limited. Was it the British constitution which had been extended over the colonies? If so, by what acts was it extended over them and in what way did it protect them? Was it the colonial charters on which they relied? Some of these had been annulled and one of them at least, that of Pennsylvania, expressly recognized the supreme authority of Parliament. Unable to find a basis in either the British constitution or the colonial charters on which they could rest their case, American lawyers, for they were the real leaders of the Revolution, took their stand, as the contest advanced, on the principle of natural law and the theory of natural rights. The declaration and resolves of the first Continental Congress, in 1774, rested the case on "the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts." The Declaration of Independence two years later rested the case solely on "the laws of nature and of nature's God." Historical view of the Revolution The earlier American historians looked at the Revolution as a struggle against tyranny embodied in the person of George III. The most that can now be said in substantiation of this view is that the colonies "made their stand," to use the words of Moses Coit Tyler, "not against tyranny inflicted, but only against tyranny anticipated." America had reached the point at which its social and economic development was being hampered by the connection with Great Britain, and the political training that the colonists had received in their long struggle with the colonial governors and the political theories that were current in the latter half of the eighteenth century did not incline them to submit to what they considered injustice. In June, 1768, John Hancock's sloop, Liberty, entered Boston Harbor and undertook to land a cargo of wines from Madeira without paying the duty. When the customs officials tried to seize the cargo, the crew resisted, and a riot was precipitated in the course of which the officials fled to the fort. When news of this riot reached Additional to Boston, 1768 England two additional regiments were ordered British to Boston. When Parliament met in December troops sent they advised that an old statute of Henry VIII empowering the government to bring to England for trial prisoners accused of treason outside the kingdom should be put in force in America. The first protest against this measure came from Virginia, where the Assembly adopted a series of resolutions protesting against the Townshend Acts and beseeching the king not to permit his American subjects to be carried over the sea for trial. These resolutions were sent to the assemblies of the several colonies and their concurrence was asked. Lord Botetourt, the new governor, immediately dissolved the Assembly, but the members retired to the Apollo room of the Raleigh Tavern, where they signed an agreement that they would not import any more goods from England until the Townshend Acts should be repealed. The Virginia resolutions or similar declarations were adopted by all the assemblies and nonimportation agreements signed. 66 The Boston In Boston meanwhile things were reasonably quiet considering the fact that troops were quartered in the city and that armed vessels were stationed in front of the harbor. The situation was a trying one, however, and the bitter feeling that existed between citi- Massacre," March, 1770 zens and soldiers broke out frequently in minor affrays. Finally, on March 5, 1770, a serious encounter occurred on the streets of Boston in which three persons were killed, two mortally wounded, and six injured. Several months later the soldiers were tried and acquitted by a Boston jury. John Adams and Josiah Quincy appeared as their counsel. The citizens appear to have been more to blame than the soldiers in bringing on the "Boston massacre,' but the real responsibility rested with the British ministry. Repeal of the Town 1770 In January, 1770, the Duke of Grafton resigned the premiership and Lord North, the leader of the new Tory party, succeeded him. The king had at last succeeded in dividing the old Whig party, and shend Acts, the new Tory party, composed of the "king's friends," continued in control until the close of the Revolution. The king was in reality his own prime minister and carried out his own policies. On the very day of the Boston massacre Lord North moved a repeal of the Townshend Act, removing the duty on glass, paper, and lead, but retaining the duty on tea. The tax on tea was retained as a matter of principle in assertion of the right of parliamentary taxation. The government also announced that it would make no further attempt to raise a revenue in America, and the quartering act, which had been limited to three years, was allowed to expire. On learning of the repeal of the Townshend Act the Americans discontinued the nonimportation agreements, but associations were formed whose members pledged themselves not to drink tea. The North 66 For a time agitation ceased and comparative quiet reigned in America. In North Carolina disturbances of a serious character, in no way connected with the dispute with England, occurred. The inhabitants of what were then the western counties complained of excessive taxes, extortionate fees, and corruption on the part of the colonial officials. Under the name of "Regulators" they undertook to manage their own affairs and refused to recognize the authority of the colonial government. In May, 1771, Governor Tryon went to the seat of disaffection and defeated the Regulators in the pitched battle of the Alamance, leaving a large number dead on the field. This battle has frequently been referred to as the first battle of the Revolution, but it has no claim to that dis tinction, for many of the men who commanded the militia under Governor Tryon were soon to be leaders in the Revolutionary movement. At the beginning of the Revolution the frontier had advanced well into the Alleghany Mountains, but at only two points The begin DANIEL BOONE. had settlers nings of Tennessee penetrated the the Great Smoky mountains lie the streams which unite to form the Tennessee River, the Clinch, the Holston, the Watauga, the Nolichucky, and the French Broad. The upper end of the valley lies in southwestern Virginia, and here on the headwaters of the Holston, the first settlement was formed by a body of Virginians. A year or two later, in 1769, the year that Daniel Boone first went to Kentucky, the first settlement was formed on the Watauga, then within the limits of North Carolina. As the settlements were growing, it was necessary to provide some form of civil government, but as North Carolina was at this time engaged in the struggle with the Regulators, it was useless to appeal to her for aid in governing the new community. About this time two men of unusual ability, who were destined to figure in history as the founders of Tennessee, came to Watauga, James Robertson in 1770, and John Sevier in 1772. They were both natives of Virginia, and for the next thirty years they played the chief part in the history of the southwest. In 1772 they organized a civil government under a written constitution known as the Articles of the Watauga Association, thus establishing the first independent community of native-born Americans on the continent. The Watauga Association continued as an independent community for four years, but in 1776, at its own request, it was received under the jurisdiction of North Carolina. On the very eve of the Revolution serious troubles occurred between the Indians and the English settlements Trouble with the Indians on the Ohio along the upper waters of the Ohio. The feeling between the Indians and the "Long Knives," as they called the Virginians, was very tense when, in the spring of 1774, an outrage occurred which precipitated a border warfare. The most aggressive leaders among the whites were Michael Cresap, a native of Maryland, and a man named Greathouse. About the last of April, Greathouse, who was in the habit of selling rum to the Indians, and his associates murdered a party of men, women, and children who had come to his place and who were |