the colonies, that here was the possibility of an endless series of disputes, aggressions, and counter-aggressions. The story of the development of irritations between the colonies and Britain is a story far too intricate, subtle, and lengthy for the scheme of this Outline. Suffice it that the grievances fell under three main heads: attempts to secure for British adventurers or the British government the profits of the exploitation of new lands; systematic restrictions upon trade designed to keep the foreign trade of the colonies entirely in British hands, so that the colonial exports all went through Britain and only British-made goods were used in America;[1] and finally attempts at taxation through the British Parliament as the supreme taxing authority of the empire. Under the pressure of this triple system of annoyances, the American colonists were forced to do a very considerable amount of hard political thinking. Such men as Patrick Henry and James Otis began to discuss the fundamental ideas of government and political association very much as they had been discussed in England in the great days of Cromwell's Commonweal. They began to deny both the divine origin of kingship and the supremacy of the British Parliament, and (James Otis, 1762[2]) to say such things as:—
"God made all men naturally equal.
"Ideas of earthly superiority are educational, not innate.
"Kings were made for the good of the people, and not the people for them.
"No government has a right to make slaves of its subjects.
"Though most governments are de facto arbitrary, and conse-
- ↑ I disbelieve in this "commercial selfishness" emphasized in the text. Modern American historians, such as Beer, themselves rebut the charge. On the whole, English commercial policy was fair. (1) If the colonists could only export certain "enumerated" commodities to England, the English market was the best, and they were given privileges there; while non-enumerated commodities could be exported anywhere, and even "enumerated" articles were in practice smuggled everywhere. (2) If the colonists had to import from England, it was their best market, and they got "drawbacks" on dutiable goods imported into England from the Continent when they took them out of England; while again in practice they freely smuggled goods from any country to America. (3) The English navigation laws, in the long run, encouraged American shipbuilding; and if some colonial manufactures were stopped in order that they might not compete with English manufactures, the amount of such restriction was slight. On all this, see Sir William Ashley, Surveys Historic and Economic, pp. 300 seqq.—E. B.
- ↑ See Tudor's Life of James Otis.
