y to enter
any and every place where they might suspect goods upon which a duty had
not been levied. In 1763 and 1764 the English ministers attempted to
enforce the law requiring the payment of duties on sugar and molasses.
In vain did the people try to show that under the British constitution
taxation and representation were inseparable. Nevertheless English
vessels were sent to hover around American ports, and soon succeeded in
paralyzing the trade with the West Indies.

The close of the French and Indian war gave to England a renewed
opportunity to tax America. The national debt had increased from
L52,092,238 in 1727 to L138,865,430 in 1763. The ministers began to urge
that the expenses of the war ought to be borne by the colonies. The
Americans contended, that they had aided England as much as she had
aided them; that the cession of Canada had amply remunerated England for
all her losses; and, further, the colonies did not dread the payment of
money, but feared that their liberties might be subverted. Early in
March 1765, the English parliament, passed the celebrated STAMP ACT,
which provided that every note, bond, deed, mortgage, lease, licence,
all legal documents of every description, every colonial pamphlet,
almanac, and newspaper, after the first day of the following November,
should be on paper furnished by the British government, the stamp cost
being from one cent to thirty dollars. When the news of the passage of
this act was brought to America the excitement was intense, and action
was resolved on by the colonies. The act was not formally repealed until
March 18, 1766. On June 29, 1767, another act was passed to tax America.
On October 1, 1768, seven hundred troops, sent from Halifax, marched
with fixed bayonets into Boston, and quartered themselves in the State
House. In February 1769 parliament declared the people of Massachusetts
rebels, and the governor was directed to arrest those deemed guilty of
treason, and send them to England for trial. In the city of New York, in
1770, the soldiers wantonly cut down a liberty pole, which had for
several years stood in the park. The most serious affray occurred on
March 5th, in Boston between a party of citizens and some soldiers, in
which three citizens were shot down and several wounded. This massacre
inflamed the city with a blaze of excitement. On that day lord North
succeeded in having all the duties repealed except that on tea; and that
tax, in 1773, was att