called Patriots. A majority of the colonists were Whigs. It is estimated that in some states they were probably in the minority, and in others they about equaled their opponents. When hostilities opened, this party began to assume control of colonial affairs, both civil and military, and throughout the war it directed the government of the states and of the nation. The Whigs fought for a cause as righteous as any that ever arrayed men in battle, and in so doing they broke the yoke of colonial vassalage and gained for the world much of that which they gained for themselves.
Continental Congress.—During the first six years of the war, the central authority of the country was the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the states, who acted under assumed powers. The requirements of Congress were not binding upon the states unless they so willed; but unity of action was secured by patriotism and a common danger, and the “power exercised by Congress was acquiesced in by the people.” To establish a settled form of government and a permanent union, the United States, in 1781, adopted the
Articles of Confederation, by which, thirteen in number, the powers of Congress were defined. “This body was granted control over questions of war and peace; but its powers and duties were chiefly advisory and dependent for their execution upon the co-operation of the states.” The articles did not provide for an executive or a judicial department. By this defective system, Congress was left powerless in civil affairs, and the highest authority was vested in the states.
The Tory party was composed of the colonists who adhered to the Crown during the war. It was joined by nearly all royal officials, some eminent lawyers, dependents of royal landholders, numerous physicians, some who were at first conservative, or neutral, and those who, not otherwise influenced, dreading the strength of England, believed that a “successful resistance to her power was impossible.” The Tories, or Royalists, composed a considerable portion of the force employed to put down the “rebellion.” The number of them who enlisted in the military service of the Crown was probably more than twenty-five thousand. Various measures were taken by the Whig populace to awe and punish the Tories. Different ones at different times, as circumstances seemed to suggest, were “tarred and feathered,” mobbed, smoked, waylaid, insulted, deposed from office, and driven from home. Against them the legislatures of the states, according to the offense committed, passed laws inflicting such penalties as death, exile, confiscation of estate, loss of personal liberty for a limited period, disqualification from office, imprisonment, and transportation to a British possession. At the peace of 1783, these laws were in force, and no provision was made for the Royalists; they were banished by those they had opposed, and neglected by those they had aided. When the British troops were withdrawn from our shores, the Tories abandoned the United States and became the founders of New Brunswick and Upper Canada. The exiles appealed to Parliament for relief, and received, after several years of delay, fifteen and a half millions of dollars. Besides this, many of them obtained “annuities, half pay as military officers, large grants of land, and shared with other subjects in the patronage of the Crown.” The Royalists, whose injury to the cause of liberty had not been great, were permitted to remain at home. The issue on which their party was based, died with the Revolution, and in 1783 the Tory party ceased to exist.
Confederation.
Particularists.—The Whigs of the Revolution were composed of two classes of men holding opposite views on national government. One class held to the idea that state government should be supreme; they were unwilling that a central authority should have power to coerce a state. They feared that such a government would deprive the states of their freedom, and would establish over them a sovereignty as objectionable as the one from which they were struggling to free themselves. They believed in a central government, republican in form and democratic in spirit, provided its powers were limited; but they were jealous of delegated authority, and looked with suspicious eye at every effort tending towards centralization of government. They were forced to these conclusions by their own experience and that of their forefathers, on “whose hearts the fires of persecution had burned a hatred of royalty too deep to be erased.” These partisans are designated “Particularists.”
Strong Government men.—The other class was composed of men who regarded local self-government as inadequate to meet the exigencies of the public service. They believed that a government modeled after that of England should be established over the United States, and that the governments of the states, if they could not be destroyed, should be reduced in importance. These are called “Strong Government” men. The important matters of the war prevented these conflicting views from appearing as disturbers of the public mind; but after the recognition of our independence they were freely discussed, and “were soon developed in the formation of political parties.”
The weakness of the Confederation was seen by the Strong Government men, and they determined upon a change of central authority. The condition of the country was an aid to them. National affairs were in a bad condition at the close of the war, and, under inefficient government, grew worse, till the country bordered on a state of anarchy. The states looked upon Congress as a creation of the war, and as something not necessary in time of peace. They first ignored its requisitions, then scoffed at its weakness, and finally boasted of their neglect of duty. Their want of unanimity prevented the regulation of foreign trade. Distant nations, owing to the weakness of Congress, were unwilling to bind themselves by commercial treaties with our country. The legislatures of states having ports for foreign commerce, taxed the people of other States trading through them; others taxed imports from sister states; in other instances the navigation laws treated the people of other states as aliens. The government was without power to
