tions, explains many things otherwise difficult to understand.

4. The prevailing mode of colonization. Many of the colonies had been founded for commercial reasons merely, with no intention of forming governmental institutions. Chartered companies and individuals planted settlements for the profit there was supposed to be in doing so. These colonies were designed to be merely "self supporting trading outposts of England." Money had been put into these enterprises, and in the effort to secure a profitable return many unjust commercial restrictions were imposed upon the colonists.

Immediate Causes.-Among the immediate causes of the Revolutionary War may be mentioned:

1. The French and Indian War. In the first place, this war facilitated the union of the colonies. Several attempts at union had failed; there were too many opposing influences. While by far the greater number of the colonists were English, there were many Dutch in New York, and some Swedes remained in Delaware. Moreover, the English themselves differed radically in politics, those in the South having been royalists, while those in New England sympathized with Cromwell and parliament. But more serious than these political differences, were the differences in religion. The old European quarrels had an echo here, and the catholics of Maryland, the episcopalians of Virginia, the puritans of Massachusetts, the baptists of Rhode Island, the lutherans of New York, and the quakers of Pennsylvania, all had grievances to remember. Travel, which does so much to broaden the mind and free it from prejudice, was both difficult and dangerous. The French and Indian War, bringing together men from all the colonies was of great service in breaking down intercolonial animosities.

Facing the same dangers, standing shoulder to shoulder in battle, sharing the same tent, the men of the several colonies came to know each other better, and this knowledge ripened into affection. The soldiers on their return home disseminated the good feeling.

In the second place, the French and Indian War by annihilating all the claims of France to American soil removed the enemy that had rendered the protection of England necessary to the colonies.

In the third place, this war gave the colonists an experience in military affairs and a confidence in their own powers which emboldened them to dare open rebellion.

And in the fourth place, this war produced the debt which led to the taxation which was the most immediate cause of the outbreak.

2.

Various tyrannical acts of the government. These are given explicitly in the Declaration of Independence.

Some Pertinent Questions.

Name a country in the world's history that ever allowed its colonies representation in its home parliament or legislative body. Name one that does it to-day. Why do territories in this country desire to become states?

Name some country, other than England, which could have given birth to the United States. Prove your proposition.

The French minister who signed the treaty whereby France yielded to England her claims to American soil remarked after doing it, "That is the beginning of the end of English power in America." What did he mean? Upon what did he base his opinion? Why did France help the Americans in the Revolutionary War?

What is meant, in speaking of the colonies, by Royal Province? Charter government? Proprietary government?

What experience in law making did the colonists have? Where and when did the first representative assembly in America convene? Find in the Declaration of Independence an expression complaining of non-representation in parliament.

To the patriotic and far sighted men who had striven to form a union of the colonies, did the religious differences which frustated their plans seem fortunate or unfortunate?

Can you see how it came about that we have no state church, that we enjoy religious freedom? Doesn't it seem that there must have been a Planner wiser than any man who was working out his own designs?

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

WHAT PRECEDED THEM.

The Birth of the Nation.-The nation was born July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence, which severed the connection of the colonies with Great Britain, was issued "by the authority of the good people of these colonies;" not, be it observed, by the states but by the people. This is an important distinction, because it helps to determine the real nature of this government. The advocates of the state sovereignty idea, upon which the southern states claimed in 1861 the right to sccede, based their doctrine upon the proposition that the states created the general government. If so, they must have had an independent, sovereign existence antedating that of the nation. Upon this point Dr. Pomeroy in his treatise on constitutional law says, "There never was, in fact, a moment's interval when the several states were each independent and sovereign. While colonies they unitedly resisted, revolted, declared their combined political society independent. The blow which severed the connection with the British Empire, did not leave a disintegrated mass made up of thirteen communities now independent; it left an united mass, a nation possessing the high attributes of sovereignty which it had just exercised. The United States was then a fact, and no

power but that which called it into being-the people -is competent to decree the national destruction."

The revolutionary period.-From July 4, 1776, till the adoption of the articles of confederation in 1781, the people of the United States carried on their governmental affairs by means of a congress which was "clothed with undefined powers for the public good."

THE ARTICLES THEMSELVES.

Their history.-When, on the eleventh of June, 1776, a committee of the congress was appointed to draft a declaration of independence, another committee was appointed to frame a plan of government. After a month's deliberation this committee reported its plan, which, after undergoing much discussion and several modifications, was finally adopted by the congress, November 15, 1777. These articles of confederation, as they were called, were not ratified very promptly; but finally on March 1, 1781, Maryland, the last state to ratify, signed the articles, and they became operative. The ratification was done by the delegates to the congress.

Their peculiarities.-The articles of confederation were different in many respects from our present constitution. Among the more important provisions and peculiarities were the following:

1. The nature of the government formed. The union was declared to be a "firm league of friendship." It was to be perpetual.

The departments of government. Only one department was provided for, a congress. No provision was made for executive or judicial officers apart from the congress itself.

3. The structure of the congress. The congress con

sisted of only one house or chamber. Members were elected for one year, subject to recall at any time, and they were paid by their respective states. No person was eligible to membership for more than three years in any period of six years. No state could be represented by "less than two, nor more than seven members." Each state had one vote.

4. The powers of congress. "The United States in congress assembled" had power to treat with foreign countries, to send and receive ambassadors, to determine peace and war; was the last resort on appeal in all disputes between the states; could fix the standard of weights and measures, and of the fineness of coin; could establish and regulate postoffices; could ascertain and appropriate "the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States;" could borrow money "on the credit of the United States;" could agree upon the number of land forces and make requisition on each state for its quota; and could appoint a committee consisting of one member from each state, to sit during the vacations of congress.

5. Powers denied to the states. No state could enter into any treaty with another state or with a foreign nation, nor engage in war, except by consent of "the United States in congress assembled;" nor keep vessels of war or a standing army in time of peace, except such number as congress should deem necessary.

Reasons for the peculiarities.-Suffering breeds caution. Every one of the peculiarities is based upon distrust.

The people were afraid to trust their delegates. This is manifest in the shortness of the term, the provision for recall, the reserved right to control the delegates