CHAPTER I

PATRICK HENRY


The Last French War had cost England so much that at its close she was
heavily in debt.

"As England must now send to America a standing army of at least ten
thousand men to protect the colonies against the Indians and other
enemies," the King, George III, reasoned, "it is only fair that the
colonists should pay a part of the cost of supporting it."

The English Parliament, being largely made up of the King's friends, was
quite ready to carry out his wishes, and passed a law taxing the
colonists. This law was called the Stamp Act. It provided that
stamps--very much like our postage-stamps, but costing all the way from
one cent to fifty dollars each--should be put upon all the newspapers and
almanacs used by the colonies, and upon all such legal papers as wills,
deeds, and the notes which men give promising to pay back borrowed money.

[Illustration: George III.]

When news of this act reached the colonists they were angry. "It is
unjust," they said. "Parliament is trying to make slaves of us by forcing
us to pay money without our consent. The charters which the English King