ent at Boston took
place in 1773, and it was not till three years later that the Declaration
of Independence was drawn up. The Whig principles of 1688 are at the
foundation of American liberties, and Locke's influence is to be seen both
in the Declaration of Independence and in the American constitution. The
colonists from the first had in many states a Puritanism that was hostile
to the prerogatives of governors, and appeals to the British Government
against the misuse of the prerogative were generally successful. The
colonists wanted no more, and no less, than the constitutional rights
enjoyed by Englishmen in Great Britain, and while the Whigs were in power
these rights were fairly secure. George III., attempting a reversion to
monarchist rule, drove the colonists to war and to seek independence; with
the aid of France this independence was won.

If the French officers who assisted the Americans brought the doctrines of
Rousseau to the revolted colonists, which is possible, it is quite certain
that the establishment of the American Republic, and the principles of La
Fayette and Paine, who had fought in the American War, were not without
effect in France.

The American Constitution was the work of men who believed in democratic
government as Locke had defined it, and America has been the biggest
experiment in democracy the world has seen. The fact that the President and
his Cabinet are not members of Congress makes the great distinction between
the British and American Constitution. The College of Electors is elected
only to elect the President; that done, its work is over. Congress,
consisting of members elected from each state, and the Senate, consisting
of representatives from each state, need not contain a majority of the
President's party, and the President is in no way responsible to Congress
as the British Prime Minister is to the House of Commons. The relation of
the State Governments to the Federal Government has presented the chief
difficulty to democracy in America.

The Whigs, or Republicans, as they came to be called, stood for a strong
Federal Government; the Democrats were jealous for the rights of State
Governments. The issue was not decided till the Civil War of 1861-1865,
when the southern slave-holding States, seeing slavery threatened,
announced their secession from the United States. Abraham Lincoln, the
newly-elected President, declared that the Government could not allow
secession, and insiste