A Short History of the United States for School Use Part 14

[Ill.u.s.tration: APRIL 19, 1775, DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY TWO MEN WHO TOOK PART IN THE ACTION. Reproduced through the courtesy of Rev. E.

G. Porter.]

[Sidenote: Lexington and Concord, 1775. _Higginson_, 178-183; _McMaster_, 126-128; _Source-Book_, 144-146.]

132. Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775.--Gage had said that with ten thousand men he could march all over Ma.s.sachusetts. In April, 1775, he began to crush the rebellion by sending a strong force to Concord to destroy stores which his spies told him had been collected there. The soldiers began their march in the middle of the night. But Paul Revere and William Dawes were before them. "The regulars are coming," was the cry. At Lexington, the British found a few militiamen drawn up on the village green. Some one fired and a few Americans were killed. On the British marched to Concord. By this time the militiamen had gathered in large numbers. It was a hot day. The regulars were tired. They stopped to rest. Some of the militiamen attacked the regulars at Concord, and when the British started on their homeward march, the fighting began in earnest. Behind every wall and bit of rising ground were militiamen. One soldier after another was shot down and left behind. At Lexington the British met reinforcements, or they would all have been killed or captured. Soon they started again. Again the fighting began. It continued until the survivors reached a place of safety under the guns of the wars.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed off Charlestown. The Americans camped for the night at Cambridge and began the siege of Boston.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 11

-- 103.--_a_. Name some instances which ill.u.s.trate England's early policy toward its colonies.

_b_. Explain the later change of policy, giving reasons for it.

---- 104, 105.--_a_. What reasons did Otis give for his opposition to the writs of a.s.sistance? Why are such writs prohibited by the Const.i.tution of the United States?

_b_. What is a veto? What right had the King of Great Britain to veto a Virginia law? Which side really won in the Parson's Cause?

-- 106.--What colonies claimed land west of the Alleghany Mountains? How did the king interfere with these claims?

CHAPTER 12

---- 107-109.--_a_. What reasons were given for keeping an army in America?

_b_. What is meant by saying that Parliament was "the supreme power in the British Empire"?

_c_. Is a stamp tax a good kind of tax?

_d_. Explain carefully the colonists' objections to the Stamp Act of 1765. Do the same objections hold against the present Stamp tax?

---- 110-113.--_a_. Explain the difference between the Stamp Act Congress and the earlier Congress.

_b_. What did the Stamp Act Congress do?

_c_. Give an account of Franklin. What did Franklin say about the feeling in the colonies?

_d_. Explain carefully the causes which led to the repeal of the Stamp Act.

_e_. Can the taxing power and the legislative power be separated? What is the case to-day in your own state? In the United States?

---- 114-116.--_a_. How did Townshend try to raise money? How did this plan differ from the Stamp tax?

_b_. What was the Ma.s.sachusetts Circular Letter? Why was it important?

_c_. What was the result of the seizure of the _Liberty_?

---- 117, 118.--_a_. What were the Virginia Resolves of 1769? Why were they pa.s.sed?

_b_. What were the Non-importation agreements?

_c_. What action did the British merchants take? What results followed?

CHAPTER 13

---- 119, 120.--_a_. Why were the soldiers stationed at New York? At Boston?

_b_. Describe the trouble at Boston. Why is it called a ma.s.sacre?

---- 121-123.--_a_. What was the work of a Committee of Correspondence?

_b_. What did the British government hope to accomplish in the tea business? Why did the colonists refuse to buy the tea?

_c_. Why was the destruction of the tea at Boston necessary?

---- 124-126.--_a_. How did Parliament punish the colonists of Ma.s.sachusetts and Boston? Which of these acts was most severe? Why?

_b_. What effect did these laws have on Ma.s.sachusetts? On the other colonies?

_c_. Explain the provisions of the Quebec Act.

_d_. How would this act affect the growth of the colonies?

---- 127-129.--_a_. What was the object of the Continental Congress?

_b_. Why was the a.s.sociation so important?

_c_. How was the idea of the a.s.sociation carried out?

_d_. What government did the colonies really have?

---- 130-132.--_a_. What is a rebel? Were the Ma.s.sachusetts colonists rebels?

_b_. Describe General Gage's difficulties.

_c_. What was the result of Gage's attempt to seize the arms at Concord?

GENERAL QUESTIONS

_a_. Arrange, with dates, all the acts of the British government which offended the colonists.

_b_. Arrange, with dates, all the important steps which led toward union. Why are these steps important?

_c_. Give the chief causes of the Revolution and explain why you select these.