Customs duties, was the immediate cause of the revolution in North America. The revolution of South America arose from a question of fundamental principles.
The Stamp Tax imposed by England on her colonies was repealed on the ground that it was an internal tax, but Parliament sanctioned the imposition of Customs duties on the ground that they were an external tax, the produce of the colonies being subject to the will of the king. The colonists protested and took a further step by declaring that the Mutiny Act had nothing to do with them, as it was sanctioned by a Parliament in which they were not represented. They called out their municipal militia, and so in 1774 commenced the great struggle for the emancipation of America. During ten years their resistance had been kept within the limits of the laws, but from this moment they took their stand on the wide basis of natural and ideal right, independent of law and of tradition.
The Declaration of Independence on the 4th July, 1776, was the proclamation of an innate universal human right, of a new theory of government independent of precedent, inspired by natural law, by philosophy, and by political science. This declaration became, as has been said,
"The profession of faith of all the liberals of the world."
The echo of these theories was heard in France, and by her was transmitted to the Latin nations of both hemispheres. The people embraced them with enthusiasm. Up to that time two schools of politics had divided the empire of free thought. The historical school, led by Montesquieu, looked upon the constitution of England as the finished work of experience and of human logic. The philosophical school, led by Rousseau, denied the value of experience and thought to establish liberty and the sovereignty of the people by seeking "the best form of association for the defence and protection of each associate against the force of all, so that each one should obey only himself and remain free as before." This second doctrine
