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means for seeking redress. It was pro posed by some that the colonies should stand upon their chartered rights, " But," says Bancroft, " Gadsden of South Carolina spoke against this with irresistible impetu osity. He showed that the charters were various, and that the colonies could not be firmly united upon chartered rights. ' We should stand,' said he, ' upon the broad com mon ground of those natural rights that we feel and know as men and as descendants of Englishmen; there should be no New Yorker and no New England man known on the Continent, but all of us Americans.' These views prevailed, and this was the first great step towards American independence." .'And when, " says Bancroft, " we count up those who, above all others, contributed to the great result, we are to name the in spired madman, James Otis of Massachusetts, and the great statesman, the magnanimous, unwavering, faultless lover of his country, Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina." What generous confidence, what unselfish devotion marked the union between North and South in 1765! What demon sowed the seed in this Eden that ripened into the har vest of death and destruction in 1861? The Stamp Act was repealed in March of the following year, and the colonies became aware of their power in even a temporary union. But selfishness, the bane of men and nations, moved England ere long to fresh encroachments. A court of inquiry was instituted in Rhode Island, with power to send persons to England to be tried for of fences committed here. This aroused the distant colony of Virginia, whose House of Burgesses was then in session, and on March the twelfth, 1773, a resolution was passed appointing a standing committee to inquire into the infraction of the rights of Rhode Island and consult with the assemblies of other colonies. This, according to Bancroft, was the first move towards creating the Continental Congress. Much feeling had been aroused by the

laying of duties on imports, which was fol lowed by resistance in several colonies. The tax upon tea led to the destruction of cargoes of tea in the harbors of Wilming ton, North Carolina, Annapolis, and Boston. Boston was made an example, and the port was closed to trade. News of the passage of the Boston Port Bill spread like a prai rie fire. The Sons of Liberty, a patriotic club of New York, sent words of encourage ment to Boston, and a circular to all the colonies urging immediate action for her relief. Responses came quickly and most promptly from the South. Gadsden of South Carolina sent word to Boston, " Don't buy an ounce of the damned tea;" and through his effort substantial aid was hur ried forward to that suffering city from the planters of South Carolina. Virginia, whose House of Burgesses was in session, upon receiving the news, in sympathy with the people of Boston, appointed a "day of hu miliation, fasting and prayer," and named a committee to consult with the other col onies for the purpose of convening a general congress. The cry started from the South and rang through all the colonies, " The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." : It would be an insult to credulity, did not facts sustain the statement, that in less than ninety years, the cry that re-echoed from the North was — " On to Richmond! " " Down with the Rebellion!! " " Death to the Slave Power!!!" Stupendous paradox! Was it the irony of fate or the mandate of cruel destiny? From the vantage-ground of aftersight, it was a reaction traceable to cause, — an ec centric episode in our social progress, — an active stage of the " irrepressible conflict." The call for a general congress was adopted, and on the fifth day of September, 1774, a convention of delegates from twelve colonies met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadel phia. The objects of this convention were not in the least revolutionary. Its resolves 1 J1ancroft.