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ANALYSIS

OF THE

HISTORICAL VIEW OF THE AMERICAN

REVOLUTION.

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LECTURE FIRST.

CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.

The Revolution a decisive epoch of civilization

No good true Republic in existence, when the American
Republic was formed

The Republics of Europe. Holland; Venice

Genoa; Lucca; San Marino

The Monarchies contrasted with them; Prussia; Russia;
Austria

England; Spain; France

The feudal system in antagonism with modern ideas

The dependence of the American colonies on England a
natural one

The colonists thoroughly English in their sympathies
All these changed in a few years

The Revolution eclipsed for a time by the events which
followed it.

Impartiality of History

The Revolution viewed in this light both a cause and

effect

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What was the cause?

Two classes of causes

First, in the colonial system

Reverence for law a national characteristic

The spirit of English liberty an animating principle of the colonists

The spirit of English liberty defined and traced to its

origin

Its form when transported to America

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The Navigation Act, the first interference of Parlia nent with colonial rights

The feelings which it awakened

After this the relation between England and her colonies a business relation in her eyes

Americans

The feelings caused by this relation among
Anecdote of Attorney General Seymour illustrating the

English feeling

English ignorance of America a second cause
Alienation caused by a lack of appreciation

English conceptions of the colonies

Their thoughts of investment and gain, not brotherhood.
Their unfavorable opinions of America and Americans
Their treatment of the American traveller
Alienation a result of these prejudices.

The nature of municipal institutions a third cause
The European colonial system a false one

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Freedom of the English system an advantage over other systems

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The colonists' form of municipal institutions English
A separation in time inevitable from these three causes
Two more causes

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England in her dealings with the colonies at war with her own political system.

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England's misfortune, adopting an erroneous system and adhering to it

Possibility of a reconciliation before 1763.

Part of George III. in the contest

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The American struggle in connection with the state of
European politics

The Treaty of Paris and its results

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The course of the English tax-payers during the war
The dispute a question of constitutional rights

Effects of this

Many steps before actual war

American feeling of dependence vague and undefined
All questions discussed in the colonies

Alienation a slow process

The course of French and English statesmen contrasted 30

THE SECOND CLASS OF CAUSES.

A great question sure to be agitated
The colonial question a great one
A new principle of government

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All nations agitated by the contest

The interests at stake

The American Revolution a war between natural and hereditary rights

LECTURE II.

THE PHASES OF THE REVOLUTION.

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Recapitulation of Lecture I.

>The first colony and the first league

The growth of the colonies and their relations to the

mother country

>Their relations to each other

The first interference of the home government

Position of England toward the colonies during the com

monwealth

English estimation of the Act of Navigation

The object and spirit of the Act

The thirteenth clause

The enumerated commodities

The King's claim on Maine woods

Its results

The feelings of the colonists in regard to this claim
The contest between Maine lumbermen and royal survey-

ors and its consequences

A law in violation of public opinion a fatal error in Leg-
islation

An effect of the Act of Navigation on the colonists
The effect of the reservation in the new Massachusetts
charter

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The ways by which England drives the colonies to seek independence

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A new phase, the French and Indian war

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The action of the colonists. The Congress at Albany
England's great opportunity

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The relative position of the two countries

Resistance a necessity

Patrick Henry's Resolutions and the "Declaration of
Rights" by Congress

Their influence on Americans

The formal declarations of both countries in regard to taxation.

The American opinion confirmed by Henry's Resolutions and the Declaration of Rights

Aggression on the part of England met by Retaliation on the part of America

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A British garrison in Boston and the effect
The Tax on tea and the Boston "tea-party "

The Committees of Correspondence

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Their results. The last phase of the Revolution

Regret of many Americans at the separation. Prepara

tions for war

Lexington

Ticonderoga

The Revolution accomplished

Mistakes on both sides at the beginning of the war

First period of the war. Washington's rise in public es

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How the plan is frustrated

The calumnies against Washington

His refutation of the calumnies and supremacy

The results of his supremacy and successes

The American position viewed from the present and a

contemporary stand-point

Second period; the campaign in the Carolinas

The campaign in Virginia

Appointment of Robert Morris as financier

The remainder of the war

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The men who composed this Congress and the character of Franklin

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Franklin's opinions, at that time, concerning independence 71

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