POLITICAL SITUATION

In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. That policy
was one of taxation, indirect, it is true, but none the less taxation. The first
Navigation Act required that colonial exports should be shipped to England in
American or English vessels. This was followed by a long series of acts,
regulating and restricting the American trade. Colonists were not allowed to
exchange certain articles without paying duties thereon, and custom houses were
established and officers appointed. Opposition to these proceedings was
ineffectual; and in 1696, in order to expedite the business of taxation, and to
establish a better method of ruling the colonies, a board was appointed, called
the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. The royal governors found in
this board ready sympathizers, and were not slow to report their grievances, and
to insist upon more stringent regulations for enforcing obedience. Some of the
retaliative measures employed were the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,
the abridgment of the freedom of the press and the prohibition of elections. But
the colonists generally succeeded in having their own way in the end, and were
not wholly without encouragement and sympathy in the English Parliament. It may
be that the war with France, which ended with the fall of Quebec, had much to do
with this rather generous treatment. The Americans, too, were favored by the
Whigs, who had been in power for more than seventy years. The policy of this
great party was not opposed to the sentiments and ideas of political freedom
that had grown up in the colonies; and, although more than half of the
Navigation Acts were passed by Whig governments, the leaders had known how to
wink at the violation of nearly all of them.

Immediately after the close of the French war, and after George III. had
ascended the throne of England, it was decided to enforce the Navigation Acts
rigidly. There was to be no more smuggling, and, to prevent this, Writs of
Assistance were issued. Armed with such authority, a servant of the king might