The Revolution was long in brewing. The discontent of the colonies at
their treatment by the mother country was gradual in its growth. At
first it seemed rather to inspire fitful protests and expostulations,
than a desire to foster a deliberate quarrel. Even New England, settled
by Pilgrims who had no strong reason for evincing loyalty and affection
for the land whence they had been driven for opinion's sake, seemed
to have become more or less reconciled to the dominion of British
governors. There can be no doubt that the colonists, even down to within
a brief period of the Declaration of Independence, hoped to retain their
connection with Great Britain. Congress declared, even after armies had
been raised to resist the red-coats, that this was not with the design
of separation or independence. Even the mobs cried "God save the king!"
Washington said that until the moment of collision he had abhorred the
idea of separation: and Jefferson declared that, up to the 19th of
April, 1775 (the date of the battle of Lexington), "he had never heard a
whisper of a disposition to separate from Great Britain."

[Sidenote: Effect of the Stamp Act.]

The Stamp Act, and the similar acts which followed it, united the
colonies in a spirit of resistance. They inspired Patrick Henry's
eloquence in Virginia; they gave rise to the "tea-party" in Boston; they
produced the Boston massacre; they led to the burning of the _Gaspee_ in
Narragansett Bay; they finally developed, no longer rioting, but open
and flagrant rebellion at Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill. The
colonies did not refuse to be taxed. They recognized the right of
Great Britain to tax them. But they claimed that this right had its
condition--that the taxed people should be represented in the body which
held the taxing power. Had the colonies been permitted to send members