ul and sagacious men, who began to doubt whether a
great country like America would always be content to remain under the
government of an island three thousand miles away. This was the more
doubtful, because the English Parliament had long ago made laws which
were intended to be very beneficial to England at the expense of
America. By these laws the colonists were forbidden to manufacture
articles for their own use, or to carry on trade with any nation but the
English.

"Now," continued Grandfather, "if King George III. and his counsellors
had considered these things wisely, they would have taken another course
than they did. But when they saw how rich and populous the colonies had
grown, their first thought was how they might make more profit out of
them than heretofore. England was enormously in debt at the close of the
old French War; and it was pretended that this debt had been contracted
for the defence of the American colonies, and that, therefore, a part of
it ought to be paid by them."

"Why, this was nonsense!" exclaimed Charley. "Did not our fathers spend
their lives, and their money too, to get Canada for King George?"

"True, they did," said Grandfather; "and they told the English rulers
so. But the king and his ministers would not listen to good advice. In
1765 the British Parliament passed a Stamp Act."

"What was that?" inquired Charley.

"The Stamp Act," replied Grandfather, "was a law by which all deeds,
bonds, and other papers of the same kind were ordered to be marked with
the king's stamp; and without this mark they were declared illegal and
void. Now, in order to get a blank sheet of paper with the king's stamp
upon it, people were obliged to pay threepence more than the actual
value of the paper. And this extra sum of threepence was a tax, and was
to be paid into the king's treasury."

"I am sure threepence was not worth quarrelling about!" remarked Clara.

"It was not for threepence, nor for any amount of money, that America
quarrelled with England," replied Grandfather; "it was for a great
principle. The colonists were determined not to be taxed except by their
own representatives. They said that neither the king and Parliament, nor
any other power on earth, had a right to take their money out of their
pockets unless they freely gave it. And, rather than pay threepence when
it was unjustly demanded, they resolved to sacrifice all the wealth of
the country, and their lives along with it. T