bill was to encourage British officers and soldiers to enforce the laws more strictly.

The Quartering Act legalized the lodging of troops upon the people. This established a means of enforcing the laws. The colonies were required to furnish the soldiers with shelter, fuel, drink, bedding, soap, and candles.

The Quebec Act made all the country north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi a part of Canada, admitted the Canadian Catholics to the legislative council, and granted them freedom of worship. Parliament passed the Quebec Act to prevent the Canadians, who were nearly all Catholics, from joining the colonies. Thus the same power which cruelly persecuted Catholics in Ireland was induced by political consideration to protect them in Canada. The Quebec Bill met with great opposition, partly because the colonists thought that the crown had no right to give away the land so recently wrested from the French, but chiefly because, as they claimed, King George, by granting freedom of conscience to the Roman Catholics, became a traitor, broke his coronation oath, was secretly a "Papist," and might ultimately force Popery upon them. Hence the common cry was "No King, no Popery!"

244. The First Continental Congress. The Five Intolerable Acts aroused everywhere the deepest indignation. In Boston, meetings were held almost daily in Faneuil Hall and the Old South Church. Under the leadership of Samuel Adams, each town of Massachusetts appointed a committee by means of which the towns could consult on all public matters by letter. A meeting of all the committees would make a "Provincial Congress." These committees were called Committees of Correspondence, and were eventually organized among the several colonies. Thus, each colony became acquainted with the views of all the others, and the Committees of Correspondence opened the door, as it were, to the First Continental Congress. This congress, the greatest meeting of Americans yet held, met (Sept, 5, 1774) in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia.

Fifty-five delegates represented all the colonies except Georgia, whose royal governor succeeded in preventing the appointment of delegates. The acts of the Congress may be summed up as follows:

(a) it passed resolutions of sympathy and encouragement for Massachusetts;

(b) a petition was directed to the king, asking the removal of grievances, but still claiming loyalty to the mother country;

(c) addresses were issued to the people of England and Canada;

(d) a remarkable paper, known as the Declaration of Rights, was published. It stated fully the grievances of the colonies and their principles of government;

(e) an Association was formed for the non-importation and non-consumption of British goods, and non-exportation of goods to England;

(f) it fixed the date of meeting of the next Continental Congress (May 10, 1775).

245. Plans for Conciliation Fail. King George and his "friends," hearing of the Congress, were more determined than ever to make America submit. Pitt petitioned for a removal of the British troops from Boston, and, with Franklin, prepared a plan for reconciling England with her colonies. Edmund Burke, too, spoke eloquently, pleading for the repeal of the oppressive acts, but all in vain. Franklin, who was acting as the American agent in London, now saw that nothing could be done and hastened back to America.

Preparations for war were now begun. Two distinct parties had arisen in America: the Tories, like the Tories in England, adhered to the king and were opposed to war; the Whigs disapproved of the king's policy and favored war. Patrick Henry voiced the sentiment of the Whigs by declaring in a stirring speech, which he delivered in St. John's Church, Richmond, Virginia: "We must fight! We must fight! Give me

liberty or give me death!" Volunteers were raised, one-third of whom were "Minute-men," that is, men ready to march and fight at a minute's notice. Stores of war materials were collected. General Gage's efforts to capture some of these stores at Lexington and Concord led to the first battle of the American Revolution (April 19, 1775).

246. Causes of the Revolutionary War. The causes of the Revolution, or War for Independence, may be briefly summed up as follows: the remote cause was England's attitude that the colonies existed only for the benefit of the mother country, which led to the enactment of the Navigation Acts and other laws restricting trade and manufacture. The immediate causes

were:

(a) Writs of Assistance,

(b) Stamp Act,

(c) Mutiny Act,

(d) Townshend Acts,

(e) Tea Tax,

(f) Boston Massacre,

(g) Five Intolerable Acts.

247. Comparative Strength of the Warring Parties. The resistance of the colonies seems almost foolhardy, for in population, wealth, strength, and discipline of navy and army, England far surpassed them. The scene of the war was more favorable to the British than to the Americans. As there were no fortresses, the coast was everywhere open to the landing of military forces. However, the British generals in the early stage of the war were slow, timid, and inefficient; while Putnam, Wayne, Greene, and other American generals were natural soldiers. Of Washington it may be said that he made few serious blunders, was never frightened, and never despaired.

Thus the glory of the war was in the courage, patriotism, selfsacrifice, and devotion with which the colonies fought against a nation many times more powerful in resources and in men.

248. The Two Periods of the War. The Revolutionary War may be divided into two periods: the first, including the three years' events from the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775), to the battle of Saratoga (October 17, 1777), marked the turning point of the war and was the dawn of a new era of hope and confidence for the Americans. During this period the fighting was done in America between the mother country and her colonies alone. The second part includes the four years' events beginning with the hardships at Valley Forge during the winter of 1778, and closing with the crowning victory of Yorktown, October 19, 1781. France, Spain, and Holland joined in the conflict against England and the war spread to all parts of the world.