton Randolph again chosen President of Congress.
” 24—Peyton Randolph being called home, John Hancock, of Massachusetts, is chosen President of Congress.
” 25—Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, with large British reinforcements, arrived at Boston.
June 15—George Washington unanimously chosen commander-in-chief of the Continental forces.
” 17—The battle of Bunker Hill (or Breed’s Hill), near Boston. The British were twice repulsed, with great loss, when the ammunition of the Americans failing, they retreated in safety. British loss over one thousand; American, four hundred and fifty. British forces engaged, three thousand; American, less than fifteen hundred. The British commander burned Charlestown during the battle. General Warren, American, was killed.
” 23—Congress issue bills of credit for $2,000,000.
” 30—Articles of War are agreed to in Congress.
July 8—A last petition to the King is sent by Richard Penn, grandson of William Penn.
” 17—Another million dollars in bills of credit is issued. The liability for these was distributed among the Colonies.
” 26—Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster General.
Aug. 30—General Schuyler embarks on Lake Champlain, for an expedition against Canada. He leaves the command with General Montgomery. Early in September General Arnold starts with eleven hundred men to Canada by Maine.
Sept. 24—Ethan Allen is taken prisoner, near Montreal.
Oct. 18—Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) burned by the British.
” 22—Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, died. He was the first President of Congress.
Nov. 3—Montgomery captures St. Johns, Canada.
” 13—Montreal surrendered to the Americans under Montgomery.
” 20—$3,000,000 more in bills of credit issued by Congress, payable in eight years.
Dec. 7—Lord Dunmore, British Governor of Virginia, defeated near Norfolk, Virginia.
” 13—A navy of thirteen vessels created by Congress. Letters of marque and reprisal granted.
” 21—The British Parliament pass a bill declaring all American vessels and goods, and those of all persons trading with them, a lawful prize, and authorizing the impressment of American sailors into the royal navy, where they might be required to fight against their own cause and friends.
” 31—General Montgomery and Colonel Arnold make an unsuccessful attack on Quebec. Montgomery is killed, Arnold wounded, and four hundred men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Arnold withdrew, but kept Quebec blockaded through the winter.
Jan. 1—Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, ravages the coast and burns Norfolk, but is obliged to fly to Bermuda.” 20—Georgia prepares to join the other twelve colonies.Feb. 4—McIntosh, with an American force, destroys several vessels loading for England, near Savannah, Georgia.” 17—Four millions more of paper money issued by Congress.March 4—Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston, which renders it untenable by the British.” 10—The inhabitants and merchants of Boston plundered of their lighter property by the British army.” 17—The British embark for Halifax, and Washington occupies the town.” 18—Sir Archibald Campbell sails into Boston, and his whole force of seventeen hundred men are taken prisoners.” 23—Congress declares all British vessels a lawful prize.April 26—Washington removes his army to New York.May 3—Sir Peter Parker, with ten ships of war and seven regiments, joins the force from Boston under General Clinton, at Cape Fear.” 15—Congress declared that all authority under the British crown ought to be totally suppressed and government conducted by colonial representatives alone. This was only an expression of their sense of the danger to their interests and liberties of allowing British agents to act.June 7—Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved the Declaration of Independence.” 8—American army in Canada, under General Sullivan, make an unsuccessful attack on the enemy. They are pressed by superior numbers, and retreat in good order, though with a loss of one thousand men prisoners, out of Canada, losing all their conquests.” 11—Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston a committee to prepare the Declaration of Independence.” 28—British fleet attack Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, but were defeated with loss of two hundred men, one vessel, and death of Lord Campbell, the ex-royal Governor.July 4—Declaration of Independenceby the Congress at Philadelphia.
Jan. 1—Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, ravages the coast and burns Norfolk, but is obliged to fly to Bermuda.
” 20—Georgia prepares to join the other twelve colonies.
Feb. 4—McIntosh, with an American force, destroys several vessels loading for England, near Savannah, Georgia.
” 17—Four millions more of paper money issued by Congress.
March 4—Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston, which renders it untenable by the British.
” 10—The inhabitants and merchants of Boston plundered of their lighter property by the British army.
” 17—The British embark for Halifax, and Washington occupies the town.
” 18—Sir Archibald Campbell sails into Boston, and his whole force of seventeen hundred men are taken prisoners.
” 23—Congress declares all British vessels a lawful prize.
April 26—Washington removes his army to New York.
May 3—Sir Peter Parker, with ten ships of war and seven regiments, joins the force from Boston under General Clinton, at Cape Fear.
” 15—Congress declared that all authority under the British crown ought to be totally suppressed and government conducted by colonial representatives alone. This was only an expression of their sense of the danger to their interests and liberties of allowing British agents to act.
June 7—Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved the Declaration of Independence.
” 8—American army in Canada, under General Sullivan, make an unsuccessful attack on the enemy. They are pressed by superior numbers, and retreat in good order, though with a loss of one thousand men prisoners, out of Canada, losing all their conquests.
” 11—Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston a committee to prepare the Declaration of Independence.
” 28—British fleet attack Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, but were defeated with loss of two hundred men, one vessel, and death of Lord Campbell, the ex-royal Governor.
July 4—Declaration of Independenceby the Congress at Philadelphia.
“The Boston Tea Party” provoked the English Parliament into passing “The Boston Port Bill,” closing that city to commerce. This act led to immediate measures for assembling delegates, representing twelve colonies in North America (Georgia, only, was not represented), for the purpose of consultation on the measures required for the protection of colonial rights. This body, called “The Continental Congress,” assembled in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. It drew up a “Declaration of Colonial Rights;” and, for the purpose of enforcing them, agreed to accept as a basis of common action fourteen articles, known as “The American Association.”
This was the origin of the American Union. Though it did not assume organic political power, and its ordinances were only advisory in form, it was better obeyed than most governments. Arrangements were made for another Congress in May following. Its day of meeting was hastened by the battle of Lexington, and it immediately proceeded to assume the powers of a General Government, at the request ofsomeof the provincial Legislatures, and with the tacit consent ofall. It received its authority from its representative character; from the imperious necessity of a head to organize and direct; and from the voluntary obedience rendered to its mandates. It performed all the functions of a government until all prospect of reconciliation with Great Britain was lost, when, June 11, 1776, a committee was appointed to prepare “A Declaration of Independence.” This was adopted and signed July 4, 1776.
On the 12th of July, a committee of one from each State reported on the terms of confederation, and the powers of Congress; but differences of opinion, and the pressure of military affairs prevented action on it. On the 9th of September, 1776, the name “United Colonies of America” was discarded for that of “United States of America.” Georgia had appointed delegates on the 4th of July, so that there were “Thirteen United States.”
On Saturday, November 15, 1777, “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of the United States of America” were agreed to in Congress, and sent to the States for approval. Eight of the State Legislatures had ratified these articles on the 9th of July, 1778; one ratified July 21st; one July 24th; one November 26th, of this year; one February 22d, 1779; and the last, March 1, 1781.
This document was little more than a digest of the powers before assumed by Congress, and tacitly acknowledged by the States from the commencement of the war. This, now legal, bond had existed before as a free, though unspoken, submission to the dictates of prudence and patriotism.
This immortal state paper—“the general effusion of the soul of the country” at the imperiled state of liberty, and of the rights of Englishmen—was given to the world on the 4th of July, 1776. The war of the Revolution had been raging more than a year, and many of the leading minds of the country had been actuated by the hope that their wrongs would be redressed, and the mother country and her colonies reconciled. The course of events had convinced them, however, that there would be no redress, and that no reconciliation was possible other than that based on a slavish surrender of rights and privileges dear to free men.
And hence a more decided course was approved by the people, and finally adopted by their delegates in Congress, on the 2d day of July, 1776. This resolution changed the old thirteen British colonies into free and independent States. And now it remained to set forth the reason for this act, together with the principles that should govern this new people. By this declaration the new Republic, as it took its place among the powers of the world, proclaimed its faith in the truth, reality, and unchangeableness of freedom and virtue. And the astonished nations, as they read that all men are created equal, started out of their lethargy, like those who have been exiled from childhood when they suddenly hear the dimly remembered accents of their mother tongue.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.He has refused, for a long time after such dissolution, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and convulsions within.He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislature.He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:For imposing taxes on us without our consent:For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally, the powers of our government:For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time, of attempts made by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, asFREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, and in a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members:JOHN HANCOCK.New Hampshire.Josiah Bartlett,William Whipple,Matthew Thornton.Rhode Island.Stephen Hopkins,William Ellery.Connecticut.Roger Sherman,Samuel Huntington,William Williams,Oliver Wolcott.New York.William Floyd,Philip Livingston,Francis Lewis,Lewis Morris.New Jersey.Richard Stockton,John Witherspoon,Francis Hopkinson,John Hart,Abraham Clark.Pennsylvania.Robert Morris,Benjamin Rush,Benjamin Franklin,John Morton,George Clymer,James Smith,George Taylor,James Wilson,George Ross.Massachusetts Bay.Samuel Adams,John Adams,Robert Treat Paine,Elbridge Gerry.Delaware.Cæsar Rodney,George Reed,Thomas M’Kean.Maryland.Samuel Chase,William Paca,Thomas Stone,Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.Virginia.George Wythe,Richard Henry Lee,Thomas Jefferson,Benjamin Harrison,Thomas Nelson, Jun.,Francis Lightfoot Lee,Carter Braxton.North Carolina.William Hooper,Joseph Hewes,John Penn.South Carolina.Edward Rutledge,Thomas Heywood, Jun.,Thomas Lynch, Jun.,Arthur Middleton.Georgia.Button Gwinnett,Lyman Hall,George Walton.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolution, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally, the powers of our government:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time, of attempts made by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, asFREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, and in a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members:
JOHN HANCOCK.
New Hampshire.
Rhode Island.
Connecticut.
New York.
New Jersey.
Pennsylvania.
Massachusetts Bay.
Delaware.
Maryland.
Virginia.
North Carolina.
South Carolina.
Georgia.
To all whom these Presents shall come, We, the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our names, send greeting—Whereas, the Delegates of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, did, on the 15th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1777, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America, agree to certain Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz.:
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Article 1.The style of this Confederacy shall be “The United States of America.”
Art. 2.Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.
Art. 3.The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense,the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.
Art. 4.The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States—paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted—shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall have free ingress and egress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property, imported into any State, to any other State of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided, also, that no imposition, duties, or restriction shall be laid by any State on the property of the United States, or either of them.
If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall, upon demand of the Governor, or executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offense.
Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States, to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other State.
Art. 5.For the more convenient management of the general interest of the United States, Delegates shall be annually appointed, in such manner as the legislature of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each State, to recall its Delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the year.
No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a Delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a Delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.
Each State shall maintain its own Delegates in any meeting of the States, and while they act as members of the Committee of the States.
In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place, out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
Art. 6.No State, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send an embassy to, or receive an embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty with any King, Prince, or State; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever from any King, Prince, or Foreign State; nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.
No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.
No State shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere with any stipulation in treaties, entered into by the United States in Congress assembled, with any King, Prince, or State,in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress, to the Courts of France and Spain.
No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State except such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assembled, for the defense of such State, or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only, as in the judgment of the United States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and have constantly ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field-pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage.
No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such a State, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay, till the United States in Congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the Kingdom or State, and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise.
Art. 7.When land forces are raised by any State for the common defense, all officers of, or under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as suchState shall direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first made the appointment.
Art. 8.All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled shall, from time to time, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled.
Art. 9.The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article—of sending and receiving ambassadors—entering into treaties and alliances: provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever—of establishing rules for deciding in all cases what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated—of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace—appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures, provided that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting,or that hereafter may arise, between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever, which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following: Whenever the legislative or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy with another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress, to the legislative or executive authority of the other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint, by joint consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen, and from that number not less than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, shall, in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges who shall hear the cause shall agree in the determination; and if either party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons which Congress shall judge sufficient, or, being present, shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each State, and the Secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner above prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shall, nevertheless, proceed to pronounce sentence or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress and lodged among the acts ofCongress for the security of the parties concerned: provided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be administered by one of the judges of the Supreme or Superior Court of the State where the cause shall be tried, “well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without favor, affection, or hope of reward:” provided also that no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States.
All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions, as they may respect such lands and the States which passed such grants, are adjusted, the said grants, or either of them, being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States.
The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States; fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United States; regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians not members of any of the States—provided that the legislative right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or violated; establishing or regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office; appointing all officers of the land forces in the service of the United States, except regimental officers; appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United States; making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing their operations.
The United States in Congress assembled shall have authorityto appoint a committee to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated “A Committee of the States,” and to consist of one delegate from each State, and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction; to appoint one of their number to preside—provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses; to borrow money or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted; to build and equip a navy; to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such State, which requisition shall be binding; and thereupon the legislatures of each State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm and equip them in a soldierlike manner, at the expense of the United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled; but if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of circumstances, judge proper that any State should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other State should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such State, unless the legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot be safely spared out of the same, in which case they shall raise, officer, clothe, arm and equip as many of such extra number as they judge can be safely spared; and the officers and men so clothed, armed and equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled.