kept their differences with the
British government from coming to an open rupture. Formerly the dread of
French attack had tended to make the Americans complaisant toward the
king's ministers, while at time it made the king's ministers unwilling
to lose the good will of the Americans. Now that the check was removed,
the continuance or revival of the old disputes at once foreboded
trouble; and the old occasions for dispute were far from having ceased.
On the contrary the war itself had given them fresh vitality. If money
had been needed before, it was still more needed now. The war had
entailed a heavy burden of expense upon the British government as well
as upon the colonies. The national debt of Great Britain was much
increased, and there were many who thought that, since the Americans
shared in the benefits of the war they ought also to share in the burden
which it left behind it. People in England who used this argument did
not realize that the Americans had really contributed as much as could
reasonably be expected to the support of the war, and that it had left
behind it debts to be paid in America as well as in England. But there
was another argument which made it seem reasonable to many Englishmen
that the colonists should be taxed. It seemed right that a small
military force should be kept up in America, for defence of the
frontiers against the Indians, even if there were no other enemies to be
dreaded. The events of Pontiac's war now showed that there was clearly
need of such a force; and the experience of the royal governors for half
a century had shown that it was very difficult to get the colonial
legislatures to vote money for any such purpose. Hence there grew up in
England a feeling that taxes ought to be raised in America as a
contribution to the war debt and to the military defence of the
colonies; and in order that such taxes should be fairly distributed and
promptly collected, it was felt that the whole business ought to be
placed under the direct supervision and control of parliament. In
accordance with this feeling the new prime minister, George Grenville in
1764 announced his intention of passing a Stamp Act for the easier
collection of revenue in America. Meanwhile things had happened in
America which had greatly irritated the people, especially in Boston, so
that they were in the mood for resisting anything that looked like
encroachment on the part of the British government. To understand this
oth