Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/762

 730 Eighteenth century Politics: the Revolution. [1700- the other hand, the most eminent American divine of his time, had nothing to do with any form of politics. No life could exemplify more clearly than his a complete separation of Church and State. It was chiefly in affairs of State that eighteenth century America was noteworthy. Just at the end of the third quarter of the century came the most critical event in American history the Revolution which resulted in national independence. The more one considers this stupendous imperial disruption, the more puzzling it appears. There was no tyranny on the part of Great Britain so galling as to account for the passionate revolt of America or to justify the blatant traditions of Fourth of July oratory. Yet, beyond question, the revolt of America was not only passionate but deeply sincere. To understand it, we must recall the facts that the national life of America parted from that of England not in the time of George III but early in the reign of Charles I ; that the traditions of America had their origin in Elizabethan England; and that, apart from other considerations, the British Parliament attained to predominance in the State only at a time when the American colonies had already developed working constitutions of their own. Of this traditional system in America no feature was more marked than that which established the custom that a representative to any legislative assembly should not only be elected by the constituency he represented, but should actually be resident among them. No single fact could more clearly typify the divergence of constitutional practice in America from that of England, sixty years before the Reform Bill. Each country, in brief, had its own political traditions; and those of each were con- secrated by customs which extended far beyond the range of human memory. Furthermore, the mutual misunderstandings bound to arise from such divergences were emphasised by the growing differences of national temper due to the fact that, in general character, America had changed so little, while England had changed so much, since the early days of colonial settlement. Though the first important conflicts of the Revolution occurred in Massachusetts, the revolutionary sentiment pervaded all the colonies, and was most memorably expressed in those further south. The Adamses were Massachusetts men ; but Franklin, though born in Boston, was an almost lifelong resident of Pennsylvania; Hamilton was of New York ; and Washington, Jefferson, and Madison were of Virginia. From Virginia, most of all, came the utterances on which the political temper of America has subsequently been based. The Declaration of Independence was written by Jefferson's hand. To understand this newly evident phase of American temper, we must glance for an instant at the development of other regions than New England. In brief, these had been colonised not for religious but for secular purposes ; and the energies of their inhabitants had been chiefly devoted to success in things of this world. Such an object requires a fairly settled state of