trons, accompanied by charters and grants of title and formulated frameworks of government. The English colonists were thus accustomed to written documents as the source of governmental power, and the meaning of their provisions was the test of governmental limitations.

At an early date in the history of the origin and settlement of Virginia no taxes were to be levied by the Governor without the consent of the General Assembly, and when raised they were subject to an appropriation by the Legislature of the colony. The Plymouth colonists, who were the settlers in New England, acted originally under a form of voluntary compact; but found it difficult to obtain proper respect for governmental authority under this voluntary form of association, and as early as January, 1629, by a patent from the Council under the charter of King James of 1620, obtained sanction and authority for the laws which they subsequently enacted. The fact that this Patent lacked royal assent was the excuse for its withdrawal by Charles II., and it was not until 1691, under the charter granted by William and Mary, that unquestioned royal authority was granted for the laws enacted by the New England colonists.

At an early period in the history of the English

colonies in America the rights of the inhabitants to personal liberty were based upon Magna Charta and on the Petition and Bill of Rights; and the common law, except in so far as it may have been modified by special charters, was the prevailing law of the land.

The principle upon which the common law was thus recognized as the prevailing law, was that it was the birthright and inheritance of every emigrant in so far as it was applicable to his condition.

There were three classes of government, instituted in America by the English crown. One was the provincial establishments, in which the Governor was made supreme; under this form of government New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia were administered. The second was called proprietary governments, which embraced grants to individuals with governmental powers; under this form, in their earliest history under the English crown, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware were constituted. The third was charter governments, of which Massachusetts was the leading example, and Connecticut and Rhode Island as derivative forms from the Massachusetts grant. Under all these forms, in process of time, local Legislatures were established, which drew to themselves a considerable

proportion of the governmental power which had originally been parceled out to the governors of the colonies. In both the proprietary and charter governments, the colonists, during all their early struggles with the crown, insisted that they had an inherent right of representation; the crown, on the other hand, insisted that it was a mere privilege, held at its will. In some of the colonies the laws were required to be sent to the King for his approval; in others, they were not so required. The general feeling on the part of the colonists that it was their right to make their own laws is best expressed in the declaration drawn up by the Congress of the nine colonies assembled at New York in October, 1765, wherein they are made to say, " that they owe the same allegiance to the crown of Great Britain that is owing from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great Britain; that the colonists are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural-born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain; that it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people and the undoubted right of Englishmen that no taxes be imposed upon them but with their own consent, in person or by their representatives; that the people of the colonies are not, and from their local circumstances

cannot, be represented in the House of Commons; that the only representatives of the colonies are persons chosen by themselves; that no taxes could be constitutionally imposed upon them but by their respective Legislatures; that the supplies of the crown being free gifts of the people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the principle and spirit of the British Constitution for the people of Great Britain to grant to His Majesty the property of the colonies; and that trial by jury is an inherent and invaluable right of every British subject in the colonies."

The united colonies admitted the right of Parliament to pass general acts for the amendment of the common law to which the colonies were subject, or general acts for the regulation of trade and commerce throughout the whole empire, but denied the right of Parliament to pass special acts applicable only to a part of His Majesty's subjects, to wit, the inhabitants of the colonies, and more particularly special acts imposing taxation. The Stamp Act being such a special act, the colonies, at the invitation of Massachusetts, assembled by their representatives in September, 1774, at Philadelphia, in a Congress, and thus established, for the first time in the history of the English-American colonies, a general deliberative body, deriving

its authority from the people of the colonies alone. This Congress continued to exercise power until March, 1781, and was then superseded by the Congress of the Confederation, which came into existence during the latter part of the War of Independence; it then being manifest that a new nation would be born. The Continental Congress avoided creating jealousy between the several colonies, by placing them all, independent of size or numerical strength, on the same footing; inasmuch as the combined delegation from each separate colony had but a single vote.

The second session of this Congress of delegates met in May, 1775, immediately after the opening of the war of Independence by the battles of Lexington and Concord. This Congress then assumed supreme direction of the war of Independence, and was, to all intents and purposes, the government of the united colonies after the 4th of July, 1776, when, by the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, they declared their severance from the British crown, their right to make treaties with foreign governments, and their establishment as a nation. It appointed the officers of the army; it pledged the credit of the united colonies for the payment of the expenses of military organization; it apportioned the amounts