larly, aroused the {331}
citizens to opposition. A bloody struggle ensued, which usually ended
in compromise and the purchase of liberty by the citizens by the
payment of an annual tax to the feudal lord for permission to govern
themselves in regard to all internal affairs. It was thus that many of
the cities gained their independence of feudal authority, and that
some, in the rise of national life, gained their independence as
separate states, such, for instance, as Hamburg, Venice, Luebeck, and
Bremen.

_The Struggle for Independence_.--In this struggle for independent life
the cities first strove for just treatment. In many instances this was
accorded the citizens, and their friendly relations with the feudal
lord continued. When monarchy arose through the overpowering influence
of some feudal lord, the city remained in subjection to the king, but
in most instances the free burgesses of the towns were accorded due
representation in the public assembly wherever one existed. Many
cities, failing to get justice, struggled with more or less success for
independence. The result of the whole contest was to develop the right
of self-government and finally to preserve the principle of
representation. It was under these conditions that the theory of
"taxation without representation is tyranny" was developed. A
practical outcome of this struggle for freedom has been the converse of
this principle--namely, that representation without taxation is
impossible. Taxation, therefore, is the badge of liberty--of a liberty
obtained through blood and treasure.

_The Affranchisement of Cities Developed Municipal Organization_.--The
effect of the affranchisement of cities was to develop an internal
organization, usually on the representative plan. There was not, as a
rule, a pure democracy, for the influences of the Roman system and the
feudal surroundings, rapidly tending toward monarchy, rendered it
impossible that the citizens of the so-called free cities should have
the privileges of a pure democracy, hence the representative plan
prevailed. There was not sufficient unity of purpose, nor common
sentiment of the ideal government, sufficient to maintain {332}
permanently the principles and practice of popular government. Yet
there was a popular assembly, in which the voice of the people was
manifested in the election of magistrates, the voting of taxes, and the
declaration of war. In the mediaeval period, however, the mun